"Taste of Morgan Hill" Art & Wine Festival

I had a display at the "Taste of Morgan Hill" Art & Wine Festival this weekend. It was so fun! I met lots of cool peeps and saw lots of familiar faces too. It was so fun showing "Myrtle the mannequin" and my collage art and class samples.

That's me standing by my table. The open door behind me is where my studio is located up the stairs on the second floor. I took a lot of people up there to check it out and the reactions where all the same, everyone seemed to love it! They all said they want to come and create art!!! Yay!
Here I am standing by Myrtle. She got lots of looks, especially from the guys! Isn't that funny! She also got a lot of attention from little kids. One little girl about 4 years old came up to her and started giggling and pointing at her and said "she has sparkles"! It was so cute!
Here is my darling daughter Natasha who came out and helped me this weekend. Thank heavens for her or I wouldn't have been able to get some food or go to the bathroom! lol! Overall it was a great weekend and I was able to really get the word out about Collage Cafe Art Studio!

OMG, Look What I Found in my House Today!!!

OMG! I was in a room downstairs in my house last night that used to be my studio and I was on my computer updating my website, when suddenly I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and this is what I saw crawling across the carpet!!!! (Yes I need to vaccum - that's a lot of dog hair, lol!) Click on the picture and get a close-up of my new little friend!
He was huge! To the right of the picture is my poor old dog Pepper (1/2 Husky & 1/2 Shepherd). She was sleeping on her sleeping bag. To the left is a box of stored dishes. And then, there is my new BIG furry friend! ughhhhh!!!!!
My husband scooped him up in a jar and let him go outside (where he definitly belongs)! I heard it is mating season and I hope to God his mate isn't in here! All I can think about is what if I had wakened up in the middle of the night with this thing crawling on me!!! Or, what if it had crawled on me while I was surfing the net at 2:00am? SCREAM!!!!!!!

More Views of the Studio

There is an eve (or a shelf) all the way around the top of my studio. I've been collecting various items to decorate this area so that when you look up it will be kind of interesting. I put an old Chinese umbrella and some bird houses up there.
And... I went dumpster diving (hate to admit it) and found some palms that someone had trimmed off their tree, so I placed a bunch of them all the way around. It kind of gives the feel of being outdoors. I also put some old frames and old suitcases stacked up there too.
Here is my old wooden angel placed up here to watch over the studio. Behind her is a really cool wrought iron cross that my MIL gave me.
This is my friend Becky and her daughter Halie doing collages at the studio!

Donation for the Charter School Auction

Here is the layout (above) for a small collage I donated to the Morgan Hill Charter School Auction to be held next Friday at a local winery. The event is called "Autumn in Paris" so I went with a Paris theme.
Here is the finished piece with the easel included. I think it would look nice on a bookshelf or a little table or desk, don't you?
Here is a close up. Sorry it's kind of blurry. My hand is not too steady sometimes when taking these digital pictures. Hope people bid on this and the school makes a good little chunk of $$$.

Collage Cafe Art Studio!

This is what my studio looks like when standing on the outside looking through the window. Doesn't it look inviting? Don't you just want to come inside and make some art? BTW, that's my friend Becky sitting inside making a collage for her husband for there 18th wedding anniversary.
Here is the doorway to my studio with wooden beads hanging down. My studio is located on the 2nd floor of a historic building in downtown Morgan Hill, California. The building is one of the oldest in the town. It was built in 1902. Sometimes when I'm there alone late at night I can feel all kinds of energy. It's as if I'm not alone and there are lots of people around, even though no one else is there. Then I researched this building and found out that the 2nd floor was used as a social center in the early 1900's and the 1st floor was a general store. Wow! It definitly has a really cool vibe!
This is what it looks like when you walk through the beads. There is Myrtle the mannequin and a cool chinese lantern I got in San Francisco's Chinatown.
This is to the left of Myrtle. All of the stuff on the shelves are project materials for "Open Studio" night.
There is a nice long counter top that I can use as a work space and I can store all of my drawers full of materials underneath. This has worked out great. I have a table and chairs in the center of the room where my students and I can make art. We were actually making collages on this night and that's why everything is kind of a mess!

*I just noticed there is an "orb" in the top center of this picture! I told you guys this building is full of energy! Okay, I don't know if I really believe in these "orb" things, but it does seem kinda weird and cool at the same time! Maybe it's an "Art Angel" watching over the studio!