Friday night date night.... final Fridays in Newark....

We rested inside today...it has been a little of everything today...this morning we have a couple of inches of snow on the ground. By noon the sun was out and gently melted the snow away but the winds were still whipped up so it felt a bit chilly when I would venture outside. I performed mundane tasks all the while getting a list for this and a list for that running in my mind. Today we went downtown to the final Fridays Art Walk and had a great time visiting different businesses, galleries , art openings and just visiting with old friends. It is hard to say what I liked best...finding a five inch chocolate dinosaur for an additional special gift for Cole's third birthday...going to see the Cartoonists exhibit at the Works and hugging old friends in town for the weekend...making lunch plans to meet with Michael Coronado about lunch and possibly assisting me to print onto silk some of my images.... walking hand in hand with my Ken... and realizing I let myself get overly excited and before I knew it I was overheated...literally. With each visit on the Art Walk you received an opportunity to taste new chocolates, visit businesses often overlooked thanks to the big national chains, watch my friend Rachel actually create the large Hershey's kiss paperweight that will be drawn out all the entries of those who visited the glass galleries. I received a small cobalt blue Hershey Kiss and I will treasure it always in my studio window. I made plans to have lunch with Lynn about attending the Ohio Day for the Arts in April in Columbus together. My words are totally inadequate when I try to express my joy and glee I experience when I am back in the middle of being with my old friends and artists sharing their love and passions. I will include a couple photos of Abby Rice and Rachel McFarland working together to create the candy kiss paperweight for the raffle drawing. I am so proud of Rachel ...I met her through her sister when I was the director of the LCA gallery that was renting from the Works and at the time involved with an integral part of the art movement and education in Licking County. Now being only one block away it is very evident to see the isolation or break from all the activity epicenter has hurt the traffic flow I had worked so hard to open and increase over my seven years. Change is inevitable so I am hopeful that the marketing will in time open up a more fervent advertising campaign...I want to see this become much more than just a social center for just a few persons. Where were the children ? I saw them at the Works with activities designed to pull them in and touch the world of the arts and sciences. The exhibit today was all about the cartoonists and contemporary comic movement with the artists present and available for discussions and questions many young artists might have. I met some new people working passionately to bring their marks into the forefront of our community. All in all it was a great day and we have made plans to get together with other artists who we have failed to see over the humongous snowstorms we experienced this past winter. Happy happy happy days were happening tonight on the downtown square.

I am going to finish adding my buttons to Cole dinosaur quilt and Ken is wrapping some costumes for him to explore and experience in his own fantasy imagination in his playroom and at this art table with his sister Baby Morgan. I am washing another load of darks and my comfortable jeans so I can get down on the floor and play with the kids and maybe take Morgan on a walk in the neighborhood while the rest enjoy the theater. We will stay over for the night and I plan on helping Erin prepare her birthday breakfast for family and friends... a low key...low stress dinosaur dig is planned so we should all have a lot of fun.

I have finally watched Food Inc. a documentary film by Eric Scholler's quest to find out where our foods come from before they get to the supermarkets. It was informative and yet frightening at the same moment. Food factories, fast food, menus that are not good for us . It just brought home the fact that cheap foods are not expensive because of snack food subsidiaries for foods that are too indulgent for our bodies. Salt, fat, sugar are in almost every processed food we eat today. The fresh fruits and vegetables are cost prohibited for the lower incomes...the cost of medicines to be healthy or fresh produce ... how we live our lives, the foods we eat and the foods we need to eat to be a healthy individual have evolved to become a balance game for our families. I ate a kiwi when I came home tonight...a sweet fruit from a place 23 hours away and I relished the delicious flavor and textures of this organic fresh fruit...non-processed and in the raw ...but the real thing...nothing artificial. Think first and then eat... if you bite it...write it down and really see what we are eating.

Well I have had a busy day and have to get back to work. Have a wonderful weekend with those you love. Go to your studios and create! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart