Auction extended!

This just in from Rebecca of Recuerda Mi Corazon:

with overwhelming support, the shrine auction is extended

please help spread the word

AUCTION to benefit Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots

closing

APRIL 25, SUNDAY at 6pm PST

recuerda-mi-corazon

More of lulu's adventures in plumberland

B-day fun: Deirdra came over on Saturday the 17th, my birthday. We did some doll-making using Sculpy - mine's [still] not finished yet, but D's are, and you can see them here. We chatted as we worked, had a bit of lunch, and then it was revealed that my dishwasher had been out of commission for three or four years and now served only as a large (and stinky) drying rack. Deirdra leapt into action - at the computer, she quickly dialed up Craig's Look and in no time at all she'd found a good machine for CHEAP, called the number on the ad, and we hit the road. Suddenly, I own a dishwasher.

While out and about we stopped at La Petite Provence, boulangerie et patisserie! (Photos from their website.)

A sampling of their wares. I had an exquisite apple-rhubarb tart.

Was it delectable? Mais, OUI! Was it special? Bien sûr! While on my beloved east side, we also visited some great thrift shops (because Deirdra knows ALL the cool places to shop!), AND we stopped at an open house so that I could pretend I was buying the house of my dreams. It was a real Grammie house, Craftsman style, with a built in bench seat by the stairs, all that beautiful woodwork, a big basement that would make a mighty swell studio, and very cute, colorful houses to look at across the street. *sigh*

Back home in Westville, Deirdra and I continued our Sculpy sculpting and chit chat. We dined at Chevy's (best chips and salsa ever!), where I opted for the happy birthday song plus big sombrero. Sorry no photos - I guess D and I were just living in the moment sans cameras that weekend. I did pull it out though, to take photos of my darling Willow after we got her all dolled up for the junior prom!

Willow and her friend got ready at my house, in honor of my b-day. Awww! Thank you, Beanie!

Tres Marilyn, n'est-ce pas?

The next day Willow and I hauled out the "new" dishwasher from Deirdra's truck, and I learned how to uninstall and install, and uninstall and reinstall, and pull out yet again and again, dishwashers on the fly. Woo hoo! Tip: Do NOT do this on your birthday weekend. It's really not all that fun. BUT, I am happy that I figured out how to install a plug and make plumbing connections, etc., etc.

Removing floorboards to take out the old dishwasher.
P. S. Don't you love how big my kitchen is?

Uh-oh, she's got her pigtails now - it must be serious!
How do you get this rassn-frassn thing off!?!?!?

Doesn't every girl want to spent her birthday under the kitchen counter?

Desperate times call for desperate measures: down that feedbag of Chevy's chips! No salsa!

Beware the bandida with her drill gun!
(She sort of knows how to use it!)

I did it all myself, including cleaning up the initial leaks, reinstalling the electrical feed after the fuse tripped and I couldn't get to the #@*! plug without pulling out the whole dishwasher again. (Oh, funny story about that: I don't have a saw so I got the bright idea to use my drill to create the hole to move the plug to a more accessible cupboard. Dang, was that wood hard to drill! I had to push so hard to get the bit through the board. Oh, I guess it would have been easier if I'd switched the drill back to forward instead of reverse... Hardy har har!) Ah, well - all's well that ends well. The dishwasher works. BUT, if this dishwasher breaks down, I'll be doing dishes by hand again, forever. The end.

On your mark, get set...

Boston Marathon today - Go, Michelle, go!!! Have a great run!

Time to shrine!

The Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots cigar box shrine auction is happening NOW until April 24th at 6:00 Pacific time. Rebecca has the link to see all the shrines and bid at her site at http://corazon.typepad.com/recuerda_mi_corazon/2010/04/bienvenidos.html.
I hope you will visit and participate in this auction! Thanks!

p.s. Sorry I didn't get this posted up a tad sooner - it's been a busy birthday day with dear Deirdra, making art dolls, running around to fun spots in Portlandia, eating, watching Coco Before Chanel... Tomorrow we'll be busy at the art table again painting our dolls and who knows what else!

Michelle's giveaway

Another news flash! (It's a busy day in Bloglandia!) Michelle Allen is having a giveaway of her super cute penny banks. Go see!

Thank you Rebecca!!!

News flash! I just found out that I am the featured artist of the day at Recuerda Mi Corazon. I am SO honored!!!

This is a great opportunity to remind this wonderful community that there are only 4 and a quarter days now until the website for the Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots auction will be open for bidding. (April 16th!) In the meantime, be sure to visit Rebecca's blog to gaze at all the lovely shrines, and pick the ones you want to bid on!

Cross off #40!

I'd been playing with the idea of taking over the downstairs for awhile now. Why not? It's not like I entertain guests frequently. (Almost never!) In fact, putting the studio downstairs might actually improve my social life, given that the people I enjoy most are the artsy type! After playing in Michelle's studio a couple of weeks ago - well, let's just say that it pushed me over the edge. I had to get a big table. It's like they say: start living out your dream, little by little, and soon you will find it is your life. (Fingers crossed!) It was an irrepressible urge. I thought of the different ways I could put together a counter-height table: use old dressers and hollow core doors, sawhorses and doors, I looked online for used furniture, school furniture, art school furniture - there's some great stuff out there if you want to spend $1,000, truly! Finally it dawned on me to check out Ikea. They had these nifty A-frame adjustable height table legs, and the table tops, and the cheap tall stools. YAY! I put it all together on Saturday night. Look at it, so pristine! Isn't it cute? Now all I have to do is break it in, get used to it, get messy.

It is my Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come. Who wants to play?

50 things to do before I'm 51

oh no! michelle has one of those "__ things to do before I'm __" lists. so does janne. too inspiring. but i'm totally gonna have to cheat because there are only 9 more days before I turn 51. so, numbers 1 through 36 are things i've already done during this 50th year of mine. *smile* it's been a mighty fine year!

(Note: I realize some of these might seem lame to normal people who are friendly and outgoing, but they were a big deal for me!)

1. make new friends (Hi Diane & Michelle and Patti!)
2. invite a web friend to my house to get arty in person (Patti again!)
3. invite Tina from California to stay at my house during Art & Soul
4. donate dolls to Haiti orphanage
5. create a Day of the Dead shrine to honor dad, Grandma Farrell, and Grammie
6. participate in Día de Bloglandia
7. make a shrine for the Oaxaca Street Children Grassroots auction
8. teach my students to make a mini journal with recycled cardboard
9. submit a doll to ADQ
10. GET PUBLISHED in Art Doll Quarterly!
11. expand my meetup memberships (PDX Sewing Circle, PDX sketchbook group)
12. sell my first cloth & clay doll!
13. submit journal pages for LK Ludwig’s next book coming out in June!
14. open an etsy shop
15. share a vendor table with Deirdra at Art & Soul
16. apply to Crafty Wonderland (I’m on waiting list)
17. make something wonderful for One World One Heart
18. create art with something totally new for me (HOG GUT!)
19. try needle felting
20. knit something on circular needles (yeah, I’m really reaching here)
21. visit Savannah, Georgia
22. take my first-born to COLLEGE! (far, far away!)
23. make a bottle cap charm bracelet for recycled art display
24. speak up for justice, even if it gets me in trouble
25. take a photography class with LK Ludwig
26. take care of my mental health (FINALLY!)
27. let go of that which needed to be let go
28. embrace the possibilities of something positive
29. share my gratitude out loud
30. buy a new spring wardrobe at Goodwill
31. start a journal collaboration with Emily
32. acquire a web pal-pen pal (Hi Jenea!)
33. do a doll exchange (Hi Lubov!)
34. do an ornament exchange (Hi Deirdra, Janne, Michelle, Karla and Mystele!)
35. send a super-positive letter home to a parent whose child was previously a challenge for me (Wow! It brought tears to my eyes!)
36. have my adult English class do Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes song (tee hee!)

Let’s see… What else could I try to do in the next 10, I mean 9, days?

37. Write up and prep a sample for class proposal for Artfest - I did it! The proposal wasn't accepted, and I think I know several reasons why it may not have been accepted, but I have learned something valuable and I will try again next year!
38. Submit something to Artful Journal magazine
39. have an arty party for my b-day - Woo hoo! I mean, I think I did this...sort of not for my birthday, but after.
40. take the next step in my dream studio plan: a big work table downstairs - I have my big table! Love it, but now want a dedicated all-in-one studio space. (Who doesn't!)
41. go to a butcher to buy hog gut for art’s sake (I don’t eat meat)
42. try tango
43. turn this list into an artsy journal page
44. finish embroidery on 2^nd face panel of my Oaxaca quilt
45. send a random gift to a friend
46. send out mail art because it’s great to get something fun in the mailbox
47. do the April fiber & mixed media challenge
48. start labs in Bee Shay’s Collage Lab book
49. do first photo assignment in my next LK Ludwig photo class - I did the first assignment, but what's wrong with me? Why do I drop out of my online classes???
50. go for an urban hike

happy spring!

aRTfeSt! part 3

And so we come to the final day of classes. Recalling the wonderful experience I'd had two years ago on my last day, I had selected a class with Bee Shay. Bee is such a wonderful teacher and one of the most generous spirits I've had the honor of knowing. This class was called Make It Yours - the concept was creating your own papers to collage with. We spent the morning creating papers, and then the afternoon working on the collage.

I had a great time making the papers, but I have to admit I was having a hard time coming up with the central image, so I got a bit stuck. This was the image I ended up with using only collage. I love the alphabet stamped blue ink paper, and the green and gold Chinese chop design, but I still didn't have a cohesive feeling.

I played with the canvas some more this weekend, and I'm starting to like it more now. We'll see where it goes.


The evening's main event was show and tell. I took a gazillion pictures like I always do, but I'll only show a handful. Sorry for the blurry ones - the lighting isn't very conducive to great photos in this building.

The works from Lynn Perella's Go For Baroque class were stunning.

Great results from Katherine England's mosaic classes.

LK Ludwig's Notes to/from Myself: Aren't these gorgeous?

Stephanie Lee's Santos Holdos Illusi class - I thought these were fabulous structures. I would love to take this class if she offers it again in the future.

Hey! It's Shirley and Johanna from our favorite art store, Akamai!!!

From Robert Smith's Luminaria class - COOL!

Michael de Meng's Mad Masks class produced some effectively creepy artworks. This was fabulous (sorry it's so blurry!) (See Janne's blog here, and here, for more Michael de Meng inspired coolness - she's been having a ton of fun with what she learned from her class!)

Steampunk Lily, from Julie Haymaker Thompson.

How adorable are these!!?! Tara Ross' Every Person's Story class.

And finally, a bunch of samples from Jesse Reno's classes. I'm in love with them.

SO many wonderful classes and amazing artists. Wouldn't it be great to win the lottery so that you could take every single class that you ever wanted to take? Sigh.

Every year Artfest has so much that is so special. Perhaps the most magical is the relationships that are formed. This year I thank my lucky stars that I met new friends Diane, my roomie with whom I felt an instant connection and who kept me in stitches laughing the night away; and Michelle, who I was lucky enough to get to know better at a post-Artfest get-together this past Tuesday. (Janne took photos of this occasion that you can see here. You've GOT to see Michelle's studio - it's every bit as vibrant and joyful as she is!) I am blessed with all the friendships that art has brought me these past three years. Thank you, God!

aRTfeSt! part 2

First day of classes special events were not over yet. After the Iron Chef Artist competition, Dian, Marilyn and I sauntered on over to the Undertow - a very cool café on the main street in Port Townsend. On this night, artist and Artfest teacher Jesse Reno and his partner, the wonderfully creative Lana Guerra, were performing with their group Power Circus. More than a music gig, it was an art happening. The music was at once eerie and strangely beautiful, highlighted by the singer's haunting vocalizations. Diane and I were mesmerized. Suffice it to say that she and I are big fans of Jesse and Lana! It's hard to tell in these photos (as I was trying to be polite by not using flash), but the make-up on the women, their dark veils, and the gritty urban texture of the Undertown's walls were the perfect blend.


The following morning the three of us went back to the Undertown by daylight for a bagel and cream cheese breakfast. I LOVE the texture and feel of this space!

It was a striking backdrop for Jesse Reno's paintings.

After breakfast it was off to Day 2 of classes. My second class was Objects of My Affection, taught by Julie Haymaker Thompson. She was incredibly organized and prepared with materials for us to work with. Since the main medium - paper clay - needs drying time, she had made us already built samples so that we could try out her coloration techniques. Good idea! We got to practice forming the fresh clay, and then coloring on the already dried and sprayed pieces.

Some of Julie's and classmates' pieces.

Adorable, qué no?
My favorite new knowledge from this class: using colored pencils on chalkboard spray paint! Here is the little menagerie that I have finished so far:

During lunch time at Artfest it's always fun to check out the gallery. Students are allowed to submit up to three works based on the year's theme for sale. This year's theme: Once Upon a Time. All manner of fairy tale and fantasy were represented in the gallery, as well as samples of Teesha's and Tracy's incredible journals:

Teesha's über-inspiring fabric journal - LOVE the puffed out forms!!!

Her incredible collaging and penwork.

Tracy's journal covers incorporate wonderful metalwork,

as well as found objects!

Sample of the gallery offerings. My Funky Red Riding Hood is up front - and what's that!? A red dot on her tag??? Wow! My first cloth and clay sale! Later I got to meet the family she will be going to - I know she will be very happy amongst such creative souls!

Kristy LaRose, the fabulous hostess of the Artfest Fatbook trade, found me and regaled me with this year's book.

My goodness, yes it IS fat!

This very cool page is by Dayna Collins.

It's nice to see a familiar face.

The big event at night this day was Vendor's Night, where teachers and a few students can display their wares for sale. It's hugely popular with both Artfestejeros and the general public.

Here is the lovely LK Ludwig at her table. (Isn't her outfit adorable!) She was very excited to tell me about my inclusion in her new book that will be coming out in June - and I was very excited to hear about it! I didn't bring much money to Vendor's Night, but I did buy an vintage book from LK that may one day be turned into a very cool journal, and a coloring book from Jesse Reno. Of course I WANTED to buy MUCH more, but sometimes we have to show restraint. boo hoo.

Time for a walk the dog break. Coming up: Artfest, Part 3!