My April ArtFest Bead Journal Page is done!

And just in the nick of time, seeing as it's the last day of April - oh how I hope Spring really is on the way.

This page was a total departure from the norm for me and was a lot of fun - once I got over the 'it all has to be color-balanced' I had a lot of fun. As I wrote last time, there are many things on this page that were collected during ArtFest, so if they don't make sense to you - well that would be because they really aren't connected in any other way.

Now I'm off to think of what to do for May.

The Dogs

Some of you know that I'm owned by four dogs (well there are six cats too but they aren't quite so demanding). I've updated pictures of them on the sidebar. Irie is my old grumpy bossy girl. Every time I think she's on her last legs, she surprises me by chasing Zakk up the hill. Zeke is the same age as Irie, but since he extends very little energy (i.e. he's a slug) he doesn't seem quite as old. Zeke's best trick is laying down to eat and grabbing everyone's food bowls with his paw and pulling them over to him so he can finish their food as well.

When we got Mushu, my son and his wife were VERY concerned. She's a Tibetan Mastiff, Rottweiler, Pit Bull mix - they were certain she'd be quite vicious - she's anything BUT - she's the sweetest girl in the world and loves to be brushed and to snuggle up with you in bed. Like I always say 'punish the deed, not the breed'.

Zakk? well Zakk is another story - a wild boy - still not totally housebroken but are terriers EVER totally housebroken? He's very smart and very inquisitive and very cute and he totally loves Charles - they are two peas in a pod those two.

And that is the update on the dogs.

April Page

Every year I come home from ArtFest with all sorts of little treasures - mostly gifts and trades. I usually put them in a box and never give them another thought until I'm doing a major studio clean/renovation and come across the boxes and think "well I can't really throw this wonderful stuff out but. . . ". So I close up the boxes and put them back in the cupboard where they stay until I come across them again. This year I decided to incorporate some of my favorite ArtFest treasures into my April Bead Journal Project page. This entire page is quite a departure from the norm for me. Everything about it is pretty random - the color scheme, the 'theme', and again, as always, I don't know where I'm going with it. The orange button with my name on it was my name tag from the event. I cut the back off of it and did a rather free form peyote stitch around it. The square collage in the center is by Randi Feuerholm-Watts. She didn't come to ArtFest this year but participated in a collaborative project that I was in and sent her pieces along with some one else. The 'theme' of this years' ArtFest was "sea monsters" and I really liked Randi's interpretation of that. The slumped glass is from Nancy Drew (yes, that's her real name) and the little button with the painting of the girl is from Sunny Carvalho who taught one of my classes. The small beaded button is from a woman named Sage and all the little polymer clay women remind me of my friends that I only see once a year at ArtFest. My friend Suz made us all 'sea kelp' fuzzy knit scarves - the ruffle is symbolic of the scarf I chose in pastel colors.

I have a whole bag of treasures I gathered at ArtFest - It will be interesting to see how I incorporate them along the way.

March BJP page is finally completed.

I have been sick with a bad cold that I brought home as a souvenir from ArtFest and have been stitching away on my March page which is now finally completed. I also have begun work on the April page - it's a real change from me, incorporating several fun items I received as gifts/trades at ArtFest as well as being another color combination I don't frequently use - orange/peach, light blue, lime green and brown - we'll see how that works out. But for now, here is March 09.

Home from ArtFest

I had a wonderful time, playing with all sorts of media that I don't normally play with and having some bead time as well. Thursday's class was with Sunny Carvalho and while the subject matter wasn't terribly appealing to me initially, I wanted to learn how to use the Genesis Heat Set Paints that she uses for her faces. It was a wonderful class and I even grew to like the little big-eyed girl when I was done. Sunny is an excellent teacher - I just wish the class had been two days so we could have gotten a bit more in-depth about portrait painting.



The second day of class I took another class from Karen O'Brien. I took a different class from her last year and really enjoyed her class and thought I could learn a bit more from her, which I did. The other great part of this class was sitting with my friend Lelainia Lloyd as well as meeting a delightful married couple. The four of us chattered away all day whilst painting and gluing - It was really a fun day.

My Saturday class was with Keely Benkey (previously Barham). Keely is the best teacher, bar none - My friends and I say we would love an ArtFest where it was 'all Keely, all the time' and this class was no exception. Though there were several people in the class who quite possibly had never held a beading needle before, Keely managed to have everyone work at their own pace. I'd never done bead weaving before, in fact, I must admit, I didn't even know the simply peyote or square stitch before this class, but I had lots of fun (with the help of my buddy Sarah) and anticipate using some of what I learned in future Bead Journal Project pages.

As much as I enjoyed myself at ArtFest and laughed until all hours of the morning and survived on far too little sleep and saw friends I only see once a year, I was happy to be on the ferry boat coming home early Sunday morning. And I'm already looking forward to ArtFest 2010!