Rise and Shine

I’ve heard these words all my life. Sometimes it was an order or a song or a hope. This week, it feels like things around me are starting to rise and shine. 

The kitchen countertops arrived. Finally the cabinets and island are topped with the black quartz I picked out months ago. While, right now, they are still covered with blue protective plastic, I can see a working kitchen rising. 

A place to roll out biscuits. Cut out cookies. Make muffins and omelets and soups. When the cooktop and oven is finally in, I can’t wait to make mac and cheese from scratch. Bake scones and brownies and spinach pie. 

Oh my, tile too. 

Also this week, the tile was installed between the counter tops and the cupboards. I’ve always had a tile backsplash, which I loved. And I wondered and worried what this new tile would look like with the countertops. 

Would I like it just as much as my original tile? I wasn’t sure. As an artist, (ok, I have trouble using that word on myself), I do have the ability to visualize. Especially for others, it’s very easy for me to see what works and what doesn’t. It’s harder be so sure in my own home, especially this time, when the choice to change wasn’t mine. 

So I was surprised when it all came together. It’s not exactly what I envisioned but it works. 

Rising takes time. 

As I’ve said many times, I’m not a patient person. But what life continues to teach me is things take time. The water damage in July has taken a long time to fix. Our move in date has moved back another week, but tomorrow new floors are going in. 

So things are rising out of the damage. 

New cabinets. New countertops. New sink. New tile.  

And once all the dust gets cleaned up.

It will shine. Again.   

Spring Hope

 

I always look forward to Easter time. To me, it’s the ultimate celebration of spring. 

The colored eggs.  And bright tulips flowering. 

And, of course, the chocolate bunnies. 

Hoping for home. 

This year, I don’t get to celebrate in my own home. Because of the water damage from a failed water valve, it’s still in the process of reconstruction. I’ve had weeks of progress with new cabinets and painting. 

But this week, the progress slowed. The only thing done was the template for the countertops. While I’m excited to see them installed, I will have to wait. And hope it will be soon. 

Creating anyway. 

While I wait, I’ve been working on a new website. I’ve designed and re-designed my Wordpress website several times. And while I like the look of the platform, I want a website that is faster, easier and more customer friendly. I want a combination of the ease of Etsy with the design features of a website. 

I tried Wix. But it just didn’t work even with my new IPad Pro. Many other ceramic artists use Squarespace, so I’m giving it a try. So far, it’s touch and go. What I’m finding out is that no matter what web platform you use, there’s a learning curve. Add to that being in a situation with slow Wi-Fi, it’s an even steeper climb uphill.

So just like walking uphill, the only thing I can do is take it one step at a time. One page of my website designed. One product uploaded. One section of my house reconstructed. 

And that’s all I can do right now. 

And I feel hope spring forward with every small step. 

And thanks to my daughter, I still got to dye colored eggs!

The Power of Paint

 

Early Tuesday morning, the call came announcing the painters had arrived! I jumped up, grabbed my paint chips and headed for the house. It’s not the first time the house has been painted, of course. But it’s the first time, since we built the house, that my husband and I weren’t doing it ourselves. Exciting and nerve racking. 

So making sure that the right colors got onto the right walls was very important. I had picked out three shades of gray (not 50, lol) to go on different walls in the three rooms of our open concept living space.

I also had the wood mantle redone in a satin black to tie into the black gas insert. And had the vaults painted in Polar Bear(the lightest gray/white) in the great room and up the stairs. I’m so glad my husband was not the one balancing a ladder on the stairs!

Uplifting change. 

Being greeted by the smell of fresh paint was wonderful. Looking up at the vaulted ceiling felt like looking at a white cloud filled sky. But the very best was seeing the change on the fireplace wall. Removing my once beloved red and repainting a gray was a big change that lightened the room. It also made the natural brick fireplace an interesting new focal point. 

The change in the dining nook area is very subtle. At first, I questioned by choice, but it grew on me. I realize that once the table, chairs and rug are back in place it will be a cozy nook. Where I can now use a variety of colors as accents.  

Inspiration to paint. 

While the house painters were hard at work, I picked up my own paint brushes. Since I can’t throw clay to ease my stress, I pulled out my old watercolors and paper. I had no idea or concept or landscape to render. My only goal: play. 

When I pulled out my brushes, I was greeted by old friends. My wash brush! I got this brush in my very first painting class with Charles Mulvey. I was only 16 years old(and the youngest in his class) but I loved it from the first. 

Painting a white watercolor paper with water, adding color and watching it flow still seems like magic. Splatting red and yellow from my brush is so fun. Adding salt and seeing it create all of those wonderful new spaces from pools of color is delight. 

Later, I added the black tree and bird. 

Pictured there on the paper were all my feelings: chaos, love, excitement, change. 

The tree with no roots: Me right now, floating in a sea of change trying to remain steady. 

But there is bright paint on my ceilings, like the bright colors on the watercolor sky.