Ginny's Small Studio

The Last of Michael deMeng

Sunday was the last day of workshops with Michael deMeng. He and Andrea are somewhere over the US winging their way towards home as I write this. Wonderful instructors, wonderful workshops and super wonderful students. Thank you all for spending some time with us at Small Studio.

Below are a smattering of photos from "Vehicular Varmints". Most of the projects were still in progress.

Next up: SAT May 25th, 10:30-4:30 Call the store to reserve your FREE place. 440-808-8599

June 7-8-9, 3 Workshops with bookbinder and extraordinary instructor DAN ESSIG. Check our website for information

Andrea Matus DeMeng, Day 2-3

This second class of Andrea's was really filled with a variety of techniques. Women being empowered with power tools could have been the theme. Sawing, drilling and otherwise changing simple boxes into exquisite lighted book sculptures was the task for the students. It was difficult to capture the beauty of these boxes with a camera. Below are the best of the photos.

Thank you, Andrea. You are an incredibly knowledgeable instructor besides being a wonderful artist. We look forward to you returning.

Michael deMeng's Teeny Tiny Shriney

Michael's workshops for Small Studio were held across the street since Andrea's were here.I was un able to leave the store and forgot to ask people to take photos for me. All I have are two wee projects, but they are fun.

If you have an opportunity to take a class from either of these fine instructors, do not hesitate. Both teach awesome techniques that can be used for many different projects.

More photos tomorrow.

Andrea Matus deMeng, Day One

It was very interesting strolling through the classroom during the day, checking on the progress of student work. They were making collaged scrolls in Andrea's "Marquis de Scroll" workshop. The end results were wonderful. The scrolls are about 5 ft. long, so to get them photographed resulted in a bit of loss of detail, but you will get the idea of how wonderful every single student project was.

Thank you, Andrea, for a great day.

DeMeng Weekend

Wrkshops started today with the de Mengs, but we have been enjoying their company since Monday!
Once a kid, always a kid or was that a "kidder"?

Andrea is teaching here at the store and the students are deep in concentration with their collages. Michael is across the street and who knows what they are doing, but I am sure it is fun.

What am I doing? Watching the sky and wondering why I have a sudden desire for chocolate.

New product in the store: VerDay paints that give a rusty, bronze or copper patina from Two Seconds Studio. And also radio tubes for your projects. Lots of radio tubes. (Thank you, Kier).

Nothing Broken about Brokenshire

On Sundays the store is closed. So yesterday I left the "closed" sign up and joined the students for the last of Tory Brokenshire's workshops offered this weekend at our Small Studio. I had so much fun! We constructed small "Story Tellers" from vintage tins, clay and a few other bits and pieces. I do not play as much as I would like and seldom with a group, so I was in my own little heaven. Tory is an excellent instructor. She is patient, knowledgeable, fun, funny, quick to help and oh so encouraging and kind. Thank you so much, Tory, for coming to our store to teach and for being such an awesome house guest. Come back soon.

I love the little guy I made, imperfect as he is. He is my very first attempt at working with clay and faces so I learned so much. I made mistakes, but none too blatant. He is in the photo below.

Everyone did such great work. Random photos:

Saturday was the Wire class and the resulting figures were just amazing.

I can't wait for Tory to come back again.

In the meantime, there are still a few spots left in Michael deMeng's and Andrea Matus deMeng's workshops May 16th-19th. Each of these artists is fun and wonderful. Sign up before it is too late.

Then we have Dan Essig and his bag of bookbinding tricks June 7-9. Don't miss this.

This past weekend, we had students from North Carolina, New York City, Alabama, Maryland, Cincinnati, Michigan and a few more local. You should join us. Our workshops are worth a trip

Tory Brokenshire!

We have finished day 2 at Small Studio with Tory Brokenshire. We are having the best time and the students are completing the really cool pieces of art. All the students have been exposed this weekend to new techniques and you know what that means...fear. But they faced that trepidation and forged forth and created wonderful faces and bodies.

We took quite a few photos but Tory and I spent an equal amount of time chatting and laughing and did not allow enough time for posting. Here is a random sample of student work.

Oh, and did you know that today was Tory's birthday? She didn't either.

Duck, Duck, Goose

Canadian Geese live year round in Ohio, no longer migrating South for the winter. This is due to a lack of natural predators and an abundance of available year round vegetation. They love woods, streams, golf courses, parks, any place with water and plants. One knows it is Spring when the flocks become couples followed by a little gaggle of goslings. We live near a golf course so....

Geese mate for life so this was a committed couple. The daddy goose was beginning to get nervous at our closeness and starting hissing at us. Breeding season coincides with molting season and mature geese lose their flight feathers so he cannot fly for about 20-30 days, but the next step would have been for him to charge us, wings spread wide. These geese are huge and we had no intention of making him upset, so we left them alone. The goslings grow very quickly, so these are brand new babies and such cute little bits of fluff. As they mature, they can be a real nuisance. The golf course maintenance guys crisscross the ponds with fishing line to deter the geese from taking up residence there.

Just a few feet from our goose sighting, we saw a lone deer keeping watch.

The ducks I mentioned? They were in our yard yesterday when I came home from the store. We never see ducks in our yard. It is a jungle out there, I tell you.

Reminder:

Sat, April 27...Envelope Book Class with Margaret Bakke

May 3, 4, 5th...Doll Workshops with Tory Brokenshire

May 16, 17-18, 19...Assemblage with Michael deMeng

May 16, 17-18th...Collage, Assemblage with Andrea Matus deMeng

June 7, 8-9th...Book workshops with Dan Essig

Details, photos, etc on our website here. http

The Week

Chris Cozen stopped by for a book signing and book talk.

It was great fun. Chris and her book are full of wonderful and creative information. Thank you Chris for stopping by and thank you to the customers who stopped by.

John and I made more birds, most of which have sold already. Here is a sampling.

We attended a basketball tournament that my 11 yr old grandson was in. It was a great game. They won 2nd in the tournament in their age group. Here is Tony open and ready to receive the ball.

The game was held at Elyria High School. Their parking lot had these:

How great is that? So, since we have a hybrid, we parked right in front of the gymnasium. What a nice treat. Good for you< Elyria HS for encouraging fuel efficient cars.

Don't forget Saturday's Book Envelope class with Margaret Bakke. There are still spaces available. This is a very cool book. Details on our website.

Road Trip

John and I decided to go explore today. We drove over to the East side of Cleveland, taking the route along Lake Erie the majority of the way. We like avoiding the freeway whenever we can and whenever we have time. We picked the town of Geneva-on the Lake. It has a lovely name and we had never been there. Neither if us had any preconceived notion of what we would find.

Along the way we saw wonderful old lighthouses.

We saw old, falling down, abandoned houses.

We saw empty beaches, stacked canoes.

We saw closed antique stores.

Geneva-on-the-Lake turned out to be a funky, beachy, seasonal tourist town that was still closed for the season. It was basically abandoned today.

Needing to be around people we stopped to get bags for the store on the way home. We saw all of our old friends there.

As you can see, they were really glad to see us, too.

Store events:

April 20: Aimee's Face class from 9-11. Details on our website.

April 20: Free Playday! Call the store to reserve your space: 440-808-8599

April 27: Envelope Book Class with Margaret Bakke (see website for details

Upcoming Workshops:

May 3-5 Tory Brokenshire

May 16-19 Michael deMeng

May 16-18 Andrea Matus demeng

June 7-9 Dan Essig

July 27-28 Carol Owen

Aug 2-4 MaryJo McGraw

Sept 21-22 Ingrid Dijkers

Oct 18-24 Keith Lo Bue

Odd Bits

John and I like to make things. We like to make things together. We sit at my work table in my art room and work at the same time. Sometimes we pass the project back and forth each of us adding or amending the work of the other. That is how we make our punky birds. They were a hit last year in the store and we had so much fun making them, each one different. Here is this year's flock so far. We will let you know when they land at the store:

My bonus daughter-in-law, Jessica, gifted me with this beautiful vase last November when the family was here for Thanksgiving. I adore this vase. Just a few flowers look like a bunch since the vase is narrow. I love the lines.

Store News:

Aimee Kluiber will be teaching her "Faces" class April 20th 9-11 ($15). This is an expanded version of the original class as requested.

Our next FREE Play Day is April 20th from 11-4. Call the store to reserve your seat. 440-808-8599

Margaret Bakke will be teaching an Envelope Book construction class on April 27th. Don't miss it!

Upcoming Workshops:

May 3-5 Tory Brokenshire

May 16-19 Michael deMeng

May 16-18 Andrea Matus demeng

June 7-9 Dan Essig

July 27-28 Carol Owen

Aug 2-4 MaryJo McGraw

Sept 21-22 Ingrid Dijkers

Oct 18-24 Keith Lo Bue

I leave you with this:

Samples!

Good mail day! I received the samples for Andrea Matus deMeng's upcoming classes. Photographs do not do justice to these wonderful pieces of art. Andrea is the most amazing collage artist. I will first show you her "Marquis de Scroll". It is about 5' long, beautifully mounted with rod and finials.

Need to see it closer?

The detail is amazing and to think this is a one day class. Want to see more?

Below is a close-up of the inside of the Illuminated Manuscript workshop, also by Ms Matus-deMeng.

If these photos are not enough to entice you to sign up (and why wouldn't they be?) then stop by the store and see them in person. I will be disappointed if you don't.

Andrea's workshops are May 16th and May 17-18. SMALL STUDIO 26113 Detroit Road Westlake OH 44145 (Cleveland area)

Musings

Mondays are my day off. I do errands, catch up on household chores and contemplate life as I know it. Taking stock of things, I always know how lucky I am in this life. I am surrounded by people and things I love all the time. I always have been. How does that happen that some people are lucky and some are not? Is is Karma, fate, faith, attitude? I do not know, but I am sure that I am lucky.

The store, Small Studio, makes me happy. Daily I am in the center of creative and/or interesting people. Every one has a story and the stories are always surprising. I have told you some of them here on my blog before. Saturday we had our Zentangle classes going on. I was chatting with one of the students who was new to our store. The conversation traveled to jewelry and beading. I asked her if she knew another customer who was into beading and it turned out they knew each other 30 years ago in college and had lost touch. I called my customer (and friend). She came over and the two of them had lunch and made plans to get together later this month. Sometimes I have to be reminded that the store is not about me.

Have you signed up for workshops here yet? I can't guarantee that you will be reunited with long lost friends, but I can assure you that you will have fun and learn stuff. Coming up next is Tory Brokenshire from Oregon. Tory teaches all over the country to filled classes. We are lucky (there is that word again) to have her here in Westlake OH for 3 one-day workshops May 3-4-5.

Two weeks later, the deMengs arrive. Michael deMeng has a quirky way with art. Some might say weird, but while making oddities, students learn excellent paint techniques and assemblage techniques and tricks. Michael's workshops are May 16-19.

Andrea Matus deMeng taught here for the first time last year and students could not be more pleased. Andrea is an accomplished collage artist and instructor. Andrea is not only talented, but she is also a sweetheart. She will be teaching May 16-18.

Go to our website here and decide which workshops you want. Fill out the registration form and send it in right away for the above classes.

Last but not least. We have added a new, expanded "Face" class with Aimee Kluiber. Now, 2 hours long, Aimee will teach you how to draw and shade faces using Pan Pastels, pencils, Ranger Paint Dabbers and other supplies.This will happen on Sat, April 20, 9-11AM. Details will be online in a day or two. Also, right after the Faces class, we will have our monthly Free Play Day. Bring your projects and have fun in our back classroom. This is free but we do need you to call the store and reserve a seat. 440-808-8599

Hide and Seek

We play a lot of hide and seek in our family. We always have. I guess it has been passed down to the grandkids. We found this eyeball in an egg cup in the cupboard.

New Arrivals at Small Studio

I have been so busy with my family visiting, I have not shown you what is new at the shop. It was great having my grandkids around for the Easter holiday. I had half of them here. It seems we seldom can manage to get all here at one time, but I will take what I can. Here is what has been arriving at Small Studio here in Westlake OH.

We have a nice selection of reproduction antique playing cards. There is a variety of games which can be played or use these great graphics in your art projects.

Wonderful new papers have arrived for covering books, boxes or making collages or maybe even wrapping a gift for which they were intended. Click photo to enlarge.

Lovely, glittery, beautiful tags are here. Limited supply.

Wooden boxes filled with metal stencils are available in either letters or numbers.

Chris Cozen and Julie Pritchard's new book is finally out. We have a stack of them for you.

ALERT! If you are planning on signing up for Tory Brokenshire's workshop at Small Studio or Michael deMeng & Andrea Matus deMeng workshops, time is running out. Sign up right away.

Spring Vacation

Hello everyone. Grandkids are visiting so I have been busy playing grandma and having so much fun with my kiddos. We made books.

We had a birthday party.

Great mail today! My friend from L.A., Judi Delgado sent me a package.

I love fives and I love surprises from the generous and thoughtful, Judi. Thank you!

It is All in the Details

Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference. Sometimes it all about a person just going one step beyond the norm that makes your day. I ordered greeting cards from a new (to me) company. The cards came wrapped in a simple kraft paper sleeve held together with Washi tape. I thought that was a nice touch, but then there was a thank you wrapped in brown peer with a stripy twine, an old red bordered label calligraphed, a postmark and a few old stamps. Awesome attention to detail.

Sometimes it is something kind of big that makes all the difference. When we first moved into this house I wanted to change out the light fixtures. They were "builder's" lights. You know, average, non descriptor kind of lights. Not bad, Not good.This week is our 8th wedding anniversary and we decided to buy each other a new kitchen light. John and our friend Josh installed it today.

Need a close-up?

I am so happy with it. So now I would like you to pay attention to some details. Go to our website and sign up for the workshops we offer. We have wonderful instructors coming to Small Studio just for you. My web girl has updated everything this week and I am standing by ready to process your registrations.

Happy Spring

Can you believe that just a few days ago the temp was 60 degrees and sunny? What a shock to wake up to this cold, but pretty snow.

I received this from The President and Michelle Obama at the store yesterday:

This was sent in response to our snowflakes for Sandy Hook. It is a simple form letter, but at least it lets us know that the White House received the package.

I have to apologize yet again for our website being so very behind. I know how frustrated you are. Several of you have asked about the Envelope book. The cost is $60 and it will be held April 27th, 10:30-4. Hopefully the description and supply list will be up soon.

Road Trip

John and I decided to go junking today. We love the hunt. Little did we know when we started out early this morning that we would see such wildlife. As we drove out of town we passed the house where we saw Buzzards last spring. Same yard today we saw this:

I thought the Buzzards had returned early this year which would be the first time in the 50 years they have been tracked. John turned around for us to get a better look.

Wild Turkeys! One of them was not pleased we were there.

One of our stops was an antique mall. We were disappointed in the displays. It seemed to me that there was too much Pyrex and Corning Ware to be at all interesting. There was one booth that had some interesting things displayed effectively. What a difference a nice display makes.

Hello Dolly!

I don't wish to brag excessively, but I have the greatest customers. Look what one of them brought me today. Eat your heart out, Michael deMeng:

Sun Rubber Co made dolls from 1923-1950.