Ann Metlay Artist and Writer
  • Home
  • About
    • Artist Statement
    • Calendar
  • My Journal
  • Past Works
    • ASSEMBLAGES
    • Mindfulness Vessels
  • Books
    • Ann, the Writer
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About
    • Artist Statement
    • Calendar
  • My Journal
  • Past Works
    • ASSEMBLAGES
    • Mindfulness Vessels
  • Books
    • Ann, the Writer
  • Contact

my journal

I Live In Gratitude

12/28/2016

0 Comments

 
So many people these days reply, “I live in gratitude.”  A noble place to live, in my opinion, but my question has always been, “Where in gratitude?  Gratitude covers a lot of territory.”

For me, these days I live deep into creativity, somedays teetering on the edge of a cliff.  Take today.  I worked on twelve different “Wishing Wands.”  Some of them are still dirty, rough sticks I paired with others, combining roots and branches, or bark and roots.  Some of them needed another coat of oil.  Others received their crystal.  Those sticks, combined and oiled, wait for a few days, while I determine whether they will have a quartz crystal or a piece of petrified wood.  One spoke up today, and got a sheen of copper paint and a copper nugget.

In addition to the wands I found a trailer full of chunks of old barn wood parked right outside the high school.  Only yesterday I found a single piece of barn wood deep in my stash and lined up some largish chunks of mulch on it.  Beautiful!  Now I have a pile of pieces of barn wood and a bag of mulch chips.  My to-do list—discover how to maintain the disintegrating quality of the pieces, but sanitize them enough they can proudly hang on a wall.

And I picked up a bag of straighter sticks.  I want to combine them with my twisty palo verde sticks into the desert equivalent of driftwood hangings.  I bought a drill for that project yesterday.

I am going to be featured artist in the gallery in Oak Creek in January.  I will get an additional wall space to use.  I need ways to hang my work on that wall.  These three projects will  do that.
But my creativity does not stop with my woodpile.  I also write.  I have been mulling over topics to put up onto this blog.  And cooking.  Monday night I worked with a friend to create an amazing lasagna.  No bottle of ragu sauce for this creation.  We made nine different layers for a non-vegetable vegetarian pan.  No to zucchini, or spinach.  Mushrooms, sauteed and mashed garlic and onions, hard boiled eggs,n three cheeses, olives, noodles, and a layer o minced fresh herbs.Next night I made preview latkes.

Living in this creativity has its problems.  In a constant state of natural high, I mut work to keep myself grounded.  My memory for where I put things is terrible.  My friends and U joke about the gremlins.  Everything disappears.  “Go back to the last place where….” is useless.  I have been so many different places there seems no way to retrace all my steps.  Perhaps that is why I balance so many projects.  Can’t find my flue, but that stick would look good attached to this one.  I begin to clean one of these, but as I reach for my dremel I find the glue.

Organization escapes me.  There are days when cyclones follow me everywhere.  Fortunately I hit the moment where I click and I can move from hanging my clothes to organizing my shirts and swing by the kitchen to put away dishes.

Living in creativity, within gratitude is never boring.  My friends laugh with me frequently at the antics which result.  But as long as I can maintain my sense o humor, and not step outside the realm of gratitude, I certainly can live!

Where do you live?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Ann Metlay

    "With all the beauty surrounding me here above the Verde Valley, how could I not create more beauty?"

    Archives

    October 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All
    1968
    Abandonment
    Acceptance
    A College Memory
    Adrift Wood And Stone Assemblages
    Affirming Life
    After Parkland
    All About The Moon
    Amazon Books
    Amber's Birds
    A Moving Journal
    An Age Old Controversy
    Antidote For A One-Day Winter
    April Sunrise
    Arizona Monsoons
    A Tribute To Clark Memorial Library
    Autism
    AZ
    Beauty
    Beginning Of Fall
    Berkeley Bourgeois Meets Bronco Busting Bar-Fighter
    Blessing Of The Bug
    Blessings
    Blowing Into Spring
    Body Image
    Book Reviews
    Breeze Song
    Butterfly Space
    Carrot Beet Soup With Dill
    Cats
    Celebrate
    Children
    Chilled Spinach Soup
    Chilled Tropical Fruit Soup
    Clarkdale
    Coming Into Health
    Community Of Artists
    Cottonwood
    Cottonwood Studio
    Cottonwood Trees
    Cottonwood Village
    Cottonwood Waltz
    Devotion
    Dodi Checks In
    Doxies
    Dragon (A Story From The Classroom)
    Enchanted Wands
    Evolution Of Art
    Faith
    Father's Time
    Featured Artist
    Finding The Promised Land
    Forming Community
    For The Love Of Cats
    Fresh Tomato Soup
    From Adrift
    Full Moon
    Genesis 1
    Grand Opening
    Gratitude List
    Hank Erwin
    Hanukah 2017
    Hanukkah 2018
    Happy Birthday
    Headlines
    Healing Wolf
    Helen
    High Holidays
    Holiday Blessings
    Holidays
    Homing Wands
    How I Moved To The Verde Valley Of Arizona
    How To Eat Matzoh
    How To Mark A Life Milestone
    I Live In Gratitude
    Immigrants
    In Honor Of Teaching
    Inspired By Louise Nevelson
    January 2017 First Friday Artwalk
    John F. Kennedy
    Jr.
    Judaism
    Judie Dies
    June 5
    Kindle
    Kittens
    Kitten Time
    Late Dinner
    Learning To Entertain
    Leaving Jerome
    Lech Lecha
    Let's Go Camping
    Light Food
    Lilacs
    Made In Clarkdale
    Making Choices
    Martin Luther King
    May
    Medication
    Meet Don Jones
    Memoir
    Memories For The Holidays
    Menus
    Mindfulness Vessels
    Modeling
    Mousie
    Moving Beyond Words
    Moving Down The Hill
    My Artistic Process
    My Latest Book
    My Tree
    New Artist Syndrome
    New Gallery
    New Studio
    Nightmares
    No
    On The 342nd Birthday Of This Country
    Open Studio
    Open Studios
    Palo Verde Trees
    Parents
    Patriot's Day
    Peace Corp.
    Pets
    Photo Shoot
    Poem
    Poems
    Poetry
    Political
    Potato Leek Soup
    Prayer
    Prayer Shawl
    Quality Of Life
    Ranch
    Rebirth
    Rebuttal
    Recipes
    Red Flag Warning
    Rehoming Ceramic Pieces
    Reitz Ranch
    Remembering Departed Friends
    Remembering Junipurr
    Reunion Thwarted
    Review Of 2018
    Ribbons
    Scenes From Day 2 Of Open Studios
    Season
    Sedona
    Self Assurance
    Self Doubts
    Shadow Of Athena
    Side Effects
    Soup
    Storms
    Studio Cats
    Summer
    Summer Soup
    Sunday Soiree
    Sunday Sunset Soirees
    Sycamore Canyon
    Synagogue
    Teaching
    Thanksgiving
    Thanksgiving Grace
    The Man Who Blew In Off The Desert
    The Power Of Soups For Cold Weather
    The Woodman Cometh
    The Year To Come
    Toe Rings
    Torah
    To Restore Our Dreams
    To Restore Their Dreams
    Trauma
    Travel
    Tree Of Life
    Tree Parts In Desert Wood Assemblages
    Trump
    Verde Valley
    Waiting For The Monsoons
    Watermelon Dessert Soup
    Watermelon Gazpacho
    What Is Word Artistry?
    Wordless Poetry
    Zorb

    RSS Feed