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Happy Spring, Friends!

I hope you all are enjoying these almost-warm days as much as I am. It's getting hard to focus on working in the studio when the compost pile needs turning, the spinach and lettuce seeds are begging to be planted, and my sweet dog keeps bringing me balls to throw for her--even as I type this newsletter.

But amazingly (somehow) plenty is happening. Here goes:

In this issue:

For the Birds Art Exhibition --
Please mark your calendar to come to the artist reception May 1st.
Diploma Printing for The Philadelphia School
Fun side Jobs of March-April
Ryas in Progress
...and the status of "the book"

For the Birds....

It is always an honor to be asked to be a featured artist in a gallery exhibition. This one is perfect for me. Along with 7 other exceptional artists, I will help to fill the Tevis Gallery at the Carroll Arts Center with Bird Art! Please join "the flock" for the opening reception Thursday, May 1st from 5:30-7:30 PM. Details below.

A Few Other Studio Projects of March and April:

For the fifth year in a row, I am hand-printing the graduates' diplomas for The Philadelphia School from my original carved block. 35 Diplomas this year. Get to work, hands!

I painted a new mailbox for a friend whose box was destroyed by a snowplow this winter. Ironically this is the third box I've painted for her with the same design. All met an untimely violent demise! Hope this one has better mojo.

Remember this colorful rya rug, "ColorPlay," I made a couple of months a

go? A woman from Ottawa, Ontario saw it on-line and ordered supplies to make one in earthy fall colors. Doesn't that sound interesting? So I calculated all the supplies she would need and sent it off. Here are the colors we selected together:

So it will look something like this when complete. Can't wait to se

e the finished work.

I had the pleasure of receiving a completed rya rug photo from a woman on Cape Cod--a quilting friend of my sister. Her initial goal was to use up yarn from a past rya project. So I sent her a backing and some yarn, but the design was totally hers and alive! Take a look! Now she is planning a mountain and lake scene. She left most of the knots as uncut loops which really adds to the texture of a roiling ocean! Leave it to the quilters.

Rya designed and made by Nancy Ross of N. Eastham, Mass.

Send me pictures of your completed rya projects and I'll post them as space permits. Thanks.

And what about that rya book I was writing?

Glad you asked. I am still totally committed to the project. I must admit that I thought it was going to be done a long time ago. I thought I knew just about all there was to know on the subject. WRONG. Good lesson in life. The more I researched, the more I realized that I need to write from a different perspective. So it is a work in progress. I live with the book in my head and in my dreams daily. What I had not counted on is that life has many demands, and I have a fulltime busy studio to run, and things take time. Another good lesson in life. So, rather than rush it to get it out, I am dealing with some of the other things in life in a healthy way--I even took a week vacation last week. But now, it's back to work.

See you next month.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end.

I love your feedback, so let me know what interests you.

Now go do something fun!

Cheers,

Melinda