Keith Mason ...rest in peace

My uncle died this week, after an relatively short battle with cancer of the esophagus. Keith was such a powerful person in my life, it's hard to write this to sum up how I feel tonight, but i will give it a go.
Keith was the second oldest son to my grandmother, Catherine and the child closest in age and spirit to my mom.
Here are the memories bubbling forth...
Keith and Rosemary's music collection and record player
many a day on vacation did I pour over Bob Dylan , the Beatles, and many other classic artists...learning the words to songs and realizing that music was poetry.
Keith at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal covered with kidney beans and instead of milk pouring orange juice into the bowl. He had a whole system of food substitutes for allergies...it was gross...
Keith and Rosemary's dining room was a wonderful gathering place for family meals. Every summer we would come to Maine and all the family would gather at Keith's . From lobster dinners ....until the cousins became old enough to protest... to beautiful quiche breakfasts, to
millet loaf....ugh ...organic greens, we had a virtual feast.
Keith had a beautiful garden, and he loved to work on it whenever he could. I have day lilies from his garden in my own.
Keith was a social worker, working with children for his career. I received his wisdom on our last time together and i am forvever thankful for his loving and pragmatic advice.
It is so hard to be here when I feel like I should be in Maine, but we had a great summer vacation in Maine and were so thankful we were able to spend time together with eith and Rosemary....we shared a few lobsters and had a lot of laughs...I love him and will miss him.

A South of the James "date" with my son..

I have been spending a great deal of time re-aligning the stars for my children lately, especially Bryan. He has just started middle school and all the weirdness that brings...waking up early to shower every morning, hair has to be just right, trying to figure out the social order of things...all that business is VERY important when you are 11.
On Saturday, B and I headed to the South of the James market for a little fun! We had a great time! A little limeade, fresh squeezed from the ladies with the incredible peaches...beautiful beans and heirloom tomatos from Amy's Garden, sticky buns for the first day of school and a Big Daddy's pork sandwich made for a great morning. Top that with the smoky blues of the guitar playing gentleman we saw there...love it! Then off to the family thrift store on Midlothian for some cool t shirts and pants. We had great conversation , went to the used music store and re connected!

My girl

Ok, so I could not have two more different children...and so I really need to write about my girl. Kaitlyn has this unbelievable ability to process music. It is so pure ,this talent of hers to hear a piece of music and instantly know how it forms and flows. I appreciate music, but never learned anything but Hot Cross Buns on the recorder...where did this come from? She definitely has the flair for the drama, and so tonight she is reading to me a book of her choice and she chooses a classic Dr. Seuss, MR BROWN CAN MOO,CAN YOU? Front cover, read, first page, read.....the next words are sung,simply. Then she breaks into bluesy, jazzy wonderfully amazing "reading" of the book! She looks to me when she finds another presentation, covered in layers of beautiful notes. Absolutely flattens me! I beam at her as she beams, " I like the sound of my voice..." I love it baby, what a great way to read to me tonight!

Summer...

Summer is supposed to be a time for relaxing and re grouping...in our household it has been so unbelievably busy! School was out the end of June, but swim team had already begun. Kaitlyn is at practice every morning at 8:30, I head home to pick up Bryan at 9:30 for his practice from 10-11. Tuesdays are YMCA work days, so we jump out of the pool at 9:15 and head to the Y until 1. We have meets every Tuesday night so we are up late. Weds. starts over again. I am pretty ready to be done with swim team now at the middle of July. Bryan is at boy scout camp this week
and that has been a weird experience for all of us having him away.

Wow it's been a long time!

Ok, art opening at the Annex on friday, the kids last week of school, swim practice, softball, drum lessons....crap it is never ending! Life is why I have not blogged in 3 months. I keep thinking it is going to slow a bit, but it keeps on coming. I am teaching at Art Adventures this summer, very exciting for me to come back to teaching children in summer camp. Time to finish some commissions and get some people their artwork, find some shows and create new work, and do some production work which I have been putting off as an artist for a while. Summer is going to be busy still, but fun!

Arts in the Park is this weekend!!Woo Hoo!

Arts in the Park this weekend! That last minute crunch no matter how much artwork I have...
it's what I do! I have a huge amount of prints this show, all new work, and I am excited. I held out for just the originals for so long and FINALLY woke up. The majority of my business this year has been prints of my work, and it's ok. It's still my art. :)
I am still learning from the Spring Bada Bing show a couple of weeks ago.....I was so impressed!
I will be doing a Richmond Crafts Mafia event very soon I hope! Ok, time to buzzzzzzz !

Interesting state of affairs this weekend for art...

This weekend was my first show since December and I was a bit disappointed in the $$$. I did plenty of chatting and even had a few "art lessons " to throw out to the newbies, but all and all i did not see people walking away with much. The beauty of art shows is you get to connect with the public and if you have a story and something to offer that appeals to that perfect person, we have a bond and most of the time...a sale. Fool for Art @ JTCC was extremely organized and the people are always super...I blame the crazy economy...we'll see.
On a better note, this morning was rainy and cool but everyone threw on clothes and we headed downtown Breakfast at Perly's brought our suburban kids into an cool urban environment. We
had a great time and then we went to Plant Zero for the SPRING BADA BING craft show. I have to say how impressed I was with this show. It was put on by the Richmond Crafts Mafia which is a street team of ETSY.com. When we walked in we were given these great swag bags, kind of goodie bag from a fun birthday party. The Plant Zero location is an awesome room with red walls, black floors and white lanterns. It was filled with a happy buzz of shoppers and vendors and table after table of cool handmade art. To me as a consumer with the inside track to the art show circuit, it was win/win. From pincushions shaped like cupcakes and felt hamsters in nugget boxes...:) to handmade journals made from Nancy Drew mysteries and perfume that smells like Kuba Kuba yummy drinks. I love it!! I spent my $ from Fool for Art and then some! It is the little things that make a difference and EVERY booth had some sort of freebie. Soap, stickers, candy,etc... that makes for happy kids too. FUN DAY!

Getting ready to start the shows...

Ok, maybe I don't have to panic as much as I started to!
I put my artwork in boxes today to carry to Fool for Art at John Tyler community college and I have a great selection! WooHoo! I am working on a set of silk paintings that are chairs, inspired by Matt Lively's chair paintings. I don't know if they will be out this week, but definitely by Arts in the Park. I can't wait to get out and talk with some people and connect with the outdoor art show circuit again.
Planted some flowers in the front yard today and took a ass kicking kickboxing class this morning. It's been a good day!

Art show crunch...

It is always amazing that the week before a show I go into overdrive. I can't help it, i have been working along creating pieces of art I want to make and now i am making more production art.
My first outdoor show of the season is on the 19th, so this week I need to prioritize what I believe the buying public will be interested in. To me sometimes this action is like squeezing liquid from a rock.

VCU lecture with Rob Kalin of Etsy

Making Meaning in the Marketplace...a lecture sponsored by the American Craft Council
and hosted by VCU as part of a 3 part symposia at 3 major schools for Craft.
Sonya Clark, VCU chair of Craft/Material Studies, Kathy Emerson, owner of Quirk Gallery,
Rob Kalin, CEO of Etsy.com and Matt ? of Etsy, and Arthur Hash professor at VCU and etsian as well as exhibiting artist at Quirk.
The mission of this lecture was to find different ways as an artist to connect with customers and for customers to connect with them....does that make sense? rob kalin spoke a lot about setting your mind to make something...make it, sell it...short list. Eliminate the system that makes Walmart a huge fish and all the little fish get swallowed up....learn to be the little fish that become a bigger fish and scare the big fish away...SWIMMY by Leo Lionni....Love it!
1st ? Tell us how you percieve local marketplace vs. the internet of Etsy? Arthur Hash took this one...as an artist he gives certain exclusivity to galleries and etsy is more production work.
Makes sense to me, because part of being an artist in this climate is to also be a salesperson for your work. R.K. suggested there was no point to artist statements any longer, just write good descriptions and take great pics. K.E. suggested that etsy puts a monkey wrench into the mix for gallery owners because gallery owners recieve 40-60% vs. etsy @ 3.5%...Rob says...it's a free market economy. K.E. agrees the galleries haven't got it right yet, need to be more accessible. Making work that is more affordable appeals to this economy, making work that you can make a living from takes more finesse. Rob Kalin referred to a film Manufactured Landscapes by Edward ?
etsy as a tool kit to provide artists with the resources. Revolutionary!
Kathy Emerson referred to Richmond as "not a buying town" and looking for a venue.
In 2007 over 50 etsy sellers made over 30k. 96% of sellers are women....hmmmmm

Once upon a time there were two beautiful babies born 5 weeks apart. Their mothers were so happy to grow babies at the same time of their lives. One mother lived in the city, the other at the shore and occasionally the two would nest together and compare stories of their pregnancies. Two princesses grew and grew, more beautiful every day...When they were toddlers, they called each other Lulu and Dee Dee.

My pretty baby
Princess Sunny Jose otherwise known as Sunny is such a diva. Every night she will come to bed with Sean and I and cozy up between my legs. As soon as the light goes out she is roaming, making sure everything is kosher around the house, playing with her brother,and looking at the lizard. Sometime during the night she will be back, nestled in my legs again.....sweet baby.
But Sean has a different view of Sunny....somewhere in the night she will meow loudly or scratch something and Mr. eagle ears has to jump out of bed, scramble to find her, kick her out of our room ......hee hee hee.

My own Project Runway/ American's next top model
Fashion Design at it's best!

Dude! I am freakin out at my boy looking like a dude!

Mad Hatter Tea Party

My interest has been peaked...a Mad Hatter Tea Party photo shoot Alanna wants to do, with K
and my love for Alice and all her bizarre adventures really has taken off. Alice sitting in a very large fancy chair with the table set with interesting pottery and lots of tea and food. Or Alice holding the dormouse in her palm while a crazy scene of tea party is going on. Hmmmmm....

Project Runway

Wow! Project Runway was so awesome!!! Congrats to Christian with his absolutely FIERCE
collection! I love PR for the challenges and this guy was so amazing. The three finalists were so extremely talented...I especially loved the last challenge at the Metropolitan Museum of Art!
I have this personal goal to get to New York, I am entirely too overdue to never have been to the City! I have this agenda, to spend time in NYC soaking in the people places and things...
I want time at museums, time in fashion row ....places like Mood...I want thrift store shopping from a multicultural mecca like NYC....I want to eat and drink up Soho and Little Italy, so many things...I want to be a tourist too....

My free spirit

I love this picture, I love my friend! She is a brilliant artist, a wonderful wife and a absolutely
BEAUTIFUL mother to Vedant. Her spirit shines though in all she does, in my eyes she is glowing a bright violet halo ....she is a shining star! Love you Ya Ya...

I love Dale Chihuly!

I am yearning for simplicity again....
B has been changing in leaps and bounds and I have been yearning for the days when a bug could captivate my son's attention for hours. It seems that 10 and 3/4 years have become the magic number for becoming a young man. He has this amazing sense of sarcasm and good humor. This past month was major....health ed discussions in 5th grade, definitely different than when I was in school...crossing over from Webelos to Boy Scouts has made him stand taller....we are signed up for Cotillion.....holy frijoles....

Springtime

Today is beautiful....
I love the spring....

Spa Weekend!

I cut out of town for the weekend for Sarah's birthday spa celebration....
We had a fabulous time, four moms...no children...no responsibilities...
Pure Spa was our destination, we did sort of a round robin of activities...
I started with a delicious grilled chicken wrap and tea, then on to a fabulous spa pedicure,
an hour massage and a spa facial. Absolute heaven!
After the spa we went shopping a bit, then to Hotel Roanoke for a wonderful snack of crusty bread, australian olive oil and good cheeses....Manchego, St. Andres, and goat cheese with pepper jelly. Topping it off with a bottle of Moet and Chandon, and sitting in a wonderful window seat
with friends. Dinner was Table 50....fabulous! Wonderful crab cakes and creme brulee.
Why is it that when food and friends get together, it is always great?
Hotel Roanoke was absolutely beautiful. lovely beds and a great breakfast.
All and all, it was awesome!

It is so nice to have a break and be in Roanoke. It is almost a religious experience to not have any responsibility to anyone but yourself. I have thoroughly enjoyed the attention and adoration I have recieved from one little boy. I met the infamous Miss Key....I went to montesorri this morning. I love being included in all the little family nuances...my friends have a wonderful son and he enriches everyone so much. Tonight was pizza making and he was absolutely the little chef and I can see he has passion for it . I look forward to the meals to be prepared as he gets older. Tomorrow is Daddy/V day and us Mommies get to celebrate at the spa, and a nice dinner
and a night away.

Cavity patrol...

Cavity patrol was upon us today. Both children had a cavity: B on his tooth he'll lose when he is 12....K has a cavity on her permanent tooth. It was not pleasant. I explained what would happen and that it was no big deal, but they both were nervous and the staff was trying just to rush them through and B was upset. K took her novocaine like a champ. Both survived and were rewarded by a small item at Toys we Be. Whewww.

Agh...middle school....

I can't believe my boy is in 5th grade, and tonight we went to the middle school gifted program for a question/answer session. I think Bryan was kind of shellshocked...the school is big, you get lockers, you take a foreign language class that counts as high school credit. You can also take a one year or two year accelerated program in math and that is crazy!
Gym class, Band elective, foreign language, block schedules...wow....
another adventure!

Helping a friend...

It is amazing to see the resiliance of the human spirit...
Standing in Phil's studio felt good...but i connected to the room where he spent his last days.
The warmth and love of the community and Trista really was embedded in the walls. The room did not appear to be a "sick" room, filled with all the stuff one needs to live when one is dying...instead it was full of this wonderful smell of warm wooden timbers being heated by the sun. Its corny i know, but i felt such peace in there, Phil was able to look outside his windows at a beautiful zen garden created for him. I want Phil to know that Trista will be fine...he did a great job taking care of her, she did a hero's job taking care of him...she will be taken care of by us.
Pay it forward...

Greetings!

Hooray! Today is the first day of my blog! Thanks to Patience, I have jumped off on another creative outlet !
Ok, when I grow up what do I want to be?
More to follow....