If you read my last post, you know that March 2nd will be a day that many in West Liberty & surrounding areas will never, ever forget. Certainly the person I am today is a little altered by the experience. By the depth of fear I felt. By the things I saw & heard & witnessed. I will never forget seeing pieces of tin in the dirtiest, blackest sky I’ve ever seen, or overturned cars outside a hospital parking lot, or saddest of all, a family of four, parents with their two small children, walking in the pouring rain, holding hands & navigating downed power lines at the edge of dark–their home a crumbled shell. I will never forget the sound of who knows what hitting the outside of our house, feeling the walls vibrate, shouting a prayer & being certain that when we emerged from our pantry, we would see daylight where a kitchen ceiling once stood. I will never forget how blessed I felt upon discovering that our second story was intact, our home was okay, outside of broken windows & minor things. At least it was standing. I will never forget seeing my white curtains billowing out of a broken 2nd floor window. It was hauntingly beautiful in light of the tragedy–a photograph waiting to happen, a moment of pretty for my eyes to rest upon, before they would look upon the devastation. So, I’m certain I am a little different today than I was three months ago. If anything, the person I am today, right now, knows that life is short, nothing is for certain…and that that thing you think will never happen, can happen. It might not. But it can.

Before March 2nd I had been working furiously on ornaments & sweet new doll designs & spending time anticipating & brain-storming for the shows & art fairs I’ll be participating in this year. Shortly after the tornado, I cleared my work table. There were more pressing projects. Outside projects. A million sticks to be raked up.  Trees to be cut, branches to be moved. Heck, a whole collapsed barn that needed to be removed, its contents, what wasn’t smashed, moved to another storage area. Art just seemed to belong on the back-burner.

And now it’s summer. Even though there are many outside projects still to be completed & plywood still covering our three broken windows, there are shows just a few months away. I’ve been brainstorming & cluttering up my work table again. It feels good to begin again. To get back into the swing of things. I am working on new doll designs. The feel of the paperclay, smoothing it, sanding it, it’s satisfying. I like witnessing creatures emerge from what was once a solid lump. Some of these new designs will be exclusive to my show tent. I want to have some extra special little somethings for folks who come see my booth.

Earlier this month, I also got to see my little dolls in print for the very first time.

Last September, I submitted some dolls to Prims magazine & they were accepted for publication in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue. I kept that secret quiet for a quite a while! With everything else happening this spring, I didn’t quite have the heart to announce it. The girls are back from their excursion in California & he Spring/Summer of Prims is now on newsstands & can be purchased online or at your local Michael’s craft store. I’m very grateful to have been chosen for the magazine & look forward to future submissions. The four dolls featured in the magazine are available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Newness, beginning again. I’ve spent today in my studio, tidying it up, cleaning & finishing some projects that I’d begun a while back….like my office chair slipcover. Nothing is more inspiring than a clean space or a clean slate, waiting to be written on, waiting to be worked in. With that thought, I have a very special summer sale in mind. I’ll post details shortly!