Ginny's Small Studio

Lakeland College Art Gallery Opening

Tonight was the gallery opening party at Lakeland College in Kirtland. The show was curated by Mary Urbas and we were lucky to be included as two of the artists. It was such an interesting show. I felt as though my head was exploding with ideas and overwhelmed with creative input. It was so interesting to talk to the other artists and hear them describe their work, their processes and even some of their sources!

Susan Moloney

Terry Klausman

Linda Lou Horn

Tim Haas

Susan Moloney

I neglected to get the name of the next awesome artist. I apologize. Maybe Mary Urbas will comment and help me out here.

Gail Crum

Michael deMeng

Andrea Matus deMeng

There were many, many more wonderful pieces and multiples by the artists above. We love being a part of this.

New at Small Studio Today

We have enlarged our greeting card section and will continue to do so. We have looked far and wide to find crds that will appeal to you, that are unique and NOT found at the average store.

You asked for Paint Dabbers and Distress Stains. We now have every color in both lines.

John recently found a nice large collection of antique and vintage cameras. We have the bellows style as shown and quite a few box cameras, some dating back to 1909.

Come visit us.

Other People's Art

Sophie Cave's Head Installation:

Burnell Yow walks through this door to get to his studio. Inspiring:

Banksy street art, of course:

Unknown sand artist, but very appreciated:

Unknown "Dust" artist:

Love surfing the net for art.

Keith Lobue is next up for our last Small Studio Workshop Series event. There are just a few spots left.

Show of Hands

Let's have a show of hands.

How many people are ready for Fall? I am looking forward to a chill in the air, the smell of a fire in the fireplace, a pot of soup and cozy sweaters.

How many people are ready for the elections to be over? I have nothing more to say about this.

How many people are signed up for Keith Lobue's workshops next month here at Small Studio? Don't miss this last workshop of the 2012 Workshop Series season. Keith is an awesome person, artist and instructor.

How many of you are signed up for our Zentangle class tomorrow with Launie? This is the first in a series of Zentangle classes here at Small Studio.

How many people are stopping by Small Studio today to get one of these cool hands that John just found at last week's antique swap meets?

Small Studio at Jefferson Square 26113 Detroit Road Westlake OH

Halloween Project

John has been doing a little skull painting for the upcoming holiday. He did the small ones.

Great Week

Hey friends, how was your week? Mine was great. I had so much fun this week with really interesting people in the store and it was a pretty productive week, too. Who could ask for more? Today was Journal Play at Small Studio. About 14 people came to the store with journals and just played in them. Great conversations around the tables and lots of art experimentation.

I am hoping this Journal Play becomes a regular monthly event. Thank you to those who joined us.

Shopkeeper

I told John last November that I missed having a store. When he asked me what specifically I missed, the list was long, but up at the top was how much I missed the people.

All my stores have had stools at the front counter. What I love about the stools is that they encourage shoppers to sit and chat or rest for a bit. It is friendly and cozy and engenders some great conversations. The conversations can be about store product, projects, life problems, current events, art in general or just the weather.

Yesterday was a wonderful example of just that. First Candace came in with a bag full of tags that her family made while on vacation. You all know I love show & tell! While she was there, Jeri came in and got to share in the show & tell. Then Theresa came in and after some 4-way chat, we discovered that both Candace and Theresa are accomplished jewelry artists. Then we discovered that both Candace and Jeri are quilters. Great conversation and sharing of sources and ideas ensued. Jeri left and Candace and Theresa sat at the counter and were looking at the box of postcards we have there.

One of them came across an old 1897 postcard with French handwriting on the back. Guess what. They both speak French! When they discovered this, the two of them burst into singing the French National anthem.

It is always a surprising day at Small Studio.

Ingrid Dijkers Workshop Weekend

Ingrid is one of my favorite people and now a whole bunch of students know why. We had two days with Ingrid and each day was a different journal. I loved the process of the first but was too busy during their show and tell period to get photos. But they sewed...

They spread out while they worked...

And they were very happy with the class...

The Twirly Swirly Journals were great fun, too. Here are some of the covers:

Ingrid is a wonderfully generous and interesting instructor. The students were very happy with both workshops and Ingrid has agreed to come back again!

Here is one of the interior pages, this one by Ingrid:

Thank you, Ingrid and thank you to the students for everything!

Being a Good Citizen

During this heavily laden political season, I feel like I cannot really make a difference. NPR this morning had a program on environmental issues and their closing remarks were that we should make our vote count for the environment. Which candidate is more for saving the environment should be our first and foremost question. We can each make a difference environmentally. Here are some things to think about.

1. Napkins: Americans use an average of 2000 napkins each annually. If we used just one less each it would save a billion pounds of landfill waste a year in the US.

2. Meat: It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef. That doesn't even count the trees lost for fast food chains that graze cows where rainforests used to stand or the fuel to get beef to market.Even one meatless day a week would make a huge difference.

1. Plastic Bottles: A bottle of water is so convenient and I think we are all drinking more water because of them, but did you know the EPA has more stringent rules for the safety of tap water than the FDA has for bottled water? And consider the land fill problem. Let's start cutting back on plastic bottles.

2. Paper: Print on both sides and cut your paper and ink costs in half and dispose of half the volume.

3. Cell Phones: Recycle your old cell phone. More than 130 million phones go into landfills a year.

4. Dishwashers: If you have a dishwasher that was produced in the last 10 years, you do not need to rinse dishes before loading them. You will save 20 gallons of water per load by eliminating this step.

5. Cotton Swabs: If 10% of users in the US switched to paper spindle swabs as opposed to plastic spindles which are petroleum based, the savings would be the equivalent of 150,000 gallons of gas.

Of course we all know the common sense ideas: avoid disposable anything, donate, give away, reuse, plan your route efficiently each day, unplug, switch off, change lightbulbs and be smart about what you buy. In today's world, it is sometimes really difficult to avoid what we know is not the best, but if we strive to be better each day, it just might make a difference.

September!

The creativity just doesn't stop over here in Westlake OH. My new friend, Kim Montagnese, bought a few sheets of the beautiful paper we carry from Budapest. She covered a chest with this paper and vintage photos of one of the local islands. She made this project for a fund-raising auction and her chest fetched a whopping $2500 for charity! Kim was kind enough to share her photos with us.

And the top....

Thank you Kim! Your chest is wonderful.

Hey friends, don't forget Ingrid Dijker's workshops this coming Sat and Sun. at Small Studio. Last minute sign-ups accepted. Call the store 440-808-8599 (10-6 EST)