Art Frenzy

Okay...so I am now in what I would call a art frenzy. I am to leave next week Tues. to Portland Oregon for the Art and Soul Retreat. I am very excited, yet it seems that once again I have left myself short on time.

We were shipped a special item to paint, embellish etc.. It is ceramic fish. The theme for the year is Romancing the Sea. Soooo..my fish is still just as blank as the day I received it in mid August. Must make time to give my fish a makeover. I'm thinking of course about encaustic wax and a bit of mixed media which would be my usual. I really don't have the time to step outside the box but I'm most confident that it will turn out just fine.

I am going to this retreat with 3 girlfriends as I have mentioned. We split up some of the supplies as to cut down on the load of paints, papers, brushes, glues etc....My friend Keli and I are in need of 3 each 8x8" deep cradle canvas. Well, I just ordered them this morning online at DickBlick.com and yes...I will be paying a premium on shipping. I am aware that I could have ordered them 3 weeks ago, but then I would not be doing right by my very random procrastinating personality.

Yesterday I spent the morning with Rachel...the most incredible artist friend. We walked all of Old Burien asking the shop owners if we could put up posters for the November Cove Art Show. This would be another part of my frenzy, since my muse has been a bit out of sorts. Must get going on the art since I only have about a month when taking into consideration the days I will be out of town. Yikes!

Other good news is that I just made reservations for my husband and me to take our 2 sons to Italy in April...I am out of my mind excited. We are going to Venice, Florence, Siena and Rome. The planning has been a bit intense with all the Internet hotel searching and the time it took to score 4 round trip tickets all on Alaska Air partner miles...I have never been to Italy, never corresponded with the lovely people who run the hotels in this far away place, nor have I planned train hopping between cities or vaporetto rides down the canals of Venice, but I actually have enjoyed it. The time difference is a bit of a lag and I now know that 4/9/09 is actually 9/4/09. Very silly. The thought of seeing all that incredible art is a bit overwhelming...where to start, what to see and truly, how many places will I be able to drag my boys. Each one of us will plan what to see in a city. Should be interesting to see what my 13yr. old will plan out for us. Won't be giving him Rome, that is for sure.

It is now almost 5am....been up for a few hrs and need to be up for the day at 6:30am. So back to bed I go.

Peace, Lory

Hellooooo...

Yes, back from vacation, school started, work started, my studio is a disaster and I have artwork due. Help! Summer was great fun, questionable weather towards the end and now the sun is out and I love the warm fall days.

As far at Art goes...I finished my "fatbook" page, made 60+ good copies of the same page and then embellished all 60 pages. The Theme is Romancing the Sea, so I did just that. The first side of my double sided 4x4" page is a encaustic collage of my grandparents in 1919 when they were falling in love and Matilde followed Cyrus from Belgium to the Great NW to marry and raise a family. Photo of him, her and the ship she rode in on...The back side is my parents Herb and Esther in 1945 when the fell in love and married in Seattle. They went off to San Diego for several months where my father was stationed and worked on a ship called the Porterhouse. Photos of my parents(mom is now a mermaid) and my dad is popping his head out of a porthole which has the name "Lory's Lines" on the rim....I do love it, but will never again chose do do bead work as my embellishment on 60 pages. I really am not good at that much detail and given the fact that I am in need of reading glasses over the contacts, it was not such a good choice...Learn from our past I guess.

Today is clean the art studio "again" and get ready to focus. I only have a few weeks left before I am out of town for 5 nights in Portland for the Art and Soul Retreat. I am going with 3 friends and we had a meeting last week to imagine how much fun we will have being creative at the hands of others...I love that someone else is going to give me the inspiration then my lovely little muse will hopefully take over. My classes are: Vintage Metal Treasure Decks, Transfers and Transparencies, Gocco a Gogo, So you want to sell your art and Funky Found-Object Canvas Village . Can't wait!! Art, friends and cocktail hour, what more could you want.

More later, I'm off to organize. Lory