ad libitum

FIRST, I WENT TO HAWAII

I decided that since I would be flying across the Pacific to go to Japan, I would stop off in Kauai to visit my friend Connie. She picked me up at the airport and spent two and a half days taking me around and showing me the sights of her beautiful island (best tour guide ever!).

We went to the Hindu Center.

She hunted down accessable waterfalls for me to photograph.

We had a great visit. We talked; we laughed; we ate; she showed me some of her beautiful leather purses and her cool jewelery tools; we had a lot of fun. And, She introduced me to Hawaiian Shave Ice. Yummy!

TOTO, I DON'T THINK WE'RE IN MICHIGAN ANYMORE!

I left rainy, gloomy, dreary, chilly Michigan for a few days in sunny, warm (let's face it, hot) Arizona to visit my friend Fran. My first day here, we went to the Botanical Garden, where I took both my cameras. There were beautiful desert plants which I took many photos of; but, I also got a few good photos of hummingbirds. Yes! I finally have my very own photo of a hummingbird in flight (not exactly the Holy Grail of photographs, but pretty darn close as far as I'm concerned).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE GOOD TIMES ROLLED

Every year my childhood chums and I (we have known each other for 59 years) choose a different location for our annual gathering. This year, it was New Orleans. This proved to be one of our favorite destinations.The previous post shows some of my food photos from our great dining experiences.This post is about our sightseeing.

We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast on Constantinople St. The street is full of lovely homes with beautiful gardens.

We walked from our B & B to Magazine Street - full of stores and restaurants. There were even remnants of MardiGras.

We were also within walking distance (the opposite direction from Magazine St) to the St Charles St trolley, which we took to Canal Street and the FrencQuarter.

We took a walking tour of St Louis Cemetery #1

The tour included a visit to a VooDoo temple .

We also walked around the French Quarter, where there are stores, apartments, bars, and restaurants all together.

 

 

Jackson Square is an important landmark. A kind fellow tourist took a picture of the three of us (from left to right: Sal, me, Kate).

Of course, we had beignets at Cafe Du Mond.

 

  On another outing, we took the trolley to Audubon Park.

And, we took a riverboat cruise of the harbor. This isn't the boat we were on (we were on the Natchez, which is the only genuine steamboat on the river: the Creole Queen is a diesel boat, and I took this photo from the deck of the Natchez).

Of course, I took a lot more photos, but these give you an idea of how wonderful New Orleans was.

 

 

EATING, DRINKING AND BEING MERRY IN NEW ORLEANS

I just spent three and a half days in New Orleans with three of my childhood chums. One of the many wonderful things about our trip was the excellent food. I didn't remember to take photos of all our meals, but, I did take some.

 

CROWNS AND FRIENDS AND VENDING AT ARTUNRAVELED

ArtUnraveled was a delightful event. Kudos to Linda and Chuck for their great organizational skills; I'm in awe. The good news is that I got together with a lot of friends; the bad news is that I was so busy enjoying people, I forgot to take many pictures. Jennifer and Martha and Maija made large deposits in my Memory Bank, but, sadly, not on my photo card.

Here is a photo of me and Lorri Scott. I am wearing the incredible duster she created for me (I had to provide the basic negligee for her to work from because she couldn't find one in my size). I told her to make something beautiful for me. She did more than that; she made me something that makes me feel beautiful. (In case you're wondering why I'm wearing a crown; I wore one almost every day to advertise my crown class.  And, yes, I painted those shoes).

 

Here's a photo of Angie Platten at lunch at the Phoenix Art Museum (great Cezanne exhibit; and, just as important; great restaurant).

 

I include a photo of me because it looks like I have only two chins in this shot.

 

Friday night, Fran Saperstein helped me set up for the Shopping Extravaganza (Saturday from 10 to 4 - crowded enough that we forgot to take photos during it).

 

The very nice news is that I made more than my booth fee; so I'm in the black from my first big vending experience. Michael bought one of my crowns ("I wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight?") and I just had to take a photo of him in it.

 

Monday night was my crown class. I had four delightful students. One of them was Fran and she very nicely took some photos of my class.

Here's a shot of me demonstrating how to wrap fabric around the wire base.

 

Our class wan in a hotel suite (perfect size for a small class) and he're a shot Fran took of people working on their crown.

No crowns were finished during the class; but everyone got to the adding embellishments part, which is the last step and and I'm pretty sure they will be finishing (if they have not already finished) their crowns soon and will be making more.

Here's Marion in her crown of many colors.

 

Here's Andrea showing her intricate crown.

 

Louanne (sorry if I have the spelling wrong) made a beautifully multi-layered crown.

 

Here's a photo of Fran, taken on Wednesday, after she complete her crown.

My students were all jewels in my teaching crown and they made the class a delightful experience.

FINISHING, STARTING, AND STILL NEEDS WORK

This past week-end, I worked on several projects. I actually finished a necklace a friend of mine had asked for; I made progress with making embellishments out of the fabric paper I had made with my friends Lori and Chris the week-end before; and I made progress on my 2-D canvas piece.

First, the piece I actually finished: a black and white beaded necklace.

Lori Hutchinson and Chris Gould came over to my house the week-end before last. We ate well (at Martini's, one of my favorite restaurants in Kalamazoo), shopped happily (at Stitching Memories, a great yarn shop in Portage) and played happily in my messy studio (we each made 7 sheets of fabric paper, the technique demonstrated by Beryl Taylor in her book, "Mixed Media Explorations").

 

This past week-end, I started making embellishments by cutting some of my fabric papers and sewing around them. Some, I will leave like this; some I will sew more on; and some I willfurther embellish with baubles and/or beads. Right now, I am just making a stash to use later.

 

 And, I worked on a 2-D canvas that I am trying to get ready for a three person show at the Portage Library in late June and July. I'm putting in some pieces I've made in the last year or so, but I want to do an original canvas for the show, too. I want it to be a mixed-media 2-D piece and I have a lot more to do to it, but here it is (paint, mostly Color Mists by Aileen Roberts,  still drying). I have a lot more to do on it.

I also worked on starting class kits for the Crowning Glory class I'm teaching at ArtUnraveled in August (it's a great art retreat and there's still time to register). I'm also working on things to sell there because I'm going to be one of the vendors at the Shopping Extravaganza (I've already posted about the cuffs I made, I'm currently working on some other things, which I will post when they're further along in production).

ADORN ME DAY, DAY 4

Oh my! My class today was "Papering Over It: Collaging the Found Object" with Keith Lo Bue. He's witty and full of very useful information. We learned about using DAP clear caulk for archival adhering papers to metal, glass,wood, etc. Like most of my classmates, I covered my tool handles with antique papers. And, we learned how to rub off the backside print of vintage books (before 1906) to make translucent papers with print. We also used re-bar tie wire to construct paper enveloped/covered objects designed to have bits of rusts emerge. I chose to construct my very own geode instead of the really cool array of found objects that the rest of the class used (found objects is not my strong point).

After class, Andi, Kathy, Beth, Sue and I went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner - it was delicious and fun. We then returned to Embassy Suites for Vendor Night (cool tools, elements, and jewelry; needless to say, I made some purchases).