and once in august...

goodness gracious! i haven't posted in a long time...
needed to get at least this one post in in august!

returned yesterday afternoon from a *delightful* journaling retreat near Mt. Baker.



view of our work area from the hallway upstairs...9 quite generous workstations ... many brought trades, others brought items to share -- magazines (Departures met with resounding success...if any readers have access to those...I'd love a little package of those in the mail, or dropped off at the house if you know me :)),
rubber stamped tissue paper,
teeny glassine envelopes,
strips of scrapbook paper,
piles of inspiring published books to pour through,
piles of our journals to pour through,
a great big box of music to journal by,
a few bottles of wine (i think we all showed remarkable restraint in only drinking with our evening meal and later),
baked goods,
homemade soup with nettles,
yummy recipes from great cookbooks,
hot tub time,
hikes,
lots of laughter,
a few snores :),
a bit of teaching,
a lot of learning,
total restoration!!!

thanks to you all ... long may the "gussies" meet and collaborate!
special thanks to Gwen and Catherine for finding this place and starting the ball rolling!





(view from Liesel's space to my mostly picked up space on Sunday morning...her final journal entry of the weekend experience).

Enjoying the "Staycations"

Woodland Park Zoo. We had a great, great time. LM saw some of the animals and enjoyed the beautiful landscaping and all the people.

Had to buy a new computer...our last one crashed, we are still trying to find someone to help us get all of our photos and videos off of it so that we can print all of our photos of little man.

The 4th of July show was a bust. I am so proud of all the work that I created for it though ... and hopefully I'll have a chance to show and sell it somewhere up here soon.

painting buddhas (and more)

Been knitting and crocheting lately in snippets of time. Working on a combination of granny squares and knitting...will show these when I've finished them.
Taking little trips to all the cool places in the Seattle area. Love this sculpture.

I'm so proud of my latest pieces.
Here's a sneak peek.
I'll show more after the show.
If I'm really lucky it'll be good I took photos because they'll all sell! :)

Artists Garage Sale

see you in Mulkiteo on Saturday... at Rosehill Community Center 304 Lincoln Ave.





Great stuff at Great Prices. See you there. :)

http://www.artscouncilofsnoco.org/events.html
(for some reason blogger isn't letting clickable links in right now)

A favorite view on our walks.

I'm working on Buddha after Buddha for my upcoming July show. We are so excited to see all of our friends and family -- maybe even a hike with LM around one or two of our favorite walking around lakes in the Bend area.
I also am continuing to sort through my art supplies to gather together piles of fabulous things to sell at the Artists Garage Sale in the Seattle area in June. (I'll post a link later when I hear for certain that I've received a space there). Out with the old, in with the new.
Thinking of new and different things to do with the booth this summer. Suggestions? I really should have styled this shot better, though this is the real look of the booth, because it was July and so hot that we couldn't really have the sides up all the way because it is *so* hot under the canopy in the heat of summer, you simply have to have the sides all open to catch any and all breezes that come through.

Teaching at the UW Experimental College- cancelled

Sigh. Not enough for me to run the class at this time. Though I am hoping to offer a private class this summer. I have a couple of folks on the list for the next class. If you are interested, let me know, I'll keep you informed about the upcoming class date.


Precious Metal Clay: Create Your Own Silver Jewelry
You will learn quick and easy techniques to create professional quality jewelry today. Using techniques adapted from earthen clay, metalsmithing and polymer clay create silver earrings, pendants and charms. Experiment with texturing tools, rubber stamps, molds and canapé cutters. An innovative material, PMC is composed of microscopic particles of silver suspended in an organic binder. When fired in a kiln, the binder burns away leaving a piece of pure silver jewelry.

Skill level: no art experience necessary
Kit includes: handouts, one package of PMC+, firings for one package, use of tumbler, kiln, patinas, texturing tools and use of all materials & tools throughout the class.

Tell your friends. This class will take place on Saturday, May 16th on the UW Main Campus. Call 'em at 206.68.LEARN to register.

Randomness and Centering

I am painting buddha after buddha...ever trying to find my center every day. I do plan to have a dozen for the 4th of July show in Bend. (Though I will post them to etsy in the meantime...) This one still needs to be framed...one day I'll be getting that table saw to speed up that process.

We were recently in Spokane for the Pacific Northwest Conference of United Church of Christ. I love these people! We had a great time meeting new folks, enjoying our hotel room with a great view of the river (not any of these shots, I for some reason took no pictures of our view), I love balconies! sat out there a couple of times and added sketches and ideas to my journal. LM *loved* the swimming pool...will definitely be staying at hotels with pool access from now on.

Years ago when I lived in Pullman I joined a large group of friends who ran/walked the Bloomsday Run. It was a great day. Gotta work on getting ready for another similar experience. Goals. Always with the goals.

We didn't take this ride, but it sure looked like it'd be beautiful.

LM has discovered mirrors and loves to play with the baby.
Great big batch of chili made and stored in the freezer.

Wire Play

Played with wire today. I've had visions of making great 2-D (and 3-D) sculptures with wire. I made these today. Next up words and initials.

Posted a couple of things to etsy.

ArtFest2009

a couple of photos...maybe I'll comment about them later. I have *lots* more to download and crop.

Circle Journal spoiler -- skip if you want a surprise....

The first 5 photos are the pieces I made for my facebook friends who responded to my Handmade Pay It Forward post. Will be sending these out before heading to ArtFest. The remaining photos are of the Mermaid circle journal started by Michelle Geller. The first three of those photos are her cover, sign in pages and explanation pages. The last two photos are the pages that I made for her book. Check her blog later for all the pages...I'm sure she'll post them all sometime after she receives it at Artfest next week.

"Legalize Frostitution" (bumper sticker at Cupcake Royale)

A beautiful cupcake. From Whole Foods. It tastes bleeh. Who would have thought that Whole Foods would make their frosting out of shortening? At leasts that's what it tastes like. Shortening, sugar and food colouring. Yuck.
Cupcake Royale Cupcakes. O.M.G. So, so, so good. The frosting is most definitely buttercream. And there are cream cheese based frostings too. Yum. The cupcakes were a little bit like cake mix texture (I think the denser texture seems more homemade, though I don't doubt that Cupcake Royale cupcakes are handcrafted without mixes). We took Elinor there yesterday for our first visit. We drove back into Seattle today for me to get my eyebrows threaded, pick up some art supplies for ARTFEST! and oh, while we're here let's go back to Cupcake Royale! I picked out the Salted Caramel again. And tried Coconut on White. C picked Chocolate Royale (cream cheese frosting) and Classic (chocolate buttercream frosting on white cake).


We had Fettucine Alfredo with plenty of asparagus and a big salad to contrast the cupcake consumption. And though the box says to eat the cupcakes the same day you buy them. We are having our second cupcake tomorrow. (probably).
Working on the spiritual paintings a bit. This is the first try with my new handcut Buddha stencil.

Balance and ArtFest

oh my goodness.
the piles of things i'm getting rid of in the studio!
it feels good to have these things in boxes to sell at the Art Garage Sale in June!
Getting more things off the to-do list.
Next week. Etsy!

I've been contemplating balance a great deal more lately. Trying to find a way to keep the house clean, teach LM how to be a bigger, smarter, faster dude. We're getting a schedule (more or less). I'm keeping the kitchen sink empty. I'm recycling lots and lots of papers, especially as soon as I collect the mail. We bought LM his baby gate today...and his "big boy" carseat. And a bubble machine...the library lady uses one at the end of each reading and E loves it. We met Nana for a few minutes after shopping in Bellevue and he giggled and giggled at the neck kissing. Love those baby giggles!

Looking forward to ArtFest in less than three weeks. Morning walks on the beach. 10 minutes in the shower! Yummy breakfast without cooking. Class. Meeting new artists, learning from the teacher and all the rest of the students in class. Lunch - again, no cooking, no decisions, no dishes! And back to class. Dinner and hopefully that great salad with the fresh dressing again and dessert and coffee and chats about how classes went. Then at night - Journal party, Vendor night, and Show & Tell. And late night laughter with wine in the dorms! I'm so going to miss my family...but, so need this time at Fort Worden! If mama is happy, everybody is happy...right?

I'm still working on my swaps. I do have about 20 done so far. Have an idea for the rest and hope to get a pile started at Sunday's Third Place Art Meeting. Hopefully I'll prep 50, so the fun part can take place with the art ladies.

Crossing things off the list.

I finished them! The front is toothy to represent "Do Not Enter" and the other side with the pocket is for holding a little spiral bound notebook and pen for family and friends to leave messages. For hanging on the outside of their bedroom door.

Here are two fronts and one back. And the next photo is the reverse of them. I couldn't decide which nephew would like which colours... so I wrapped them all and decided mom and dad could either open them before hand and label them, or the kids can get whichever they open. Made from my silk stash. I love stuffies now. So, I'm going to start sketching some new ideas. Maybe some sea monsters coming in honor of ArtFest.


Will mail them tomorrow!

Thank you Gayle for this Christmas gift! So, so good! (Corn bread mix.) And the packaging, so adorable.