So I am back to making art and submissions.  This summer is for me and I feel a bit better.  I have been drawing on photos again lately.  I print them poorly - no cleaning of the negatives, bad value range - tone them, stain them, brush them with thinned pigment.  Then, I use a stipple or squiggle motif to draw on them.  I have also been drawing lines too.  When I draw with a pen, my hand shakes and I like the line I get from that.  I made two or three submissions so far this summer.  All rejected,  But that is ok.  It is the process that matters to me.  The rejections let me know I need to get a move on and work more and harder.

So I also watched an old Nova episode on a special Viking sword, the Ulfberht.  It really got me back to thinking of starting a metals studio in the basement.  I have the tree stump for raising bowls.  It is dried out and I started making two depressions.  I need to go into the city to get a couple of nylon hammers.  I have talked to a few people about the torch situation, and they are real positive and encouraging.  Just watching this blacksmith stoking the forge, hammering the steel....  sigh.  I mean, I suck at blacksmithing, but I am ok with metals like copper, silver, and brass.  Millie and hubby will not like the noise, but at least I am not looking to get a drum set.  

I also have to get back into the teaching mindset.  Last year was so brutal - physically and emotionally.  I wonder how any of us will fare this year.  The students did not do well with all the disruption and testing.  The teachers did not do well either and we ended up not doing very well hiding it.  I have to remember to keep my emotions in check so I can concentrate on making the kids relax.  But that means I am lying to myself and it all comes crashing down when I am not with the kids.  I found myself sitting at my desk with my head in my hands on more than one occasion.  I am not like that.  I never wallow in my misery on the job.  I get right down to business.  Hubby jokes that I don't know how to slow down or lose focus.  Not last year.  I must control my emotions this year.  I hear through the grapevine that this year, the sh*t might hit the fan, so I need to keep it together for the classes.