Painting the Art House (round 2)

Color! We need color! And dots ... and dots and more dots! With the Richfield Wednesday Farmers Market kicking off in a mere couple of weeks, we needed to spruce up our Art House. Four bottles of spray paint and two pizzas later, I'd say we did a pretty good job!

Have you ever had a spray painting experience? How'd it go? We all have new respect for graffiti artists!

Doodle Day! (round 1)

According to Merriam-Webster, a Doodle is: an aimless or casual scribble, design, or sketch. On Saturday, folks got together to try their hand at "community doodling." Though very simple, it was very addicting! We started with a blank sheet of paper and took a few seconds to do a quick scribble to get the doodle going. We then passed the paper to the next person on our right. The timer was set for five minutes and we got to drawing. When the timer dinged ... we passed the paper one to the right and started it up again. Doodle, Ding, Pass ... Doodle, Ding Pass ... on and on it went and slowly the designs started forming ... 

Keep watch for June Doodle Day!

And so the doodle starts ... 

The gang hard at work!

Amanda and Molly, sharing their work.

Bob and Judy, doodling away.

Art for the Art House!

Courtyard Cleanup - Update!

Last Saturday the weather held off just long enough for us to get our hands dirty and do some cleaning! With two strong guys to do the heavy lifting, one power saw, and one determined guy on the leaf blower we were able to stuff a dumpster full of rain-soaked tables and leaves. Now that the gunk is out, up next - the decorating!  Anyone have any ideas? How would you like to see the Art House Courtyard look?

The pink work gloves were a fashion statement ...

Just a few simple cuts ... and we're done!

Those white boards ... they were once a bookcase!

Why ... where did all that junk and leaves go?

Visual Journaling - Tearing it Up!

This weather is a bummer. It's hard to not let the grays and browns and overall dreariness of the season sink into your bones. What helps - getting together with some great, creative folks in a bright and warm room to talk art, creativity, writing, travel and visual journaling. Molly brought some of her beautiful, handmade journals to share with us and provided enough materials to get us going. The crinkle of paper and the scratching of pencils would overtake the quite of the room. Then someone would ask a question and soon paper mixed with pencils mixed with stories.

Though the weather outside was (and still is) frightful, I think it's safe to say we all left that afternoon a bit more cheery than when we woke up. I apologize for wee amount of photos ... I was a little tied up tearing pages out of an old thesaurus and playing with glue sticks!

If you missed our Visual Journaling afternoon, never fear ... more will be on the horizon!

Think Green! Tons 'o Fun ... !

What fun! Our Think Green! event was a success. We met some wonderful ladies and made some beautiful eggs. Martha Stewart did it again ... Silk Tie Dye Eggs worked like a charm. Take a peak ...

This looks about right for an artist table ... 

Silk and scissors at work!

Ladies hard at work.

The cooking station!

Drop 'em in!

Boiling in vinegar and water (a splash of vinegar ... according to Judy).

Strain 'em out.

Let 'em cool!

And unwrap!

The best part - unwrapping the eggs. You never know what you'll find!

Unwrapping ...

... the finished product!

We just had to stop for a quick coffee break.

Look at our fun, unique eggs!

Reds worked the best.

Such detail.

Swirls!

A New Coat of Paint

Hi Fellow Creatives!

March is gearing up to be a busy month for the Art House. There's open studio every Wednesday and our Think Green! event on the 23rd. It's been fun to see our building bustling! What hasn't been fun is seeing the building - dreary, dusty and a wee bit sketchy. It's nothing a fresh coat of paint can't fix!

We wrangled in some volunteers and even managed to scrap up a donated gallon of paint. Let the painting begin!!

More to come - next up, curtains!

Upcycle Valentines = Success!

We did it! Our very first event! Thank you to everyone for venturing out Saturday afternoon. With all our supplies combined, we had lots to choose from - colored paper, fun scissors, oh-so-many stickers and lots 'o yarn. Not only did we create some excellent valentines, but there were lots of ideas for future events. Stay turned, we're just getting started!

and we're off!

who wouldn't like to get this as a valentine?

a heart for you!

busy, busy, busy!

punching away

to spruce up the art house a bit

so easy and simple!

the aftermath ... !