HE(ARTS) FOR HAITI FUNDRAISER this Sunday

This Sunday Im participating in a wonderful event here in Long Beach-CARNIVAL DEL CORAZON or Hearts for Haiti is bringing together all sorts of art, music and dance to raise funds to rebuild Haiti-funds go to the Yele Haiti Foundation. Here are my silent auction pieces-go to www.lbcreative.org. for info , times, etc. It is being held at the Hancock University which I just discovered is one of the finest design colleges in the area...ALSO a great article in the District about this org-I think its going to be aMazing for the arts here in the LBC

LETTERS CALIFORNIA STYLE!

The Society for Calligraphy hosts a conference for 100 people every year and this year I was so lucky to take a class from Judy Melvin! Here are some pics from the week-but you must go to my Flickr account to see what happened in that class-about 17 pages (I think) of wonderful stuff. This conference is so cool-only 10 teachers, 12 students max each class-we stay in hotel rooms about 100 feet from our beautiful classrooms-I think theres only a few spaces left for next year-Its always on Presidents weekend and the faculty is amazing next year-Randy Hasson, Yves Leterme, Pat Blair ( me too) Go to SocietyforCalligraphy.org if youre interested right now to sign up-this will sell out this year for sure.Oh and its held in beautiful SUNNY Southern California! The other people in the pics above are Heather Lee ( top)-who I was so lucky to sit next to, Judy Melvin and Susan Richardson-who is amazing too!!

Tattoos, Books and sales!

Hello
Im back after Letters California Style-check out the Flickr account on the right for ALL the coolest pictures! Here is a picture of my very first tattoo design on the beautiful Jana Jennings
I have big news-the Book will be coming out in Paperback-next blog! There will soon be a sale on my website and a new Etsy store! Also Graff Diversion and Watercolor Flowers book-OH SO much goodness to report-stay tuned!!

SURGERY deets-FINALLY!!

Here is a picture of my hero Dr. Nissen! ( THAT PROBABLY ISNT ME IN THE SURGERY)who on Dec 17th performed the most amazing liver surgery on me at CEDARS Sinai. The surgery was 10 hours and he removed a tumor the size of a volleyball and 99% of all the other tumors so im free and clear of all tumors!! I was in the hospital for a week-ugh and then on Christmas eve went to stay at my in laws-Anne and John-I SHOULD SAY MY ANGELS-THEY TOOK CARE OF ME AND MY EVERY WISH ( sorry- I got a new IMAC AND the caps key is close to the a! Kristin returned early rom India on New Years day and we went home-to the kitties -JEFF TOOK REALLY great care of them and the house-I AM SO BLESSED! I am now up nad about more and more every day-going to CHA for a booksigning and demo-but still use the hoverround in Ralphs-too much fun!! It has been an interesting experience to let go of all the small stuff an appreciate whats important. I am profoundly moved by your love and caring-your prayers and wishes were totally felt and appreciated-Thank you so very much and I hope to beon here moreand more to tell you of the exciting plans I have!!

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