Into the open wilderness
Wrapping up Day 1
Sketching on the go
Takes a little while to stay caught up on the go, especially with a baby. But I enjoy it, so I’ll keep on doing the best that I can to sketch our vacation on the go.
Vacation Stats
12 pieces of luggage. 8 days. December 24 – 31, 2016. Destination: California. 2 adults, 3 kids. One little girl’s first flying trip. 3 in-flight movies.
A Day at The MET
This Black Friday (for the unfamiliar, it’s the Friday after Thanksgiving and the biggest shopping day in the States), we decided to skip the mall and head out to NYC to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or The MET! We reached there a little after 11 am, bought our passes and immersed ourselves in art across time.
Whenever I visit a museum, I can’t help taking photos of the art. The photos don’t necessarily turn out great, given the lights, glass cases, reflections, equipment, skill, etc. they sure bring me joy. I look for common threads in art created in different times in history by different artists in different cultures using different mediums. I look deeper and notice details and find inspiration in them.
Below are a few pieces that caught my eyes during this visit that share a common thread: the color blue.
Meet William! This little hippopotamus was molded in faience, a ceramic material made of ground quartz by the Egyptian artist from the Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12, ca. 1961–1878 B.C. The leaf designs represent the river marsh habitats of the hippos. William is very popular at The MET! You’ll find postcards, eraser, small reproduction statuettes, even soft toys!
This beautiful lady is Pauline de Broglie as captured by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, the neo-classical French portraitist, his final commission and masterpiece! As the plaque at The MET reads, “Ingres captures the shy reserve of his subject while illuminating through seamless brushwork the material quality of her many fine attributes: her rich blue satin and lace ball gown, the gold embroidered shawl, and silk damask chair, together with finely tooled jewels of pearl, enamel, and gold.”
Wood, ivory, brass, paint, gilding came together in this North Spanish sculpture of Seated Virgin and Child from the late 15th century. Only a little over a foot tall, she still caught my eyes across a dimly lit room!
And this is Quappi in Blue in a Boat! She is part of the exhibition, Max Beckmann in New York running till February 20th, 2017. Beckmann captured his wife in Gouache and oil on paper mounted on cardboard. Isn’t she gorgeous?
I took this shot in the rain, while running to the car just to catch the time when we left. We didn’t even realize when the day ended and it was dark outside!
It was a day WELL-SPENT.
Oh, btw, did our shopping online between November 22nd and 29th 🙂
CREATE II Event in Atlanta
On the 9th of November, I flew to Atlanta to teach at the CREATE II event organized by the queen of elegant paper crafting, Anna Griffin! I have designed for Anna since early 2009 and have always found her collections of products to be beautifully different. Being asked to teach at her event was an honor. The teachers and event concierges met with Anna for dinner at Bricktop’s. Lots of laughs, gifts and good food later, we retired to our rooms so we could be fresh and ready to set up the craft room at the Ritz Carlton for some 200 guests the next day.
The day flew by. The event kicked off with fun make n takes in the afternoon. Then there was a formal dinner for all the guests, all of Anna’s team, and HSN hosts. Beautiful flowers adorned every table, every place setting had gorgeous stationary gifts and the dessert was delicious.
After dinner, the teachers and their assistants went on to check the class kits and set up for the next day.
Outside each classroom, gorgeous displays were put up. I couldn’t help but get a photo taken with the display created just for my class!
For the next two days, I got to meet and know and teach several groups of wonderful women. So many stories, so many laughs. There is such amazing power and peace in crafting together, to spend time with like-minded people.
Outside the craft room, Anna had galleries set up for inspiration. I was so excited to spot several of my scrapbook layouts in the galleries!
And the food each day was just awesome! I loved these veggie chips… they reminded me of orchids.
And there were friends, new and old. I was meeting most of them for the first time in real life. Here’s Kate, Patti and Tracy, from left to right. I think I could write several posts about these wonderful women – kind, supportive and CREATIVE!
Autumn Family Fun
I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind. – Leo Buscaglia.
This last Sunday was a perfectly glorious and windy autumn day when we decided to go pumpkin picking. We were the only ones at the patch at the time.
We could hear the wind ruffling the corn stalks behind us. The kids ran, cartwheeled and sat on the pumpkins. Some of the pumpkins were bigger than our tiny little Jia!
When we went to pay for our pumpkins, Om found this wagon full of weird shaped squashes. He put a long loopy one around his neck like a snake!
Simple silly things we did together that made us laugh and enjoy the moments and count our blessings!
I AM OVER THE MOON!!!
Yep. THIS HAPPENED❤ I’m over the moon🌕✨and can finally share 😍THANK YOU @creativebug!!!
I made Top 5 Finalists list
So, on the 28th of September, I got a message from Creativebug. I had not actually entered the Next Creativebug Art Instructor contest. They liked my entries throughout September and wondered if I would be interested in entering their contest. How exciting! I went to their website and filled out my contest entry form. On Saturday October 1st, I got an email with the subject line Congratulations! Today, they announced their Top 5 Finalist list on Instagram and I can share my BIG NEWS!!! Congratulations to the other finalists! Each of us now will have to submit a few other things for the finals. Off to work!