Final Fridays and the Chocolate Walk...plus sexy Boney James

I met with my art shadow all day and enjoyed Hayley Lavender all day long. We discussed the possibilities of scholarship applications and we walked down to the Licking County Foundation and picker up the necessary dates for applications and met the director for small details and the email address. Then we walked across the street and we met a wonderful artist named Charlie who is a sculptor but his focus right now is Stone Tablets with the Ten Commandments by the motorcycle bible. Charlie is an open man with a very creative approach to making Art in our community. Hayley, Ted and I wrapped 175 chocolate truffles in a white gift like appearance and tied with a blue satin ribbon and Ted's business card for tonight's Chocolate Walk. Myers and Pugh Jewelers sponsored Boney James and his back up band to night at the Midland. Boney can make a saxophone sing like a human voice and his newest CD Contact has been number one on the Billboard Jazz and Pop Album for the last four weeks. I apologize for not having any photos tonight but I have been just too busy to download them...tomorrow when I finish the Arbor Day Celebration at Dawes Arboretum Art activities from 10 to 4 in the arboretum valley. I need to balance my energies to accomplish this tomorrow but we the The King's Speech for movie night in the evening. Yeah!!! How about that beautiful young couple you might have seen on TV today who got married in London today. What a beautiful ceremony and there was a sense of JOY for the world to share and I felt as if Diana was there with her young gentlemen.
Good bye for now...I need to pack my supplies and it is almost midnight...I am on such a high right now...I have got the music in ME! Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Thursday preparations...please help Nation heal....

April is or is near to being the most threatening tornado month of the century...I am in awe of Mother Nature's rage and path of destruction during this month. I called to check on the nieces and nephews who were living in the path of last night storms and they appear to be fine and in recovery by the near miss. I pray for the families who have lost someone they love and their homes are a memory of their hearts. Rebuilding will be a long period of recovery and these families need a helping hand in the strength to find closure after their losses.

Last night I went back about three decades with Graham Nash and David Crosby. With their recognizable songs of the past decades plus some right on the mark new political lyrics I felt the chills of my youth on my skin in a sold out theater. Three hours later and I did not want the night to end...it could have gone on for another three hours and they would not have had to repeat themselves. David Crosby agreed to this fact and no one wanted to leave for the evening. With remarkable technology they recorded the concert on a thumb drive you could purchase that night to enjoy for the future. Even though it really was out of my budget...I charged one so Ken and I can enjoy this wonderful concert as we drive down to Georgia. Thank you David and Graham for the years of melodic memories from my youth.

I am presently tying blue ribbons on business cards for my friend Ted and Judy as they prepare for tomorrow's Chocolate Walk for Final Fridays in downtown Newark. Tomorrow morning I will wrap 175 chocolate truffles and we will attach the business cards with blue ribbons...I wish I could do the walk again this year but I will be volunteering for the Midland once more for a young man Boney James's live performance. Last year ken and I had a great date night walking around the square collecting tasty treats and enjoying the exhibits of our community. The galleries will open with diverse offerings for every one's taste in Art.

Now it is time to get back to work. I have been cutting stencils, collecting rubbings and materials , and making my blended crayons for my day of Art at the Arbor Day celebrations for Arbor Day. I think I have everything I will need but I want to be prepared! Have a safe night and cuddle up with those you love. "Lay Me Down" is one of the songs running through my mind right now...I wish you Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart
2011 Chocolate Art Walk...tasty sweets and beautiful Art

Check out the Central Gallery at 50 South Second Street for "Duets" by Todd Yarrington...
The Gallery of Urban Art with Dalale Hall and Dan Coffman featuring Sandy Gartner....
The Art Works Gallery is featuring Printmakers associated with Nicholos Hill....
The Gallery of Dreams /White Cottage with Kim Miles....
The Licking County Arts themed exhibit " Just a Pretty Picture"....
kay Kenyon continues her exhibit at the Liz Argyle Gallery....

Anevening with David Crosby and Graham Nash at the Midland Theater.....

I am very tired and it is after midnight...four decades after they first met and began singing they are still extremely harmonic and as political as ever. For three hours we were all mesmerized by the two genius men with their incredible back up band. It seems like yesterday that I was playing my LPs and now every thing can be recorded lice on a thumb drive and then burnt onto your own personal CD. I promise to share more tomorrow but I am delirious at the moment and visions of sugar plums ...well maybe not sugar plums are dancing in my head. I do have photos to share but tomorrow is another day...glorious day with sunshine I hope. Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Final Friday Art Walk
Chocolate Walk
Studio time
Storm warnings ...but what is new?
Tomorrow I promise...

dosfishes: Garlands for Spring

dosfishes: Garlands for Spring

Tea for Tuesday was iced tea...sweet tea...

I delivered Miss Rosie to the Barking Box...not that she needed a haircut or anything...LOL. She loves going to the groomers...she sort of thinks of it as a a "doggie playroom". There was a rather large Basset Hound ...with a muzzle on him...getting his pedicure and she thought he wanted to play. Poor Rosie goes through life looking through rose colored glasses. He was definitely not amused with his situation and his beauty treatment. I then arrived early at the studio and thank the Lord the air conditioning was on and not the heat....the room was cool in the morning but I do better in a cool studio than working in sauna conditions.

I had a small ham sandwich ....thank you Erin for the delicious leftovers. As I went back to work my friend Marcia came in and asked me to consider making a quilt for the next Hat Off Fund raiser. "Into the looking Glass" is theme and I am already cooking my idea on the back burner ...I want to create a work dedicated to Howard and his legacy gift of The Works for our hometown. Who would have guessed our hometown would have a Smithsonian associate museum in our town??? We have been blessed and I have until September 2012 to complete my focus donation. I am thinking photo transfer with silk and linen in a painterly approach....but it is early in the design game.

After work I went to pick up my precious pup...and as you can see she does look like a different dog. Our radio has been playing public announcement about the increased presence of the dog ticks/deer ticks that carry the Lyme disease so I had asked the groomer to "take her down to her summer coat". As you can see she is sporting a new do...and not really as happy with me when she went in to the shop this morning, I think she is cute. We both took a nap when we arrived home...to sleep through the afternoon storms...tonight is going to be a bumpy ride!

I am learning about heirloom vegetables from Brent and Josh on the Fabulous Beekman Boys. Now they are working together on an heirloom recipe cookbook. True heirlooms in your families...for now and future generations with Josh having 51% of the power of control of their collaborated direction. I still need to order some Beekman Soap ...natural olive oil soaps to keep the Boys surviving. "Make a sale"...where have I heard this comment before??? They are now cooperating with local artisans for hand knit scarves, a line of heritage recipes, soaps a,d several sauces for homemade ice creams. Every week the boys seem to be discovering ways to expand their income from their beloved farm. I learn from them even if Brent has control issues.

I continued to cut papers for the Arbor Day experience for the children and the weather men are predicting a sunny day!!!! Finally. Thank you Taylor for sharing your scraps from graduate school classes...these are truly lovely papers you have given us to work with. I am really excited about these type of outside activities and I have requested a tent space ...with me living with Lupus I need to remember how to protect my skin from a long exposure ...it can trigger a relapse and I will come out of remission...or my state of remission. It is a daily balancing act. On May 7 I think Julian Lennon....John's son and musician has become the spokesman for Lupus awareness of Lupus. He lost a dear friend Lucy... he had grown up with when she died at the young age of 46. Lucy was the subject of the drawing that inspired his father John Lennon to write the classic Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". With Julian he is working hard to elevate the Global Profile of Lupus. There are more than five million people living with Lupus and their families around the world.

Well it is time to get back to my work...wow I am always saying YES...but this is a legacy for my man Howard. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Every Inchie Monday...Joy

Happy Birthday to Don...today you are 86 and glowing with love and laughter. He and Betty have been married since September 4, 2010 so technically they are still on their honeymoon. The "Kids" have just returned from a cruise in Hawaii on a Norwegian Cruise ship. They have some incredible photographs and wonderful memories. JOY JOY JOY!!! that does seem to be the theme for our day. We shared a wonderful dinner and laughter about the obvious question..."what were you doing last night?"

I created my JOY Inchie with the memory of holding a real koala in my arms when I was in Australia. The gentle furry creature just cuddled down into my arms and seemed to know that I would never hurt him and he could be safe in my cuddle for as long as we both wanted. It was a miracle that I was actually in Australia and I dream to go back for another month long visit.

I am not sure how...but the thermometer was askew today in our old building...and well it was warm outside and warmer inside the studio. I had to dig out my trusty old electric fan to keep myself cool enough to work. But have you ever tried to work...create...and layer paper collage with a fan blowing??? Not so easy for the average guy or girl...but I did finally find the sweet spot to allow the layers to go down without flying away and another sweeter spot to dry the layers. I made Don's birthday card...I think I have made one for the last 12 or 13 years to celebrate his BIG day. I also worked on some softer collages to make into sympathy cards...I have had a request for these cards so it is time to have them available... tomorrow I will work on simple verses and work with a gold pen and practice with my dip calligraphy pen.

"When you are finished changing....well you are finished." Ben Franklin Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

Easter 2011 ...I have been blessed ...

The day began in a creamy cloak of fog circling the blooms on my cherry tree blossoms. The whole valley was misty like a scene from an English countryside ... the morning doves announced the arrival of our Easter morning for 2011. Ken made his famous homemade banana cream pie and I made Peeps in a next of jelly beans cupcakes and heart shaped cakes for my grandchildren. We dropped off small tokens of love and the Crystal Bowersox poster she signed for Maya, Sabrina and Hannah. We took a couple photos and I am hoping the rain would let up for Tina to finish her barbecue chicken dinner she has planned for her Easter dinner. We then drove over to enjoy Ham and sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, hot rolls and asparagus and a big glass of milk with Cole 4 years old and Morgan 2 years old. Lyndon at 8 months old tasted a few bites of green beans plus his oatmeal cereal with bananas little bits of hot rolls. After our wonderful dinner we all went for a walk down to their community pond and around the block...Cole riding his Spider Man bike and Morgan in her push stroller car and Lyndon in his stroller talking all the way on the walk. This is a very simple way to celebrate a holy day of the Resurrection. Life does not get better... a sense of renewal...the joys of an afternoon with joyful spirits and a wonderful meal prepared and shared by the family I love. I am blessed.

Tomorrow we have a celebration of a dear artist who will be 86 with a dinner with a few close friends. I need to work on my "joy" Inchie for tomorrow. Happy Easter to you all and may we all be blessed in this new season of renewal. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart