So, I just finished felting and sculpting 5 new felted hats tonight! They are sitting in my studio drying right now. They will be dry in a couple of days, and I will then be able to defuzz them, line and trim them. Then deliver them to the lovely Asheville NC Homecrafts store in the Grove Arcade! This batch is all light shades: beige, cream, gray, and linen colors. Three new fedoras and two new cloche-type hats.
A few days ago I finished the colorful cat painting I started in the last post. I am anxiously awaiting to have it scanned, so I can start offering prints of my three new paintings! After I frame them, they will be available for purchase in Flat Rock, at the scrumptious Flat Rock Bakery (give it a google, then give it a taste!). I also recently finished a gaggle of new feltings, and since I am finished with the hats and paintings, I am going to start some more wall-hangings....I hope to be well-stocked for my spring shows this year! As soon as I know dates on shows, I will post all of the necessary information on my homepage....hope to see you there!
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Yes, winter...the time for making more art! In trying to be a good, disciplined artist-person- I am not great, but I have finished a new batch of feltings, and will soon photograph them to show you. I have also finilly finished a double painting of two colorful horses! As soon as I get them scanned, they will be ready for prints and sale! I have also started a new painting, one of a colorful cat....oh no, one cannot have too many colorful cats! This is very exciting, as I have been lost in wool fluff for so long that I had to reach for my trusty watercolors to express/explore some of the other ways I have felt.
In other news: the Rv is still not up for travel, my house is still a mess, and I still need another me to accomplish everything I've set out for myself. I am also reading two books right now in my 'spare' time; 7 Years in Tibet, and The Lost Hero. Keep checking back for new images, and some re This year is coming to a close, and I am still chasing my tail...../
What an eventful year! There were many great things that happened this past year, such as being with my kids (ever-growing, funny, amazing, beautiful and intelligent young people!) and their (equally wonderful!) dad. We went hiking and camping, did some road trips(mostly because I dragged them with me to some shows!), and more recently made an awesome gingerbread castle and also played in all of the snow we got for christmas. There were also challenging times that we really could have gone without, like our daughter's 7-day hospital stay, and months recovery. Below is a picture of our gingerbread castle from the front. This is our second attempt at cookie construction, the first was a fun creation with a lovely friend of ours in KY. It was a yurt, with no food coloring, and glued together with melted dark chocolate. Thanks all of you for your support in my artistic endeavor, and I hope your new year brings much peace, love, and happiness:) Wow, I thought I had posted something more recently... I guess not!
Since so much has happened, and we all have such short attention spans, here's the quick: =Went through all of my recent shows, met some really interesting people, and made some good trades (yay! I love trading for awesome art!) =Fiber Fair: Amazing as usual! I bought so much wool, and found every color I was looking for! Was also able to shop at some of the same vendors as previous years, which is really nice.:) Over-exposure to colors and textures, though. Much more wool to make feltings for the 2011 year. Can you wait to see next year's pieces? I can't! =Halloween party: my family really did Halloween well this year! We had an unbeatable party (we have been planning since the end of last winter!!!), and so many of my eldest offspring's school friends came, and our friends came, and our neighbors came....and we actually had trick-or-treaters on Halloween! It was one like no other...Find some pictures here: (because I'm too lazy to post my own...and she takes better pics than I do anyway!) http://ilikelichen.com/ be sure you are on the Oct 27th Posting. That was before we were finished. =Also, an apology for not responding to everyone's emails as quickly as I'd like. Life has been like a whirlwind! Finally, I want to thank everyone for their purchases and support, and I am so happy to bring you art you love:) And thank you so much to all of my friends, past and present--you are all so great:) Hope to see all of you at my next shows (psst, bring your friends, too!). It will soon (VERY soon..) be time for that trip to Cary again.
This time, for the Lazy Daze Festival. I have been hard at work in my studio, and have 25 new felted pieces to add to those already available for sale for this show! I did take some photos after completing the last one today, but it seems I am still lacking in camera savvy. Almost every one of them were horrid, and I have to (*groan*) re-shoot tomorrow. I was hoping to give a grand pre-peep show of what will be available, but at this moment it seems it will not be possible. Unless I can slice time of course. Here is the single passable photo below. We are so happy and excited to all be going to this show, as we will not be camping this time!! ( I do love camping, under normal circumstances ) My lovely friend's mother-in-law is an angel, and will be hosting my entire family (all four of us) at her house for two nights! We are so very thankful for her generosity, and call for some applause in her direction. Thank You!!!!! So, late it is, and time it is for my departure. (yes, yes, time it is) {Yoda} You will of course read the latest Adventures in Festivalling nextt week, when we arrive home from our trip!!! Until then...I must sleep to wake early! Ah, yes, see, as I promised! Now what did I say I was going to write about?
The Big Crafty, maybe? Well, the Big Crafty went very well for me, and it was a pleasure to have attended! I really can't say how enjoyable it is to booth share with all of my favorite crafty people! Alphabetically (by first name) Cara Steinbuchel, Gretchen Oury, Jude Lally, and Marissa Aaron. SO yes, there were 5 of us to two booths! But we made it work. Jude brought her solar panel, and Marissa her standing fan, to provide us with a breeze; we had arranged our space in an open fashion, so that people could browse freely through both booths; and all of our works combined really gave the booth an amazing variety of colors and textures which really made it worth people's time to stop and browse. I thought to take a picture right after set up, but....I postponed, and after the two short rains we had---it was too late. The rains prompted us to do something like a booth in-haling and ex-haling act. We also got to meet and socialize with our customers a little more closely, as they hid from the downpour. So now I am in 'eye-of-hurricane' mode, as I enjoy a false sense of peace and some relaxing, before the next frenzy of making pieces for all....In my head, I repeat the mantra, "I will not procrastinate....I will not...". We'll see how that works;) See me next time at the 2nd Saturdays festival here in downtown Asheville, at the Thomas Wolfe House. Tell all of your friends, and hey, if you's seen enough of me, then come to see all of the other artists who will be displaying their wares for sale! Remember, August 14th! And if you live to the East of Asheville, I will be out your way when I have a booth in the beloved and mucho popular Cary Lazy Daze Festival, on August 28th! Thank you all so very much, I deeply appreciate all of the admiration and purchases of my pieces! I do love to find out where my pieces end up, and hope that they all bring satisfaction:) (haha! I have just swiped a pic of our booth from Jude's site and am posting it below! ) Wow, so since what you are reading right now isn't actually a post....it is really a reminder to me, and you, that I will be typing an actual post very soon.....with all of the exciting news of my last show... The Big Crafty, and Art in the Park, and... how I just realized how soon August really is (it's not really two months away, like I thought). So, stay tuned.....for the next exciting novelette post!! :D
Wow, so life sure can get busy! Since my last post (way back in MARCH..)
I have been to a show in Cary (next to Raliegh NC), another in Flat Rock, and I'm trying to get my application ready for (hopefully)membership at the Southern Highland Craft Guild. We are also new owners of a '76 Ford/Casual 18' RV rig! I think I could almost make a site for the repairs and renov's it will need! More on that project later. The Cary Spring Daze fest went well, though we sure had to pass some hurdles! The area is a four-hour drive from here. So, we decided to make it a family road trip, (as we haven't been able to do such things lately, and we used to go on road trips almost every weekend before). So I booked us a campsite for 2 nights (no rv yet) about 30 mins from the fest site, and condensed my art fest items to a bare minimum, and we crammed all of our camping gear, and my booth/art things into our '97 Honda Odyssey (225k miles so far, and hopefully lots more!), with the added weight of a borrowed 13cf car bag strapped to the top. Great ride out there, especially since it's hwy 40 almost all of the way. A little tricky finding the campground. Then we do find it, and it' like a military style camp-base! The lady at the guard house made a whole group of adults line up, and barked orders and rules at them military style! This was a bit unsettling, and cause for concern, but as we had already paid, we went on to our site to set up camp. We noticed some very irregular camp hours...gates open at 8am, and close at 8pm...CLOSE at 8?? Have you ever heard of a place closing at 8?? So, since we had to wake up at the glutues maximus crack of dawn (about 5am), and we had to leave no later than 6:30, I wondered at this gate thing. You know, they didn't give us the code. Campsites always give you a code, since we have free-will, and pay for our places. So, I go to the guardhouse where the scary lady is, bringing my festival papers for confirmation of my question (how do we get out in the morning). NO, they can't help me, NO ONE gets out before 8am, I may park my car in the ungaurded outside of the gate parking lot-with thousands of dollars of equipment and art...oh yeah, and at least a mile from our campsite....if I want to leave earlier. O.O Really??? (hut-two-three-four!) I ask politely about the code which is normally left for campers in (normal) campgrounds. NOPE! SO, I'm really trying to keep the temper in check now, and again, politely attract the attention of the park ranger, to which I succeed, and we walk aside, and I, using all of my powers of persuasion, (and a little pleading) state my case, about the time, the rules, my belongings,the fact that I have two children, one under five.....he thinks a bit, and then writes the code on my papers. Which, apparently, he has NEVER done in the whole time he has had this job. Reason he did it: little one under 5. I thanked him profusely (also, this tiny detail about the gates was NOT in my confirmation papers I recieved in the mail when I paid for my site), and told him I would certainly make other arrangements next time. (you bet I will!!!!) PHEW! That was hurdle one. Then there was finding this place in time in the morning, and my spot in the booth. The fest was actually trying to be really organized, but the whole car arrangement thing was really weird, and my family was afraid they would be stuck there all day. Which, actually, they ended up just staying. Next hurdle: can't pack up until 5pm, then we were supposed to wait in a car line when everyone was finished packing up.... (remember, we still have to find supper, and get beck to our (military ) camp before 8) Good grief, if we had to wait for everyone to get their stuff together, and then wait in line, we'd NEVER get back in time! So, instead, we learned of...the other way......and since I had packed so lightly, we just carried all my stuff to our car, and silently escaped (well before anyone else) via a 'secret path' to freedom!!! (thanks to a subtle hint from other artist too). We found a whole foods store (for dinner), and somehow, in an exhausted zombie-like manner, ate food, came back to our car, and RACED back to our 'military base'. We drove up at 7:56pm. We had four minutes to spare! PHEW!!! The rest of the weekend was nice, as the park was actually very beautiful and secluded, and our site was right on the lake. There was even a small sandy beach for the kids to play on. The next day, I just zombied. So there are now even more needle-feltings to view in the wall-hangings page! There is a beautiful new horse-a gray mare, and some really adorable sheep! New sheep, that is. I keep thinking that some of my sheep should be a lot cuter, and here they are!
In other news, we just got more snow, about 6-7 inches (though I haven't measured yet). I tried making meringue again, and succeeded! WHen we lived in Miami we used to buy little meringues in small bags at the store. I used to make them when I was a kid. I had not had them for years, and these were firsts for my children. WNC Magazine is having a contest with local artists. It seems that those who have the most votes is destined to do something. Maybe that's how they choose who to interview. Well, anyway, here is the link: WNC Magazine Vote For Me! You just scroll down to the bottom, scan the names (they are in alphabetical order), pick me, and put your email in the space provided. You can vote once for each email every day. And for some reason, they picked the most boring of the pieces which I entered....
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Christina Serra
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January 2022
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