Magic Mirror

Hmmm...I wonder if I have a magic mirror on my wall?
This is what I see when I look in it.

Oh, silly me!

That was a magazine that I was looking at.

Have you drawn anything today?

The Art Filled Life

I'm boxing up my kits and supplies for the Textile Evolution Retreat.
Sending them on their way to Colorado Springs to my friend Liz's house.
They will wait for me to get there on Sept.7, when we will be reunited for our classes.
We are all so excited about this trip!
This is my first time teaching at a (several day) retreat! I usually teach one day classes locally.
So, this is a good "first one"...trial run so to speak...
I would love to teach at different venues this coming year. Maybe even one of the "big" retreats.
I'm hoping to send some proposals out.
I'm getting to be a real brave girl, aren't I?

I've always wanted to share what I do with other people.
I love teaching the "mad scientist" way of creating.
And it's not just the Way that I create art -
it's the Why I create art.

It's one of those things that I am compelled to do.
It's my way of life actually.
And I think that most artists, most creative people would agree
that it is the biggest part of who you are,
why you are and how you walk through life.

We live our life,
we express our life & our experiences through our art.

It is The Art Filled Life.

Creative Play, I mean Work

At the Textile Evolution Retreat, I am teaching two different classes.
One is the Scraps, Fragments and Artifacts class.
Check out this post (and this post) for info about that one.
The second class is only one day.
It's an exercise in creative play called "Play, Create, Explore".
It's going to be so much fun!
We'll be making an 8" x 8" piece of mixed media fiber art. I supply the kit
so all the participants have to do is show up!
Well, maybe bring one or two sewing machines in the mix.
We'll scrape some paint around, collage some images, ponder on some words to add to our rusty fiber/bird's nest paper background.
Oh, let's not forget the beads, the button ribbon,the sheet music and the flowers...
I think there is only a couple of spots left!
Sign up NOW!

The other thing I've been doing (among the 872 other things) is getting ready for the WGAF - which will be four days after I get back from Colorado Springs.
Yeah, I realize that everything is all jammed up together...
I'm going to have some cards ready to sell - note card type- some with prints of my paintings and some will be original tiny paintings.
Here is one that I painted.

You can't tell from the photo, but it has a narrow white border around it.

Sometimes it takes me a while to warm up to some of my work,

but I really liked this one right away.

I have been putting in 10-12 hour studio days getting ready.

I should say "work days" instead of "studio days" since I work all over the house...

Does anyone else do that?

West Greenville Arts Festival

Well, I finally collected all my courage and entered some of my artwork
into and art festival that you had to be juried into...
and they accepted me!
I am beyond excited about it!
My friend, Ann Taylor, and I are sharing a booth.
She has experience in outdoor festivals and I have none.
I'm hoping that everyone will come out and see me
and support the local artists.
There will be live music, food, other entertainment and
activities for the kids.
All in Greenville's Art District.

Published!

Last year, when my buddy Jane Powell recommended this awesome book to me, I never dreamt of the impact it would have in my life.
"Life is a Verb" by Patti Digh.
Jane had Patti out to her shop to do a reading along with a book signing. And, loving the book as I do, my husband and I went.
I met Patti (and Mr. Brilliant (her husband) and sweet little Tess(her beautiful daughter) and signed up to be on the list to submit artwork for her next book.
Last February (I think) I got an email with a "Call for Art" in it.
A mere two weeks to respond...yikes!
And you know how it goes, everything under the sun happened in those two weeks to slow me down...
to keep me from making art for Patti.
But, stubbornness won out and I submitted a piece.
A little bit later I got an email from her editor saying that my artwork had been chosen to grace the pages of her book!
Yippee!
Today, I had this waiting for me when I got home...

My complimentary copy of the new book "Four Word Self Help"!
Here is what I sent in for my essay "Sit in the sunshine".

By the way, you folks that have taken my layered paper class may recognise the background...I used one of the papers that I demo in class.

See? I told you that those papers could be used for all manner of things!

Anyway - here is my page, page 75.

And it's very good advice too -

"Sit in the Sunshine"

Hearts

While drawing an image, a laceration that I accidentally obtained yesterday,

opened back up and began bleeding again.

I didn't even realize it until I stopped to check the accuracy of my marks...

and look at what I saw!?



A perfect little blood heart next to the

stem of leaves that I had drawn.

It looks like I stamped a red heart on the page!

How perfect could it be?!

I started to toss the entire page

but decided to keep it instead.

I'll dedicate that little heart, made with my blood,

to my much missed mom-in-law, Sandra.

This will go to represent my love, admiration and respect for this petite lady that had such a big heart.

She accepted me, without question, into her family based on my husbands (obvious) (:-)love of me.

I just have to say (again)...

What an awesome woman...

What a loss...

And what a blessing that she isn't suffering today.



Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement.

I cherish them and truly appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

Our little family is continuing to grieve

but we are standing strong.

Accepting the blessing of loving memories, the help of friends

and the bond of working together.



Thanks again for all your sweet words!

Loved Ones

I haven't done a blog post in a while.

My wonderful mother in law passed away last Sunday, August 8.
It was a sudden thing, unexpected.
I have been so busy with helping at their home, serving, cleaning...
but most of all, grieving.

If you're read my blog for long, you will know that my own mom passed away last year.
Also unexpectedly.
My mother in law had stepped in and filled that void in my life.
Now I find myself floundering.

All I can say is that she was such a wonderful, giving person.
She passed away with dignity, surrounded by her loved ones.

You just never know when those that you love will be taken away.
Be sure and show them, tell them how much you love them.
Spend time with them.

So, again my readers -
Let's raise a toast.
This time to my mom in law -

RIP Sandra Sloan.

RIP.

Fiber Freaks, umm Junkies I mean

I have been so busy preparing for the (now in town) Big League World Series and the upcoming retreat I am teaching at (see side bar Textile Evolution), that I neglected to post on the last Fiber Junkies meeting.
I am still incredibly busy but really want to share what we did - so, I'm going to cheat and send you to Judy Simmons and Mary Stori s blog to read.
We had a blast screen printing and I have a whole new appreciation for those that do screen print. Especially those that burn your own screens. If I had a larger studio and easy access to water, I'd do it myself...but right now, I just don't have the room.

Now onto a little more exciting (and scary) news...
I submitted an application and images to be considered for the West Greenville Art Festival this fall (right after I get back from Colorado Springs!) and I was accepted! They limit the artist number to 40 so I am so really excited to be a part of this. I have never participated in an festival before so I am working like crazy to get enough work together in time.
I've got some new collage pieces in the works - they include my doodle sketches and vintage papers and stuff. A little watercolor paint, a little matt medium and
wa la!
I'm hoping that they are accepted well - they are all excited about being in the show!
I have to run and tend to my duties at the ball park.
Do run over and read all about the screen printing adventure we all had!