Art & Soul

Where to start! I left work early on Tuesday, May 1st and ran a few errands before going home. At this point, I hadn't packed the first stitch of clothing! Kathy arrived at the house from Fayetteville, TN at about 4pm. We met Pam at 5 for an early Cinco de Mayo celebration at a local Mexican restaurant, got some ice cream and then headed to the house. At about 8:30, Karen O! arrived to spend the night. It was at that point that I packed my clothes. Wouldn't want to be nekked! That would be downright scary.... So we hit the hay and got up at 4am to hit the road at 5. I wasn't terribly worried about Atlanta traffic since we'd be outbound, but we were so ready to just get there! And get there we did, about 2pm by the time we stopped to pee at every rest-stop, and some gas stations. Karen was in her car, and arrived about 30 minutes later.

We met up with Vicki, got checked in and just relaxed for a bit. That evening, we had the Opening Night Party. I don't think I would do it again, I think just because I was tired. But I'm glad I did. Ranger Industries provided the project and everything we needed to make a recipe box. They had us using the Adirondack daubers, which I had been tempted to buy. No more! They are VERY difficult to use, as I can't squeeze the bottle enough to get the paint out.

Okay, so we got up on Thursday and hit the ground running. I took the "Clearly Visible Journal" with Kathy Wasilewski. Andi and Shirley were also in my class. This project is the one that I am not anywhere close to being finished with. But I will finish it some day.

Thursday evening was "Tin Souls", again with Kathy W. I loved my project!

And this is inside the Altoid tin:
On Friday, I took "Hob-Knobbing" with Sally Jean Alexander. I forgot to check the orientation on my piece, but I think I will use it at the bottom of my stairs to hang my art apron on. My little cabinet knob just looks like a blob. Hated it! But I will attempt it again.


Friday night, we wanted to go to the beach to dinner. Kathy had gotten a restaurant name from someone, and directions, so we headed that way. The restaurant was at the end of the pier, and was basically a beach-shack bar and grill. The problem was that there was 6 of us, and we wouldn't have been able to sit together. So we piled back in the car to go to another recommendation down at the marina. YUM! We had crab and shrimp, and who knows what all else! In addition to margaritas, and apple martinis, of course.

Saturday was the "Coptic Assemblage" with Geraldine Newfry. I was able to finish my structure and binding in class, but nothing else. I have managed to get some of it finished since coming home. Saturday night was vendor night. There was a lot of cool stuff there, but out of the $250 I had budgeted, I only spent $100. And that turned out to be a good thing. When I got to work on Wednesday, I checked my deposit and City Hall had made a mistake on my check. Instead of 20.23 hours of overtime, they only paid me for the .23. YIKES! They'll fix it, but I have to wait until next week. (Also see "Allie's Boo-Boos" for May 10.) Anyway, after Vendor Night, we all went to Andi's room for a Pajama Party. Check my picturetrail tomorrow for photos! www.picturetrail.com/darya_altered

Sunday was "Soda Pop Icons" with Michael deMeng. This was a fun class, in that it was completely outside my element. Kathy and I had the best time with this. Hers is really funky and fun. Most of the pieces in the class are very "dark" and completely funky. Some, the coke can was barely visible which to me, defeated the purpose of the exercise. I love mine. I had my first art-gasm in this class. My main project was looking like "Super Fly" 'til I added a face that I had purchased at vendor night the night before. And that was it! All it took! Poof! I was done. But I did put a bit of interference paint on the wings, and this is the finished project:

Also in this class, I made a little aside project. I was going for an eyeball, but it doesn't really look like one. Nevertheless, it's intriguing. (Turn your head a bit):












Monday was "Washday". Taught by Pamela Huntington, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. It was relaxing and fun. And I WILL do this again. I want to make Olivia one for her birthday. I've got 'til August to get it done so maybe I'll get it done in time. I want to use the bedspread my mom gave me that was from my grandmother's bed. It had a hole in it, so I've made Allie's stocking with it. And want to use it for Olivia's. And at Andi's suggestion, I want to use a bit of fabric from Olivia's clothes and something from my mom. I was talking to my mom today, and she said she has scraps from some maternity dresses she made for Yeta (Olivia's mom). So I'm hoping it turns out as cool in real life as it is in my mind's eye. (Which would make a GREAT name for the eyeball piece above! So that is what I'll call it.) I really enjoyed this class, and love my piece. I painted the frame last night, but otherwise I was finished early in the class.Monday night, those of us who remained met in the lobby (Santa and Leslie had to fly out on Monday) for drinks. Too bad nobody got a picture of the cutie that was flirting with us. He was a bit on the short side for me, but like Sue said, "When you're in bed, that doesn't matter." About the time we were scoping him out, he came to our table to get a chair. Too bad he was wearing a wedding ring. And too bad I'm a chicken-s@#$ anyway.... LOL!

So we got up on Tuesday morning, had breakfast and said "Goodbye" all over again. And we hit the road about 10:15. It took us about 8 hours to drive home - give or take a bit since we stopped at Archiver's on the way home.

Oh, one more note! I checked my e-mail a couple times while we were gone. I got an e-mail from Somerset saying that my 12-Days of Christmas Flag Book has been accepted for publication! Woo Hoo!