Sunflower Chandy

September is a 'between time' month.  It's not summer. It's really not yet Fall either.  Even though I live in a tropical location, I have a need to change things up once my teens hit the books.  It just doesn't feel like beach balls and pool floats anymore.  But then again, I am not ready for pumpkins either. 

My solution for this is to put away beachy stuff and incorporate pseudo-harvest items into my decor, like apples, sunflowers and the bees of early autumn.  I don't like to make twice the work on myself, so I consider that in just four short weeks my Halloween decorations are about to appear.  With that in mind, my decorations are more of a staging for more to come.  Take for example my new Fall Chandy Decoration. 

I saw these super neato sunflower napkin rings appear this year at Pier One Imports. The moment they had a sale, I scooped up enough to fit over each light on my dining room chandelier.  If you remember last Spring, I re-did this chandy with spring roses and highlighted it on my blog here.  Now it time for the roses to take a leave and give way to something more appropriate.  Once I saw these sunflowers, I knew they were the autumn replacements.  They will remain here through Thanksgiving as a base.  I will add a little accent of Halloween and then Thanksgiving.  For now, I added a little early autumn bee to the mix. 

I found a neat black and white bee in a book I have, copied it and mounted it on red gingham paper and then back them with brown corrugated paper. (I anticipated being able to the see the backside of the cards and wanted a finished look.) 

I then strung them on a thick jute and simply wound them around the candlestick lights.  Nice finishing touch which didn't take a lot of time and can be switched out come October.

Ignore my hubby's junk pile on the stairs.  (wink)

Nice, quick little 'switcherooy!'  This didn't take a lot of time. It's fresh and gives an immediate feeling of an oncoming autumn season. Come October, the bees will take flight and leave and I will replace them with something fun for Halloween.  For now, let me get outta here before one of these bees stings my @$$ hand. 

-The End-
Linking to:

Ponderings from the Desk of The Homeless Finch

Bought. Soon to show up in my home.

It amazes me everyday that at the age of 47, I still haven't figure it out.  I am not talking about large lofty things like The Meaning of Life and such. I think I have that somewhat figured out for myself.  I am talking about the 'what' am I suppose to be doing with my creativity.  I have an arsenal of skills that I have learned along the way in my search, so nothing is lost.  But, what the heck am I doing here?

 As I write this....I am sitting here in my studio thinking about how to fill my time here this morning.  Why do I have this conflict between wanting to put paint on canvas and being pulled away for creative pursuits in my home?  Is this a time to push forward and make myself start to paint?  Is it a internal message telling me that my talents are better used somewhere else?  Why can I not figure this one out?!  Grr...

Taken at Riitta Klint's Studio.

Do you have these conflicts between what you think you should do and what is drawing your elsewhere?  Is it fear that is keeping me from my canvases?  Is it?  Is it lack of inspiration on what to paint?  Is it all these things and my psyche is bringing them out of my fingers as I pound these words from my computer?  What is my inner voice saying to me right now.  Wait a minute.....I am going to take a moment right here to think about this. Be right back.

Paint spatters on a drop-cloth in
Riitta Klint's Studio.

I just don't have the answers.  So I guess I will do what I tell my kids.  Just keep pressing forward, in the hopes that someday there will be a moment of clarity and you will see how this all adds up to something uniquely yours.  I'm gonna sign off now and see what happens. 

(Project Post coming tomorrow. Stay tuned.)

-The End-

With Cleaned Out Nests - The Finch is Back

That's right.  I'm looking at you!

It's never easy going back to work or school after a lazy summer retreat.  I have been watching the calendar dreading looking forward to this day.  Time to get back to work.  Time to get back to The Finch.  Time to get back on track.  Time to up the ante.  Time to...well, you get the idea.



Blooming now out back.

We all need time off to re-charge our minds, or senses, our creativity.  This past month has been just that...time away to clear my mind, step back and re-examine.  A few of my closest friends could sense that I was contemplating walking away from my blog.  I got a few emails of encouragement from them.  I could almost sense their nail biting nervousness that I would do such a thing.  After all, I have poured my heart and soul into this blog for 6 months and to walk away, would just be an abomination. Right?  Well, truth is....I was contemplating just that.  In the end, I decided not to walk away, but to tweak the parts that just were not working for me.  I needed to, like I did in my finch aviary, clean out the nests!

Some changes needed to be made.  Instead of the pressure of posting each and everyday, I will post several times a week.  For someone like myself who is incapable of posting anything that I personally do not think is top drawer, posting everyday had become a chore.  It takes time to develop ideas, do the work necessary to implement them and then to write about them.  I need the space to breath. 

Taken on a recent stop at
Pier One.

Second, I am making the commitment to considerably cut down the time I spend promoting The Homeless Finch.  It is stunning the time it takes to promote a blog.  Followers just don't find you, you have to find them!  I spend hours upon hours a week, linking my posts.  I have gotten seriously good at doing this at lightning speed, but it's not seamless...believe me.  So, I guess I won't have a huge following like many out there.  I can live with that.  I like the followers I already have!  Ultimately, the purpose of this blog was to help inspire my studio work and give me a place to share while creating a mechanism of accountability. 

Should I buy this?
Cute little guy at Pier One.

Going forward, you might be seeing some subtle changes, like more 'chirps' and 'muses' than project after project reveals.  I think that changing this up might produce even more yummy stuff for me to share with you guys.  I am also hoping (fingers crossed) that I am FINALLY going to have the time to 'get back to the canvas!'  It's been too long.  I need to develop a body of work.  No more excuses.

So.....Welcome back!! Happy Almost Autumn!  I have a ton of nifty things going on in my studio and I can't wait to show you all of it.  I have several projects in the works.  Lots of inspiration throughout the Fall and Holiday season.  So let's get our feathers in gear, Finch Followers!  We got work to do!

-The End-