Stained Glass Pieces Finished....England, Here I come!

(Above: Stained Glass XI, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Earlier this week I turned 50! That's a half a century...an amazing amount of time. I am stunned because I hardly feel the years (most fortunately!). Mere words cannot adequately express the sensation: I am old; I am young. I have just begun a career in fibers....yet, I am middle aged. Time is racing out of control.

(Above: Stained Glass XI. Click on image to enlarge. Approximately, 57" x 17", unframed.)

Logic must intrude! I've spent the past eight years "emerging". Now, however, I must immediately enter the realm of MID-CAREER ARTIST. I can safely spend the next eight years or a decade as a mid-career artist....then....there will be another reality check! In ten years I'll be sixty! At sixty years of age, I'd better be firmly into serious, mature work. (Now is the time to plan!)

(Above: Detail of Stained Glass XI. Click on image to enlarge.)

So....I have a list... a plan to get me from the shock of 50 to the stun of 60! (Yes, Wanda...my sister...I, too, have a list!----Aside: Wanda has a "list" of her "lists"; she is QUEEN of list!) My list addresses the my desires.

(Above: Stained Glass XII. Approximately 57" x 17", unframed. Click on image to enlarge.)

Here are my desires:
I want to be taken seriously as an artist. I want to be accepted into an international juried show(s). I want to have proper gallery representation. I want to be selected for another artist residency. I want to write a book and have it published and have people want to purchase it. I want to create work that touches souls...souls that I'll never personally know. I want Alex, my younger son, to be happy.

(Above: Stained Glass XII, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

This is a tall order. It is the "order of a lifetime". I have less than half my life to achieve it.

(Above: Stained Glass XIII. Approximately 57" x 17", unframed. Click on image to enlarge.)

Time is running out!


(Above: Stained Glass XIII, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Yet, this past week I've used the time allotted to me well. I melted the faux stained glass fiber pieces. I submitted images and my paperwork for several potential art opportunities. I wrote a "guest blog post". I entered another juried show. Plus, I'm leaving tomorrow for Manchester, UK.

(Above: Stained Glass XIV. Approximately 57" x 17", unframed. Click on image to enlarge.)

Steve and I will be sharing a rental apartment with our son Mathias and his girlfriend Laura-Jane. Her parents hopefully will be coming to see the ballets in which the two will be performing. With luck, I'll get to meet these nice people who have opened their home to my elder son. The time away will be special.

(Above: Stained Glass XIV, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

The time away will also be an opportunity to explore Liverpool and to stitch another Grave Rubbing Series quilt. I will return with new ideas, new connections, and a new outlook on the next decade....a "mid-career fiber artist"!

(Above: Stained Glass XIV, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)