Happy Halloween!

It may be dark, drizzly, and dreary here in Astoria, but that's not stopping the Halloween festivities!

Music, and Playing Out

Today our basement band played a few songs on Troll Radio Review. The Review is a variety show broadcast live the last Saturday of each month, and features the house band (Beerman Creek String Band), the Troll, Stinky Toadwort, the Troll Radio Theater Troupe, and guests. Our band was one of the guests.

 

The show is typically held at and broadcast from the Fort George Brewery. It's family friendly, and lots of fun. Since our band *still* has no name, we needed something for this special Halloween show. So for today, we were The VanHelsingers. Man, oh man, were we nervous - but what a rush when it was all over!

 

Members of our band are all employees of Columbia Memorial Hospital. We play together for our enjoyment. Early this year we were asked to play at the Astoria Regatta, which occurs each August. Our participation was at Regatta Square, which was hosted by CMH and included a community health fair and other activities. That was (for us) a huge show, as our usual playing out consists of an annual gathering of friends, neighbors and coworkers at a summer party/potluck.

 

Also earlier this year, my friend Ariah (second from left) and I decided to be brave and daring and play out in public - just the two of us. That's scary in a whole different way. We'd been compiling a list of songs we like and were capable of singing and playing. So August 24th, we parked ourselves outside WineKraft, a local wine bar (with permission), and set to playing. We chose that location so we could speak with the owner about the possibility of playing *inside* the venue this fall/winter. So it was an audition, so to speak.

 

Our first inside gig was September 7. The turnout was great. We were nervous in the beginning, but more importantly we had FUN. We played again October 26th. We call ourselves "Hammer & Sponge." It's a long story, but it's based on our leadership styles.

 

Our next gig is November 17th. WineKraft showcases many musicians, as well as Tipsy Painting sessions. Check out their Facebook page.

Life Book 2018 May Lessons

http://andrea-gomoll.de/

 

 

https://www.mystele.com/

 

 

http://loveartandbeyond.com/

 

https://florabowley.com/

 

 

https://thedarlingtree.com/

 

Life Book 2013 pages HERE

or Life Book 2014 HERE

or Life Book 2015 HERE

or Life Book 2016 HERE

or Life Book 2017 HERE
or Life Book 2018 HERE

Life Book 2018 April Lessons

https://www.willowing.org/

http://www.christie-drahnak.com/

 

 

https://www.apaintedpage.com/

 

 

https://katrinakoltes.com/

 

 

http://www.amandagraceart.com/

  

 Life Book 2013 pages HERE

or Life Book 2014 HERE

or Life Book 2015 HERE

or Life Book 2016 HERE

or Life Book 2017 HERE
or Life Book 2018 HERE

Life Book 2018 March Lessons

http://www.laurahornart.com/

 

 

https://www.anniehamman.com/

 

http://yellowrosedbs.blogspot.de/

 

 

https://www.jane-spakowsky.com/

 

https://www.nandasartjourney.com/artclasses

   

Life Book 2013 pages HERE

or Life Book 2014 HERE

or Life Book 2015 HERE

or Life Book 2016 HERE

or Life Book 2017 HERE
or Life Book 2018 HERE

Astoria Rocks

Astoria Rocks is a thing around here - there's even a Facebook page devoted to these decorated pieces of stone. I painted my first rock today.

A friend recently lost her dog, Bear. She has asked friends to paint rocks in honor of Bear. So here's my first rock painting attempt, with my own twist:

Gesso layer

 

Printed a photo of Bear on Artist Transfer Paper, then ironed to fabric 

 

Adhered the fabric to the rock with heavy gel medium 

 

Adding detail

Life Book 2018 February Lessons

https://www.willowing.org/

 

http://www.wyanne.com/

https://www.willowing.org/

 

 

https://www.artsycanvasgirl.com/

 

 

http://theloveoffensive.com/

https://effywild.com/

 

Life Book 2013 pages HERE

or Life Book 2014 HERE

or Life Book 2015 HERE

or Life Book 2016 HERE

or Life Book 2017 HERE
or Life Book 2018 HERE

I’m trying to put things in perspective today. First of all, I’m happy that I’m keeping up with the Life Book 2018 lessons thus far (just waiting for some hard pastels to finish the current lesson), but discouraged that I was only able to complete a fraction of 2017 and 2016 lessons – less than half of them.

For that reason, I hadn’t bound those years. I had this compulsive idea I wanted to bind them in order of the lessons – and of course since some were missing I felt paralyzed.

 

So I pulled out all my Life Books since I joined in 2013. Not too shabby! I completed ALL lessons in 2013 and 2014, and about ¾ of those in 2015. This week I bound 2016 and 2017, even though they’re not complete and not “in order.” I will add to them as I finish the back-log of lessons.
 

I’ve also decided to back my 2018 pages as I finish them. It’s really time-consuming to do it at the end of the year, especially when I'm so excited to get started with the new year's lessons. I’ve always chosen to ring-bind my books, because I like the option of removing pages if needed (to scan, display, or whatever).
 

Seeing this body of work reinforces to me that ANYTHING I produce is so much better than not being creative at all.