Just a quick update

before I dash out the door to get to the Blanton where I am volunteering this morning.

I really don't know where this week has gone and it not as if I have been out and about doing things. Mostly I have been avoiding to be honest.

I have this project I have been doing since before I went to London and I am still doing it. Just as I think this might be the end, I think, nope its not quite right and out I go for more supplies. Its a beaded doll and that part of the project I finished just after Christmas. However, unlike my other dolls I have made this for someone and its an odd shape. It also has 2 very distinct sides, so really doing my normal and pin it to the wall, wouldn't work. I tried various hanging devices but it would slip on to its side/top as one side is more beaded than the other, making it unbalanced. So a frame came to mind, a sort of shadow box but of course shadow boxes have rabbets for the backing and glass inserts. Make my own, err, I scare of power tools, balsa wood that easy to cut. Anyway the long and short of it all, is I really must learn to plan, sketch and anticipate any problems and I might of had this project done at least a month ago!

In the above sentence, I admitted to my phobia about power tools. I know how to make frames and have made stretchers before as it was required by the college, that you learn such a basic skill. However, their power tools were even bigger than the ones we have and that is when I learnt I to scavenge for stretchers from all the painting left by previous students. (it was also a money saving device.) So this weekend I decided to get over that fear, getting Gordon to show me how to use the table saw and the router. I haven't actually managed to use them on my own yet but I did use the new drill he got last weekend. Next week, I am going to make my own frame!

Of course, by this time next week, I might actually be employed as I have an interview with Austin State Hospital as nursing assistant. I don't know why I hadn't looked before, I think, I assumed you would need a qualification of some sort, as it seems to me that over here, you need a qualification to become dishwasher let alone help out with the mentally ill. I really would like to be able to use my art therapy qualification (a masters but useless without a transcript) but as I cannot get anyone to find the records (they must be somewhere, 4 yrs of records for an institution can't just disappear!) I may as well start at the bottom and hope that they will ratify my qualification through experience.

Anyway, better , get dressed and get to the Blanton. To be honest, I would today, prefer to be working on my projects but I love all the people there, so its worth, spending some time each week there. Below is the view from my station. I still can't get over such a blank wall in an Art Museum of all places!