Sunday, July 25, 2010

Workshops, Crazy Busy!

http://urbanbarn155.blogspot.com/

I have been extremely busy these last couple of weeks, which is a good thing. I have no idea what posessed me to schedule 5, yes 5! workshops and 1 art fair in the latter part of July when I have a manuscript due Jully 31! Well I got thru it all and I'm almost done with the book except for some final tweaking. These pics are of a workshop that I did at The Urban Barn in Escondido, Ca. The place was gorgeous as usual and since it was their grand opening weekend there were lots of festivities planned.

Thes pics are of a city sponsored art and music festival in which they paid me a nice amount to do a 45 min. workshop with 25 kids. Now I've never really worked with kids before, but it was a lot of fun and they were all very well behaved, thank goodness. We made 8x10" collages that turned out super cute. All the materials were donated to me which made it even nicer. I set up a small table with my goodies to sell and just kicked back and listened to music all night and talked to lots of great people. Got a nice list going of women who want to take workshops......not until the manuscript is done!
I am planning a workshop that will take place in a beautiful yard overlooking the ocean, probably in September. The theme will be beachy...I will post details later but not until manuscript is done! I f anyone is interested please email me. I promise fun in the sun and lots of good company.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

2 BRavE SoULs

I was stuck in beach traffic forever it seemed. When I arrived at the higgledy piggledy wall made of used brick going every which way with seashells, rocks and ceramics mixed in here and there, I was completely enchanted. I rang the bell and when the green doors opened, the pretty blond said "We are really brave souls." I laughed because I knew exactly what she meant. The night before I started thinking that I must be out of my mind to be meeting someone from blog world at their home and not a coffee shop. But then I thought there's probably not too many serial killers preying on middle aged women at their million dollar beach houses! I walked into a courtyard made of the same wavy bricks, with the cottage style home just ahead, the grey ocean in the background. This cottage was amazing, something surely out of a magazine but of course she is an interior designer so it had to be wonderful.
I met Paulette because of my whiny post where I complained about being jobless and not knowing for sure where my life was headed. Poor Paulette, she was worried I was going to loose my home and starve. But in my whiny,woe is me mood, I was of course being dramatic because that is what we writer/artist types do sometimes. Being very much the encourager, we talked for hours one night on the phone before I headed down there last Friday. The hostess was as delightful as the house I am glad to say. We painted ceramics, ate a wonderful healthy lunch and trekked into town on foot for shopping and dinner.
She is an amazing artist and I must admit I was in awe of her large studio. It was crammed full of her creations and gave me the much inspiration I've needed. There was a beautiful one-of-a-kind vase she made that I couldn't take my eyes off. Of course I brought down some of my goodies to show her and there was a piece she liked of mine and suggested a trade. It was difficult to pick a piece. Seriously, I will take a picture of her studio when I go back and you will understand why!
After dinner we arrived back to the cottage after dark and I made one last stop to the bathroom before heading home and when I came out she was holding the gorgeous turquoise vase. I'm sure my heart stopped for a few seconds as she handed it to me. What an amazing day it was and I have my beautiful vase sitting here to remind me of our brave day.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Paper Dolls

I"ve been busy, busy getting ready for some art shows. Now I've never done a show ecept for  gallery shows, so I don't quite know what to expect. I've been making paper dolls and bookmarks for a craft fair next week. I need lots of inexpensive goodies for this show and lots of kid stuff. I will also be doing a hands-on collage demo during this show which will mostly be kids and their moms. Lots of fun!
I was a major paper doll fan as a kid. I had Barbie of course, but also, Samantha from Bewitched, Ellie May from The Beverly Hillbilliies, That Girl and Haley Mills, just to name a few. I could spend hours cutting out the clothes and then designing  and coloring my own to cut out. I suppose this is where it all began with me and my paper obsession. It was good training!