sent by colleen to her art friends

i found these thoughts to be quite lovely. it's a great mantra to repeat to ourselves when we are being too self critical and forgetting that what we have to offer others is just as valuable as what we might learn from them.


may today there be peace
within. may you use your gifts and
pass them on. may you be
content with yourself just the way
you are. let this knowledge settle
into your bones & allow yourself
the freedom to sing, dance, praise
and love.

Art-is-you 2009

i began my journey to Art-is-you on a very gusty and overcast day. driving in Tucker's big econoline van, packed to the gills with art supplies, class kits, display stuff for vendor night, stuff to sell on vendor night, luggage and my 2 favorite pillows. the wind was so bad, i had to death grip the steering wheel to keep the van from being whipped around. it was a little stressful to say the least. so if you were driving behind me, i apologize for going so slow!
i taught 4 classes; all of them so different from the next. i did a sewing class, a jewelry class, a soldering class and a collage class. i loved everyone of them and received so many compliments from my students after class was over. we worked very hard and all left with an almost completed project.
there were many friends to see and new ones to meet. i ended up spending a lot of time with di, taryn and jane and we bonded over silly things, interesting people and our similarities.
i found people to be extremely helpful and for the most part, everyone, although tired, wore a constant smile on their face.
i wanted to thank all the vendors who were so helpful to me with selling my stuff or watching over it while i was in class (scott, lenny, terri, linda and the bead girl). it was sad to say goodbye as that close knit, "girlfriend power" feeling of art camaraderie just does not happen enough. but i know we will get to see each other soon and i look forward to it.

(click on image to see enlarged photo)

back home from connecticut

i am home from Art-is-you. will do some blogging about it tommorrow. am quite tired right now! stay tuned.....

Fall is upon us

leaves are starting fall, birds are molting. the days are getting shorter and the weather turning chilly. i did some much needed tending to my garden today and saw that my flowers (what few are left) are starting to wither and change color. My shasta daisies have finally bloomed as my hydrangeas are slowly drying up. i love Fall but hate to see my garden leave me! we are always so excited to see our garden again in the spring, but it seems so far away right now. maybe i am just not looking forward to winter (jan, feb. march!) luckily i have some teaching gigs then, so it will make the winter fly by.

My van is packed and i am ready to leave tomorrow morning for Art-is-you. i am going a day early so that i can just relax before teaching on thursday.

home from Portland

i'm back, did you miss me? i know i've gone a few days without posting - how unlike me!

considering i left on tuesday and got home on friday, i managed to pack in a lot of things to do in 3 days. my friend, Amy Hollands, picked me up from the airport and then we quickly dropped my stuff off at the hotel and picked up my bud, Pam. i only took a few pictures since i had so very little time.

we decided to eat first since i was, as usual, starving! we had a nice lunch, just in time to work up an appetite to go shopping. our first stop, was Amy new venture, Found on Fremont (no website yet). Amy use to own Poppy & Ivy, but due to economics had to make some decisions about how to proceed with her business. she and 3 other girls, went in together on renting a building (2 floors), which is working well for all of them. they can split the costs, not work all the time; giving them more flexibility and freedom. so we stopped there first and found some fun goodies. next we hit Scrap, which is such a cool place. it is all about recycling and anyone can drop off items to be recycled there - items that can be resold that is. so we picked up a few things there. next we hit a thrift store where amy found some awesome vintage Christmas table cloths and i found a darling wool jacket for my niece that i will pimp up with a cool brooch. a quick stop into Fred Meyer for a few items i needed for class and then it was back to the hotel for happy hour.

the next day i taught my spoon class and it was fun. it was really cool to watch the students being timid with the dremel, drills and then watch them transform as they got the hang of it. all the projects turned out great and what was most rewarding was their appreciation and thanks for sharing all my knowledge with them.

for lunch that day, our limo driver, Amy, returned for us so that we could hit "Noun, a persons place for things" and have cupcakes at Saint Cupcakes. talk about the most delicious cupcakes ever! pam and i were quite annoyed with ourselves for not getting more to eat later. next time we will have to hit, Voodoo donuts. i've decided Portland is the type of place that i must go to every 6 months!

that evening, Pam and i went to visit our dear friend, Allegra and her husband, Barry. Hadn't seen Allegra since last year and she hasn't been feeling well - so it was a must on the list to do. we had a lovely visit with her, chatting, snacking, chatting, chatting, some wine, more chatting, a studio tour (unbelievable is her studio!) and then more chatting! finally exhaustion caught up to me and we had to say our goodbyes. i practically dove into my bed when we got back.

the next day was my class on taking a wood heart and turning it into a piece of jewelry. we also had a great time in that class. we got the conference room with the really big comfy chairs which we thought was quite cool for us. hit happy hour again that night and then Pam and I headed over to Powell's books (a block long!) where we saw Jesse Reno upstairs hanging about. i took a pic of him, but only on my camera phone as i was trying to be discreet. jesse reno is an artist in portland and pam is taking classes with him at Artfest next spring. we had a lovely dinner at a brewery down the street and then headed back to the hotel for me to pack and get ready to leave early in the am. boo hoo!

so now i am preparing and almost ready to leave for Connecticut, Art-is-you, on Wednesday!