Creative Weekend, though not in the studio

I didn't have much time in the studio this weekend, but it was still a lovely, creative time.
Friday I had a lovely time with my 20-year-old daughter who was back from college for Fall Break.  We went shopping for boots and clothes - both very successful!  I veered away from the college-aged used clothing store to stick my nose in the art store around the corner.  Of course I couldn't get out of there with nothing - I got a couple of gorgeous new brushes I can't wait to use!  Isabeys, both - they're hand made in Spain and have fantastic spring and control and are so smooth on the canvas.  It's like the difference between trying to draw details with sidewalk chalk or using a pencil.  Given how detailed and precise I like to make my paintings, I definitely prefer good brushes!

After I dropped my daughter off to leave for college, I gave myself an Artist's Date - time to myself to do whatever came into my head.  I tried to get a haircut, but didn't try very hard really.  Instead I wandered around Bon Air aimlessly, checking out a wonderful antique/consignment shop, Goodstuff, that always has cool stuff.  I spent 45 minutes reading through their art books and found a terrific one about Falling Water (Frank Lloyd Wright's house I'm enamored with).  I swear I should have been an architect!  I am so fascinated by looking at houses and their interiors.  Chris and I used to spend Sunday afternoons going to Open Houses just for the fun of it!  I know - weird!  We got some great ideas for our house though!

Saturday afternoon Chris and I re-hung lots of art in our house.  We finally hung some of the nudes in the house rather than having them gather dust in the studio while waiting for a show.  We hung a couple of large ones in the living room and reorganized the furniture to accomodate them.  I really like how they look!  One thing I find fascinating is that, because the scale of the paintings is larger than life, our furniture looks almost miniature.  We have a beautiful curved rocking chair from my grandmother in front of the picture of Woman in a Chair - the curves complement each other beautifully.

In case you're wondering about the boxers in the corner...  those are made out of wood!  We bought them in Venice, Italy a few years ago.  We saw the artist's, Loris Marazzi's, work advertised all over Venice and finally found his hole-in-the-wall shop.  When we went in, he was very busy working on a piece and almost refused to let us in.  He definitely didn't want to waste time talking to us!  Even when I asked how much the pieces were, he was resistant to talking to us - he had a deadline he was trying to make!  It took all my powers of persuasion to get him to sell us the darn things.  It was a VERY effective sales technique!  If you find me using it on you, you'll know where I got it from!  (In case you're interested, you can see more of Loris's work at http://www.lorismarazzi.com/index.html.  He's definitely worth checking out!)

Today, Sunday, I went to lunch with a dear friend where we spent almost the whole time recounting for each other all the good art stuff we'd done in the three months since we'd last met - all the shows we'd entered, the galleries we'd contacted, etc.  It was greatly affirming and inspiring since she is as dedicated to her work as I am to mine.  It's very good for me to be around other artists who are completely committed to art as their life's work.  We will be getting together in another month - I have lots to do between now and then!  And we might go to Philly to check out galleries soon as well.

This evening Chris and I went to Soup and Soul, a program put on by Chrysalis, a group here that does personal growth seminars and groups.  A wonderful group.  Soup and Soul is an opportunity for an artist to talk about his/her artistic journey and for interested people to listen to it and see slides of the work.  I did a presentation for them about a year ago.  Tonight it was Kathy Benham who gave the talk.  She's a photographer who does some dynamite work.  http://www.kathyyostbenham.com/ is her website.  She posed lots of querries about the artistic journey then told how she answered them herself.  She gave me lots to think about.  Quite wonderful!

I'm now completely inspired for a good day in the studio tomorrow which will start with showing one of my models the pictures I've done of her then photographing her again.  Then I get to start on a new painting.  I actually made time today to transfer it to the canvas so I'm ready to go!  And excited!  This is one I've really been looking forward to doing for a while.  I hope it turns out as well as I want it to.

I hope you have a great, creative day!  I'd love to hear about your creative journey and all you're doing to let that part of you come out!  It's such a wonderful way to live life!