An Art-full Summer

Summer is a great time for art around here.  Early in the summer I was invited to participate in an Art in Nursing worshop.  The 3 photos above are from the art gallery and studio that we were in.  The canvas second from the right is mine.  Ginny, the instructor, and Gallery Director is in the foreground.  It was a wonderful workshop about how you can easily bring art to a patient with a few supplies and some easy techniques.

Believe it or not this train station is now an art gallery.  I wasn't able to take any photos inside.  The artist and her husband (a train buff like my husband) have kept the historical and original details as much as possible.  The day we were there was the grand opening and the artist was working on a still life composition. Love watching other people work.

Art festivals can be found every weekend in the summer and fall here.  We tend to pack a lot into our summer weekends because of rainy or wintry weather the rest of the year. We've been to several and enjoy them all whether they are a small, country village art festival or juried, urban art festivals.

We went to the Buffalo Garden Walk for the first time this year and really enjoyed it.  It's the largest Garden Walk in the United States.  We only saw a small portion of the gardens available and are already making plans for a longer trip next year.  I don't have many photos of the gardens since its difficult to get a good photo with other people walking through.  I did get a nice shot of this fairy garden.  See the bridge in the bottom of the photo? It links to the second pot in the photo below.

 This fountain is in the same garden as the fairy garden.

 And of course the architectural details of the older homes are another art form!  

This past weekend we were able to see Michael Israel in person at Art In Concert a fundraising event.  No cameras were allowed at the performance so I'll direct you to his website www.michaelisrael.com   It was the most amazing performance.  Check out his website or Facebook page to see some short pieces of his performance.

How have you filled your summer with art?

Close To My Heart

Here are just 4 reasons why I've decided to become a Close To My Heart Independent Consultant - AGAIN!

Amazing new products affordably priced and I love having my own business!  Three of these items are on their way to me and I can't wait to show you all their potential.  I included links to the full description of these items on my Close To My Heart website
http://craftycreativity.blogspot.com
so you can check them out yourself.  For those of you, who like me, are into Project Life, art journal and mixed media this Cricut cartridge has items for you as well as for scrapbooking!

Cricut Artbooking Collection

My Crush - Modville
Not yet available

Designed Decor Frame

Designed Decor Black Frame

Let me know what your first impression is.

Keeping things organized

I struggle with this every week!  This is about as good as my tables get when I'm actively working on projects.  If you look at the top photo of the previous post you'll see what it looked like after I finished the Organizing FUNdamentals class at Big Picture Classes in the spring.
Since then I've completed a Pinterest project - the yellow stand that my adhesives and corner rounders are sitting on.  Not sure yet if this is how I'm going to use these piece long term - getting a feel for how to use it best.  I love the extra yellow accent color it brings to my room.
I've also added the long divided piece I found at an antique store for all my ProjectLlife cards, washi tape, date stamps, etc.  All it needed was some cleaning up as it was already black on the outside and grey on the inside.  My walls are grey, furniture is white or black and storage containers and baskets are yellow.  I feel so happy when I walk into this room!
The yellow plastic bin on the right in the photo is where I keep my photos and memorabilia ready to go into my Project Life album which is laid out.  This is working pretty well for me.  I'm not current with my album (rarely am) because I'm out enjoying summer life and doing the things on my Summer Bucket List.  This happens every year and I'll get caught up in the fall and winter.
What are your tips for staying organized andkeeping projects moving along?
Watch for my next post...I'll be sharing some exciting news!