What I'm doing after my VERY BIG WEEK

What a week it has been.  And not just because it included a teapot that I didn't think I'd have time to finish.  (Aptly entitled: Tea with the Girls)It began on a whopping great high with my Tsarang Mala being featured here on PCD. I was, as any PCD addict would totally understand, blown out of my tiny mind.  In a really evolved and unattached and calm way, I was beside myself. Yes, indeedy.Then, as fate would have it, a day later, my copy of Global Perspectives Polymer Clay by the magnificent Cynthia Tinapple arrived and I was even more excited! Hard to imagine!  Obviously there is a degree of bias being a contributing author etc but, casting that aside, I know I would buy this book anyway! I loved reading about the other artists.  This is not a CV/ Galleries/ articles blurb.  Cynthia's great skill is in drawing out the people behind the stories, capturing the warmth, the journey and then seeing the links, the shared experiences.   The inner busybody really enjoyed reading about the other artists- their motivations, practices, inspirations and lives.  How their landscape, experiences and culture impacted on their work.   I also particularly liked Cynthia's discussion about categories of motivation.  She said that not everyone fell neatly into one category, I know I don't, but I could certainly recognise myself in some of her descriptions.  And then, there are the projects. So many I want to try.  Perfectly timed to almost coincide with AFTER THE INSTALLATION.Ah yes....the installation. Well, on Wednesday the last piece for the Exhibition, my triptych, was delivered to the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery and a few minutes ago I pressed SEND on the final bit of paperwork.  It's over to them now.  It is a weird mix of vulnerability and excitement and for now I am enjoying the sense of relief at getting it done.I had to really fight the urge to immediately sit down and make a (long) list of all the things I now need to do and to itemise those things I have to catch up on because they didn't get done during the GREAT EXHIBITION PREPARATION OF 2013.  Those who know me will know just how hard it was not to make that list.  Instead, I spent several hours in lovely Winter sunlight yesterday writing letters.  With pen and on paper.  Until my hand got sore and my writing deteriorated due to loss of hand writing skills.I shared my sunny space with our boisterous and happy new dogs and marvelled that little old me, who as a child became hysterical with fear at the sight of dog poo, let alone an actual dog, can now say that these two beings have improved the quality of my life enormously.I savoured time with our younger daughter, formerly the primary carer of the aforementioned dogs, who is about to leave Australia for exotic lands.And...in a more traditional after finishing a big thing task...I cleaned my desk.But wait, there's more. And I am loving myself sick about this really.  Following a tradition of up-cycling and domestic organisation (not mine) I made a wonderful thing.  It solves all the desk storage issues I have been battling for years and uses tins and an old (hopeless) dish drainer.  Which may in fact belong to the Flying Doctors but it was truly useless in its intended role and I promise I will replace it with a good one!  Anyway, here is a photo and I only wish I had a BEFORE shot now.  You can imagine though.And I joined a Challenge! For a while now, I have thought longingly of participating in a swap (like those at Art Bead Scene) or a Challenge and Erin Prais-Hintz' in particular have appealed.  She has has Challenges based on Music, Art, Literature ans last year in her travel Challenge, she made this piece inspired by Nepal.  Her Travel Challenge for this year appealed at so many levels.  It's all about creating an art necklace inspired by where you are.  I am very inspired by the incredible scenery here in the Outback and find that my work increasingly reflects this.  It's time to do it in a more deliberate way so I am very excited about taking this challenge up.  I don't fully understand what it all entails and have yet to learn what a blog hop is but am looking forward to seeing how over 80 other artists use their home as a source of inspiration.So, enough for now.  Lots more happening but I'll save it up for next time.