You must have a lovely old house, Marsha, and I really like the idea of having a window display according to the seasons.  Yes, there`s something very creepy about seeing dolls and clowns waving through a window, and I can imagine people stopping to take photos!  I think it`s brilliant, and your husband sounds as creative as you are.  Halloween isn`t such a big thing over here, it must be lots of fun for the kids. 

I agree about the intensity of colour with pastels, and that`s why I like them too, as well as the immediacy of getting your work down.  I`ve tried other mediums but always come back to pastels or charcoal.  I`ve got some more work I can share, but only if you do too! 

Have a good week! 

Hi Jill, I actually worked with pastels before glass. It was the depth of color from the pastels that drew me to glass.  Those dolls are in the front gable of our house, which is very old.  My husband looks forward to changing the window with seasons or holidays. Of course this is for Halloween.  We have people drive by and take pictures and laugh and get creped out.   We have an old big black caldron, we put dry ice in it by where we pass out candy. The really little kids, don't quite know what to think, all the others appreciate it. Most are accompanied by their parents until later and we have put it all away by then.  Its just another way of being creative with life. Would like to see more of your work as well.  Thanks for the kind words on my art as well.  This forum is the first time I have posted my work except to family since I quit do it. Happy people like it too. Wonder if Greg does boots, they had those at the Celtic Festival.

Thanks Marsha, and yes it is fun!  Takes a lot of concentration sometimes to get a likeness right but I love drawing and painting portraits.  Flowers too sometimes, I love colour.  I`m really hoping some others will share their creations too, and I would love to see some more of your glass work! 

I`m so pleased your hip is much better, that is great news!  The therapy seems to be giving you a lot of relief then, keep up the good work! 

And by the way, I love your new avatar photo!  Are those your dolls?

Jill! Your work is Excellent!!! I have been disposed with a yard sale we were having on Fri. and Sat.. I go away for a little while and come back and WOW........your portrait of the man is brilliant. My people always looked so unreal they looked too real, or visa versa. I love the way the cats tail comes down the side of the hutch. What fun.   I saw Greg's Leather work also. This is heart warming.  I'll bet Tig can do cool metal sculpture as well. Thanks Jill, would love to see more.  Also on an old thread I saw an Eagle.     Sidenote, I was moving around quite abit with the yard sale,  knock on wood, my hip is much better. 

Thanks everyone, and I`d certainly love to see more of Marsha`s work! 

Actually we used to have a thread where members could post their artwork and photo.  Here`s a link to the first one that I started, way back in 2011...

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t42050790/the-gallery-is-now-open/

And when that one got full and people were having difficulty loading the thread, Malcolm started a second `Gallery` thread...

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t55442762/the-gallery-is-now-open/

There`s a lot of very interesting stuff in those threads!  Check out some of Malcolm`s photos!! 

Wow, you girls are really talented! Yes Tig we should have a "Who's Got Talent" section. Although I won't have much to contribute I'd certainly like to see more.

Thanks for all the beautiful artwork Jill and Marsha! Little do people realize that we're often surrounded by such talent but never get the opportunity to share it.  Maybe we need to establish a thread to do just that! I'm sure we could have our own popular version of "Who's Got Talent?" !! 

what a talent you have jill. your artwork is amazing.they say everyone has a hidden talent am still trying to find mine.thanks for sharing yours with us.                                                                                                                                                          william

Jill - your work is really good, just lovely!  Thanks for sharing!  It must feel fantastic to be able to create something so beautiful.  That goes for your art work too, Marsha.  Thank you both for sharing.

Penny 

Hi Marsha, yes I understand what  you mean about needing to refresh your creativity, especially when you were creating artwork as a business and working such long hours.  I mostly work in chalk pastels and portraits of people or animals are what I do most of.  I`ll post some pics of my work, this is the sort of things I do, mostly as commissions.

I always find getting lost in artwork to be very relaxing and therapeutic, definitely. 

Thanks all, Jill, I would love to see some of your artwork. Yes, doing art is relaxing and soothing, that is when you are not doing it as a business.  I seemed to be needing to refill my cup a lot, so as inspiration would keep bubbling to the surface.  Would work long days into the night for weeks, and then go hiking or to coast for a couple of weeks and get back in touch with the source. Nature and meditation for me.   Penny, thanks for sharing that about the core stuff, that is my next step, the pool and core strengthening. He also showed me some exercises that can open the vertebrae a little, using the ball.         Tig, You're amazing, no one would even guess you had been through all that when you cruse down the street at 85 mph in that cute little red Lamberdinie. Seriously, do you think it had anything to do with holding a torch and your neck holding a 10lb helmet? Do you have osteoarthritis?  I will change my ways as far as how I treat my back.  Too many KH oxy tanks I carried up into the studio on a regular basis, pulling them in and out of my 4-runner. That was at almost 50. Thanks, Marsha  yes, fishy~we just had our annual salmon festival ~ great stuff. 

I always knew Marsha was "fishy"   Now we have proof, lol! Nice work, by the way!

Hopefully you can get that compressed disc resolved soon. I'm retired following a second cervical fracture in 02. I guess I wasn't satisfied breaking it just once! (Very lucky too...) I've had multiple cervical fusions, anterior and posterior, even had C4 removed and replaced with a section of femur bone, cut like a ham bone and then cut in two and put in place, then hardware placed. I've got disc trouble below that repair and in the lumbar region. Do whatever you can to protect your spine. As you know, when it starts going out on you, it changes everything!

Marsha,

Your artwork is beautiful; I like the fish very much.  It's sort of other-worldly and ethereal.

I was diagnosed some years back with a lumbar spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal canal in my lower back, that caused the nerves to become compressed.  My back and butt hurt like heck, and my whole leg would go numb, and my toes tingled. 

I had mechanical traction a couple times a week for months to decompress the nerve.  It helped a lot but didn't correct it.  I finally saw a spinal surgeon who referred me to physical therapy for core strengthening and decompression exercises.  Those exercises and learning my limits did the trick!     

I hope you have as good an outcome as I did.

Penny

Hi again, Marsha, good luck with the physical therapy work on your back, it makes sense to me that you`d need to do whatever`s necessary to help take pressure off the nerves which are causing so much pain.  And I suppose strengthening your core back muscles would help to support the disc and surrounding tissues. 

I`m very interested in your art display, how wonderful it must have looked in the gallery, set up to highlight your lovely fish against a black background.  I do a bit of artwork myself, but have never done anything like your glass work.  Although I find that any creative work is very beneficial to your outlook, it`s something you can lose your worries and anxieties in.  

Hey Marsha

Glad you found out the cause of your issue, I've have similar back problems, the inversion table can help, but time is the best cure with being very careful not to aggravate it for several weeks.  Hope you find some peace with your very good art work.

matt

Thanks Marsha, beautiful art.  You have a wonderful gift, and you know I'm really into the fish.  :)   Even at work I would often wear shirts that had fish prints.  Have a number of Guy Harvey fish print t-shirts.  My wife does some really beautiful fish and nautical related art. 

Glad you found out what was causing your hip and pain problems.  Not knowing what is causing the problem can be burdensome.  You're gonna get through this.  Things have a way of working out.  Know that you have many people pulling for you.   God bless. 

coolheat wrote:

---

The pain in my hip has been diagnosed. My PT rolled me around and had me do some moves and now feels that I have a bulging disk.

---

 I hope the inversion table works for you. I know back related pain can just make it impossible to get things done. I ruptured 4 disc and fractured 5 vertebrae last year and it was painful. I was scheduled to have follow-up surgery in November (1 yr post-op) to remove metal hardware used for spinal fusions but that had to be re-scheduled until after I finish HCV treatment. That's fine with me. It doesn't bother me. Mine was due to trauma. They'll likely be able to treat yours without surgery. Being pain free is soooo worth it. Good luck Marsha

-- Edited by wmlj1960 on Wednesday 14th of October 2015 02:39:39 AM

Marsha, 

The TIBC has to do with your Iron stores and the body's ability to transport it around the body. Usually if your Iron is low, your TIBC will elevate. Since your Iron was WNL and your TIBC was only mildly elevated, I think it was likely the result of treatment and will normalize as you recover and clear the medications. Hepatitis can cause fluctuations in these numbers, so the next set of tests should give you a better indication of where things are. Here's some info on it:

TIBC, UIBC, and Transferrin

Hi Jill, thanks for checking and finding the thread from Malcom. That was perfect, some things just seem to drop off the page lately, not sure where they go, just know there is a blank spot on the page. Hahaha   

P.T. says he wants me in the pool to do some kind of work or maybe strengthen something. Will find out next week.  Also he said to sit in a reclining chair if I had one, so as not to compress the disk anymore than it is.  The pain in the hip and down the leg are directly related to the disk compression. He also said something about an inversion table to work like traction. Anything he can do to take the pressure off of the nerves and tissue at the disk.

Thanks about the fish, they were fun to do. I was in a gallery in Carmel ca., he had a room with not a lot of light, one large wall was all black velvet, then he had me put my fish up there with the seaweed and shell and directed track halogen lighting on the fish.  It was like you were under water with them, that was really fun.

Hi Marsha,

Well, at least you know what`s been causing the hip pain now.  So what is the plan now, carry on with PT? 

I`ve looked back and you did ask about TIBC once before, back in June.  Here`s a link to that thread to remind you of Malcolm`s reply...

http://hepcfriends.activeboard.com/t60365625/cryoglobulinL

Wow, I love your glass fish, you have a real talent for creativity!

Good to hear you sounding more positive now, take it step at a time.. 

The pain in my hip has been diagnosed. My PT rolled me around and had me do some moves and now feels that I have a bulging disk.  I have been going at least twice a wk. for 3 wks. Another light at the end of the tunnel. Had no idea a disk could cause me to not be able to walk.

Thank you all for all the feed back, very informative. What is the TIBC?

Feeling very positive about it all, what a great group of people.

Mr. Groupergetter, don't think I posted a pic of one of my glass groupers before, here is one and a pic of some of the other fish I used to do.