Halloween 2011

So, for Halloween this year, I had double fun...   First, my friend and I hit the downtown streets to participate in Zombicon.  A world record was attempted to see how many zombies could show up in one place.  About 20,000 showed up.  As a "dead artist zombie", I got lots of comments with the paintbrushes in my hair and the canvas over my arm.  Everyone who attended had some sad story about how they had died.  My story was that I had inhaled too much lead based paint... a slow and painful death for an artist.

For Halloween with the girls, however, I adorned a purple wig and gold sparkling boots.  I had tried to channel Kate Pierson of the B52's, but there was no beehive wig available in Fort Myers.  I ended up being identified as some other Kate rock star girl that I don't know.  Oh well.... I do like purple.

abstract

When I'm really feeling "free to do what I want" (thanks Mick Jagger), I end up with this sort of thing....  Need to grab that "free" feeling a little more often, I think.  This weekend is the great studio clean up so there will be space to have some fun since the rain keeps coming.  Studio time + rain = ART FUN!

www.staceybrownarts.com

Davis building

I forgot to post these really great photos that I took the night of Art Walk.  This is the Sydney and Berne Davis Arts Center.  There is an amazing light source outside the building that illuminates the street, the trees, the building, the people.... and casts the Latin names of Southwest Florida's plants all over the place.  The building itself is gorgeous.  Our friend Jim Griffith has led the restoration project and now it has been transformed from the old courthouse/old post office to a beautiful art center.  You can check out their website at www.sbdac.com.  There's always something amazing going on there.  I love taking photos of the building.  It's a happy place indeed.

www.staceybrownarts.com

new jewelry display

At a shop downtown the other day... in a rare moment where I had caffeine in hand and no children in my car.... I went browsing for the first time in a long while.  I love thrift shopping.  Not only have I clothed my three kids and myself in fantastic finds from thrift stores, but I have also decorated my home and found stuff for my artwork there.  So, after staying away for a while, I returned.

 I get totally supercharged, artistically speaking, by looking around at the displays, the vintage ephemera, other people's artwork and broken, rusty stuff.  While I was there, I found this super cool printer's tray.  I've always wanted one to display my rubber stamps in the studio and have not found one at just the right price.  This one is lovely... very sturdy and the right price.  Now, it's home with me.  And, I've decided to use it to display my earrings!

I think it's super cool.  Tell me what you think?  Maybe I will put little price tags on the earrings....   Should I paint it or leave it in it's natural wooden glory?

www.staceybrownarts.com

So, we had a lot of unexpected fun at Art Walk this past Friday. I thought we'd take the usual gallery walk up and down First Street, see everyone in town and find adventures along the way. But, as it turns out, we camped out at the Sidney and Berne Davis Arts Center and never left. My groom served as host to his students' one act play... twice.... and there were three fashion shows. The girls were long and thin walking on seemingly longer and thinner heels. Beautiful ball gowns started things off and then wearable arts ensembles and painted fabric (in day glow with blacklights) followed. It was all mighty impressive for our little town. But, the real show started after the tall beauties left the stage. The short beauties (about twelve kids) who had watched admiringly in the audience took over the runway and danced and put their own spin on runway modeling to Lady GaGa and Michael Jackson tunes. I realized at that moment that what our backyard needed was simply a long runway and a set of really good backyard speakers.

dinner girls

Here's a funny snapshot of the girls and me.... Clearly, I need to get into the studio more often. We all sort of went bananas drawing on the table during our mid-week dinner out. I love seeing my girls immersed in the arts.

Definitely making some jewelry this weekend....  yep.... definitely.  Got my new flexible shaft, got my crystals, got all my pretty things.  Making some jewelry this weekend.....  yep......

Ya-hoo!  We're heading out to the 3rd Anniversary of Art Walk tonight in downtown Fort Myers!  Not sure whether this will be a grown-up gathering or whether the children will tag along.  Either way, I'm excited.  I love seeing other people's artwork and getting inspired.  I'm especially looking forward to seeing the painted fabrics in the fashion show at the Davis Building.   Given the nice cool weather and ZERO HUMIDITY, it will likely well attended so I'll see lots of friends.  It will be a blast!

In the midst of living life.....  trying to sort out relationships, juggle career commitments, love on the children, dig my way out from  under laundry, manage a crazy allergy attack, and other day to day things....  we have been blessed by a mystery. We have two female rabbits.  Yes, they really are females.  We've had these rabbits as members of the family for about two years now.  And, we have now got three new family members.  How?  I have no idea.  I called our friend and bunny whisperer, Tommy, and made joking accusations about him sneaking a male bunny into our hutch but he denies it all.  He has pointed his finger at our unsuspecting nanny who "may have this sort of criminal mind".  Honestly, we are stumped... but thrilled.  This little surprise has really softened me around the edges.  These tiny little critters have grounded me this week and I'm thankful for that. And, I am amazed at the wonder of nature and how those tiny little ears are so perfect... just like when my own babies were born.  It's all good..... a mystery.... but definitely all good.

This week was filled with dental appointments, eye doctor appointments, birthday parties for adult and child friends plus the usual work at the offices.  I continue to read about artwork, think about making artwork, talk about artwork with friends and intend to start making artwork.  But, alas, something more pressing always seems to take priority.

So, in the evenings, I've been trying to convince my computer to work with me in an effort to save my photographs... which is sort of an art in and of itself.  I think I'm feeling a little better about it all, in that I have purchased a new external hard drive and I've started uploading photos to Picasa.  How do you back up your digital photography?

OK.... I 'm back. The feverish illness turned into a coughing illness which turned into pneumonia! So, after about 8 days in bed (mostly), some really good antibiotics and a very slow, but deliberate forward motion, I'm back. You can only imagine how much laundry could accumulate in 8 days and how much dog hair could accumulate in 8 days.

After getting the nest back in order, I went back to work at the office, started a new adminstrative gig and got the fall softball gang all signed up and dental appointments out of the way. All the while, my mind is dancing with all sorts of fun projects and new ideas for painting and jewelry making. This weekend will be Art Weekend!

Results on Purple Day

I am always amazed when I sort of "wake up" and realize that I'm a grown up.  That sounds awful, I'm sure.. but there are a few things in life that happen to me and I just don't bounce back quite as quickly as I used to.  Really simple things can be a huge barrier.  For example.....  this FEVER has knocked me FLAT!  I've been in bed all weekend and have been totally unproductive.  Fevers are no fun for kids either, of course, but as an adult, it really took the wind out of my sails.  Falling down after tripping on something in the yard is totally another scenario that is hard to describe.  The results of me falling down as an adult  tend to not only be emotionally startling, but my muscles remember it for days.  Thankfully, it's hard to fall down when in bed with a fever, so I can count my blessings on that front, I suppose.

So, as a result, I haven't posted the follow up on the PURPLE situation.

Well, you won't believe it, but my beautiful purple 6th grader was "honored" (her words) to have been recognized at the pep rally among about thirty other really outlandishly dressed purple middle school people as "Most Sprited"!  From this amazing assortment of purple beehive hairdos, painted faces, tutus and boas, three were chosen as the top winners.  I don't know that I could have chosen the winners from that bunch.  They were all magnificent.   It was truly wonderful for this to happen to Sweet Sarah.... especially because when her dad was dropping her off at school that morning she had slightly cold feet.  There was apparently a scarcity of purple-ness at the time of the drop off and she was nervous.  After seeing someone dressed as a large purple chicken, she felt more comfortable though.

I surprised the Littles that day and checked them out of school early to take them to the pep rally... Yes, despite my fever.  It seemed to be a good idea at the time.  The Littles and I dressed up in purple from head to toe and we headed into the gymnasium.  It was absolutely wonderful to be there among all of the middle schoolers... and there were a lot of them.  This all reminded me of just one of the many reasons why I truly loved working in the schools.  And, I did have a fairly major flashback of my cheerleader days (don't tell anyone about that) and how exciting it all was to be there leading chants in front of crazed students.

It was purple everywhere.  There were cheerleaders dancing and cheering and bouncing around, loud music by the school band, a student/faculty basketball game, students playing dance music over the speakers, screaming contests among the grades, chanting and cheering, introductions of the athletes, and other general mayhem. The big wrap up was an enormous 8th grade conga line around the gym, a rousing school wide singing and dancing of "YMCA" by the Village People with the motions, and an 8th grade and faculty Cupid Shuffle on the gym floor.

What fun!.... even with a fever.  And if you are wondering, yes, I danced to the YMCA song.

Purple Panther Pride!

SURPRISE!  I never get a fever.... but I did last night and it totally wiped me out.   So, we abandoned the plan to work on dying Sarah's hair for Panther Pride day.  Next time....   But, we did have some fun assembling the outfit and playing with the purple strips of human hair I found at Sally's.  She was purple from head to toe when she left for school today.  We are all wearing purple today in honor of school spirit day.  I hope other kids dressed up too.  Now, there are purple feathers everywhere.......

 Yes, that really is a crocheted flower tied to her flip flops.  I made them this
morning while nursing my sick self.

 Typical Sarah.... after getting dressed, the first thing she did was dance around in her own awesomeness and ring her cowbell a lot (which I squelched due to my headache) and ride up and down our street on her rip stick waving her purple boa around triumphantly.  She's definitely circus material.

 Super cool purple human hair attachments.  I'm totally gonna borrow these....

Panther Day at Middle School

My oldest daughter, Sarah, has just entered middle school.  She is, of course, at the local middle school for the ARTS.  Knowing what I know about the developmental challenges, the sexually loaded content of middle schools as well as the rigorous curriculum, I was pretty nervous about her starting middle school.  But, I very clearly remember that moment when Sarah took off on her tricycle for the first time on Braman Avenue's sidewalk.  I was nervous then, too.... and she never looked back until she was almost a block away.  So, in typical Sarah style, she has cleverly navigated the first three weeks of middle school with all of the enthusiasm, smarts and confidence that she did when she peddled down the sidewalk for the first time.  That's my girl!

Well, this photo isn't my girl... but she and I totally dig her hair.  I found this on pintrest and stole it so we could copy it.  Tomorrow, Sarah will experience her first "Panther Pride Day".  This is a wonderful day of celebration for the students to show their school spirit.  I am THRILLED that the colors of the school are PURPLE and white.  So, the dress code will slide a bit to the side and the students will adorn themselves with PURPLE stuff.  Sarah's long blonde hair will be integrated into our artistic endeavors tomorrow morning.  I wonder what the best way to do this would be???

OK.... It's way past time for me to do this! I've actually been a blogger all of my life, but I didn't know what to call it. I've always written emails to friends and family, documented funny events in my life, photographed every unusual or beautiful think I've come across (including my children) and have found inspiration and energy and joy in everything. So, thanks to Kelly Rae and the other Flyers, I'm leaping in and consolidating on a BLOG!!!! Stay tuned for more......