into the home stretch

We've spent this week painting and packing and babysitting for my DD and her family. It's been along time since we worked this hard. Both DH and I had had it by about 3:00 this afternnoon. the actual move is tomorrow. My DD is quite firm that she doesn't expect either DH or myself to do any heavy work tomorrow. There is still some painting to do, but I sure hope he isn't planning to try to do it while furniture is moving in or out. I'm told that my job will be to keep the two children out of the way. That might prove to be a harder job than anything else! At least at the new house, there is a big back yard with toys in it, although the baby won't be able to be out in the sun at all. It's very hot here, and we're getting humidex warnings. Still, I guess that's better than trying to move in the rain.

My DD and her family rarely start the day much before 10:00, so I've had a little bit of time in the mornings to get into my studio. I bought the book "Mixed Media Explorations" by Beryl Taylor, and I've been trying some of her techiques. Most of her work is based on fabric paper, which I've made, used and taught before. However, she uses thinner glue than I'm used to, and heavier paper than I'm used to. So I went to Michael's and bought several sheets of scrapbooking paper that were on sale, just to play with. I'm now about half done my first project, and I have to admit, that it's been a long time since I've been challenged quite this much. At the same time, the indivdual techniqes are fairly simple. What makes it different is the way she incorporates several techniques into the same project. Her work is very carefuly planned and very, very detailed--neither of which are my strong suits. And I'm sure there must be 200 things I should be doing other than playing with this. I was able to show an artist, whose work I admire,a couple of my sample pieces from the book. Iwas told that they were works of art just as they are, and that I was to matt them and sell them. Quite a validation, and I may just try it. Oh, oh--am I moving even deeper into mixed media stuff? My Gosh--can altered books be far behind?