I'm Back in Business!

My sanity has slowly returned.

After fighting with my Mac OS off and on for the past five weeks, I'm finally back in the driver's seat. I've learned more technical stuff than I care about. Turns out that all of my glitches and false starts led back to the new RAM which I had my service technician install. My goal was to max out the RAM on my computer. When I brought my Mac home, I immediately had a problem starting up. As you all now know, it went downhill from there. My son (who is smarter than I'll ever be) suggested that I take the new RAM out. I could have done that, on day two, but I just knew that that solution was too easy. So I struggled along until last Friday, and got so frustrated that I finally opened the back of the computer and jerked out the RAM. Guess what??!! As soon as I put my old RAM back in my computer all problems ceased. Unreal. Five weeks. FIVE WEEKS of pure agony. And to think that I even had the hard drive erased. Replacing and rebuilding old files has not been fun. Geez. I'm a bit smarter now.

Last week, I took a leisurely drive to Camp McDowell located outside of Nauvoo, Alabama. It's located in the northwest quadrant of the state, in an area which I have not explored very much. I met with a lovely young woman who is the Director of the newest branch of the facility THE ALABAMA FOLK SCHOOL at CAMP MCDOWELL. She loved my portfolio of lino block prints. I'm signed on to teach Linoleum Block Relief Printing the weekend of December 7th -9th. This is exciting! It's a wonderful opportunity and I'm looking forward to meeting lots of interesting people. The Folk School at Camp McDowell is modeled on the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina.

And speaking of lino prints, here's my latest cut. The title of it is "Like a Marlin To Its Gourd." In June, when I participated in the art festival at Aldridge Gardens (Hoover, AL) a couple came over to my booth to chat. The guy, who had grown up in the South, seemed to identify with all of the block prints that had gourds. He said that the imagery of the gourds and the birds reminded him of a saying that he had heard his father utter many times, while working the farm. I loved his story. Many times, the images in my block prints are based on stories or sayings or some recollection that has jarred someone's memory. Patrons love to share memories (of days gone by) with me as they view my work and reflect on their formative years growing up in the south. Friends and family have shared stories of their youth, also, and it has afforded me an opportunity to record some of those memories through my interpretation via block prints...and needlepoint, too. I love the south . . .and all things southern!

My next art venue will take place in October. Don't forget to mark your calendar for Saturday, October 6, 2007 the 44th Annual Bluff Park Art Festival.