A Smathering of Friends

I've had heavy boots lately so today was a welcome bright spot in my life. I had four friends to the studio just to play. Sam, Keeley, and Susan all brought projects to work on while I did a demo on plaster painting with Bobbie. Bobbie created three finished pieces of art by the end of the day and I was able to prepare a whole stack of backgrounds for a new batch of Curious Elements. We started out in the backyard of the studio, but as soon as the sun was blazing down on us, we moved our operations inside.

Clown It Forward

What do four ladies do when they get together at my studio for an artsy fartsy play date? Well, if Sam from Lil' Gypsy is involved, you play with large plastic clown shoes. So here's the deal: At the next First Wednesday (October 5th if you don't have a calendar handy) in downtown Salem, Sam will place pairs of clown shoes in various locations with the instruction to put them on, snap a photo, then post the photo on Lil' Gypsy's Facebook page. I think it sounds like a very fun way to connect people in a silly activity and I hope you'll come out and play. In the meantime, here's how we transformed the clown shoes:

Save the Cushman

My friend Sam, the proprietress of my favorite vintage clothing store, Lil' Gypsy, acquired a Cushman truck awhile back with the hope of restoring it. Part way into the project, she realized it was going to cost more than she was able to put into it, so she decided to pull the plug. When her daughter Jasmine and I heard about it, we decided we would step in and help Sam to SAVE THE CUSHMAN. We set up a Facebook page, which you can get to and become a friend by going HERE. Of course, we have to show you some photos of the poor little retched truck:





Jump ahead a few months. The decision was made to hold a garage sale to raise funds for renovating the Cushman. A date was set and that date was yesterday. On Saturday night the troops were gathered to set up for our one day mammoth sale.













The sale was held on Sunday and we woke up to grey skies and rain, rain, rain, which didn't let up all day. However, in spite of the rain, people turned out throughout the day, with only two small, brief lulls. In the end, we raised over $1,000 toward the renovation of the little Cushman truck.