Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Through Darkness to Light



My last blog entry was in January 2014. I went to the States, did my shows, and returned to Bali. My husband passed away three days later. He’d been suffering from Alzheimer’s for fourteen years and then he was free. I felt he waited for me to return. 

Our Early Bali Years
Bob’s death affected me more than I expected. I’d been grieving his loss all those years of the disease and thought this final piece wouldn’t be so difficult. I was wrong.

I stopped writing my two blogs and concentrated on my book, Piece by Piece – Love and the Land of Alzheimer’s. It’s finally finished (for the third time) and now comes the hard work – getting it published whether that is traditionally through an established publisher or doing it myself.  I’m querying publishers and at the same time preparing to self-publish. We’ll see which direction I’m steered in. 

Working with Milly
Two days after Bob’s memorial and the scattering of his ashes off the east coast of Bali, a just hatched all-black baby chicken wandered into our yard.  She quickly claimed me and my staff as her flock and settled in to grow into a healthy hen.  During that time Milly’s favorite perch was the computer monitor and when she became too heavy for that we built her a desk perch. Milly became the house clown making me laugh and bringing light to an often dark year.


In all her Glory
Creativity is always a joy for me - but marketing a challenge. Since the only shows I do for my jewelry are in February at Tucson, my pieces are in storage for the rest of the year. This is a waste of time and space but previously I didn’t have the energy to deal with it AND care for Bob. Finally a solution evolved. 

A lovely young woman, Ariana Schwartz, is now working with me to promote my creations on Etsy through Face Book, Instagram and Pinterest. We are just getting started but you can see my Etsy Shop at: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SusanTereba. We’ll be putting on a lot more pieces up in the next month. 

Ariana, an award winning costume and clothing designer, artist and teacher, is a joy to work with. You can check her out at: https://www.facebook.com/ariana.schwartz?fref=photo

You can follow me on Instagram at: https://instagram.com/susan.tereba where I’ll post process photos and how inspiration blossoms for me. Or on Face Book at: https://www.facebook.com/susan.tereba

I continue to develop new designs in mammoth tusk, jet, Indonesian hard woods, bone and a few new materials such as tagua nut and soap stone.  And I’m still enamored with the painted bone pieces pushing myself to explore new color combinations.

I promise not to take a year to write another post so check in now and again to see what’s brewing at World on a String.