ouch

Anybody who knows me, knows that in the house I am always barefoot. Otherwise, I live, for the most part, in my Birks. In winter, if there is no snow, I make a concession to the cold and put on socks if I am going to be out for more than 5 minutes. Or if it is really bitter or snowy,I wear my Cole Haan 2 or 3 year old shearling clogs - no socks. That's IT.

But today I was a FACILITATOR in a NY City office, so I had to wear shoes. They were my dress-up clogs (black, of course, to match my black pants, shirt, and jacket) - but by the time I caught the bus home, my feet were burning.

I had been approached by the executive director of a non profit organization to run a creativity workshop for the staff to kick off their holiday party season. It was a half-day workshop that included some of the exercises from my 'Jump-starting the Art Quilt' workshop and some image transfer - and it was a real change of pace for them! For people who claimed not to be artists, they came up with some wonderfully creative work in short order and had great fun! They are making a quilt from felt, fabric, fusibles and mixed media and it will be an ongoing project that will go into the New Year. I was too busy to take photos but I did snap the above in an idle moment.

I brought along this piece (remember it from a June post?) that was an experiment on fusible batting. I showed it today as an example of what could be perceived as an art quilt , just to give the group an idea of what they could do with felt and scissors.The piece was not finished. I had backed it with canvas and planned to do something with it one of these days. Before the afternoon was over, it was sold. One of the staff members fell in love with it and is probably going to frame it. I was taken by surprise, but delighted that somebody else will enjoy living with it. This is the only picture I have of the piece.

I am learning to separate from my work. I remember the days when I couldn't part with anything and was simply not ready to sell my work. What was I thinking?? In the last month or two, I have sold two pieces that were so new I had not had time to get sick of them. That is progress.

All in all,another wonderful day. My feet are recovering slowly. But next time, corporate office or not, I shall remember that I am an ARTIST and as such, can wear my Birks to facilitate.