Holiday Fun

We have had lots of fun so far this Holiday season. I made a painting for my mother in law, and I am very proud of it. It's on a 8 x 10 canvas, and has collage, and acrylics and charcoal, and layers and layers and layers. I made a couple of 4 x 5 at the same time, working first on one and then on the other.

Sometimes I just LOVE the patterns on my work table - this one's been "gaining character" for quite some time - read that as "she hasn't changed the paper for a LONG time..."

These are a pair of the earrings that I made for the craft show. I actually made these following the craft show, put them in my "earring box" and they sold almost immediately. I had several people who wanted to look through "the box" and bought pairs for gifts (and a few for themselves, I believe!). I'm going to make more of these, as I had some requests for the same design - I got the materials in just before Christmas break, so I will be working on several more pairs like this, and a few other designs that I like, pretty soon now. It's rather fun coming up with new designs that I like, and hopefully that others will like, as well.

Well, enough from holiday land - hope all is well at your house!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Have a wonderful day with family & friends!
Cindy

Big Day!

Today is a big day for our friend Jim - best wishes to you Jim for a speedy recovery & a happy holiday season!

It's Christmas, let the mad dash begin

So, the last day of school before holiday break is over, and I've got a cold, Mike's got a cold. The cards are sitting on the dining room table (along with lots of other stuff) unsent. The presents are all bought, but none wrapped. Oh well. It will be a wonderful Christmas, and a wonderful family time whether any of this gets done or not, won't it? Here's to a blessed Christmas to everyone - enjoy your family - enjoy your time together!

Manistee Craft Show 2009

What a fun day & what a fun time to get to see and speak with so many people I just don't get a chance to see very often - I think I like the social aspect as much as the opportunity to show off my other side! Everyone was so kind with their comments, and it was fun to see folks respond to the fact that it was "my stuff" -- thanks so much to all of you!

I have a necklace that I promised I would post here for one nice gal - hope this picture helps you out. If you are interested in this necklace, please contact me - I love this one - it shimmers with little glints of gold on the glass beads. the total length is 19 inches (I know, not actually a standard length, but I liked where it hung at that length), and the price is $110.00. If you are interested, just contact me and I'll be happy to arrange delivery!

I've added a few pictures here, and will add some more on some other posts. Another nice gal encouraged me to put some things on etsy, and so this morning, I'm actually going to post a few items to my etsy shop - http://www.vittoriabella.etsy.com/ - come and visit me there! I'll try to keep a few things there, but if you need or want something, please feel free to email.

Well, after a day of craft show, Community Band Concert, Sleigh Bell Parade - I think I need to do a little catching up - hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Art Unraveled 2010 site is working!

Hi All! Just a quick note that the Art Unraveled site is now operational - check out the offerings and maybe we'll be in a class or two together!!??!!

What life brings

Well, nothing bad has been going on, just a LOT has been going on. Mostly great stuff, just a lot of it. Seems like that's what life is - balancing all the "stuff" and still finding time to enjoy the little things.

We DID go on our adventure with little yellow a few weekends ago - it was fun, and I didn't take any pictures, so I can't post them. What I really enjoyed about the day was the freedom NOT to do things - not to feel obligated to take pictures to post, not to feel obligated to do anything for someone else, not to feel obligated to do something productive.

I think that in the midst of all the "must do's" of what life brings, we must find time to have a couple of moments of "don't need to do's" along the way.

Balance - I think it's all balance. Now, where did I leave my balance??? LOL - truly, does anyone else struggle with keeping balance?

crisp fall days

These last few days have been the very definition of fall in northern Michigan - crisp and cold, with the sounds of raking leaves off in the distance. (I mean, really, they're great mulch - why would I need to rake them???)

Today is supposed to be a sunny one, albeit cold, and I believe we're getting out "little yellow" and seeing where it takes us. I'll post pics of our adventure.

I've been working in the studio quite a bit - Kendra, my latest passion is earrings because of you. Yes, I have several more journals to make before the craft show, and LOTS of cards to get done. But... I have been making some fun earrings in that "shabby chic" style I seem to like so much. Each and every one of them is one I think I would like to wear, so I won't cry too much if they don't sell. LOL.

I also made a killer necklace, bracelet and earrings based on bracelet kits sold by Kaari Meng at French General. I saw the little glass beads that looked like pearls, and well, that was it. Just had to get them, and then I did my own "take" on her idea. OOOHHH, that set is not going anywhere. I wore them to my cousins wedding a few weeks ago, and must admit I looked smashing!! (LOL) Well, at least I thought I did.

Kendra gave me some wonderful earrings - if you're coming to the Manistee craft show, her booth will be right next to mine, and you'd better stop and check it out. She does these fun and funky earrings that are great, well made, and really affordable. I think she's going to do really well at the craft show, so come on out and support her - her booth is "Forced to Create." I'll post pics here shortly. Next I'm going to see if she'll get an etsy store up and running, for those of you who live away from Michigan. If she will, I will - it's actually one of my goals after this year, to open my etsy store again.

Well, enough ramblings - have an artsy day, everyone!

Okay, I'm back, I promise

One of my goals this school year, was to post regularly here and at the ASBDA Blog. (For those of you who are my art friends, you probably don't know that I'm the National President of a Band Director's organization this year - we have a blog - I need to post regularly, quite frankly) I haven't so far, mainly because my mind has been totally consumed here with stuff from work. Hopefully I'll be able to write a little about this some day. For now, no. Suffice it to say, however, that I feel very humbled by the feeling of support I have had. Nonetheless, I have found my thoughts totally consumed by this dark fog, and now, ever so slowly, I feel that I am coming out of it. So, I plan on beginning now and posting regularly. What is it that I say to my students constantly???? "START WHERE YOU ARE." You can't go back, you can only go forward, so Start Where You Are.

Today, I start again. Where I am.

It was a horribly wet, rainy day yesterday, and we had Homecoming - which meant a parade (it was sunny for that, albeit cold. COLD.) And then the football game. Started sunny. (and cold. COLD) and got colder, and darker, and colder and darker, until it began to rain. AND THEN TO SNOW.

Not fair.

Today, however, was pretty sunny throughout, and was while cold, bearable. I put on my hoodie sweatshirt & was just fine. It was nice to get a lot of things done. I got to cross a lot off my list today. That always feels good.

And it felt good to start. It felt good to smile. It felt good to feel lightness again.

To all my friends out there - I hope you have a light, sunny, bright, warm day!! I'll have more to say in a few days. Until then - start where you are! (it felt good to take my own advice!)

Note to Hardy Family

Video of the students will be posted tomorrow, (Friday) and I will be trying to post on the MHS Band Website, as we had spoken about. Sorry for the inconvenience.

More stuff

One of my classes that I just "had" to take at AU this year was Richard Salley's Copper Enameled Bracelet. While anyone who knows me well, knows I adore bracelets, it wasn't about the bracelet that I went ga-ga, it was the chance to learn copper enameling. If I did only one class at AU this year, it was going to be this one. **And was I petrified ~ after all, this involves fire!!** LOL!! (Thanks, Kim, for talking me through my momentary panic just before class began!!)

I did a necklace, too, and fired some other pieces for someone else, because I was all done and had no more copper read to fire. This seemed just as natural to me as walking -- in fact a couple of the ladies watched what I was doing, because they said that I made it look easy. HA!

Kim said before I went in, that I would probably love the class, and then want to do it more. And it's funny, it was so very easy, almost natural to me, but I think I need more practice before I want to do a lot more of it. Right now, I'm thinking I may take the same class from him again next year, try it some more, and then see if I want to continue. For now, no more new stuff. (Well, that's not true ~ I bought a new sewing machine yesterday. I'd drooled over it for a while, and finally just went down & purchased. Ooh, it will be fun & and I'll post pics when I've got it up and running.)

Anyway, here's the bracelet - and the necklace I made from the bracelet scraps - complete with a toggle that I created out of some of the leftover wire from someone else's project. Geesh - once a scavenger, always a scavenger, I guess!

And, here's one of the panels from my class with Jane LaFazio, called "Paper on Cloth Collage." It will be interesting to see what it looks like once I add the stitching (with my new machine), as that will outline the flower, create the stem, and give some other little accents. When it's done, I will post.

Until next time ~ have a great day!

,

More Art Unraveled Projects

One of the evening classes (a 3 hour class) that I took at Art Unraveled was with Kelly Kilmer - her "Little Book of Faux Monoprints." A great class where we painted and made little monoprints and then bound the pages into little books. Look at the cool pages, and the two neat little books I made that evening.

Another cool class was with Katie Kendrick, and okay, so my finished picture is laying on it's side in this post -- LOL, I'm going to try scanning it & inputting it again, anyway - I'm finding I'm not liking the posts with pictures of my projects as much as the very few that I've done with scans - so, here's a sideways "glimpse" of my finished project, along with a pic of Kim, Katie and myself -- isn't Kim's picture GREAT?

That's all for now - more later! Be artistic today!

What a time it was!

I've returned home from Art Unraveled in Phoenix. What a wonderful time it was. I think this year's classes were some of the best I've taken. I have so many cool projects to show - I finished EVERY project!!! (Now, to be fair, not every class was a project class - and to be fair, by Sunday evening I was pretty "full" of art stuff, but I still finished something in every class!!)

It was fun to reconnect with friends - Kim, it was great to spend time laughing and giggling with you, and making art. It was fun to make some new friends & getting better acquainted with people that I had met in previous years.

Over the next few days, I'll show you some of the work I did, and the people I spent time with - here's a start!

First stop, Frenzy Stamper in Scottsdale - I regularly watch the blog of this amazing Rubber Stamp store, and owner Debbie Bick has an amazing selection - it's like I'm making a pilgrimage when I walk in the doors!! Debbie is so fun, too - we laughed a lot the entire time I was there - turned out she was signed up for one of the same classes later in the week. To give you an idea of how great her store is, and filled with so much inspiration, take a look at the shelf behind her head - here's a close up of the books with the beautiful bindings that she has made - such eye candy I could stand and look at them for quite a long time!!

Kim & I took "Watercolor Transfer" from the gracious and kind Carla Sonheim. This is a wonderful technique and the results were astounding - although the picture below doesn't do it justice, the colors are muted, soft, flowing and dreamy - it's cool.

BTW - Kim & I met 4 years ago at Art Unraveled - she now lives in the Phoenix area, after having moved from Southern California. She was the first person I met at Art Unraveled, standing in line to register - we've been friends ever since. It was SO fun to get to share classes with her, and to spend time together -- this evening was the first time we'd seen each other in 2 years - yes, there was a lot of happy chatter from both of us during this class!!

L to R - me, Carla, Kim

aren't the colors dreamy?

Okay, I have to admit, when Carla saw this, she politely asked me, "so, are you a graphic designer or an accountant? Everything is so very orderly, I just assume you are a very orderly person." Hence, I tried to loosen up a little bit more on the others.... LOL!!!

Well, that's it for today - until next time!

To Camp We Go!

Well, I'm off to camp again! This time, it's art camp - Art Unraveled. I plan on posting pics to the blog as often as I can, to let you know about the classes I'm taking. It's going to be a fun trip, and one I've looked forward to since signing up for classes in February - it seems a little mean to make us sign up for classes in February and then wait.....wait......wait.....6 full months to get to take them.
Alas. Perhaps I should just be happy that I get all the time of blissful anticipation!

Until next time - from Art Unraveled! (or maybe someplace between here and there!)

A little look at camp

Here's a little look at camp - where Mike & I lived for 12 days, and worked with some great kids. Some shots of our cabin & the surroundings.

Some shots of the tops of various rehearsal sheds - since they had kids in them, I didn't take pics of any rehearsals.



Another interesting project I found myself in, was to find letters in and around camp - I'll post about the "letters" I found another day.

Until then!

Where have you been?

So for the past two weeks (12 days to be exact) Mike and I were teaching at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, a summer school of the arts about an hour and 15 minutes south of where we live. It's a wonerful gathering of artistic types, and for two weeks each summer, for the past many years (this was year 21 for me!) we converge on the camp, along with lots (this year nearly 1500) of high school age students to study music, art, drama, and dance. Mike & I each teach a concert band, this year they were 125 kids strong! Yesterday we presented our final concert for families before they picked up the kids and took them home. Come Wednesday morning, the camp will start all over again, with 1500 more kids - this time middle school aged! They do 4 different 2 week sessions.
During final Sunday, I took a walk through the art exhibit, and it was wonderful! There were linoleum block prints, pottery, painting, sketching, fiber arts, textile design, and even some mixed media! I had a student of mine from home who was in the art studio during this past session, so I looked for her art work ~ it was very good! Artistic kids!
I have lots of pictures of camp, and now that I'm back where there is internet availability - I'll share with you some pictures from around camp. For those of you who follow this blog, I know several of you went there as students ~ hope this brings back memories. For those of you who don't know anything about the place, well, imagine a place where creativity flows freely, in an idyllic setting in the northern Michigan woods. (and sand, LOTS and LOTS of sand.....and a few bugs, but hey, it's camp!).
More later!

My new *pink* binding machine

Isn't it pretty?

Yes, I have the *blue* binding machine. And yes, the coil binder, too. What's a girl to do? I mean, it's PINK!!!! (Reminder to anyone who knows me that I bought my *pink* camera case a full year before I had a camera that would fit it. It was so darned cute & I knew my old digital camera would give out soon....)

Okay, really, it's not for the color (not completely, anyway), it's because I've got this box of cool vintage Reader's Digest Condensed books - the ones with the cool patterned covers -- that someone was throwing out and I protested - "Give them to ME!" and they did.

Well, turns out the old blue binder's opening was too small to fit the book covers, so I would have had to have used my screw punch to punch holes, which would then only fit the coil binder. Not a biggie, but I wanted to use the O-Wires of the Zutter. (insert whine here)

So.... I finally got on ebay and found one at a price I would pay. Now, it's here, along with the bag and tool kit (yes, I got all three) and now I'm going to start playing. I'm figuring on taking it to camp & binding several of a new style journal that I'm going to start making. Plus, I have a BUNCH of journals whose signatures & covers are all ready to be bound together (finally) just waiting for me to haul them down to camp. (Yup, could have done this here, and wouldn't be dragging them an hour down the road to do a simple binding job one each one of them. But, hey, why not drag more STUFF with me, eh?)

As for the brick courtyard, as Mike puts it, One Thousand, Six Hundred, Sixty Two Bricks and counting. Yup, once again, out of hand. But.... I think it's going to make for some magnificent gatherings! Anyone in?

Swaps are sent

(FYI - there are pictures in the post, pictures of artwork I did! But... you have to earn your way to them, by reading through my entire diatribe!! Pictures at the bottom. Don't cheat! Read it all!)

"It sounded like a good idea at the time." What a mouthful.

Anyway, right now that could describe many things in my life, how about yours? Okay, we'll start with the courtyard. Mike keeps reminding me that "I'd be done right now, if the courtyard was the size I envisioned (Mike envisioned, not Cindy). But nooooooo, it has to be the biggest courtyard outside of New Orleans." Umm, what's wrong with that, I ask?

Well, what's wrong with that, is that it requires much more in the way of alignment (I wanted the little bricks that look like cobblestones, so there are many, many more lines to keep straight), and much, much more sand. Mike's already made one trip back to the brick place to buy more sand. It came, on the big truck with the hoist, etc, etc. You guessed it, we're almost out of sand. No grouting has been done - need more sand.

The size of the courtyard seemed like a good idea at the time. (It still does.)

Then there was the whole swap thingy for Art Unraveled. It'll be summer, I said. It'll be easier to fit into my schedule, I said. I have lots of ideas, I said.

It was a good idea at the time.

But...finally, the inchies and the fatbook pages are done, and both are sent. See below.

The inchies are done on my milking machine filters, giving them a gauzy appearance and texture that's hard to capture on a camera. Lots of layers of paint and spray & whatever I grabbed. I liked them just like that, but then I went on line and looked up "inchies" and saw that most inchies also have a focal image. Argghhh.... It seemed like a good idea at the time.

So, what to do? I looked and looked and looked, and finally came up with the idea of a dragonfly brad in the same color as the main "swoosh" of color (copper) in the inchies. And with that, I said "voila." And promptly stuck 'em in an envelope & mailed them. Too late now if I come up with another idea.

Then there are the fatbook pages. Went to Mike & Rita Duvall's on the Art Snake, and Rita does these amazing abstracts that are very linear and geometric, so you know I loved 'em. That got me going on the fatbook pages I had done - they already had the background and the words on them. (This year's Art Unraveled theme is: Moments).

Many hours later, many thoughts on how to integrate everything I had hoped to integrate, and voila, yesterday, I put them together and mailed 'em off. Too late now if I come up with another idea.


And there you have it. 21 inchies, 28 fatbook pages, all done individually. Geesshh. It seemed like a good idea at the time!

Have a great day!

The bottom of the bag

Arrgghh... it's always so sad when I get to the bottom of the bag of caramel corn from the "Caramel Corn Wagon" in Manistee -- it's only here from about June 25 until about July 5. It's funny how many people you see at the wagon each summer - the stuff is outrageous good, and we all come & indulge once a year.

As a side note, the wagon parks on the parade route. For 28 years, I have marched by the caramel corn wagon, many years two times, thinking - I really would like to just stop and buy a bag to eat for the rest of the parade. Sometimes, during the parade, as I've marched by, they've been making the stuff.... oh my, the smell is deeeelicious. Makes me nearly come unglued.

I think my plans are made for the final 4th of July parade in which I march with a Manistee band!! LOL!! So, I guess if you read this, be warned, if you're near the end of the parade, and you see me a munchin' away on my bag of caramel corn, you probably know that my plans for the following September have been made!! LOL!!!

Pictures from the project!

My courtyard in progress. First the paver bricks arrived.



The work on leveling the ground, and placing and leveling the sand.


The side yard. Complete with neighborhood teenage help (aka. The Cavalry!!)


Chain Saw Cindy - I have now learned a new marketable skill!



Have a great day!

What a great project!

I love New Orleans. I live about as far away from New Orleans in every sense of the word, as is humanly possible. However, that doesn't dampen my feelings for that wonderful place.

One of the things that I adore about New Orleans, especially in the French Quarter, but all over the areas that I have visited, is the way that they have found a good use for every single space. I *adore* the courtyards, often hidden behind a wall or a fence or a gate. The hotel we've stayed at each time we've gone to New Orleans has a wonderful courtyard to just sit and relax. I love the courtyard lifestyle.

Well, when we remodeled our garage, a few years back (and by remodeling, I mean tearing down everything except 1 small section of 1 wall.....), the idea that I'd floated a few years ago, about putting a courtyard between the house & the garage came back with a vengeance. So..... last weekend, right after the 4th festivities, I started whining (yes, I was whining) about the fact that this entire summer was going to go by and I wouldn't be able to sit on my courtyard and sip iced tea (or anything else).

You see, we were going to go to Chicago, eat at a restaurant we found when we were there at Thanksgiving, and take our Neighborhood Tour that we won in the VanderCook Silent Auction. That, and not a lot else - maybe do a bicycle tour or a Segway tour like we've talked about doing for years.

Mike, ever the wise one, said when my whining ensued anew last weekend, "well, we can go to
Chicago, and no, you won't have your courtyard this summer, either. Or, we could stay here, and I could put in the courtyard."

Chicago or Courtyard became the question. And while I *love* Chicago, I *LOVE* New Orleans, and the idea of finally having my courtyard won out. So, we are here in Manistee, and Mike is busily working on the courtyard, putting in 10 - 12 hour work days. He's happy as a clam, even if he is a little achey.

And me? Well, I got up this morning and noticed that the weather prediction was for it to only get up to about 67 degrees today (that is an entirely different blog post, I fear...) and so it would be a good day for me to clean out the old, overgrown flower beds in our yard, and clear out some of the brush between out house and the house next door (where my art studio is located).

Geesh, what a good idea that was (tongue squarely in my cheek...), and now I'm wondering if my 50 year old body was up to the task. I called a couple of the neighbor kids who are in the band, and asked if they'd like a little spending money in exchange for hauling, bagging, and pulling to the curb.

But... I got to learn how to use a chain saw (and there's more that Chain Saw Cindy will be cuttin' down in the future, now that I know how to tame that machine!), and I must admit, I'm on a roll here, and I think the backyard will look pretty good by the end of August!!

I'll post pictures of the progress soon - Hope everything is well with you, where ever you are!

July 4th in Small Town America

It's been a wonderful National Forest Festival here in Manistee - lots going on, like the 4th of July Parade, the fireworks, the carnival, the food vendors, lots of music, and today it's the Arts & Crafts Show, the Onekama Art Snake (artists around the Onekama area open their studios- our friends, the Duvalls have their studio open, along with several others who we know & some who we don't!), the Plein Air Exhibit at the Ramsdell Theatre's Exhibit Hall (it's a Victorian Era Opera House with attached ballrooms, where the exhibits are held), the WWII Bomber on exhibit at the airport, the car show & cruise night last night, oh I could go on and on. Community festivals like this are one of the very, very best reasons to live in a small town, and especially a small town in the Midwest (yes, I'm biased!).

So, I took my yellow car to cruise night last night - it was fun. Look at me with my cruise car!

I've also put in a couple of pictures of the bands in the parade - since this is what I "do," I figured that everyone might like to see me workin' on the holiday!



Today it's off to the Arts & Crafts Show, the Art Snake, and if there's time, the Plein Air exhibit. What fun - I hope your 4th of July holiday has been wonderful, where ever you are!

Windows and Doors and Barrels, Oh my!

I've always loved windows and doors - don't know why, and I didn't know others liked them, too, until I started on this art "journey." But, I've got old photos that I took of windows and doors many, many years ago - long before ever even thinking I might one day call myself, among other things, an artist.

In a few years ago, we went to south easern Illinois to try a Moonshine Burger from the Moonshine store. (I'll blog about that some time, but suffice it to say, Mike & I agree - we're going back!) On the way back to the main road, we came across a dilapidated home, with the most amazing doors and windows, and well, I just had to stop and take some pics.

We also stopped at a historic site with more wonderful picture opportunities - I hope you enjoy!

Amazing tomato

Mike always laughs about the fact that he grew up in the suburbs, and "has farming in his blood." (said with that southern accent!) So.... of course, we've started corn and green beans indoors (yes, you read that correctly, that means transplanting corn and green beans - anyone who is a farmer knows you don't do that...) to great, overwhelming success, and last year, Mike broke off a piece of one of his tomato plants at the end of the summer and said "I'm going to plant it and see what happens."

Yup, you guessed it, it is still thriving, and we've eaten several tomatoes from it. In fact, there are more blooms right now. Yes, grown in a window, indoors, in northern Michigan during the winter. Can you say, low sun angle, and grey days?

So, as evidence, here is the plant. Still looking good, still providing tomatoes for us, as if to say, "I'm really thankful you didn't leave me out side in the winter, so I'll just keep producing for you!" Go figure!