Teaching

Here is a class i'll be teaching at Stamp Asylum in Plano Tx on sept 19th.

In this workshop you will create a piece of wall art using a variety of paints and papers while learning a technique to add texture to your backgrounds – not only in this piece but in other you create later. Once the texture is complete, you will add imagery, draw your cage, accent it with charcoal and seal for a finished 12" x 7" piece ready to hang. To create a similar palette as the sample, you will need dabbers in the following colors: Aqua, Citrus, Cool Peri and Juniper. Optional: Pool, Lake and Pink Sherbet dabbers. If you have a different palette preference, bring the dabbers for your palette. Also bring your tool kit that includes paint brushes to paint and to glue.
Donna Joy [$45]

Cheryl of Ten Seconds Studio posted this on her blog and thought i would pass it on. It made me wonder how many people smiled every time they thought of what they saw that day~or how many wanted to "jump in" and dance with them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

.with no warning to the passengers passing through the station, at 08:00 am a recording of

Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system.

As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances.

They created this amazing stunt with just two rehearsals!

Final Phase: Disentegration Collaboration

This past winter Seth Apter started the
Disintegration Collaboration (DisCo)
We put our bundles out in the elements until May, then revealed
what they looked like after 3 months. Now the final phase-creating a piece of art with pieces or all, of our bundle. I took some of the papers and glued them to a piece of plywood, then added part of the bundled papers that survived the wind, rain, sun and ants. Added some paint for a bit of color and a few rusty washers-
If you go to his blog, you will find a list of links to other artists that did all 3 phases-you can see the final products of the elements!

Yep, still alive

But that's about it. working on a few things (art) that i'll post when finished. I'm also finishing up the deconstruction project that Seth Apter started this past winter.

Still Here

Still alive-trying to work through some "stuff"~no art to speak of, but soon i hope!~

KC Willis Studio Retreats

If you have followed the art of Lipstick Ranch throughout the years, you are in for a treat! Besides the online classes she is now offering, KC Willis now offers retreats in her new studio at her home in Longmont colorado-http://studioretreats.ning.com/
Check out the website for info regarding a retreat in this gorgeous setting!
If you aren't familiar with her work, check out Lipstick Ranch to see what you've been missing. I've admired her layering of vintage fabrics, cowgirls and doo-dads for years~ and recently got to take her online class-and am about to start the second one~a treat for sure!


Visit KC Willis Studio Retreats

What in the WORLD was I thinking?...

Want to re-do the art room. It is torn up and boxed up and a huge mess~I really need to purge some of this stuff...
these are my new shoelaces-a birthday gift from a friend-Ramones shoelaces....woohoo!

What a Pain!

Blogger changed over to google and i had to go through hoops to get signed in again...
will update later on today-just finished some yard work and off to meet the old work friends for lunch...

Power-less

Wed night some nasty thunderstorms blew in-and blew out our power-the tornado sirens were going off-the winds were nasty-nathan,myself and the dogs spent a bit of time in the hall closet-we ended up without power for 30 hrs. The first night it was raining all night/all morning so there was a cool breeze coming in. The next night-i stayed at my parents' house. :) Power's back on, fridge/freezers are cleaned out. I've begun the slow process of re-stocking..thank goodness insurance will help with that :)
so, needless to say i am very behind with projects i intended to do this week.

Last Comments on Vegas

While reading some reviews online of our hotel-probably good that i didn't see them ahead of time! One person whined about how dark it was-all the art and mirrors creeped them out and it wasn't on the strip.-well duh, didn't you look at the info online when you booked it-or the fact that it WASN'T on the strip. they complained about the slow draining tubs-yes they were-but that and the fact that we didn't get our bathroom "serviced" w/new towels got us a $50 gift card that we gladly spent in the bar-the dark bar w/mirrors all over... the BEST part of it all-that i didn't know about until we were home-is the fact that alot of the strippers that fly in to work the nearby clubs on the wkends-stay here. Gosh-missed that fact-although there is a good chance the woman we saw in the elevator fri afternoon was one of them...

Vegas/Red Rock Canyon

On friday we went out to Red Rock Canyon. It's really beautiful out there. The red is from iron being in the rock and oxidizing-it only takes a small amt, but don't remember what it was. There were alot of areas you could hike-we walked around quite a bit, but were not prepared for hiking. If i ever go back, would like to do that. The top pictures shows an area that is white at the bottom-that is a wash-we walked down it a bit too-. There were clouds out so it wasn't terribly hot that day-it rained late afternoon-after we were gone so i wondered if any of the washes filled up-there was no rain in the city where we were, but it looked like it rained all around. Would have liked to see the rain come down there. I took more pictures-but won't post them all-who wants to sit through "vacation photos?" If you're ever in vegas, it's worth the short drive to see-$5 well spent. Back in the 90's we went out to Valley of Fire that is about an hour away-it too is well worth the drive. Got to see real live petroglyphs there.

A bit of Art for Good Measure!

Thought i would throw in some art i finished before we went out of town. I'm taking an online class with KC Willis as i've mentioned a few times. Loving the technique-and her style. It's been fun and got my creative juices running again. She is about to host 3 more classes that are sure to be great too. I'm taking another one for sure! You can check them out on her site under workshops.

The Trip

I won't post alot of pictures of Vegas-too many of those online/tv etc... so i'll post what you haven't seen. The Artisan Hotel was very cool. Off the beaten path-quiet (until fri night) It's got an art deco feel on the outside-you pull up to these doors (and valet only parking)
The pool area was lovely-but i never made use of it.
The inside was dark, but very neat. Black floors, walls and ceilings. There are paintings, sculptures and mirrors everywhere-even the ceiling! Chandeliers and crystal light fixtures abound. Each room is done in an artist theme. We had the Andy Warhol room. This was the hallway from our room tto the elevator-the elevator doors were all painted red~as i said, a very neat place-unique. The pictures really don't capture the feeling. If you ever go to Vegas and want something different-this is the place!

Home Again

We are back-saw the town-at least as much of it as i wanted to-saw my good friend who moved from here 8 yrs ago-she works for the govt-and "undercover" for her position. so i'm not mentioning her name-but it was good to see her and the family! Stupid me-and her, forgot to take any pictures-duh. blonde. Went to Red Rock Canyon on fri-it is beautiful. Should have spent more time there. Grand Canyon on the way home-even saw Elk by the side of the road grazing-i think the pictures turned out blurry though-time to go upload and will post more when i am caught up around the house.
Will post more KC Willis class photo's too~

When Life Makes You Mad...

say" the hell with it" and go to Vegas!
so, til next week...and what a photo gallery there will be when i return :) Found this cool
boutique hotel-The Artisan something different this time~looks great from the website, let's hope it
is just as cool in person~

Finished Art

Here are two pieces i've worked on for my class with KC Willis. The first one is the one i showed earlier in progress. The second one is just that, the second one i've done-i have others in progress, but won't show them until done.

In Between

Normally i just post "stuff" on here. I haven't spilled secrets (not mine anyway) or really showed what a smart ass sense of humor i have. It's just kind of "there." (the blog posts)
Today i find myself "in between." Mon i went to work as usual. I have a job. not a career, just a job. One i took to help my mom out-those few wks turned into almost 3 yrs. She ran the kitchen/household at the Catholic Seminary for 23 1/2 yrs. I have helped there in the past when she needed it. donna to the rescue. :) Last May there were big changes. Our head priest was named Bishop and sent to Shreveport. Throughout the yrs, the priests were kind, the office help friendly-until the woman that had been up front retired. Enter some new women. Backstabbing (in the name of Jesus i guess) :) The last yr really sucked. Tension, rudeness beyond belief-from a priest no less- Us girls in the kitchen liked each other-and the girl in the household position, but were sick of the BS going on up front. Keep in mind this is a small operation. The student population was down to 30-with 3 priests in residence. They were given 21 meals a wk and our personalities~ We were scheduled to have a mtg on mon the 18th. We thought that *maybe* the guy in charge was finally going to meet with us-like he wanted to do a yr ago and chat. There were some renovations being made this summer-maybe discuss that. Little did we know that they would herd us-and our boss (mom) into one room to tell us-you're outta here. Sorry, we need to cut back, we've hired a service to take over and here's your paperwork, sign it, collect a check and get out. Oh, but i forgot, they "prayed on it for months"
No, they hired a big HR guy for the diocese and we were the expendible ones. Not even a thank you for all your years. The others had worked there for 22 yrs, 16 yrs, 14 yrs and 8 yrs respectively. Not even the decency to tell the boss first then us-and hovered as she cleaned out her office-of 23 yrs. He wanted us to hurry-didn't say it but felt it. I'm so done with the Catholic church-
So today, i am in between. Many say, what will you do now? don't know. geez, give me time for my pity party. It's like a death-the shock, the anger, the sick stomach. It wasn't a place i intended to stay at forever-it was a stopping place, but you don't expect to be treated like second class citizens. (whatever that really means) My mom and us 3 girls went to lunch mon-on our own dime of course-and my mom says let's start a business, what can we do? I said "strip." We got a good laugh. That is what i'll miss-laughing with the other 2 "girls" every day. and the 7 wks of pd vacation i'll now miss out on~ :)
maybe i'll move to santa fe and become a starving artist. yea right.

Giant Dog Bone

Ok, i try to mostly post art on here, but the puppies get mention too. There was a banquet at work last wkend and i got a remant of that for the dogs. They love me.
This is a piece I am working on for my KC Willis online class. Will post a picture when it's finished-should be this wkend.

Life this past week

Gary went to vegas mon night and took my camera, so no pictures this wk. I've been taking an online class w/KC Willis (of lipstick ranch) and really enjoying it-the desire to create that it has
inspired! All i have done is prepare some fabric, but once i've actually done something with it i'll post it. I did spend last sat. junking and arting with a friend. Took her by a cemetery i like to photograph where we were able to get a few photo's in before the rain. That's about it for now~

Disintegration Revealed

original reveal day
Today is the day we all reveal our paper bundles that were left out for nature to disintegrate.

A nasty windy thunderstorm took mine down one night and i had to find what i could of it and staple it together, then reattach to the tree. We've had quite a bit more rain since then, but it stayed put. it has seen hail, rain, thunder and lightening. Sunny days and cloudy days. I photographed it today, took it down and brought it inside. I put it on the kitchen counter and left to run a few errands. When i returned i found ants all over the counter and the paper bundle-yuk! immediately had to douse it in water-alot of water to get rid of them. It took about 20 min and i think i got them all. Once the paper dries, i know what i want to do with it since we are now to make an art piece with them.
fast forward a few hrs: still finding ants! they are hiding in the recesses of the papers...