Here's hoping that everyone has been enjoying the Holiday season!

Just wanted to give thanks for a great 2013, and hoping for a wonderful & inspired New Year ahead for Everyone!!!!

I'll be doing the Mummer's strut up here in the BRRRRR cold VT temperatures!

"What's the Mummers' strut?" most New Englanders (or anyone not from Philadelphia area) ask?

Well, if you want to learn about this great Philly New Years' tradition,  check out Mummers' Parade images here and here's a live stream from PHL17. ENJOY!

There's a gallery who'd like new work from me (yay!), and the piece I've been working (shown in previous posts) is just taking a long time - lots of stitching to go...so what to do? 

Then I realized after posting the mixed media piece last week , that I have a piece like that I'd started and then put away.

I guess it's a bad habit -  starting too many pieces, or having several pieces in different stages.  My reason is that I need time to digest the stages, and decide what the piece needs next. 
But then my space is so small (it is my Little Studio after all....) that I then feel crowded, and I have to store/put away so I don't feel overwhelmed or under-focused. And then the old saying 'out of sight, out of mind' kicks in.  But I remembered it, and decided to try to finish it.  Getting there! 

This week I had more things to do for my Inside Out Studio markets, so didn't have as much time for stitching....

but I did get some more done to the piece I posted last week.  Slow and steady progress, the right side is filling in where it needs.

I know this is a terrible photo because it's out of focus, but because it's blurry I kindof like it!  feels more fleeting to me/ like memory.

Anyway, since progress is slow, I thought to share an older work - read on!

This photo reminded me of how it looked outside yesterday, even though it was taken a few years back....

snowy fields, with the corn still poking through because it's not a lot of snow yet....

misty mountains, dark pines, snowflakes here and there floating down - that's how yesterday was. so beautiful....

Here is the piece that was inspired by that photo.

It's called 'Respite'.... it's 12"x12", and is one of my more mixed media pieces. I painted layers of acrylic paint, then did some hand stitching in the center and for the field lines.

check out the detail shot next:

Here's that detail.

This piece was a donation for InLiquid's annual fundraiser back when I made it, so it now lives in a private collection in Philadelphia.

where by the way, they got WAY more snow than we did this past week and I am getting a little miffed about the switch. Vermont is supposed to be snowier!

ah well, soon maybe the fields will be covered with a white blanket....

in time for Christmas?