pamgarrison

breast cancer awareness month

Here's a favorite photo of my Mom and me, waaaaayyyy back when, sometime in the late 60's. I just love everything about it. When my husband brought it home from my Dad's house not long ago, it brought tears to my eyes, it just captures the love and intamacy of a mother and child so well. It was not long after this, or maybe already, that my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 38 and had a radical mastectomy. Poor girl. She fought hard for 12 years, going in and out of remission, and having many more surgeries and treatments as the cancer metastasized to her lymph nodes, bones and brain. She passed away at age 50, when I was in high school.

I miss her. I wonder how much I am like her. I inherited my Mom's love for shelling (that's me bent down, for gathering I'm sure), and her love of creating. She dabbled in many many creative pursuits, from stitching and clothes sewing to painting and macremé. I often think how wonderful it would be to have that creative relationship, as well as the obvious Mother/Daughter relationship.Wonderful, I'm sure.

Here's one of her oil paintings that I found the other day and brought home where it rests in our entry:

         

Another thing I inherited from my Mom apparently is my love of journaling. My Mom kept journals, a different form than I do, not visual journaling, but writing about her experience. It was her dream to write uplifting articles for women that were living with cancer as she was. She never did get any of them published. Until now, that is. My little brother recently created a blog in her honor and posted all of her cancer journal entries. As those of you that blog know, you have to hit "publish" before you can share whatever you've written with the world. So now, 30 years later, my Mom has those thoughts she was hoping to turn into articles somewhere where other people can read them. Something else I inherited from her I guess. :) I'll be adding a link to my sidebar, I hope you might take a moment or two to get to know her a little. I think she'd be honored.

Of course, being the daughter of a woman that discovered breast cancer at age 38, and having both maternal and paternal grandmothers that also had breast cancer (both sides matter now, not just maternal), doctors have been very good about aggressively checking me. I had my first mamogram before I was 30. Thankfully, both the detection and treatments of breast cancer have improved dramatically over the years. I have been tested for the BRAC gene and was thrilled to find I didn't have it, but really, since we don't know if my Mom had that kind of breast cancer or not, it doesn't mean that I might not be predisposed to what kind she had. I also get yearly ultrasound breast check after my mammogram just to be extra careful. One thing I used to do is schedule all my yearly tests at once, until an oncologist suggested that by spreading out my yearly OBGYN visit, and mammograms, It'd be possible to discover something within 6 months vs. a year. I thought that was a good suggestion for all women, so I'm passing it on to you.

When the French Brocante crown didn't sell at the Remnants of the Past event, I was somewhat relieved, I just loved it so much. Then again, once you decide to let go of something, you have kind of moved on from it already, and then I thought, I have a better way to use it: auction it off for breast cancer research, this being Breast Cancer Awareness month. So that's what I'm going to do! If you are interested in the crown, just leave a comment on this post with the amount of money you'd like to donate. (Check the previous comments to make sure you haven't already been outbid). On November 1, I'll lovingly pack up and ship the crown to the winner and will donate the entire purchase price to breast cancer research in honor of my Mom, my queen (get it?). I know she'd be tickled about this too. As I previously said, they've made such wonderful strides in breast cancer research and awareness, and I'm hoping to add another drop in the bucket by sharing something I created, hoping some of you will join me! xo

{Boy, this is turning into a personal blog, not a craft one...more creating coming soon, promise!}

 

can't. stop. painting.

I started with one painting and a few paints and kept bringing more boards and paints into the kitchen and now I've lost all control. It's been over a week. My poor family, gotta put it away before the weekend begins. Lost myself in it and was loving every minute of it. Must set up a real painting studio for myself in the garage for the time being. I crave room to be able to be set up to paint with all my supplies whenever the mood strikes and time permits. Add that to the list of must do-s this year. The one above is finished, the ones below are still in progress. I've been working on some smaller ones for the etsy shop too so that the are more reasonably priced to both buy and ship. Fun. Fun. Fun. Feeling very influenced by my friend Syd, who's coming to stay here a couple nights next week. Looking forward to painting with her over at Jenny's new space while taking this class. We'll see what direction I take after that fun, I like the not knowing where I'm going. I love the feel of the paintbrush loaded with paint on the wood,and the feel of  pencil doodling on the paint on the wood, and the mixing of colors and seeing the colors combined, capturing light...the process. Just love getting lost while creating, no matter what the medium.






Hope you get lost in something fun this weekend! xop

new samplers stocked on etsy!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to list these new samplers. I was so giddy when I designed them and recieved the printed fabric, but then, in a desire to stitch a complete sample first, before listing, time got away from me, and a million other projects came in between. Thanks to those of you who have been requesting more samplers, I have gotten them up and listed, and I'll post the finished versions of mine when I complete them. I'm not even letting the poor photos stop me!(I tend to overwhelm myself into "stuck" a lot of the time. As if I'm telling you something you haven't already figured out if you're a blog reader of mine). Anyway, I hope you like them as much as  I do! You can find them over at my etsy shop, pamg.etsy.com

          

You can see I didn't get too far on this one yet, but I'm loving the color scheme I chose of greys, yellows and purples. But of course, you may choose an entirely different set of colors and stitches for an entirely different look.

My friend Heather suggested that I make some letterpress stationary and I think that the orange and purple samplers would make great cards. Anyone have a letterpress printing company that they use and love? I'd like to add it to my list of things to look into. I love anything with a hand drawn font, so maybe others would too. - And yes, still working on the posters...making progess s l o w l y, but surely. xo

queen for the day

As I mentioned on the last post, I'm heading up to the Remnants of the Past Sale to help Amy in her booth this weekend. I've made the painful decision to let go of a few of my special pieces that I've made over the years, in order to reinvest in my art, and am planning on bringing them along to the show. But then I thought I should let you know, in case any of you are interested, as you're my peeps after all, and therefore, you should get first dibs. These crowns were published in Crowns and Tiaras. They're for decorative use only. The beaded beauty above took me about 1,000 hours haha. Ok, not that many, but it sure seemed like it. She's wonky, but that adds to her charm for me. I love the details:

               

And this French Brocante crown below was on the cover of the book it was made for.

I remember being wildly inspired by a recent trip to Wendy Addison's  Theatre of Dreams when I made it, and even used a precious piece of antique burnt orange velvet on the inside (hard to see on the orange pillow, but it's there) that I bought from her. This crown has a little bit of magic weaved into her wire. And all the blood I shed from the chicken wire has been bleached off (just kidding, but man, that chicken wire is hard to work with!) Here's the back:

            
Then for a queen of a different sort, I was involved in another fun project based on Marie Antoinette. I was inspired to create a dress board, imagining Marie approving her gown before the making. This art piece graced the cover of Somerset Studio long ago.

All these pieces hold a special place in my heart, but I'm commited to making some of my new dreams come true, and the truth of the matter is, lots of the things in my way take money, whether it be hiring a serivce, or required technology, or materials, so if I have to let them go to earn it, I will. Doesn't most big growth include a good deal discomfort? It's good for me, I think. And speaking of letting go and growth, I'll get to see my college girl this weekend. Amy didn't have to twish my arm into joining her when I knew I'd be able to see my girl! Hope to see some of you there too, and to those I won't: hope you have a great weekend!

wip paintings and journal pages

                 

            

 

 

More soon, much to report, but just had to get some new eye candy up for those of you kind enough to stop by- I do appreciate you so!

Off to the dentist and then Amy's for the day to help her get ready for her big sale at Judy Watkins'    Remnants of the Past this weekend. I'm going to be her helper, come by and see us if you are in the area!

Happy Monday! xop

p.s.wow, that's a lot of exclamation points. i'm thinking it's going to be a great week :}