Windows Opening...
Doors Closing...
Doors Revolving and Learning
At Last to Embrace Change!

I think there must be a deep pit somewhere that eats time! The month of May has just flown by with computer glitches and lots of change in my life. I was trying to set up a separate blogging component to my website... but that just proved to be too problematic with the program I was trying to use. I have a handle on a new possibility, but for now, after many abortive attempts and weird glitches, it is time to just do another entry on Blogger.

You will notice a big change soon... after many years of wanting this to be a forum where I could just "vent" without worrying about the feedback, the comments feature on Dragon Musings has now been turned on. Many of you have asked me to consider this feature for a while now and with all the change that is going to happen in my life in the next 6 months, I think that it is about time. I tried to get it to work on this post, but I don't think it is working, so it's time to ask Blogger for help.

So what has happened since the last entry?

First of all, Toronto was an absolute BLAST!! It reminded me of just how important it is to be creative and to keep learning new things. One of the reasons that I was trying to get the blog moved to my site was so that I could add more pictures. I really want to show off the little basket that I made because I had SUCH fun learning a new skill like that!

I can't wait for the fall show either because I am teaming up with two people I love to work with, Teresa Wentzler and Doug Kreinik, to offer stitchers a special project that will hopefully have their fingers itching to stitch!! You'll get more details later, but for now, know that we are having a blast planning this. Teresa and I always have fun rooming together as well... though it has sometimes digressed into a giggle fit.

So what doors are closing? I haven't given up on cross stitch. In fact, I am still working on the releases for the show in Charlotte this August which we plan to do as a family. I am also branching out into something needlework related, but that lets me explore colour and texture in a whole new way as well as play with sparkly things. Dragons really love things that sparkle!!

What has kept me busy, excited and enraptured for the past 2 weeks is the chance to illustrate a children's book over the summer!! I am just over the moon as I prepare sketches for a local author's second book which she would like to publish before Thanksgiving!! After almost 30 years of wanting to "grow up and draw the pictures for books", I am finally getting the chance to show off what I am capable of. Thrilled just doesn't begin to describe the feeling! Of course I will still wrestle with my demons every time I get a sketch finished and wonder if it couldn't be a little better or a little bit more "perfect", but I have finally learned to just embrace the possibilities of each day and each moment that is offered.

The fact that I found out about the illustration job 3 days before I received the letter about not passing this year's jury for the Dragon*Con art show made that news a little more bearable. I do have an incredibly "cutsey" style. Works from that portfolio will be appearing on my site in the next few days as I wrestle to get the updates done for June. Nick is away at a conference in Halifax until Friday, so I am now getting a taste of what he goes through as a single parent when I jaunt off to trade shows!

After the first initial feeling of "so what didn't you like about my stuff?", all I really felt about not getting into Dragon*Con was a sense of relief at not being pulled in 3 directions at once this summer. Trying to get over 22 illustrations done for the children's book will be challenging enough while still getting Santa's Dragon and any other new releases ready for the show. As wonderful a city as Atlanta was, there are other cons and other ways to get my artwork out there that don't involve spending over a thousand dollars in travel, hotel and bay rental.

Doors closing,... windows opening... doors revolving. When it comes right down to it, it is all about learning to embrace CHANGE.

The journey of these past 2 years has taught me that change does not have to be something that is feared or dreaded.

Think of a kaleidoscope. Thousands of shifting pieces of glass or plastic that tumble around in a tube to form something beautiful thanks to the mirrors that help create the patterns. Nothing stays the same forever, no pattern gets carved in stone. Everything shifts and changes and turns into something beautiful again. Not the same as it was, but beautiful none the less.

I am trying to now live each day looking for the new and beautiful pattern emerging from the chaos. I am trying to embrace change as something inspiring and creative, instead of scary. I'll keep you posted on how I make out! Maybe you'll join me on the journey.