Stormy Times

The last 30 days have been some of the most tumultuous of my life. I have watched my husband's family have to make rapid, loving, and irrevocable decisions regarding their feisty mother's safety because of her rapidly fading memory.

I have been witness to the love, care and devotion exhibited when a chance step led to a fall that lead to the passing of a surrogate mom, "Great Dame", friend, artist and supporter.

And most shockingly, mourned with a whole community of believers as my dear friend Anna lost her 12 year old son in last week's flooding.
Words fail to express the sorrow I feel. The waves of emotion. The ability to truly pray unceasingly for the well-being of others. Honestly I didn't know I had it in me. My heart, along with many others is broken. Not so much for Dotty, Jackie and Jack. They are cared for, loved, or resurrected. But for those they have left behind who will miss them. Every day. It seems impossible that life will ever be right again.

The cover of Jack's program on Monday was his favorite Bible verse; words to cherish and inspire - Luke 1:37
For nothing will be impossible with God

Watercolor Monotype Workshops at Stifel and Capra

Hot fun in the summertime! Workshops continued last week as 4 1st timers learned to handle Deborah Conn's printing press. "No, turn it the OTHER way".

Sixty dollars, 3 hours leave with new techniques and completed pieces of art.

What's not to love?

Debby's next class is August 16th. To register email WORKSHOPS@stifelandcapra.com. Come play!

Happy Birthday to us! year 4 & Counting!

It takes a village that is for sure! Thank you to my sister Robin for picking up the yummy cakes (yes we ate TWO this big!) for the Birthday Bash last Thursday. Super enthusiastic crowd.

Some folks, like Diana, came to see what caught their fancy. Diana found paintings and accessories to fall in love with. I think she looks like a spokesmodel for us, don't you?

Willa came in with her girlfriends before lunching and scored not one but two Rough & Tumble Vintage dresses that looked like they were custom made for her!

We went through a case of bubbly, lots of sweaty hugs (102 outside. ugh!) and waves of well wishes. Thanks for everything. Yes, I am talking to you.

Saturday Markets are fun, fun, fun!

We are starting off our monthly First Saturday Market with a BANG! The weather (unlike last year!) was gorgeous and we had quite of bit foot traffic that translated into lots of happy shoppers!

I dragged treasure hunter extraordinaire Betsy with me to the Eastern Shore and let her in on some of my "secret places" as we loaded up my Ford and hauled everything back home, cleaned it up, got it tagged and on the floor before FIRSTfriday. WHEW! I think I hurt myself. But it was all worth it as we had a record 4th of July weekend crowd at STifel & Capra for a FIRSTfriday. Lots of fun.

Kelly of Stylish Patina loaded TWO pickup truck loads into the parking lot to the delight of passersby. Want to see more? Visit her new boutique in the corner of the shop!

And check out the newest offerings from Freshly Pressed and Interlachen Soak Co. Me? Off to the beach with a car of teenagers for the weekend. Pray for me.

Tinner Hills Blues Festival Comes to Stifel & Capra!

Ed & Nikki Graves Henderson really know how to throw a party! The second weekend of June was Tinner Hill Blues Festival Weekend  http://www.tinnerhill.org/ . Stifel & Capra had the privelege of hosting award winner author Carole Boston Weatherford http://www.caroelweatherford.com/ as she did a reading from her haunting poetry novel "Becoming Billie Holiday".  We had a small but enthusiastic crowd. (Think Carole may have been a bit surprised when we sold all of the books she brought!). 

Carole gave a lovely talk about her writing process, how Billie has always been a muse to her and how the book came together. Carole's voice took a resonance as she fielded questions from the audience. Delightful interaction.


 

Providing more than just background was the accomplished blues guitarist and vocalis Eleanor Ellis. Accompanied by compadre Pearl on the harmonica, Eleanor played selected tracks from her new cd "Comin' a Time". It is always a singular experience to hear live music and I thoroughly enjoyed the interplay between Pearl & Eleanor as they played. More than a little jealous of that skill...  See more about Eleanor at http://www.eleanorellis.com/

 If fact I was enamoured I dragged my husband Bob out to the Mad Fox the next night to hear Eleanor play at the Mad Fox tavern downt he street. www.madfoxbrewing.com IF you haven't been yet and you love a good craft brew. Find your way down Broad Street. The fried pickles are worthy, although not on ANYONE's "good eating" plan. 

Am posting more shots from the evening on Stifel & Capra's Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Stifel-and-Capra-Art-and-Ornament-for-your-Wonderful-Life/91596978896

Playing with TAP

Mixed media maven and art Coach Lesley Riley http://www.artistsuccess.com lends her name to a fun new product called "TAP" artist transfer paper.  Recently took a one day seminar on all of the different ways one could use the product.  It;s very versatile and transfer equally well from soft surfaces (like the fabric postcard above)  to the copper bird below (although I must admit, this is NOT the best example, I got distracted and got the metal and the transfer a little crispy!).

My art challenge of the week was to take the samples I made in class and utilize them in art work.  These three are my favorite images from Lesley's collections.  The balance of the samples will probably end up as layers as I am not loving them enough to make them features of a piece as I did below with the "best girl" on the slop rag paper towel.  I think I actually like her best!

We had a FANTASTIC FIRSTfriday last weekend and kicked off our 1stSaturday Market as well.  Beautiful weather and lots of fun.  I will post photos from Wendy Wehmeyer's colossal Rough & Tumble Vintage Collection later today. 

Freedom to Create - I am Back

The nice thing about signing up for something (a concert,a game, an event) way in advance is that when the time comes up on the calender you HAVE to go whether it is convenient or not.  Happily, my latest version of this was the Art & Soul Retreat down in Hampton, VA. http://www.artandsoulretreat.com I carpooled with my Stifel & Capra colleague Christine of Society Hill Design http://www.societyhilldesigns.com . 

I really lucked out because I abhor driving and for the price of a tank of gas Chris drove the whole way, hooray!  The excellent traffic boded well for the event.  The retreat too went super smoothly.  Everything was easy to find, the people were lovely, the instructors informative, the food? well it was an Embassy Suites after all so we will make allowances there.  I learned a LOT while I was away but one of the most interesting sessions I took was by a gentleman named Jesse Reno.

Jesse is a former musician turned full time artist and he led a class called "Freedom to Create".  Leading was more like herding cats.  Imagine a group of 27 women, average age 62 (and that is with me being 50!) all kibitzing and commenting, all in a positive way of course!  Jesse's loving response? "Dude, shut the ()^)*&^& up, these other folks came to hear me not you!"  Jesse had a lot to say about his creative process, the cold turkey shift from music to art and how to live the proverbial artist's life.  It was really inspiring to hear someone with no excuses.  Although I received the info a bit wistfully as I seem to be full of excuses these days.

We did two exercises, the first of which involved pumping red, blue, yellow, white & black paint onto a plastic plate and painting with our hands.  This was a little traumatic for some manicured ladies.  My hang-up?  mixing paint.  But I went into this thinking that I was "just going to use these papers for collage backgrounds" so I really went at it with abandon, dare I say freedom?  Making BIG, messy pieces on paper felt great, non precious and with nothing to lose I was rather thrilled how my pieces came out.  In keeping with my new resolution to actually FINISH things I start,I came home, harassed my lovely neighbor Beth into matting my pieces for me, hung them on FIRSTfriday, and darn if one of them didn't sell!  I am so proud.  Proud I did something new, proud I actually got them on the wall and even prouder that the pieces actually spoke to someone.  Life is good.  

Hey Gang!

I didn't realize I was taking a "blogiday" but apparently I am.  Everything's great,just overcome by all the events of the day(s).  Will be back soon.  Tons has been happening.  Please stay with me...

They are selling like well, ducks...

It's always fun when I get hoisted by my own petard.  The last time Robin and Nancy hand delivered a batch of Nancy's cute as a button crocheted critters I remarked that she didn't need to leave me any more ducks as we had a flock.  So they didn't leave any.  So we sold out four days later.  Serves me right.  There are more coming soon.  Teenage girls bought the last three.  One has his own Facebook Page.  So sue me.

FIRSTfriday was it's normal WAY fun.  Had a great, albeit later crowd of fun-sters.  Falls Church Arts threw a retro dance party as a fundraiser down at the Creative Cauldron space so the crimped haired, skinny tie kids that came in were fun to watch.  I refrained ALL evening from making a "Hey, I wore that in 1985" comment.  So proud of my restraint...

A few of my Favorite Things

Anniversaries bring memories of the mundane and sublime.  Last weekend was the 4th anniversary of my husband Bob's 3 week bout in the Intensive Care Unit at Inova Fairfax Hospital. Strep induced sepsis led to the amputation on his left leg and left repercussions on our family that are still being felt today.  So what do we do at the Stifel house?  Why have a party of course!  We call it the "Re-Birthday" Party.  I invite my family and the neighbors over to celebrate the fact that I still HAVE a husband!  They tell stories about duty shifts, taking care of the kids and rehab.  What could be a depressing day turns into a celebration of how far we have come.  Here's to friends! 

And family!

OK, so NO neighbor photos and no cute pics of my sister's family.  I was too busy worrying about the fact we were out of ice.  One of the things I learned with Bob being ill is not to sweat the small stuff.  Hopefully she will forgive me!)

I love you Bob! Here's to many more years together.

New Venues

 The fun thing about going to events is that they expose you to venues you haven't otherwise visited.  Sandi Parker's solo show inMOTION opened to an enthusiastic crowd at Cassat's, an Arlington, VA cafe.  I have never been there before even though I heard great things about brunch and lunch offerings.  I dragged my husband and Beth & Bob Loftis over to the opening to be there the minute it opened.  Why?  We all no how nerve-wracking it is when you are waiting for folks to show up to an event so I figured we would break the ice for here.  The complication? One set of invites said 5o'clock, others said 5:30.  I being the Princess of Promptness got there at 5.  My husband was not terribly impressed with me.  I think he thought I was making the 5pm time up! I was grateful when other random patrons showed up before the "official" 5:30 opening so I didn't look like I was scamming my always tardy hubby.

One place Bob DID regret not being when the event doors opened was his office party last weekend at Cuba Libre' in Washington DC.  We left a little late, hit a little traffic, and had a little issue with parking.  The roving cocktails and passed appetizers were VERY much to my foody husband's taste and he was a wee bit sad that he didn't get more of them before they moved on to the awards part of the evening!

Lesson learned?  It's good to help a friend and valet parking is always a good (albeit decadent!) option.

Cheers!

I am so pleased!

Amazing how if you actually put things out there in the universe that you get a reaction. I am somewhat infamous for starting things with a bang but then not following through with them. Mind you I usually get things done for other people in a timely fashion (we all now how freaky I am about being late!) but my OWN projects? Eeeeh, not so much...

So, when my friend Betsy asked what my plans were for the new year and I mentioned one of them was resurrecting my etsy site. She said "Great! Let's work on it NOW." Uh, now? Make my own thing a priority, really? Well, she really cajoled me into getting my fanny in gear to get some of my art posted.. As well, Betsy and her hubby Hank physically helped post some of my vintage goodies on line. You can see them at http://theresawellsstifel.etsy.com

And I started a new collage this morning. And I got this charming Bat Mitzvah pillow delivered last week. Changing gears, accounting set-ups and payroll. Somehow not feeling as thrilled about that....

Ta Da!

What do you see? A dining room table with three non-matching chairs shoved off in a corner? I see 2 weeks worth of sorting, cleaning, mending and tagging of a MOUNTAIN of found treasures that I finally got out of the house! They have been integrated into the sparkly chaos that is the sales floor at Stifel & Capra but I am guessing they MIGHT sell there better than on my dining room table!

I have been tempted to stop at road side haunts, sales and junk piles in the past week but I promised myself that I would clear this particular pile before I started a new mountain. Am actually proud of myself that I did it. What's next? Eating less, and exercising more? Doubt it but stay tuned!

A rose by any other name

Almost twenty years ago my now husband Bob told me he'd never buy me "I'm sorry" flowers.  And it's true, he never has.  I usually get them on my birthday or our anniversary.  And random Thursdays.  These have held up well don't you think?  These roses are much better looking in person as this is one of those unedited camera phone shots.  And honestly they are more like "Boy , are YOU Sorry" flowers as I have been SUCH a grump lately.  It is not even the end of January and I already feel thwarted by Father Time vs. my "list of Big Things to Accomplish". 

Maybe it is because we have add some snow/ice storms and in DC that causes absolute pandemonium with less than 2 inches of precipitation. (Schools closed, grocery stores bare.) So my schedule gets knocked all a kilter. 

Maybe at almost 50 I should realized that a schedule is only an OUTLINE of what I want to get done when, so I shouldn't be shocked, SHOCKED, when things don't go according to plan.  How is it though that I seem to get every one's "things" done but not my own?  So, of course, most other folks think I am a model of efficiency.   Except for I am thinking the aforementioned darling husband, who tends to get lumped into the "my" category and of course gets slighted also.

Am thinking I need to do something about that.  Perhaps a date night is in order...

Nothing like a deadline!

Nothing like a deadline to get you motivated! Falls Church Arts is sponsoring a show called Passport to the World. The show is opening is this weekend http://www.fallschurcharts.org for details. The drop-off day was Tuesday between 6 & 9. When did I frame my piece? Tuesday at 3:30 of course. Eek, nothing like living on the edge. But hey, at least I finished my piece! And I liked the way it turned out. This was one of the few times that my sketch ended up looking like the finished result. Mostly I suppose because there are no wayward faces or crazy hairstyles to get distracted by in this one.

I am trying to make 2011 a "concentrate on your art" year. I feel like I spent FAR too much time last year reacting to things instead of pro-actively doing my own work. The conundrum is of course, making art is rejuvenating while working on spreadsheets? Aaah, not so much in the soul restoring category. For me at least. I am sure there are a lot of folks out that that feel restored by the symmetry of Excel but for me it is a necessary evil. When I am working on paperwork it helps to think of the beach. Like all my hard work will some day earn me waterfront! Took this shot the last time I was in Lewes, Delaware.

Had a wonderful weekend at the store. Friday was our FIRSTfriday Open House of course. Ended up staying later than normal as a patron lost their car keys! Eek. Crisis averted as they were found. Saturday and Sunday were encouraging for this fretful "Wonder waht the year will bring?" owner. Very encouragingly we sold SEVEN paintings on Saturday and Sunday. None of them were huge pieces but it was nice to see folks supporting "my" artists!

What else is new and exciting? I have about twice as much energy as I did six months ago. I think my chronic neck problems are being assuaged by the ancient art of acupuncture! It is quite thrilling to being able to work at tasks (like typing this entry) and not having my back lock up so I can't move onto the next thing. Three cheers for Joanne!