If All Shopping Was This Easy

  I admit it.  I am slacking.  The Little Bayou House is still not fully decorated, the shopping has yet to be finished and not one cookie has been baked.  Pain in my right side has kept me from doing all of the things that I love to do during the holiday season.  For the past four months, I have been prodded, poked and given all sorts of medicines. (None of which helped. by the way.)  Then as quickly as the pain came, it disappeared...for one day.  One day!  I was pain free yesterday and accomplished more in that twenty four hours than I have in months. This morning, thinking all was well, I started with gusto!  I was painting gourds at 5am and decorating the toy room for the kiddos by 7am.  All was going well until 8am.  Then, as I reached up to hang garland, I felt the stabbing pains return.  Ugh!  When will this stop?  I doubled over in agony and the garland still dangles precariously from the shelf.  It can wait.

  Yesterday, Darling Daughter, Elizabeth did take me shopping but after several hours of searching for decorations for her house, I bought one gift....for her.  While I pondered over several gifts for others, she spied lamps for her porch and lamented that she would love to have them.  Yep, I stole her idea.  She is now getting four solar lamps as her gift.  I have to admit that they are really nice lamps.  I had a grand idea of getting a porch swing for her but who knew that they would be out of stock during December?  Doesn't everybody sit on their front porch in the dead of winter?  Obviously not.  So, the lamps will suffice and perhaps the swing can be an anniversary gift later in May.  I (and she) was happy with my purchase.  Still, that does not mark a lot of folks off of my shopping list.  

  Hopefully, I will complete all of the pending chores in time for the big day but if not, folks will just have to understand.  One day of being pain free is just not enough.  I am trying....I am trying.  I do have Elizabeth's gift, though! Now if I could just get everyone else to tell me what they would like, life would be easier.

 

Raging Storms, Backwards Steps and GOURDS!

  For some time now, it seems as if I move backward a lot more than I do forward.  At night before I sleep, I ponder all sorts of things that I need to do come the following morning.  I have good intentions but, for some odd reason or another, I never seem to even start.  One day, the washing machine refused to spin so I worked on it a bit until my finger became smashed beyond any use, so I went fishing.  Another day, the old Bayou Queen, Ms. Put, (the old cat) fell ill and needed attention.  You can probably imagine what the day entailed with that so there is no need in elaborating.  After cleaning up behind her for most of the day, I went fishing.  Then last night we had storms.  Torrential rains, fierce winds and....a leaky roof.  Well, there went the plans for decorating the Christmas Tree.  I did not go fishing, though, as the weather was still misbehaving a tad.  The roof was tended and hopefully drip, drip, drip will not be heard tonight as we, once again, are going to be under the gun weatherwise.  The old Bayou will be a wild place again tonight. Thunderstorms will roll through right about high tide.  The south wind will push the tide even higher so things on the pier had to be secured. The possibility of even more severe weather than last night could be interesting.  No drips, please!

  All of these distractions have kept me busy to the point that nothing...nada...zilch has been done on my mental list and surely, creativity has gone the wayside.  Today, however, I had inspiration!  A very nice lady inquired about some of my painted gourds.  I was bound and determined that I should start painting once again.  Other things can wait!   The gourds were all scrubbed clean and paints, brushes and gourds assembled.  It felt good to be back again.  My artistic side was in a giant slump until this.  

  Thank you, Ms. Marilyn, your kind words have inspired me to create! Perhaps now those backward steps won't seem so heavy and I can bounce forward with eagerness each morning!  Let the storms rage....I have a project!

So it begins!

  With a successful Third Annual Clue Hunt on the Bayou behind us now, my thoughts have turned to a different project.  Gourds!  Each year, several kind folks order hand-painted or jewel inlaid gourds as gifts for those on their Christmas gift lists.  It is perhaps the highest compliment that can be given to an aspiring artisan to have repeat clients.  Some of mine have been returning for over ten years and it never ceases to thrill me.  I recall the first "order" that I ever received and the feeling was a mixture of gratitude and success.  I had sold an art piece!  Today's order thrills me just as much and I am still just as grateful as I was with that first sale.  

  With that in mind, I lugged out the huge basket of paints, the box of brushes and the sack of cleaned gourds.  These would soon become art pieces that will be put before the prospective clients for their final approval.  First, however, I had to become inspired.  I had to wrap my brain around painting happy little flowers and birds rather than creating clue hunt props.  There is a massive difference in the two and switching from one to the other involves me shifting gears, so to speak.  To find my "happy" creativity, I delved into my stash of photographs from the Bayou and gardens.  Something there always does the trick.  A photograph of my sister-in-law's clematis plant seemed to grab my attention so I had a beginning!  Clematis blooms would adorn the first gourd.  (This worked well as one lady had specified that she "loves purple flowers"!  Hopefully, she will love my purple flowers.)

  For the next few weeks, the living room will become an artist's studio. Things will be scattered about hither and yon.  My room will be in a disarray but the production of gifts will be in full swing. What fun I have!  

Cleaning the yard one pine needle at a time!

  With only two runnings of the clue hunt yet to do, I am able to start turning my attention to other things.  Of course, those "other" things are crafts!  The recent storm not only pelted us with much needed rain, it also knocked down a fine layer of pine needles.  The lower part of the yard is carpeted with the things. While out taking a hike, I spied the pine needles and was inspired.  Dropping to my knees, I started gathering the needles into neat piles.  These would come in handy.  I have a contract to make ten gourd bowls and the needles could be used to twine about the top.  Each year, I try to include a few gourds with the pine needle edging just because I love working with them. The next week or so is supposed to be filled with rainy weather so gathering the needles now will give me plenty of supplies to use later.  If the rain holds off, I shall be found out in the yard on my hands and knees again tomorrow.  (Who said that art is not work? Not many folks clean their yard one pine needle at a time!)

  After gathering several hundred needles, I settled in to working on the gourds. The cleaning took several hours.  Getting the drudgery finished now will allow me to have fun while the rains pound the rooftop! Plus, if I have extras, I can practice my pine needle weaving and also create a few pine needle vases. Sounds like a fun week ahead!

Time for fun!

I have been working my fingers to the bone!  Well, not really but I have been extremely busy as of late.  I have a very nice lady who always wants a dozen or so "gifts" made to order.  I should know by now to start creating her gifts in January so I will not be rushed come November.  Still, here it is mid November and I am working like a mad woman to finish the projects.  The good thing about this lady is the fact that she is always very precise in what she wants.  Each year she will tell me that she wants gourds with red flowers and ceramic pieces.  Each year, I paint gourds with red flowers.  I do hope that these are going to different folks or otherwise some recipients will have nice collections of such gourds.  At least, I can never duplicate a gourd so each is different.  Still after a bit, I grow weary of painting red flowers and have to take a break.  I cannot just quit working on gourds altogether as then I will not want to get started again, so I take an about-face and work on entirely different types of gourds.  Some of these are a tad weird or funky but still they are fun.  One year, I painted dragons for my son's friends.  They were thrilled and it sure gave me something "different" to do!

My break this week took a turn to the more natural side of things.  I worked on two gourds that I think turned out rather well.  Both of these have a distinct "earthy" feel about them.  The gourd, itself, was scrubbed clean, cut, gutted, painted on the inside and then hand waxed on the outer portion.  The top was woven with pine needles and then trimmed with wooden beads.  I adore this gourd!

The other gourd that I completed just today is in the shape of a basket.  Again the gourd went through the same process of cleaning, painting and waxing.  This one however has a piece of old fishing net in place of the pine needles.  Seashells and a piece of rope were added as trim to give this one a definite "Bayou" feel. The waxing of the natural gourd made the outer shell almost appear to be worn leather.  Again, I am pleased with the outcome of the gourd.

These two were made for fun but have quickly become two of my all-time favorites!  I am anxious to get back to work on the few remaining projects that require my attention as then, I can play with the imagination once again!  Although, I do appreciate the kind lady's order, it is also fun to play!

Gourds, gourds and more gourds!

Today, I remembered that I did not post pictures of the latest gourd lamp. I finished this one a few days ago and have already started another! I must say that my order for lamp parts and wire was rerouted and has wound up somewhere off in the wild blue yonder. Somewhere..somewhere, there is a box of wires, sockets and chains sitting in a shipping warehouse that has my name on it. I suppose it will eventually arrive but until then, I purchased several lamp bases and will have to be happy with those.

This lamp is bright "peacock" blue with the "eye" feathers painted on the sides. The shaft of the feathers are beaded as well as the "eye". I am quite pleased with the outcome!

This next gourd lamp is going to be a bit more complex than the previous one. It is a much larger gourd so I can add more design and many more beads! It should be interesting to see just what the eccentric brain doodles on this one! Hopefully, it will be as pleasing to the eye as the others.

This last gourd is one I did several months ago, but it fit the theme of the post! The gourd was a commissioned piece so it was shipped out immediately and now resides in Canada! My difficult part of this gourd was finding the pine straw for the top rim. I resorted to gathering fresh, green needles and letting them dry by the fireplace for a few days before attaching them to the gourd. This made me start thinking that I needed to find some source of pine needles for future use. Ha! When I took down the pine garland after Christmas, I carefully stripped most of the needles from the branches, dried it and stored it in plastic shoe boxes! The amazing thing about this is that I was able to recruit help in stripping the needles from the branches! Great amusement! I now have a great supply on hand for any future gourds! (Plus! The pine needles smell great when the boxes are opened!!)

Gobs of Gourds!

The weather is not cooperating with the gardens at all right now. It is still very hot and unbelievably dry. I will just have to wait until we get a rain before planting my fall garden. This is not all bad though as right now the rogue watermelon is still rampantly taking over the entire garden area. There are seven more melons on this single vine and hundreds of new blossoms each day. Since gardening is out of the question at the moment, it is time to work on some craft projects. With Halloween just around the corner, I thought making Jack-O-Lantern gourds would be a fun idea. I had no idea just how many gourds might be in my stash since I sort of "hid" them from view. My gourds are stored in my living room..I know most people would use a garage or shed for this purpose but the fact is..I have neither. Now the gourds that I use can be as small as a golf ball or as large as a basketball or any size in between, so you can imagine the difficulty in storing any number of them. I try to keep most out of sight so creativity is a necessity. I have gourds stashed in baskets under tables, in a wooden box used as a coffee table and as decorations. I like to say they are "hidden in plain sight"! As I said, I had not idea just how many I had accumulated over this past year. My brother grew a bunch for me and I did order some "specialty" sizes and shapes. As I gathered them, I simply stored them for future use. I do most of my "gourd work" in Fall and Winter when there is not a lot of outside work to be done. Today when I went to examine the gourds to find the perfect one to create a Halloween ornament, I was almost overwhelmed..literally. This last time my brother brought me a truckload of gourds, I had asked my son's help in "storing" them. He told me not to worry..he would take care of it. I should have worried. Standing diagonally in the corner of the room is a large cedar wardrobe. This thing must be at least six feet tall and a good three feet wide..the perfect place to store gourds..only he did not store them inside the closet. He stored them behind the closet! He merely dropped the gourds one by one behind the wardrobe! I tugged on the huge piece of furniture only to have an avalanche of gourds tumble out from behind and on top of me! It is a good thing that gourds are almost feather-light when they are dry! Now, I have plenty of shapes and sizes to choose from for my Jack-O-Lanterns! Everywhere! Gobs of Gourds!

This is a picture of last years' attempts at Halloween gourds!