Yacht Rock Party to Celebrate Coworkers Promotions and...

 an Open Studio?! Hold onto your butts

I was talking with a coworker about their promotion and said "We are throwing you a party! What theme you want?" Without skipping a beat they said "Yacht Rock". Doooone siiir.

 I kept thinking...what will I be doing at this party? When I finally made it out to parties as a young 19-21 year old I hid behind my drawing books. Painfully shy my books are my shields. I can't just sit at the party and certainly not behind a book. I got myself a water slide. (for the other guests too of course..)

I cant. even. This turned out to be so hilariously fun!! The bottom was a small pool. weeeee! 

Other activities? Oh! I know. I'll get rid of old art work and do a "proper" giveaway with a drawing. As opposed to how I used to give art away when I drank and was slightly sloshed signing the backs of random canvases. This is my first art giveaway sober. I was super nervous! Old art work is like a journal entry or time capsule. Most of it reminds me of things I have moved on from. blegh. 

Shawnster converted our workout room to a gallery

There is one painting in this section that will be in my book next spring. Nanette the mouse got a new home!! Neighbor kids adopted her.

My favorite painting is the top left called "Study on Water" year 2012. I was sad no one thought it was interesting. I lived in the Bay Area and thought about tsunamis, rivers from a birds eye view, ripples and a single droplet. Someone showed up and grabbed it very late that night and I was squealing with happiness. They liked it and it was seen. 

 I do art when not working. Prolific or compulsion. (Its a blurred line)Why not do that? Make art. Why not invite others to do it too? Why not set up stuff for people to work on a collaborative thing? Why not have it in the courtyard? Next thing I knew I accidentally planned an Open Studio event. Waht in the qwaht!? I was supposed to do that when I retired or something. fuck. 

I'm always ruining my plans by doing them too early. That's what I get for daydreaming and planning shit. 

Open Studio. What is it?

What the Wiki says about Open Studio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_studio -read this, its cool. 

Cliffnotes: "A studio or workroom which is made accessible to allcomers, perhaps just in the short term, during an open studio event, where artistic or creative work can be viewed and created collaboratively. An open studio is intended to foster creativity and encourage experimentation in an atmosphere of cultural exchange, conversation, encouragement, and freedom of expression." 

 For the privacy of the attendees, these are only pictures of the setup. Unlike a Steven King novel, I will give you space to use your imagination to fill in the blanks. 

My heart sunk 2 hours after the invite time and no one was here. Shawn and I slow danced in the lawn and I said "welp, if its just us, I'm ok with that! Lets play games". He looked aight in the captain hat too.. People did arrive eventually. 

Lawn area that became a chill hang out spot! Lawn blankets, more chairs and discussion about the "Never Ending story" and therapy (none of that was my doing..)

Seating

My favorite dark corner of the garden for the late night deviant folks (there were some lights) we added more chairs.

Why is it gated off? 'Cause picking dog poo out of bark is complete nonsense.

The Collaborative Art Project: Good Ol' Shed Painting

My beautiful new garden shed Shawnster built for me. He's got mad skills. So happy about it. I told him its good practice for when we buy property and we need buildings! Just planting the seed...

paint your own sign:

There was some decent gourmet food. I LOVE cooking. Vegan lasagna, (cold) roasted cauliflower, pea soup with cumin and blackberry, caper olive oil drizzle. It looked pretty and was unique af.

Kabocha squash (japanese pumpkin) pie with nectarines from our trees, shortbread crust, cardamom, rose/orange/honey hand made whip with pistachio and dried garden rose petal topping. Middle eastern inspired flavors. 

My favorite things about the Open Studio Event that makes my heart burst just thinking about it:

• There was a person who shared a short story they wrote, they allowed me to read it aloud! It was so so good! They painted a lovely watercolor of a pine forest and said they were really nervous but dove in. I am so incredibly proud of them for facing fears. Its hard. I face my fears constantly. I did throwing a party. What if no one shows up? I love people so much I want to see them FREE from fears. At least for a little while :)

• People that received the artwork they wanted were so excited! I was happy they were happy. The unfortunate thing is people want to place money on things and I looked folks in the eye and said "as you go about your journey, if you see something, I dont care if its on the side of the road, and you think "AMo might like this". Then pay me with that."

• There were a few people that said they had social anxiety and they showed up. They showed the fuck up! I love and appreciate them so much for that. That shit is hard. They were faced with an abundance of love, respect and acceptance and maybe got some art and food they liked. 

• People requested to do another Open Studio, with musicians, BBQ pit master, and other fun ideas. So much excitement about playing with art!

• Some cool paintings folks did in my shed- we'll need to do another to get this decked out!

 

What else am I daydreaming/planning? 

What if I do a winter Open Studio with some sort of heated tent thing!? 

What if I buy a farm with land to study landscape design for rural/urban design? 

Why am I so pissed about all the trimmed urban trees right now? I am looking for an excuse to buy farmland in the middle of Europe. I will have trees that grow branches how ever they want and 1 pig. ok some, only minute trimming- crossing branches etc. The pig will not be eaten, Shawn and I don't really like pork. 

Another thing that jumped the timeline: I was going to write when I was in my late 40s or early 50s. I figured I would know more then. I'm writing now though. (not this blog, other writing) Its pouring out of me. I was reviewing slides for a presentation with coworkers and something about an oxford comma came up. I said "hold up. I don't write that well" and explained "that's why I write prose and poetry." I like brevity, stream of conscious, rough edges, trees with lower limbs! raw, something not too messed with. When I mess with my paintings or writing too much it ends up so far from the original intent. It takes on new meanings it did not start with. It evolves, loses its shimmery scales, grows legs and lungs and exits the vast dark ocean.