Get to know Diana Brennan's Photography

Monday blog posts are less stressful to me since Diana Brennan curates the photo feature, Captured.  I'm as eager as anyone to see what beautiful photo she'll find to share from the internet.  Her choices never disappoint.  As a photographer herself, Diana has a keen eye for beautiful composition and muted colors.  Her love for nature and science is evidenced in all of her work.

I met Diana when I was on the Arts in Rhode Island Etsy team.  She and I have participated in several local shows together and have supported each other in our artistic endeavors.   I asked her to share with us her current projects and upcoming shows.  This is what she said:

"I'm really focusing on large format photography this year" such as this Albino Blue Jay below.

Also new to her collection is a series called Wavelets.

If you are local, you can see Diana's work in person at the following shows this summer:

June 11
Garden City Center Festival Fete, Cranston, RI
map/directions -- website

July 9, July 16, Aug 6, Aug 13, Sept 10
Providence Open Market, Providence, RI
map/directions -- website

Visit her website here, blog here and be sure to see what she posts each Monday in Captured.

Hopefully, the storm is over

Wow, we just had a few days of torrential rain fall. Rhode Island has experienced historic flooding with over 16" of rain in the month of March (our yearly rainfall is around 36"). I believe more than 9" fell in the last 2 days. Several of our rivers have crested at double their flood plain. One of our major highways has closed. Power stations and water plants are submerged.

Yesterday morning, as I took E to school, yards and fields looked like lakes. Water came right up to many homes and the rain just kept coming. Today we saw hoses, tubes, and trenches in yards. There were piles of carpet and foam outside doors, as people are cleaning their basements. And we live on the side of the Bay that hasn't been hit the worst.

A friend called yesterday to borrow our wet/dry vac for another friend who was trying to keep up with the flow into her basement. Another friend has 4' (yes, feet) in her basement. I don't think there is a dry basement to be found. Ours has two small areas, by comparison, of seepage. Our neighbors across the street - 2" of water.

It appears that the weather is now breaking and massive clean-up is underway. I'm running off to call some friends to offer help.

That was my kind of summer arts festival!

I loved Chicago in the summer. Although the temperature often soared to 100+ degrees with humidity that could drown a rat, the summer festivals there were great. Somewhere in the Chicagoland area, there would be a neighborhood festival every weekend. Of course there was also the festival on steroids, the Taste of Chicago (the worlds largest food festival) with its millions of people.

When we moved to Rhode Island 5 years ago, I looked for such a festival. I heard there had been a big street fair years back on Thayer Street, but it hadn't been held for a number of years. The Providence Arts Festival this past weekend fit the bill. Same organizers of the Thayer Street festival, different location. It had all the right ingredients: closed streets, urban environment, street performers, fantastic art vendors, food, a beer garden, music, a parade, crazy puppet people, great weather, and lots of people. Finally, my summertime arts festival crave was satiated.

Above and below - Big Nazo, an international performance group

There was a great Arts in Rhode Island group showing as 6 of us were able to set up next to each other (and two who couldn't do the show came out for support). Cross promoting is easy with such a talented group of artists.

Gocco and screenprints from Heather Jeany

Paintings by Julie Beck

From a vendor prospective, the festival was wonderful as well. Many of my friends came out (thank you!) and business was great. I love meeting new customers and chatting with returning ones. It gives me a special thrill to hear people say they had hoped to see me there.

Surprisingly, the item that garnered the most attention was my recycled magazine flower bouquet. Many asked to buy it and I gave several impromptu diy demonstrations. As promised, I will have a how-to video up this week.



I now feel that summer has officially begun. Let the relaxing begin....yeah, right!

Great Father's day gifts and art at the Providence Arts Festival

Father's day is June 21! Since dads can be hard to buy for, here are some great ideas for unique, handmade gifts. AND, if you are in the RI area, you can purchase these items at the Providence Arts Festival this Saturday, June 13, from 10:30 AM to 5:30 PM (downtown on Westminster between Eddy and Union). There will be fantastic art, great food, and fun activities for the kids. Bring the whole family!!

These are just a few "dad" related items you can find from my Arts in RI friends (we will be showing grouped together at the festival) who will be at the festival:

For the dad who likes to travel or write, handmade journals by Kristin Crane:

For the fine art enthusiast, paintings by Julie Beck

For the musician, a mosaic guitar by Lisa Calabro:

For the old school, letter writing dad, cassette note cards by Heather Toupin:

For the auto enthusiast or steampunk dad, vintage skeleton key chain by Paula McDonough:


For the sports/hobby enthusiast, decoupaged switchplates by me:

Please stop by and say hi to two additional friends at the festival:

Lampwork glass beads and jewelry by Kim Vredenburg:

Prints, books, and note cards by Jill Lamere:

Still sick

Okay, I'm still sick. This is the second time in 3 weeks and I'm pretty wiped out. I've had to cancel all my plans for this weekend - the A.I.R. show at West Side Arts Gallery and a baby shower for a dear friend. BLAH!!

If you are in the area and can stop by the Gallery on Saturday (from 10am to 4pm), please do. There will be great paintings, photography, mosiac art, and jewelry by amazing local artists.

Stay well and have a wonderful weekend!

Save the date - April 4

Foundry Artists Holiday Show 2008 - Opening reception

No, I didn't fall off the face of the blog world. I've been busy setting up for the Foundry Show that opened last night! It was all too exciting. I am amazed at the work that goes into each and every booth and the organization of the show in general. This show is in its 26th year!

I was very happy to see some of my friends there (thank you!!) and that their baskets were full of items! My husband and I walked away with quite the full basket as well. I found so many wonderful gifts as well as a few things for us.

Here are a few pics from last night. I plan to take more as the show goes on. It runs Thursday - Sunday, both this weekend and next. For those who are local, you must stop by. You won't be disappointed. Here's the link for info on time and directions: http://www.foundryshow.com/.

Yup, that's me.... http://alamodestuff.com

Below are pictures of several members from Arts in Rhode Island (http://artsinri.com):

Lisa - http://pinklemonadeboutique.etsy.com

Kim & friend Julie - http://kimvglass.etsy.com

Diana - http://dsbrennan.etsy.com

http://dollfacedesign.etsty.com

Halloween Contest

Do you like treasure hunts? Are you into great contests? Do you like to win awesome prizes?

Enter this fun Halloween contest sponsored by Artsinri! Visit http://www.arts-in-ri.blogspot.com/ for details. You could win this gorgeous glass pumpkin by Suzanne Tanner of Tanner Glass. The contest ends at midnight on Monday, October 27th.

Monday Morning Madness - Post Pawtucket Arts Festival

One more arts festival down. Saturday, at the Pawtucket Arts Festival, was a lot of fun. It started slow, but picked up as the day went on. I made a number of sales, but it wasn't quite what I had hoped. I may have also picked up a great wholesale account.

What truly made my day was being with the Arts in RI team. What a great group of people, and I'm not just talking talent. We all really get along, support each other and have fun while actually being productive...what a rare situation!

Our team leader, Julie (left-juliebcreative), and team comedian, Tracy (right-steppingstones).

Here are some honorable mentions from our day:

Julie (juliebcreative) wins the best (and kooky) team leader award.

Lisa (pinklemonadeboutique) and Kim (KimVGlass) both receive the award for best sales of the day.

Katie (PhriendlyK8) wins the first sales of the day award.

Layla (dollfacedesign) was the dog whisperer for the day.

Tracy (seaglassdesigns& steppingstones) wins the most coveted comments Award. Overheard comments included (and I quote Tracy):

1. Look at the pretty sea glass, (throws) are you sh*ttin' me!!!!!

2. Can I just buy a chain??

3. Can you tell me where you buy your chains?

4. Seaglass??? I have a huge bowl of that at home!!!

5. Can you tell me how to drill stone??

6. What type of drill do you use??

7. Do I need a high powered drill??

8. Which RI beach do you collect your sea glass from??

9. Why is this stone more than that stone???

10. Can I join artsinri even though I don't make anything yet??

11. Can I have ten shells?? No.... wait.... he didn't ask!!!HE JUST FLUNKEN TOOK THEM!!!

Diana (dsbrennan) wins the most normal family and enjoyable wedding award.

Wendy (designsbywendy) wins the massive piece of furniture display award.

Paula (venbead) wins the accessorize the police officer award.

So, now onto preparing for the Foundry Show and Craftland! I'll be sewing and weaving like a fiend for the next 2 months!