Choices

Every day we get to choose. We are a combination of our choices from the beginning. I have always been an artist. I have had a calling in my soul for as long as I can remember to create. Even as a little girl growing up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania, I lived with the magical world surrounding me. "Being an artist is not practical." "You need to really be focused." "Stop daydreaming." "You are not good enough." I still hear it all each and every time I step forward to create, but the scoffing voices are getting quieter. I pay very little attention any more. I look at what I do...make dolls, critters, pin keeps, and I love them. I know those who purchase my work to love them too. Many do not. I was once told, "I'd be hard pressed to like anything that you do." I was shocked to be told that...then I smiled. It is about the creative muse, not the critic. My biggest complement was from a gentleman who continually came to buy my dolls. One day I ask what he did with them...were they gifts? He laughed and said they decorated his office. He was an engineer. He said he was collecting a group of creatures to help him keep perspective of his own work. He said that all of his purchases had formed a dysfunctional family with way too much inbreeding! When he looked at them...he smiled and remembered what was really important...SIMPLICITY. He said my work made him smile, especially a rabbit I had named Festus...he was sure he had turned into a Blue Grass fan because of Festus's face!  No greater complement than that!
    So I say choose to create and let nothing stop your journey. I am 65 years young and I am finally starting to "Get It" Choose all that is good for your Soul. Choose to be unstopable. Choose to dream. Choose to use God's gifts. I choose to be a Folk Artist......Blessed Be !  

Benji Comes of Age

I haven't written since we had Benji move in with us. I really have been speechless. He is like living with an ANIMAL!  I know that is hard to believe, he is just so darn cute. I have been captured by this ball of fur and I no longer have a life of freedom. He consumes everything, I mean literally. Benji eats every thing that has the misfortune of falling on the floor. It might be a morsel of food, today's mail, a photo, a paycheck, Benji is not choosey. It enters his mouth and come out in slivers of what used to be. He is my constant companion as I sew, paint and create...he creates as well. I designed a beautiful angel with delicate wings...he ate the wing pattern. I wrote a story for one of my Simply Primitive offerings... Eaten....I feed him chewies, he eats my linen thread. I talk to him endlessly about manners and he eats my used tea bag. My Primitive offerings have a whole new look to them...aged by little teeth... and puppy mouth.  I seldom yell anymore...but I do laugh a lot. I did cry when he ate my hearing aid, I must admit, but he never heard me, he was off to a new adventure...chasing a kitty. I am glad to have this fur ball in my life, mess and all. I just have the feeling like I am living with an ANIMAL...and that surely can't be..can it?

We Have A New Baby!

Let me introduce Benji. He is the newest addition to our family. His daddy is a Yorky and his mom is a Shitzu...what we have is a tiny ball of fur who was born on April 28th. We have had him for about a month and he has reminded me of the perils of Puppy Hood.... shredded paper, chewed shoes and puddles on the floor.   We do laugh...a lot!  Benji is thrilled to have a new mommy who has scraps of material, ribbon, fiber fill and baskets of wool and old quilts just lying around the house. He is into it all. I am sure, given time, he will add new Primitive markings to my designs. How to explain teeth marks on a Primitive doll?   He has made himself at home and has been begging for the 3 Siamese cats to be his friends.   Needless to say, they are not at all impressed or interested in any way...they are Siamese..if you please.
We are appreciative of the joy he has brought to our home and we look forward to years of love and laughter.   

ESTY Shop Opens!

The whole thrust of my Blog was to get me to the point that I no longer felt computer illiterate and could actually navigate the web. My ultimate goal was to open an ETSY Shop and I have actually accomplished it....you go girl...I know that lots of you already do all of this and do not at all feel intimidated...alas...not ME. I must admit that once I over came the fear....doing the shop was quite simple, so the BIG BOGY MAN I envisioned, does not exist. I am thrilled to be a part of the ETSY world and have actually applied to a team (Gutsy for me...I hate that rejection stuff). I have been busy for a long time getting new things into my 5 shops where I sell in New York's Finger Lakes Region....one of the shops unfortunately closed....and I am down to 4. I love doing what I do and I love that people actually buy my work. Who'da thunk?
I also have joined a wonderful Artisans group called Rochester Artisans. They have taught me lots of stuff...and they have encouraged me to get involved. I am getting ready for an exhibit they are doing...more details later.

Being a part of something is good for the soul and working and listening to others of the same ilk is enlightening as well as soothing. We artsy folk are different in a very good way...thanks to all of you out there....I would love to know all of you....a wonderful group of CREATIVITY.   My ETSY is:   http://www.etsy.com/people/ChanceryLanePrims?ref+si_pr  Please stop by and see what I have done so far.

Where Did the Time Go?

I got lost in time....too many things to do. I have been busy setting up for a show and exhibit in an Art Gallery...Yes can you believe it, me in an Art Gallery. I was asked to show my Primitive Folk Art at the Historic Dryer House Emporium in the Village of Victor, NY. It is a beautiful Federal-Italianate style home built in 1838 by William C. Dryer. I will be in the Gallery until the beginning of August. I am so honored and excited. I hope to get down there and get some photos to show you. I am also ready for July 1st on www.simplyprimitives.com I included one photo from that offering here today. Things are moving along and I find myself very blessed. I also joined Linkedin (Arts & Crafts)...WOW high tech Sandie! I love this artsy life....so many cool people and wonderful connections with REAL people...It's a Wonderful Life.

Reflections on Procrastination

Do you ever feel that you are really going nowhere fast? I do...my goal was to be on ETSY in April...NOT DONE...no reason...just am incapable of taking the fatal plunge. I find myself being very busy... doing all kind of nonsense and accomplishing very little...must be a gene missing in my confidence. Has anyone ever felt so terribly driven to nowhere? The sun is out, the flowers are blooming and there is hope everywhere in the world....except here in Blog Land. I just bought a new background from a vendor and specific instructions to upload it...think I can get it on the Blog....NOT ... I guess that is what the problem is...not knowing exactly what to do, I just get tired of STUPID...oh well, I have made a decision that will move me forward....I am going to go get some CHOCOLATE....success at last!

They Say You Can't Go Home Again

But you can..... I live in Rochester, NY and  I returned to Rochester, PA this week. I went to be with my friend, Suzanne...her sister, Gail died and I wanted to be there. I met Suzanne when I was 6. We had moved to Rochester from the Alleghney Mountains and I was a lost soul...being a country girl and all. Suzanne rode her bike by one day and we just hit it off...that was 58 years ago. Both of us have lived other places and have full lives...but we call ourselves our "Longest Friends" (oldest is not a good adjective at our ages)...Any way...as I sat in church on Wednesday...I began a long journey down memory lane. Gail was 7 years older than us...she was the pretty blond high school girl I wanted to be. When Suzanne and I were in the Brownies, Gail and her new boy friend, Jake, came to Life Guard for us...I remember how "cute" he was...all of us little girls swooned. I remember when they married, had their boys, became grandparents and recently celebrated their 50th Wedding anniversary. All of these memories came flooding back. These are the people that have formed the tapestry of my life. I have so many memories of Rochester and the days with Suzanne.... roller skating on skates that had a key, buying penny candy, camp fires, dolls and paper dolls, shared secrets, crushes on boys, dances every Saturday night during high school, friends during college, marriages, children and funerals. I also laughed at myself as I remembered riding my bike down Reno Street and screaming at the top of my lungs..."Suzanne, I just got my first trainer bra"...and as a true friend, she was happy for me. It is a privilege to know Suzanne and her wonderful family. Sometimes the worst of times bring out the best memories. I am back in Rochester,NY now...but my heart is warm with the memories of Rochester, PA...Thanks, Suzanne.