St Paul Art crawl a success!

Despite the uncooperative weather, I had a great weekend having my studio open for the art crawl. I know "the numbers" were down compared to some other years, but I thought traffic flow was respectable. Some of the weekend highlights:

• My friends and family who came by the studio. Thank you for coming!
• Both my kids insisting that I not sell the paintings I created when they were young. I guess they will be their inheritance one day. (No worries--no paintings sold, but I wasn't expecting that)
• One woman who told me she came to my building because she liked the image of my work that was printed in the catalogue. Also the thank you from the woman who appreciated my artist statement. It's nice when you put yourself out there and people notice (favorably).
• All of the wonderful conversations I had with different folks. It was encouraging and energizing.
• The thrill of selling the cards I made (featuring prints of my artwork) and my candle holders. It was nice that they were so well received.
• And last, but not least, the incredible support of my husband--who helped me set up and sat with me all those hours at the crawl. Thank you.

I'm glad I did the crawl and I look forward to participating in the fall crawl--the second weekend in October. Hope to see you there!

Art Crawl prep

My working space at the studio

One of my favorite new works

Very busy week here. I am preparing to open my art studio for the St. Paul Art Crawl this coming weekend. (For more details about the crawl, check this out.) Sunday and Monday I painted the walls of the entryway to the studio. I definitely prefer painting canvases over walls. Painting walls is so much harder on your body and definitely not as good for this soul. Still it was nice to finish that project. Since Joel & I live in an apartment, our daily living space is all white or off-white walls. I hate that. Painting the studio was my opportunity to put some vivid color up on the walls. And since it was the studio, I picked more intense, get-my-creative juices-flowing colors...shades of bluish-purple and fuchsia. I love spending time in my artist-cave (my version of the "man-cave").


Now that the walls are all painted, I can focus on getting the artwork up on the walls and making everything neat and tidy.


You're welcome to stop by and take a look. I'll be taking pics to share later, but I would love to see family and friends walk through the door.

See you then!

Spring

For those who are tired of the cold, winter-like weather in APRIL,

For those who are weary from toiling over last minute tax returns,

For those who dread another Monday, I offer these images.

Peace.

Opening Day pics

Just thought I'd share a few pics from the opening day of the Twins season. The weather was nasty, but the game was delightful. Unfortunately, the 3 since haven't been so lovely. Yup, we won that first one, but lost the next season. No reason to get to worked up about it at this point--there are 158 more games to go!

We went to today's afternoon game and the weather was splendid. Even this loss wasn't so bad...it was a fun game to watch!

Tomorrow I'll be up close and personal with the Twins at their Welcome Home luncheon. Let's see how brave I am about taking pics! I told Joel to be on his best behavior or I'm sitting at a different table!

10 pounds

A brief break from the baseball season to share that I have lost another pound for a total loss of 10 lbs (10.6 to be exact, but who's counting ounces? ME!) The weight is coming off slowly, but at least it is coming off. I don't feel yet that I can see/feel the loss, but I know that will come with time. I have been very, very good...not even indulging in a hot dog at the season's first game (they really aren't that great of hot dogs). Now with the warmer weather on its way (I hope) I will be able to get outside to do more walking.

I'm off to another baseball game tomorrow afternoon. I am very thankful for baseball under the dome this week. Friday Joel and I are attending the Twins Welcome Home luncheon in St. Paul. Check out my baseball blog for all the details.

Small town childhood memories

This weekend I went to visit my mom and we spent the afternoon watching the MN State Boys Basketball tournament. In particular, we watched my old hometown--Ellsworth--win their second consecutive state title. That's Ellsworth, MN not Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Not only did the Panthers win the title, their star player, Cody Schilling, became the new state record holder in scoring in boys basketball. I went to grade school with his dad.

Not bad for a town with graduating classes no larger than 30 kids. (To read a nice feature story about Schilling's and mine small home town click here.)

Random information, perhaps. But thinking about Ellsworth conjures up many pleasant memories of my childhood. It's a tiny, tiny town located in extreme SW Minnesota. It really is a Minnesota version of Mayberry. My family moved to the town several years before I was born. The year I was born, 1960, my parents moved the family into a rambler that they had built. Hardwood floors. Huge basement. Even bigger backyard and an empty lot between us and the next house.

My family moved to Ellsworth because my father was the representative for the local power company (Interstate Power). That gained us some notoriety in town, because we were the house everyone called when the power went out. My mom took a lot of stupid calls while my dad was out working in the storm (like how do I heat up my baby's bottle...you still have hot water, duh).

It was an idyllic childhood. Everyone knew everyone...in a way that seemed good in my childhood. It was safe to ride my bike anywhere...and for fun on a Friday night, I would ride my bike a mile out of town, cross the state line...just for the thrill of answering the question "where'd you go?" with a simple "Iowa" when I got home. My mom would frequently send me "uptown" to pick up a few things needed for a meal...the grocery store owner knew me, of course (he was a neighbor), and whatever I bought was simply put on credit. Oh, and you always got to pick out a few things from the HUGE penny-candy box.

We left Ellsworth in early 1973 when my dad's health forced him to retire at the ripe old age of 45. We moved to another small town, Eden Valley, to be closer to family. But the ties to Ellsworth remained. My three older siblings graduated from Ellsworth and two of them married high school sweethearts.

A few years ago, Joel and I passed through Ellsworth on a road trip. We went by my old house, which now of course, looks so much smaller.

I love the city, but sometimes I miss that small-town atmosphere. It was a good childhood, riding my bike through the streets of Mayberry...I mean, Ellsworth.

Take me out to the ballpark

The sun is shining. Yes!

I am very excited, because today I start my spring break vacation. Our agency closes for spring break and so everyone there is off this coming week! (that decision to return to work there is looking good right now!)

So what am I going to do?

In a word: Baseball.

The Twins opener is Monday night and Joel and I will be there! And we'll be there on Tuesday night and Thursday afternoon as well. We're ready to go with our new Twins jerseys and our new Twins seat cushions. I expect that all the tension in my body will evaporate once my body steps into the stadium.

I am still a tad upset that my man Santana won't be on the mound Opening Day (or ever), but of course, I'll give the new guys a chance. And hey, as an added bonus, Torii Hunter's new team (Angels) is the team we're facing, so we'll get to see the man cover centerfield as always. I hope his bat is cold, but I'll cheer for him anyways.

Other than that, I'll be relaxing and spending time at the art studio.

And just a warning: if you don't see me posting here, you may catch me blogging at my baseball blog (see side link). I've been neglecting that blog during the offseason, but no longer!

So have a good week everyone and let's hope the sun continues to shine!