Swamped

I've got a thousand things on my "to do" list and I'm a bit overwhelmed, but progress is being made.

I've scheduled Vacation Bible School, swimming lessons, soccer camp, one special week of day camp, family visits and family vacation for the next two months. Whew. This will all be very good! But, busy.

There is still lots of unpacking and organizing to do. Shelves and filing cabinets must be purchased this week so the studio can be made productive. I've got a spunky little craft apron all ready to make.

I'm also doing my real job this week. I design and edit a 12-16 page monthly newsletter. It's great for professional satisfaction and I really enjoy the people I work with. I do it all from home... isn't technology amazing? Plus, I usually listen to podcasts of This American Life and the LOST Listener Podcast while I work. So that will be entertaining.

Birthday parties, PTA meetings and various contractor visits are also looming.

And since I can't post with out a picture, check out this stunner from Jeff's trip to El Salvador.

This and That

Painted Fabric
Someone asked about what I used to paint fabric for my "trades" for the Art and Soul retreat that I went to earlier in May. I will not even begin to tell you how I did it... because I am far far far from expert. But I will send you to Alma Stoller's tutorial, who first inspired me. And to Sonji Hunt who has a perfect tutorial on her blog. And other here. The key is just to do it! And to let the layers dry before you add more paint.

Here is a picture of one piece of the fabric I painted. It's a bit cosmic, I think.

Can you see that ripply spotty texture in the teal sections? That's from the corragated cardboard that the fabric was pinned to. I painted 9 yards and cut them into 36 fat quarters. I tied them with random pieces of ribbon and added a card with my blog and email.

Here they are all packaged up.

Trading was fun. I got various atcs, some beads and other baubles, small pouches, handmade pins and other goodies. There was definetely a creative spirit of generosity! Delightful. My favorite item was a stunning print of a photograph by Amber Woodward. You can see it here. Did I say stunning? Don't you agree?

Letterboxing
Someone also asked about letterboxing. Letterboxing is a supercool combination of hiking and treasure hunting. Letterboxes are hidden all over the world. They are usually plastic containers which contain a small journal and a rubber stamp. Letterboxers carry their own personal journal and stamps. When they find a box, they stamp their stamp into the journal in the box and maybe write a little message like "great box, beautiful location" plus the date and where they are from. Then they take the stamp from the box and stamp it in their journal. It's a record of boxes that they have found. Quite often the stamps are handcarved and the journals are often handmade.

There are two sites with compilations of letterboxing clues which may be searched by location. The original site is letterboxing. org and there is a new more comprehensive site called atlasquest.com

We've been letterboxing for about four years and have found over 50 boxes in about 7 states. It takes us to wonderful locations that we may not have come across on our own. Plus, since I'm a rather "task oriented" type A person, when we go out, it helps me to have a mission rather than just strolling about enjoying the world. (Isn't that awful?)

We also planted our own box when we lived in Maine. I blogged about it way back when...

Children's Theater
The kids and I went to see The Stinky Cheese Man at the Dallas Children's Theatre this weekend.

So Fun!!!

It was based on the book, The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales. (We don't like the word "stupid," even when it's just part of a funny book!) The play followed the book and the illustrations very closely and we were all delighted by the performance.

Time magazine ranked the Dallas Children's Theatre as one of the top five children's theaters in the country. I don't really know what that means, but it was quite excellent and we'll go back for sure.

We went to the Target sponsored performance where all tickets were only $10 AND every kid got a copy of the book on the way out. As if I needed another reason to love Target. Claire is holding the book in this picture. The actors were thrilled to autograph the books after the show.

Don't you love the Stinky Cheese Man's bacon mouth and olive eyes?

Mother's Day Flowers

Jeff (and the kids) sent me flowers for Mother's Day. He usually orders from ProFlowers and usually they are wonderful. The first bouquet which arrived just before Mother's Day was lovely, but the buds were already almost all the way open when they arrived and they were droopy and shrived less than two days later. Bummer. I called Proflowers and suggested that this was not their usual standard and they sent me out another bouquet the next day. It was fabulous! Great service!

Jeff also added on a box of chocolates with the order. I have hidden it away in the pantry. I did not get a second box of chocolates with the replacement flowers. Oh well... that really would be asking too much.

I love the little curve of that one tulip petal in the center at the top. It's like a jaunty little hair flip or a clever, snappy greeting.

Ok one more thing...
Have I said before how much I adore Anderson Cooper? Swoon. He was on Oprah yesterday and was so interesting and thoughtful... and hot. He has a new memoir out. He said lots of things about Katrina (and Rwanda and Bhurma and Terry Sciavo, etc) but one very thoughtful bit was about how everyone in New Orleans kept "hoping" that the storm wouldn't hit, or that the evacuation would go smoothly or that the government would step in. But, he said, HOPE IS NOT A PLAN. Not for politicians and not for individuals. What are you hoping for that you really need to plan for?

Oh and did you see Anderson on the cover of the new Vanity Fair? Oh yeah, I totally had to buy that on impulse in the check out lane.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday! The kids and I will give her a call later today and ask how she spent the day. If she were here, we'd certainly order an ice cream cake! She'll be here this weekend, so we'll have ice cream then, for sure.

This picture was in the Minneapolis newspaper a couple of years ago. It was a "file photo" of Aquatennial. Imagine my mother's surprise when someone sent it to her asking, "Isn't that you?!"


Of course it was! My mom is the second dancer from the left. She spent tons of time dancing when she was a teenager. She taught several after school programs to elementary kids and even put on recitals all by herself with the little dancers. She tells a story of getting on the bus to go buy fabric to make costumes -- all by herself, when she was just a teenager. (The fabric thing is in my blood!)

What's with those crazy, gigantic, fringed table tops on their heads? I can't be sure.

My mom is one of those people who is kind to everyone. She never has a negative word to say about anyone. (Except various villians on reality tv shows. We love to chat about that kind of stuff.) This is a wonderful quality and I hope I've learned to embrace it myself.

She's an amazing mom and grandmother. We're a lucky family. Happy Birthday, Mom!

She's also the weepy type. She'll be crying all over her keyboard when she reads this.

More Class Reviews

Here I am with Michael DeMeng when we both had fresh coffee and before I became a trouble maker.


Michael is an assemblage artist. He makes amazing sculptural pieces with everyday objects like Pez dispensers, shoes and match books. His art is full of humor, depth and unexpected messages.

Apparently, this requires occasional use of power tools.


Here's that same picture you saw earlier. I finally got Hello to cooperate.
I was taking a Shoe Shrine class for which I was to bring some shoes. "The pointier the better" the supply list said. I found these at the thrift store for $2.92 and if they were my size I just might have kept them in my closet for wearing with worn out Levi's. (Not seriously, of course. Well... maybe.)

And coffee from QuikTrip which is delicious. It's really my favorite coffee place. Starbucks is great for splurging, but QuikTrip is divine for just your staple coffee. And it's only 89 cents. In fact, it deserves it's own post.

So everything looks fine at this point, right? Don't be fooled.

Shoe Saga

We were also supposed to bring lots of doo-dads and Michael had additional doo-dads to share. I have a decent collection of charms and old earrings and beads and smashed bottle caps, etc. I hauled them all to the class.

Then we began the assembly. We used Liquid Nails in a giant caulk gun. Michael suggested spreading the excess glue around and making it all bumpy and tacky for texture. Ok. I went for it. Didn't love that. But I just kept going. Sometimes just moving forward is good.

I also used some E6000. Mixed media people know all about this. Apparently it is the consumate glue for heavy stuff. I liked that better, but it dried slower. Have I mentioned before that I'm not so good in the patience department?

It was fun. I just kept adding stuff I liked. Swirls, pointy stuff, a plastic frog, wooden parrots, hand and face charms, jingle bells, tiny barbie shoes. That was all before lunch.


After lunch, I froze. This is when we were to have our foundation done and begin painting. Painting?! I. Am. So. Not. A. Painter.

We were supposed to do entire layers of paint over the whole thing to tie all the elements together. Apparently this is called a wash. Michael gave us several little demos with various paint combinations. There was something that he loved called Quinacra-something.

Michael had suggested that I be careful not to cover all the lovely red of the shoes. But, wait... you just said do a wash over the entire piece. Which is it, artist boy? He also said something about doing a "wash" of white under. This is like putting sunlight behind the top color. Apparently.

So, I started with the white. I was trying to tell myself to just keep going like before lunch.

Michael strolled by a few times and eventually he asked me where I was going with the shoe. No idea, obviously. This is when he said, "Well, let's let this layer of paint get really really dry. Then we'll try a wash. " I guess I wasn't doing a wash before. Clearly we needed to let the paint I had already slapped on get dry... so we could paint over it!

I asked if he would mix the paint for me and tell me exactly which brush to use and where to paint. He agreed. Then I went to the bathroom while the bad paint dried.

This is when I realized I was "that student." You know, you've had her in every class you've ever taken. She just doesn't get it. She has good intentions and is trying (mostly.) But she's out of her element and the teacher has to work extra hard to encourage her and give her elementary direction. Sigh. This cracked me up actually. It's funny to turn into someone you didn't expect.

So Michael mixed me a reddish wash that was very similar to the color of the shoe. I painted it over everything and it really did tie all those random pieces together. It was looking better. Especially since I'd embraced my ineptness.

Michael's pieces have layers and layers of paint. I stopped with the red wash. Then I added some paper collage elements. I do love clipping from magazines, so that was more comfortable.

Here's a small group of the shoes that were made in the class. You see my red shoe in the back. It is actually meant to hang on a wall with the toe pointing up.

I completed the whole project during the class which is excellent! So often I've taken a class and been very pleased with the project, but getting over the hump to finish it at home sometimes doesn't happen. (Can you relate?)

I was pleased with the finished shoe at the end of class.

I've studied it since then and thought, "What was I thinking?" It's definetely one of those pieces of "art" that you say, Hmmmm that's interesting. And not neccessarily in a good way.

Here's another funny detail about my troublesome class status. Michael gave a brief critique of each shoe at the end of class. When he came to mine, he noted that the shoe was made so much better after I added the line of white dots around the frame of the shoe. This brings your eye to all the stuff going on inside. Then he quickly moved onto the next shoe. Of course, he told me to add those white dots. I was just following directions. He was right, though.

Here you can see the dots and some of the interior stuff. The clippings on the upside down birds say "find yourself."

And the clippings on either side of the face charm say, "stand still." Get it? A little foot/shoe pun there.

What did I learn from this class? I love fabric. Of course, I knew that.


I also think I am best served by staying focused. I love the idea of assemblage and I will certainly incorporate it into some of my fiber art. But I don't think I'll be shopping for shoes at the thrift store much... unless they are actually for wearing.

Now, finding other art supplies at the thrift store is another store. I am definetely on a quest for cheaper and more interesting art supplies. More on that later.

When you come visit me in my new studio (and I know you will!), you'll have to search to see the shoe. It will be hanging behind a door or something.

Frustrated

Is it just me? I'm having bad luck with Hello, which I use to upload pictures to my blog. I'm seeing the dreaded red x. Then I tried to use the Blogger icon to add pictures and that is so clunky. Does anyone have an easier more realiable way to add pictures?

Maybe I can at least leave you with this.







If I were more patient, I might be able to figure out a way to add more pictures and tell you about the Shoe Shrine class I took. Maybe tomorrow.

Mother's Day

Sometimes when a significant event comes along, I feel obligated to make note of it in my blog. When I approach a post with obligation, it never goes smoothly. I thought about writing something thoughtful about the miracle of motherhood. But, I really don't think I could ever adequately find the words. It's so much bigger than that. I am a mother raised by generations of wonderful, creative mothers.

Instead, I've just posted some pictures of the mothers in my family and some from the Mother's Day outing with my family.

That's me in the bottom left corner of the picture at the top. My mom is holding my sister. Her mother is in the middle and the matriarch sitting is my father's grandmother, Mabel. I remember a good bit of cross over celebrations with my mom and dad's families. Mabel was an amazing artist.

That's me on the left again, holding Claire. My mom on the right and her mom in the middle. The "four generation" pictures we have from both sides of our family are treasures.



















On Saturday we went letterboxing to an amazing city park with tons of wildflowers, trails, playground and covered pavilions. One of the things I most love about letterboxing is finding spots I might not have discovered on my own. We didn't find the box, but... oh well.

Those are some big smiles, don't you agree?!

All hail the green and the purple.


I love this picture of Claire and Benjamin on the rocks under the bridge. There were even tadpoles in the stream below.


You may remember that Claire and Benjamin both recently turned 7 and 4. Last week a friend told me, "Seven is the best age!" And another said, "Four is the best age!" So, we must be in for a good year. I intend to embrace it.

Another Great Class

Last night I took a lecture/discussion class with Claudine Hellmuth. (This means we didn't have any art supplies and we all sat in a big circle like grown-ups around a conference table.)

I should add that on the way to the class I stopped for a frappacino and a box of sushi. (At Target you can get both!) I drank the frap on the way and ate the sushi while chatting with other artists waiting for the class to begin. That was a great start!

The class was called "Minding Your Own Business." Claudine has made a wonderfully successful professional life for herself, so I was eager to hear her ideas.

I've heard her described as a Southern Belle Hippie! She's really witty and filled the class with great info.


Unlike some of the other reading and classes I have taken about making art your business, Claudine did not delve into any of the issues of self-doubt, motivation, fear or internal struggle for validation that I think a lot of artists face. She just assumed that we all know we are talented and committed! What a refreshing attitude.

Claudine says 100% of the good things that have happened in her business have come from her website. Wow. So, I really need to send in the contract I have for the web site designer I've picked. Really. I'm going to do that TODAY!

She also talked a lot about liscensing. (You know, like Mary Engelbreit's artwork on dishclothes, coaster, journals, calendars, mugs, etc etc etc.) This is an area I've never considered and I don't know that I'll pursue it, but it's interesting to have some discussion in my experience.

Today we're celebrating Mother's Day since I'll be away at classes all day tomorrow. Claire and I are having a girl's outting to Starbucks and we'll go letterboxing later. I am richly blessed.

Great Day...

Months and months ago when I first learned we'd be moving to Dallas, I saw an ad for Art and Soul in Somerset Studio. I thought it would be nice to attend. Today, I was there!

I took a class from Lesley Riley called, Paris Dreams: An Altered Fabric Book. I really think of Lesley as the most enthusiastic and successful of art quilters who have taken big steps in the world of mixed media. How exciting. Just you wait... you'll be seeing more cross over.

Lesley and me! She is charming, relaxed, enthusiastic and oozing with creativity!

It was a great class! I learned a lot of new techniques and got lots of inspiration. Can you hear the wheel turning in my little brain?

Here is Lesley at work. Hmmm paper or fabric? Ribbon or raffia? Image transfer with acrylic medium or water? Let's try everything.

It was a delight to see her construct a couple of compositions in her own books. I love see other artists' processes. It's almost as good as peeking in someone's sketch book.

We did some image transfers. I'm really not a huge fan of image transfer. I'm glad to have some techniques in mind if I need them, but I don't often incorporate images in my artwork. I prefer to create the "image" with the fabric. Lots of people are simply mad for image transfer. If you are one of them, take a class with Lesley. She's an expert.

Image transfer also requires a lot of trial and error. Testing different products. Printing and manipulating stuff with Photoshop. Me? I'm too lazy. I really want to get straight to the fabric. But, it's good to know what interests you, right?

The theme of the retreat is Paris in My Soul and the class was designed for us to make books about Paris, and Lesley provided excellent images on transparencies and photo paper. I really wanted to make a book about the construction of our house. I tucked some materials in my box and hoped that I wouldn't be considered a trouble maker my choosing my own "theme."

I had great stuff that I picked up from the construction site. Seriously, this is a great location for free art supplies!

Here is one spread I worked on.


A child's board book with about six spreads is the base. The background fabrics are simply glued down to each page. Yes, glue! We worked mostly on the inside of the book. You can't really do the cover until all the inside stuff is complete, so you know how fat it is. If you do the cover first, it might fit too tightly.

Here is another spread.

Regular blog readers will recognize the pictures from earlier in the construction process. That's part of a roof shingle that will get glued in... then I think I'll put a hole in it and wire in a key.

My book isn't even close to being done, but it's the kind of project you can work on bit by bit. I need to gather more doo-dads. No shortage of supplies around here. In fact, in the open lot behind our house I saw some bright green plastic tape.

Here are all the books at the end of the class.


Tomorrow I'm taking a class from Claudine Hellmuth called "Minding Your Own Business" about taking some steps to move my art from a hobby to a profession. Usually "mind your own business" is what I say to the kids when they are pestering each other about tooth brushing or cleaning up or eating dinner or whatever...

Quick Update

Well, I'm not totally buried anymore. We have gone from "box central" to "pile central." Is it really progress if you just move the stuff out of the box and onto whatever surface is close by? Yes! Especially if you can get the garbage man to pick up all the boxes, which Jeff managed yesterday. Yeah!

Exhibit One: piles in the studio


Exhibit two: piles on the other side of the studio


Exhibit three: piles on the window seat (on the left)

... and the new table we just bought.

We also made time to celebrate Claire's birthday by bringing cupcakes to her class.

Those are Fruit Loops. Sugar-tastic!

My parents visited for the past few days and were a huge help with all kinds of details. A delightful visit! They are actually coming back in three weeks. I think we'll be able to make lots more progress between now and then.

Now I'm swamped preparing for various events over the next few days.

Local small art quilt group tonight:

• pack a bag dinner
• gather some show and tell stuff
• review names of people I have chatted with on email who might be there
• find some handwork to do during the meeting
• set the dvr to record The Amazing Race and Lost
• pick out something superfantastic to wear (this means I must do laundry)

Class with Lesley Riley tomorrow:

• review supply list
• pack supplies
• print out some pictures for image transfer

Other Art and Soul classes and events:

• finish packing up my "trades"
• Gather supplies for three other classes
• make sure I know how to get to the place
• pick out something superfastastic to wear (something that can get messy with paint and glue)

Speaking of trades... I decided to paint fabric. Here is a very early prep shot from the back yard. They turned out lovely... but the camera card was full, so there are no more pictures. Sorry. I'm a bad blogger.


I'll be eager to post pictures from the Art and Soul retreat next week!

Happy Birthday, Appleseed!

Today is Claire's seventh birthday!



This is a picture from her first birthday. Cutest thing in the world. I'm under a mountain of moving boxes, but I was able to dig this out of our digital files and steal a few moments at the computer.

It is an awesome miracle that she has grown into a funny, charming, clever, smart, insightful, curious, beautiful girl. And I'm lucky to be her mom!

About the title of this post: When I was pregnant, Jeff and I read a day by day developement book and one day it said that baby was the size of an appleseed. So we have called her that ever since. It gives new meaning to the song we always sing for grace. "...and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the appleseed!"

Gracias, Amigo!

I am so itchy to get into our new house. We've got piles of stuff everywhere in the apartment. It's such a challenge to be in limbo. Yes, we move in tomorrow. But I would love to bring some things over today. All the clothes we have here at the apartment, various stuff from the frig and the pantry, books and magazines that have been piling up.

But...

Our house is not really completely done. There is a bit more painting to do, plus cleaning and fixing up all the windows. Sigh. I'm sure this is the way it is with most new construction. You set the closing date, lock in to the interest rate, etc etc etc and then you really just have to sign the papers. (Well, you don't HAVE to obviously.) We have complete confidence in our builder that all the remaining details will be attended to, so the closing was without question.

But...

I just want to move in! And this is complicated a bit by "a day without immigrants." Nearly all the contractors that have worked on our home have been Hispanic. For the most part they have been professional, polite, very skilled and dependable. Some speak a little English, some speak a lot of English and some speak no English.

Dallas is 43 percent Hispanic. The population in Maine is .7 percent Hispanic. Not 7 percent... no, that's seven tenths of a percent. Clearly, we have moved to a whole new world. I'm delighted to be here and though I'm eager to get every little detail fixed up on the house, if it takes a few extra days while some of the Hispanic contractors stay home to encourage the government -- and everyone -- to take note of their enormous presence in our community, that's cool with me.

I don't have strong political views. I don't know what the answers are to the many challenges of immigration. But, when an individual shows me respect and he or she is good at what they do, I am thankful for their presence. That goes for everyone.

In the meantime, we've been shopping for handles for the cabinets. This is the special order section at one place.

So fun!

This is one of the handles we're considering. Photo by Benjamin! He got both me and the handle. Good job!


Here's a close up of the knob. This would actually go on a drawer, not a door. But you get the idea.

It's pretty plain. But I didn't find anything more interesting that I just adored. Plus... all the really interesting stuff comes with a really interesting price tag. (You know what I mean.)

Jeff originally thought he wanted silver colored hardware to coordinate with the appliances. I think I have convinced him that this bronzy color will help tie in the darkish tile and counter with the lightish cabinets. Plus, they feel warmer and more cottagey. I'm all about "warm" when it comes to decorating.