POINTS NORTH

Last weekend, in Oakland, was the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (BABE for short). Off to San Francisco, the trusty steed took us, for our annual trip for shopping, eating, shopping, beading, shopping, classes, shopping, and fun. We spent 5 nights and all of our money having so much fun. We drove up on Wednesday, stopping at Kiowa Rose in old town Niles (Freemont), to whet our tastes in fine bead purchasing. Then, over the San Mateo Bridge to our little motel on Lombard Street with a side visit to Japantown. Wednesday night, we had our traditional "welcome to the City" dinner at Fog City Diner. Yum! Thursday, we hit the bus and went everywhere we could get to. Dim Sum in Chinatown, Macy's, Gumps, Sur la Table, Swatch, and General Bead. Stopping only for nurishment. That night we went to the Stinking Rose for some stinking food. Friday, we got up bright and early and headed over the Bay Bridge to the Oakland Convention Center for BABE. We took a class with Gail Crossman Moore and Anne Mitchell in metal coloring/painting/and cold soldering. That was messy and fun. Saturday we headed to the Orpheum Theatre for a special behind the scenes tour of the Broadway Show "Wicked". It was called "Behind the Emerald Curtain". We were up close and personal with the costumes, props, actors, and the theatre itself. That was a great tour. Then, we jumped back on the street car (the old fashioned type, like they used to run in downtown Los Angeles) and headed to the Castro to the best hardware store ever, Cliff's. On the way back, we stopped at an art supply store and had a good look around. I forget the name of it, but could find it again. Sunday, back over to BABE for a day of shopping in the vendor's area; oh my goodness! Thank heaven payday was last week. Sunday night, we had our "farewell dinner" at Betelnut's (a yuppy and yummy Chinese restaurant on Union St.) Monday morning, packed and ready to head south, we motored out (sob) and left my homeland from a previous life behind. We tried to find a bead store in Mountain View, though the directions I wrote down were misleading and we couldn't find it. Oh, well. More $ for the SCIART show in December. Oh, yes. I did take my bead projects to work on, but they stayed in there boxes. I didn't lift a needle or plug in my Ott light.

Our next VPA events will be the sale at SCIART then our meeting at Carole's in December. I need to settle down and get some art-making done before then. Though, Thanksgiving is next week.........................

Open Studios in San Luis Obisbo

Our BWAM (Beading without a Meeting) group, met last weekend in Avila Beach, at the home of one of our members. We had a "get-together" dinner on Friday night to make plans to visit "Open Studios" the next day. Open Studios is a three weekend tour of artists workspaces in different locations thoughout the county. Saturday morning, Susan, Tracy, D'Elin, and I met at Vicki's for breakfast the and poured over the tour books to plan our trip. Our goal was to spend the day and maybe visit 5-6 artists and finishing up at Priscilla's house; she's a member of our group plus she was a participant in Open Studios. Needless to say, I think we hit about 17 locations. We had so much fun, looking at the different ways artists create spaces in which to do their work. We visited garages, homes, warehouses, and industrial neighborhoods. We were in huge modern houses with walls made of glass to small, Spanish style houses with Mexican serape's painted on the floors. We oogled and aah'd and spent our way throughout the day and finished at Priscilla's for a glass of wine, some cheese and crackers, and a good visit with a dear friend. Saturday night the 5 of us had a great pizza dinner back at Vicki's. On Sunday, we chose to stay and bead the day away instead of shopping. Life is good!

Just Too Darned Many Ideas!

Last weekend was our VPA meeting, where one of the items on our agenda was to bring the idea for discussion that each of us came up with for our next show: Fairy Tales, Legends, and Myths. I think this challenge is going to fun. It makes me go back to my childhood hand remember stories that I loved the best. In 1962, my aunt in England, Amy, sent me a copy of "The Wind in the Willows". The illustrations are beautiful; peaceful watercolors. Not the ones with Mr. Toad going crazy in his car or when he got thrown in jail, but when Mr. Mole and Ratty were floating down the river in their row boat. I'm thinking of doing that for my project. Or, do I want to stick to my "body of work" and do Sirena the Sea Siren? She's going to be a lot of fun, however, I have to figure out how to make a beautiful gown for a hideous creature. I could finish my Sea Kraken purse, another part of my "body or work", also rather bazaar I am really leaning toward Mr. Mole and Ratty for it is so peaceful, however, depending on my mood, I might work on the other two also. We'll see.

WHAT WILL YOU BE WORKING ON???

Beading at the Sitka Center

I just got back from the most wonderful beading class. It was two days at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon. It's about 40 miles south of Tillamook on the side of a mountain that overlooks the Salmon River and the Pacific Ocean. I can't explain just how beautiful it was. The studio was large and had great light. There was a sculpture garden in the woods where deer were wondering around. Flowers were blooming everywhere and the red elderberries! Oh, the color of them was something to see. If you want a relaxing place to go, that's the place. Teresa Sullivan taught the class. I hope that she goes next year for a longer time and teaches figural work. I didn't have my camera, so no pictures. You can go online and see the Sitka Center and the elderberries It's worth searching around.

A Challenge Has Been Issued

At our quarterly VPA meeting, we spent one afternoon talking about having another show sometime within the next year and a theme. This is what we came up with:

1) The call for art will go out to all VPA members , including beading buddies who have a close connection to us
2) The artist who wishes to participate need NOT to come to our meetings, but can, if they chose
3) The "theme" of our projects will be "Fairy Tales, Legends, and Myths"
4) Does this project fit into your "body of work"? It may, but it doesn't take the place of creating on your "body of work".
5) Where will the show be? If a gallery is not available, it may be an "on-line" show
6) Document your work, by taking pictures as you go along, write a sentence or two, post to the VPA blog or your own, or if none of these suggestions work for you, bring your work to a VPA or BWAM gathering and someone will photograph and write a snippet for you
7) Timeline: there will be another discussion at the August meeting, however, at this meeting come with an idea or a beginning of a project; most likely into 2010
8) There may also be a collaborative project for the show. Not a "round robin", however, imagine a fruit bowl. One person does a banana and another does a kiwi.
9) There the only charge for this is the time spent and the cost of your materials
10) We're moving toward our goal of another show. Any ideas for a location?

So, put your thinking caps on, and come up with an idea or two. Maybe three?

There's Just Too Much Going On!

(My feet, pool side in Mexico; I'm photophobic, so this is all you get!)

And will it be fun! Now that everything has settled down from our retreat with NanC in January, it's time again for more action. Hopefully, everyone is working on their project that NanC gave us; I haven't. I've been a bed bug since re-injuring my shoulder and having a skin cancer removed from the side of my nose. However, fun is a-coming! Friday, the Tour de California will be in Solvang, 45 minutes north from my house. Vicki and I are going to feast our eyes on all those boys in lycra shorts, including one of my many boy friends, Lance Armstrong! Swoon. Saturday and Sunday will be our quarterly Vista Point Artist Meeting down at Carole's Creative Castle, then Monday those of us who can, are flying off for a beading venture, south of the border, in Mexico. Puerto Vallarta, that is. We're going to meet up with NanC for a week of beading, sun bathing, pool boys, margarita's, eating, laughing, and shopping, of course. Ah, the fun of it all. I can hardly wait for Friday morning to come. I'm planning on finishing my Star Sphere (where have I heard that before) and make a beaded Livestrong bracelet for a friend of my Mom's, whose nephew is coping with cancer. See you all on Saturday!

Back to Bead Heaven

Our weekend with NanC Meinhardt was just delightful! It was like having a "mini" master class, shoved into two days. We started out with a potluck dinner at Jo Ellen's house on Friday night, then Saturday morning at Creative Castle and with a cup of coffee & a bagel in hand, we started our projects of beading on a stick. We let the sticks speak for themselves as for their decorations. Be it paint, beads, or embelishments. We had "NanC" exercises, and beading quietly. The two days went by so quickly; it seemed like it was over before it started! Then, NanC was off to the land of snow while we were in a heat wave. Yes, we had shorts and flip flop weather. Now, I need to take pictures and get them posted on the blog. Next week, I'll be in San Diego for a meeting (9 days!). I'm taking the train down, so maybe I can get something finished and photographed while I'm away! Bye until next time.

Back to the Land of Computers

Hi Everyone!

Today is my first day back at work after a two week mandatory furlough (as in no pay check!) After delaying Christmas for a week because of family illnesses, I'm ready to get back in the swing of things again. I was a cooking fool over my break, which is another one of my passions.

In the beading department, I finished all my segments for my Star Sphere while I was away and I'm in the process of sewing the two halves together. I'll post a picture of it when it is completed.

I'm very much looking forward to our retreat with NanC Meinhardt this coming weekend. It's going to be fun to be together. We're going to have a new "project" to work on which will be exciting to see it come together. NanC always comes up with the most innovative exercises for us. Whoever you are, out in Blogland, if you haven't taken one of NanC's Master Classes, you're really missing an adventure!

Two other exciting projects are going on for me: I'm recipe testing breads for a new cookbook by Peter Reinhardt; and, my brother and I are writing one chapter a week for a book project. Mine is the stupid things that happen to me or random thoughts of ridiculousness and my brother's is obscure objects that no one thinks about (like the history of the sloe berry).

Signing off for now, p.