Artomatic in Frederick ROCKS!

Out of my comfort zone - into the art world of Frederick, MD, and beyond.  Well, actually, I still feel a bit like a voyeur through the looking glass, a little like the tiny minnow swimming with the big fish,  LOVING every minute of it. Frederick, MD, has quite a large art community and this event has attracted the work of artists that live in this area and beyond.  Baltimore, DC, VA, WV. . . Over 300 artists - maybe closer to 400 if you count all the artists from Griffin Center and other art co-ops, art support groups, etc.  Steve and I are two artists that are sharing a space.  I've got a mission for this week.  To visit 115 and 117 E Church St. as a "visitor" and wander through the art, taking note of those that speak to me.

Here is a photo of our space "before" installation:

"before"

And NOW:

"now"

We have some additional wall space for tangles on metal and paper:

Tangles on metal and paper

 We've met so many nice artists and visitors   There's music and dance going on too and it's all FREE to the public.  Visit Artomatic Frederick to find the remaining schedule of events, open hours, and market days.

Steve and I will be closing out the show on October 5 (last day for all you procrastinators) from 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. in the Artist Market located at 117 E. Church St.  Please drop by our display at 115 E. Church St., Room 26 (also, sign the book there so we know you came by!).  There is so MUCH to see and experience (for free).  Come support local and regional artists - The Arts in Frederick- Artomatic/Frederick!

My favorite sister (only) is visiting this week and we are going to do Artomatic as visitors for a couple of days (it takes several visits for me to take it all in!).  I will post some photos of my favorites. . .don't have room to post it all.  If you are not from the area or want to take a sneak peek, visit the Artomatic Frederick Facebook Page and view some photos of the art spaces in Building 1  (you may just see a photo or two of our space) and Building 2.   Just a great taste of the wonderful art banquet to share!

Serious Blog or FUN Blog? FUN!!!

I'm so busy going in so many directions and SO GLAD not all of them are negative or stressful!  I've decided to blog about some of the good stuff  - I have so many more blessings than curses in my life, might as well dwell on the blessings!!!

Jen & Me - so happy together!

One big blessing was being able to "get away" for a week (4/23 to 4/29) to Hampton and Virginia Beach, VA.  The first stop was Hampton - a 3 day decompress/visit with dear friend, Jen Judd.  Arrived Tuesday evening. . .camped on her couch, was some much needed peace and quite (since she had to work days).  We went shopping, ate out, went to a d i y ceramic studio, watched t.v., got haircuts, yakked, yakked, laughed, laughed.  She has some wonderful friends, both military and civilian (J.J. is a Lt. Col. in the Air Force).  I even spent one day digging in her beads and making some jewelry.  Yeah, really!  She does have some gorgeous beads!!!























Friday morning (early) we loaded up TWO cars and headed to Art & Soul, Virginia Beach, for classes Friday, Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday.  Saturday night was reserved for Vendor night and party night.  I still haven't unpacked most of the supplies and tools brought (and bought).  Just the suitcase and food so far. . .Really!  It's just 3+ weeks and the cart of beads is still loaded in the hallway!!!





 Friday's class was with Suzanne McNeill, Zentangle 102.  This is the third class over the past 2 years that I've taken from Suzanne.  She has such a delightful personality and teaches wonderfully fun classes - and it was the perfect Zen way to start the weekend!  The class was full and everyone had a great time.  I've been working on the watercolor pencil techniques she introduced us to since I've been home.

4 of 5 projects from Zentangle 102

3 of 5 of my projects and Zany Zentangler, Suzanne McNeill, in her beautiful Zentangled chef's hat and apron!

Cuff n' Stuff

Friday night was an interesting 3 hour class with Maria Rios.  Cuff n' Stuff.  Jen and I took this class together.  Finally used one of my many collected cookie tins for the metal in a cuff bracelet.  Some awesome techniques. We learned to cut, distress and decorate the tin.  "Letting go" of the original paint and design on the tin was a challenge and required quite a physical effort!  She also had some neat ephemera to share and add to our creations.  My creative juices are still mulling all this info around.

 Sat. & Sun. classes with Kim St. Jean 

Saturday's Form Folding Class - Kim St. Jean

Sunday's Now What? class

Sunday w/ Cindy, Kim, Me & Jo

 
Saturday and Sunday were highlight classes for me.  Fold Form Exploration (Sat.) and jewelry design Now What? (Sun.) with Kim St. Jean!  Two fabulous days of hammers and copper and creating along side of one of my very favorite instructors and metal smiths.  Hammer heaven!  I've also had classes with Kim before at BeadFest Philly and knew in advance I would learn some fabulous metal working tips and techniques and have a great time!  This was Kim's maiden voyage as teacher at Art & Soul and the classes I took were rather small (specially for a teacher of her experience and caliber).  Saturday's class was almost full but Sunday it was just Kim and two other students (friends Jo Morrison and Cindy Lyles).  As you can see, we had wonderful successes.  The small class was a real blessing to me! I wore my necklace everywhere for a week!!!  I bet her classes are slammed next year!




I must mention Vendor Night.  Another highlight.  There were so many wonderful artists, some terrific collector/vendors of "found objects," fiber artists (Sandra Koterba ), jewelry artists (Cheryl Straight was just one of many), mixed media artists (Stephanie Rubiano - again, one of many) and many, many more (45 or so). 

After class Sunday, Jen and I packed up and headed back to her place.  Exhausted yet full of wonderful memories.  We have so many friends that get together there including a small group of arty women that have been getting together there each year for several years.  Our "group" was a little smaller this year. . .you know. . .economics, health issues, travel issues. Those that didn't come were so missed!  But the ones that did make it - there's just nothing like the sharing of laughter, fun, food, wine, and art.

From middle back in pink to the right: Patti Parish, Jen Judd, Laura Twiford, Bette Brody, Ann Savage, and me.  Don't know the names of the girls to our left - but they were wonderful partners in art for the weekend.

I didn't really tell all about this arty escape . . .Some of what happens at Art & Soul, stays at Art & Soul.  And in my heart. . .

Thanks Glenny (and Marie) for all your hard work organizing this year's Art & Soul (facebook page)!  Thanks Judy and Liz for the fabulous on site art, fiber, and object supply store (Artistic Artifacts)!

Nothing like the beach and arty friends - better than Calgon, much better!!!

7th Bead Soup Blog Party REVEAL!

It's time for the first reveal of the 7TH BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY!  And it's a doozie!  I think there must be a million participants (maybe closer to 200)!  Our fearless leader, Lori Anderson, suggests that we don't start at the top of the list (so the ones at the bottom will have a visit soon) and :

** A way to keep track?  

Copy and paste the link list into a Word document, 

and delete people as you visit.**

You'd think she's done this before?  HA!  It IS the 7th one!

So breathe, take your time to enjoy all the fun that's been going on. . .  Here is a photo of my soup from talented lampworking partner Lori Bergmann :

Pretty beautiful, huh?  I had to spread it out in my own eclectic way.  Was dying to try some new things and to repeat some old favorites!  Here it goes. . .




I found that this was a unique experience for me.  It's not only the first BSBP I've participated in but it was also one of the first times that I was doing WHAT I WANTED TO DO without worry if it would please someone else.  That made it extra fun.  I hope I did please my partner, Lori Bergmann, because she sent such beautiful beads but other than that. . .I indulged myself by trying new designs, relaxing and enjoying the time spent at the bench.  Speaking of bench. . .here is my little bench in our little 2nd story sun porch.  It looks even messier now than it did in this photo.  This is where all the magic happened:

And this is the view from my studio window of our early spring snowfall.  Nice!!!

 Lori's gorgeous soup!







The first piece was something I'd been wanting to try - a charm necklace a la Deryn Mentock or Diane Cook (two of my favorite artist/teachers).  The heart focal was perfect!

From the awesome stash I received from Lori, I used the lovely focal heart, one of the chunky nugget beads, three of the smaller lampwork beads, a few of the brass beadcaps, the tiny bronze heart and Lori's handmade clasp.  The rest of the charms, dangles and beads came out of a dozen or so boxes of my own soup collections and some of my own enamel beads.  Silk fibers, trims, and vintage.  

So now I was free to play with all the other parts/pieces (ingredients) Lori sent.  And did I ever play!

Three bracelets (the two memory wire ones are my favorites from a design Jen Judd taught me!), one small pair of earrings and last but not least. . . . .

10 feet of "Happy Easter/Spring to Me!" necklace!  I spent hours just zoning out, making connectors.  It was so wonderful for me to escape to the bead zone.  Very inspiring to use some of my own enamel beads, too.  Now I'm ready to head down to the basement and BURN some more!!!  Thanks Lori B. for your beautiful beads and for the new friendship!

And thanks Lori Anderson for taking on this monumental task of organizing this Bead Soup Blog Party!  The process and creating was a balm to my harried soul!  Quite a diversion! I needed it!

Now, please go check out what Lori Bergmann did with the bead soup that I sent to her:

My soup to Lori

Here are Lori's links:

Blog: http://loribergmann.blogspot.com/ 

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AshlynDesign

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/loribergmann/

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoriBergmann

The full list of all the party goers for this reveal can be found at Lori Anderson's Blog - Pretty Things

So glad you stopped by.  Enjoy the rest of the journey!

 

We may be late to the party but it was worth waiting for!!!

I'm slamming out the door for a potentially difficult weekend - but not without a skip in my step!  Lori Bergmann's soup arrived today and I can't wait to stir it up!  

So, this is a preview.  Aren't the ingredients gorgeous?  The heart, all the lampwork, and the lovely clasp were all made by Lori!  How cool is that?

 The timing is perfect. . .I needed a lift to my day.  This really gave my heart wings!  Thank you, Lori!

Here are Lori's links:

Blog: http://loribergmann.blogspot.com/

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AshlynDesign

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/loribergmann/

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoriBergmann

 

Stay tuned as the soup simmers!

 

Bead Soup is simmering. . .

I'm finally blogging about the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party . . .This party is what finally got me off my duff to start a blog in the first place!  I wanted to get out of the shadows and go to the Party!  Woo Hoo! 

I lurked in those shadows for years and hopped along at each reveal but I'm in the shadows NO MORE!!!  My lovely and talented partner Lori Bergmann and I put our exchange date on hold while she fostered a new pup and Steve and I cleaned out our "other" home on the Eastern Shore (auction of contents is next month and will probably warrant another blog!).  But we will exchange our soups next week!  Until then, I wanted to say a few words about my new friend and BSBP partner.



Meet Lori! 

She lives near Seattle, WA (yes, the other side of the U.S.A. from me), with hubby and two daughters and two pups.  She's a graphic artist turned lampworker and jewelry artist.

Her list of lifetime accomplishments, 400 published craft, art and jewelry projects, workshops, etc., boggles my mind.  She also is author of a book on Creative Painting.  Busy lady!

Lori's Etsy site
Lori's Blog 
Lori's FB Fan Page



I finially got all the beads together that I'm sending Lori and will put them in a soup bowl to mail when we get back to Frederick.  Lots of enamels, of course!  It is a lovely soup - if I do say so.


See. . .

and here is one focal and the lovely Bali silver clasp. . .

What do you mean. . .you can't see it clearly?  You wouldn't want me to spoil Lori's surprise, would you?  One clue is that it's blue. . .

I'll post again with better pictures when Lori's arrives next week. Our reveal is March 30!

Till then, soup's on!

Gelli Good Intentions

Yes, I intended to have all the Gelli Arts printing plates paints, stencils, bubble wraps, paper of all types, tools, textures etc., etc. cleaned up and the dining room returned to it's purpose - dining!  TWO WEEKS AGO!  Well, I waited for the new Crafter's Workshop stencils to arrive, ordered more stencils from iStencils.com and waited for them to arrive (conducting several Gelli sessions in between the waits).  Last night I was fully DONE, packed up all of the supplies, tools, textures, and paper into two large plastic totes. We carted them off to the storage unit until the next urge or the next visit from paper painting friends.

Here are some of the additions I made to my rather plain muslin painter's smock.  The smock had managed to go thru three days of paint slinging on the Gelli plate with nothing more than a one inch smear on the right arm cuff to show for all the messing.  The Gelli plate worked great on the fabric using the same acrylic craft paints from the paper projects.  The belt (just a one inch woven ribbon from JoAnn's) was particularly fun to Gelli print and stamp.  Not sure how I will use the belt or how I will attach it.  To the sides, tie in back?  At the front and wrap around to tie in back or around again to tie in front?  Just another project on the list.

This is what my very talented husband was doing in his basement workshop those three days.  Bowls.  Gorgeous bowls.  From cherry, box elder, soft maple.  Some with natural edges, one with burned grooves.  The bottom right is a larger bowl from an unknown wood.  It's my favorite so far!  But I do love the vase.  I hear him down there now.  I think he's gone on to making "band saw boxes."






Here is a collage of some of my papers.  I am ordering some fresh Ice Resin and plan on making another mess when it arrives.  Resin papers.  More on that mess, later!

and

And now to start gathering some bead soup for the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party!  Will keep you posted.  That's what blogs are for, eh?

Art? Craft? Monkey Business!!!

Last weekend was one of those special holiday/long weekend times with hubby and and artsy friend, Jen Judd!  When you add Jen to the mix, you always get art, craft, AND monkey business!!!  My cheeks still hurt!  And my back!

 Meet our new art toy: Gelli Arts gel printing plate for monoprinting without a press!  I got so curious about this product thru my friendship (and Facebook posts) with Patti Tolley Parrish.  She's been posting about her love affair with the Gelli plate and I knew that this would be a wonderful tool (toy) for Jen and I to play with when she visited.  We had so much fun and had so many good results that we printed for HOURS of fun each of the three days she was here! 

(Thanks, Patti, for sharing!)

 Jen was fast on the draw.  The beginning of day one with this fabulous new art toy (tool)!

Standing up seemed the best way to play but after 4 - 5 hours of "play" we were both reaching for the Ibuprophen.  Oh, my aching back!  Grinning!!!  But that was just the beginning of three days of printing.  That evening we sat in front of YouTube Gelli videos.

The next afternoon, Bette Brody joined us and brought her own arsenal of paints, rollers, wipe away tools, stencils, ETC.  All this paper art is very new to me!  I've had one other play date with these two paper artists and have taken one fun 2 day creative paper paint/texture multimedia class with Cathy Taylor.  (That's when I got to know Jen better - we shared a table.  We had already met in Painting With Fire classes with Barbara Lewis)

This new tool (Gelli plate) made creating cool patterns and textures very easy and so much fun.

Bette and Jen

A fan of some of my own favorite prints. . .not bad for a paper novice!

 My favorites from Crafter's Warehouse's "cubist" stencil.

 Some of Jen's masterpieces.

The group photos - Eyes closed, frowns, I'm glad Steve took three!  . . .and then there's Jen!!!  I love that gal!  She has more energy and spirit than the law allows!

My new, pristine, and very tent-like smock

managed to go thru 3 days of paint with only a spot on the right sleeve. I need another play date with the plate and print on the smock!  DING! As much as I need to get the enameling back up, I can't wait to Gelli print my smock!

A view from under the table on Saturday. Mine (left), Bette's (top right), Jen's (bottom right).
Hmmmmmm. . . . wonder how I can use paper in jewelry. . .paper beads? resin?    Hmmmmmmm. . .


Some of you might wonder how hubby fit into this mix.  As a fellow artist (he works with wood when he doesn't have his architect hat on), he understands the need to create.  He got to spend all the time he wanted in his basement studio turning bowls and wine bottle stoppers.  He also took Jen and I out to eat at Brewer's Alley and enjoyed our company each evening as we relaxed between art.  Lots of laughs!

The last art day of printing was a little shorter because Jen had to head home early afternoon and she helped with the clean-up.  We were also weary and back-sore from so many hours at the Gelli plate!  Notice that 1/2 the table is still under "craft."   I ordered some stencils of my own (mostly made by Crafter's Warehouse) and am waiting to do one more session on my own.  Our home is very small and any work outside our small studio spaces really takes up vital living space (dining room table).  Hurry up, stencils!  I've got other arty fish to fry!  And two tiny studios that need to be reclaimed!


Note: the stack of papers in front of Jen. . .over 100 colorful prints (to my 50+) to use in making paper beads and art collages, journal pages, etc., etc.


One amazing realization: We were so QUIET while we created.  Hours of silence.  Happy silence!

Bette also makes gorgeous art books and is a designer of beautiful art papers.  This was only her second time printing art papers using the Gelli plate.  She's a multi media artist, works in metal clay, is an accomplished metal worker and makes gorgeous jewelry.  She teaches her book and paper art from her home and from local business studios (Polymer Clay Express at Artway Studio). She and I have messed up her kitchen twice dyeing silk scarves.  AND she makes the best chocolate dipped pretzels!

Jen is very multifaceted, multi-talented, too.  Art, paper, jewelry, journaling, photography, fabric dyeing, crocheting, laughing!  Did you notice my new and improved blog page?  Thank you, Jen!!!  Last (but certainly not least) Jen also serves our country as a Lt Col in the United States Air Force.  Thank you, dear friend, for your service and your sweet friendship!  God speed!

Next time we will create in Bette's HUGE basement studio and call in more of our quiet (HA!) artists to join us.  Love my artsy friends!  Hope to see all again soon!  Art and Soul in VA Beach is not far away!