spring cleaning

i did some spring cleaning around the house the other day. moved some things around, dusted, swept, redress a manikin - you know fun stuff like that! but it's always good to freshen and change things up a bit.




here's a little vignette in my living room showcasing my Louis Sherry candy tins. Louis Sherry was a confectioner and hotelier during the Gilded Age. His name is typically associated with an upscale brand of candy and ice cream. my sister and i have been collecting them ever since i moved here and we found some at a flea market. i see them quite often at the flea markets still and they usually run a few bucks. i still have one more smaller size that sits on top, but it's in use right now. (they are great for holding crafty choctchkey stuff.) i also have one Louis Sherry tea tin. it is the only one i have ever seen; so his foray into tea must have been limited. (don't mind the blanket on the floor, it's my tacky draft dodger.)

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my "wallpaper people" art piece from Artfest 2 years ago. It was made in Anahata Katkin's class. it's been in a back room, kind of hidden away, since i couldn't find anywhere to display it. well as i started cleaning, i rearranged the stuff hanging on this wall to make room for it. i added a vintage spring hat to the top for fun. i also pimped it up a bit by sewing some sari silk into it and tying a bell at the end.

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don't you just love this boat? it reminds of Max's boat from "Where the wild things are". Stephanie Lee created it and i bought it at vendor night at Artnsoul in Las Vegas. it is so sweet and really adds even more charm to my house! i filled it with marbles to add more texture and color. i'm very glad it came home with me.

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here's the manikin that got a mini makeover. she was upstairs in my room and had been wearing the same outfit for a few years (how gauche!) so i changed her up a bit adding this awesome crinoline skirt (i use to wear it as it is funky and fun, but it is very fragile). i also topped her off with this vintage equestrian riding helmet that i got at the Country Living Fair in September. her necklace, by me, was made in a Sally Jean Alexander class.

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i have four spots left in Pamela Huntington's fabric journal class being held here at Lemoncholy's Studio on Saturday May 1st. email me for more details at keeshagirl4@aol.com or read the post here. this class promises to be a lot of fun, so hope you can join us! when i return from Artfest, i'll be posting my summer schedule of upcoming classes. i'm thinking of also doing some shorter classes, more in a make-in-take fashion, for those of you with busy schedules.

finished projects from Vegas

this is my completed project from one of Stephanie Lee's class in Vegas. i made the birdhouse in class and then finished the rest of it at home.
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and this is what i made in one of Jane Wynn's classes. i had a bit of time getting the plexi glass into my bezel, which was a bit wonky - but i think it turned out ok, after jane worked some magic with her vise!

Journalfest cont'd

my first class at Journalfest was with one of my favorite artist/teacher, Anahata. she is such a sweetheart and her classes are so inspiring. our class was pretty quiet, with everyone working diligently and seriously in their journals (well, except keli and i!) i really love the look of her work and so of course, i just had a great time in her class.

my second class was with Stephanie Lee. we made soldered journals with paper mache pages and i really loved it (i keep saying that!) but she is another artist that i enjoy taking her classes as i get so much out of them and it is right up my alley.

it's funny, because after all the traveling i did this last month and a half (country living fair, artnsoul, art-is-you and finally journalfest), i was a little tired and second guessing myself about going to Journalfest, spending the money, feeling tired. i kind of thought, i really don't feel like going. but i know i was just tired. so fast forward to my time there and i am so glad i went. i got to reconnect with Jen, see old friends (keli) and run into new facebook friends and laugh when we didn't recognized each other, but sort of recognized each other, but didn't get it right away (Julie!). i enjoyed running into artists and friends at the grocery store late at night and feeling like, "these people get me" and enjoy silly laughs over silly things. i enjoyed embarrassing myself by not recognizing Traci and Marilyn Huskamp because traci was wearing the most awesome hat and coat and it just threw me and me, being a dork, saying"now tell me your names again" because honestly,my mind went BLANK! then to find out it was traci, was embarrassing! but you know what? these things happen and i'm ok with that. (please accept my apologies traci and see you guys at CHA and i promise i will recognize you right off!) i loved earning nicknames from my friends (Jane, calling me "The Ambassador" and keli & jen nicknaming, "julie, the cruise director" since i sort of just took over all the plans! so what is my point? it was great to reconnect on a level of me just being me (not a teacher, not trying to make money) but just relaxing and being the silly, gypsy girl that i am. it was a great time for recharging.
jen and i would get up early every morning and go out driving around Port Townsend taking photos and i got some AMAZING shots of the sun rising over the water. that kind of stuff makes me quite happy and i like to do it wherever i travel; seeing the backbones of an area; versus the token tourist view.

it was also super cool to get to have some great conversations with Tracy Moore about photography, in particular, about Lomography cameras. he's going to start blogging about them in detail, so if you are into them, keep an eye out. Although, she was a constant busy bee, i also got to connect with Teesha Moore, who is the brainchild behind Artfest/Fiberfest/Play/Journalfest. i am grateful for the few minutes i got her attention! she is an amazing artist and woman and we are all grateful to her vision of Artfest. She's just posted some incredible journaling videos on you tube on how to journal, how to create a journal, how to paint the pages, how to collage and more. if you have the time, go to her blog and see them. worth all the time you spend watching them! i've seen her journals up close and they are beyond spectacular.

my last class was with karen michel. she does altered imagery and mixed media work. she currently has a cool book out called "The green guide for artists". it is available on Amazon.com. my book is currently on its way to me. it's got great recipes for earth friendly paints and projects. anyway, jen was in the class with me and we spent a relaxing day learning various ways to alter our photos. it was the perfect way to end the retreat, with Karen being a very low key, laid back, sweet voiced and generous teacher.
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the above collage was photos taken around Fort Worden during Journalfest, lunch breaks, vendor night and any other opportunity we had to take photos!

goings on

well i am trying to get settled after being in Connecticut teaching at Art-is-you. i've got everything out of the van and for the most part unpacked (the worst part!). the rest of the stuff will have to wait until after i return on Sunday from Seattle. Oh, didn't know i was leaving again? well, i am - heading off to Journalfest to meet up with my friends, Jennifer and Keli. i am taking classes this time, so it will be nice to relax. i am going barebones with supplies. i am taking classes with Anahata (my favorite!), Stephanie Lee (another favorite!) and karen michel, so it'll be fun. jenn is in one of my classes and i think keli is in two of them; so that will be fun. my bags are packed and just finishing up some other things before i leave. jeff and i did some Halloween decorating today. just a few things on the front porch. it was fun. haven't decorated for Halloween in quite awhile. Dillon used to be so into it, but as he gets older, he's into other things. i think they are still going trick or treating this year though. he's going as "Wolverine". i do miss that little kid stuff though, their excitement about decorating and holidays. i have to work on Halloween at the shoppe in Pt. Pleasant, so i will be dressing up as a form of Friday, from the Adams family. i'll be wearing this red satin doll baby looking dress, black and white tights, my ghoul bride necklace and maybe i'll whiten my face a bit. so that's the skinny!

more artnsoul pics

the start of my necklace for Stephanie Lee's Junk Drawer Metalsmithing

Leighanna doing some soldering

my finished necklace, "Junk drawer metalsmithing"

Stephanie doing some demo's on soldering with a butane torch - very cool!

me and sally jean after "Girls got gothic" i need to work more on my piece when i get home.

finished soldering, now starting to assemble

my main focal point on "Girls got goth" necklace

Zhulia does show and tell from vendor night

here's Michael deMeng discussing my piece (he does all the students pieces)

listening to Michael deMeng

Christine shows off her piece from Michael's class "transparency and collage"

my piece from Michael de Meng's class

oh poor yo-yo had too much to drink

***So today was the last day of classes for Artnsoul. you could tell that everyone was kind of tired- we were all feeling it! my last class today was Stephanie Lee's "Junk Drawer Metalsmithing". we learned various techniques from her new book, "Semiprecious Salvage: Creating Found Art Jewelry. great class. we made bezels out of metal and did soldering with a butane torch. i was really tired, so i decided to concentrate on making one piece. yesterday's class was with Sally Jean and we worked on a necklace. a few people finished theirs, but a lot of us didn't. i know one girl said she stayed up til 2:00am finishing hers. Not me! i'll work on it at home. i need my rest! the day before that i took "Tranparency and collage" with Michael deMeng. Basially that was a class where we learned his special painting techniques to create layers of paint. It was definitely out of my element, but i enjoyed it alot. he's very interesting and the techniques and colors we used were pretty cool.

I'm taking Zhulia to the airport early and then coming back to load up. Jean and i will head to Pennsylvania, where i will stay the night before heading back to Jersey on wed. while i was gone, Jeff found a nest of 4 baby bunnies. he found them because one of them was screaming and when he went to investigate, a mole was attacking one of the babies. so he removed them since the mom was AWOL. The humane society came and got them today.