Blue

Very apropos that Misty would select blue as today's color.  I am mainly blue about my art; I am pushing too hard, trying to make things work.  June, you are absolutely right in that I need to just walk away.  Yes.  That is what I will do.  Walk away and when I come back my mind will be clear.  

In other (less whiny) news, the interview went great today.  There were some technical difficulties though and Sheri is unsure whether it recorded or not.  Thanks to those of you who showed up to listen; I really appreciate it!!

Manic Mondays 2

I painted all weekend.  Like every moment, I kid you not.  I am physically wiped as it is hard work especially with such a b-i-g canvas.  So hard to turn it and get my drips where I want them.  It was insane.  As you can see, the studio is a wreck.  Yes, those are my socks, ruined with paint.  I think I am going to keep them to wear as painting booties; my studio is kind of cold and I always manage to kick off my shoes.  And the other 2 pieces were "in between" work.

Despite hours and hours of work, the 54x54 is not where I want it to be.  It is coming along, but I'm in an ugly spot at the moment and have migrated waaaaayyyyy off course.  Typically that happens, but I feel frustrated right now.  This is part of the challenge of abstract painting for me. It is so pure - color, composition, shape, line, texture, value.  And it is so friggin' hard.  I feel like I bleed on each and every painting.  

Not really of course, but you know what I mean.

I guess I'm feeling a little down about it.  I just reviewed all my step by step studio shots (which I have never done before, taken step by step photos) and they have depressed me.  Ugh. 

In happier news, TODAY is the day I will be interviewed on Feisty Females Radio.  Sheri and I will talk about me (duh) and her upcoming book, Creative Awakenings.  I am a contributor in the book and can not wait (!!!!) to see it.  It is available for pre-order on Amazon.   

Anyhoo, if you want to hear the broadcast live (and also have the chance to ask me questions), click over here to get a pin # for the phone call. 

It's free by the way.  And will also be available afterwards, I will link it up here. 

Face Off

Ok, I tried another self portrait today.  I am still too much of a wussy girl to use paint, perhaps in a day or two.  This one was done after my workout (again, that has turned into a good journal time) and I even set the timer for 30 minutes cause I had to shower in order to go to Chesterfield to work on the heads.  Anyhoo, I was so engrossed in the drawing I didn't even hear my timer, was late getting to the showerand even later to Chesterfield.  Oh well, what can 

I say?  

Drawing myself continues to be a challenge.  I had a mirror in front of me for this one, and I 

really tried to do the right brain/left brain thing to dis-engage my brain and just draw shapes.  But it is especially hard when it's your own face.  Parts of this were blind, like that chin.  It was really jowly (is that a word?) at first and I changed it some but then decided I sort of liked the odd juxtaposition of it.  Go figure.

Anyhoo, on the topic of faces, here are my finished heads.  I am now working on two more, I can.not.help.myself.  These darn things have crawled under my skin.  I have prepped canvasses all over my studio, upcoming solo show, blahblahblah.  So what do I do!?!?!?  Paint styrofoam heads.  Oh somebody slap me already.  

But they are so much fun.  I am especially fond of the 2nd from the left, she has a 45 record on her head, I don't know if you can tell from 

the picture.  

In other news, the website and classes for 

Squam are posted.  Check it out here.

Oh my oh my, how wonderful it all looks, I can hardly wait.  

Self Portrait

Here it is.  As you might have guessed, I made several.  Drawn, painted, quartered.  Whatever.  It is hard, this drawing of your own face.  I don't think I want to look at my face that much.  I have jowls!?!?Whazzup with that!!??!?!  And nostrils like a pig.  I need a face lift or botox or something.  LOL.  

Anyhoo, here is a quick effort, done while I was cooling down from my workout.  The hand is a blind contour, which is my favorite kind of drawing - I love the looseness.  This is one I did awhile back.  I collaged it here because I was actually propping my face on one hand while attempting to draw and paint with the other.  The eye is from one of my other sketches and the flesh from part of a different painting.  

I think this actually turned out to be rather symbolic, this representation of my face.  I need to ponder for awhile and then write my thoughts.  I will try again and see if I can put all my facial parts on one drawing without the aid of collage, tee, hee.

Just another Manic Monday

Whew, crazy day.  I got so much done though.  My voice is better, but I've moved into that lovely hacking stage of illness, where no one wants to be around me.  Which is a-ok cause all I wanna do is work in the studio.

First of all, I think I am going to try to be more organized with the blog and post studio pictures every Monday.  So here they are.  That ugly one (with the hammer) is a piece I was working on over the weekend, see I didn't say how I was working on it, ha.  Actually I had been painting it.  For so long, in fact, that it was simply embarrassing.  I kept painting and painting and forgot it was a gesso board (not a claybord) so I couldn't go back in and "remove" layers like I normally do.  Hence the problem.  Also the issue of all the texture.  Ugh.  Just way too much.  It was oddly exhilarating to just slam a hammer at this bad boy.  I mean I had to hit it HARD!!!  And now it is out of my system.  Well, kind of - goofy me, I actually like some of the shard parts.  So it's still sitting on the floor.  I think it's taunting all the other pieces, "let that be a lesson to you all" or something like that.

And the heads.  Well, I am working on something for an un-named non profit group (I could tell you but I'd have to kill you kind of thing).  I'm joking but they are for an upcoming event and we're not supposed to talk about it, so what do I do but BLOG about it.  Hmmm.  I have never been good with directions.  But anyhoo, these darn heads rock my world.  I have two more of them, so four total and I am on the verge of changing my entire body of work as I have soooooo very many ideas of what to do with them, themes, etc.  I will show more pics as they develop.

And finally, I started one of the B-I-G canvasses (for my solo show) today.  The upcoming

show at phd Gallery in case you just arrived or perhaps haven't been paying attention - just feel free to snigger at me as I continue to talk about it for the next 2 months.  

This is a 54" x 54" canvas.  That is friggin' big.  Nearly as tall as me.  I put down a little collage, some hard molding paste, and made some marks on it.  Now it stares at me.  I may start to paint tomorrow.  That collage was a challenge, all in one piece no less.  I spritzed it first to loosen the paper fibers, then kind of rolled it from top down, glueing it section by section.  I am just a tad obsessive about NO bubbles, so smoothing it out was tough.  It is drying nicely though and I think it will be ok.  Keep your fingers crossed.  

Feisty Females Radio

Yep, it's back and yours truly is the interviewee (is that a word) for the 1st broadcast of 2009.  That is, assuming I have a voice tomorrow, as it is not fully cooperating at the momento......ugh.  Anyhoo, click on over to Sheri Gaynor's site to find out more information.  The call is free, but you do have to reserve a spot.  

*****update****this has been changed to 1/12/2009 because I am losing my voice.  You can still click to Sheri's site to get info.  And I'll put up another reminder.  But now I need to get some sleep.

Journal pages

Perfectly lazy happy day!

What a terrific day it was, January 1st, 2009.  I "planned" to take it easy, meaning I would not look at and/or obsess about my list; I would instead relax and allow the day to develop.  Translation: do whatever I wanted to do. 

Oddly enough, once the day was done, I found I had accomplished some things that were on the list after all.

 

Such as the Pizza Box.  Why, you might ask, did I paint a pizza box?  Well, the boxes are being used to promote upcoming classes at Chesterfield Arts and each teacher was asked to furnish one.  I am teaching a ten week painting/drawing/mixed media class to 3rd-5th graders.  The class will introduce a variety of different media and I wanted the pizza box to serve as a quasi-illustration.   I created my layers with collage, acrylic, pencil, marker, ink,  soft and oil pastel.  

And here is a picture of gift wrapping for one of my artsy friends.  I used paper "blotters" that were taped to my table while I was making paste painted papers.  They are always a mess (but still kind of cool) and I hate to throw them away.  I save them in a big bin, along with all my paint stained paper towels, deli wrap and other various scraps.  As you can see, they make excellent gift wrap. 

I even had time to read today!  Currently, I am reading a great book, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry by Kathleen Flinn.  It's a memoir of her experience going to cooking school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.  There are so many parts of the book to which I can relate, although I have certainly never been to cooking school.  But she also left a corporate career to pursue her passion, which of course is what I did.  Plus I love to cook and enjoy food so much it is fun to read her recipes.  I got this book at the library and already know I need to buy my own copy because I don't want to give it back. 

I also worked on my sketchbook today.  The one I am doing for The Sketchbook Project.  It is due by 2/15, so I need to get going and I did several pages today.  I am feeling a little shy about them cause they are *really* raw in a way that harkens back to some classes I took when I lived in California.  It was actually hard for me to go there, that being the raw, loose place.  But I think it is a good exercise and I am going to fight my inclination to tear the pages out because they are not perfect.  I will show pics shortly, I promise.

Out with the old?

Where oh where did 2008 go?  I suppose it's a sign of age when the years start flying faster and faster at what seems like breakneck speed.  What a glorious year it has been though - and yes, I am well aware of all the bad stuff every day in the news.  But I have decided I am not going to allow it to influence me.  Seriously.  Call me Pollyanna if you want, but I love my family, my animals, my art and my life - I am filled with gratitude for the abundance that surrounds me. Rather than worry and fall into that lonely place of fear, I prefer to live my life from a place of love.  I want to do what I can to spread some joy in my very tiny part of the world.  

These last few days I've been reflecting back on 2008 and working on goal setting.  The Universe helped me out by guiding me to Sheri Gaynor's blog today.  Sheri has been my coach for several years, however we haven't talked lately.  Her blog post blew my mind - she never fails to amaze me with her insight.  In fact, tomorrow I am going to do exactly what she suggests!  I can't think of a more poignant way to end the year.  Click here to see Sheri's brilliant idea. 

The holiday continues

Here are some pictures from holiday events of late.  The first one of our perfect(now what would you expect me to say) grandsons working on their gingerbread house.  If you look close you can see icing on Ian's face.  And Aidan has quite the big brother judgment look, doesn't he?  So cute.  These 2 couldn't possibly be any different.  It is delightful to be part of their lives and watch their personalities develop.  Today we will celebrate Christmas with them, yippee!!  

It was our year in Cincinnati, at my parent's house with my siblings and families.  We drove over there last Tuesday which was predicted to be an "ok" weather day, or at least we thought we were well ahead of the predicted bad weather.  W-R-O-N-G.  It basically sleeted the entire drive and what normally takes 6 hours took 12 including several where we just sat on a closed highway as the State of Indiana waited for the temperature to rise above freezing so the salt would work.  I kid you not.  It was utter craziness.  Luckily I had my laptop, knitting, and books which kept me sane.  I don't know how John did it though.  He was a rock (as usual) never losing his cool, and delivered us to my Mom + Dad's house safe and sound.

Christmas morning was fun with three little kiddos - my nieces and nephew (I have 2 other nephews who are older - they are too "mature" to stand longingly in front of the tree, lol).  

Fun times, but I will confess I am soooo anxious to get back in the studio and carve out massive amounts of time time for my pending projects - I feel such a strong emotional and even physical urge to paint, I am guessing this is how an addiction would feel, I don't know.  The goal for today is to be IN the day, not thinking ahead to the next thing.  Luckily the boys are good at keeping me on track.  

Families that dance together.....

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Claybord book

If you've spent any time at all hanging around my blog, you know how I love claybord.  It's slightly embarrassing to say, but I guess I am obsessed with it.  The slick surface, oh my; it's unpredictable, you never quite know what's going to happen, at least I don't because I work so wet and the paint just takes off on its own journey.   

Well.

My friend Karyl took one of my classes and, rather than making  a series of paintings (like everyone else was doing), she promptly made book covers.  

HUH!?!?  

I mean, sure, it was obvious, or seems really obvious now, except of course I hadn't thought of it, which is weird because I do make book covers out of lots of stuff.    

DUH!?!?!?

Anyhoo, I've had this hankering to make claybord book covers ever since I saw what Karyl had done.  And that is exactly what I've been doing lately.  Making books and proposing classes.  This is one of my favorite ones, probably because I love the color.  But I am also happy with the way the spine turned out, see I cut the spine from another piece of claybord and then used my dremel drill press to drill the holes.  I used Tyvek on the inside to hold it all together firmly and sort of rigged up this "pleat" of sorts so that it opens well.   

The books feel sooooo substantial with the claybord covers.  It's my new journal of choice.

Valley Ridge opens 12/15

Just a reminder that registration for workshops at Valley Ridge opens on 12/15.  I am teaching a 2 day Claybord extravaganza that covers color and composition, in addition to all the ins and outs of working on claybord.  So, if you've *ever* wanted to check out claybord while also learning about abstract painting, this is a terrific chance.  I am absolutely thrilled to be teaching at Valley Ridge as I have heard nothing but positive feedback about the beauty and serenity of the location in addition to the incredible hospitality of our hosts.  In a nutshell, I can't wait!!!!

Check it out here:

Valley Ridge Art Studio

Workshop sneak preview

Coming soon to a workshop near you........paste paper frenzy!!!

Lost Generation

Very cool video. Cleverly done with a great message.

How can it be Friday already?!?!  This week was supposed to be my nothingonthecalendarcatchup week yet it is nearly gone and I am not.caught.up. 

 

I've been busy at work creating class samples and working on numerous household tasks that are simply too brainless to mention.  Remember that unfortunate carpet incident I spoke about?  Well, nothing that an old oriental rug couldn't fix, lol.  These pictures show the gallery part of my studio (or it will be once I actually hang art).  I had recessed lights installed and John painted the room last weekend.  It's a space for framing, computer stuff, sewing and other "clean" tasks. Note my "high end" furnishings, lol.  The kitchen cabinet was found on a morning walk, neighbor's garbage of course.  The door was a discard from our remodeling - it is simply sitting on top of the storage pieces.   And John built legs under that other counter which was another garbage day find.  

If you're in the St. Louis/St. Charles area, boogie on over to Rock Paper Scissors today or tomorrow for the Bizaare Bazaar from 10:30-5:30 to see all the handcrafted goodies from local artisans (including me).  Here's a link to more details.

I will leave you with a Georgia O'Keefe view of my bloomin' Amaryllis.  It has 2 blooms at the moment and another on the way.  I'm not very good with plants, so this is wildly exciting for me.  

Silence Must Be Heard - Enigma - The Scilence of Jupiter!!!!

I finally figured out how to embed the video....so here it is.  You'll still need to read the previous post to get the lyrics and "story." 

A Day of Sharing Song

Enigma's song, Silence Must Be Heard has been one of my favorite songs for quite a long time.  I frequently paint while listening to Enigma and the painting above (30"x40") is my homage to Silence Must Be Heard.  Oddly enough, the painting sold to a couple years ago to a musician.  I say oddly because it struck me as ironic that a song about silence would sell to a musician.  But perhaps he thought it odd that an artist would use sheet music in a mixed media painting.   Anyhoo, I am proud to say that Chris Anderson of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes bought the piece for his New York home.    Chris was not even familiar with the group Enigma, but he was very intrigued by the piece and it's meaning.  

Click here if you would like to hear the song plus see a cool video. 

And here are the lyrics for you to ponder:

Silence Must Be Heard

Look into the others eyes, many frustrations

Read between the lines, no words just vibrations

Don't ignore hidden desires

Pay attention, you're playing with fire

Silence must be heard, noise should be observed

The time has come to learn, that silence...

Silence must be heard

Or diamonds will burn, friendly cards will turn

Cause silence has the right to be heard

People talk too much for what they have to say

Words without a meaning, just fading away

Silence must be heard, noise should be observed

The time has come to learn, that silence...

Silence must be heard

Or diamonds will burn, friendly cards will turn

Cause silence has the right to be heard

Click on over to The Poetic Eye to see what other people have posted on their blogs.  And thanks again, LK, for a brilliant idea.

Tagged for 7

I've been tagged by Kay.  I'm supposed to list 7 unusual things about myself.  Well.  It's actually hard to pick 7 that I haven't previously mentioned cause I have talked about a lot of my oddities before.  Anyway, here goes:  

1.  Whenever I walk outside into the bright sun, I sneeze three times.  Yep, always 3.  My husband will wait for the 3rd sneeze before he blesses me.

2.  I treat animals as though they are people.  And I'm not talking about anthropomorphizing.  I mean I *really* treat them like they are people; I talk to them, ask them their opinion, etc. I swear they respond.  

3.  I have a lot of little rituals that I follow.  Wearing my "lucky" earrings when I set up a show.  Keeping "heads up" pennies.   Wearing certain clothes for certain things.  

4.   I am pretty tuned in from a psychic standpoint.  I know who is calling before I look at the caller ID.  I can predict where I will find a parking spot.  That kind of thing.  It doesn't work all the time but I am always grateful when it does.

5.  I go through phases with food, eating the same thing all the time.  I've talked about this before, but I'm into a new food right now.....powdered peanut butter.  It totally rocks because it is good plus it is very low calorie.  The company that makes it smooshes up all the peanuts and gets the oil out of them so nothing is left but peanut powder.  You activate it with water and voila!  

6. I like for all my books to be organized so they are even with the edge of the shelf like we used to do when I worked at the library.  

7.  I secretly wish I could dance.  Not like dancing with the stars, but just a kind of graceful movement that looks like I feel comfortable in my own body.  

Ok, that was seven.  

 

The floggings will continue

What a lovely 3 day holiday.  When I used to be in the "corporate" world, I would enjoy 3 days off as pure vacation and use the time to relax and decompress.  Of course now things are quite different since I work for myself.........and I basically used this time to jam in some extra hours.  

That's not to say I didn't have any fun, because I certainly did!  We spent Wednesday night with family and friends and then spent Thursday with more friends.  On Saturday, I went to an Open Studio event held by a ceramic artist I know, Yael Shomroni.  I met her several years ago at Venus Envy,where she bought a piece of my work.  She's a total doll, just the sweetest person who radiates the most beautiful energy.  Her studio is a dream and I bought John a mug in her signature cobalt blue glaze.  It is gorgeous.  

Then a friend and I went to Craft Alliance and the Rock + Roll Craft Show.  Both events had incredible art & craft items and I got some Christmas shopping done.   I love this time of year with all the fun events by creative folks.

The rest of the weekend was spent putting my studio back together after a season of back to back shows.  Things were quite a mess.  Not to mention, I had some new lighting installed in the "gallery" room and it was completely wrecked.  John painted it for me and it looked quite amazing after I worked all day Friday organizing.  Of course today I did something completely stupid and I really messed it up.  UGH.  I am beating myself up over my idiotic actions and trying to figure out how to fix the carpet disaster I created......why I cannot leave good enough alone I will never know.  Argghhh, slaps self in head....once I get this figured out and everything is fixed, I may show photos.  For now, I am simply too mad at myself.  

I added some new items to my etsy shop.  Link is on the side.  I'm sending a free gift with every purchase between now and Christmas.

Thankful

Finally, some artwork!  I scanned these and they are a little "bright" on my monitor, but I could not get them toned down.  Hopefully you will not be blinded looking - trust me, they are really nice in person.

The pieces are a mock-up that I made for a proposal last week.  I was invited to appear before the Board of Directors of a local public library to offer my ideas for art.  I made this little quartet on claybord - they are each 6x6 - so they could see the colors I had in mind.  Plus I wanted them to see how cool the claybord is, the texture, etc.  

To say I was  wreck is an understatement.  I used to do this "presentation" stuff all the time in my previous (corporate) life, but doing it with my art just made me crazy.  I spent a lot of time getting organized and even prepared a Power Point presentation.  

Then(lucky for me), the Universe intervened and we ended up in a room with no projector, ha!  So I pretty much scrapped my whole talking plan.  It was definitely for the best though cause I got really excited (like I do) and I think everyone could see my true enthusiasm for the project.

These circles really rock my world right now.  The connections and compartments have so many meanings for me.  I feel this is an expansion of my Community series in some ways, like the Community pieces are moving toward a new Connection series.  Geez, what is it with me and all these C's????  

C.  See.  Si. 

And yippee, I got the gig!  They want 8-16x16 paintings.  

Woo hoo, I ordered my claybords and can't wait for them to arrive so I can get started. 

Life is indeed good.  To do what I love, surrounded and supported by those I love......well, it just doesn't get any better than this.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!  

Day of Sharing Song

Yep, LK has done it again, thought up a terrific idea.  And, as much as I loved the poetry one, I have to say songs might just be even better.  It will probably be more expensive though because I will find a bunch of great (new) music and have to download like a mad woman.  

So start thinking about your fave song.  I will hopefully have an image along with mine.  I am sooooo often inspired by the music I listen to, I think this will be great fun.  

Here's a link for more details:

A Day of Sharing Song  

Good one, John

My husband is a funny guy.  He is pretty quiet and some people miss his sense of humor which is why I have to rat him out.  

Here is his latest idea:

You know those credit card solicitations?  We get them from a ton of companies including one that advertises on TV with Neanderthals (Huh!?!?!? who thought of that idiotic campaign?). Anyhoo, we get an average of 5 a week for one or the other of us  We have apparently not used up enough of the credit available to us, so they feel compelled to offer more and more and more.  It is annoying, not to mention a colossal waste of paper and postage cost. 

John has decided to fight back.  He first opens the solicitation and removes the blank checks and app and shreds them.  Then he takes the postage paid envelope and seals it up (empty) and places it in our mailbox with the flag up.  That way we can easily glance out the window and know when the mail has arrived cause the flag will be down. 

Pretty good gag, huh?  Not to mention useful.

Holiday Show

(click to view larger)

ee cummings

Buffalo Bill's

defunct

             who used to

             ride a watersmooth-silver

                                                            stallion

and break onetwothreefourfive pigeonsjustlikethat

                                                                                            Jesus

he was a handsome man

                                            and what i want to know is

how do you like your blueeyed boy

Mister Death

Paint on paper

You all know how I love to paint.  Well, making paste painted paper is just the best.  Painting with abandon, no worries about composition, just painting.  And painting. And painting.  It doesn't get any better than that.  I do it every year at the holidays as I make gifts to sell at holiday boutiques and on etsy.  

Here are some of my recent papers, ones that I love.  They have already been deployed as covers for sticky notes.  I will post the "products" on etsy shortly, but thought you might enjoy seeing the papers.  I used ceramic tile as a printing plate on these, FUN!!!!!  And webbing spray on top, cause I love the organic nature of that stuff.

Crossing lines

Well, I already did it last week (crossed the line, that is) when I talked about politics.  So now I'm doing it again.  Religion.  It's a topic we see a lot and I will confess to not attending a regular church or being part of any organized religious effort.  I do have my beliefs though.  And they can pretty much be summed up in 3 words.  Compassion. Golden Rule.  So imagine my surprise when I heard about this short video.  These are my people!  Just click over there and you will find the video.  It's fantastic; The Charter for Compassion.  

In other news, I am sick with infections in both ears, fever, sinus, etc.  Ugh, it's horrible and propelled me to the doctor yesterday.  I am now on an antibiotic which seems to be helping since I am actually out of bed, yippee.

And I made my first sale on etsy.  What a thrill.  I will try to upload more things as my strength returns.   

It's a new day

I'm working on stuff for the Unique Boutique.  This is always a lot of fun for me.  I enjoy making crafty functional items (for a change) as I tend to do this only during the holidays.  The last few days I've mainly painted paste papers; the massive assembly part will start later this week.  

Here's a preview of the sticky note/legal pad/pen gift set.  The neutral palette was fun.  

  

I've also set up an etsy shop.  Finally!  Check it out as I continue to add more items each day.  You can click the link above or there is a box in the sidebar.  And I started to twitter (never thought I would say that, huh?).  Link also at the side.  

Nature restores

I've spent so many days during the last week just thinking and hiking and meditating.  This crazy prolonged election has had me befuddled to say the least.  In some respects I've felt paralyzed, like I didn't know which way I wanted to move till our country made a decision.  Yeah I know that sounds slightly crazy.  

But at the ripe age of 48, I don't think I've ever felt so invested in an election.  I guess I've never heard a politician who moved me until Barack Obama came along.  I am just so very very thankful he is our President.  

I celebrated yesterday with yet another hike.  Breathing the crisp air of autumn, soothing my soul with nature, clearing the cobwebs from my head.  I know I need to do some work as I am so far behind.  

I'm just about re-energized and I'm feeling hopeful again.    

A hopeful sign

Walking home from the polls yesterday, John and I saw a woolly bear caterpillar.  Around these parts (ha, I always wanted to say that), the woolly bear is a predictor of winter.  If only I could remember what it means - something about the width of the brown stripe means an easy or a tough winter?  Like groundhogs, I can never remember which way it goes.

Anyhoo, this particular woolly bear was all black!!! 

I wonder what on earth that means!?!?! 

I think it was a very very special woolly bear and a sign of good things to come.  

I feel soooo happy today and proud of our country.  We have a long way to go but this is quite a amazing start.  

Get out and vote

You all probably know who I support.  

I love this video, it brings tears to my eyes.  

No matter who you are supporting, go vote.  It's your right and your duty.  

I hope and pray that we can put all the divisiveness behind us and get to work for the future. 

Falling for fall

This is my favorite time of year.  Crisp crunchy leaves, blue skies and a gentle breeze.

Perfection.

I taught all day Saturday and then Sunday John and I hit the trail.  I've been walking a lot lately, walking and thinking - thinking and walking.  

Life is so beautiful. 

Flow me to the moon

Many artists talk about the idea of Flow.  It is often described as the experience where you are totally lost in what you are doing, to the point that you forget to eat, pee, etc.  And during this process, creating art is blissful, euphoric.  We have all been there; you lose track of time, the paint moves as if by magic, you look up and suddenly there is a work in front of you and you are unsure how it even happened.  For me, Flow is a drug that I want more and more.  I wish there was a switch I could flip so I were in Flow instantly.

Years ago, as I contemplated this idea of Flow, I became interested in the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi(brilliant psychologist!).  I bought his book Flow The Psychology of Optimal Experience hoping it would explain a shortcut or some step by step process I could employ anytime I wanted to be in Flow.  Ah, yes, I really am that naive.  But the book was pretty highbrow, scientific to be sure, and I just couldn't get into it.

Today on TED, I watched a fantastic video by the man himself.  He is smart and funny and his talk dumbed it down enough for me to really get it.  Having heard him talk about Flow, I now think I am more likely in a state of Arousal.  I think my learning curve remains pretty steep.  Sure, I feel expert at certain things, but I am always (and I do mean always) still learning things about each and every part of my art making process.  It was possibly presumptuous of me to think I had achieved true Flow at this point in my artistic path.  Critics may say that it is just a label, it doesn't matter, etc.  Perhaps I have more science in me than I care to admit, but this stuff is interesting to me.  

And I also have to say, a state or Arousal is pretty sweet.  But now it reallyreallyreally makes me want to Flow.  Watch the video yourself and this will all make sense.  

and then she slept

and slept and slept.  

Geez Louise, I can not get enough.  Sleep, that is.  It's as if I pushed myself through my entire outdoor art season nearly running on empty.  And now I am getting my refill.  Of course it doesn't help that it is such great sleeping weather here in the Midwest.  Just so lovely and brisk. 

I did manage to make a little bit of art during my class the other day.  I started some pieces as demos and then kept working them along with my brilliant students.  Hopefully I will be able to post them soon.  I've spent most of this week (when I wasn't sleeping, tee, hee) catching up on paperwork, apps for next year, follow up with potential wholesale stores,  etc.  The good news is that I can see the surface of my desk again, hooray.

We gallery hopped last night in Chesterfield and I caught up with some friends (Heather!) who are in local shows - it was a lot of fun to see what people are up to and I loved the chance to relax and chat.  Tonight, it's over to phd for an opening.  In addition to the featured artist, my work is on display since I am one of the "stable."  So to speak.  

Naaaaayyyyy....snort.....snort.....

  

I'm a big girl now

All my friends in the "art fair circuit" call me the princess because John schleps all my stuff, drives the truck, puts up the tent, tears it down, etc, etc.  In fact, until recently, I didn't even know how to put up my own tent.  

That changed this past weekend when I went to a show entirely BY MYSELF.  Yep, it's true, I drove to Kentuck (in Alabama); set up my tent; staged my art; worked the entire show; calculated & paid the taxes; and then tore it all down and drove home.  

Twelve hundred miles.

One left over tent piece.  

And who knows how many sore muscles.  

I feel a great sense of accomplishment and am very proud of myself.   Sadly, sales were low for many artists, including me.  It was a very fun show though and I made solid contacts that will hopefully lead to more work down the road.  

True Confessions

I am in love with Warren Sapp.  John knows about it of course and he just rolls his eyes because he witnesses this happen every time I watch a dancing show.  It's a vice of mine, dancing shows.  Omg, I am addicted to them.  I think I must have been a dancer in a previous life.  These days I am just a private dancer, not *that* kind; I am a wannabee - I dance ALONE while in my studio.  There are certain songs that simply demand a dance break and I find my painting gets better if I just give in to it.  I was really embarrassed a couple weeks ago when John "caught" me dancing.  Geez, I'm so inhibited, how sad is that!?!?!

Anyhoo, back to Warren Sapp.  He reminds me of a Christmas ornament that I own.  It's this fabulous pear shaped bear, all dressed up for the holiday.  That is Warren to me, one big lovable dancing bear.  And so funny (for me) because I was certainly never a Raider's (or Buccaneer's)fan, ha!  

Color my world

Our San Francisco/Napa trip was marvelous, just the little bit of escape that we needed.  I mean, don't get me wrong, our life is pretty darn sweet, but we do work our butts off (not that you can tell, because mine is definitely still back there).  But you know what I mean.

We visited lots of old fave spots from when we lived in SF.  Museums, restaurants, shops.  We ate, we walked, we ate, we walked, we ate and then we walked some more.  It felt wonderful to use my legs (again) for transportation - I simply LOVE that!!!  And we saw plenty of new spots, The Ferry Building for one, which has been completed since we moved away.  I liked it a lot, so much that I was there 3 times during 2 days.  Fantastic food from a variety of well known and lesser known vendors, restaurants, shops and a Farmer's market on the weekend.  The fruits and veggies so perfect they look like something from a photo shoot.  

It was Fleet Week, so we saw the air show from our hotel window - can you say Blue Angels!?!? So wildly synchronistic as we used to love Fleet Week and didn't realize it would take place during our visit.  

I caught up with the dearest of dear friends, my soul sisters - the girls who nurtured me through the beginning years of my artistic journey - they know where the bodies are buried (so to speak) and I love them for their unfailing support.  

So Blue and Green and fresh and crisp with PEACE for all.  That's how I would color my world.  

Yep, you betcha (to quote my friend Joan)

Saturday, Oct 11th, 2008 -- You are dreaming in Technicolor today, even when you wake up and open your eyes. But as long as you don't try to be overly concrete now, you could be on a creative high. Do your best to capture this magical energy through whatever form of art and craft suits you best. And if you must be accurate in your reporting of details, tell others that it may take you a few days before you have all your facts in order.

This is so true it is freakish. San Francisco, once again, delivers more inspiration that I could ever dream. Actually, our entire trip has been that way. The wine country seemed more glorious than ever, and I found myself filled with new ideas at ever turn. And no, I wasn't drunk, lol. I've been journaling, but it is still slightly vague in my head, more of a feeling than anything, like I'm on the cusp of something big.

Today is my 15th Anniversary. It is a record for me, the girl who seemingly could never maintain a relationship (long story for another day). All I can say is I am incredibly blissed to have such a wonderful husband. John is my rock and my foundation. He is a man who believes in me with all his heart and his encouragement has allowed me to blossom in more directions that I could ever imagine. His intellect and wit never cease to amaze me. I respect so many things about him, but especially his patience and kindness. I think that he and I seem (to many) like an odd couple, but we are lucky in that we bring out the best in one another. He really does complete me.

Happy Anniversary sweetie.

Hometown bliss

The Hyde Park Art Fair was wonderful!  Gosh, such perfect weather, we Midwesterners are certainly getting spoiled, aren't we?  

Anyhoo, I had a mixed booth of abstracts and Common Denominator work.  I was lucky to get a corner location  
which was lovely for display and I hung things a little differently than normal.  I won a prize?!?!?  Can you believe!?!?  Mom & Dad were there when it was announced and it was so cute to see my Mom spontaneously telling anyone who walked by, "my daughter won an award."  Just hilarious.  It was an Honorable Mention, came with some moulah (yippee)  and also means that I get invited back next year without having to jury.  

These adorable costumed girls are Stacey and Jen (I covet Jen's tattoo hose btw) from Indigenous, my gallery in Cincinnati.   They were walking around the show promoting their upcoming Halloween Hullabaloo which is an event they hold each year.  If you are in Cincinnati, you should check it out, sounds waaayyyy fun!!  You can also find my work there; last time I visited, I was delighted to see a "MB wall" of sorts, tee, hee.

 

And since I was in Cincy, of course I got together with my cousin, Amber.  We had lunch with our moms, pretending we were ladies who lunch routinely.  It was a kick.  Moms and cousins both had a really good time.  Amber's a doll, isn't she?  

And finally, here is a picture from my last Studio Workshop which was held with women from The Joy Foundation.  The purpose of the workshop was to train their volunteer staff in a couple simple projects that could be done with hospitalized children in Cancer wards.  I am honored to be working with them.  

Which reminds me (short promo here), I have a few openings for upcoming Studio workshops.

There's a Claybord class on October 23rd with a couple spots and the Collage Class on November 8th has a few.  Email me for more details and I will send you a brochure if you are interested. 

I am heading out in the morning to San Francisco, woo hoo!!!  John and I are celebrating our 15th anniversary; we are going to Napa and to the City (of course), visiting old haunts and dear friends.   More on that later.......

Adios amigos. 

Cincinnati Bound

Hyde Park Square.

Sunday.

10-5.

I'll be at the corner of Edwards & Erie.

Be there or be square.

Sound Bites

The plaque shown in the previous post is one of my "Sound Bites." They are brief smart ass phrases that I find amusing.  Some of them come from pop culture or the media; others I make up myself.  I wanted to present my own version of the live laugh dream create messages that we see everywhere (not that I don't like those, they have just been overdone). 

I've been making the Sound Bites for over a year now and they are suddenly quite popular as it seems folks relate to cynicism, tee, hee, hee.  I could go on and on about the idea of sound bites in general, as they perpetrate every part of our lives and sometimes I fear decisions are made based based on them.  But alas (smacks self in head), I won't bore you with another rant. 

After all, these are just for fun!  It's my intent to put them on Etsy.  I want to open a shop once my shows are over - this will definitely happen in time for holiday gift giving.   

So consider this your preview.  And if you gotta have one earlier, let me know.  They are $20 each which includes shipping.  Email me fmi.

God help us all

I vowed to myself no political rants on my blog, so I'm going to tell this story without revealing my "choice".  I think that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I would not impose my opinion on others.  

That being said, I have - or had, I should say - a political sign in my side yard.  I'm sure you see where this is going.  

We left our house at about 4:00 to babysit our grandkids.  Afterward we spent a really lovely evening with our family.  We were gone about 4 hours or so.  And yep, you guessed it.....we returned to find that our political sign was gone. 

Nice.  Really a class act, whoever you are.  I realize I am taking this way too seriously, but it makes me question my neighbors.  Honestly, I can't believe it was one of my neighbors, I prefer to think it was some random act by an unknown person.  I have to believe that to maintain any sanity whatsoever.  But I do wonder about who would have done this and why they are seemingly unable to tolerate freedom of expression!??!  Does someone really believe that removal of a political sign will somehow influence the election and/or change my vote!?!?!  

So, here is my message.....pretty mature, huh?

I mailed gifts to a couple friends this week.  Taking a cue from one of my clever buddies, I decided to wrap presents in discarded paper towels and other odd scraps of painted stuff; truth be told, I have an enormous bin of these things.  Scavenging around is actually quite fun.  

And here is how the packages turned out.  I hope the recipients like them. 

Ties that Bind

Here's a charm that I made for the Ties that Bind Project, a fund raiser for Ovarian cancer.  First time I've attempted this.......I took a section of a collage and enlarged and adapted it in Photoshop, then added the text.  I sized the circle in PS and glued it behind my optical lens, added the wire and ribbon and voila!  I was happy with the result and you just might see more of these from me.  Check out the other contributions and find out more about this project here.