Christel Williams – Pencils, Paint & Paper

Isn’t summer supposed to be when life slows down a little? If so, I need to rethink my scheduling. I have a commissioned piece going (I can’t show you that one until after Christmas), my two everyday jobs, a donation piece in the works (more about that below), a HUGE pile of stuff I want to finish and get on my Etsy shop before the holiday shopping season starts and I’m trying to visit my kids one more time before their schools start up again. I’m running out of time!!

Top off that list with all the garden harvest that has to be canned (all those peas have to be shelled first) and I’m wondering when I will sleep in the next couple of weeks. I DO NOT look forward to winter, but am looking forward to eating all this food instead of growing it, hoeing it, picking and canning it.

Now, more about this…

Lovely isn’t it? Well, it probably was 35-40 years ago, but it has seen some life since then. I wish I had a photo of it before I painted it. Yes, I painted it. It was frayed and didn’t match anything I owned. It was a hand-me-down piece to begin with. It is solid and sturdy. In my mind, too good to get rid of but I didn’t have it in the budget to upholster it or even slip cover it. If only I had had my new sewing machine back then I might not have taken a paint brush to it.

So, why am I showing you my pitiful chair? Because now I am going to turn it into a beautiful art chair (I hope) to be auctioned off at a fundraiser for our local women’s shelter. I will keep you updated. Wish me luck!

August 6, 2015August 5, 2015 by Christel Categories: art, commissioned, creativity, garden, holidays, simplifyTags: Art, art chair, Bloomtown Studio, charity event, Christel Williams, commissioned art, Etsy, Etsy shop, gardening, over scheduled 1 Comment

I have been woefully (I like the word “woefully”. Very expressive.) neglectful of my blog. Once again I plan to be more disciplined in my writing. I say that when I am three weeks from my vacation and will be completely out of the loop for a week and possibly off grid for most of it. The last few months I have actually been very busy with creative endeavors, but have been in an aggravated and frustrated state with it all. Maybe others of you have been through the same thing or are going through the same thing and I probably should have written about it. First, I just didn’t have the motivation and second, I’m not sure you would have wanted to hear about it while I was in that mind frame. It was pretty negative.

So, what was going on with me? After the holidays I had the long winter months to work on projects and had a spurt of creative juices that had me pacing like a tiger in a cage. I don’t work on just one project, I work on three or four projects when I’m in that state. Actually, I work on three or four project most of the time in whatever state I am in. The aggravation point was a lack of creative space. Up until the last two years I have had a reasonable amount of room (one being a converted walk-in closet) to spread out and leave my projects so I could come back to them. Currently, I am living in a small two bedroom townhouse. The second bedroom belonged to my son, and even though he was away at college it primarily contained all his stuff. One wall was commandeered by me for my office desk (my room barely fits a bed much less a desk) and in one tiny corner I had set up my easel so I could paint while he was at school. Any other artsy projects had to be produced on my tiny kitchen table and then be moved or packed up when it was time to eat or fold clothes. Try to imagine working on jewelry one day, mosaics the next day, a painting the next day and having to find space to move the projects around, but still keep them accessible. Add in the fact I have two dogs who think pretty much ANYTHING is potential food. At one point, my little powder room was barely usable. I stacked my projects on the sink and in the floor and there was just enough room to still use the toilet. Can you see where this was giving me a bad attitude? Anyway, during all this frustrating time away I did manage to do quite a bit of experimenting and playing.

Below are some of the pieces I made even through the frustration. Not great art, but regaining and improving long neglected skills. Practice does make perfect and if not perfect at least much better. It has been decades instead of years that I have been unable to have a regular practice and it takes some work to get the rust off. I am feeling much better now and will post more about that next time.