ZNE is here!

Hi all,
Yeahhhh, I made it to the Marriot Pleasanton hotel and then zipped over to the Studio 7 art gallery where the ZNE registration began.
Chel (she's the one in the yellow and white) is the ZNE creator and she is sooooo organized!
We all received huge goodie bags and fun stuff and we enjoyed the most beautiful and delicious chocolate bon bons!!!!
Wonderful guitar player and singer, John Troast, was there to serenade us all as we walked
around the gallery and got to know all the other artists and ZNE attendees.
Then a bunch of us jaunted down the street to a local shop and spent our 5$ gift certificate. Of course, most of us spent more then the 5$, lol.
And the best part of all for me is that I got to meet my etsy forum friend Pam Carriker in person!
She is as sweet and wonderful as I thought she would be :)
Tomorrow starts our workshops with a group of amazing artists (photo below shows 8 of the instructors).
I am taking a class from Anna Corba. I even brought her book along with me so I can get her to sign it. And then the next day I am taking a class from Brandi on creating backgrounds for collaging etc.
The classes will be all day, with a lunch break, so we'll all be pretty tired I'm sure by the end
of the day, but oh so inspired too!
Oh! the only bad part of the day? My car started acting strange after the registration, but happily got me back to the hotel.
So tomorrow, I have to call AAA to come tow it to the autoshop!
Happily, the hotel has a shuttle to take us all to the convention center for our classes so I'm trying not to stress out about it and to just think about the art!!!! lol

Hope you enjoyed the photos, and I'll keep you all posted on all the fun as the days go along.

talk to you soon,
deborah

Journey to ZNE !

Hi all,
Well, I am off to Pleasanton for
the ZNE paper arts convention!! Yippeeeee!
Tonight is the opening meet and greet at a local art gallery and then
thursday and friday I am taking two all day classes on learning
how to make backgrounds for collaging and also learning how to
use beeswax in my art, so I am sooo excited.
Saturday and Sunday is open to the public and there will be
booths selling ephemera and crafts etc.
There will also be make and take 1 hour classes that anyone can
sign up for and I will be teaching 4 classes on making my petite
tussie mussies.
I also get to meet fellow artists and one of my etsy friends, Pam,
will be flying in to teach also so it will be fun.
I will be blogging every day to let you see all the happenings so
stay tuned for ZNE mania, lol.

talk to you soon,
deborah

My daily walks

Hi all,
I guess the title should really say "my once a week walk, or my whenever I
get around to it walk, but that's not the point of this post, lol.
I just thought I'd show you a little peek at what I see every time I take a walk, however often that is.
It's the trail that leads around my house. And this little building is the water
well shed.
I finally got around to painting a garden mural on the blank wall and soon will plant a few lavender plants in front of the mural as soon as the weather settles down.
The water fountain statute was given to me from a friend and it just brings
such a smile to my face as I stroll by on my exercise regime.
It too will be filled with flowers soon.

Any hoo, that's all I wanted to say and thought you might enjoy a little peek of my occasional trek around the trail.

Talk to you soon,
deborah

Today is Etsy day!!!

Hi all! Today is etsy day and all us etsy members
are proclaiming to the world that we love etsy!
For those of you who don't know what etsy is, it's a
online site that sells handmade crafts and art as well
as photographs and supplies and more!

I have a shop on etsy named starrydeborah and it is
so much fun!
So, if you have never checked out the site of etsy or are just now hearing about it, hop on
over there and check it out. You will be amazed at all the wonderful talented artists there.

Go etsy!!!!

Romance alert!

Hi all,
I just received my latest edition of Victoria magazine and there's an article in it featuring
a book called "Wedding days: When & How Great Marriages Began" and I have to share
a paragraph from it. It just touched my heart so deeply and being the hopeless romantic that
I am, even brought tears to my eyes.
Be careful, it might do the same to you :)

In 1644, the English statesman and writer Sir Richard Fanshawe married Anne Harrison
in Oxford, England. After King Charles was beheaded in 1649, the Fanshawes sided with
the Royalists until Sir Richard was captured by Oliver Cromwell's troops and imprisoned
at Whitehall in 1651. Rain or shine, Anne stood beneath her husband's prison window every
morning at 4 o'clock, which was the only time they could see each other for months, until
she won his release. It rained a lot that year, and Anne later recalled how the rain went in
at her neck and came out by her heels. Eventually, she wrote her memoirs about their life
together. This is what she said about Richard, more than 350 years ago:

"Glory be to God, we never had but one mind throughout our lives. Our souls were
wrapped up in each other's, our aims and designs one, our loves one, and our
resentments one. We so studied one the other, that we knew each other's mind by
our looks. Whatever was real happiness, God gave it me in him."









Have a romantic weekend,
deborah

white roses

Hi all,
Today I am in a white rose mood.
Of course, I am always in a white rose mood, because they are my favorite flower.
If I were rich, I would have a bouquet of fresh white flowers in each of room of my house! Even the bathroom!
There is just something so elegant and pure about the layers of white petals.

Ahhhh, what a lovely mood to be in.

talk to you soon,
deborah

Paris doors.....

Hi all,
Last week, one of my most fav blogs, ask Kari & Kijsa, had a door party.
It was called "doors to adore" and it was so inspiring to see how everyone's door decor
was so unique.
Some of the doors were simple and sweet, some elegant and grand but all were
beautiful and artistic.
Of course, it got me to thinking about my own front door which is soooooo not appealing
and to tell you the truth I have been pondering for awhile on how I can turn it into something
wonderful to greet my guests too, instead of the drab grey metal covered with old yellowing tape left over from christmas decorations decor!! lol
Of course, my soon to be lovely door will have a french flair and lots of ohhh la la.
But until then, I thought I'd show you some of the doors I took photos of when I was
in Paris France.
Talk about doors with flair! And along with that flair is so much history, I can just imagine
the tales these doors would tell if they could talk.

So enjoy the Parisian
doors and don't forget
to check out
the"doors to adore" link.

And, I'll soon have my own door to adore and I'll be sure to show it to you as my first guests!


talk to you soon,
deborah

Corner in your world?

Hi all,

I just ran across this photo today and it amused me so much, that I had to share with you.
My mind started to create a whole scenario on who this woman is and what she does for a living.
Is she an artist?
Is she a writer?
Maybe she's finally cleared out this little corner in the midst of chaos and has started her own "get organized website" lol.
Maybe she's a hermit who never leaves home?
Maybe this is the only place in her life where she
can get away from stress.
Maybe she is buying plane tickets to Europe for a month long adventure?

I told you the list is endless!

What do you think she is doing?

talk to you soon,
deborah

Getting my art work "out in the real world"

Hi all,

Today I took a few of my mixed media collages to a local bead shop that is in the process of starting an art gallery to go along with their bead store.

I brought in a large and a medium work and then some smaller pieces, along with one painting.

The owner seemed to like what I brought and said no one else had brought in collages yet, so I
took that as a good sign. I like bringing art work to people that they are not familiar with and the owner thought so too.
The shop is wanting to bring more local artists into their store and will be doing a feature table on each individual artist as the month progresses. Along with advertising and such, I think it would be a nice opportunity to get my art "out there" into the real world, lol.

The only drawback is that they want a 60/40 commission and that is difficult for me to go along with, because I already don't make a very big profit on my art work as it is and this would really bring my profit down to miniscule!
But on the other hand, like I said previously, it would get my collages in the publics eye, so......

For me, and for many artists, the business side of being an artist is frustrating and some times discouraging.
And it can put us into a creative slump because we start second guessing our artistic talent.
Thoughts like "maybe I should just give up this art stuff" or "who would want to buy something I created" etc. run frantically through our fragile artists spirits.
I'm thinking that these thoughts have invaded every creative persons thoughts, whether you are a writer or musician, artist or inventor.
It is all a part of being creative and sharing with the world what we love.
So, with that said, lol,
I will venture on with my "art career", for to stop being an artist would be like cutting off my arm or leg. It would impare me beyond imagination and cause me much sorrow.
And whether or not my art work sells is really not the issue, the issue for me is what brings me joy?
What can I bring to this world that will also bring a feeling of hope, peace and imagination to others.
I want my legacy to be one of joy and passion.

How about you, what can you bring to this world and when you bring it forth does it edify others and make them hopeful?
I pray with all my heart that it does.

talk to you soon,
deborah