My very first tat!

Go to my facebook page to see this beautiful tat on the lovely Jana Jennings! These photos dont do it justice at all!
I am going in for surgery Thursday! Jeff will hopefully update my Facebook as to how Im doing so check it out! Wish me luck-OK Breathe Deeply!

Delayed!

I have vaguely been referencing an upcoming surgery-and its been delayed again! I have some problems and they want to make sure I am 100% before I undergo this! The deets are I have been diagnosed with Carcinoid Syndrome which in me means I have several large tumors in my liver-that was what all the sickness was from last year. I found one of the best doctors in this specialty at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles-turns out hes a calligrapher! Dr. Wolin has recommended I undergo a liver resection to take out the tumors. they may have been there for years. His surgery guy is Dr. Nissen and I believe I am very lucky to be in his hands. I also love that the symbol for this cancer is the Zebra-and the ribbon for this is zebra striped! I will be in the hospital for a week and recuperating for a month or two after-so the sabattical Idea was wise! These tumors are very dormant and not a spreading type-but the surgery will be major and about 8-10 hours-yikes!
Ive heard Cedars has good food though! ( not that I'll be able to eat it for awhile!)
I thank you for all the good wishes and prayers and cards and letters-I know I am loved and I love you all too. I have so so many blessings. I will try to update this blog at the hospital-no promises-but for sure my son will post on my Facebook page!

Oh Oh-and grand news-I was just photographed for the LA Weekly magazine with Jose Martinez ( Steam) at Homeland about the graffitti /calligraphy program we are starting up-I have NO IDEA when this will be coming out-I hope to be able to pass this on to you-but just in case-keep your eyes peeled!

friend links

ok-I said that I would post Martha and Janells websites but dumb blogger wouldnt let me
Its
Martha Lever www.marthalever.blogspot.com
and
Janell Wimberly www.jkwimberlydesign.com

these are two incredibly talented gals-uh I mean artists and they are just as wonderful in person as their work portrays!

Sorry!

I have to apologize to the artists of the last post-I placed their art works askew-here are two finished projects
the last photo is from the fabulous Martha Lever-her finished quilt-Ive posted her website on the right-there are many pics of the workshop and a video of her backgrounds-she was wonderful!

ANd the first three photos are Janell Wimberlys-she took the Book of Intentions to the next level creating a lovely book for her late friend Terry Porter amazing-go now to her website to see the entire book! Listed at right!

Im off to hospital adventures this week-surgery is Wednesday - I promise to update my blog and Facebook as to my progress-even if it is my son doing the posting!-more to come tomorrow

Birmingham!

Wonderful Alabama! My last away teaching gig for a while and what a wonderful one to go out on! I stayed with the best host and hostess-Deb and Doug Warnat and started my weekend at Moe's Barbeque-we met Kalli Kenney there and closed the place playing with pens and ink!!-you'll have to go to my Flickr to see these places. The weather was beautiful and the workshop the next two days was great! The work produced was amazing-and I had artists from all over-and all media. Sandra and Judy from Memphis and Martha and Patrea from Florida! What an honor that they drove so far to take from me-We went to Dayrons Low Country restaurant and enjoyed local cuisine-It was such a great night and I discovered Hoppin John and Reesy Peasy. On the Sunday night after the workshop Deb brought me to the most beautiful choral concert by the Sursum Corda vocal group-Jewish Liturgical songs-but the theme this evening was thanksgiving. It was so neat-I so wish my mom and Kristin couldve been there! I LOVE choral music-especially in a beautiful church with awesome acoustics!I will so miss meeting these amazing people and I have to thank everyone who haas hosted me and taken a workshop from me and supported my art-Im off to new adventures! Im so excited! ( I will have a brief detour of major surgery on Wednesday but more on this later!)

Incredible Dallas Retreat!

Yes there are many many pictures of this long weekend with the Kaligrafos group in Dallas! It was fantastic-I know I use aLOT of superlatives-but this was an amazing weekend. I was whisked to a retreat center in Richardson-which is still pretty much in the city altho you wouldnt know it when you are there. I have posted 330 pictures of this place and these people and their wonderful works. The subject was the Book of Intentions and the solutions were as varied and beautiful as all the participants. As you can see from the pictures the retreat was on a pond-this is the view from my room-a most excellent hotel room with all the amenities. there were walking trails and trees and turtles and coyotes -oh my! Jeri Wright and Donna Sabolovic were the masterminds of the retreat-and every detail was taken care of -from yummy meals and full on breakfasts with eggs!-thank you Thomas and Paula and Brenda and all who contributed. We decorated coffee mugs for an exchange-I got my Strawberry fields mug I had my eye on by the oh so talented Janell Wimberly.
We had personalized aprons and wooden name plates with our name in wire! on our room doors-thanks Debbie and all who helped-they were neato. There were flowers on our beds and treats and candy at every turn-oh and the calligraphy! and the paintings-we had many laughs and the team went for all my silly requests-those lists I hope are on fridges all over texas! Please go look at these pictures-and be sure to check out on page 14 Rick Garlington's incredible hand carved stamps-the details on these were so incredible-and then he stamped these on fabric! It was a really super event-I loved the texas hospitality and the members were all very inspiring to me-I surely will miss this next year!!
BUT I still have four more events this year-the OC's Bali Lantern class this weekend-go to www.societyforcalligraphy.org if you can be spontaneous! Then I'll be in Alabama next weekend! a Parallel pen mini workshop Thanksgiving weekend and then the mighty Graffitti Collab with my girls Alisa Burke and Traci Bautista Dec. 4, 5th and 6th at the Art Bar in Santa Ana-more on this soon-I will post a link to this event on the blog too!
Oh and the last night in Texas-after the most beautiful weather it really rained-and we went to wonderful Mexican Restaurant-La Hacienda!!
Thank you all for making me feel sooo welcome

My Kentucky trip!

At Last -back to the blogosphere-I have been so busy lately -I havent been able to get down to this-I HAVE posted the pictures of this wonderful trip-but I want to tell you about it all! Please go to my Flickr account to see these lovely pieces form this talented group-link on lower right-It says Flickr and some numbers
I was met at the airport by Paula Hardesty-look for her teaching her soldering tricks at Artiscape come spring-and wisked way to Gaye Medbury's ( also teaching book structures at artiscape) amazing and I mean AAmazing studio-I was in shock and didnt take any pictures-but check her out in Studios magazine-it was overwhelming-everywhere I looked there was inspiration-there were stations for metal/collage/art-and drawers and drawers of buttons and doodads too many to mention-but -heres the rub-it was all impeccably organized-wowee! I could live there forever-just throw me some food now and then-Fabric/ assemblage-oh my!
Then off to the location of the workshop where we met Leslie Mc Carthy who owns the cutest darn fabric shop for Miles-Its called Making Ends Meet-( and its offshoot-Making Ends Meet Too)I have some pics of the shop up-I stayed at her house-well-it is a farm she lives on and the house was sooo beautiful-of course the window treatments and all beds and sofas covered in dreamy fabrics and the trims! I woke up to overlooking the acreage-it was a bit cool for me there-Jeff and Leslie Made me feel so at home-the weekend flew by! The workshop was wonderful-I met a few people there I knew from Art Unraveled-Marilyn-! found out we were both friends of the Kurutz's! and went to their wedding in LBC! Susan and m any more new friends! Wonderful work and the nicest people-I am truly going ot miss the people when I stop teaching. OK_ Morelater- There is so much to tell-Graffitti Collab is on and I will post about that and oh yeah the Dallas Retreat whoa! WIll blog bout this imminently! Thank you Louisville and the Kentuckianians!!!

Back from Canada!

Beautiful British Columbia! I am so happy to have visited this beautiful place! I was again treated like a queen-special thanks to my helpers-and hosts-First I stayed in Vancouver at the lovely home designed and decorated so artfully by architect/artist Maureen Berris! Violet Smythe organized this workshop and wow-was it wonderful-everything I needed and wanted was there for me-ready to go!The West Coast guild is just filled with wonderful people! I again have posted their work on my flickr-but of course I goofed and loaded the last slides first-so they are in backwards!- I am never ever used to the incredible talent that I get to see working and producing such beautiful stuff-Inspiring me !
I then went by ferry ( fantastic!) to Vancouver island-where the beautiful Lorie Rogers got me-=and we went to the Crow and Gate pub in t he middle of nowhere-=a wonderful pub and garden where we met Marilyn Silver-then on to my lecture-which went really well!
Barb Qualley hosted me and Connie Furgason in her lovely home right next to the bay-and yippee we went on a boat ride commandeered by her able husband Stew-we went right at dusk and grilled lamb kebobs on the boat. I cant describe to you the beauty of this place-so quiet and peaceful and the incredible hospitality!
the Warmland calligraphers were so much fun-I really enjoyed them all-thank you for bringing me to your lovely 'warm' land-a little bit hot the first day!! Check out the classwork!
But good! so I was off to another ferry-this time to Tuwassen? where Violet met me again and hosted me for the night-then a quick but great tour of Richmond and the pretty town of Steveston- AND the Olympic Oval-thats me above there!-a fantastic all green structure where the ice speed skating will be held-I went crazy for the Olympic pins-and the mascot is really really cute! Quatchi? I think?
So Im back-reaclimating myself to Socal-I tell you-if they didnt have winter there in BC Id think about moving there!

Next up is Louisville, Kentucky!
Oh and they have TWO SPOTS OPEN! contact Paula at hardesty4@mac.com -Its the weekend of the 17th of October and there will be one day of funky letters and one day of letters on fabric... sweeet!-A Lot of fun! Im down to my last few teaching gigs and its somewhat bittersweet-I'll miss the teaching part -seeing the artists work-but im so excited about the future!

Oh and guess what -don't spread this around-well I guess you can and I wish you would!-its not totally official but my Graffitti COLAB with Alisa Burke and Traci Bautista may be happening in Dec at the Art Bar. A total weekend immersion in all things graffiti-creating a super cool messenger bag, portfolio, accessories and more- A live art event open to the public, creativity talks etc etc...

OK_must rest-Im working on my Ofrenda-altar-for my dad for the Dia de Los Muertos event coming up-will post pics sunday! Im gonna really try to be more consistent with this!

Let's Burn!

Ah-A little less than a month since my last post! It has been a crazy month to say the least-medical tests and procedures, travel and Thursday my dad passed away! Enough of this! I was sucked into the pictures of the latest Burning Man-I am planning on going next year-Im recruiting you to join me! I want to do a collage/calligraphy/art camp of some kind and I want to have lots of participants! If you don't know what Burning Man is here is a website to see the latest in pictures-looks cool eh?? Oh you just have to go once in your life-the website for pics is http://www.theblight.net/09/bm/
Im off to Canada Friday-then Kentucky and Dallas-whew-
The Book proposal is in finally-Im hoping to seriously start in November-AND I have a great idea for another book! Who knew I would be an author?
Oh and a couple new classes' work has been posted to my flickr site-there's a nifty link on the right that will take you right there-check it out!
The Man burns in 355 days!

ART UNRAveled

Man was it hot in Phoenix! ABout 114 degrees is all. But my little camry ran like a top and it was a beautiful road trip to the Embassy Suites . My classes were again amazing-I use that word a lot I know but I keep getting these artists in my classes that surprise me beyond belief-Check out the pics on my Flickr link. The vendor extravaganza was so much fun-seeing friends and meeting new ones-thanks to all who supported this starving artist! Well you know what I mean-I appreciate your support beyond words!
The last night I was there Some Guy-the mastermind behind the 1000 Journals Project presented his documentary-Its on Netflix-rent it! What a crazy story of desire and madness and communal art. He brought about 20 of the real journals that have found their way back home so we got to see them and ...yes WRITE in them! Tracy Moore is one of the movies stars.
I have the utmost respect for this project and Id liek to do something big like this on my sabbatical next year!
Today Barb Close and I took Yves Leterme-yes that Yves Leterme to the Sawdust festival in Laguna Beachand had really good conversations about creativity-commerce and being an artist. He is a great guy-and incredibly talented!
Here's some pics of Art Unraveled stuff

Iron and Ink

OK_ a little tired here-heres the pics of Iron and INk! I apologize to my friend Andy Marsh and Eric Jones for not formatting their photo-go to the Flicker and see how neato this event was-so many cool cars, babes and dudes tatted up-burlesque-art-Super cool tat artists-three floors full!

Phoenix here I come

Ack-still no consistency of posts on this blog-I apologize-Life is just happening so fast right now!
Monday I have a gigundo scan with a radioactive isotope injected in me and then pictures taken -at 8 and 24 hours-Its so expensive they wont tell me how much it is!!
But that should be the definitive one-and Im feeling fine now-well not exactly now because I have to be off my meds for the scan-but by the time Im in Phoenix for art unravelled I should be golden!
Here are some pics- Idyllwild pics-go to my Flickr site for more of this!the class was amazing

from the blackbook sessions -a wonderful program that gives awards to kids for their lettering art-
This was an incredibleevent

So Many things to catch up on!

At last Im grabbing some time to blog a bit-I wanted to catch up on my latest adventures-most adventures lately have been with doctors and tests-but its turning out ok-pretty serious but ok! It has certainly puts everything in perspective though and that is such a great gift. Thank you to all of you that have wished me well-I know its because of these positive vibes I have been able to get through this!
I just returned from the mountaintop retreat in Idyllwild and I will blog soon about this
but I wanted to get things up here that happened a month ago! ( Or More!)
First-Tamaras commission-I feel turned out wonderfully-Here are the finished pieces and close ups!

STILL HERE!

I PROMISE Italy photos are coming-a half hearted attempt the other day. Thanks to all that have inquired about it and sent me good wishes-those dang doctors and their tests! Dont they know Ive got alot of stuff to do? Oh well-Ive just been enjoying life and living stress free-sort of and savoring every moment and kitties and sweet peas and sunsets and good friends. please check the Flickr in a few days-hopefully there will be more to see-only 588 photos to go! Heres a pic of me at the Trajan column and Kris with gladiators and at the vatican!

LETTERS OF JOY AND SEATTLE GOODNESS!

Here are just a taste of the work that the amazing Washington Calligraphers and artists did in my classes-To experience all the work Please go to my Flickr site-you will be so inspired! The workshop was a two day affair and was the Hand Lettered Art Quilt-this was after my keynote speech at Letters of Joy entitled Acts of Hope. ( I will be repeating this lecture in Canada this fall-more info later) AND after a whirl wind day of 2 hour classes-I taught funky fill in letters and did it ever get wild in there! I wanted to sit down and draw and color-but the ideas people came up with are totally worth a visit to the Flickr site. I stayed with Sue and Jerry Gruhn who unfailingly helped me get my bags and act together and special thanks to Wendy for tech aid!!The campus was filled with little Notices all over-even the restrooms. The prompt was Notice...( fill in the blank) Some people put Notice you are here-Notice the grass-Notice the sound of the raindrops!etc.
A very good thing to think about it all-to notice it all.
OK_Italy will start to load in tonight-I have 842 pictures to go through-so it may be awhile! Im going thru a battery of medical tests too to find out why I am sick I hope-so will see how fast I can get those up
Thanks to all the Staff at Letters of Joy for making my experience very memorable!

Kalamazoo and the return from Italy!

HELLO!
I'm back from cross the pond-recovering slowly. I had a bit of bad luck health wise-but more about that adventure later! In the past month I went to Kalamazoo, Seattle for Letters of Joy-home for a day and then on to Italy-BUT I have the most wonderful pictures to show you from Kalamazoo-where I was treated like a queen-I stayed with Judy Bruzza in her lovely lovely home and went out to the best restaurants in K town every night-wow-what a job!! Thanks so very much to Susan K and Karen Vosburg for sherpa-ing me-Please go see these pictures on my flickr-link on the right-also Judy and Susan's beautiful church where art is everywhere!!