Abbreviated Artist Salon 2018

August 02, 2018

Abbreviated Artist Salon 2018

Hello again,

My apologies for last week, things were too chaotic.

Some are aware that for the past several summers I spend an entire week in Northeast Ohio. I have always dubbed that week "Artist Salon." It was a relaxed week where my host friends (Kesha and Scott) and I do whatever we want whenever. We split up our time between talking, watching movies (Howl's Moving Castle in particular), playing games (Role-Playing Video Games and Board Games), explore a park, and dabble in our enjoyable artistic pursuits that the busy-ness of life gets in the way of. Last year I added meeting up with other friends to this list of activities. There is still a yet to be achieved desire to visit with relatives up there as well.

Sadly things were beyond my control this year. I was unable to take off the usual full week that I desire to do all of these activities. I was, however, able to take off 1 day creating a 3 day weekend (Sanity Break Weekend) and turned it into an "Abbreviated Artist Salon - Sanity Break."

Prepping for the Artist Salon...

Aware of the shortness of time, I had to prioritize what to take and do.

It has been tradition for the past several years to do Caramel Marble Scotchy Swirl Cake Pops for the month of July and share them. I have done them at my host friend's home in the past because of space. This was one of the things that was prepped and completed to take on the trip instead of packing ALL of my supplies. All I had to pack were the Cake Pop Candy cups that I had put together.

It would not be an Artist Salon for me if I did not take at least one project with me. Typically in the past I take 2-3 projects. The project that I decided to bring was my Tudor shoes that I worked on last year. I haven't worked on them since then and it is a fairly compact project of beads, gems, ribbon and glue.

Josefina also joined me along for this trip. Both Isabelle and Nellie have gone with me to my friends, but Josefina hadn't yet. So it was her turn. She was very excited about going and that she would be the first one to ride in my new vehicle, Damsel Moonbeam.

Day 1: Packing-travel day

I have done this trip often enough that I have packing down to an art. I pull out all possible activities and clothes in a highly visible spot a week before. Then throughout the week I weed out the "No's." The day of the trip is when I actually put things in bags. This is when I do cut throat packing because I want to hurry up and get on the road. In the past I am notorious for packing too much. With cut throat pack I can realistically acknowledge "Will/ Do I... or Not..."

The drive was rainy. I got a little more acquainted with my windshield wipers. It is a lot fancier than Drama Queen's (my previous '99 Accord). I also got to play around with calling via my Bluetooth, which is taking a while to get used to, but I like. I do not hold conversations while driving. My calls are ETA/ status updates so that people know how soon I will be there.

Once I arrived, the rest of the evening was all talk. Its nice to talk face to face. Dinner was at Perkins restaurant, with the beautiful sunset below. Then to end the day after the 3 hour drive, I randomly danced and twirled while Scott played his mandolin. I was also given my birthday present of a Blue Phoenix necklace that I came up with a design to go with it.

Day 2: Everything

As mentioned above, one of the beloved activities of the Artist Salon Week is to go exploring primarily a park. After breakfast and lounging a bit, we had a discussion on what major activities were on the agenda for the day. Travel exhaustion usually leaves the first settled day as a full on lounge about day. Again with the shortness of time, it was either now or never for exploring. So everyone got dressed to go exploring Youngstown's Mill Creek Metro Park. We visited here the previous summer, but this time I saw different areas.

Completing yet another 2 hour hike and exploration, it was time to go eat. After last years 2 hour hike, we were so ravenous and starved that we inhaled our food. We didn't want to do that again. A Mexican restaurant was selected due to the minimal wait time of food to table. It hit the spot.

While in the car, Scott informed Kesha and myself that he wished to see some of the set that a co-worker of his was playing. We were of course up to go. After a quick clean-up and change, we were off to a newly opened winery to listen to Scott's friend Pete. It was a pleasant time where our party were called "Groupies." Pete was in a tent in the back. He was by himself and sang while playing keyboard. He even broke out a harmonica at the end for 2 songs. Scott had the Spiced Meade. Kesha ordered the regular Meade, which I requested 1 sip of. We both knew that I wouldn't like it. With as often as I have gone to the Renaissance Fair, it was going to nag me if I didn't try it at least once, and this was the perfect time. Yep... tasted like expired cold medicine to me so I didn't like it. But at least I tried. I stuck with water, but I did have the strawberry cheese cake. Then I did random twirling/ dancing in the uneven grass while wearing my ever so cute Royal Vintage Ginger shoes that I was complimented on at least twice that evening. I didn't injure myself or fall. When the set was complete for the night we chatted a little with Pete before going home.

Once home after an eventful day, I subjected Kesha and Scott to Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. We watched the 1st 3 episodes and finally got to see why I enjoy them so much. I even informed them of the crowd funded movie that will be going into production soon if it hasn't already.

Afterward, we called it a day.

Day 3: Gaming, Shoes and Home

Knowing that sadly I would have to return home later in the day, the major item on the agenda was gaming. I informed Scott that he would be the one in charge of the controller. I desperately desired to work on my Tudor shoes that I brought. I was afraid that it would be another year before I touched them again if I didn't. It was also an "Artist Salon."

My first night I actually pulled out the pins, beads, gems and scraps to come up with a design that I liked. My thumb was sore for a couple of days from pushing the pins through. Day 2, I had us to a Joann's Fabric run to get different pins and glue to work on the shoes.

After marking the lines on the un-pinned shoe, I began gluing the beads and gems into place mirroring the pinned shoe design. I was of course nudged whenever I had lines to read, or needed to reference the game guide. I love the Final Fantasy series of games, but not being a hard-core gamer I cannot complete the game without the guides. The gluing and pinning for 1 shoe was hours in the making. Once this was accomplished, it was quite late. I had to pack everything up and head home.