Yummy Beads in the Mail

 Aren't these great! They are Czech glass beads. I love the vibrant color! I only wish they were a little larger.

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/artebellasurplus is the Etsy shop I found them at. Her photos are so pretty! Now I have to design jewelry to go with these beads. I promised myself I would use them all.

 I remember this model well. He always had these crazy stoic poses. I swear he flexed the whole time too. This was from my Life Painting class I took at College of the Redwoods. I really loved the class. I am hoping to grab some of the paintings I did (most of them on cardboard) and explore the thought of selling them. I thought I might see if Quack and Bush was interested in Los Alamos. If he wanted them I would then get them properly framed. This guy here is a pretty good representation of the type of paintings I am thinking of (this is my least favorite of the batch). I might put them on my Etsy shop too. Funny thing, this guy showed up at my advanced Life Drawing class I took at Humboldt State too.

 This painting is rare for me. The canvas I painted it on is unstretched, she is life sized, and the colors of her skin are pretty realistic. The painted got a bit smooshed, but its starting to flatten out.

The SB Fiesta work lunch was at Cafe Stella's this year which is rite accross from the kids fair, so after food and drinks me and two others crossed the street to take a peek. I had planned on sketching a little, but not an easy task when enjoying the company of others. The detail was a bit too much anyway, and it was very hot. So hot, that we went back for more drinks after our stroll. This is a photo of what I had hoped to sketch. Sketching the dancers would have been a bunch of fun too. This Saturday I head to Los Olivos Quick Draw for my monthly Valley Sketchers meet up to draw. I need to get the next flyer ready, but I am kind of excited to see what sketches I get.

Old Painting Back on the Wall

I just looked through some old, stored paintings and drawings I have not seen in s long time. Some of the paintings were from high school.


I will post some photos of them soon. This one is not that old, but had been on loan to the Backdoor Board shop for almost a year. I think I will be pulling a group of paintings I did in college in a life painting class to explore prospects of selling them, either in a gallery or on my Etsy site. stay tuned! I hope to get a little feed back when I post them.
On the jewelry front: I purchased a small (priced to sell!) order of unique Czech glass beads, and my goal is to use them all by the end of the year. I think I will gift myself a new necklace too. I miss wearing the green beaded one I used to wear. It's pendant setting bugged me, but I never made a new one to replace it. I will be starting many lists of what will be needed to get a significant amount of pieces made by November, which is rapidly approaching. I am also trying to ramp up my blog entries to help keep me moving forward. Wish me luck on getting anything done this year.

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A Post of My Dad's Wonderful Sketches

For my Pana (grandpa)

These are just the sketches my Dad did at the June 23rd sketch day. He has done many more since then and is really starting to master his technique. I will have to steel a few more photos of his book and put them up too.

Another Wonderful Sketch Meet Up

What a great sketch day with the Valley Sketchers!!!! So many wonderful Sketchers and sketches. Sketching the school brings back so many memories of growing up across the street





from the little Red School House. What fun!!


I even attempted a tree( which I suck at) one branch does not look right. But not bad.


I will post to all the media stuff tonight, just thought I'd abhor off a quick blog entry while I have some wi-fi.

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Pretty Vial Things Class with Michael DeMeng!

What a great class!! Wow!! Such a nice time. I am so glad I was able to go! "Pretty Vial Thing" was a super amazing, technique rich class that Michael DeMeng taught at the Art Clinic today. The whole class reminded me a lot of my sister LE though. She would have probably made something crazy rad!

 This is the Vial of Invincability and it is the closest to being finished. Hard to see, but those are grasshopper legs in there. Before you cringe, you should know that they are black and white striped with a large patch of brilliant blue along the legs.

 I cannot wait to finish this Vial, its the antidote! I wanted it to resemble an apple.

 This one still needs a lot of detail work. It is the Vial of Strength. That is an Indian chief with wings.

 This one is just barely started. It is a vial of Invisability (notice the searching indian on top) I have a ways to go on this one.

I am tired and need to sleep.  All this posting and news letter writing I have done tonight took way longer than I thought. I hope to carry the joy and excitment from that class into my work week. We will be so crazy busy at work for the next 3 to 4 weeks! Ugh. I will need everything I have to stay up and going. Big Meet and Greet with the Valley Sketchers this Friday too...so much to do!!  Nite nite!

The News Press Article was Awesome!

How Exciting for our little sketch group. Wow!


Go grab your copy of the Wed addition July 6th of the Santa Barbara News Press. So cool!!

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Work Work Work :)

My "day job" has started to get very busy. I have had fatigue issues (maybe I was a little sick and did not fully realize it). I was getting behind on my new sketch group stuff and just now caught up to a manageable load. My daughter has been having sleep issues. I am trying to start gearing up for the Queen of Arts shows.


These issues plus a few more things have got me feeling a bit overwhelmed. I am hoping THIS is the weekend I get caught up enough to breath. I have to be at the studio to meet with a News Press photographer and (hopefully) some members of the Valley Sketchers so I better finish one more thing and get to bed.

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Car Got Egged

It's just a small thing in it's self, but it makes me nervous. Here I am washing car again hoping to get it all off.


It was 3 in the morning when I heard a loud noise that I could not place. Really it was no big deal, I just think I am too tired or something. Lack of sleep has me jumpy and paranoid. I loaded new photos on my Flickr site, yahoo Group site and FaceBook page. So go check them out. I will put some here maybe tonight.
So much stuff going on, my head is swimming with plans and ideas. It is time to start projects for the winter holiday shows, amp up Etsy stuff, plan sketch meet-ups and organize everything. Not to mention all the other regular, every day "fun". Wish my some mental health.

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A Dream Fullfilled

So much fun OMG! I feel the first Valley Sketch meet-up went very very well. Wish I had time to do that every week!


All the people that showed up were so great! I even had the privilege of spending time with a few of them afterward for our show and tell. Awe: the comraderey I felt was just wonderful. I found myself super happy yet totally overwhelmed which was followed by crazy exhilaration. I almost got a migraine. I think I need to beg my baby's daddy for a nap in the morn. Please please please! I will be posting all the pictures in all my media forums by Monday night (I hope hehe)
I really have to give a nice shout out to Courtney at Valley Books for all her help getting the word out and getting the News Press to come out and letting us all crash at her store to chat each other up. I sure hope all the other attendees felt as recharged as I do. All the kind words have my head inflated. This was a great way to start out a day/ and the weekend. I will be in touch!

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Better Photos of Newest Journal

 Okay, here are some pictures of my newest journal (almost put together) that are not blurry.  It is pretty fun with all the pink and lots of blank pages ripe for writing and sketching. It is late and I better head to bed. I am sooooooo excited about the sketch group tomorrow!! Sounds like there will be 5 to 6 of us. Not bad for the first meet-up right? I look forward to posting all the sketches! Don't forget to look for us in the News Press. I added a picture of some of the supplies I am bringing for tomorrow.

Fastest ROD Style Journal Ever

I had a little Art Clinic time today and set out some goals. The Paperclay had not come in yet for the tags so I was able to fit in some social time too. One goal was to start/make me a new journal. I made it in the Remains of the Day style again, but put in a bunch more blank pages to write and doodle on. I had the stack of paper picked out, but just needed to cut them to size. I made a small one again so I can fit it in my purse. I ended up with 4 signatures put together with a bit of sewing machine work and found that I still had time to make the cover!! So, in 2.5 hours I was able to make a one step shy of complete ROD-ish journal! WOW! I am guessing it is due to the lack of pockets and such that made it go so quick. These pictures were taken on my I Touch, so they are blurry.





I will have to post better ones soon. And I did get out my daughter's Disney Book to figure out what it needs. Awesome!


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Paperclay Tags

 I just whiped up some demos for Knit Fit and now I am hot to make some more. Tomorrow I will have about 4 hours to work in the studio at the Art Clinic. 

I am hoping to start about 12-18 new paperclay tags. I need to make a new journal and do some work on Madison's Disney Trip journal. I hope to get all my art supplies ready for the Valley Sketchers meet-up too. I will photo a spread of what I will bring and pst it around to help others make their supply decisions.
 So tired...must go to bed.

Great News...news

First Valley Skethers meet-up coming up this Sat! June 25th I find out how many eager sketchers in the area got the word. I guess I am a bit nervous, but this is my dream and I sure hope others feel as excited to do some art.


Had some time off I spent with my daughter and family and cleaning house and doing an art class demo. So tired! My baby took this picture of me. She takes good pictures for a 3 year old. I think I only look good because I am smiling at her :). I sure miss her today....anyway...
Had a great father's day and I hope others did too! I tested out my new noodler fountain pen some more on Tue. I ran it out of ink.
The SUPER EXCITING news is that the SB News Press called me and wants to do an article on the Valley Sketchers!!!! WOW!!!!! I sure hope people show up :)
Okay back to peddling this stationary bike into the ground.

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Tired Me

Self portrait of a very tired me. I cannot seem to get my sleep to personal time ratio back to normal.

Like my new Mickey Mouse Ears?  I am getting pretty excited about the Valley Sketch project! So much so, I ordered a new noodle flex fountain pen.  It gets here Thursday I hope! I am happy if just me and my Dad make it to Mission Santa Ines to sketch, but it would be fun if there was more. I'll be doing the next one the end of July at Ballard School.
I have been making my plan of attack for the Queen of Arts show this year.  I have lofty hopes. Wish me luck! I am planning on necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings. Sigh! Seems like too much already (refer back to portrait LOL) 
I better get to sleep.

Yahoo Group Made

Yahoo Group Valley Sketchers


Please go check it out and sign up for updates on when and where we will meet up. Our first sketch crawl will meet June 25th, 10:00am at Mission Santa Inez.


I love this classic pencil. I love the green stripes and silver lettering. There will be a lot of work this month. I hope I will still find time for the gym and brain power to slip in some art at night.


Breakfast at Ellen's House of Danish Pancakes again last Saturday. I love the food there and they are so sweet to baby.


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Working on a Sketch Group

I am so excited! I was driving to work when I started thinking of a large community of sketchbook artists that were brought together by Danny Gregory that started Every Day Matters which spawned books, blogs, groups, pod casts etc. I joined an off shoot group based in LA area. I loved it and drove all the way to LA 3 or 4 times to meet up with that group. One of the times Danny himself was there! I loved those times so much! I always try to sketch, but it was so epic to do it in a group! So I decided: why wish I was still doing that? I should make it happen. So that is what I am attempting to do.
I am starting a group and a Yahoo Group site to coordinate it.


Here is what I am going to put on the site:

Valley Sketch Group

Valley sketchers is a group for people who enjoy getting together to draw and sketch in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley and it's adjacent areas. I hope to create a friendly community designed to encourage and _grow_ creativity. Artists of all levels are welcome to come.

The average sketch outing will start off with an optional meet-up at Valley Books in Solvang to fuel up with coffee drinks or tea, _group-up_ at our desired sketch location, around 2 hours of sketching, and an optional, yet recommended, meet-up afterward to have some show and tell.

For those not familiar with sketch booking: we hope to do multiple sketches of structures, landscapes and social scenes. These are, on average, quick and loose although there are no wrong ways to do this. I like to get in around 5 sketches in the 2 hours with one or two of them in full color, with a bit more detail than the others. For some this might be an experiment in freeing up your style where as some might might want to stay at the location longer than the suggested time. It is all up to you. I am just hoping to provide the _stage_ to induce creativity to flow and this is one of my favorite things to do. So come out and join me in this beautiful area rich with things to draw!

This Yahoo Group site will mostly be used to coordinate time and place of get-togethers, but feel free to use it to share information and sketchbook pages.



What to bring and other suggestions

Sketchbook- media appropriate.
Some of your favorite pens, pencils, colored pencils, travel watercolor kit, or any other of your favorite mediums you are comfortable with.
Pack light as we will be walking around a bit and you will be carrying all your supplies.
Some places we go will have ample places to sit, where others will not. Consider bringing something to sit on that is easily carried if you are concerned.
A large brimmed hat and sunblock on is a good idea for hot, or sunny days as there might not be adequate shade.
I feel a camera is a great thing to have to use if you want to work more later, as color reference, or just to record some good views/times.

First Sketch Day June 25

9:30- Optional meet-up for coffee/tea at Valley Books in Solvang
10:00-12:00 Meet at Mission Santa Inez parking lot by the field
12:15- Optional (and recommended) meet-up at Valley Books for show+tell

I hope to get this together by Monday. I will post the link soon.


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Making time for creativity

Making time for creativity

Craft retreat in your home!

Craft retreat in your home!

It's Been a Long Time Since I Been to Disneyland

Having a wonderful and overwhelming time here in Disneyland.


Tried to do some sketches while waiting in line. The paper did not take watercolor too well. So these are missing some pizazz.


The Matterhorn and a bar at the Hotel. The bar really really needs some color.


Maybe I will copy it onto better paper.....like I have that kind of time lol!


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Pretty Morning View

 Such a pretty morning drive today.  I almost pulled over (probably should have) to take more pictures of the cows that were walking somewhere all in masses in neat little lines.

 There is some ranch that has all these pretty colored cows.  They are a beautiful honey color and some are cream.

 They were right by the fence, intently walking in a line in the other direction.  Would have made for some great new paintings. Darn!  If they are there tomorrow I will pull over.

 Finished sewing the cover for this travel journal I am making for a co-worker who is taking a trip through Europe with her daughter.

I like the way it turned out so far, except the fun fabric on the inside is upside down :(  I hope she likes it.  She might not "get it".  I just don't think anyone should go on a once in a lifetime trip without a journal of some sort.  My daughter helped a little, then my Mom pulled out a mini sewing machine for her and she happily played with it for like 45 min.  She was so tickled that we were both sewing at the same time.  Check out my Mom's Blog for some cute pictures of baby! I will have another journal to make in August ;) Wow! I gotta start thinking about the Christmas art shows.  I think I have to bow out of the Kid's Boutique Show at Peanuts (sad).  I do not see how I can entertain Madison from 10-5:30.  That is a long day for anyone.  Time to turn my sights to the first Saturday art shows at SB Whole Foods market.