Jane LaFazio Workshop

It is true! We can draw and we can watercolor!
The results were amazing and unbelievable
even after our very first exercise.
This one on top was created by Donna
from Asheville and she had never watercolored
at all, ever before this class.
This was a very interesting exercise toward the
end of the day focusing on "man made" products for inspiration.

This is all the work from our first exercise as we
gathered together and shared our thoughts on our work.
Jane LaFazio brought beautiful fruits, veggies and gourds for us
to sketch so each of us got to try several different things.
As you can see from the photo, the results were amazing.

Tiny creations filled with love...

When I was in Blowing Rock, these little bottles kept calling to me
and asking me to make something happen with these. Little words
on the outside of the glass were inevitable but figuring out how to
create the "top" was an ever lingering problem.
hmmm NO cork. So what? Who needs a stinkin' cork?
So, what to do? Needless to say, my supplies were limited, being
at a remote location. Hmmm. Then I found a penny size circle of
copper mesh. Ah Ha! Form it over the top of the bottle to create a
little lid and then Louise suggested that we put a head pin through
the mesh, add a bead and a loop de loop for a ribbon or chain.
The process began in creating more of these little gems, especially
finding the right words for the label. Those National Geographic magazines
have some amazing words like, barren, lifeless, 113 oxen, imagine, and
on and on and on.... Oh what fun!

Why would one go to Cincinatti?

It was an unexpected stop over but after
finding out that the Chicago Cubs were in Cincinnati
playing the Reds last weekend, there
was no other choice but to stop there for the game.

Yes, I am a baseball fan, born into a family of
baseball players and baseball fanatics
just outside Chicago, and there is no
place that I would rather be.... well
maybe no other place.
(let's see, the beach, a great big pool somewhere by the beach....)


After the game we realized that there was much more to
Cincinnati than we thought.
First stop, the Cincinnati Museum
at Union Terminal
Originally built in 1933 as the Union Terminal train station, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977. Union Terminal stands on a prominent location one mile northwest of the city center. Visitors approach the 10-story, arched, limestone and glass facade of the building from the east through a quarter-mile plaza. The dome is flanked on either side by curving wings. An illuminated fountain, cascade and pool lie in the foreground center. On either side of the main doors, Maxfield Keck's bas-relief figures symbolize Commerce and Transportation. In the late 1980s, the building was renovated and then reopened as Cincinnati Museum Center in 1990. It was recently named one of the top 50 architecturally significant buildings in America by the American Institute of Architects.

It's real close to i-75 so if you need a little break in the middle
of your travels stop in, poke your toes in the pool

out front and wander in the terminal
for an amazing visit.