and the winner is.....

Itchin' stitchin' 

Yes! I finally got into our cramped computer area to pull a name from a small bowl.

Itchin' stitchin' just email me at katyvkeuter (at) gmail (dot) com (spelling it out so I do not get a lot of spam mail:) 

so I know where to send your prize!!

(and thanks to all the new folks stopping by and leaving a comment I am going to check out your sites this week:)

Sorry if you are waiting for the drawing, work has gotten in the way:)  I will draw a name as soon as I get home from work today.
katy

Art hanging

I am currently hanging my artwork at full city. In honor of this hanging I am doing a postcard give-a-way!! Yes my postcards came in the mail yesterday and I now have all of my lovebird series printed.
I also will throw in some extra postcards I had made up (this is the surprise part of give-a-way:)
So come on, leave a comment so I can put you in for the drawing! Winner will be announced this Sunday 4-29-2012

I am making necklaces with some coral charms I found at a bead show I found some  info on the internet about coral and the color red......it matches so well with the intent of this necklace Now I just have to find the right clasp I don't think the one I used is quite right.


Red throughout the development of civilization has had connotations with life and those things considered sacred in some way. It has developed as synonymous with the preservation of our life force,
CORAL:  Said to calm emotions and restore harmony. 
The semi-precious stone which is a gift from our mother ocean to remind us of our eternal foundation. It is actually composed of the skeletons of little animals into reef-plant - like with hard branches. It reminds us of our bones - hard and durable. Coral teaches us form, also flow and flexibility within form. It lives and breathes in the sea but its roots are anchored in the earth. It is one of the five sacred stones of the Tibetan Buddhists, and symbolizes the energy of life force.


The fish was sacred to the Greco-Roman mythology, where it held symbolic meaning of change and transformation. 

notes (list) to self

1) remember how much you enjoyed seeing live music last week, make this a monthly event!
(sallie ford & the sound outside were so fun to see live)


2) join amanda's joy journal project


3) carry your camera with you so you can capture springtime in eugene

What are your notes to yourself this week?

vision journal

I brought myself an old book with the intention to make it into a vision journal. I picked an old storybook the story of the Wright brothers it seemed fitting they were dreamers just like me. This book I hope will help me home in on what I want to do next with my art and ideas. My big dream is to own a small shop.


To find what I want from myself for my shop I thought yes it is going to be like a self portrait my little shop will most definitely reflect who I am, also the number 12 has always been my favorite number so it was fate to find this in a magazine
I am wishing
one of my lucky pennies
oh and the airplane....yes..... taking flight my friends

my book plate

yes it will have art 

roses planted out in front of my shop

i want it to be the place that has heart

love 

ideas flowing

second book pages

secret of a happy life - noticing sunsets over the ocean and love love love

the bluebird symbolizes happiness i might paint this on a wall of the shop

and look how smart this bird is, look what he is saying

what do I want for my shop?

it to be charming

delightful

approachable (the kind of place you can linger in for hours and not feel weird)

i want it to be homey, cozy, and relaxing

and some fun in my journal, some tags that you must move to see what is behind

journal pages

Since the artfest I have decided to make journals. This is new for me, I haven't  had a journal since before a teenager. But I was so inspired by the women I met at artfest and their incredible journals and how powerful and exciting they were....yes I want in on this art action. Yesterday I went out with a friend from work and we went to a huge used book sale and I found some wonderful old books that I am going to make into a journals we decided to do a vision journal craft night (we have some others from work that want to get in on this) I am so happy about this.

artfest class #3 all a' flutter

My third and final art class was called all a' flutter taught by the incredible Mindy Lacefield
get ready for a long post:)


* I wanted to add that Mindy is teaching an online course paint your story still time until April 16th to sign up I highly recommend her as a teacher!!

above) Mindy doing her magic

below) a sweet classmate explaining her beautiful paintings(and then photos of other's artwork) we did a show and tell at the end of class

This class started out where we closed ours eyes and a beautiful young woman named Jenny (you can see her photo on Mindy's blog here)

I was so touched by Jenny's voice it was truly one of those voices that gives you chills and after she finished singing she shared a story of how for many years she didn't sing because someone had criticized her voice...it was a powerful story.


Right after this Mindy asked us to draw something from our childhood. I started drawing without really thinking about what I was drawing and before I knew it this woman came up on my paper. Here is the strange part I realized as I was drawing her that I used to draw her all the time around the age of four. Then I realized that when I was drawing her (back when I was four ) that I was drawing myself....what I was going to look like as a woman now. I was going to be wearing colorful clothes, long skirts with flowers on them and I always drew her wearing little brown boots. There she was with her crooked smile just like mine. Now here is where it gets even weirder back in November I brought myself some little brown boots for work, and I have worn them everyday since.  They make me feel great, sort of like a child might carry around a blanket.....they are such a part of me....at the artfest people kept stopping me and saying "I love your little boots." I kept responding "Thank you, me too." because I truly do! Maybe, now that I think about it they are like Dorothy's ruby reds they take me home......to me.


Anyway, I was sitting here drawing this realizing all of this and looking around the room wondering if the same thing was happening to my classmates. At lunch I shared this with my teacher she said please share all this later with the class.
I continued to work on my painting I wanted to add a bird, after all this was a class about painting birds:) 


This is my favorite painting to date. I put a pink flamingo in my painting at this age(four) this was my favorite bird I loved them and thought about them all the time. On top of it's head is a bird in leg warmers, I needed some silliness because this is a part of me too.
I have a little bit of Europe in the painting because this is also a piece of me now. Green has always been my favorite color.


I shared my painting at the end of class and couldn't help but to start to cry.....not because I was sad just the opposite, I was so happy, happy to see that the little four year artist knew who she was going to be and that she would still be smiling her crooked smile.
The other part that made me happy is that I remember drawing her hanging upside down out of the sky sometimes and once my sisters said mom katy is drawing her people upside down again and my mom said if katy wants to draw her people upside down then she can draw them upside down. She said it in that mom voice that is trying to keep the peace between kids.
But my four year old artist self smiled her crooked smile and knew she could draw however she wanted.

2nd class at artfest open up

My second class at artfest was called open up taught by the wonderfully talented Misty Mawn

I shared a table with a new friend I made(Vivian) we laughed(and laughed) and created together.


 It was a book/journal making class. At the beginning of class we had to introduce ourselves and why we here. I told my class how my best friend suzanne(sperlygirl) had introduced me to blogging years ago and that when she did one of the links she had sent me was of the artfest...this must have been six years ago. We lived in Italy together and we both had wanted to go to artfest each year. Now that I was here in the states and it was just five hours away and it was the last one how could I not go! So I went for me and for her. I think this is why I was able to take it all in and be completely present, she was there with me in spirit. I made my journal for her (suz spoiler alert ahead) I asked each person in the class to write something for her on the pages inside. 
A couple of things fell into place with this little journal. Suz loves the sea. When I lived in Portland this last summer I found this old photo of this woman standing on the beach she looked so happy and in her element it reminded me of Suz so I brought it to the artfest as a possibility that it might work on one of my projects. Then one of the women in my class francesca knew Suz from the blogging world and gave me some old book pages thinking I could use them on the journal and wouldn't you know it the first word in the pages was "Suzanne!" so of course I cut this out and put it on the book. That night after class I walked down to the beach and thought I want to find suz a shell I was thinking Sea, did you wash up any little whole shells for my friend suz, it was dark and just then I saw the outline of a little white shell so I put it in my pocket and went back to my dorm room and when I pulled it out of my pocket I noticed that there was a heart on it......how fitting since my title was The sea loved her so I stitched it right onto the book.

artfest Michelle Allen's dolls and dudes class

Dolls and dudes was my first class at the artfest and I am so happy about this. Michelle Allen had so much great energy, it was a perfect way to start off the artfest with her as my first teacher. You must check out her website she is so talented!

I made a little woman flying on a bird(1st photo in grouped shots) The laughter was loud in this class and I think when you see all the dolls and dudes that were created from my classmate's imaginations, you will understand why everyone was having such a great time. 

Super duper talented teacher, Michelle Allen

Someone in class said "I would like to hang out with these guys" 

My talented classmates

artfest

Sharing some photos of the wonderful women I met this week at the Artfest. I tried to put their blogs( I am still unpacking so when I find some more cards with their blogs I will add their links)

What can I say so much positive energy focused on creating art together! Oh, lucky me! 

from left to right
1) me and annie 2) classmate's hands during lunch break 3) kelley, karen, vivian 4) me and regina 5)late night with a very fun crowd 6) pat and jk 7) jane and me 8)sandra and me 9) jk and me 10)tammy with her art 11) regina with her art 12) irene 13) glenda
More artfest posting this week

magic

I have many photos to share during the next coming days from the artfest that I went to.
Tonight I am just posting the magic of the water that I would wander down too for a little quite moments before returning back up to the retreat for more laughter and excitement.