Entries Tagged as: friends
Hey, some long delayed art!
September 6th, 2007, Comments (21)
Capturing and cropping and posting art is such a pain in the bum! 
But here we go. I've got an 8"x8" encaustic piece above. This piece was done by spreading wax on wood panel, doing a transfer from a photocopy of an old lace pattern and then carving into the wax to make the tree and then using oil stick in black to define the lines of the tree and darken some of the background. This is the second piece in a Memory Tree series I'm planning to make about Alzheimer's, which my grandmother suffers from. In the first one, I had images of the brain and the tree which relates to a family tree and also reminds me of the neural pathways of the brain. In this piece and some future ones, I'm planning to use transfers of lace patterns which make me think of my grandmother and also relate to the intricate patterns of the neural pathways in the brain.
While super busy with wedding stuff, I haven't always had time for involved art projects, so my solution for everyday creativity has been lots of drawing in pen or pencil on big pieces of watercolor paper or little pieces of scrap. I'll post loads of sketches later on.
Today, worn down with a cold, I felt pretty crappy, but my spirits were raising by the evening. With some good chats under my belt, I was starting to unwind more and more. And I'm also very excited about two retreats in my future. One this weekend is a mini art retreat at Jes of Junque Revival's farm in Maine. I was so lucky to meet many wonderful women at Mindy's open house a few months ago and right off the bat we made plans for a mini retreat complete with art making, good food, wonderful company, and antiquing! Yay! I think this will be just the getaway I need.
And on top of that I sent off my registration form for Artfest 2008. I've never been and since I'm missing out on Just Be Connected in October, I was really itchin to do a creative retreat too! I would have been teaching at Just Be, but the venue we picked for our wedding left us with the same weekend open, so I couldn't do it. I know Just Be will be a wonderful time and I wish I could be in both places at once! I will certainly be thinking of all the Just Be people on my wedding weekend and I hope you'll all send good wedding wishes my way while you're out having fun on the Cape! Artfest isn't til April, but apparently it books up mad quick, so it's good I was paying attention this year. I'm super excited as I know I'll meet some great creative folks and take some fantastic classes and I may extend my trip a little bit and make a full week of retreating out of it. I've never really done anything like this for art, so it's exciting and special. People get crazy with swaps and stuff at Artfest and there are whole discussion boards made for planning these things. It's a little overwhelming, but still I think it will be fun. Ok, time for bed. Ciao for now.
Whine, Whine, Whine
September 5th, 2007, Comments (14)
It doesn't do any good to get annoyed with myself, but every year when the days begin to darken, I feel a sadness creep in. I get annoyed with my depression (very helpful, I know.) I hold out hope each year that I've been "good enough", done enough exercise, taken enough vitamins, done enough self-care and art-making, so that this year I won't feel that heaviness. I don't want to accept it as just the way it is, just in case I'm fooling myself into thinking I have chronic depression.
I don't complain to the people in my life. Constant complaining annoys me in others, why would I want to do that to anyone else? Today the fiansor was encouraging me to whine. We both have a cold, stuffy noses and such and he's quite a whiner when he gets sick. He's told me often enough that if I don't complain, he doesn't know how badly I'm feeling. You know that thing about how the squeaky wheel gets the oil? It's so true! I've spent my life trying not to squeak. So, we literally practiced whining to each other with me resisting the whole time because I felt ridiculous doing it. He made me laugh though with his descriptions about the nuances of whining, what the different intonations meant and then he quizzed me on it. Heh. We snuggled and fell asleep on the couch before having dinner. Thank goodness for the fiansor.
Earlier today, I had a quick, but helpful chat with my best friend. I haven't had anyone, but the fiansor to talk to about all that's been going on recently with family crises and it's been really heavy stuff. The fiansor said he was surprised that I hadn't been more upset, but I was upset, I was just containing it, like you need to in a crisis when other people need you to be the calm voice of reason. But when the best friend called, I just started crying. I guess I was ready to release some of the crapola.
I want so much to vent about what's been going on, but I don't think this is the place to do it. In one of the situations, there is actual legal action being taken, so I can't lay it all out here. I'm thinking about using my vox blog which has that setting so only friends can read it to release some of this tough stuff. I truly appreciate your support and love in response to my last post. I needed it, so thank you. I'll be posting all the recent art soon, promise!
The Weekend and some Art
August 26th, 2007, Comments (10)
The shower was really lovely. My mom and best friend did such a great job putting it together and I had a great time. They did a tea theme with iced and hot teas and finger sandwiches which reminded me of when I was little and my mom would cut the crust off my bread. My mom found these adorable tea bag rests for favors and my best friend set up a scrapbook table for guests to make their own page as my guest book. She also arranged some games including one with questions and answers that she'd asked the fiansor by email earlier and people had to guess how many I'd get right. There were questions like where was your first date, what's your most annoying habit, what do you love most about her and what do you think she loves most about you? Some of them just didn't apply to us (like who is your (and her) celebrity crush? I guessed Fabio for both and he said Carrot Top for both. heh.) , so I got 12 out of 20 right which was pretty good I think.
Yesterday's art was decorating little thank you bags for my mom, sister, best friend and future sister in law for their help with the shower. It said "From my shower to yours" and had shower gel and a loofah thing inside. I got that idea from the best friend who got it from the knot. I decorated the bags with little umbrellas and rain drops, but forgot to take a pic. Ah well. Thursday's art, "Bird Silhouettes," is above. I've been playing with it and I want to do another version of it at some point cause it's not quite what I want. I still like it, I'm just having trouble bringing my idea into reality as it's a very fuzzy vision. It's on watercolor paper with watercolors and ink. And then the piece below, Friday's art, "Butterfly Woman" is a just playin around with caran d'ache piece and that's just what came out.
The fiansor's family has left for NYC and we're home relaxing at last. Ahhhh.
p.s. The show at Nahcotta where I'll be showing my Subway Stories is running from September 12th - October 7th. And the opening is Friday, September 14th from 5 - 8 p.m. And I'll be there!
Hyper Adrenaline Loopdie Loops
August 23rd, 2007, Comments (7)
Up wayyyy too late last night, fiddling around with this and that. I'm all hyped up about this weekend with the fiansor's family visiting and my bridal shower on Saturday, plus I had a wedding dress fitting today and dropped off eight "Subway Stories" pieces for the show at Nahcotta (which is going to be so great! more on that later.) I just wanted to drop in to show you the latest in the Subway Stories series.
The top one is "Central Square" and is 8"x10" with acrylic and collage on panel. And the second is "Longwood" and it's 6"x6" with acrylic and collage on panel. Both of these were named after particular subway stops. Longwood was the stop closest to where I went to college (hence the artist with the big portfolio) and it's also the stop closest to the hospital district of town, where I spent much time as a child with all my (now resolved) kidney/bladder issues. Not fun. So, that stop is a weird mix of memories for me. Central Square is a real funky place in Cambridge, just a stop away from Harvard Square. It has an odd mix of stores and a diverse mix of people. I particularly love it because of the two great art stores there and the club where I had one of my very first shows.
Heh, I just noticed, I can see my signature in these. It took me a long time to remember to sign my work. And in this case, I remembered to do so because I knew I was taking them to a gallery. I've always tried to make my signature small and inconspicuous. I don't want my name to interfere with the art. But I've had people have to remind me to sign my art before (and after) I sell it, so I'm trying to be better about that. Ahem. I've got issues.
Anyways! I got 90% of the invites out the door today. Whew! What a relief that was! The remaining ones are going to some of the fiansor's relatives (mostly in Greece) who won't come, but we'll send the invite anyways. So, I need to go and get special postage for those. And there are a still a couple friends who seem intent on not giving me their addresses. Grr. And the dress fitting...I've had such issues with the dress. I bought it after trying on sooo many. Spent more than I was planning to, but got a good deal as it was a sample dress. It needed some major fitting work and when I tried it on at the first fitting I got a little spooked that it wasn't going to come together well and that I'd look like a sparkly disaster. Well, today was the second fitting and the bodice part fit perfectly. It allowed me, for the first time, to see what my dress will truly look like on me (without clamps all over the place). The hips need to be taken in, the hem has to come up some, but it's coming together. And she also began to pin my bustle. Who knew I would care about these things, but I had a particular kind of bustle in mind and the seamstress, without my saying a word, suggested just the one I wanted and pinned it so I could see what it would look like and oh, yay, it's awesome. So, joy of joys, I feel thrilled about my dress. The fiansor couldn't understand why it was so important to me, saying I'll look beautiful no matter what (insert awwws). But I want to "feel" beautiful. Know what I mean? So, I'm thrilled that I felt beautiful. Now, I just need to figure out this hair debacle and we'll be all set with the beauty side of things.
What a big to-do this wedding stuff is! Ack! Ok, I've got more fun stories about my trip north today, but they'll have to wait as I'm off for a quick dinner with a friend who I haven't seen in ages. (I'm a terrible hermit of a friend.) Ciao for now.
Whirlwind
June 4th, 2007, Comments (11)
Woo! This weekend was quite a whirlwind! I was exhausted by the end and spent yesterday napping and relaxing with the kitties. But I also had a really great time at all the events I attended. Lots of fun all around.
Friday night was the opening of the Wish Studio. Congrats to Mindy! Mindy is just the sweetest girl on the planet. It was a pleasure to meet her and see her awesome space. Check out her blog for pics of the opening weekend and you can see me at dinner with a big goofy smile. I got to see sweet Melba again and also meet some bloggers that I've been conversing with online, but hadn't met yet (Jes and Tammy) and also some bloggers I'd never met before. You never know how it will be to meet someone you've only spoken to through comments and emails, but I just loved meeting Jes and Tammy. It made me wish I lived in Maine, sitting between them at dinner! It looks like we're going to have a fun creative weekend in the near future though, so I'll be seeing them again soon.
Tammy asked me to bring The Lighthouse for her to see in person and I was happy to do so. And it was so fun to see Jes's jewelry in person around Tammy's neck! And then Tammy brought me a surprise stack of collage goodies. Thanks so much, Tam! Melba and I got to walk around the building that the Wish Studio is in because the same night as Mindy's opening there was also an open studios event going on (the building houses several floors of artist's studios.) This made me wish I lived on the North Shore as this would be an ideal place for me to have a studio space. Apparently two women started up this studio space and have done a fabulous job at putting together a cohesive creative community. The space is fun and funky and had a great vibe. And on the first floor they had some commercial spaces including a gallery, a cafe and now Mindy's yoga & creative space. So cool! Well, I'll be spending some good time there this summer doing the Artist's Way workshops, so that'll be nice.
Saturday I drove up to New Hampshire for a baby shower. My best friend is 8 months pregnant and just glowing all over. It was so much fun...all the little booties and blankets, little everything. I then drove home, put my hair up as I was sweating profusely (it was so sticky out) and then met up with a friend who drove me into the city for a surprise bachelorette party. It was really loud and the crowd was pretty young and even though I look young, I felt pretty old there. I was getting pretty tired, so I was glad I had to leave with my ride, who had a babysitter at home. I ended up spending the night at their house as I'd had a drink and a half and that's all it takes. In the morning I got to play with their adorable baby girl and then went home and took a nice nap.
In the evening I heard from the fiansor who is away on business. He said he missed me and wondered if I'd like to meet up with him and spend the rest of the week out with him. He'll still have to do some work. And I'm still determined to get my website launched by Friday (as I boldly told Tammy and Jes that it would be), but in between we'll get to do some exploring in the lovely city of Seattle which I've never been to before. Fun! I'm excited! What a whirlwind week this has turned into! Ok, I'm off in a couple hours, so I better get packed eh?
