ENVIRO ART TRAIL WALKS

Similar to many attempts at getting a new routine started, I began biking in the mornings before the sun got too high in the sky and heated up the pavement. This is Central Florida and it is August.That routine lasted 4 days but it did spark my "earth love" memories of being outside in nature. Consequently, after two busy mornings off I took to the woods on foot. YEYYYYYYY!

Nature feeds the soul. I am not full yet but man did I have some great appetizers over the weekend. Yesterday I was walking Sabal Bluff preserve. While by the lake I heard a rustle from above. There on a tree branch not more than 20 feet away was an adult bald eagle. It spread its wings, circled around me and flew off. What a beautiful thing.

So why not share? In person. YA - Why Not? It is time to get my walks started in Central Florida.

Introducing - for September (National Wilderness Month) Thursday after work EnviroArt Trail Walks sponsored by the Leesburg Center for the Arts. Parks close at sunset and September's setting times are past 7:00 PM. We will have time to discover. Find the addresses on your GPS and meet me there at 5:30. We will take a 45 minute walk around. Get to know your preserves. All three on the schedule are very close to downtown Leesburg.

No more feeling fearful of walking into the woods alone. You will have company.

Bring repellent, water and you may want to wear lightweight trousers and shoes (not flip flops) as Flat Island Preserve has some taller grasses on some of the trails. Will we make art? We'll talk about eco and environmental art and learn to see the woods in a new way, a place full of color and texture. If we have time perhaps we can make some simple mandalas along our way.

Check out the schedule and print the flyer for your friends. Let's GET INTO THE WOODS!

Sept 6th

Bourlay Historic Nature Park

851 N Canal St.

Sept 13th

Sabal Bluff Preserve

1201-1257 Leesburg Mobile Rd.

Sept 20th

Flat Island Preserve

2388 Owens Rd.

Sept 27th

Bourlay Historic Nature Park

851 N Canal St.

Download the park's trail maps here:

https://www.lcwa.org/open-preserves/

And now for me it is 8:30 AM and I am saddling up my bike and heading to the island.

Try to get outside today!

 - Chau 4 now.

BREAK SET

Friday I finally finished a big project. It felt so good to complete the Leesburg Center for the Arts FALL 2018 CATALOG - here's the link.  Also last Wednesday we premiered my baby - the first LCFA OPEN ACOUSTIC ART LOUNGE. Both were great successes. I still need to upload the edited performance videos to the LCFA youtube channel but I am notorious for doing web work on my days off and this weekend I stuck to my resolve to wait until I am in the office on Wednesday. Things can wait.

This past weekend to get my creativity out I messed about with several projects all of which were a BUST! A big fat failure. Well - only if you are so tied to the final product and not the process. I do admit I felt frustrated at spending so many hours "in process" without something to hold in my hand and tell myself  "well done" but... the process was very important. I experimented with new things and learned what didn't work. Go ahead and insert that Thomas Edison quote. :) I also reminded myself that although something may look cool on the internet, it isn't necessarily an art form that juices my inner artist.

This morning (my day off) rather than going to my studio to make somethin' I heeded a different call. "GET ON YOUR BIKE!"  I pumped up my tires, put on a bathing suit top (because I was going to be dripping wet in the matter of 5 minutes), and a pair of bike shorts. loaded my day pack with bottles of frozen water and headed out away from town. "Too long Patt. Too long - you love this. Do not deny the little pleasures of life you driven woman." 

When I got back to the BoHo MoHo BOO I hydrated, hit the pool, ate lunch, and then decided to clean out my laundry room. Did I write "driven"? Sitting still during daylight hours is an issue with me.

There on top of my shelving unit I found a new friend, a mischievous looking ceramic turtle that my neighbor had rescued from the dumpster many months ago. It is covered in MANDALAS. Monday's FAILED post has been saved! I guess I am going to mess with somethin" after all. :)  Enjoy the "process"...

Have a wonderful Mandala Monday!
Chau 4 now.

CHILL OUT WITH YARN MANDALAS

Good Mandala Monday to Yarn'all!

Keeping with the crafty theme while prepping for LCFA OPEN and BOHO FEST I present a blast from the past. At least from my past. We made these little mandalas as kids. People still make them for their children's spiritual protection. I also made them as hippie adult not that long ago camping with the Rainbow Family off grid in the mountains of Chile. (Don't knock it until you try it. The vistas were stupendous and the people - muy amable).


Stateside yarn mandalas were very popular in the 60's. It has been said if you remember the 60's you weren't there. Well I was. My long term memory kicked in once I picked up some sticks and yarn and Voila - or rather HAY! (spanish) MANDALA TEJIDO - OJO DE DIOS - HUICHOL (mexico) GOD'S EYE (english).

They are simple to make and you can expand them to be more complicated if you chose. I made a short video of a sampler of basic wraps that I did last week. Really - no art skills required!

Come to LCFA OPEN this Wednesday night. There will be sticks and yarn available, as well as beads and bottles and blot stains to doodle, People will be sharing art and fun on stage. Kick back and watch or join in. If I can steal myself away from facilitating I'll be happy to show you the basics.

Stop by the LCFA "OPEN" MIC & ART LOUNGE!

It's the chill place to be this Wednesday evening.

429 West Magnolia St. Leesburg, FL

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT THEM!

Monday Monday – Mandala Monday.

I have been playing around with items from the art supply room at the center, those which we have a lot of and should be putting to good use at events. I took home a big mixed bag of beads for experimentation over the weekend. When I write mixed bag I mean mixed. The bag is quite a hodgepodge of styles and shapes. I put the beads through an old colander, shook them well and separated out the small seed beads, extracted the big odd beads and came up with a peanut canister full of the rest. I kicked back in my hammock in the shade yesterday and strung them onto wire.

We just had a big fundraising event at the center and have empty wine bottles to use up so I found an empty one of my own in my cottage studio and wrapped away.

Voila! A kitschy-crafty BOHO something bottle. It's not sophisticated fine art. It is simply fun.

To keep the the MANDALA theme going for this blog I wired a circle together and attached it to the front.

WARNING: These are not edible gourmet jelly beans. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO EAT THEM!. :) But that would be a cool idea for a clear bottle. Use less yarn, put jelly beans inside and wire beads onto the outside top. BTW - This bottle design took 10 feet of wire and beads to complete.

And that's it for this Mandala Monday. HAVE COLORFUL FUN!

ART CHANGES YOU

WOW- what a fantastic week of teaching art. My high school level students at summer art camp at the Leesburg Center for the Arts were/are phenomenal.

The theme for this year's camp for all grade levels was Once Upon a Time meaning up-cycling. We used items originally designed and used for something else. I chose two main things; paper and vinyl. The paper was the type of recycled unbleached, non-toxic "green" insulation that you can find by the bale at Lowe's or Home Depot. If you add Elmer's glue or plaster (bigger learning curve) you can substitute if for very pricey paper clay.

The other paper item used was record sleeves. The students used them as a "tile" base for mounting their paper pulp face creations and also for a 2D project, designing an album cover of their fantasy band. The illustrations turned out really great but even cooler was when we reduced them down to CD jewel case size.

For a fun day and a lesson on how to use a torch we did acrylic pours on the actual records. Don't fear nor cry. Most of the records were donated by a used record store here in town and were not in good enough condition for resale. Nothing wasted - everything gained.

The below video is a compilation of the student's album covers and their "pop" self portrait pieces that went into grids. They are now hanging in the gallery. The master artist I chose to teach about throughout the week was Andy Warthol. He designed several record album covers. You would definitely recognize them. I also chose Warhol because he was not "just" an artist. He was an entrepreneur and businessman. When I was at University I double majored, Art & Business. Later I worked at some very large ad agencies, was an interior designer, had my own decorative pillow and clothing design business and was a working fine artist. If you want to earn a living doing art you need to take action on the marketing and bookkeeping/budgeting sides too. It is well worth embracing all sides. It enables you to do what you love.

This video is not yet on youtube. You are getting a sneak peak. On Wednesday I will get it loaded onto the LCFA's channel, ,Enjoy! Turn up your speakers.

And I have a lot of "stuff" to take catch up on so....

Chau 4 now.

POUR COLOR ALL OVER MY UNIVERSE

What is circular but not a mandala.... LOTS OF STUFF.

I took a little break from mandalas last week but I did stick to the circular form. I love curved shapes and circular patterns.

In preparation for teaching high school level summer art camp I have been doing acrylic pours on vinyl records. I am challenging the kids with new mediums and the learning curve with the paper pulp and glue may become a but frustrating. Therefore, I wanted to be sure to change things up and facilitate projects that are totally fun and different.The second (or third) day I am orchestrating an afternoon of acrylic pouring on vinyl records

Records are ancient "things" much loved for the music held in their grooves. As for using them for acrylic pours they are a little harder to manipulate than canvases. There is nothing to grab onto such as a stretcher/frame. The artist needs patience, balance and concentration or OOPS!

Featured here are a few of the pours that I did over the last week. It is so interesting to see how they morph even after you stop tilting and torching them. Different colors and patterns keep emerging from underneath the top plasticizing layer.

These pours remind me of colorful plants. YES! we are creating new UNIVERSES at SUMMER ART CAMP! COLOR MY WORLD!

Well that's it for now. I need to get to the center early to set up the art stations and welcome my new young artists. This is going to be a fun and educational experience for all. I will share some photos next Monday. Until then...

chau 4 now.

PAINT NIGHT WAS A GAS!

Mandala on Canvas Paint Nite was a gas! Such a brilliant group of women! We will definitely repeat with another design later this year or in early 2019.

Sorry - a short post but I am designing a new catalog for the Leesburg Center for the Arts and my desktop (laptop) is a fright. It needs tidying before I go to bed. I am a neat freak. I admit it. That's probably why I gravitate to mandalas. Oder out of chaos. They ease my busy mind.

Here are a few photos from Paint Nite, then night night for Patt.

Next week I am teaching High School Level Summer Art Camp which will be so fun. I am not planning any mandalas but will be sure to share the super cool projects that I have planned. We are UPCYCLING!

I hope to get a post up on Monday. We'll see........

Have a great week!