Did you survive the sugar crash of 2011?

I guess I'm still making the transition from recipient-of-holiday-cheer to giver of same.

This is only the second holiday that I've gotten more organized and motivated to decorate for various holidays.

I don't know if I'd've bothered to paint Easter-themed silhouettes on wooden eggs (thanks, Urban Comfort!) if it were just for me and The Husband. But now that The Boy and TwoBoo are now old enough to get excited about the candy the festivities...

I remember all the work my mom put into giving me holiday memories. So even though I still waited until the last minute to put together the Easter baskets and paint the eggs, I did get them done. Even with the prospect of two guaranteed sugar highs and crashes in our future.

Good idea for working off the sugar high: chase soap bubbles outside. Also: try to give the older one a cold so he wants to sit down and read or watch tv during the sugar crash.

I don't know if I'll ever be ready to make Easter dinner... the idea of holiday cooking still gives me hives. But I'm thinking ahead for the next major holiday. Who wants to invite me and the family over for Independence Day? We'll The Husband will bring a side dish, I promise!

Random bits of Artfest

I tend to notice the absence of things quickly, sometimes before I even see what's present. This kind of perspective has an obvious downside, but the upside is that I notice people and things that get overlooked. Like at my first Artfest: I noticed there were like six African-Americans in the whole 500+ group of attendees.

But scarcity of men at art retreats was so obvious that I barely paid it any attention at first. As I put it to a friend, if you're going to Artfest to pick up guys after class, you will be sorely disappointed. No, if they're there, they've teaching.

Or they've been pressed into service hauling or vending stuff. Maybe they hang out in town while the wife/girlfriend is making art. You can count the number of guys on one hand who are actually there to take a class. Really, how many guys do you know who go to any kind of retreat not related to work or maaaaybe church?

But this year I found an interesting perspective from Chad Goodson, who was in my Strange Angels class. He and his wife Jessica Herman Goodson ate lunch with us, and I overheard a snippet of their conversation. So I pestered him about it:

What do you think? The estrogen is pretty thick at art retreats. Do you think things would be the same if the ratio were about 50-50 (60-40, whatever) women to men? Would you want it that way? Or would you miss the just-us-girls vibe?

Artfest, Day 3-Flirting with Photoshop

Okay, when I said "tomorrow" in the last post I was thinking "Monday." Sorry about that.

In spite of staying up late the previous night, hanging with Nancy...

Tally, and Janine...

I got up AN HOUR EARLY to semi-finish my Strange Angels piece, and it put me into a great mood by the time everyone came downstairs for breakfast. Off to "Flirting with Photoshop" with Pamela Huntington.

I really need to know how to do more than crop photos (even though you've seen I'm the mayor of Croptown). Use this background here... add some bits from finished pieces there... you're 2/3rds done with a new piece, like one Pamela displayed at the Artfest gallery.

And Tally was signed up for the class too. Bonus!

But things are bound to slow down for everyone if your computer refuses to read the class CD, and the instructor has to figure out what the hell is wrong with your computer. Poor Dale.

Even after getting over that hump, she had trouble opening files, which kept her two or three steps behind. Tally, on the other hand, was bored out of her mind.

I fell behind too, scribbling notes. Took a break, but I just got more frustrated when I came back. Meh. (Pamela's now friends with me on Facebook; I'll deluge her with questions some other time.) Off to dinner downtown at the Fountain Cafe, where I entertained myself taking faux Polaroids after Tally's real Polaroid refused to take pictures in anything but direct sunlight.

 

Tonia promised this little hole-in-the-wall had seriously mouthwatering food. Half the instructors from Artfest must've agreed, because they took our seats after we licked our plates clean. We raced back up to Show & Tell with a half-hour to spare -- or so we thought.

Done! Empty except for a few stragglers! We'd tried to bring our pieces early, but we were too early... and then we were too late. So, off to Artisans on Taylor to see Professor Goofballigus deMenticus.

Several pieces from Michael's book "Dusty Diablos" were on display at the gallery reception. My camera battery died, but I breathed heavily over each and every one as I scrutinized them from every angle.

 

And guess who else was there? Pamela, with Andrea Matus (who also happens to be dating Michael).

I missed out on dancing at Sirens later on, but I'm sure it'll be there after next year's Artfest classes. And there's your full Artfest recap, boys and girls. Hey, if you haven't sent me a Facebook friend request or clicked on the Like button, now would be an excellent time to do so! I'd love to hear from you.