Cupcakes and Satisfaction

I am up to my neck in cupcake dough for Hilary and Jim's baby shower tomorrow.
Collected up decorations, gifts, wine glasses, bubbly, tea and have managed to invite
enough people to do a decent celebration. Everyone is excited about this baby girl.
Celine and Scott offered the community room in their apartment.

Hilary has the gorgeous look that women get shortly before they give birth, everything full and sumptuous. Jim is a bit of a wreck but is as protective as any father I have seen. Less than two weeks until due date. I get to be Studio Surrogate Aunty!

I spent today with the most inspiring and wonderful women at my creative circle. We meet every couple of months and share ideas, inspirations and our work. We have snacks and no structure except that we each have about 1/2 an hour. The group is small. We show and tell, share ideas, challenges, and expose new and sometimes unfinished work. We end up talking about displays and ways to do proposals and gallery contacts. Sometimes we share techniques and favorite artists. We "cross pollinate" with respect. Each one of us works in a different media but also border cross.

I arrive and feel like I might be taking too much time away from responsibilities to do this and have a terrible time leaving because I feel so full and energized. It is so valuable.

Art making can be lonely and isolating. You end up learning all these skills and spending time inspiring yourself and countless hours experimenting and making things. Most often alone.
Your passions can get lost unless you are constantly surrounded by other artists. If you are constantly surrounded you risk losing what is unique to you. Touching base is important.
That is the value of Guilds and Organisations. Being with a small group with very different specialities opens brand new doors.

Each one of us in the group is working on art most of the time. Everyone experiments with a number of mediums. There is a jeweller, a weaver, a costumer, a sculptor and me. Each one presented work that was stirring. Work done with thought. Today I shook with inspiration when the group was finished. I can barely contain what was given to me by every single person there.

So now I go back to making cupcakes and preparing for baby tomorrow!