Yes... This Is Me...(ugh!!!)

yes, this is me at my worst. i had my surgery this past wednesday and now starts the healing process. i am left-handed, so i feel really helpless. i can't even wear a normal shirt. i was having a lot of pain in my left shoulder for about the last 3 or 4 months, and cortisone shots weren't working. i had an mri done on it, and it showed my collarbone was irritating my ac joint, so the doctor trimmed away a little of my collarbone. when he was working on my shoulder, he found something he wasn't expecting. there was an unusual tear in my rotator cuff. it was torn lengthwise, right down the middle, so he stitched that up too. that's why it didn't show up on the mri. anyhow...i must now wear this huge contraption of a sling for he thought about a month. i will probably find out more specifics from him when i see him on monday, so he can change the thick dressing covering my shoulder. this sling is really bulky, and my arm is so restricted in it, that all i can do is wiggle my fingers. i can't even wear a shirt without pulling it over that arm, because it is also strapped around my waist.

here are several of the unflattering photos my husband took of the sling, i told him to only email them to my sister, but i think he emailed them to everyone in his address book. because when i would talk on the phone to people, they would say, yeah...he sent them to me. so i figured i might as well post them here too.
see how there's all that cushioning between my arm and my body? it sticks way out in front of me like a big cast. so, needless to say, i can't work on any art projects for a while, and that really sucks. it's even hard for me to type this, because i have to hunt-and-peck every letter. i'm signed up for some art workshops beginning labor day weekend, and i'm really hoping i'll be able to do them.

I Know I Should've Posted Something Sooner....

Artwork Zine and Auction to Benefit

"A Place to Bark"

Earlier this year, I was contacted by Jill Beninato, an Artist/Pet Photographer, who was putting together a project to support Bernie Berlin's "A Place To Bark" animal rescue. Jill invited myself, along with 20 other artists to create an original piece of artwork based on the "Party Animals" theme, using any medium we wanted. I was thrilled to be able to be a part of this project, because 2 of my little pugs came from there. Jill photographed each piece and created a zine featuring everyone’s work, along with other fun articles and info about A Place To Bark. The finished zine is full color, 43 pages, and printed professionally by Lulu Printing. You can get your very own copy by clicking here. You will also be able to view a loop of all the artwork by clicking on that link. ALL of the proceeds go directly to helping the animals at A Place To Bark! All the original artwork from this zine will be auctioned off on Ebay on October 15th, 2009. I will post info about the auction as the date gets closer.

This is the cover of the zine...

and this is the artwork I contributed. It is done on a 12" x 12" stretched canvas.

This is (from left to right) Sophie, Junior, Mugsy, Popeye, and Otis.

Mugsy and Popeye were both rescued by Bernie, and when she found each of them, they were very ill, starved, and near death. I wrote a short article about them in the zine, on the page opposite of the picture. Sophie and Otis both have passed away a while back, and tragically my sweet Mugsy died very unexpectedly since I finished this piece.

Kim came over several weeks ago for a 'play day' in my studio, and this time she came bearing gifts! She is such a sweet person. She gave me a giftbox, which was an old cigar box tied up with vintage lace ribbon. Inside, she had about a dozen items, each carefully wrapped up in brown tissue paper. It was all little 'junque'... cool little stuff to use in jewelry/assemblage art...surplus items from one of her finds at an auction. I was thrilled with the gift, and she was tickled to be able to give the doo-dads to someone who loved junque as much as she did!

After receiving my gift, she unveiled her huge 'find' from the auction...

Over 130 valve knobs!!!!! They were all sizes, shapes, and colors!!!!

And if you knew how good of a deal she got on these babies, you'd pee in your pants!

She let me pick out any 3 of the handles that I wanted, so these are the ones I finally chose. It was soooo hard to pick just 3. I asked her if I could buy a few more, but she said no. She then added that she'll give me some more, after I make something with the ones I have.

She then added, "and you can't just string some wire through them and call it a pendant, either!!!!"

So I made her put these 4 away 'on reserve' for me, until I get something made with the other ones.

I did made a few pins recently. I am planning on selling them. I guess I'll have to get a store open on Etsy soon, so I can list them.

This one is my favorite. I will even make one like this on special order if you have an old family photo you would like in it. I love how the etched metal looks!~

Oh yeah...I'm not going to be able to do much posting in the next few weeks (so what else is new, right??) I'm having arthroscopic surgery done tomorrow morning on my left shoulder (and I'm left-handed), and I will be unable to move it for at least a month. I have to wear some big, oversized shirts, because I was told I cannot even move my arm to get a sleeve on it...everything I wear has to be worn over the arm. I'm going to look like a freak, because I can't do anything with my right hand. My makeup will look like bozo the clown, and we won't even discuss the hair! I had my husband try to use a curling iron on it the other morning for a 'dry run', and...well...it was a disaster! Hopefully I won't be laid up for too long!!!!!