The Creating Place Blg

September First Friday Crafter - Cathy Parmelee

Local Artist:  Catherine (Cathy) Parmelee 

How long have you been in Juneau/Alaska?  

Alaska since 1981; Juneau since 1991. 

 

At what age did you know you wanted to be a Crafter/Artist?  

Since I was very young; I started playing with paper dolls at probably around three-years-old. I ruled myself out as an artist because I don't draw very well. Over the years I engaged in several craft genres--tole painting, painting ceramics, crocheting, cross-stitching, quilting, etc.--but when I discovered mixed-media collage I felt like I had finally found my niche. 

 

Please explain your favorite materials and how you discovered them?  

My all-time favorite material is paper: scrapbook, ephemera, handmade, etc. A couple of years ago I stumbled upon an issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine, and to me, the pages spoke volumes of possibilities. It is amazing what people can do with just paper, scissors, and a good adhesive.

 

Where do you find your inspiration? 

Sometimes from other mixed-media artists; sometimes an image will grab my attention; sometimes a phrase, especially from a vintage novel, will speak to me; and sometimes it's simply a color combination. I love color!

 

describe your favorite crafting environment (music, tv shows, wine, friends etc.)?  

Gosh, I have no idea. For now, I'm stuck with a huge old office desk and credenza stuck in my garage. The advantage is I can shut the door on the mess I make while creating, but I really would like a more inspiring environment. On one of those few nice sunny days I'm apt to take some stuff outside and work at a table on our covered deck. Then my view is mountains and flowers; I like that. 

 

Other than crafting what do you do?  

Taking care of my family, reading on the quick, and art consumes all of my time. 

 

How could people find your work online?  

http://cparmlee.blogspot.com ; http://www.flickr.com/photos/22815284@N02/ ; http://www.cparmelee.etsy.com/ ;http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/cparmelee ; www.mailartworld.com; www.atcsforall.com

 

In five years where would you like to be? 

Somewhere with sunny summers. But I've been saying that for a long time. Artistically, I'm always trying to learn, grow, and stretch. So who knows where that will take me!

Show us Your Creating Place: Interview with Cindy Kovack

This week we have the great opportunity to take a peek inside the studio of Cindy Kovack. Cindy will be teaching at this years Fireweed Art Retreat in Juneau. Thanks so much for letting us see inside your studio. We look forward to meeting you in October Cindy!

Describe your art.

 

I consider my art recycled assemblage, collage and mixed media.  I use 50% or more of recycled materials in each art piece.  This can be anything from beer caps to magazine pages, tuna cans to broken jewelry, old silverware boxes to empty perfume bottles.  I also like what I call “usable” art.  I enjoy art in my day to day life, around me, just not hanging on the walls, but to be able to wear and use in my day to day activities. I enjoy pieces in my work that are unusual, are usually free or being tossed out.  I’ve believed all my life that we waste too many products, especially since plastic was introduced into our world. 

 

Would you mind sharing a bit about your creative process and why a certain medium

appeals to you?

 

I come from a poor background; therefore there was no money for art supplies.  What made it worse was that I was the only artistic person out of 8 children in the family.  My parents simply didn’t understand my need to create.  Around the age of 7, needing art objects for my work, I would hike to the dump, salvage items that I liked and use them to make toys for my sisters, garden art and sculptures.  My father permitted me to use his house paint and model air plane brushes to paint with.  When I first worked with a “normal” paint brush, in my teen years, I then developed my fine art skills.  My mother believed in reinventing everyday items. Knowing what it was like to be very poor as a child, she had me clean and crush cans, save butter bowls, and tie newspapers to recycle well before it was popular. She was also very practical in knowing exactly what to save and how to use it. I believe this background and her practical eye, combined with my creative ability, formed my art as it is today.  I also use the many painting techniques I’ve learned over the years in my work. I have the ability to color match and “fix” any work of art, from years of trial and error.

 

What does a typical day/hour/minute in your studio involve?

 

Normally, I spend at a minimum of 2 hours in my studio once I begin to create.  I like to rise and shine early on the weekends, around dawn and go directly to my art.  Many times I’ll have dreams of something I would like to create.  I keep a notebook by my bed to jot down these ideas.  Once in the studio I assemble parts and pieces from separated, color coordinated bins on what I think the piece should look like.  I often work for 6-10 hours in my studio one day during the weekend.  Having a day job, at times this is difficult, but it’s something I no longer deny myself.  I believe this is one of the things that leads to my constant creativity and ability to create at a whim, being able to view art in each day’s activities and always want to head to my studio to create. I normally work on 3 or more pieces at one time.  I’ve found that if a part doesn’t work for one piece, I move it to another and start a whole different work of art.  This is a technique I teach often in my classes.

 

 

How does your work benefit from having a designated studio space?

 

It’s essential to have a designated work space and not the kitchen table!  I did this for far to years than I would like to admit.  First, it creates a space that is yours and yours alone.  Most women deny themselves an area for just their needs.  The children have a play room, husbands have a garage or office space, where do the woman go to be creative and have a space for themselves?  I can leave my art out at all times, walk into the room and get instant gratification from knowing everything is there, and ready to work with immediately.  I also don’t have to take things out and put them away when I’m tired, I simply go to bed.  It’s my sanctuary, my place of ideas and creativity that is all mine…and the cats.  They too know this, as they sit happily on the corners of a water color paper I’m now working on.  My studio was put together from recycled parts and pieces, and mostly has a retro 50’s feel, which I love.  The old wood drafting table I use for my work was purchased at a garage sale many years ago.  I have used school lockers from a thrift store, a dresser someone tossed into an alley and a china cabinet that holds my finished work perfectly that only cost me $99. at a resale shop.  It’s not important that you buy new items to work with, especially if you are on a budget.  I have a friend who furnished her studio with used French Provincial furnishings.  She finished off all the pieces to match and it’s now a wonderful art retreat.  

 

 

What keeps you coming back.

 

I use my art as a form of Yoga.  It took me many years to realize that I do this. Being an artist I thought everyone thought as I did.  I found out as I aged this was not true.  I tend to see things in an abstract form.  I don’t think when I create, I simply let it flow from my body into the piece I’m working on. I don’t talk and happily fall into a creative zone once in my studio.  I get more peace of mind, and inner knowledge of myself from being by myself in my special place.  It’s far better than any therapy, who wouldn’t want that in their lives?

           

Which artists or other art forms inspire you?

 

I’ve always loved the Masters and especially enjoy the Impressionists, and Modern Art; Van Gogh, Picasso, O’Keeffe, also Kahlo, Sally Mann, Chihuly, Frank Lloyd Wright, artists that have a story to tell, a reason for their art combined with a true passion to create.  Recently, I’ve started to study the Pre-Raphaelites and have been using their ideas in my present work.  

 

When your facing a creative block what have you done or where have you gone to get those, “A..ha” moments?

 

I am asked this question often, especially when people view my work in person.  I’ve only had a problem with a creative block once in my life.  After my late husband died in 2002 I was unable to create or paint for nearly a year.  The grief cycle was so tremendous that I was unable to clear my mind of his death, leaving me unable to draw from my creative soul.  Once the grief started to lift, I found a huge relief in the kind of art I created.  It was more meaningful, more from my inner self, more descriptive of whom I am, my personality and what I believed in.  I also found myself back where I began as a child, with recycled assemblage and collage. 

 

I feed off of art, I simply love it.  I often visit the Phoenix Art Museum, and travel out of town for exhibits in other cities, go to art shows, exhibits, and openings.  I also draw inspiration from teaching, especially young people.  They are so very free and creative, as we all were at one time and have forgotten.  Surrounding yourself with art, other creative souls, classes, museums and anything involving art would also be a suggestion of mine.  I enjoy the First Friday Art Walk in downtown Phoenix, Arizona each month.  This is fresh, raw talent, art that many don’t like.  I look at this as freedom of expression and take something from every piece I view, new, exciting, passionate, a part of the person creating the work.  

 

What advice would you give an artist that dreams of making a living from their art?

 

There’s a reason they call us Starving Artists!  I’ve always kept my day job, it pays the bills.  If you are truly passionate about your work, there are ways to get your work out there. You will find time to create, work around schedules and people will understand.  I believe the biggest source for artists is other artists.  I have a huge art connection in Phoenix.  When I get a request that I refuse to complete, not my style, etc., I pass it onto my art group. Someone always e-mails me to thank me for the job.  It would be nice to think that what we all do, passionately and from the soul, will be loved by others. Unfortunately, that’s not true.  I’m told often that I should go back to my prior art form, which bored me.  The reason artists move on, change their style is because they too must move within their own creative realm.  Picasso was a well trained, Master Artist who changed his style to the one we all know today and I thank him for this.  It is these forces that draw us all in new directions. I’ve never been a commercial style artist and don’t believe I ever will be.  I love the creative flow of making each piece original.  I simply don’t want to make a piece, and sell thousands of the same type pictures for the mass market.  I’ve had people tell me constantly not to use a certain material in my work, to make a copy and use the copy.  If I don’t use what I have in my work, it won’t be creative and original.   That’s a part of what keeps the creative juices flowing for me.  That’s the fun of it, use what I have once, and pass it on so that others will appreciate what I see each day. 

 

Tell us the top 5 can’t live without supplies in your studio right now.

 

Golden Matte Gel Medium, Golden Acrylic paints, Arches 110# cold pressed water color paper, Master’s brush cleaner block,  Ultimate Glue, my brushes, which I have hundreds, sorry, went over 5, that’s a difficult question. 

 

Tell us what items you don’t currently have in your studio that you would like.

 

Large, overheard Ott lighting system, ergonomic chair, more counter space.  Other than that my studio is 200 sq. ft. and jammed to the rafters with stuff.  I’m quite used to working in a full, confined space.  I prefer to simply move a few feet to get what I need once creating.

 

Do you have favorite blog sites, web pages or groups online that you love?

 

I love MySpace and believe it’s a wonderful way to network and get your art out into the world today.  This system is free; it’s creative and very easy to use.  I’ve connected with artists from all over the world.  I always enjoy reading other’s blogs and groups, but being as busy as I am these days, it’s many times difficult to take the time to surf the web.  I’d much rather put my time and energy into my art.

 

List your blog, web page, MySpace pages or etsy stores for us to check out.

 

www.cindykovack.com

www.myspace.com/cindyheartart

Thank you Cindy! We look forward to meeting you in October...

Show us Your Creating Place: Interview with Claudia Roulier

This week we have the great opportunity to take a peek inside the studio world of Claudia Roulier. We get to see here Claudia creates and meet her dog.

Interview with Claudia Roulier

Would you mind sharing a bit about your creative process and why a certain medium appeals to you?
I really get excited about objects, whether, ephemera, junk, or images. I often wonder about the people who kept these items, which I find at estate sales. Why this item or that one, it's a mystery that I love to think about, everyone is a collector it's just interesting to see what they kept or didn't keep. My assemblages are small tributes to these people whose junk I have confiscated. I also love icons of popular culture and I tend to combine a bit of everything in both my assemblage work and paintings. The paintings tend towards nightmares and dreams from one twilght zone or other as far as subject matter! I paint on hard board so I can use drawing along with the collage and paint most effectively.

 

 What does a typical day/hour/minute in your studio involve?
Work, work, work, lots of pacing, thinking, talking to myself, looking at my "stuff" and did I mention working!

Does your work benefit from having a designated studio space?
Oh yes, most definitely. I still do ceramics on the kitchen table so that makes for interesting meals. But the rest of it is in a bedroom in my home although I think I'll have to move to the garage soon. I like being home, my dogs appreciate the fact that I eat my meals right in front of them and I can take breaks to play with them. I can do housework piecemeal and  in the summer I can get gardening done. We live in the mountains so it's a long commute no matter what so I'd rather be home and working instead of driving and wasting time.

What keeps you coming back.
I love love love what I do. Added bonus are the estate sales I "have" to go to, in order to get supplies, ah-hem. Some might say I don't need anything else.

Which artists or other art forms inspire you?

 

I love the early pop movement, dada movement, and modern Asian pop movement. Some of my favorite artists are Dine, Close, Rauschenberg, Johns, Cornell, and Warhol.  I love going to the first Friday art walks here in Denver's art district, you get to see a bunch of emerging and established artists......great stuff.

When your facing a creative block what have you done or where have you gone to get those, “A..ha” moments?
I'm pretty disiplined so I go to my studio and work even if it's cleaning or sorting through my artsy stuff, that part usually doesn't get done because no sooner do I start than I'm excited about some piece of junk I've rediscovered. Sometimes I look at other peoples art and that gets me going. Usually I don't have too many A...ah moments (thank goodness), should I knock on wood?

What advice would you give an artist that dreams of making a living from their art.
Be ready to be serious about art and serious about business and to spend a lot of time marketing yourself and developing your art. It takes devotion, time and an magicians hand at balancing your life....it's hard work and the competition is fierce, get a thick skin and be ready to suck it up. Is that too harsh?

Tell us the top 5 can’t live without supplies in your studio right now.
Oh-h-h-h-h boy, junk, old paper, Liquid Nails, paint (Quin gold, black, white, red, & interference gold), rusty altoid tins!!


Tell us what items you don’t currently have in your studio that you would like.
A place for a saw (power table saw), flat storage for drawings, about 400 more square feet.

Do you have favorite blog sites, web pages or groups online that you love.
Yep lots of them too many to mention you can check out my blog for them.

List your blog, web page, myspace pages or etsy stores for us to check out.

 ebay:   bigbludog

blog:  http://croulier.typepad.com

 web: http://www.claudiaroulier.com/

 my space: myspace.com/croulier

 

Claudia will be teaching at this years Fireweed Art Retreat in Juneau. Thanks so much to Claudia for letting us see inside her studio. We look forward to meeting you Claudia!!

Using Photo Transfers with Collage and Painting
House Shrine
Cool Stuff Light Box
Tiny Tin Mixed Media Pocket Shrine

 

 

 

Show us Your Creating Place: Interview with Cory Celaya

Arizona artist Cory Celaya will be coming to Juneau for the 2008 Fireweed Art Retreat. We asked Cory about her studio and a little about her art process. 

Studio:  Cory at Artworks

             Glendale , Arizona 

 

Describe your art:   My art is always in a state of constant flux. Techniques vary from piece to piece.  95% of my paintings are abstract, with a bit of realism to make it believable. Abstract, experimental, metamorphic, random, healing, spiritual, and edgy...they all describe my art.

 

Share a bit about your creative process and why a certain medium appeals to you:  All mediums appeal to me, what medium or mediums I use depend on the type of art I am doing or the process that I am teaching.  I prefer mixed-media if I am doing experimental work, good grade tube watercolor for transparent layered work, and dimensional objects for assemblages and jewelry.  My personal work and my Art For Healing work is very spontaneous, I go where the painting wants to go, working 2 or 3 pieces at once.  Many times I start painting in almost total darkness. These pieces of art in progress are allowed to incubate until they are ready to become paintings.   I keep my creative sanity by doing prototypes for my workshops and by creating jewelry till the wee hours of the morning in my “home studio”.

 

What does a typical day-hour-minute in your studio involve:  Never typical...When I don’t have a class, I go into the studio, lock the door, pull out a work in progress from incubation and start painting.  My studio is not an open studio, so I ask that you call first if you want to stop by.  I am a licensed permanent make-up artist and could be locked in tattooing someone’s eyeliner.  See why it’s never typical?  This is my Business Hours sign on my studio door.

Open:  Most days at 9 or 10

            Occasionally as early as 7

            Sometimes as late as 12 or 1

Closed: Usually about 5 or 6

             Occasionally about 3 or 4

             Sometimes as late as 10 or 11

Sometimes I’m not here at all. Please

call 602 577-5588 for an appointment.

 

How does your work benefit from having a designated studio space:  Even though my studio is small, I can spread out onto 4 large tables when I paint, close the door and teach a life drawing class in a separate class room privately.  Both studio spaces have separate entrances so I can leave my work on my tables and no one even sees it.

 

What keeps you coming back:  I never left...I even create in my sleep.  I come from a very creative family of artist’s, tailors, and musicians.

 

Which artist’s or other art forms inspire you:  Music inspires me. I love Salsa music. I occasionally teach Salsa dancing.    Artist’s that inspire me are many but will only name a few.

Don Andrews  http://www.donandrews.net/   I was lucky to have him as an instructor of figure painting.

WilliamAhrendt,  my mentor and first instructor.  Represented by  

www.joanmarcusfineart.com/ahrendt.htm

Also, I love this fiber artist,  www.juno-art.com  and www.mersad-berber.com  love his paintings.

 

When facing a creative block, what have you done, where have you gone to get those A..ha moments:

I go visit a gallery, a bookstore, or my favorite boutique.

 

What advice would you give an artist that dreams of making a living from their art: Learn good basics, let go of fear, and never give up your day job.

 

 

Tell us the top 5 can’t live without supplies in your studio right now:  My # 3083 - 2” Royal Langnickel long handle brush, my Richeson 9000 series watercolor brushes, my basic jewelry tools, my digital camera, and my old old huge toner type copier.

 

Tell us what items you don’t currently have in your studio that you would like:  I have everything I need to be creative, my mind, my eyes and my hands.  I like to use what I have on hand and be inventive.

 

Do you have favorite blog sites, web pages, or groups online that you love:  I have many favorites, can’t choose just a few.

 

My website:  www.artwithmoxie.com

Blog one:  www.art-with-moxie.blogspot.com

Blog two:  www.createwithmoxie.blogspot.com

Show us Your Creating Place: Interview with Michele Parlee

Do you ever wonder what inspires others to create? Are you ever a little curious about the spaces other artists create in. We are. That's why we were so excited that some amazingly talented artists that are willing to show us where there work, tell us what motivates them and generally let us peek into their special places. We asked some of the artists coming up for Fireweed 2008 to show us their "Creating Place".

Interview with Michele Parlee

New Mexico artist Michele Parlee will be coming to Juneau for the 2008 Fireweed Art Retreat. We asked New Mexico artist Michele about her studio and a little about her art process. Thanks Michele.

Describe your art.

I consider myself a mixed-media, Mexican pop-art, iconic, folk-artist. My main mediums are polymer clay and metalwork, but I also dabble with paper, cloth, glitter, ephemera and found/recycled objects. Most of my work consists of creating shrines honoring Frida, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and other mexican icons. I absolutely love anything Dia de los Muertos! I tend to like bright, bold colors, like orange, yellow, red, turquoise, green. I have my work in shopsand galleries in New Mexico and Texas, and do several juried art shows a year.

 

 

 Would you mind sharing a bit about your creative process and why a certain medium appeals to you?

It’s not so much the medium that appeals to me as much as the outcome of what I am trying to create.  When working on a piece, I first visualize what I would like the end result to be and then I try to think about what medium would allow me to get that result.  It’s like working backwards on a project.  Sometimes, if it is a medium that I’m not familiar with, I will learn it just enough to incorporate it into what I am trying to do.  I do mainly work with Premo! polymer clay because it is so versatile and allows me to do most of what I am       trying to do.

What does a typical day/hour/minute in your studio involve? 

I have several projects going at once, I guess you could call them sort of “prototypes”, and once I find what I like, I just go with it and create several with the same theme.  I do a lot of shows and I have to have a system that allows me to create several pieces at a time to keep up.

    How does your work benefit from having a designated studio space?

If I feel inspired I can start working immediately without dragging supplies to another area.  Also, if I’m not sure which direction to go with a piece, I often leave it for a while and think about what it needs, when a light bulb goes on , I simply go back to my space and continue working.

    What keeps you coming back?

 I don’t know.  I eat, drink and breathe art, (and art supplies).  I just can’t imagine not doing it.  I guess I feel like in creating something or transforming something, I myself am transformed.

 

When your facing a creative block what have you done or where have you gone to get those, “A..ha” moments? 

I tend to create several pieces with the same basic theme or colors, and then embellish them differently.  I can take each one in a different direction.  Out of those 5 or 6, I usually end up with something I really like.  (And a few that I don’t really care for).  The great thing about art, is that the pieces I’m not so crazy about, are the ones that someone else really loves.

What advice would you give an artist that dreams of making a living from their art.  

Still working on that one!!

 

Tell us the top 5 can’t live without supplies in your studio right now.

Aileene’s paper glaze, Tim Holtz Grungeboard, aluminum embossing foils, Premo! clay, and wood boxes of various shapes and sizes, pasta machine for rolling clay, Xacto blade

 

Tell us what items you don’t currently have in your studio that you would like.

UTEE melting pot and powders.

 

Do you have favorite blog sites, web pages or groups online that you love.

Crafty Chica- Kathy Cano-Murillo

 

 

Michele will be teaching the following classes at the Fireweed Art Retreat:

Divinity Pin
Hand of Fatima
Marvelous Mosaics
Mexican Tin Ornaments
Tinsanity

Michele. Thank you so much for sharing and opening up your space to us.-Anji, Jen & Amy

Fireweed Art Retreat 2008

To say we're excited would be an understatement. Having the opportunity to take classes from the amazing line up of instructors is putting me over the edge. I admit it as an ADD art junkie I can't quite seem to focus on one particular media I want to work in. A retreat like this means I can take a class, sample learn and watch what everyone else is doing. Thank you Stimulus Check 2008 from the IRS, you will be stimulating my creativity..just my part of keeping our economy going. There are some fantastic instructors here:

Ann Grgich, Cindy Kovack, Beth Taylor (who I haven't met but I think we must have been separated at birth), Michele Parlee and many more...watch for updates as we beg and plead for interviews with these amazing artists. If you haven't checked out the Fireweed Website here's your chance:

http://www.fireweedartretreat.com

Trying to stay active when faced with no sunlight..

So--for some reason summer has forgone us in SE Alaska...I think all total we've had (maybe) less than a week total (that's LESS than seven days) of sun this summer....

yikes!!  We don't get a whole lot the rest of the year--so we crave it/ look forward to it/ revel in the happiness that only pure sunshine can bring.  And now, being without it during the time that we usually get it the most--well, it begins to drag us down.  Don't get me wrong--I'm not a person who likes heat (more than 80 is too hot for me!!) but being in the 50's for multiple weeks--esp in July--just seems wrong.  I was wishing that I had a coat earlier in the week--not a rain coat but something warmer--and I've been taken to wear layers/ sweaters around--NO SHORT SLEEVES AT ALL!!  again--that just seems wrong.  Attempts are "normal summer life" have also dwindled down to near nothing--usually we see people out running, bike riding, hiking--lots of outdoor activity happening in July.  I don't think I've seen more than 4 people jogging on the trail by my house and bikers--well, the only ones still doing it are the hardcore.  So I'm trying to get those around me to turn to something crafty to keep spirits up--that's all I had left to offer. Trying to make your own "sunshine", if you will....no idle hands please.  (The other caveat is that during the colder blahh months I've noted that caffeine consumption goes up--no bored people who are hyped up on caffeine--not a good combo!!)

  So--you who are reading this in the lower 48, bring with you or send up some rays--please!!  The fireweed is already changing/ halfway up the stalk (when it reaches the end it signifies the end of summer/ beginning of autumn)--we don't have much time left!!  Aurrghh!!

            what we have                               what we want!!

Grand Gestures

"An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane in Japan is one of the mystical or holy beasts (others include the dragon and tortoise), and is said to live for a thousand years."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:PaperCranes.jpg

Every Thursday for the past few weeks I have had the opportunity to assist a customer who is a cruise crew member (we will call Jay) choose the perfect material to create 1,000 origami cranes to give a girl... making a wish come true. A Grand Gesture! Each week I've looked forward to hearing the progress of the project. What a romantic inspiring story! The few people I've told have been completely moved by Jays actions and Anji insisted I blogged it. Last Thursday I was left so inspired I made my husband a handmade gift for no reason. Yesterday, Jay stopped in so I asked if I could blog his story... he said I could but he was now finishing the cranes for himself... no longer a romantic gesture... not the end he was hopping for.. an unexpected end to a great story.

I believe something good comes out of every situation even if we can't see it or if it takes some time. This may make me naive but I like to think I am just optimistic. Although Jays story didn't end the way he was hoping his grand gesture has inspired me to think of ways to inspire others family, friends, and strangers alike. I hope you will be inspired to join in and think of ways to positively inspire others.

Growing up

So--now that Anji and I have both had our birthdays, I was reflecting on the fact that we (or more particularly I) should be more "adult-like", more "grown-up".  I'm not sure, however, that this induces good art.  Think about some of the best artist around--don't you often hear people say "my five year old could have done that?"  Have you ever looked at a preschoolers art and truely appreciated it/ thought it was more beautiful than anything you've ever done?  (besides the often amusing commentary about the art or content...)  anyone seen "my kid could paint that"...(got it on netflicks...very interesting).

and why is that?  I tend to think that because children are more open-minded, don't have preconcieved notions about what art should be/ look like that they are open to--well, almost anything!!  To that end, I think, especially in the artist arena, we SHOULD strive to be more child-like and less adult--dontcha think?  Ok--maybe I'm justifying my self actions--but I think it's ok...maybe for now.  I hope though, when I am getting too childish (and THAT never happens!) my friends would say--"ok--enough".  My family says it all the time so that doesn't count.

Just as a side note--the little girl who is the subject of above mentioned movie has a website--check it (and her adorible self!) out:  http://www.marlaolmstead.com/home.html   enclosed are a couple copies of pics...

      love, amy

Lesson Learned - Back up daily!

I back up my computer files whenever I think of it (about every two weeks). On Saturday night I was working in Photoshop when I tryed to quit the program, it didn't respond. So I shut down the computer. When I re-started the screen was white with a file and a blinking question mark. Naturally I re-started it again (that would fix it). Same white screen with blinking question mark. I called Apple but they were gone for the night. The next morning the Apple technicians response to my sistuation was OHHHHHH! that's not good...do you back up? I do ... but I haven't in a couple weeks.... He said, well that's the good news. Most likely all my files are lost!!!!

The computer is just over a year old. I love my computer! The next three weeks are going to be awful! Yes, three weeks!

Apple has been great about the whole thing.... Thank You Apple for being straight forward and helpful.

Please, please, please learn from my horror.... back up your files daily. I wouldn't want you to suffer this tragic mishap when it is so easy to be sure your creative works are safe on an external hard drive.