Fruits of Labor - Celebration of Fall

I thought I would be able to blog at least twice a week. Well, it didn't happen last week! There were so many other important challenges that kept me away from the studio for several days and away from the computer!

I am in the middle of a kitchen remodel! It moves slowly. Last week, my trusty old familiar kitchen of tweny years was torn away and the empty shell of a construction site left! What a mess! Then you began to feel the small details. We eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We have our favorite places and are trying new ones! You can't bring takeouts back.....although the refrigerator is still operable. It has been suggested to plug in the microwave.....we have already removed the old one and don't want to invest in a temporary one since we have a new one in a box! Some friends pity us and invite over for a meal....others understand the change and us....much too well having gone through this and give us exactly what we need....suggestions of new eateries. I should blog just on those....maybe.....once I get through this one! Thank you!

Speaking of boxes.....my garage is full with new appliances and ooh...ooh...ooh...my new birdseye maple cabinets that I designed! One of the challeneges was that they had to be cut to fit down my narrow hallways to get to my kitchen! Who knew this would be an issue?! Why don't men ask women about their needs when designing things that we will actually use?!!!! I do use my kitchen...love to cook specialty dishes but don't like to crawl under spaces to get to my specialty pans! I bet half of my kitchen space was ill used and inefficient. I got a few bells and whistles that are practical for me....even the carpenter was amazed because "he never thought about that" ! Is the GEEK in me rising again? Well, he will be incorporating some of my features in his new designs.....shouldn't I ask for a commission?!

My art....this week beginning September 7-26....I have a piece on exhibit in the Fruits of Labor - Celebration of Fall exhibit at the Pacific Art Center in Palo Alto. You are looking at a very textured encaustic 30X15 Autumn Along the Natchez Trace.

One of my great grandmothers, Susan Fluker called Miss Sookie, was a full blooded Choctaw native American "princess" (I added "princess" because she endured much during her lifetime and I remebered her to be beautiful like a princess....another story...another day) from Carroll County, Mississippi. She told my brother and me occassional stories about the Natchez Trace when we were small. I remember bits and pieces but I actually drove the Trace during the fall and it was beautiful! The color of the leaves of the trees were red....what a magnificent sight! If you looked between the tree line onto the other side of the highway....it appeared as if there was a horizon. Okay....so much for looking through the eyes of an artist! So there it is as I remembered it....my rendition for you to see.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444 mile scenic highway along an ancient trail that connected the southern portions of Mississippi, through Alabama to Tennessee. It starts in Natchez, Mississippi and ends in Nashville, Tennessee......or vice versus depending on where you are! It was the main thoroughfare for the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, slaves, soldiers, settlers and famous men...John Audubon, Jim Bowie and Sam Houston.... even Meriweather Lewis whose grave is at mile 385.9 at the Ranger Station near Grinder's Inn.