It's already October! You'd never guess from the temps here. Mid to upper 80s for the next week. Lots going on this month. I'm leaving for a weekend workshop tomorrow, then we have a few concerts, and we'll end the month with a Halloween party! As soon as I get back from Wisconsin I'll start ghouling out the house. Speaking of that, we've started a new crusade! Congrats to Michelle Infantino for being the Top Hat Pick for No. 12. We have hit the one year mark for the Street Team. Hundreds of teamers have joined in the fun. Come see what we're up to!
Someday I'll share a few photos of my studio. You don't even wanna see it right now! I'm just about packed for Valley Ridge Art Studios. Getting ready for class reminds me of why I stopped traveling to teach. I love doing it but there is so much preparation. If you have been to Valley Ridge you know why we like to go back which is the only reason I'm not cursing right now. An added bonus for me is my Mom comes to visit at VR. Last time we made her take the class and she did great. Looking forward to seeing familiar faces - students who have become friends, and new students who are friends I haven't met yet.
Tuesday Susanna and I continued with our silk screen printing class. Above the graphic I'm working on for a tshirt. We are working on Macs, yikes! I'm not going to get into a debate about which is better, PC or Mac, because we know what we know, and love what we love. It's just hard to be Mac-ing because I'm not familiar with it. During a lull in class we visited our blogs....and yikes again! My blog looks so different on a Mac through Safari. Like, it is all scrunched and you can't see the full pictures. So heads up as you are doing your blog thing, especially on typepad: make sure you set your photos to be clickable so they pop-up, otherwise your visuals might not be seen as intended. The view from here, as I design the layouts on my blog, is that I can see the whole thing. My blog fills the screen edge-to-edge and there is even white space between the photos and the sidebars.
Lisa is an endless sender of "check this out" and "don't miss this" kind of bulletins. She's an "I got your back" kind of friend. Recently she called on a Sunday to demand I go get the New York Times. In the magazine they featured Scott Campbell - a dude I wrote about back HERE. There was a one page update on all the cool things he's working on. A tattoo artist who is widening his canvas. Here are a few peeks from his website. Check out that book!!! And the ostrich egg, and the furniture......these would be the perfect things for Crusade No. 13.
Poe dirt is no longer needed for the GIFT. I must have missed the post from my friends on the Massachusetts/Rhode Island HIM Street Team. They already gifted Ville with cemetery dirt from Poe's grave while at the Projekt Revolution tour in August. Here are Lani and Deb, and Ville! (you'd think they might look a little happier, wouldn't you?) Deb reminded Ville about giving him the dirt last year and he said he had it with him on the bus!!
Here's a link to youtube where there is no video but it's part 3 of a phone interview from September 2007, where he mentions the grave dirt AGAIN! (3rd time!). Forward to about 4:40 HERE. He says the "grave dirt in the little glass bottles with name tags and labels is great for inspiration".
I still would like Poe dirt for myself so those of you have offered, stay on task!
Thanks to Ann who shared a link to a gal on ETSY who sells cemetery dirt. (You'll remember I posted about Ann's cool tags, also on ETSY). So I have purchased graveyard dirt from the two cemeteries in France that I needed. I couldn't pass it up....it was so serendipitous that Ann found the listing just after my post. And the seller, ALDETHA's real name is Michelle. It was a sign. (And they have arrived so I can check two off the list!)
There have been a few generous souls who have offered to get the dirt I need from California. As soon as I know it's a definite thing I will post here and the crusade will be complete (for now).
Some of you have asked about Edward Gorey and why don't I have him on my list. First, let's acknowledge the recent project headed up by Sylvia Luna. Many of my friends participated in it - you've seen excerpts in the recent Somerset Studio, and may have been fortunate enough to see the display in Arizona (soon to be revealed in Colorado!) Mr. Gorey's ashes were scattered off the coast of Massachusetts - no dirt to be had.
I got so much feedback about this post privately. Thanks to all of you who wrote to share your interest in beautiful graveyards and the idea of the grave dirt gift. Many of you 'get' how thrilling it's been for me to be part of The Grave Dirt Crew.
And since I'm talking about my band AGAIN I will just mention that I have photographic evidence that Ville has worn the shirt I gave him. (Remember the one with the top hatted crow? He wore it during an interview in Finland!)
See ya naxt week!
