March 15th Workshop

I am excited to announce that I will be teaching a class on March 15th at my favorite local shop GeeGee's in the lovely Village of Carlsbad- So if you are looking for a fun filled creative afternoon in North County, San Diego- please join us!!!

Paint Your World!
March 15th
11am-2:00pm
GeeGees Stamps 'N' Stuff
$46.00

This class will introduce you to simple and FUN painting techniques. Learn tricks and tools that painters use- techniques that range from using abstract images to mark making to incorporating collage, to making a mess with paint! You will have the opportunity explore your own voice with paint and canvas and be lead through a series of exercises that will result in creating your very own personal and expressive paintings that can be hung on the wall

No previous experience is required.

Advance Registration required
Call early to reserve your seat. (760) 729-1779

Mission Accomplished!

I have FINALLY added purses to my etsy store- and there will be more coming soon. I have slowly been trying to make use of all kinds of plain zippered pouches, paintings and canvas scraps and that have built up and are taking up space!! So I decided to start turning each of them into an original work of wearable art!!

Bad Back

So once again I have been absent from my blog...sigh.....but this time it was not because of being busy it is because I threw my back out and have literally been out of it, barely moving, barely walking, stuck on the couch with a heating pad and the remote control and lots of advil.  I can't figure out if it is from hours of sitting in an odd position while sewing or crawling around on the floor for hours while I paint or from my bad fall last weekend (see entry below) or just because I am getting old.  I will be turning 33 in a couple of weeks and maybe this is what happens- I don't know- but I have been miserable and finally today I was able to walk and move and finally got around to taking lots of pics of all sorts of fun stuff I have been working on- including some purses for my etsy shop which I am going to try and post tomorrow.  Life has a funny way of working- I have been working so hard, running around trying to juggle a million things and when I am not smart enough to stop to take care of myself- my body literally makes me stop!! I have gotten more relaxation, peace and calm in the last few days of pain and lack of movement than I have in the last 6 months so in a strange way thank goodness for my bad back!!

Attack of the Reoccurring Mess

This is the story of my life right now- my creativity, paint and projects have spilled into every nook and cranny of our tiny apartment- literally! Something that looks so simple, like paint splattered, dripped and swiped across canvas is really a complicated and messy process especially when you don’t have lots of space. Our little extra bedroom is packed to the ceiling with purses, fabric, paint, sewing machines, and enough crap to make your head spin!

The biggest space issue seems to be the guest bed that is about 5 feet high (with great storage underneath) but it has evolved into yet another surface for working and keeping piles of canvas, paperwork and projects on-

this eyesore proved to be quite dangerous recently- this weekend I was up on the bed opening the window and I literally slipped on a pile of canvas fell all the way off the 5ft bed, hitting my work chair on the way down- unfortunately I don’t have any pictures of this episode since I was all alone with a confused cat watching me from the hallway as if I was insane-but I do have bruises and a sore body from this terrible fall!!

Now that my art room has become so crowded I can barely paint in it- I have moved to the kitchen floor- I am much more comfortable working on the floor anyway so this is a corner in the kitchen that has become another work surface.

And where do you put purses wet with paint and yards of canvas dripping with color when they need to dry when you are living in 525 square feet??? Well anywhere they will fit like in the shower or on the tops of doors or on our bed frame or even on the curtain pole in between the living room and hallway!

This creative mess has literally gotten out of control and I feel like I am living inside of a box- a paint box!! But with all of this said, we are hopefully counting down the days until this changes- I am glad to announce that we entered into escrow yesterday with the condo that we want, it is NOT huge but it is at least a quite a bit more space with an amazing ocean view but superstitious me doesn’t want to jinx it by talking too much about it but will definitely be so EXCITED when this stage in out lives becomes a little less messy!!

Commission Dogwood Purse Series-Finished!

Whirlwind

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to CHA in Anaheim and what an experience it was! This is all such a strange experience for me and I am still processing it all- coming from the fine art world it is quite bizarre to see the corporate fingerprints all over supplies, products and the craft industry- I knew it was a billion dollar industry but CHA really made it hit home for me!!!! Not that I am complaining about being involved by writing a book but it all made me really think about how I want to move forward in this whole new world. Not to mention, I am a total newbie in all of this- it seems that everybody knows each other and have been on the "circuit" for a while so topping off my few days was this overwhelming feeling of being "the new kid on the block" even though I have been a working artist for the last 15 years!! It felt like the first day of high school in a new town all over again. But I did get see Tonia and Jessica (F+W Editors) I also got to connect with the lovely Jane Wynn and her husband Thomas who were an absolute joy to hang out with at the F+W dinner, I also saw Gayle from GeeGees Stamps and Stuff the local Carlsbad shop that I teach at (by happenstance she walked by my demo) I also was able to connect with Jenny Doh of Stampington and after all sorts of the online correspondence it was great to finally meet her in person.
The best part is that my demo went great, the minute I dipped my brush in paint and started creating, everything else fell away and I was in my own world! I had lots of lovely people stop to talk and watch and hopefully sparked interest in my book. Overall it was a good experience for me because it has helped me to redefine my creative path and inspired me to look for alternative ways to create success for my book and my ever evolving art career but it is going to take me a while to process this experience! I had to get back last night and jump back into the house hunting and signing papers process and the reality of getting the place we want- (but I don't want to jinx it by talking about it so I will wait to make the official announcement!!

Insanity

I am officially a very, very bad blogger (how many times have I posted the same sentiment??) Life has become INSANE!! And today has been the culmination of it all...had to deal with getting yelled at by an upset person at my day job this morning (even though I am just the messanger people love to take things out on the messanger!!) and randomly a quite famous movie star called our office early this morn that I have been dealing with all morning...WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!? The last few weekes we have spent all of our free time house hunting and this has proven to be more of a process than I EVER imagined! Lots of looking, talking, crunching numbers, making offers, its enough to make me scream especially when I am used to using all my free time working on my art! But thank goodness for our awesome realtor Chris- he is like a personal trainer who keeps you motivated and inpired to keep going even when things aren't feeling so great.

On top of all this I have been preparing for CHA and since this is my first time at a convention of this nature I am nervous but also excited- like everything else in this book process...I have no idea what to expect!! I will be at the F+W booth on Tuesday at 1:30pm doing a techiques demo from my book and will also have a "make-n-take"-where people can make canvas medallion earrings to try their hand at working with canvas and paint- fun and easy project! I am excited to spend a couple of days walking around and exploring the show as well as meeting and connecting with people I have corresponded with online AND maybe I will sneak over to Disneyland if there is time...I need to have some fun!! More to come....