big blog gap-big changes coming

Wow, I think this is the longest stretch I have gone without blogging since I began five years ago.

I realized yesterday when I couldn't remember a particular thing that happened and whether it was last year, two years ago, and what month or season, that I had to keep up with blogging or parts of my life would vanish.

Chalk it up to short memory and a propensity to always be moving ahead, and looking forward to the next thing.

But here are some reasons why there hasn't been a single second for blogging. Bryan and I have been seriously nose to the grindstone on a great big refresh of avisualplanet. The last eight weeks have been jammed with details regarding software gremlins, graphic design choices, content creation, rebranding, and the bain of any web designer...browser testing. We are not quite there yet but I am hopeful. And the knight in shining armor who is my husband has been pulling some pretty late hours (4 am, 2am, etc) which I think is super-human when you consider those wee hours are spent squinting at a computer screen. At that hour I become cross-eyed and mental, and what we use to say... turn into a pumpkin. But we are almost done and the new publish day is looming.

So this particular season of time I have been wearing my digital artist hat without relent.

But that is about to change.

Stepping off a somewhat large cliff I have applied for an artist in residence spot at Glen Echo Park. It is a big deal and would mean some big changes. I worked up my proposal and submitted it last week and I went before the "panel" yesterday for an interview.

The park is really unique in that it mirrors many aspects of artistic journeying that I hope to incorporate in our Exnihilo project. A vibrant and exciting place Glen Echo Park has a long standing pottery studio (35 years i think) an incredible glass fusion studio (where I took a class last year for fun), a traditional glass blower, a photography studio, a fiber artist, a printmaking studio, a children's theatre with a master marionette performer, an established program in ballroom dancing, a painting program with a super reputation, and the new addition of the Washington Conservatory of Music.

But no silversmith.

I discovered this fact last year when I was taking the glass class, and was astonished. Mostly because traditional silversmithing is sort of one of those anchor crafts that is expected to be available. This skill being the third prong in my artistic arsenal, and the most honed and established one, I began to consider focusing on it again. I inquired about teaching and had a class proposal approved only to have it fall through due to ventilation issues in the classrooms they had available. That was last november. Fast forward through a follow up correspondence this summer, and the discovery of the artist residency studio becoming available and we are caught up to today.

It is weird how life's little experiences converge to make big ones.

Here is the studio that may become my artistic home.

I will know more by the end of the week about this new thing of many in my life that Bryan now calls Blair-ventures. Thanks hon for not minding the "wild ride".