if you can't find me, I just might be hiding in here

It's here

the book I've been waiting for

and it's

signed

by

her

the wonderfully talented

Kelly Rae Roberts

artist, writer, author

extraordinaire

and now

I get to meet her in person

at

SQUAM

~~~~~

does it get any better

~~~~~

time

for

a

happy dance

floating with hopes and dreams.....

I took a L.E.A.P last night

and bought airline tickets

at the very last minute

for

an

art retreat

~~~~~

I leave in 10 days

for

SQUAM

~~~~~

this is not like me at all

I don't plan anything at the last minte

just ask those who know me well

~~~~~

I plan everything in advance

I make plans to make plans

I don't fly by the seat of my pants

ever

~~~~~

but

maybe that's going to change

maybe this is the start of something new

maybe I'm coming out of my shell

turning over a new leaf

and all those other old sayings

~~~~~

or

maybe

I'm being the me

I wish I'd been all these years

and finally now

for whatever reason

I have the courage to do it

choosing to do what I want to do

instead of worrying

about doing

what others think I should do

~~~~~

so right now

I'm feeling a little shaken

a little nervous

but mostly I feel

right here

on

top of world

it looks like this when I write it out......

Lately

I've had many conversations

with just me

in my head

and

I've been hoping that nobody can see me

talking to myself

~~~~~

Lately

I've been a bit of a stop sign rebel

I see them

and

I slow down

but on the roads where I'm sure there's nobody else around

I tend to use them as yield signs

~~~~~

Lately

I've been loving my shopping trips to

whole foods

I bring my own bags

so that

"I'm one of them"

yet

I can't bring myself to taste any of the dips or hummus

they have sitting out to sample

and

I get completely wigged out seeing other people

cram their chips into the bottom of those bowls

to snatch the last little bit of

creamy stuff

~~~~~

Lately

I've been watching my baby grow up

watching him

do all of his

back-to-school-clothes-shopping

with

his sister

or

his

girlfriend

and

being thrilled that they all have such great taste

yet sad

that I haven't been needed

~~~~~

Lately

I've been surprised at my reaction

when I hear someone mention

2009

I'm just not ready

yet

~~~~~

Lately

I've been looking for my authentic self

while wishing

I could touch the center of my dreams

~~~~~

what have you done lately ?

{this is one of my cottage prairie photos}

I was thinking.....

maybe sometimes you just need

to hang on the side of a wall

to see the world with a different perspective

or at least catch your breath

while you're there

~~~~~

I love her, but nobody gets to wear my crown

This is my new friend Ollie and I love "him".....well, maybe "her" as "it" is still too little to have "those parts" ummmm, recognized. She belongs to Cate, but lives here at my house, because I guess if I understand it right, her apartment is only big enough for Bella, the cat. But I don't have any complaints....except that everyone thinks she's so sweet and cute and furry and adorable..... so I'm going to take this time {and the space on mom's blog} to remind everyone that I was the first queen in this palace and I will forever wear the crown....everyone got that ???

because sometimes I listen to others.....

after I played with itbefore I played with it
I think I love playing with my photos
{thanks Trixie for pushing me}

early morning in our prairie

"part two with Misty"....grab a cup of tea, put your feet up and enjoy

When I filled out my class evaluation for VR

~the day after my workshop~

I had written it with hopes of really

being able to

convey to Kathy how wonderful

Misty had been

~~~~~

I'm going to reuse some of what I wrote

in hopes that many of you can feel

just a tiny bit

of

what I felt in the two days

I spent with Misty

Misty is

talented and warm

extremely genuine

silly

unique and honest

~~~~~

She is immediately approachable

and was "there" for all of us

consistently making us feel that our talents

were reachable

~~~~~

She guides with a passion that opens your heart

and makes you feel awake

and alive

and takes away that

"yes, I think I can be an artist"

and replaces it with

an

"I AM an artist"

attitude

~~~~~

I walked away from class

feeling confident.

Not only in my art

but in my life.

This photo is from one of her demonstrations

which you need to see to believe

as she moves at a speed

that needs its own word

~~~~~

I could say lightning or warp

but honestly

it's "misty speed"

and I've never before seen anything like it

~~~~~

She works with everything wet

mixing and layering

moving and changing

gluing and painting

drawing and detailing

almost always

by using

only her fingers

And this is the beautiful
finished piece
and if we had used a timer
I think it might have said

total time:
30 minutes

The hands of a real artist

At the end of our workshop

I didn't have my art journal with me

for Misty to sign

so I slipped her an old piece of ledger paper

and instead of just signing it

she made me a little piece of

Misty art

that I will cherish forever

after Misty's 30 minute demonstration

I challenged myself to do the same...

NOT EASY PEOPLE

as

I don't work fast

or messy

I like my fingers to be clean

I like things to be perfect

and

faces

are really, really hard

but I will say

I was kind of impressed with myself

when I was finished

~~~~~

BUT

I don't think I'm done

as

now that I'm home

I want to keep playing with this piece

adding more layers and paint

{this is called misty disease}

And here are the photos of my

background pages

and I love them

as

they were much more in my comfort zone

than the faces

~did I mention faces are hard to paint~

~~~~~

she taught techniques for the backgrounds

and landscapes

that

I had never used before

and I'm now in love

with razor blades

~~~~~

{and right this minute

I just pressed the wrong button

and somehow blogger

just ate my last two photos}

~~~~

So I will share

my other background

photos and our class picture

in part three

but I'll leave you with the

words that I had already written

~~~~~

so that was

my wonderful experience

in the hands of an angel

and

even now

I'm still walking

with my head held high

atop of

the confident path

Misty helped me find

~~~~~

and I plan on staying here for

awhile

"part one with Misty"

Usually on the first day of my

Valley Ridge art retreats

I don't take many pictures

as I'm so busy soaking everything in

~~~~~

But by the end of day two

there are more photos on my camera

than most humans would ever even want to look at

~~~~~

so if you want to see my ART pictures

you'll have to wait until

"part two with Misty"

but for now

I still think you'll be entertained

with this little ditty

~~~~~

The above photo shows you

the ranger

that Bill and Kathy

use to drive around their land

at Valley Ridge

~~~~~

and a few us were lucky enough

to get the land tour

at the end of our first day

Bill, Kathy and Misty

The beautiful trout stream

adorable and fun loving Misty and me

adorable and fun loving Misty

trying to push me in the trout stream

{way to catch that picture Kathy}

Misty and Mary Ann taking

photos of the cows on the hill

This is Misty's new friend Arthur

{don't laugh, this is what she named him}

and now this is funny

~~~~~

here is Misty holding a stick

with the inch worm that Linda found

this is still the inch worm

starting to realize that maybe

we are dangerous

predators

so what's an inchworm to do

when he feels like he might be in danger??

become one with the stick

{seriously, the tall part sticking straight up on the left side

is still the inchworm, completely camouflaging himself}

~~~~~

So this is how day one ended

out in the fields

with bugs and creepy crawlies

and more laughs than

you can ever imagine

~~~~~

stay tuned for part two

hanging onto hope

I'm leaving for

valley ridge

again

~~~~~

this time with

misty mawn

~~~~~

and

yes

painting

~~~~~

and

I'm a little bit scared

~~~~~

I don't really

paint

I mean I paint

but

nothing like how she paints

~~~~~

I don't paint faces

or

hands

~~~~~

so this class will really take me

out

of my comfort zone

~~~~~

but

I'm putting my trust into misty

as she is a soft soul

and I know

she'll take my hand

and

gently guide me

~~~~~

patience, learning and life

there are days

when my shell is soft and tender

yet I can't come out

and

share myself

there are days

when I feel I've bitten off

so much more

than

I can possibly ever chew

and I wonder

how

I can put some of it back

there are days

when I feel that staying in my nest

is the best thing I can do

for myself

there are days

when I

don't want to be

one

in the crowd

there are days

when I feel like everyone

can see right through me

as I have no where to hide

there are days

where I hold on tight

waiting until I'm strong enough to let go

again

~~~~~

this is how my day was yesterday as I fought a migraine

so today

I will be

breathing

and

moving

oh so carefully

in hopes that I can ward off a rebound migraine

~~~~~

the photos above were all taken by me

with my new and wonderful macro lens

that my sweet sweet

hubby

surprised me with for my birthday

and as you can see

I'm still learning

so please

if you have any pointers you want to share with me

I'd love to hear from you

fun:part 2

at the end of my two day class with Nina

I waited excitedly for Kim and Julie to arrive

at the studio

as they were coming in to take

Nina's next

two classes

and

since they're already

great friends with Nina

well you can imagine

~HUGFEST~
all around

in between classes

Kim and Julie

had a two day break

and I was thrilled to keep them entertained in

madison

~~~~~

we started at starbucks

{shocking}

and

we shopped

at

antique stores

st. vinnies

and

a great bead store

we walked and shopped

monroe street

and

state street

and fell in love with a little shop called

"anthology"

~~~~~

we had dinner and drinks at

jolly bob's

{fabulous pina coladas}

snacked on

cheese & crackers and chips & dip

at my house

and

lunched on indian dishes at

chautara

{yummy bean patties and flat bread}

{me and kim outside my new favorite restaurant}

we laughed until our cheeks hurt

we laughed at Kim
as she was always looking for something

usually her camera
which insisted on living at the bottom
of her bag

{I was laughing so hard here I could hardly keep my camera steady}
we tried on scarves and headbands
wanting to look like
Nina
{which is a trick we've decided that we don't think we'll ever be able to pull off}

and by the end of our last day
which was my birthday
we were still
telling stories
and
laughing
while
drinking
margaritas
~~~~~
and
knowing that having tired feet
{at least mine were}
was a small price to pay
for having had this
much fun
{thank you kim and julie for getting me out of my shell and making my birthday an extra special one that I'll never forget}

oh, the fun I had.....

what can I say?

I love Nina

~~~~~

she was everything I expected and more

she's the type of person

you want to spend a day with

drinking tea

on a sunny porch

just talking

and

listening

~this was her gatherings class~

the same one she taught at

artfest

this is my cover

and now my inside pageswhere I used lots of
my flea market finds
secured on old book covers

using ribbon and twigs

and eyelets and wire

and mica

and carpet tacks

class photo

she teaches

she acts

and

she cleans

~~~~~

thank you Nina for making my

weekend at Valley Ridge

WONDERFUL