You need to see this...

Meet Gina
No, that's not her over there with the red head, that's one of her altered works of art. One of many, I should add.
Gina is from Leesburg, Indiana, which is somewhere between SouthBend and Fort Wayne. . . A Hoosier, you see, hmmmm, that explains everything... or not.
She's a writer, a mixed media artist, a blogger and she loves Saluda. Just click onto her blog and you will see all her work & read about her instant attraction to Sauda &...that she NEVER wanted to leave here.
Creatively, she's right there in the middle of this tug of war with her passion & creative yearnings for more time to do what she really loves and of course, the real world. Her Blog features the COOLEST music!!!!I want THAT Eagles music and that 70's & 80's rock.

Gina Smith and her husband, Paul made a detour of about 1 mile off of I-26, to stop here when they were returning home from Myrtle Beach, SC.
What did she do at the beach? She did her art stuff, of course and created that awesome shadow box shown above & probably a whole lot more.
She read about us in the last issue of Cloth Paper Scissors and instinctively knew that she had to be here. They not only enjoyed our shop but a relaxing lunch at the Purple Onion and some tidbits from the WildFlour Bakery.
How could she resist the art, the food, the trees, and mountains?
But wait! It's not all about us. It's about her and all those swaps that she is in and it's about her involvement with Artchix and Zne, all of which I am "so out of the loop". Tell us more, Gina. Better yet, keep showing us more. We will all be checking in our your blog:
Lillys of London*ish
I wonder what she is going to do with that "wholey paper" that she bought here, huh?

1 hour from Charlotte, North Carolina

REDUCED TO $275,000.
FROM $329,000.
I'm mixing business and pleasure today trying to help my daughter and her husband sell their mountain house in North Carolina. Since they moved from Charlotte to Columbus,Ohio they can no longer use this house for the weekends.
Do you know anybody who wants a great value on a weekend getaway house? Just one hour from Saluda, 1 hour from Charlotte and only a 15 minutes from I 40. Great location and easy to get to from anywhere.
Their like-new lakefront home sits on 2 acres in Hidden Lake with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a spacious loft for added sleeping area. A full size kitchen with all appliances and laundry area are convenient to the dining area and great room. Hardwood floors and a stone, floor to "vaulted ceiling" fireplace set the warm, backwoods cabin feeling.
COMPLETELY FURNISHED, TOO. New beds, dining set, custom sofa.
A well worn path leads from the house to the dock and is an easy and relaxing 3 minute walk.
The community is gated, wooded and has an awesome pool, clubhouse, streamside park & community dock for members. We have enjoyed several weekends there at the pool this summer and the pool is kept sparkly clean all the time.
They have reduced the price from $329,000, to $275,000 and are accepting all
reasonable offers. You can email me for further information. JUST REDUCED TO $275,000.

Cloth, Paper, Scissors,Visitors

Yes, visitors from Florida, Pittsburgh, Greenwood,SC, Raleigh, Las Vegas, Hendersonville, Asheville, Georgia and across the world have come to shop here since they saw us in Cloth Paper Scissors.
They come bearing gifts, like ATC's that they have created and were anxious to trade when they got here. Mara and her mother Tonya from the Raleigh area spent an entire afternoon with us, had lunch in town and then we got down to business.... trading ATC's. They wanted to trade 3 each! How lucky am I? They told Jen and I that they "love" Bernie Berlin's book "Artist Trading Card Workshop" book and that they use it as their "technique bible" of sorts and they do a chapter a month and work on perfecting those techniques. It was synchronicity that they told us that since earlier in the day, we had said the same thing about her book.

The best intentions

Time and again the lack of inspiration
bogs me down, and I feel the drain on my artistic energy.

It is so debilitating to
the psyche to just sit here and nothing comes.
I look through some
of my magazines such as Cloth Paper Scissors,
searching for ideas, clues to what comes next.
Where are my ideas? Come out, come out, wherever you are!!!!!!!! Please!!!!!
Where's that muse that everyone talks about,
that everyone know, that everyone has and owns???
Where where where? I have a deadline here !!!!

Serenity of the space.....

These photos of the Fox Family Farm can only express a small bit of the serenity & peace of that very special day.





Fulvia Luciano's mixed media art was featured at the Barnful of Quilts, this past Saturday in Waxhaw, NC. She creates an edgy mix of abstract & realism while using colors all across the board.... from rusted objects transfered to fabric to thread painting to subtle color changes. It was truly a feast for the discerning eye.

It's That Time Again . . . Boo

Not many us really really get into Halloween
but those that do totally enjoy playing with all
those spooky, glittery, colorful ghosts and
goblins. You know who you are... Sylvia, Annie,
Lulu and our special guest today, Sue Cambridge.
Sue and her friend Mary came up here sometimes
twice a year from Sarasota/Bradenton area to
stay in Mary's mountain house and all they did
was shop here and go back to the house and play.
Now Sue lives in Wilson, NC after begging for a
transfer with BBT she is now closer than ever.
She's the one who has been creating some
Halloween specialties while she has been here.
Love the banner!

She's not hiding any more...

Joyce is not hiding all those works
of art any longer because I now have
her picture trail link and I am sharing
it with the world. Some of you may
know Joyce Berger. She works here
at the shop & inspires me, prompts me,
cracks the whip and stimulates my
business mind as well. Besides all that
I was amazed when I peeked into her picture
trail account only to see the pages & pages
of awesome work that she has done.
Joyce has been creating artist trading cards
& fairy houses, & cabinet cards & postcards &
mixed media but we hardly ever see any of
her work/finished pieces because she always
sends them out for trades. Check it out.

Finally... a space!

Yes! After all of my whining and cavetching about not having a "studio", I found a space to call my own but I had to give up my clean, well designed, place to eat, completed, not under construction part of the house, DINING ROOM. Now, it's just 2 quilt work stations with sewing machine, cabinets, lots of space to spread out and a dining room table pushed up against the buffet. I have tried this before but I always went back to cleaing it all up, getting rid of my stuff and making it a perfect little dining area. The light is pretty good, huh? But, alas... I spent about 8 hours today creating my 12 pieces for the reunion of the "divas" from Kristi Steiner's retreat here in Saluda.
It could have been a cancellation on my part, to participate, since I hadn't even started this project. After today I am 99% complete. How about that?
A sneak peek at what it to come - NO 2 are alike! How is that for creativity?And while all this was going on, Paul was cutting off pipes to the old bathroom and soldering them shut until we get the new fixtures. Almost a disaster but thanks to a dear friend,they saved the day & I could continue on with my creative endeavors. Whew.... close call.
I can hardly wait to share. The unveiling is not until Nov 11th and there will plenty of pictures at that time from 11 others who are part of this exchange. Really, can I wait that long? SSSSSS

What's in the Box?

Surprise! Surprise!
It's the
Etched Metal Journal Pendants
arriving as our sample projects
from Caroline Hatchel for her
workshop on Nov. 2nd & 3rd.
Wow, she even created a presentation
box to nestle them into as they
arrived. We are so excited that
she will be here to teach her one
of a kind journal pieces. These
are two separate variations of
the pendant that you will create
in her class. The design is up to
you and the techniques are up
to her. Each one is approx. 2 x
2 inches with etched wings attached
to your piece with rivets. It's an all
new, adventurous workshop in
metalsmithing here at Random Arts.

Who's This?

I just couldn't stop when it came to creating this "masterpiece" out of torn magazine pages and precisely after I was inspired by a Renaissance painting of the Madonna. I know, I know, how did the inspiration become the reality? Not sure but I know that I tilted the head to the side a bit the way it was done in the painting and ... PRESTO ! It became this.
It all happened the weekend after Patti Brady, nationally known Golden Paint rep, and artist was here teaching. Does it look like Patti? NO, it doesn't, but she has green glasses and she has black hair with some orange accents. It is not a duplication or "copy" or a "look a like" representation. It is just what it is. It's torn paper pieced together to form a portrait, of sorts. It came to be after playing around with several other pieces after Meg Fowler gave us a mini lesson in our Randomly Altered Diva Group. Other than this wild & crazy gal with the orange hair, here is some of what I have done so far & a very special thanks to Meg for her instruction and inspiration

Are you stuck?

I didn't feel stuck at all the day that I did this bird collage up in Blowing Rock at the Believe in Yourself retreat. This was a simple use of torn up magazine pages, choice of colors and the time, the place and the creative energy that was nurturing each and every one of us. Not to mention that I didn't have the distractions of dishes, laundry, work, phone calls, remodeling, tv and all the rest of that stuff. So off I went to create this amazing piece. But, not all days are like that as we all know.

My inspiration of the day? Maybe it's time for a Reinven-tage invite from Rebecca Parsons.
Is anyone facing the fairly common complaint like mine? Why can't I create anything today? What is going on? How do I change it? What do I do next? Now what? and so on and so on and so on. It happens to me everyday and everyday I wonder how I am going to get out of that space and into a place of peace, serenity and creativity. After I read Rebecca Parson's blog today I remembered what it was, that I liked about her, when I met her here at Michael DeMeng's workshop back in May.

These are some of Rebecca Parson's creations from her blog: Cre8tiva

Something Rebecca told me then is that she teaches creativity workshops along with the faux painting and that she made a commitment to create "a face a day" for the new year. When you visit her blog you will be able to see what she does and where her creative and spiritual path takes her on her daily journey.

Look who's in Saluda again -

It's M. Fitz and her wildly crazy gang of women from North Charleston. We didn't think that they'd be back so soon but after 2 weeks of absence she just HAD to return and visit us. They joined us 2 weeks ago for a mini Friday workshop using Stargazers watercolors and then we found out the true secrets of M. Fitz. She is an ARTIST. Now I am feeling a little intimidated, especially when she shared her Picasa site with us that shows all her watercolors and all her drawings. I am going to hide in a corner and never come out.