Inventory in and out

I just picked up my work from The Sarah Spurgeon Gallery at Central Washington University. Yakima River Diaries is over and suddenly I have a lot more inventory and a much messier studio. I did go so far as to unpack the work I brought home, but then I realized that I hadn't upacked the work that came home from the gallery shows I was in over the holiday.

my work at Yakima River Diaries

My studio has also become a temporary home for the boxes, bags, old clothes and printers that were removed from our living space over the holidays. We replaced two semi-functioning printers by replacing them both with one that works for often than it doesn't. My studio is heated separately so over the winter we tend not to spend time out there because we don't keep the heater on and the studio gets cold. Because it is cold outside and because the studio isn't used over the winter, the studio becomes the stopping point for things that should go out to the trailer for recycling or on to goodwill.

I will have to reclaim the studio for art before the summer, however, since I am having people visit for the Larson Gallery's Tour of Artists' Homes and Studios on May 18. Luckily spring break comes before the tour. Also, my mom has offered to help us get the house ready for the tour. I'm hoping to clean the studio over spring break and install some of my wall piece in the house. Then spread the serious cleaning out over several weeks. No one in their right mind would plan to clean ahead of time when living with a five-year-old--at least not if they planned for the place to stay clean.

Ooishi Pod--detail

After an enjoyable afternoon in Ellenburg with visits to old favorites Gallery One, Sugar Thai (please move to Yakima) and the Children's Activity Museum, my daughter and I stopped by Bailey's Biblilomania Books because my mother-in-law's dog's name is Bailey. I was impressed with the variety of books, especially since they had more than one shelf of art books and they had at least three clay books. Even Elliot Bay Book Company in Seattle only had books on polymer clay. But more than the selection, I was impressed with the fact that the owner had set up a coloring table with coloring pages. This was the first time since my daughter could walk that I was able to look at as many books as I wanted when she was with me.

We took the Canyon Road home because it was a beautiful sunny day--sorry family in the Midwest and East coast. People were out fishing and watching the hawks and big horn sheep. I even saw a heron fly overhead.

When we got back I packed up a piece to send to Woodstock. The piece will be in a juried show, Women's Works, at the Old Courthouse Arts Center in Woodstock, IL. The website is pretty vague on information but the show runs March 7 through April 28 with a reception from 7-9 on March 16. I won't be able to go, but perhaps folks I know in the midwest will be down that way. I would post hours, but based on the outdated state of the Old Courthouse Gallery website, I wouldn't trust the times anyway.

Ooishi Pod (currently en route to Illinois)

Now that my inventory is back home, I guess its either time to enter some more shows or find shelf space in my studio until May.