From the Desert to the Land of Fire

Hey all,

So here I am back in Missoula for a few more days. I head to Wisconsin on Tuesday to teach at Valley Ridge (one of my favorite venues). Earlier this week I left the scorching temperatures of Phoenix, only to return home and find the state of Montana in flames. The fires are everywhere. I live in town, so I'm not really at risk but plenty are. It is downright nasty out...unless you like smoke.

Art Unraveled
Had a great time at A.U. Very busy, between teaching, vending, drinkng coffe, book signings and...yes drinking a martini or two with...well everyone. One thing that I love about these big events is being able to connect with people you haven't seen in a while. I have students who I see once a year, others I see at every venue I teach. So through the years you form friendships that make it seem as if the gaps of time never exists. This is especially true when I get to see the other instructors. I see them here and there and everywhere and it is always a treat. I once overheard someone complain that the teachers always hang out together at these venues (I'm not really sure why that is a bad thing). What I think people sometimes forget is that we are all working at these retreats and it is nice to have someone who you can understand the frustrations as well as the joys of this strange lifestyle.

Which brings me to my next photo:
Yes it was a long week and we all deserved a bit of a celebration...and how.

Gifts
people are so nice sometimes
I received some really great goodies from students and friends.
A student in my Six Million Dollar Anatomy Man Class literally gave me the shirt off her back...she was wearing a Six Million Dollar Man t-shirt. Don't get any ideas...she changed first.

I got a kiss from my girlfriend Judy via her blog buddy Angie...once again don't get any ideas...it was a Hershey Kiss charm.

Tim Holtz gave me twenty pounds of typewriter letters (not the keys, the metal things that make the mark...whatever they are called)

Carlotta gave me a prosthetic leg. That's right an entire leg. Apparently she carried on the plane with her. I have to admit part of me wanted to leave it behind...not because I didn't want it, but because I kept thinking that if I left the leg in the room the maids and the staff would wonder what ever happened to the man with one leg and how did he not notice that his leg was missing. Its the type of thing they would talk about for the rest of there lives. But it was way too cool for that...so I brought it home...who knows where it might show up.

Speaking of gifts...when I got home I found a package from Mary of Devils Claws. Here's a photo. Once again I'm not sure what I'll do with them but they are totally cool.

Some Business stuff.
I had a person email me saying that I should mention that I have Anatomy Men at my online store. Apparently she had searched and searched until she stopped by the store and found out we had them listed. The Dollar stores are hit or miss, so if you can't find these guys we have a stockpile. If you're interested go HERE

Also, for those of you who took the the Weird Wonderful Windows Lightbox class we are in the process of putting kits together for those of you who want to continue on with this theme.