Shutter Happy

I've been so super busy, I haven't had too many opportunities to take out the film camera (or any camera...) just to take some shots. My new Nikon film camera must feel very neglected. Usually this time of year I have the camera by my side, everywhere I go.

I haven't been too shutter happy lately, but I have been in a few photos taken by others. I taught a class and one of my favorite authors registered.  If you haven't read "Hope for the Flowers", I strongly recommend making the purchase.

Over the weekend I met up with a few friends at Double Trouble State Park to enjoy the gorgeous weather.  Though the photo doesn't show any smoke, most of the pictures taken that day involved a "Smoke bomb", something I'm really excited to start using in my own photography.

These two girls I sit with make up most of the band Mantis Toboggan MD, and they're playing at the Saint on the 21st with Bone and Marrow. Don't miss it!

Oh shucks Tri-town News!

I had heard from a few different sources, one of which was one of my students, that I was in the local newspaper, so I picked one up and realized I was on the front cover!

Though I should save it in a file somewhere, it's going to stay in my studio until things calm down and I'm not so insanely busy. Sadly, the ukulele has also been neglected these days.

Bugs, Art, and Music

Today marks the beginning of hell week- I teach two classes back to back on weekends, and have a few weeknights lined up. I taught the art of pysanky this morning at a bug museum, and a few friends took the class, whom I'll also be playing a show with tonight. To stage the picture below, I sat down with a snake in one hand and a tarantula in the other immediately following the class I had just instructed.  Bassist and saw player, Cody McCory,  sat next to me and I said, "Ya know, I think my life isn't that bad." It was so funny how we had at one moment been dying eggs and the next we were taking pictures with bugs and reptiles to promote a show later that night. 

Two words; weird day.

Pysanky at the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors

I was in high school the first time I ever heard the name Alex Grey. I bought up every book I could find about his artwork. I've been moved by his work for over a decade now; a print of his hangs over our bed. Daimon and I would go into New York City to participate in a few events at the COSM, and then they moved out to the country, which is what brings me to writing this blog post. 

I was invited back to the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in Wappingers Falls NY to teach pysanky for a second spring in a row.  The class was packed, and for the first time since I've been teaching the art form, it was an equal distribution of men and women! There were plenty of patterns to look at in the space for inspiration. 

I was able to stay in one of their rooms, but I couldn't have imagined how beautiful, peaceful and unique my room would be. They called it "The Pyramid Room". It was perfect for one.

A few friends took the class and stayed for the lecture after the workshop. The lecture was very inSIGHTful since the lecturer was an optometrist who practices chinese medicine.

After the lecture, we saw some interesting wooden shapes by the fireplace, the positives of these shapes were being used in a project, but the negative shapes were too interesting to not play with.  I brought one home to keep. It looks like a crop circle carved from wood.

This reference is going to be perfect for my next pysanka.

http://cosm.org

Performances you won't want to miss!

There's some great shows coming up. If you live in the central/southern areas of New Jersey you might see these flyers around.

The Madness of March

March is crazy because of how busy I've become with pysanky classes. When registration opens for any given class, the class maxes out in an hour. It's amazing; every venue has been so excited to see such an interest from their members or customers. 

Here's a picture from one of my classes at Jerry's Artist Outlet in West Orange NJ.

The backseat of my car had bags and bags of donations for Ocean's Harbor House, so I spent a whole afternoon last week organizing their arts and crafts area.  Not only are the bins finally labeled and old supplies have been tossed, but each of the bins have instructions and a pack of information if someone wanted to learn a skill such as knitting or embroidery.  The youth shelter has received some very expensive, really good supplies and the youth deserve to have easy access to those tools when they are feeling creative.

My students in Art History have been learning about the Baroque art movement, and for the first time since I've been teaching at the school I taught an experimental drawing materials workshop, so they could get messy with the vine charcoal, chalk and other materials.  Both of my classes were amazed that a kneaded eraser could be so clay-like. A few of my students were so messy and challenging each other to high-fives. 

While it's been a very rewarding, very busy month so far, encouraging others to create their own work, I have had some time work on my own. This is an egg I'm planning to give away to the farmer who always thinks of me when he has a few goose eggs to spare. Though it's one of my favorites, I'm happy to give it to someone so generous. 

A purchase I'm excited about

Look!! A bookshelf!

I purchased this bookshelf from IKEA because my art classroom needs some new storage and I wanted to use my small bookshelf for that purpose. Now I have this "dream-come-true" bookshelf with all my books in one place. Seriously, I imagined this day for many years, I should've purchased one years ago. Honestly, I'm just as excited about another purchase I made a few days ago; a rainbow prism for the window. It's amazing how intense some of the rainbow beams are in the morning. It's in the perfect spot. 

My furry child is so photogenic. I think he appreciates the rainbow maker too!

Only $20 at this link, here.