Nothing, really.
I have been gone from LJ for years. Facebook has replaced it. I like FB. I like the immediacy of it and it is great way to keep up with folks that I like a lot but haven't the time to keep up with by telephone or over a cup of coffee. I do pop in to LJ once in a while to read up the lives of friends I made who have not drunk the FB Koolaid, but I don't write here anymore. Not for a long time. I think it's time to come back to it. I miss it.
I haven't done anything earth shattering in the time I have been gone. I did not go back to school after getting my Associates Degree. I immersed myself in theatre, both acting and directing, and finally got burned out on the whole scene. There was suddenly too much pettiness, too much ego, to much arguing, too much gossiping, too much about it all that was NOT about the crafts of either acting or directing and which sucked all of the fun right of it for me. And, since we do not get paid in community theatre, I always said that when it quit being fun I would quit doing it. So I have. I suppose this past summer's Shakespeare Festival was the icing on the cake. This may come as surprise to those who don't work in theatre, but actors are very near the bottom of the pecking order. I think we rank one step above the poor schlep who has to mop the stage before a performance and right below everyone else who has anything at all to do with a production. I don't like that feeling anymore. It's time for a break.
However, I still have this need to create. So, I have taken up artwork. I have turned my dining room into an art studio. My family eats on TV trays in the living room. I do printmaking. I paint (watercolors and acrylics). I do collage. I do pen and ink drawings, and my favorite thing to do is to combine many different mediums into mixed media artwork. I'm new to this, but I've been fortunate. I have many of friends who are artists and my mother has a studio/gallery space. I get a lot of help and support. And I have had some work in a couple of shows at my mother's gallery. I have four pieces in a show for a Women in Creativity Conference in March. I am preparing submissions as we speak for two other juried shows this year, and some friends have asked me to hang a show in their place of business this year as well. I have also managed to sell several pieces which helps to recoup the cost of the supplies. I have prospects. I also have a lot of insecurity about whether or not I will ever be good enough to call myself an artist. How silly. It's so relative. I mean, what is art, really? I always figured if I saw something that I liked to look at for whatever reason - then it was a good piece of art...to me. But, it might not be a good piece of art to someone else. However, just because someone else doesn't like as much - should it lessen the vale of the piece for me? No. I need to get to that level of understanding with my own work. I'm trying.
While, in some ways, this new endeavor is the most frustrating I've ever been involved with (I walk around with big knots in my stomach over whether I'm good enough), it's also the happiest I've been since I finished school. I'm doing something. And I get to do that something at home, in the company of my family.
My husband was laid off his job in February of 2010 and did not find work again until August of 2010. It was only because we had help from his parents that we did not lose our house. We did lose our insurance. COBRA payments were more than we could afford. His parents paid for private insurance for all of us until Russ could find work again. Only, I could not get insurance because I have a pre-existing condition. MS. I had to sign up for Medicare Part B, which I pay for, and then get a medicare supplement. I was angry. I'm still angry. It shouldn't be so hard. However, my insurance is so much better than the new group plan my husband and kids have through his new job. I guess it worked out in the end.
The hubby works from home now. We turned the somewhat converted garage into an office for him. He loves his job. It's a good job. Great people. A little less money, but working from home is a great benefit. My oldest boys moved in for a short time a couple of years ago but then moved out again. They are both settled into full time school and full time jobs and pretty terrific girlfriends who are like daughters to me. My daughter is graduating high school this year and my youngest is ten and doing very well. With only two big kids at home, Russ and I have some time to ourselves again. It's like we've just met and are courting all over again. It's smarmy, and sentimental, and beautiful.
Life did not go where I thought it would the last time I was writing here. But, it is still going to wonderful places for me. I have a lovely sunny studio space to work in and my husband is just on the other side of the wall in his office. We are both doing work that we love, and that makes our home a pretty happy place to be.
I haven't done anything earth shattering in the time I have been gone. I did not go back to school after getting my Associates Degree. I immersed myself in theatre, both acting and directing, and finally got burned out on the whole scene. There was suddenly too much pettiness, too much ego, to much arguing, too much gossiping, too much about it all that was NOT about the crafts of either acting or directing and which sucked all of the fun right of it for me. And, since we do not get paid in community theatre, I always said that when it quit being fun I would quit doing it. So I have. I suppose this past summer's Shakespeare Festival was the icing on the cake. This may come as surprise to those who don't work in theatre, but actors are very near the bottom of the pecking order. I think we rank one step above the poor schlep who has to mop the stage before a performance and right below everyone else who has anything at all to do with a production. I don't like that feeling anymore. It's time for a break.
However, I still have this need to create. So, I have taken up artwork. I have turned my dining room into an art studio. My family eats on TV trays in the living room. I do printmaking. I paint (watercolors and acrylics). I do collage. I do pen and ink drawings, and my favorite thing to do is to combine many different mediums into mixed media artwork. I'm new to this, but I've been fortunate. I have many of friends who are artists and my mother has a studio/gallery space. I get a lot of help and support. And I have had some work in a couple of shows at my mother's gallery. I have four pieces in a show for a Women in Creativity Conference in March. I am preparing submissions as we speak for two other juried shows this year, and some friends have asked me to hang a show in their place of business this year as well. I have also managed to sell several pieces which helps to recoup the cost of the supplies. I have prospects. I also have a lot of insecurity about whether or not I will ever be good enough to call myself an artist. How silly. It's so relative. I mean, what is art, really? I always figured if I saw something that I liked to look at for whatever reason - then it was a good piece of art...to me. But, it might not be a good piece of art to someone else. However, just because someone else doesn't like as much - should it lessen the vale of the piece for me? No. I need to get to that level of understanding with my own work. I'm trying.
While, in some ways, this new endeavor is the most frustrating I've ever been involved with (I walk around with big knots in my stomach over whether I'm good enough), it's also the happiest I've been since I finished school. I'm doing something. And I get to do that something at home, in the company of my family.
My husband was laid off his job in February of 2010 and did not find work again until August of 2010. It was only because we had help from his parents that we did not lose our house. We did lose our insurance. COBRA payments were more than we could afford. His parents paid for private insurance for all of us until Russ could find work again. Only, I could not get insurance because I have a pre-existing condition. MS. I had to sign up for Medicare Part B, which I pay for, and then get a medicare supplement. I was angry. I'm still angry. It shouldn't be so hard. However, my insurance is so much better than the new group plan my husband and kids have through his new job. I guess it worked out in the end.
The hubby works from home now. We turned the somewhat converted garage into an office for him. He loves his job. It's a good job. Great people. A little less money, but working from home is a great benefit. My oldest boys moved in for a short time a couple of years ago but then moved out again. They are both settled into full time school and full time jobs and pretty terrific girlfriends who are like daughters to me. My daughter is graduating high school this year and my youngest is ten and doing very well. With only two big kids at home, Russ and I have some time to ourselves again. It's like we've just met and are courting all over again. It's smarmy, and sentimental, and beautiful.
Life did not go where I thought it would the last time I was writing here. But, it is still going to wonderful places for me. I have a lovely sunny studio space to work in and my husband is just on the other side of the wall in his office. We are both doing work that we love, and that makes our home a pretty happy place to be.