T-minus one week and counting.
One of my goals was to attempt to gain membership in the Southern Highland Craft Guild based in Asheville, NC, which is a long drawn-out process. It all began with detailed photo submission of 5 recent 'works', which I sent of my cream-of-the-crop unique 'playable art' flutes. That was a couple of months ago (time flies when you're easily distracted!).
I did make it to round #2, which is now the delivery of 5 works to the Guild located at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway - if you're ever in the area, that is a wonderful place to stop and look around. More on what I'm taking in a moment...
Isn't it funny how 'things' can be relatively quiet and calm and then you have a gazillion 'things' hit all at once? That's kinda sorta my August. It started in a flurry and, for the moment, I have quiet couple of days. Alas, the ol' floodwaters could pick up again as early as this Thursday...
I applied late for a known craft show at Lake Junaluska which is a Friday-Saturday show indoors, which is always nice, not only for security reasons overnight but because I don't have to mess with my show tent and potential storms. I'm first on the waiting list should a vendor cancel...had 3 cancel last year, and the organizer said I had a good chance of getting in, so that's first up.
However, it will make for a very hard turn-around as I'm slated to work Sunday at WSOC...I try to get to work there at 3:30am and the Saturday show is over at 5p, with breakdown to follow...so you do the math as you plan for sleeping and a 3-hour car ride either on the front end or back end of that window!
Then it's a week of News 14 early AM shifts for the Greensboro office with most days double shift for Charlotte mid-days...which is when you cross your fingers we don't have the explosion of storms like there was August 5 given their eternal short-staffing situation.
Early morning shifts are tiring enough, but I've got to deliver the 5 flutes to Guild in Asheville Aug. 17 or 18 (Mon-Tue). One of the flutes I'm taking is in a school museum which I will pick up after work Monday (the intricate Blue Heron one), and will plan the trip for Tuesday, leaving directly from work. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, sometimes, eh?
All that to say the old adage is so true that when it rains it pours. I have other work in Atlanta to take care of right after that week, as well as preparing for a big Labor Day show in Maggie Valley. Lest I forget I have to use every opening to continue to work on flutes, not only on shows but on a couple of special orders that I have to tend to as I can. Which leads me back to the flutes...
I will have a photo/blog-post showcase with the 5 I'm taking...though some of you have seen some of them before, I'm going to rephotograph them later this week. 3 are privately owned:
Blue Heron, Praying Hands, and Jonah. I forgot how cool Jonah was to not only look at but play, a rich voice in Makore (African Cherry), with the 3-D whale shape overhanging the foot of the flute. It's no fluke. Well, it is. You'll see...
Two new flutes are coming out of the hopper...the first I call "Thunderbird" which is made of figured Walnut with turquoise inlay accents in both the flute and the block, and then Green Heron that I'm making in response to the Green Heron photos I snapped earlier this summer. The block will be a large heron head like the Blue Heron, but the flute decoration will be very different from Blue. The flute is also figured Walnut, but from the lowest finger hole to the end of the flute I've carved out a stream with 3 rocks in it, the rocks which I'll paint realistically. I was going to add inlay fish silhouettes on the side, but it detracted from what is a rather simplistic beauty.
I just felt the Heron head and the water motif fit perfectly hand in hand...as an artist, one is wise to develop a sense of aesthetics and know when enough is enough or more is warranted. I just had that clear gumption to drop the fish and I'm liking it this morning. While I've got a good bit yet to do, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...and it's not a freight train!
Well, enough of my rambling. I've been slow to respond to and create some emails lately and maybe this is an 'apology' post while a take a moment and breathe deeply - so happy summery heat to most of all y'all!
As Pepe LePew would say, "Le pant! Le pant! Le pant!"
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