Just before I head to bed, I've been sitting here finishing the post I started the other day about ArtFest. In the background I have the TV tuned to an OLD episode of "Soul Train." We're talking...oh...mid 70s, maybe early 80s. What a trip back in time! The Afro hair styles...the platform shoes - on the guys as well as the grils...the high-waisted bell bottoms...the wide collars. Everyone is so nicely dressed, with nary a t-shirt or baggy butted pant in sight. No tats or piercings, but I was really surprised to see one girl with a pierced nose! Don Cornelius is wearing a 3-piece suit and tie - and he looks so young.
Let's see...who is singing...Betty White, Wilson Pickett...Archie Bellows and the Drones...all singing upbeat dance tunes. Now they're doing a dance line to a song called "Let's Go Disco!" How cool! There are even a couple of pop-lockers in the line.
OK - Yawn! - Now that I've danced down memory lane, I gotta git off to bed before the sun comes up here!
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Interim...
I actually have lots more to post about ArtFest, which I started to write tonight. But it's really late now, and I am falling asleep at the keyboard. So I thought I'd at least add this little interim post and say more is coming, with lots of pictures. The weekend was an event to be relished and cherished, and shared in pieces, as it was all way too much to take in all at once!
Anyhoo...I'm off to bed now, and I'll post more later.
Anyhoo...I'm off to bed now, and I'll post more later.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Off to ArtFest: The First Day or So
ArtFest...wow...this was my first one, and there was so much to take in that I decided to divide the retelling into more than one post.
I spent the days before the actual event packing and instant messaging Heather and asking her a bazillion questions. Thank goodness she was there, because I needed lots of help keeping on track and getting through my lists - what to take for art, what to pack, what to get done before I leave...just lots of STUFF. Thank goodness, too, that I rented a nice-sized SUV. I needed it for all that stuff!
Wednesday morning, I picked Heather up from the airport and we were on our way. First there was the ferry dock in Seattle, where we met Kim and her friend, and some other ArtFesters, including Kristin. Even though we had never met before, ArtFesters weren't hard to spot, with the their excited looks and chattering and funky attire. We all felt like school kids on holiday! Here's a picture of Seattle from the ferry:
...and here's Heather!
When we got to Bainbridge, we took our time getting to Port Townsend, stopping in Poulsbo to buy beads at Imagine That! (of course we stopped for beads!), and plate-sized doughnuts and other goodies at the bakery (yum!), and even more supplies for our classes at the stamping store (as if we didn't have enough already!) Then off we headed for Port Townsend.
Of course we managed to get lost looking for Fort Warden! We had both managed to forget to print the directions, but we knew it was close to the town. We drove around a bit, asked a deer we came across in the middle of the road (he wasn't saying much!), and soon found where we had taken a wrong turn.
Soon after we had arrived, checked in, eaten dinner, and found our dorm, we all gathered for a welcome and to meet the artists/instructors. Everywhere we went, Heather was running into people she knew from online, and I met a couple of fellow bloggers too. She has met more people online than I have since she has been a mixed media artist longer than I have...but she introduced me to everyone, and it was fun meeting all these new people. Not only was I meeting everyone, but people were trading with me all over the place! My charms were going fast...By the time we headed back to our rooms, I had all kinds of wonderful little pieces of art to look at.
Jaz, my Blythe doll, came with me on this trip. She wanted to spend the weekend with her sister Ginger. They both spent almost the entire week in their sleeping bags! On the last day we did make them come with us to class...
So...the next day was my first class, "Resins: Creating Transparent Papers" with Susan Lenart Kazmer. What a fun and energetic class! Susan is full of all kinds of wonderful energy and ideas. We soon had paper covered in resin and drying on the porch, as well as brass bezels that we filled with tiny collages and resin. In the afternoon we learned how to make jewelry from the papers we had made. The papers are wonderful media for enhancing journal pages, and for tearing up for jewelry. I made a prayer box, some paper-covered copper loops, and some bezels for a bracelet I'm planning to make. Now that I'm home, if I could only find the prayer box, I'd have the bracelet done! Here's the results of my work:
And here are Heather, Rita, and Susan, after class:
We left our pieces to dry overnight, and headed off for dinner in town. We ate that night at the Public House (I think that was the name), which was pretty good. We found Kelly in town near where she was staying and took her off to dinner with us. We had a nice time visiting and talking. Oh yeah - we went to another bead store too! Wynwoods Gallery and Bead store is small, but boy did they have lots of beads. They also have this lobby full of the most fabulous trims and laces...I wish I could have spent a couple hundred dollars there!
Whew - a long day and a looong post! There's more about the dorms and stuff, but I better wait until another time...soon...
I spent the days before the actual event packing and instant messaging Heather and asking her a bazillion questions. Thank goodness she was there, because I needed lots of help keeping on track and getting through my lists - what to take for art, what to pack, what to get done before I leave...just lots of STUFF. Thank goodness, too, that I rented a nice-sized SUV. I needed it for all that stuff!
Wednesday morning, I picked Heather up from the airport and we were on our way. First there was the ferry dock in Seattle, where we met Kim and her friend, and some other ArtFesters, including Kristin. Even though we had never met before, ArtFesters weren't hard to spot, with the their excited looks and chattering and funky attire. We all felt like school kids on holiday! Here's a picture of Seattle from the ferry:
...and here's Heather!
When we got to Bainbridge, we took our time getting to Port Townsend, stopping in Poulsbo to buy beads at Imagine That! (of course we stopped for beads!), and plate-sized doughnuts and other goodies at the bakery (yum!), and even more supplies for our classes at the stamping store (as if we didn't have enough already!) Then off we headed for Port Townsend.
Of course we managed to get lost looking for Fort Warden! We had both managed to forget to print the directions, but we knew it was close to the town. We drove around a bit, asked a deer we came across in the middle of the road (he wasn't saying much!), and soon found where we had taken a wrong turn.
Soon after we had arrived, checked in, eaten dinner, and found our dorm, we all gathered for a welcome and to meet the artists/instructors. Everywhere we went, Heather was running into people she knew from online, and I met a couple of fellow bloggers too. She has met more people online than I have since she has been a mixed media artist longer than I have...but she introduced me to everyone, and it was fun meeting all these new people. Not only was I meeting everyone, but people were trading with me all over the place! My charms were going fast...By the time we headed back to our rooms, I had all kinds of wonderful little pieces of art to look at.
Jaz, my Blythe doll, came with me on this trip. She wanted to spend the weekend with her sister Ginger. They both spent almost the entire week in their sleeping bags! On the last day we did make them come with us to class...
So...the next day was my first class, "Resins: Creating Transparent Papers" with Susan Lenart Kazmer. What a fun and energetic class! Susan is full of all kinds of wonderful energy and ideas. We soon had paper covered in resin and drying on the porch, as well as brass bezels that we filled with tiny collages and resin. In the afternoon we learned how to make jewelry from the papers we had made. The papers are wonderful media for enhancing journal pages, and for tearing up for jewelry. I made a prayer box, some paper-covered copper loops, and some bezels for a bracelet I'm planning to make. Now that I'm home, if I could only find the prayer box, I'd have the bracelet done! Here's the results of my work:
And here are Heather, Rita, and Susan, after class:
We left our pieces to dry overnight, and headed off for dinner in town. We ate that night at the Public House (I think that was the name), which was pretty good. We found Kelly in town near where she was staying and took her off to dinner with us. We had a nice time visiting and talking. Oh yeah - we went to another bead store too! Wynwoods Gallery and Bead store is small, but boy did they have lots of beads. They also have this lobby full of the most fabulous trims and laces...I wish I could have spent a couple hundred dollars there!
Whew - a long day and a looong post! There's more about the dorms and stuff, but I better wait until another time...soon...
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Where HAVE I Been?
Arrrrgh! I just accidentally deleted my entire post, and now I must reconstruct it from memory. It was so good too...a work of literary art...it would make you return again and again for more of my elegant prose...well a gal can dream can't she?
Anyhoo...I think I started out by saying that I think I have to face the fact that for right now I am at best a sometime blogger. I'm still trying to find the consistency to blog more than once every so often, so until I do, I hope my few visitors will come back once in awhile to check on me!
So - where have I been? I went to ArtFest! I'm still processing all that I saw and did there. I met lots of wonderful artsy people, many of whom are fellow bloggers. I'm still trying to find them all, and I hope to add their blogs to my list. They all have lots of wonderful creations to share! I have lots of pictures to share and things to post, too...
First, here's what I did before I left. One of the funnest and most popular things to do at ArtFest is to trade things! This year many of us decided to make charms - little tiny, wonderful works of art to share with everyone. Ooookay...what was I going to use to make my charms? It took awhile to figure this out, but one night my eye fell on the stack of CDs I've saved from all those infernal AOL mailings. Somehow I just knew that I'd find a use for them!
...and I did! First I cut out all the pieces and sanded the edges round. Then I painted the shiny side. I needed a way to keep those little pieces from moving around while I painted them, so I attached them to a CD with a dab of glue:
When the paint was dry I added embellishments. It was kind of challenging trying to get all those tiny bits of paper in place, but I soon found a way. When they were all embellished I sealed the charms with a coat of acrylic medium.
After the charms were all dry I finished the backs with a coat of tissue and more acrylic medium. Here they are all ready for jump rings:
The final step was to add a little brass snap swivel I got in the fishing tackle department, and the charms were all ready to trade away:
This was such a fun and simple project, but the best part was all the wonderful charms and ephemera packs and ATCs I received in trade! I'll show you some of them in later posts. Each one is a miniature work of art!
Anyhoo...I think I started out by saying that I think I have to face the fact that for right now I am at best a sometime blogger. I'm still trying to find the consistency to blog more than once every so often, so until I do, I hope my few visitors will come back once in awhile to check on me!
So - where have I been? I went to ArtFest! I'm still processing all that I saw and did there. I met lots of wonderful artsy people, many of whom are fellow bloggers. I'm still trying to find them all, and I hope to add their blogs to my list. They all have lots of wonderful creations to share! I have lots of pictures to share and things to post, too...
First, here's what I did before I left. One of the funnest and most popular things to do at ArtFest is to trade things! This year many of us decided to make charms - little tiny, wonderful works of art to share with everyone. Ooookay...what was I going to use to make my charms? It took awhile to figure this out, but one night my eye fell on the stack of CDs I've saved from all those infernal AOL mailings. Somehow I just knew that I'd find a use for them!
...and I did! First I cut out all the pieces and sanded the edges round. Then I painted the shiny side. I needed a way to keep those little pieces from moving around while I painted them, so I attached them to a CD with a dab of glue:
When the paint was dry I added embellishments. It was kind of challenging trying to get all those tiny bits of paper in place, but I soon found a way. When they were all embellished I sealed the charms with a coat of acrylic medium.
After the charms were all dry I finished the backs with a coat of tissue and more acrylic medium. Here they are all ready for jump rings:
The final step was to add a little brass snap swivel I got in the fishing tackle department, and the charms were all ready to trade away:
This was such a fun and simple project, but the best part was all the wonderful charms and ephemera packs and ATCs I received in trade! I'll show you some of them in later posts. Each one is a miniature work of art!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
