Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Swift Sailing To You, Baldy!

The world lost a wonderful man today. Adrian Sudbury, 27 years young, was diagnosed with Lukemia two years ago and underwent a bone marrow transplant. Unfortunantly, the transplant didn't work. So Adrian decided to make bone marrow donation in the UK the focus of his remaining time. And he did a bang-up job of it too! The work he started is growing all over the world and Adrian's Army has vowed to keep it moving forward!

Please check out this link for MARROW DONATION information! It is NOT difficult to be put on the donation list (a simple blood test!) or become a donor (a simple procedure to remove marrow!). And it means that YOU could save someone's life! Isn't that wonderful?! And if you cannot be a donor, like me, then please take the time to get the word out there to the world! Donation is simple and easy and can make a world of difference in someone's life! It may not have saved ADRIAN (please read his blog!), but it gave him precious time with his family and his fight to save others! And that was a truly amazing gift for him and for the world!

Please watch this video on YouTube: THE ONE AND ONLY. This was one of the songs that Adrian chose if he were to be stranded on a desert island. I think it really sums up the man - A true ONE AND ONLY! May your journey be swift and easy, sweet Adrian! And thank you for touching the world with your beauty!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Who Would Have Thought Overpopulation Was A Good Thing?!

Overpopulate your canvas. Paint with your hands to begin. Don't start with an idea, just see where the paint takes you.

These were some of the suggestions given by the amazing JESSE RENO last weekend at CAROL PARKS STUDIO. Jesse is an amazing artist - this I knew before taking his class! But he is also generous, real and truly interested in guiding other artists! What an amazing soul, I tell you! If you have a chance to take a class from him, absolutely do it! But make sure you give yourself AT LEAST two days with him! One day was not enough by a long shot and I truly wish I had more. But I have a feeling that there will be more opportunities in the future. :)

I took only a few pictures because I was too wrapped up in the energy of all those creative souls! But KELLY, AHNA, TALLY and PILAR, as well as others, all have some great pics and descriptions of the class. Make sure to check them out!


My Santa Cruz Soul Sista MIJA working on her FANTABULOUS painting here! I kept reminding her that Christmas isn't far away! Heh! I don't want her to give it to me - but if she sells it, I hope I'm the first one in line to buy it! Mija has a wonderfully bright and creative spirit and it was a delight to finally meet her in person!

Kelly and Mija at the work table. I think they were complaining about the overabundance of broccoli in their food! See the swirly painting on the left? That's Jennifer's and is SO COOL! I wish I had a close up of that!

The beautiful and smiling JENN hard at work on her painting! And in the background, Jesse's super-duper awesome paramour LANA GUERRA! Check out her work - she's so talented! AND, she has the courage to express on the outside what I feel like on the inside! It was truly awesome to sit by her and watch her create! It was like a two for one class!

Jenn's hands full of paint - just like Jesse suggests! He said that it's good to start out your paintings just adding color to the canvas with your hands and see what shapes come out that spur you onward. I can tell you that Jenn and I really liked that part of it! Heh!

There's my wonky hands after adding purple to a canvas. I can tell you that canvas is now shades of blue and green with a whale. That whale apparently is trying to show up in several peoples' art. Is that Jesse's doing? Hmmmm, I wonder.

The super-talented TALLY O. showing her hands! Her palate of colors was so beautiful! I feel like I learned from watching her there, too! She's so confident in her work, I think!

Here's me holding up my very first painting. The bird came out from the hand painting technique. It looks different now and I'm still working on it. I'll show it some day when I'm done!
And here is my cat Figaro when we got back home. I'm pretty sure he is saying "You will have to take me with you if you leave again!". And honestly, I think it's about FOOD not ME, cuz he had to miss TWO WHOLE MEALS of wet food!! Heh!





Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Gremlins Are Alive And Well On Blogger...

...And they ate my blog for a few moments there. Apparently they thought it was SPAM! I didn't think anyone still ate SPAM! Hopefully they have had their fill now and will leave my blog alone! IT ISN'T SPAM! It's more like...baked tofu with a light peanut sauce! Heh!

As I didn't announce the winner of my Bird Gothic Arch publically, the winner was: MAIJA! You can see her blog on the list to the left called Maija Lepore (I'm too lazy to list the link in this post!). She has a picture of the giftie that arrived. Congrats Maija and I hope you enjoy your birdie! Don't worry folks, I promise to have another giveaway very soon and I hope you will think it is just as great! :)

Without further ado (well, too much ado), I give you my latest art. A Gothic Arch done in the theme of YOUR FAVORITE BOOK. Choosing just one was torturous, so I ended up choosing the one that changed my art in a positive way: POEMCRAZY by Susan Wooldridge. I adore this poet, author, artist, woman, wandering soul quite a lot! Pick up her books to read - you will not be sorry! Anyways, here is the art I created around that book. Hope you enjoy!