Yay!! Tomorrow is another Sunday Studio Workshop aka Mixed Media Playtime. I'm like a kid in a candy store on these days, excited to sample all that appears.
We will be eight of us--creatives all! On the agenda (if you can even call it that) will be making journals for the upcoming Round Robin Journaling, Valentines, playing around with backgrounds, maybe some new image transfer techniques, and.........who knows?
We'll have some wonderful potluck nibbles, music, laughter, and more. See why I'm excited?
Just thinking, as we come upon Thanksgiving, that I am grateful for so very many things, not least of which is laughter in my life. So, as the time is very busy and I find myself cold and tired tonight as I write this, I thought to share a small part of the laughter with all of you...for whom I am also eternally grateful.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
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| Simple |
I thought maybe I would impart just a bit more of my ideas about teaching and what it means to me:
In my mind the doing of art should be simple. A piece may end up with layers of complexity to it and loads of meaning, but the doing can be just, well, simple.
Teaching is the same. I seek to simply commit to the students, to provide a supportive environment for imagining, dreaming, exploring and being venturesome outside their normal bounds.
Above all else, I commit to a place where play is essential, for the soulful creativity is found there in that place, I believe. When creating, it is important to feel like the child stringing beads in kindergarten--happy, totally absorbed, and quietly putting on one bead after another.
Pablo Picasso said, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." I would go farther, the problem is how to remain at heart a child and that is what I hope to bring to each workshop I teach.
Simple, right?
Watched Wine Country on Netflix last night. These zany women pulled off quite the romp and still it had many heartwarming moments as well.
All eight of my crazy collages they had commissioned were framed and hanging as the ladies visited an art gallery in the wine country. They made it! (I was never sure they would not be on the cutting room floor, knowing how the business goes.) This was a really fun project and I would definitely be up to do more.
It has been a crazy week filled with ups and downs and stresses and joys (just a normal week, right?) And so I am really looking forward to tomorrow's Mixed Media Playtime workshop. The opportunity to sit with friends and create and laugh, enjoy the potluck dishes and the wine....Well, I look forward to the day with a song in my heart.
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| what a mess! |
Part of blogging (at least this one) has to be about what IS, I suppose. And, in this case, I find myself having to admit that my studio is a horrible mess right now.
Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival just comes too close to the holidays for me, making it difficult to get into the swing of things while cleaning and clearing from the five weeks of working. And, thus, I find myself with this mess!
Finally, holiday trimmings have been put away in their place. Art work that went unsold has been tucked away til the next show (or some oil baron comes along to buy it all).
Now comes the work of sorting through all the "just plain stuff" that ended up on my work table and readying for the first studio workshop of the year. What to keep? What to toss? Guess I'd better get to it.
Til next time...
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| In the Pink! |
In California we certainly do not have the groundhog (not that he is really so reliable anyway) so what does signal Spring to us?
Is it the sparkle like diamonds on the ocean's blue-green waters? Is it the brisk breeze on a clear sunny day? Is it the call of baby crows in the trees? The chirping of myriad birds everywhere? Or is it the blossoming buds on ornamental fruit trees? The sound of laughter in the streets?
For me, probably all of the above are signals. What about you--what signals Spring to you?
