Clean Tabletops and A Little Art...

so my disaster, er, uh, studio...is looking better! i didn't even realize how cluttered it had gotten until i started looking for something...isn't that always how it goes?? and then the hunt turned into a cleaning spree turned into me actually getting started on some projects! wow! i mean, i had heard of this happening...in theory...but never really had a chance to prove it cause i'm usually pretty diligent about cleaning my space at the end of the day and really getting it in order on fridays...because i just don't like walking into last week's mess on monday mornings. but this was out of control! i had been having a case of the winter yuck and not feeling very creative...blah, blah, blah....ya'll know the story...and had just turned a blind eye, i guess...whew! was i ever blind!!i wish that i had before shots...i just didn't realize as i was cleaning what i was doing...does that make sense? it wasn't until i looked around at surfaces of tables instead of the junk on them that it hit me...i just might be getting my groove back! as you can see, i even went a little over the top and sharpened all the colored pencils (until my electric sharpener broke anyway....a few more to do still) that had been waiting patiently on me since last (yes, 2007) christmas, (thanks honey!) and organized them by color. yep, anal. that's me. but this makes me feel oh so good! weird, i know. can't help it!
and i don't think i have ever shown ya'll the not-office-chair. why, you ask, is it a not-office-chair? because it is hot pink, of course! and would never, ever have been allowed in on eof the stuffy attorney's offices i worked in...it's my little rebellion...my affirmation every day that this chair, this life, this business, this art, is mine! hot pink because that is what I like, and my opinion is the only one that matters 'round here!my christmas present from my mom....the one she gave me that had been hers for 30 years finally bit the dust. now i just need to read the manuel and figure out how to thread it!
and here are the 3 pieces of watercolor paper i coated in a mosaic of images and words relating to the artfest theme of sea monsters, octopuses, and marine biology...they will eventually become my atc and fatbook pages...(i'll show you some close-ups of my little octopus-trades soon!)
and last, but certainly not least...as we sit here all huddled up waiting on the falling rain to turn to ice as predicted, this little green shoot (and several more around it) lifts my spirits as much as anything could....spring is really on its way, and here's the proof!