AmberJean blogs

Bear with me...

AmberJean — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:02:58 +0000

Spring is (among so many wonderful things) the season when bears awake from a long cozy slumber to roam and forage, driven by post-hangover munchies. Thus it is also the season when I must once again retrain myself to grab the bear spay before my daily jaunts in the woods behind my mountain top home. I never think of the spray until I am well away from home, tromping through mud or post-holing through knee deep snow polka dotted with critter tracks – moose, elk, deer and the sweet wee-baby-versions of each. I simply need to get back into the habit of grabbing the bear spray before I go.
Similarly, I must re-establish the habit of blogging. I am constantly struck with the impulse to share and yet last month went by with nary a word. Transition has me floundering between habits and whatever semblance of routine I may had. Finishing and moving into the NEW studio took precedence over any type of writing routine. I am still juggling the addition of three wonderful children in my life with Paul along with the scattered part of living in two towns and the addition of caring for my mother since my father’s death last year. The New Year brought a commitment to fitness (I have lost 15 pounds so far) and I have completed a wonderfully intense webinar course for artists with Paul Klein. Recently the shocking untimely death of a sweet friend knocked the wind out of me and the little community I live in.

Winter lingers in the Rockies. Spring has a tough job trying to move into the high country bit-by-hard-won-bit. My progress this past month is on par with spring- bright moments of light and promise in between the mud and muck. The lack of blogging had nothing to do with the lack of content, ideas, or events – life has been full. Somehow blogging and social media bumped my old fashioned habit of journaling right off the shelf. I missed it. The need to scribble words and doodle ideas on paper has returned just in time to spill over and into my new studio space. Juicy stuff which I promise to share via the blog. Bear with me...

Wynn

AmberJean — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:18:53 +0000

I have been sharing my studio, my house, my bed and my life with one of my closest girlfriends Wynn. More than a foot of fresh spring snow greeted her when she got off the plane last Saturday (good thing she left her flip-flops at home in Nashville). Just over a year ago she came to nurse me physically and emotionally through a difficult major surgery. She needed a “Montana fix” and I needed a “Wynn fix” so I scraped together the moola for a ticket. Despite the 16 hour days of finish work, “the nest” (studio nap room) was not ready for her even though she had already dubbed it “Wynn’s room” on Facebook. She arrived early afternoon but the day was gobbled up by what felt like a zillion errands before we bounced up the mountain road in my truck. Wynn plucked her way through the muck and mud of the construction zone; I opened the studio door with a flourish, stepped aside so that she could enter...

“F*CK!” she screamed.

Followed by “F*CK!!!”

and another happy overwhelmed “F*CK!!!” She grabbed my arm to steady herself. Tears sprung and rolled down her face. We held hands.

Wynn has known me since before my life on the mountain - a looooooooong time. She congratulated the addition of electricity to my cabin home knowing better than anyone just how much fuel this insomniac burned in her Coleman lanterns during those first years. Wynn was one of the few guests who ventured to stay during the seven years I lived without plumbing. She knew all about “Smoky” the sweet o’l retired railroader who let me use his garage shop with the big barrel trash burner stove for a studio. She cheered me on when I closed in the covered cabin porch with plywood and windows to make a studio at home – dragging my sculptures outside at sunrise each day to work since the ceiling was too low to stand them up inside – then dragging them back before the afternoon mountain thunderstorms. Wynn met and loved Freeman – the painter for whom I modeled for fourteen years before nursing him through terminal illness. She cried with me when she heard Freeman died in my arms. She encouraged me to accept his widow Daisy’s invitation to use Freeman’s studio as my own. Spacious – complete with an office, a shower and a nap room; I spent more time working and sleeping there than at home during the years I enjoyed Freeman’s special space. Wynn sent me $1000 when I was busy creating the first five “Reliquaries” for my first solo museum exhibit – too broke for anything but basic food but of course able to buy stained glass and steel – whatever necessary to realize my vision of the works. She let me take her climbing on slimy rock in the bug and slug infested Tennessee cliffs when I found myself studioless – she understood my need to push the edge and never gave up on my passion and vision when the studioless years stretched impossibly long.

I cannot imagine life without Wynn and felt blessed and excited that she is one of the first to see the studio nearly finished.

Moving

AmberJean — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:19:49 +0000

A splot of metallic copper paint is shimmering on the back of my hand as I sit down to the computer for a moment – a leftover smudge from the final coat of faux copper painted onto the ceiling of the studio nap room – aka “the nest.” Serene. Heavenly. Sweet. The nest has grand views (five windows). The copper and faux Venetian plaster is a warm earthy cozy welcome respite from the zap happy lime green study below. The floor will be painted deep purple and a henna-inspired mural painting of the Tree of Life will bloom itself up a wall and onto the ceiling - someday. Birds and Buddhas are the theme for the nest. Dreamie.

Last Friday Paul and I packed up all of his tools and took down the scaffolding. I swept. We opened the doors so that Momma Nature could blow out the sawdust while I spun around. The amazing brand NEW pristine inspiring space is…mine.

I wept.

Simply sat down on the cement floor of this elegant empty clean-slate compelling place, I felt overwhelmed by the gift, the grace, the years and years of dreaming/struggling/believing and then…this! Even as I begin to move each truckload of studio stuff from storage I find myself shedding tears and grinning. I see myself on this big blank first page of a new chapter in a vivid richly packed fully lived book of my life. Little o’l me…not much bigger than a punctuation point. There. On the white page, in the white sunlit studio - a question mark -an exclamation point and three little dots.

? ! ...

Paint, Stain, Trim - nearly "IN"

AmberJean — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 11:51:11 +0000

Obsessed with finishing the studio, my time is spent painting and staining along with all of the chores and hardware store visits that go along with finishing up a place. Luckily Lowe’s opens at 6 a.m. so I can enjoy dawn as I zip over the mountain pass with a list and a cup of tea. Plenty middle-of-the-night shopping sprees on eBay and other places have turned up bargains and a fun twist on normal stuff (like a toilet paper holder). The wide world offers much more interesting options than Lowes or our wee little Montana stores. I spent $8.00 for a bird embellished cast iron toilet paper holder on Ebay. The antique Mexican hanging light was 98 cents and my hand painted peacock blue Talavara sink a whopping $24.00. Fun stuff!

The studio itself is a soft winter white with plenty of ambient light. Ah the light!!! Dreamie. Churchee. Inspiring. Inviting – a perfect place for the Muses to play. I have been giggling vivid colors onto the walls in the study, the bathroom and the nap room. Just think – for 16 years I have lived in a small log cabin which means that sheet rocked walls have never existed for me to splash color onto! Oh the possibilities!!!

“Calypso Blue,” golden yellow and deep purple compliment the painted sink in the bathroom and transport the space into a south-of-the-border feeling. “Limelicious, ” “Limeburst,” and “Celery” combine to create a zap-happy study and kitchenette. Like a good dose of wasabi to my visual senses – the walls tickle my spirit. The nap room is tucked into the clerestory above the study and has just been renamed “The Nest.” Painted in a warm peachy light terracotta faux Venetian plaster – the room will be a restful haven complete with birds and buddhas.

Behind the scenes - beneath the paint, the stain, the trim and the fluff churns new purpose, vision and direction for my creative life. Damn exciting.

Art juice and Steamboat Powder

AmberJean — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 14:44:11 +0000

Here it is Friday morning already! Snuggled deep under the covers, a heavy lidded sun slovenly hints at the horizon with a streak of ice blue. Wind blows. The desk is piled with mail, exhibit applications and post-it notes with seemingly endless “to dos.”
I left my computer home last weekend while I enjoyed a complimentary ski trip and then hit the ground running upon my return - thus Friday seems to have budged to the front of the line and arrived prematurely. Paul has some clients who put us up in a comfy condo at the base of a ski resort in Steamboat Springs, gave us ski passes, a rental car, and rental skis. The trip was too good to pass up but I drug my knuckles and grumbled at the thought of leaving since the studio is nearly complete. I am more-than-eager to finish up, move in, and get to work!!!
BUT I had no idea just how much a spin out of town would salivate my creative art glands. I slurped up the art scene like a parched woman. Sipping, lapping, dunking and gorging myself at the Denver Art Museum I felt my pores open up to soak it all in. After years of struggling without a real creative space I find myself shifting internally as the studio nears completion. A whole new novel in the series of my life is set to go to press. Many of the feelings Snoopy-dancing in my soul are similar to the hungry excited curious and driven passion I felt in my early twenties when I jumped on a Greyhound bus in Bozeman and rode to Seattle for a museum fix and to buy my first four chisels at a wood workers store. A few years earlier colorful cravings drove me to charge a bus ticket from Montana to New York after I received a full scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia. Actually much of my life is fueled by the passion to create and to visually gobble up creations by others. A recent life chapter focused on survival mode, family and transitions. Large life shifts shoved some of my creative hunger cravings into a dusty dark corner but they are impossible to ignore and certainly haven’t lost any of their sparkle! Last weekend was a yummy chunk of soul food. My thirst is far from quenched but feeling thirsty feels good!

I bought a beautiful museum book about Louis Bourgeous. She too suffered from insomnia. She also journaled. Somehow my journal habit fostered for decades has been on hiatus since social media and blogging entered my life. I vow to return to the blank book and pen as I dive into the juicy creative tank – eyes wide open.

Sheetrock and Eaglemount warm fuzzies

AmberJean — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 13:36:10 +0000

The only thing that can tear me away from the NEW studio right now are commitments made before this wonderful exciting stage of painting and staining the interior. Heck, Paul has a client who is treating us to a complimentary weekend of skiing at Steamboat Springs and I can hardly stand the idea of leaving my new beautifully sun lit creative space for four days – so much to do and I LOVE LOVE LOVE being in the space. The idea of catching a plane early in the morning feels like putting down a well written completely engaging book just before the final chapter – torture (of the best kind). The clearstory is brilliant. The windows and light beam a chorus of smiles from the sun. The walls are pristine white and the windows trimmed simply in pine creating a rather church-ee feeling with the height and light. Perfect place for the Muses to sing, dance, worship, play, and nap. Placed on the west end of an open mountain meadow, the building captures the very first rays of sun each morning. I actually stepped into the sunlight just a few feet before stepping into the door of the studio early yesterday morning. Grinning.

One of the commitments which pulled me from the studio Tuesday was my weekly volunteer ski day for Eaglemount. Jackie giggles and grins her way down the mountain. Sometimes she makes race car noises. She gets cold easily so we “group hug” on the chairlift spinning tales, singing made up songs and thinking of ways to make her giggle more. She always has a stuffed animal or two for skiing companions. I am still learning the intricacies of just how to guide the sit ski down the slope which means Jackie and the stuffed animals get more of a bouncy ride when I take the tethers but she seems to love it – ALL.

Here’s a picture of the studio freshly sheetrocked. Each day brings exciting changes (Calypso Blue in the bathroom complete with a vanity which I stained deep purple, doors, windows, trim, etc.) More pictures soon…

Let the finishing begin!!!

AmberJean — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:40:45 +0000

What does an artist do during 3 months of being totally studio-less? Obsessive Ebay searches and paint chip collecting. I have lived in a log cabin for the last 16 years and the studios inhabited haven't been mine to mess with so for the first time in decades there are brand spanking new white walls craving color AND I get to do whatever I want!!! Also a heated cement slab floor and some plywood floors will be stained - colorful of course! The kids are excited to help. We’ve packed brushes, rollers and winter gear for the first day of painting and staining the studio interior. Epic sledding breaks are planned (thus the winter gear). Crazy happy excited to launch into the space and begin the process of making it my own. Of course the main studio will remain white so that I have a blank canvas space to work within. My Sunday will be spend snoopy dancing, paint flinging and grinning inside the NEW studio!!!

How about this festive Talavera Mexican sink I found on Ebay for $24.00?! I will be staining the cabinet deep purple for this bright happy sink to set into. Yesterday I bought a BIG utility sink for the studio - funny how much fun it was to purchase a big o'l utility sink of my own! The silly sink has no idea how much work it will do. Right now it is so clean and shiny that I am tempted to put a bow on it.

Pick of the Week - brrrrrr!

AmberJean — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:42:14 +0000

Sixteen degrees below zero today. I picked "Oboe" since the piece has a crystal-like quality. "Oboe" looks like I feel today, a bit fuzzy but wide-eyed and happy to see the horizon begin to lighten and brighten earlier each day as we inch toward spring.

Half price with all of the funds going toward charity. Friends of GNFAC - The Avalanche Center will be the recipient.

From Puppies to Powder!

AmberJean — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:44:37 +0000

I followed a fresh set of mountain lion tracks down the driveway to my cozy little cabin at the end of the road near the top of a mountain in Montana…a long way from the warm nights of Texas ranch life! Temps dropped below zero soon after I drug my little suitcase up the patio steps and shoveled my way into the door. The little place heats up pretty quickly – by the time Zaydee has made her rounds sniffing out every visitor who roamed outside while we were gone – I can take my down coat off and settle in. I ignored cyberspace for the most part during President’s Day Weekend. I squeezed in a soul refreshing long yoga class, bought groceries and hunkered down happily on the mountain content to stay put for a few days. I enjoyed a slumber party with a girlfriend – drinking hot toddies and peering at paint chips for the studio, finished reading a book while soaking in my big claw foot tub, poked around my freshly sheet rocked studio, hiked and post-holed my way through deep snow late one crisp cold afternoon. The last afternoon was sunny - I strapped on skis to enjoy the sunshine and powder while skiing up and down the mountain behind my home. Ranch life with cute furry babies seemed a world away.

My work week started with a 3 hour dentist appointment. Dr Amy Madden Kinney is a talented dentist AND my cousin. Lucky for me we trade art for dental work. After a round in the dentist’s chair I scooted to Bridger Bowl to ski with little Jackie for the Eaglemount program, and then to the school to watch the girls' basketball games before unpacking my truck and settling into a week in Bozeman with Paul and the kids. Already it is nearly time to get them up for school and launch into a business-part-of-art day while itching to get back after it in the studio…soon!

I hear my studio calling...

AmberJean — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 08:26:12 +0000

I guess 2:15 a.m. is about the middle of the night. I am simply not used to warm nights - not even summer in Montana has many warm nights but here I am dorking around in the middle of the night in flip flops and shorts and it's February. I am leaving in an hour to catch an early flight out of San Antonio. Ranch life is sweet and my hosts are awesome but I hear my studio calling me. When I left a week ago three fellas were spraying insulation. I guess the place has been totally sheet-rocked this week which means I can paint the interior walls next week – fun colors in the bathroom, the office, and the nap room. My excitement is bubbling – tickling my nose and fizzing my innards.

Can you see three guys in this photo?