Tammy Gilley Studios

Summer Fun and a New Class

 

There's nothing better than summertime!  It's time for concerts in the park, driving to the beach with the top down, and laying in the hammock with a glass of pink lemonade and a trashy novel.  Pure bliss.

 

I love a road trip, and we're headed on one to Yellowstone tomorrow.  I cannot wait!  My family used to camp there a lot when I was a kid, and I haven't been back since then.  My memories of the place are very vivid...I wonder if they'll stand up to the time passed. 

 

When I get back, I'm really excited that I'll be teaching at collage, both locations!  I love teaching at collage.  The students are the best, the staff is awesome, and Maria and Jen really know how to take care of their teachers.  They make it so easy!  Plus, collage is just a FAB store to get lots of really groovy crafty goodness. 

 

I'll be teaching Home Is Where the Heart Is.  It's a collaged journal, in the shape of a house.  Is it cute, or what?!  It's got tons of pages to paper and embellish, and we'll have lots of time to do it.  When it's finished, it makes a great journal, or a guest book for your beach house, an address book, a housewarming gift for friends who've just bought a new house, a keepsake for Mom's birthday.  Oh, the endless possibilities.  Don't you love that?

 

It's a two-night class, the first session is at the Alberta store on July 22 and July 29, then I'll teach it again on Woodstock on August 5 and August 12. 

 

To register for Home Is Where the Heart Is, or for more information, click here.  Hope to see you in class!

Oh, How I Love Artfiberfest!

 

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know how much I love and adore Artfiberfest.  Teesha and Tracy really know how to throw a party!  This year was no exception.

 

Held at Reed College here in Portland, it was fun to have my home city play host to my favorite event of the year.  And the venue didn't disappoint.  Reed's campus is absolutely lovely, tucked into the Eastmoreland neighborhood of southeast Portland.  And the weather was a dream...sunny, warm, breezy.  Blissful. 

 

We stayed in dorms that were built last year, and let me tell you, these are not the dorms I lived in when I went to college.  The buildings were light and airy, with lots of windows.  The rooms were large and inviting, there were lots of common areas to meet and mingle and craft, and there was a full kitchen.  Truly, they were outstanding.

 

Dining in the Commons Dining Room was great!  The food was surprisingly good (especially the vegan oatmeal cookies!  Must. Learn. To. Make. These.)  The dining room itself felt like it was in a large treehouse.

 

Walking around campus to various classes, to the dining hall, or to the dorms was a little nature hike.  Walking bridges spanning Reed Canyon, paths winding through over 100 species of trees, sidewalks lining grassy areas amongst lovely old brick buildings. 

 

The first night, there's a kick-off meeting, where we get general information about the venue, the classes, the event, and the teachers get up and say something witty and inspirational.  This was my first year as a teacher at Artfiberfest, and although I was not in the least bit nervous about teaching my class on Saturday, getting up and saying something witty and inspirational to the group had me a titch bashful and anxious.  I got through it, though, and Artfiberfest officially began!

 

On Thursday I took Mary's Bird with Hats class.  It's the third year I've taken her rug hooking class, and I absolutely loved it again!  Mary is such an awesome teacher, and rug hooking is just too, too fun!  After three years, I think I'm actually going to go out to our local rug hooking supply shop and get outfitted. 

 

Charlotte's Enchanted Felt Cottage was my class on Friday.  I'm not quite finished with my cottage, but I love the way it's going.  It would be fun to make a whole little village!

 

And on Saturday I taught my Treasure Nests class.  I had an AWESOME group of artists in my class!  We laughed a lot, told a lot of hilarious stories, and even got our nests finished.  Most of the photos on this post are of my students' Treasure Nests.  They turned out GREAT!  There are more class photos over .

 

I'm always sad to see Artfiberfest come to an end, but at the same time, I leave feeling inspired, with my creative battery re-charged and ready to rock!  Cannot wait for next year.  And if you're considering Artfiberfest as an artsy getaway next year (I highly recommend it), it will be held again at Reed College the last weekend of June. 

 

If you weren't able to come to Artfiberfest, but you'd like to learn how to make your own Treasure Nest, I'm teaching an encore class over at Joggles.com later this month. 

Artfiberfest Hangover

 

Am still unpacking from the best Artfiberfest event ever!  And will post all the details in the next few days, so stay tuned. 

Late Night Crafting

 

The muse reasserts herself at the most inconvenient times.

I spent a couple of hours pricing goodies for the artisan's market at Artfiberfest, and was getting ready to curl up in bed with my pup and a good book, when who should come breezing into the studio but the muse herself.  And she was all whipped up and ready to create.

 

What's a girl to do?

I sat down at my work table with some bits and baubles and got to it.

 

I've been spinning around like a little ball in a pinball machine lately, a gazillion projects started, nothing quite finished, things to price, articles to write, lesson plans to organize.  I love it so much, being busy like this, but sometimes it feels like I'm not getting anything accomplished.  You know that dream where you're running, but not moving an inch?  That's what it feels like. 

And I get so caught up in the To Do List that I forget to enjoy the process. 

So, I find it rather ironic, while at the same time terribly comforting, that this is the first word that popped into my mind when I sat down to create late last night.

 

That muse of mine.  She's a wise soul.  I ought to slow down and listen to her more often.

Monday, Monday

 

Well, after getting off to a slow and lazy start, Monday has finally gotten underway at 4:30 p.m.

 

I seem to have misplaced my mojo.

 

Hopefully it will show up again tomorrow.

 

In the meantime, I've listed some new goodies in my Etsy shop...crafty goodness, supplies-in-a-teacup, patterns, fabric flower pins.  So.  Much.  Fun!

What's New, Pussycat?

 

I've got a lot of half-baked projects right now.  I'm in one of those creative modes, where the ideas are coming faster than my hands can whip them out. 

 

And then there's Artfiberfest prep.  AFF will be here in less than two weeks, and I am in the throes of class prep, creating goodies for vendor night...

 

I love being this busy!!

 

Oh, and speaking of Artfiberfest, Teesha is offering day passes for you local Portlanders!  If you want to take a class or two, without committing to the entire event, this is a great way to do it!  Just leave me a comment here, and I'll put you in touch with Teesha.

 

I'm working on new patterns, new projects, new products...lots of fun new stuff! 

 

In the meantime, here are a few photos of Creativity In Action.  Have a great Thursday!!

Pro. Cras. Ti. Nation.

 

I'm blatanly ignoring my to-do lists and playing in my art journal this morning.

 

If you look very closely at the photos, you can see all of my "notes to self", my to-do's before they hit the Master To-Do List.

All day long, in the studio, I'm thinking.  Thinking of more things to do.  More projects to create.  More pretty things to make.  Fun places to take myself on an Artist Date.

 

So, when one of these brilliant ideas comes to mind, I grab a piece of scrap paper, and Write.  It.  Down.

 

Because, hey, I'm not in my 30s anymore, and sometimes I forget a brilliant idea.  It happens.

 

And there they are.  All of my brilliant ideas, scattered on my desktop, underneath my journal.  Because it's Monday morning.  And all I want to do is color.

Sunday Mornings

 

French-pressed coffee.  Black.  Tony Bennett on the iPod.  The funnies out of the Sunday paper.  Sitting under a quilt, because the clouds have cooled things off this weekend.  Kip curled up at my feet.

 

Good stuff.

 

I love Sunday mornings.  It's the only morning of the week that is meant for relaxing.  This is the morning I'm most likely to make eggs benedict or strawberry-banana pancakes, and we can actually sit down together and have a leisurely breakfast.

 

And then the whole day lays before us.  There's nothing we have to do today, so I can see some sewing going on, maybe a little "dirt therapy" in the garden.  Followed by a nap.  Mostly, we just do whatever suits us on Sundays.  Sometimes, it's a whole lot of nothing.  Those may be my favorite Sundays.

 

But for now, it's Sunday morning.  I've got the windows open, although it's cool outside.  But it's not raining, and I love hearing the birdsongs.  Kip lays on the rug by the glass patio door.  The door's open to the screen door, and he's got his nose right to the mesh, it's working double-, triple-time with all of the Sunday morning smells...damp grass, faint jasmine blossoms, pine.  Our blue jay swoops down to the table, catching Kip's attention, a quick bark, "Hey, get off the table, Blue!", then he lazily lays back down on his rug. Master of his domain, King of the Patio Garden.

 

Hmmm...must refill my coffee mug. 

Doodle-icious

 

 I used to draw all the time when I was little. 

And somewhere along the line, I forgot that I knew how.  In fact, I had quite convinced myself that I couldn't draw.  How does that happen?  At what point in our "growing up" do we lose the little kid who knows how to have fun with markers and paint? 

 

I don't know the answers to these questions, but I'm tickled pink to have been reintroduced to my inner draw-er (read 'a person who draws', not 'where you put your socks').  She's having a blissful time in the studio these days, drawing and doodling to her heart's content.

 

And now I'm sort of getting the whole idea behind art journals.  Because I'm taking some of these doodles, and applying them other places.  The ideas are really coming at me at full throttle right now.  In fact, I have so many ideas, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.  It's like that, though, isn't it?  Creativity is sometimes a feast or famine sort of thing.  I find that sometimes there's not a new idea in sight.  I don't feel like working on any of my current projects, but don't have the energy or imagination to think up something new.  So, I just stitch, or cut and paste, or whatever...something to keep my hands busy...something to fulfill the urge to create, even when I'm not feeling that creative.

 

Then, there are other times, when I can hardly wait to get into the studio.  So many ideas, so much energy!  But when I get there, I have so much energy and so many ideas that I don't know where to start.  Ack!

 

I do wish I could find a happy medium, a blissful balance.  It feels a little manic.  During those periods, it sometimes feels good just to sit down and doodle.  It sort of calms me down.  Slows the energy to a manageable rate, one where I can create and not feel so...umm...crazy.  Because that's how it feels.  Like sort of a creative lunacy!  As if my life depends on getting it out and onto paper or canvas or fabric or whatever medium feels right that day. 

 

And that's the other thing.  I have so many things I love doing.  I love fabric.  I love paint.  I love fibers and yarn.  I love paper and found objects.  I find that I'm in a spot right now where I really am having trouble with focus.  I'm like the little silver ball in the pinball machine, zing-ing from one thing to the next, never getting anything finished, lots of projects started, ideas drafted, but nothing finished.  It's a little frustrating, but I'm trying to honor that process, too, because I think it has something to teach me.  I don't know.  It's so hard to explain, but I gotta tell you, it sure feels good to get it out there into the ether.  :)

 

So, Ether, thanks for listening to my little "purge on the page" session.  Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.

Doodle-ee-doo

I start with a pencil sketch.

 

Then I play around with it in my art journal, playing with color and paint...

 

...and more color.

 

             

And now I'm doodling with fabric.  And having a marvelous time.