Ginny's Small Studio

Let's Talk Workshops

Registrations are coming into the shop on a regular basis for the Small Studio Workshop Series. They are arriving from Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Arizona, New York, Texas and other far away places. They are not coming in the same numbers from Cleveland, lakewood, Rocky River or Westlake.  This was a common occurance when I hosted Art Continuum too.  I don't understand why. I am happy that people want to travel here to take classes from all these wonderful instructors, but local people who do not have to go to the expense of travel and lodging seem to take the opportunity lightly.  Any comments?

Here is the line-up. Registration is open and simple. Links to their blogs/websites are on the left of this post.

May 4-6th, Leighanna Light

June 1-3rd, Michael DeMeng and Andrea Matus

July 28-29th, Carol Owen

Aug 24-26th, Teesha and Tracy Moore

Sept 21-23rd, Pam Sussman

Oct 5-7th, Keith Lobue

All workshops have openings although some are getting close to being full.

I have been working on store classes too and I am excited to offer you in the coming months classes beginning in April by Barbe Saint John who will be a regular Small Studio instructor.

And Ingrid Dijkers is coming in April, who I also hope to entice to be a regular visiting instructor at Small Studio.  Info for both instructors will be online in the next day or two.

My local customers are so lucky to have all this talent available so close by.

Small Studio

You guys are pretty funny.  Tracey:  John is not laying new flooring although looking back at the photo from yesterday, one could think that.  No, John is measuring and measuring and measuring.  

Because....

We signed a lease today on a new store!  Small Studio will be a brick and mortar store. I am over the top excited and so is John. We have not stopped talking about what we will do with the new space.

We will have a classroom in about half of the space.  We already have Keith Lobue, Michael DeMeng, Andrea Matus, Pam Sussman, Teesha and Tracy Moore lined up for the summer. John has strong opinions on how the classroom should be designed since he taught high school art for many, many years.

We will sell paper goods and artsy goods and vintage goods and gifty goods. You know, all the stuff we like and want.  

Stay tuned for updates.  It will take us awhile to change what appears to be some sort of carpeted race track into a viable fun and creative store space.

We can't wait for you to come visit.

Odds and Ends

Last week we filled our room at the antique mall with 1920s linen bus numbers.  They sold the next day. Back we went and put up the remainder and that same day all the single numbers sold...all 17 of them! So again we spent our week cutting and framing bits of those rolling signs that tell one where the transport is going. Our wall at Brothers Antique Mall (Medina OH) is now loaded with 1940s London bus signs.  I forgot to take my camera so you will just have to be satisfied with seeing the one that came home because it wouldn't fit on the wall.

I am so enamoured with these signs and we have quite a few to sell at our antique mall shop. Too big to ship. Sorry.

John and I really enjoyed the Small Studio Workshop Series that we did in 2010.  We had to cancel it for this year due to some pesky medical stuff, but we are planning our Series again for 2012 and we have lined up Keith Lobue and Michael deMeng already! All info will be available on this blog when dates have been confirmed.  I am awaiting word from other instructors.

Last, but certainly not least, I am abandoning John for a whole week while I go make books at Pam Sussman's.  She hosts and teaches 6 students in her home studio for a one week intensive workshop.

Here is what I made last time:

I can't wait.  Working with Pam is always fun, well organised and so instructive.  I haven't made anything artsy in quite awhile so I am excited to begin.

While I am gone my etsy shops will be closed and will reopen Aug 27th or 28th. 

Odds and Ends

Keith was successfully launched toward home this afternoon complete with three huge suitcases and two carry-ons.  We really enjoyed his visit.  Keith is like one of the family.  We will miss him, but at least we have his two blogs to read. Have you seen his newest blog "Stuff Smith Times"?  Currently he has a post with a number of music covers that he designed before he became Lo Bue Art full time.  Go have a look.

While Keith was here, I received a book I had ordered after reading about it on Kelly Kilmer's blog.  Kelly always costs me a bunch of dollars because she finds the most interesting things.

It is the true story of mail art pioneer Reginald Bray who in 1898 began testing the British postal system regulations by mailing all sorts of objects adorned only with a postage stamp. Eventually he mailed himself. Keith was so taken by it that I gave him my book and ordered another from Amazon.  It came the next day! It is full of interesting illustrations.

Kelly also posted a note about Vintage Magazine.  I ordered it and received it.  This is also very interesting.

 It is an oversize magazine and appears to be hand-bound and includes all types of inclusions like this book within a book:

And this shopping bag with pull-out story:

There are pop-out ads, folded pages and a number of different types of paper within the magazine.  The only trouble I found with it was that I could not discern the focus or the purpose of the magazine.  There were stories and articles about old hotels and old typewriters, but nothing really held together for me. Has anyone else read Vintage Magazine?

 

Papering Over with Keith Lo Bue

A wonderful workshop today again with Keith.  I am so sorry to see the weekend end.  I learned so much that my head is ready to explode.  John and I are going to have spend some time this week doing all the techniques so we do not forget them all.

Below a bunch of photos of workshop student work:

A few of the students had already packed up their work by the time I got around to photograph everyone.  It was a wonderful workshop weekend and a wonderful week with Keith.  He is an excellent instructor, a talented artist and generous friend.  John and I are really going to miss him when he leaves tomorrow.  Thank you so much Keith.  We love you.

We are hoping that Keith will return next year to teach a Small Studio Workshop.  Yes, you heard correctly.  John and I have decided to do this again next year.  With only Lynne Perrella's workshop left, we find we don't want it to end, so....

Etching With Keith Lo Bue

What a fabulous two day class with Keith this has been.  We all hated it to end.  This was a technique workshop without the intent to actually make a finished project.  We worked through several ways to etch on metals and patina metals. If I say I loved the class, I would have to triple that emotion for John. He had an absolutely great time.  Here are just a few examples of what some of the etchings on metal looked like:

I will have more tomorrow night after our last workshop with Keith.

Our next workshops are the first weekend in November with Lynne Perrella. There are still a few spaces in the two day workshop: The Robes of Autumn

 

I Don't Care (Keith Lo Bue)

I don't care too much that some of the other students had cooler stuff than I did.

Keith didn't seem to care too much that his students seem to fall asleep half way through his demo lecture.

None of us seem to care too much that Keith had a 3:30 meltdown 

We had students from Ohio, Canada and California and what we all cared about was that we learned how to etch using copy machine prints and using rubber stamps today.  Everyone worked hard, learned, laughed and created the beginnings of something cool.  I can't wait for tomorrow to see what else we can do.  

I am Not Sure (Keith Lo Bue)

Photographic proof of Keith's obsession with making morning expresso.  See the tiny whip he is using in the pitcher for the hot milk.  See the intense concentration and irritation at being interrupted in his quest for the perfect cuppa?  I am not sure if he can speak before the cup of expresso.

We got an advance look at Keith's jewelry.  Photographs do not reveal how wonderful the jewelry feels in your hand or around your neck.  Photographs cannot do justice to the detail, the reverse side (just as wonderful as the front side) or to the careful detail and story that each piece projects.  I am not sure if anyone can come close to his talent.  Enjoy:

This evening the three of us went to an opening exhibit at The Morgan Conservatory.  You readers know how much I respect and enjoy the Morgan.  I was excited to introduce Keith to our friends there.  The show consisted of an exhibit of abecedarian books wood block prints.  Below are some pics of our evening starting with a 20 foot print:

Keith and I wearing our original Lo Bue neckwear. His is a spectacular new piece he has recently completed and I am wearing a piece from the late 90s.  I have always loved owning this piece. We had a great time at the Morgan, but Keith is like a baby.  He hears the hum of the car motor and he os off to sleep.  I am not sure, but I think he may be suffering from jet lag.....thank goodness for seat belts.

 

When we got home tonight Keith shared his collection of 3-D slides.  The camera has two lenses located the same distance apart as human eyes.  When viewed through the special viewer, the pictures are perfectly 3-D.  Eat your heart our Mike Meador and Tracy Moore.  This is very cool.  Now John wants to pursue this too.  

John and Keith are in the man room playing their nightly pool tournament. I am not sure, but I think they are having a great time.  There is a lot of yelling and laughing wafting up the stairs.

Workshops begin tomorrow.  We are all set up and ready to go.

 

I Don't Know

The day started out okay with a good breakfast and our dear houseguest, Keith Lo Bue making John an expresso using Keith's own handy dandy mini expresso maker that he travels with.  Who travels with their own expresso maker?  Mr. Lo Bue apparently.  It is a beautiful little machine.  We did a few things around the house like Keith hooking up our wireless system.  Keith showing me how to use my Photoshop program. Keith giving up on teaching me the Photoshop program.  Keith photoshopping some things for us. And so on. I don't know, but I think we all were having a good time.

Then after lunch this is all the three of us saw for most of the afternoon:

We had a long list of errands to complete for Keith and for the upcoming workshops.  We laughed, we talked, we told stories, we laughed some more in the car.  Then after the first hour Keith remarked what a good time he was having:

They were HIS errands.  I don't know.  Do you think he was having a good time?  He wouldn't lie to me, I am sure. We go back quite a few years, maybe twelve or fifteen.

Awhile later I looked back and he definitely was enjoying himself.  What a uper guest. Never complains, although the errands were all his errands.

I don't know.....

No cameras were harmed in the taking of these photographs.

You have just a day to arrange coming to his workshops here and then he goes back to Australia.  This is his last US appearance this year.

 

 

A Few Things

Have I mentioned my dear friend Keith is arriving in less than 48 hours?  I can't wait.  Keith is a wonderful guy, full of humor, talent, charm and just a bit of quirkiness.  But then you already know all that.  I am so pleased that we get to spend a little time together to catch up before the Small Studio Workshops.

I own a few Keith pieces, but the very first one in my collection is an old piece of his that became mine in 1998. The man in the photo reminds me of my dad. Keith has gone on to much more complicated and intense pieces, but I still love this little piece that started my collection.

There are still a few spaces left in his workshops.  E-mail me if you want to be a last minute addition. John and I are taking the workshops also.  John took a few jewelry and metalwork classes in college a few lifetimes ago, but this will all be new to me. I am a total novice.  So don't be afraid to join us if you are also inexperienced.  And if you are already experienced, there will be plenty of opportunity to learn new techniques in these workshops.

We went to see Social Network this afternoon.  It is a good movie, but made me wonder why we support Facebook.  Oh yeah, it is fun and I get to easily stay in touch with a zillion friends and family.

Several of you dear readers have e-mailed me for my Tortilla Soup recipe.  I must admit that it is a mix. I follow the directions, adding cooked chicken and a bit more cheddar cheese into the soup.  I cook up some white corn tortilla strips to add to the top.  It is really an excellent soup.  I used to buy the mix at my local CA Von's, but here in OH, I have not found it on the shelves and so I order it online.  Several companies carry it.  Here is a pic of the triangular shaped Turtle Island Tortilla Soup con queso box:

Don't Get Your Panties in a Twist

In my ever vigilante quest to bring you the unique in chandeliers I offer you this:

My niece, Eithne,  in Ireland found this unique chandelier via this site. It is really an art installation, but very cool.  

John and I spent the day trying to fulfill our supply list for Keith Lo Bue's workshop coming up in  two weeks here. John found a scrap metal place not too far a drive from us. I am pretty much a girlie-girl.  I don't like to get too dirty, I hate spiders and try to avoid creepy places.  The scrap metal building was filled with guy stuff.  Barrels and bins were filled with motor parts, huge sections of old machinery, shreds of metal, wire bundles and other dirty, sharp, creepy stuff.  John was in scavenger heaven. I swear I heard him actually say "Arggghhh".  John started pulling out brass scraps and copper tubes and brass goodies and metal thingies until the pile was pretty big.  They charge by the pound and the pile was much heavier and much more expensive than I thought it should be, but then I am just a girl.  John thought it was a bargain.  He piled it in the trunk and the back seat.  Thank goodness we had a supply of wet-naps to clean out hands.  As antiquers we never are without hand cleaners. We hadn't traveled more than a mile or two before we were overcome with the oily smells. We stopped and John made room in the trunk for everything. Aside from the dirt, it was interesting to talk to the guys working at the scrap place.  They buy all scrap and resell it to small manufacturers who make the scrap into something else. Great recycling.  Great education.  Great adventure.

Keith Lo Bue

There is still time to sign up for the Ohio portion of Keith's Fall Tour.

Keith will be teaching a two day workshop on Sat-Sun, Oct 16-17th and a one day workshop on Oct 18. 

Go here to register: Workshops. 

The last workshop of the series will be Lynne Perrella and you may sign up for her classes now also.

Bookish Things to Look At

Don't Forget to Sign Up for Keith Lo Bue's Workshops Coming in October and Lynne Perrella's Workshop Coming in November.    

 

Do You Believe in Angels?

Years ago I heard Oprah say that she had a team of angels. Some were for keeping her safe. Some were to guide her decisions and some were to help her find her shoes in the morning.  I always liked that concept. Shoe Angels.  That certainly takes all the responsibility off one's shoulders for even the smallest problem. I think many of our everyday problems are a lack of taking responsibility.We all play the victim sometime in our lives.  It is energy draining and deteriorates our character. 

Clutter is energy draining, too.  I really, really try to put things away, but somehow they come back out again. I swear that they do it on their own.

We spent the evening with my son Tim, wife Karen and their two boys.  Joey and Tony are 8 and 10. They are obsessed with sports, reading and goofy jokes. I love their exuberance, innocence, quick laughter and affectionate natures. They are this way because of their innate personalities, but also because of the gentle and respectful way their parents treat them. Joey almost beat John at chess.  Tony declared that our house was perfect, except we did not have Wii and since they are only allowed to play on the weekends, this was an important point. I was happy to be around a dinner table with family and know they are okay and happy.  Now if only our other kids could stop by for a visit, dinner and hugs.

By the way the angel above is from Ballard catalog, the necklace she wears is an original Keith Lo Bue piece and the rusted sphere at her feet is a very heavy ball bearing (we think) that was dug up by Susan Kelley (Morgan Conservatory) near Lake Erie and gifted to me this summer.

Keith Lo Bue

Keith and I have been friends for years.  He grew up in the same part of CT that I brought my kids up. The first time I saw a piece of Keith's work was 1992 or 93 when he was part of an exhibit in Westport CT where I lived at the time.  The exhibit was called "The Boxists" and included many local artists. Keith's piece caught my eye and stayed with me.

A couple of years later I found myself living in Ohio and planning the first Art Continuum.  I looked up Keith on the internet and e-mailed him to ask if he taught and, if so, would he teach for me. His response was kind, but firm that since he lived in Australia, he could not.  Bummer.

I asked again the next year with the same response.  Then one day I answered the phone at the store and it was Keith.  He was in the US and had a free weekend.  Did I want him to teach at my store?  Did I???? Of course.  I gathered together a good group for him, many of which were close friends of mine. We were relentless pushing him to say yes he would teach at AC.  Mike Meador was among the students and he made Keith laugh so much that Keith agreed to be added to the instructor's roster.  He taught at Art Continuum every year thereafter. Several other instructors joined us at Keith's prodding (Dan Essig being one) and I have been so grateful to Keith.  He and I have remained friends ever since, but then Keith remains friends with everyone he meets.  He is one of the truly good guys and truly an original. 

Keith returns to Ohio to teach in October for Small Studio. There are a few spaces remaining in each of the two workshops he is teaching.  Go here for complete info and registration form. 

Thanks for the responses to yesterday's post.  I will look up the suggested books and video. 

 

Ingrid Dijkers Workshop

 

What a wonderful weekend here at the Small Studio Workshop event.  Ingrid Dijkers came, showed us her beautiful books and showed us many techniques that we can incorporate into future projects.  Ingrid is a delightful woman, full of smiles and laughter.  Thank you Ingrid for a great time and thank you to all the students who joined us this weekend.  You were a very special group!

Enjoy the random selection of photos:

Next up in the workshop series is Keith Lobue October 16, 17 &18.  You will not want to miss this!   

    

Small Studio Workshop Series

SMALL STUDIO WORKSHOP SERIES: I have a friend who celebrates her birthday all month.  I love that idea and being one who likes to go one step further I decided to celebrate my birthday all year this year. It happens to be not only one of those landmark birthdays for me but also marks our 5 year wedding anniversary. What do I want for my birthday, you ask? What do we want to do to celebrate our anniversary?  We talked it over and decided that we want to learn stuff.  We started with learning how to solder (Kathy Herda, thank you again) this month. Then we decided we want to take classes from as many of my favorite instructors as possible: Pam Sussman, Michael deMeng, Teesha and Tracy Moore, Ingrid Dijkers, Linda and Opie O'Brien, Keith Lobue and Lynne Perrella.  So I invited them over to play. Good News!  They all said yes! Better News! You get to come too!  Each month from May to November we will be hosting one of the instructors, or two as in the case of Teesha and Tracy.  For three days each month we can learn and play from one of these greats.  Come join us.  Read through the workshop descriptions. Pick the ones you want. Fill out the registration form and mail it.  Then sit back and gather your supplies and anticipate the fun. We are really looking forward to not only taking the workshops but also sitting next to you in class.

Here is the link to get to the workshops.

Links to instructors websites are on the left column of this blog.

Logo designed by David Simon. David is a Cleveland Graphic artist who has illustrated a number of books, book jackets and numerous ad campaigns for large companies.  He taught at Creative Block and Art Continuum. David designed over 150 Stampers Anonymous stamps when I owned that company. He is an all around talented and great guy and I am proud to call him a friend.

Workshop Update Update!

This just in!  Teesha Moore and Tracy Moore will be teaching in July!  We have two rooms, so Tracy will be teaching in one and Teesha in the other.  What fun.  They do not teach as often as most instructors so this is a rare opportunity.

Linda and Opie O'Brien have added their names to our 2010 workshop series.  They will be teaching in September. John and I are looking forward to playing with tin with them.  We hope you join us.

Here are the dates of our complete roster of incredible instructors.  I am so excited!  I hope you are too.

May 14-16     Pam Sussman

June 11-13    Michael deMeng

July 16-18    Teesha Moore

July 16-18     Tracy Moore

Aug 27-29     Ingrid Dijkers

Sept 10-12    Linda & Opie O'Brien

Oct 18-18     Keith Lobue

Nov 5-7        Lynne Perrella

Full details and sign up info in January here and on our Small Studio website.

Keith Lo Bue

If you haven't been following the blog of Keith Lo Bue, go there and be amazed.  His work is awesome. Recently he has been working on a piece that he has shared the steps of the fabrication.  I have known Keith for years and years.  We are friends and I am very aware of how talented he is and always has been, but this piece is truly spectacular.

Above is a workshop promotion photo for Keith's workshops.  Why, you ask, do I have a promotion photo up?

Big News!

Keith will be teaching here in October 2010!!!

I am so excited and I am making big plans to make this really special for all who attend.  Details will come later.  In the meantime go and look at his fabulous blog.

Odd Bits

Warning.  There is no rhyme or reason to the following post other than I have been thinking about odd bits of things and have been meaning to make them each a whole post.  Maybe you should thank me for making each one brief.

1.  Remember the Street Performers stencil that I offer in my Emporium and Etsy shops?  Finally I got around to playing with it myself.  I painted a bit of board and stenciled the phrase using the small dauber (sold on my site) that works well for me with all stencils.  The board is in the stairwell that leads down to the man room. 

2.  Wind Chimes.  We took a chance that we might be overdoing it in the yard, and added wind chimes. Let me go on record right now that I have never been a fan of the small tinkling type of wind chime. But we heard these long (about 36") tubular chimes with their deep, mellow, musical sound and I was sold.  The chimes sound more like church bells than anything else.  The fading echo of them is enchanting.  When the kids were here, they were also entranced by them.  In fact, granddaughter Ginny recorded them on her phone so she could listen to them whenever she missed us.  My daughter liked this so much that she made the chimes my special ringtone on her phone.

3.  Staff.  John bought this sign as a joke for our laundry-mud room door, but really, wouldn't we all love some staff to do the chores we dislike?  Wouldn't it be nice to have someone else make the bed and do the dishes so we could just go play in our art room?  

John and I ran into Kathy Herda, former staff member at the Creative Block and Kathy Collins, honorary staff member at the Block, at our favorite Mexican restaurant tonight.  After all, it is Fajita Friday so it is no surprise that we would be there.  It was fun to run into them.  Too bad they were done as we arrived or we could have had a nice dinner together.

4.  Keith Lo Bue.  Keith has a fairly new blog.  It is amazing. He shares in pictures and words almost every step of how he makes some of his fantastic constructions.  You will definitely want to go visit him over at his blog.

5.  Question of the day:  How do you store your large flat papers?

Three Things

I am working on several projects right now.  I have been asked to make 40 very special and "creative" name tags for an event. They won't take long because there are only 40 of them.  I can probably finish them in an afternoon, but the planning stage always takes a week.  I have at least a dozen different ideas for them and have played with these ideas, rejecting some and setting aside others for further consideration.  I just have to decide on one and get going.  John is antsy for me to make a decision because he has offered to do the cutting and part of the assembly.  I think he likes to do repetitive work. Doing this kind of work is so far into his comfort zone which harkens back to him kitting up for 160 or more high school art students every day.  I think he misses it even though he adamantly denies this.

When I was growing up, we always had to go around the Thanksgiving table telling everyone what we were grateful for.  I could always tell by my mother's face whether I had passed the test of being grateful enough.  As my own kids got older, the ritual brought groans and jokes, mostly at my expense, but they always indulged me.

About a dozen years ago, I found myself in a very sad situation.  My three kids had married and moved far away. I was newly divorced and had just sold my business.  I hadn't decided what to do with myself or how to reinvent my life.  A young family moved in across the street.  I ignored them and wallowed in my self-pity.  One Saturday morning, the dad and his 5 year old son showed up at my door.  They were wearing matching tool belts.  The dad asked if there were any little jobs they could do to teach his son to help his neighbors.  It became a regular Saturday event.  I noticed that they did not go to any of the other homes on our street.  They were both good company and soon the mom came with them just to visit. We became very good friends. On Tuesday nights, the dad worked late and the mom, the little boy Will and I would go out to dinner.   As we got into the car, Will would always ask me to tell him three things that made me happy that day. I realized that they were number one on the list.  They turned me around with their kindnesses to me.  I realized that I was actually pretty happy and ready to move on. The "name three things" ritual has stayed with me. I never go to bed without making my list of three. Now John has joined me in this evening gratitude.  It is such a good, positive way to end the day.

Speaking of gratitude, Keith Lo Bue, who lives in Australia, told me  that he was invited to a real American Thanksgiving dinner with other Americans.  He said that he almost passed out with homesickness at the sight of pumpkin pie.  It is definitely the small things that make one happiest.

I loved reading all your comments on holiday cards.

Today's question: What is your favorite part of Christmas?

Pumpkin Heads/Wednesday

More grocery store flowers.  I love fresh flowers.  These are from Costco.  They have the best selection of really fresh flowers at great prices.  I know my Halloween decorations are uninspired, but they are just to satisfy my boys, Joey and Tony, who need to have some decorations around.

I had a friend stay over Monday and Tuesday, so of course, the house had to look like no one really lives here.  We had a nice catch-up kind of visit, staying up until after 2AM talking.  I haven't done that in ages.  It was fun.  John was out of town.  He had left to go to Mexico to fish for something big and fishy.  Unfortunately, the hurricane made that impossible.  Poor John.  He is on his computer right now, trying to reschedule.

Our Idea-ology products have been restocked at Small Studio, but both of my distributors are still back ordering the Hitch Fasteners.

I talked to Keith Lo Bue yesterday.  He is currently on event #4 that I set up for him.  He is in Maryland and having a great time at The Queen's Ink.  While he was at Absolutely Everything in MA, the Crown Prince of Thailand and his entourage came into the store for a look around.  That doesn't happen every day.  

Okay, I am going to go to my art room and play for the rest of the day.  Why don't you go make something and link it to us in your comments?

My Art Room Today

I mentioned our Ikea trip last week on here and our purchase of a drawer unit and a work table.  We are still waiting for the replacement work table.  In the meantime, here is a photo of part of my art room as it looks today.  Putting in the new storage unit required some rearranging and moving about of my current storage areas.  I moved two tall wire drawer units into the closet.  They just fit...except the knobs on the doors prevented me from opening two of the drawers!  So, we added new knobs up high.  I love these Anthropologie black and white knobs.  The knobs work just fine in the new position.

Then I had to move the two small drawer units out of the closet and onto one of my cabinets.

My new drawer unit just fits under the slanty wall that gives me so much of a challenge.  It sticks out just enough so that I do not hit my head when I stand in front of it.

The unit is called the Varde and comes with cabinets, drawers or a combination.  It is almost 5 feet wide, standard kitchen counter height and depth.  It has to be assembled which is not difficult but very time consuming.  Once put together, it is really sturdy with strong, easy rolling drawers.  I am very happy with it.   When the table comes, I will do a photo of the whole room.

Here is a heads up for the Keith Lo Bue October tour that I helped him put together.

October 3-4-5  So Pasadena CA @ Zinnia 

This is his first teaching engagement in the Los Angeles area.  (Thank you, Jenny for the correction.)

October 7-8-9 Portland with Michael deMeng

October 11-12 Topfield, MA @ Absolutely Everything

October 14-15 Savage, MD @ Queens Ink

Contact the individual stores for workshop information.

Lastly, I wanted to show you a stock photo of Le Grand Place, the center of the old city of Brussels, Belgium. Every year at this time they create a carpet of fresh flowers.  Three years ago, John and I were there for our honeymoon and they were just beginning to set it up.  We missed the finished carpet.  Amazing, isn't it?

The Saturday Post

We have been having the most wonderful time taking mini vacations.  We take off for the day to explore and play.  It is ever so much more economical than our driving trips across country that we took last year. Less gas, less restaurants and no lodging.  There are definite pitfalls, though.  A few days ago we decided to go to Pittsburgh to visit the Andy Warhol Museum which is less than 3 hours away. We had visited the museum a few years ago when we were dating and really enjoyed it.  It is definitely worth a repeat visit. Unfortunately we stopped at Ikea on the way down.  It is the closest Ikea to us (2 1/2 hours!) so we had to.  It is a rule.  Definitely.  We spent so much time there that we ended up just returning home, skipping the Warhol Museum.  We bought a wonderful drawer unit for my art room that will be delivered today which requires an entire art room makeover.  I keep my art room pretty tidy, but this is what my art room looks like in the process of moving stuff about.

I liked my art room before, but one always needs more storage...c'mon, agree with me here.  And I wanted to rearrange it so I could have friends over to play.  That is my rationalization and I am sticking to it.  All materials used in our new purchases are from renewable sources and recycled materials.  We asked.  

Do you remember a post I did last year about a woodsy area near here where the trees were being cut down?  Nothing was ever built there, but the tree killers are back, cutting hundreds more trees down.

I called City Hall and asked what was going in there and I could not find anyone who would give me an answer other than it was private property.  I asked if the owners were required to plant trees to replace those cut down and the answer was no.

It has been absolutely wonderful weather here in the high 70s, breezy, sunny and lovely clouds.

I love it here in Ohio, not too hot and lots of sky.  One night last week there was an electric storm over the Lake that provided a better show than any fireworks display.  John and I sat and watched it for quite awhile before it finally moved East.  But then the next night, we sat outside at Tim's for another BBQ after the men played in a charity golf tournament.  It was just perfect.   

Provisions for the Journey

Now that John and I are back from our trip, we are looking forward to the family gathering that will begin in about 10 days.  There is some re-arranging to be done to accommodate everyone and of course, cleaning.  There are photos to be copied and identified to distribute and other arrangements to be made.  John keeps asking me when we are going to lay in supplies and provisions for everyone.  Too soon yet, I tell him.

Then last night we were in Michael's to pick up some craft paint and I saw the big, white letters they sell.  I have a narrow ledge over all my cupboards and the refrigerator.  The light bulb went off and here is what we did.

What do you think?  I intended to paint the letters green to match the walls or black, but when we placed them up on the ledge to see if they fit, I loved them just white.  I like how the shadows give the letters nice dimension.  The letters are 5" high and the ledge is 5 feet long.  In spite of the rather large size, it seems still to be a bit subtle and not in your face.  If you have been a long time reader of this blog, you know how I love letters, words and big graphics.  I am a happy girl.

In other news, I am putting together a US tour for Keith Lo Bue in early October.  If you are interested in hosting him in your store, contact me.