Sunday, June 28, 2015

New Orleans, Music and June

The calendar pages just keep turning faster than I can catch my breath.

(Warning - long post with lots of photos!!)

 I'm still filling orders from before summer started and trying to keep up with art for the galleries. The month started off teaching and art class to a great group of young artists. We studied Van Gogh.



Then one night my hubby wisked me away to Boston! (Not the city - the BAND!)






 I still can't believe we got to hear them in person. This was in Jackson, Mississippi.

The next week, we sent my daughter to camp. Hubby and I packed the dog and our two bicycles and went to New Orleans for a week. We stayed in an adorable shotgun house on Dauphine in the Marigny District that we found on www.vrbo.com.






It was about 8 blocks from the French Quarter, where we rode our bikes to every day. We walked to Frenchmen Street (4 blocks) every evening to stroll from one Jazz club to the next to enjoy the best music in a very artsy, bohemian setting. We couldn't wait until Thursday when the Frenchmen Street Art Market opened. We have always loved that place.

One night our friends from Covington drove down and took us to the Carousel Bar at the Hotel Monteleone on Royal. We took photos in the carousel mirror and saw strange images in the reflection. (haunted??? hmmmmm) Then we strolled a few doors down and heard Washboard Chaz  - you just really never know who you will see and hear when in the Big Easy.

We visited the French Market one morning and almost rode our bikes into the live shooting of a new HBO show called "Quarry". It's set in the 70's - so our modern bicycles would have been out of place in that scene. I still can't believe when I heard a man's voice say "Can you stop?", that I actually replied "Why?".... when normally I would have peddled faster. He replied "Because they are shooting.." and I turned and said "Like....bang...bang??" lol. We toured the inside of the St. Louis Cathedral (yes, air conditioning!) and ate breakfast on cute bistro tables on street corners.

We met this book author at the French Market.



Hubby hired this street poet to write a poem to me on her non-electric typewriter. What a teasure!


Sandra and her daughter that own Cajun Corral Farm at the Frenchmen Street Art Market. I bought the nicest goatmilk tropical scented lotion from her.

We had a romantic dinner at Adolfo's next to the Frenchmen Street Art Market on our last night. Then headed home the next day to pick up our daughter from camp!!

 She was there with several friends from the youth theater, but she met several new friends as well.





She was awarded a Craft Award from her craft teacher, Missy Robertson (yes, the one from Duck Dynasty), and her other teacher was Mrs. Howard (Korie's mom)


My Happy Camper!!
One wonderful summer month - almost over. Ready for the next adventure. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to follow me at Melanie Douthit Art Studio on facebook - or on Instagram at DouthitArt

Have a great day.

Monday, June 1, 2015

June Mixed Media Monthly Challenge

It's been one year since the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge Blog started. I'm honored to have been asked to stay on as one of the designers. It's so much fun to "play" with mixed media creations, and fun to inspire others.We are celebrating our one year "birthday" with guest designers and great prizes!

For the June 2015 challenge - we are letting you choose which technique to use. Choose from any of these:
Since it's summer, I'm in the beach frame of mind. Our sponsor this month is Maya Road. I fell in love with Maya Road years ago when I was heavily involved in the paper craft industry.



Maya Road was founded in order to offer unique scrapbook embellishments to scrapbookers, and since I transitioned in to mixed media, I find their products the perfect fit. I used wooden tokens, polka dot fabric tape and some twine. The technique I used was Number 5 - ribbon, twine and fibers.


I painted the wooden token with a light coat of acrylic paint (making sure not to coat the cute image in the token). It was a perfect center for the sun. I cut the fabric tape in to slender strips to make my fence, and used the twine for the fence wire. I went through my stash of words and letters for the quote, and found some rather older beach die cuts that were perfect for the surf boards. I outlined with a black Pitt pen with a fine nib.  The surface for this is a 5.5" wood board (1.5" deep). They are the perfect size for gifts and easy to work with.

Be sure to go to the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge blog to participate in this month's challenge and read up on all the rules to qualify. Some of the rules are:
1. You must use our challenge graphic in your challenge post. 
2. You must comment on at least 3 design team members blogs
3. You may combine with up to 4 more challenges


Link up your image to the link in the main blog.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!