Happy Halloween!

Painterly Printmaking Sale

There is something about monotyping that seems like the perfect autumn activity to me. Make a warm cup of tea, ink up a plate and spend an afternoon with brushes and stencils and unlimited possibility.

I knew nothing about monotpying before Julia and Gayle Ayres walked into the CCP studio. After 4 days with this mother-daughter team I felt a whole world had opened up. They first teach basic techniques to get you started and walk you through several distinct projects. They use a water soluble paint that won't try up on you in 10 seconds but is also easy to clean up.

This week save $10 on their DVD, "Monotype, Painterly Printmaking." Enjoy!

Work vs Personal Blog

This is not a Creative Catalyst Production blog (that's here) but when you work for a family business, all lines blur together. I mention a lot of work issues on here because let's face it, we're at work more than we're at home. Oh and also, I sort of love what I do. I've also realized that this blog is a more informal version of the monthly Craft Cat newsletter I put out each month for Creative Catalyst. CCP has two newsletters: one weekly and one monthly. The weekly one has sales all the time that I don't get to announce in Craft Cat because they've already come and gone by the time I hit email in boxes. There's a remedy to this: I'm going to start announcing those sales on Craft Amor.

Even for people not interested in the sale itself, take a look at the artist, their gallery and their bio. It's a great way to get to know some amazing artists.

Mary Todd Beam

I have spent the last few weeks reediting one of the first DVD workshops CCP ever did. It's like opening a time capsule. It's so fun to spend some time with Mary Todd Beam whose energy and creativity jump off the screen and beckon you to join her. But it is one of the first DVDs CCP ever did and we've come a long way in how we shoot.

Also, some of the older tapes went bad somehow and I'm working between the old finished video (which has perfect video but some editing problems) and the original footage which has damage in random places. It's been the ultimate juggling match but the result I think is a much stronger workshop. The added plus of this is that I got to go back into a second DVD Mary filmed when she was here but we never edited. Both projects will be on the new DVD and I can't wait.

Cookie Monday

I have so much sugar cookie in me I think my cells are being held together by frosting.

I had a cookie decorating get together yesterday. The ones I decorated (and managed not to eat) I put with cards on my co-workers' desks for Happy Halloween.

The weekend was a great mix of crafting and cooking and just hanging out. More pictures and projects to come!

Friday

Yesterday about this time we finally got power back in the office. I hope this isn't shades of things to come this winter! Last winter we had a few days where we were living out of a hotel and running a generator and electricity from a next door neighbor to work our mail processing machine to get out orders. (Susan was here in the dark with about 10 layers of clothing on FREEZING as she sent out DVDs.) We spent yesterday's power outage moving everything in our downstairs office (Susan's and Jim's desk plus ALL our DVD inventory and more importantly the shelves that inventory sits on) to the other side of the room. We sort of did a mirror image flip...and when I see "we" I mean the other two editors, Jim and Susan. I was sent on food runs and postage runs. Today is much calmer here at CCP and we are all completely ready for a weekend!

Art and Soul Recap

It's been a week now since we've gotten back from Art and Soul Retreat in Portland, OR. What a blast! I remember being impressed last year and this year was no different. It still blows my mind (in a great way) that there are places where people can come together from all over the country and just be creative together. Talk art together. Do art together. Meet people who share the same passions. Such talent and spirit in one place. I kept looking at all these women-both instructors and students- and being really inspired by them. Such incredible people.

We filmed three artists: Ann Baldwin, Anne Bagby and Robert Dancik. We filmed Ann Baldwin a few years ago in a live workshop. It was great to work with her in studio. She is a hilarious woman. I always learn so much from her both when I'm filming and then again when editing. She somehow makes Golden products a little less terrifying.

Anne Bagby does the type of art that I long to do. She stamps her own paper and then uses it in these spectacular collages. Both her and Ann Baldwin can wield Golden Fluid Acrylics like no other. Anne Bagby also employs Golden Glazes. I came home and ordered a few myself and am getting obsessive about checking my order's status.

We filmed Robert Dancik on our last day and what an amazing instructor! He works with a product that he helped create called Faux Bone. (Go to Robert's site to learn more.) Robert kept saying how easy Faux Bone was to work with and I kept thinking, "Yeah, yeah, sure." He proved my skepticism wrong. It *is* really easy to work with. It's sort of magical actually!

Spending the day with each of these artists was amazing. They all did a wonderful job on camera and their DVDs will be real assets to those of us wanting to learn how to become better artists.

Finally, we took part again this year in Vendor Night. Holy Moly! I LOVE vendor night. It is one of the few times I as an employee of CCP get to interact with the people who buy what I help make. It's so rewarding! I am very lucky in the fact that I'm really proud of what I do and the company I work for. I'm normally pretty shy when it comes to talking to new people. I freeze and mumble and will probably trip. But I love talking about what kind of art people are making. I love meeting the people who have CCP workshops and hear that it's really helped them. Plus, it's just seriously neat to be around that much creativity in one place!

Is it too early to countdown to Art and Soul 2008? Definitely not!

(Pictures from Vendor Night: our booth, Claudine Hellmuth, Lesley Riley, Traci Bautista. Not pictured are Sherri Haab whose booth I kept going back to for fantastic resin molds and Robert Dancik's booth.)

Shape Play