Hello!  It is time I made my way back here with something that I hope will put a smile on your face.  More on that in a bit.  First of all, I want to thank every one of you for staying here with me through thick and thin, as well as everyone who joined the mailing list despite my long absence.  It means the world to me. 

When I left in June, I was not in a good place.  Unfortunately life continued to set up hurdles. 

I ran.  A LOT.   Running takes the edge off, helps me sleep.  I handmade a tiny book where I paint little “things I did”.  I made this quick watercolor sketch yesterday of  “me” running…finally managed an 8K/5mi run after a bad foot injury last year.

After a severe breakdown followed by 14 hours of straight, deep sleep a couple of weeks ago, I am finally starting to get myself back together.  I couldn’t bring myself to do much artwork in the last few months even though I knew that was the one thing that would have helped. 

Last week I posted this photo on my Instagram account.  Writing this out is my attempt at easing myself back into the land of the living.

I started a new project of carving and printing small blocks.   Lute had to be the first one.    Here is why –

Very few things in my life have made me happier than our kitty Charlie.  He has always been just a very happy boy with a penchant for “singing”. 

On this day, he sat under a tree in his best clothes and sang his heart out while playing a lute.  It had to be a lute that he played, didn’t matter if he was good at it or not.  That is why I started my carving project with a lute.

He gave me permission to share his song as long as I added the correct inflections.  He is very particular about them!

I wrote a new ballaaaaaad

But now I am so saaaaad

She won’t hear my new song

Where did I go wrooooong.

Even the thought of this makes me smile and sometimes laugh out loud.    I hope it does the same for you too! 

Apart from carving, I have once again started making different kinds of books.  I love the tactile feel I get from book making.   I didn’t get to mention it earlier, but my shop has new books and I have also added an extra colour.

If you purchase books from my shop for gifts, please make sure to place the order early.  The books are made to order personally by me and they take a few days to dry properly before I can mail them.

I want to finish this post today with another block print I made of Charlie.  He also gets into sticky situations, but they are always quite innocent and comical.   I hope you get a smile out of this one too.

Once again, I can’t thank you enough for being here with me.   Next week is Thanksgiving here in the US, which starts the holiday season here.  Just in case I don’t make it back here in December, I wish you a season full of happiness and laughter.   I will certainly see you early next year around February with armloads of quilting, art projects and The Girl And Her Cat stories.  There will be travel photos as well.

Until next time,
-Soma

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