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:

Curious Elements: A 20-Step Process

I've been making Curious Elements like a mad woman. I'll be selling them at a couple of shows later in the year so I'm needing to build my inventory. I also sold several at the recent Visual Artist Studio Tour I participated in, so I'm continuing to create more of these marvelous little wonders. As I was working on them last week, I decided it would be fun to count how many steps I go through to make a Curious Element. There are 20. T.W.E.N.T.Y. Twenty frickin' steps: Gather, cut, sand, paint, plaster, sand, stain, wax (that's for the base), then cut, sand, paint, paper, age, select, attach (that's for the top piece). Finally, audition, glue, nail, wire and sign. And none of this even accounts for all of the shopping I do for the rusty bits and pieces. I do believe it is more than 20 steps. Here's what all I worked on last week:

Visual Artist Studio Tour: A Rip Roaring Success!

The Visual Artist Studio Tour was last weekend and it was an exhilarating experience. Many friends stopped by to say hello and show their support, I made several new friends, and I developed some important art connections. What can I say except I would definitely do the studio tour again next year. I had close to 90 people stop in during the two-day event; I sold lots of Fearless Faces cards and several of my Curious Elements. Here's the weekend in photos - from the studio, to some of the art for sale, to the event itself. You may even recognize a face or two.

























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