Words Are My Medium

Seize the Clay

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:47:42 GMT

Totally Kiln it!

On Tuesday, January 27th 2026, the Art League had local pottery artist Rachel Doballah stop in to the United Way building to talk to us about her pottery!

She is a Monroe County native, having been born and raised in Ida. She attended Bedford High School, which started her love of pottery--and it as a hobby. "I have no formal training," she told us that night. "I actually went to business school! But it wasn't for me. So now I'm lucky that I have a studio at home and get to work on my art there."

She's also lived in Alicante, Spain, where she fell in love with pottery even more, and Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where she joined a small local pottery studio and taught pottery classes.

She continued on after introducing herself, talking about different types of clay--Earthenware, Stoneware, and Porcelain. She mainly uses Stoneware, and told us that Porcelain is the most "desireable" clay, but also the hardest to work with--and the technique of "wedging," which helps remove air bubbles and moisture, get even consistency, alligns the clay, and trains the memory of the clay so it's easier to work with when it's on the wheel.

Fun fact: people may say that trapped air causes explosions in the kiln. This is not true! It's trapped moisture that causes explosions in the kiln. So you've got to make sure your pieces are completely dry before placing them in to bake. Otherwise

We continued on with the presentation, talking about different glazes and where to get clay (Rachel drives to Ann Arbor to get hers), discussing how there are different methods to apply glaze, including the "Peacock method," which is applying glaze with movement, comes out different each time you do it!

Also, mixing glazes makes a new glaze each time! So, if you're trying to make something with "food safe" glaze--like fruit bowls or coffee mugs--it's best not to mix the glaze, just to make sure that it stays food safe!

She went on to pass out little poker-chip size pieces of pottery to show us how she tests her glazes on different types of clay, to ensure she gets the right one she wants.

Finally, Rachel passed around her works (and this is the part that I got real excited for, because some of these pieces are just gorgeous. I'm currently saving up to purchase one from her--though her pieces range in prices, from $10 up--because I'd love to have a mug I keep at the office to limit the amount of disposable coffee cups I go through).

The above one is my favorite, because the glaze she used on it makes it look like cast iron! It was so cool, and I definitely add it to my wares if I could!

I also love how she does her signature on the pottery! Just a simple "R" on the bottom of each piece. Simple, sophisticated, and easily identifiable!

This last piece is her current fruit bowl in her home, one she said she'd never part with (and I don't blame her, it's very heavy and very pretty).

Finally, if you'd like to reach out to Rachel to purchase one of her potter items, or possibly contact her for a lesson or two (she did mention, while she's still local, she would love to teach again), feel free to get a hold of her through her facebook page: Pottery By Rachel Doballah or by emailing her at potterybyracheld@gmail.com .

Finally, if you've made it this far, just some housekeeping that took place in January!

I introduced the sign up sheets for the various committees that we have, including:

Members Only Show
Set up, bring snacks, give information, etc.

Monroe County Fair
We will try to become even more involved in the fair this year, this committee will be tasked with expanding our presence.

Picnic
We need people to set up and clean up as well as make sure everything runs smoothly.

Social Media
Take pictures at events that we have to post to the social media pages)

Open Air Market Kids Tent
This includes planning/shopping/set up of a craft table as well as face painting.

Open Air Market
This entails not only setting up for the market it is expanded to include the children’s craft table and face painting that was a great hit at last year’s market.

Brilliance on a Budget
We need members to actively recruit people to do these sessions. They are a good way to encourage the public to learn new art skills and promote the MAL.

Classes
This is a major part of our funding and recruitment of new members. Committee members will find teachers for new classes. They will also set up and run classes, register, inform, collect fees…etc.

Show Committee
Find shows, help set up, tear-down, run, etc. We’re trying to get more shows – both to sell and to show off work.

Plein Air
Planning with a focus on location for the convenience of our members. Quality over quantity.

Field Trips
Planning trips to places, including car pooling and time spent at places. I.e. Blick’s in Ann Arbor, The Toledo Art Museum, etc.

We also had a few more added to the roster:

Finding a Home
Work on getting us a home by talking with the city, etc. Mostly keep on and let people know we want a permanent home.
Sunshine Committee
Send get well cards, thinking of you cards, etc. to let people know we’re thinking of them in hard times.
Grants
Finding and writing grants for us.

If you’d like to sign up for any of these committees and weren’t at the meeting in January, feel free to email me at mmiartleague1959@gmail.com and let me know which committee you’d like to join! Additionally, if you have any questions about these committees or what they'll do, please feel free to reach out to me.

Secondly, I introduced two new internships: Social Media Manager and Website Manager. Look for those to appear on the website soon!

And finally, February's meeting will feature no demonstrator; instead, we will be working on bookmarks to hand out at the One Book, One Community event the library is sponsering in March. More on that in an email!

And with that, the blog post is finished! Now excuse me while I tidy up our website and such!

See you soon!

--Sami

Can't Spell Team Without Me!

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 17:51:51 GMT

Hello There!

I fully realize that it's been a while since I've introduced my self. And if you've never met me before--because I sporatically joined in on monthly meetings, and am quite the busy individual--I should really introduce who I am through my most favorite meduim: words.

So, let's start with my Oliver Twist (a reference here to the famous book, where in the opening, author Charles Dickens tells you his character's life story):

I was born on June 5, 1991 at the hospital in Monroe, MI. It was my parent's 4th wedding anniversary. I've had a birthday every year since then, and am now 34 years old.

I have red hair that I come by naturally, am 5'9", and am a bit of an extrovert. (Though, I do very much enjoy my quiet, alone time.)

I graduated from Ida High School in Ida, MI in 2009 and that same year started undergrad at Easter Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI. My major was in Creative Writing and minor in Children's Literature. I graduated in 2014 and later that same year started Grad school at Eastern for Creative Writing. In 2015, I changed my graduate major officially to Children's Literature. I graduated in 2017 with my Master of Arts degree.

In 2010, I got my first job working at Little House of Hugs Preschool and Daycare Center, where I was an assistant teacher to children from ages 6 months to 10 years. I left in 2016 to finish my MA degree (because working full time and going to grad school full time left me doing 16-18 hour days. And that's not sustainable). I also worked, from 2015-2017, as a TA at Eastern for the Children's Literature department, where I hosted study sessions, created study guides, lead classroom lectures, and held office hours to help students with the undergrad lecture hall classes. After I graduated and left, I got a job at the Monroe County Library System at the Ellis branch on M50. It was a dream. I was a library clerk--which, contrary to what people think, does not require a MLS (Masters of Library Science) degree to do. Just a high school diploma (so, yes, I was technically over-qualified, but my boss at the time took a chance on me and highered me anyway)--so I helped check people in and out, found books to put on hold, attended to questions, and ran programs (and all of my programs made it into the Monroe Evening News). I stayed there for nearly 5 years before I left there to work at Leo Burnett--now Martin Retail Group--an advertising company that works for GM (so, think GMC, Buick, and Cadillac). I've been working for them going on 5 years now, and I mostly work from home (though now I am up in Troy at the office 3 days a week), which gives me a lot of time to work on my art.

And that's my Oliver Twist story.

As you can see, I've lived a very excited life in 34 years so far--always busy with school or work or something.

That hasn't changed.

I still am very busy--working full time with a side hussel will do that to you--but I also know sometimes I need to make the time to do the things that I enjoy and that fill up my cup.

Creating art is one of those outlets for me.

I mostly work with beads in my day to day art, but I'm also starting to dabble into sewing too. I like to work with functional, pretty items: jewerly, fashion, and trinkets that youre able to wear or show off. I have a whole catalog of things that I sell at my shared booth with our VP, Kinzie, and I'm always adding more things every so often.

But if you were to ask me what art I love most, I'd tell you writing.

I've wanted to be a writer since I was 5 years old. I'd still like to be a writer, 30 years later. But now I understand that I also need to keep my day job (something I was told frequently growing up).

This is why I was put in charge of writing the blog (albeit that I do it sporatically).

I've technically been published as well (in a school paper and online) and my thesis sits in the archives of Eastern Michigan University (I own the rights to it, though, so if I ever wanted to traditionally publish my works, I don't have to fight to get them from the University), but I've yet to write the Great American Novel ™ and have it be published.

The only down side that I've ever seen to having words be my medium instead of traditional art mediums like oil, acrylics, or even photography is that it takes much longer for people to absorb the intention of the art. It takes time, effort, and critical thinking analytical skills to comprehend words. Whereas a painting or photo is easily glanced at, evokes emotion, and can be absorbed quickly without too much analysis being put at the forefront.

Not to say that a painting or photo cannot do those things. But it is significally easier to do them with an image verus reading words.

In that sense, I've always been envious of people who can draw and paint the images they see out in the world or inside of their head.

Sure, I can evoke imagery and emotion through writing, but it takes the "theater of the mind" as we say in D&D in order for people to understand. And along with that comes the thousands upon thousands of variations of how people can interpret the imagery and emotion I evoke (which, honestly? Is my favorite part of writing. There is no stagnet interpretation when it comes to the written description of things).

It's very much like:

That all being said, here are some fun facts about me! :

I also love to bake!
I'm a Gemini
I'm very head strong and believe through spite, all things are possible
I'm an advid reader. My favorite genre is romance, but I also dabble in fantasy, sci-fi, and slice-of-life fiction
My desk at work is all pink. Pink is not my favorite color (that'd be blue) but I love how bright, vibrant, and happy pink is. This is why my desk at work is all pink. Because I'm not trapped in the office with my coworkers. They're trapped with me.
I collect porclean dolls. No, I don't find them creepy. I think they're neat!
Once I start a project, I find it hard to not complete it. (Unless it's deep cleaning something. Sometimes that can get very overwhelming.)
I have been involved with a lot of clubs all my life, including:
Girl Scouts
Campfire
Volleyball
Band
Yearbook Committee (in middle and high school)
Forensics Club
PenPals (with local elementary students when I was at Eastern)
Children's Lit Book Club (also at Eastern)
COVID committee (at MCLS)
Fanta-Sci Book club (at MCLS)
Online Romantacy Book club (currently)
Monroe Art League (currently)
My Master's thesis was actually a creative project, where I created an entire world that fit inside an interactive book. (It was accompanied with a 30 page rationale, too, explaining the theory behind the creative project.)
When I'm not busy with work, I have a multitude of hobbies outside of what I create for my side-job at craft shows: journaling, playing video games, reading, watching TV and movies, creating video montages, and most importantly, napping.
I'm thorough, hard working, exceptionally easy to get along with, enjoy conversations with people, and try and learn from my mistakes as best as I can.

In short:

Anyway, pleased to meet ya!

If you have any questions, comments, or thoughts, feelings, concerns, please don't hesitate to contact me.
It might take me 24 hours to respond, but I will. And I'll help you out best I can.

I'm here to try and be a good president of the Monroe Art League for the next year! And I can only do that if the people that I serve help me to be that. It takes a village, as they say, to make things work out. And I'm only as good as the people let me be.

So! I look forward to working with all of you for the next year.

2026: We Got This!

With Great Power...

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:09:04 GMT

Comes Great Responsibility.

Is the full quote from Sam Raimi's 2002 masterpiece, "Spiderman" (AKA the first Spiderman movie with Tobey McGuire). And I'll say it: it's the best Spiderman (it's also the one that I grew up with, so I'm biased).

Why name the blog post this?

Why have a blog post when I haven't posted anything since like March?

Well, there's a big reason.

Also I'm sorry I stopped posting on the blog after saying I was going to bring it back up again. I get really busy in the spring, summer, and fall with my 9-5 job and my side gig, Sweet Treats (which is officially being rebranded in 2026 as "Buy Deysign" (it's a double pun. The first one, "Buy," I hope is obvious, but the second one is a pun on my middle name "Dey.")). But in the winter? After Black Friday until about April, I'm pretty open in my schedule.

And here I thought I put in the most work when I was in Grad school full time and working full time!

(I did. I put in 16+ hour days. They were long, and I'll admidt I kept emergency caffine in my car so I wouldn't fall asleep after I left campus at 10 at night after waking up at 5:30 a.m.)

Anyway!

The big reason I'm posting is because...I'm the new President of the Monroe Art League!

Along with an entire new Board!

Congrats to the winners of the new line-up in the Monroe Art League:

Vice President - Kinzie Harrison

Secretary - Becca Molina

Treasurer - Jon Womack

Members at Large are Sue Siebarth, Renee Spears and Tom Gerweck

I look forward to working with everyone!

But I especially look forward to working with the new Vice President--and newest member of the MAL--Kinzie Harrison!

Let me tell y'all a little bit about Kinzie:

She's my best friend and partner in crafting crime and has been for about 4 years now.

I first met Kinzie during my BFF Tiffany's little sister's wedding. She's besties with Kayla (the little sister in question), and we became fast friends when we both realized how crafty each other was.

It was a causal friendship, but a great one nonetheless.

It didn't really become what it is today until I got my job with Leo Burnett--now Martin Retail Group--and started working from home.

Y'all know I went through a depression when I started working from home, because I wasn't getting enough socialization and outside time from my room where I worked. This is when my therapist suggested I find things to do that would help me mentally and physically.

So, I joined book clubs. I went to the local game store for D&D sessions. I began to craft more--do more art, because to me it's a great way to spend time while getting that rush of good serotonin at seeing progress be made and then finally a finished product.

I did this crafting thing.

A Lot.

So much so that I could probably sell it if I wanted too--both to get things out of the house and to be able to buy more supplies without taking it out of my regular paycheck so much.

That's when Kayla told me that Kinzie did craft shows. She gave me her phone number and I texted her the next day like, "Hey, how do I start doing craft shows?"

She responded back, "you're welcome to join my booth when I do them!"

And the rest, as they say, is history.

You just become friends when you spend 6-8 hours with someone every other weekend or so for a year. And you become even closer best friends when you activally see them outside of craft show hours because you enjoy their company so much!

Kinzie is a great person to spend time with, and she's very active in her community (most of the shows that we do in the Summer are in Milan, where she lives)! She's also a great wife and mother (of three-- a 4 year old girl and two 1 year old twin boys) and her art is gorgeous!

She can traditionally paint (usually acrylics), but she also crochet's, wire wraps bone art, works with polymer clay, sews, and makes a variety of "bookish art" (like the popular "Blind Dates with a Book")!

Honestly, she's good at whatever she puts her mind to. And I'm damn proud of her!

I think she's going to make a fantastic VP to the MAL, and I know that she's up for the challenge to make a difference in this community as well as support all the fantastic members that are already a part of the league!

I'm also excited to start this new chapter in my life as the President.

I've never been president of anything before, so this is super new to me--and I ask for your patience as I work on figuring things out.

I'm young, bright, and bushytailed enough to take on this role, but I'm also young, dumb, and inexperienced enough to need help at this role.

I also have plans that I'd like to accomplish during my tenure in the position, in addition to keeping up with all the things my mom and previous presidents have put into place.

For one, I want to bring back crafters to the league.

This does not mean I want to change the name to "The Monroe Arts & Crafts League" or re-write the by-laws from saying "Artists and Artisans."

I just want to make the space more available to people that would fall into the "artisans" category of the by-laws, and that means crafters.

"Waaaah, I don't like crafters," I can hear someone say.

Did you know that when the MAL was first up and running, it was called "The Monroe Arts & Crafts League"? And that there were A LOT of crafters involved in it?

I do. Because I read a lot of the history of the league when we were putting up the Angie Terrasi files to be archived in the Library.

The reason that "& Crafts" didn't stay in the title is because the Artists were angry and jealous that their work didn't sell as well as the crafters. And they didn't think they were "true artists" or something.

I'm here to say that I'm disapointed that some people would belittle an entire group just because they were jealous. Or that they didn't have the skills it takes to do some crafts. That's some prejudious garbage and I'm not about to toleratre ANY of that while I'm president.

I'd rather be hated for who I include than loved for who I exclude.

So, if you don't like crafters? Kindly see yourself out, I'm not making this a debate.

I know a lot of things I have to get approval from the Board, but as "Artisans" is already in the by-laws, this is one thing I'm going to completely take control over and find more crafters to welcome into this space.

Crafters...ahem, Artisans...will help bring more of the community into our League. It will will also help us sell ourselves in markets better, and that is another goal I have as president:

Do more shows.

I know we do the Open Air Market in the summer, but I want us to have more of a presence at the type of shows that I go to as Sweet Treats. I think it will allow more artists and artisans to shine and show off their work.

Yes, it's a lot of work and effort, but it will help spread our name around Monroe county and the surround areas.

Kinzie and I's rule of thumb is to only do shows that are no longer than an hour away from us. This means we can get shows in Monroe county, Washtenaw county, Lenawee county, and Wayne county as well as in Toledo/Lucas county.

For the sake of the League--because I know not everyone has the ability to drive that far--I'm going to suggest nothing outside of a 30-40 minute drive. Which means roughly Ann Arbor, Canton, Ypsilanti, Milan, Tecumseh, and Blissfield as well as the outter suburbs of Toledo (think Alexis rd, Monroe st., and Central Ave). (This is obvious, I'd hope, but this also includes ALL of Monroe County, not just Monroe the city.) I'd also be open to Detroit, as there are a lot of shows up that way, but it would be up to the league as a whole if we'd have enough people to travel that far.

The other thing with doing more shows is that I will need volunteers to help set up, run, and tear down.

I plan on doing those in shifts--and I will be there the entire time if I can--just like normal.

I would also like to have a wide variety of things available in these shows, not just original artwork.

I'd like things such as prints and stickers (and I can absoluelty help you get those) and other things that are under $40 so we can generate some income to put towards these shows, etc., as well as getting you all some income too.

Additionally, I want to do more traditional art shows at places--like the spot shows that we do--in those same areas I mentioned above.

I know Kinzie has a lot of connections in Milan, and I've got some in Ypsi thanks to college, and those places would just be perfect to show off some of our talented artists and artisan's work.

Another thing I'd like to do is get an intern of sorts in to run our social and online presence, since I'm not going to probably have time to run things in the way I want them ran.

Namely our Facebook and Instagram pages.

And what I'm looking for isn't some corporate-level analytical person, either.

I just want someone to regularly post on our social pages about what we're doing, where we're going to be, who's presenting at meetings, and other fun things like that.

I'm hoping to reach out to the college to find this intern of sorts (no offense, but I'd rather have someone young in this position), and offer them a Lifetime Membership in exchange for about 15 hours of work per month (that's roughly 3.75 hours per week).

I also want an entire other person to run things like our website (general maintenance--I know we have a couple people on this task, but I want someone in a managerial role) and Redbubble (we still need 3 more pieces to be donated to us before I can officially get that up and running!). It would be the same offer: a lifetime membership for roughly 15 hours of work per month.

Both of these would also count towards volunteer hours and have an official title role on our Members page.

The final thing I want to do is have more classes, field trips, and general events open to members and the public. I love that we offer these things to people, and I want our Events and Classes pages to be booming with information in the upcoming year.

Anyway, those are my big goals that I want to achieve in the next year.

I also have some budget proposals and such, but I won't bore you with fancy spreadsheets and numbers and whatnots. They're more to present to the Board than anything else, and y'all dont need to see how the sausage is made.

So, to recap:

Get more artisans in the league. Which means crafters. Because I love, appreciate, and am myself, a crafter.
Do more shows. Both selling and showing work.
This means have a bigger variety of things to sell, price-wise!
Get a social media and online content manager.
Continue to keep the MAL up and running efficiently, like my mom and her Board have had it for the last couple of years.

I also gotta work on my email frequency writing skills, because that I think is going to be my biggest challenge to face.

I know y'all just *love* my mom's emails that she sends out so much!

And to end: I hope I do good by the League and all it's members as I venture forth on this adventure!

Until Next Time,

Sami

Look at this Photograph

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 21:15:29 GMT

They say a picture's worth a 1,000 words...

But I doubt people truely understand how long and hard it takes to write 1,000 words.

I mean, not for me--Ms. "I have to start putting maximum page limits on papers" but in general, it can be hard to write 1,000 words.

That's just over 3 and a half pages of writing!

Anyway...

At our meeting on February 26th, we had our presenter, Charlie Rumschlag, give a lovely talk about his Photography medium, and the various tips and tricks he uses when he goes out into the fields to capture images!

Charlie, who works under the title of " Brest Bay Photo " on his website, talked to the Art League and a few guests about what his photography skills were like, and how others could use the medium.

One of his main points was the discussion of lenses, and the differences of view.

For instance, in this slide he's talking about a picture he took with his phone vs. one he shot with his "fancy" camera--and how much distance you get between the two of them.

He also talked about Digiscoping, where you use a spotting scope or binoculars with an attachement to your camera to record distant images. It's also a manual focus, and has a higher fstop--so less light will come in and you'll get slower shutter speeds! Which means less blurry motion in your photos!

Personally, I always thought I had a decent eye when it came to shooting picutres, but I didn't know about all the different techniques and equipment that professional photographers used to get some of their more stunning pictures.

It's extrememly facinating to me, because it's a completely unique medium to have. To be able to capture a moment in time and tell a story--it's different than in a painting. You have to convey the message from your imagination in a painting, but with a photograph, you have to capture it perfectly to display the message in your head.

It's like a game of chance.

And there are so many things you have to do to get that chance to line up perfectly for you. It's not as simple as adding in a color or line to make the perfect impression.

You have to work with tools and the world around you to capture that image--and be creative while doing it some times.

Like using shadows to tell a story, or even flashlights to illminate things at night so you just capture an image and not the full background that could distract from the story you're trying to tell.

In the end, the entire demonstration was a hit and all that Charlie set it out to be: Fun, Informative, and Relevant for You!

And we had a full house, with a bunch of questions that spanded Charlie's time to take up the entire hour he had to talk to us!

And I for one, left with slightly more confidence about just using my plain old iPhone to be able to take pictures with it. Because it's all about how you set up the story you want to tell with the lens--not necissary about how fancy your camera is!

Thanks, Charlie!

And if anyone has any questions about his work or this presentation, I do hope you'll contact him at the above link to his website!

Next Time on The Blog...

Our Redbubble account is officially set up and ready to go!

I figured both Charlie and Redbubble deserved their own post, so I'm breaking up the information. I hope y'all don't mind the reading!

Anyway,

Keep an eye out for it!

Until next time,

Sami

Let's Get Started: Redbubble

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 22:01:01 GMT

Holding your hand, one hand at a time...

I promise Redbubble isn't as scary as it seems. In fact, if you can sign up for Facebook, you can sign up for Redbubble!

Anyway...

Welcome to the age of digital artwork!

This blog post will be covering the basics of Redbubble--what it is, how to set it up, and how you can find out more!

To begin, I wanted to start by saying this website is designed better for digital artists (or, artists that work on a computer/tablet). Getting a good photograph for a print of your work may be a bit difficult at times, but it's absolutely worth it to capture one and post it to Redbubble, to get your artwork show and worn by an abundance of people.

(Also, I'm sure if you asked one of our many photographers in the league, they'd be happy to lend a lense)

Oh! I should also mention that if you need help sizing and adapting your photo, I am not the person to ask. Uploading, yes! I can do that! But getting pixels correct, or touching up the photo...I am not your girl.

Luckily, I do know a handful of people that will be able to help you! Give the Ellis Library & Reference Center a call and ask to speak to a reference librarian. They'll be able to help answer your questions, or at least get you in contact with someone who can help, like uploading your photo, sizing it to fit the Redbubble standards, or getting it converted to a JPEG image.

The other thing you can do is a quick Google on it (i.e. "How to adjust my image to fit Redbubble standards" or "How to convert my file into a JPEG image?") if you don't feel like driving down to Ellis.

(I've also done some research myself on this, and one tool that is recommeneded is Upscayl , which is an AI tool that's used to fix images for free online).

Now, on to what I can help you with!

What is Redbubble ?

Redbubble is a site that is "a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products based on user-submitted artwork."

Let's break that down, shall we?

1) They take artwork you create, slap it on a product--anything from stickers to canvas prints, pillow cases to shower curtains...people pick what product they want the work on--and sell it to people who want it.

2) It prints on demand, meaning that there isn't a warehouse somewhere, stockpiling your images on various products. They don't make the product someone orders until they order them. It's great for saving product waste, and helps ensure that there's no loose ends when it comes to spending money.

Now, if you're still wondering, "okay, but I still don't get what it is?" It's used a lot in fan spaces for fan art (see this blog post that explains fan art at the end of the post) as well as other things people are inspired by, find funny, or just enjoy.

For example, I adore Audrey Hepburn. Not just her movies or her beauty, but her work with UNICEF, her contribution to the rebellion during the Nazi Regime in WWII, and her style (I guess that's also on behalf of Givenchy, but still).

Say I wanted some artwork--a poster, a t-shirt, a sticker--with Audrey Hepburn on it. And I only had a budget of $50. It would be hard to commission an artist for an original painting of Hepburn for $50, let alone get the image directly on a t-shirt or sticker without them having to do something in addition to creating the painting to get me those formats.

This is where Redbubble comes in.

I'm sure there are hundreds of artists out there who love Audrey Hepburn enough to create an image of her in mutliple different styles. They want to make money off it, but don't have the time to do more than just create the canvas print or digital drawing of it. So, they put it up on Redbubble for other people to purchase.

The customer then types in "Audrey Hepburn" and is given a bunch of images to choose from.

These are all examples of people's art (or designs, in the case of text pieces) that a person looking for artwork of Audrey Hepburn could choose from.

Once they pick out an image they want, they can then choose what item they'd like it printed on to--from Stickers, to T-shirts, to pillow cases...there are something like 40-50 different things Redbubble prints the image on to.

And this is all choosen by the customer! You, as the artist, do not have to worry about what your image gets placed on. You just have to focus on creating the art piece, and putting it up on Redbubble.

For the purpose of the Monroe Art League, however, it’s a chance to get your artwork on things that people can use from an everyday standpoint (like tote bags, t-shirts, or socks) and take places to show off your work. Think of it like travel art! Or a convenient, low-expense way the can have access to your art work.

Does that help explain it?

No?

If the answer is "Yes," thank God. Let's move on!

How to set up your profile

Now that you understand it, how do you go about setting up a profile?

First and foremost, if you want person-to-person help with it, I'll be offering Office Hours at Ellis Library & Reference Center on Weekends in March 2025. Click here to be directed to my google sheets sign up sheet for a time slot in half-hour intervals. ( NOTE: if no one signs up for a time slot that day, I will not be there that day.)

But, if you'd rather just follow along on the blog:

It's really as easy as inputting your email address, picking a user name (be sure to make this important to you! Either something like your name, or if your work has like a studio/company name. For instance, I'd go with "Sami Weatherholt" or "Sweet Treats," which is the name of my crafting business), and setting a password (please, please, please make sure you write this down somewhere. I cannot help you, nor can anyone else, if you do not know your password).

After filling this information out, click "Sign Up" and BOOM! You've got an account.

All you need to do now is verify that account.

That's as easy as going to your email account, clicking on the email sent from Redbubble, and following the prompts that the email gives you.

BAM! You're officially ready to continue on with setting up your Redbubble account!

You should now be on your Dashboard!

This is as easy as clicking on the links in each of the three sections and filling them out!

However, start with the "Set up Shop" one first.

Add your profile picture, a cover image, any social links you have (a facebook page, or if you have your own website, that too) and of course, a quick bio.

Next, go to the "Get Paid" section.

Fill out your name and address (you should have already confirmed your email, but double check this), confirm your mobile phone number, and lastly, add your payment details.

This is where you might be having more questions.

Never fear! Redbubble has all the answers!

(No, really, they do a phenominal job of answering questions on their website. I suggest playing around with it and reading up!)

A GENERAL FAQ ON REDBUBBLE MONEY

1) Currancy?

You should probably choose US Dollars. I'm not saying you have to, if you'd rather get paid in Euros or Francs, you do you boo-boo. But just know that you cannot go back and change this once you pick how you get paid. So choose wisely.

2) How Get Paid?

You can pick from two different ways to get paid: direct deposit through your bank account information, or through a verified PayPal account . The Redbubble page will explain how to do both! (I also suggest using a PayPal account, that way it's an extra step of protection you have with your bank account information. But! This is your choice! If you have a special bank account just for your artistry funds, use that!)

3)PayPal?

If you need help setting up a PayPal account, I can help you with that! Just shoot me an email (sweathe23@gmail.com) and we can schedule a time and place where I can help you with that!

4) How Profit?

Redbubble does an excellent job breaking down how your artist deductible works . It also explains how you can adjust it (it starts at 20% automatically) for each individual item your artwork can be made into.

In short (copied directly from the website):

Base Price

The base price includes Redbubble’s service fee for hosting the marketplace and the manufacturing fee charged by the third-party manufacturer. Changing the delivery address at checkout could very well change the total because of different local production and material costs charged by the respective manufacturer.

Please note that fluctuating currencies and costs can occasionally alter the base price.

Artist Margin (& Markup)

The artist margin shows how much you make off of a sale, with the markup being the percentage of the base price and the margin being the actual cash amount.

This defaults to 20% but you are free to raise or lower that amount any time in the Product Pricing section of your Account Details page. Keep in mind that the Product Pricing page displays these amounts based on your local currency and shipping settings. The final amount will differ for visitors in different countries .

Sales Tax (a.k.a. VAT)

Sales Tax or Value Added Tax is collected on each sale and paid to the appropriate tax authorities.

Retail Price

The base price, artist margin, and sales tax combine to create the retail price, which is the price you see per product across the Redbubble website.

Let’s use an example.

Large framed art prints going to the US have a base price of US$125.00 .

You set a 20% markup for large framed art prints.

20% of the $125 base price means you get an artist margin of $25.00 .

$125 base price + $25 artist margin makes for a $150 retail price (before tax) .

5) So that's it?

Yep! Pretty simple, right? You just make your art like normal, get a good JPEG photo of it to upload to the website, and then wait for people to buy it!

6) How people buy my art?

This. You know how you gotta promote yourself and your art work all the time? You still gotta do that.

If you have social media, add your Redbubble account information (your username!). If you have business cards, add your Redbubble account information! Post EVERYWHERE that your artwork is now available for sale on Redbubble! It's convient, fast, and affordable for the average person to obtain now!

(Author's note: don't just expect the cash flow to be like Scrooge McDuck levels. Keep your expectations reasonable! But now instead of getting $0 a month, you could be getting like $20 a month. Which is always a nice thing!)

7) When will get money?

Redbubble says that you need to meet a minimum amount of a $20 threshold to recieve a check from them .

I.e.: To receive a monthly payout, independent artists must earn $20/20€/£20 or more and have complete payment details on their account.

This amount is calculated from the orders shipped the previous month and, if you have a Standard account, after any applicable account fees are deducted.

If your artist's earnings have not reached $20/20€/£20, after any applicable account fees are deducted, they will accumulate until reaching the threshold and be paid on the following payment cycle.

8) Not money related, but why talk short?

I thought it was funny.

Now that you've gotten all the important details out of the way, you're probably wondering

How do I put my work on Redbubble?

Well, first if it's not already in a digital file--you need to have your work on a digital file in your computer.

"A what?"

A picture. Take a photograph of your artwork--one that's nice, where you can see everything clearly and it's got great quality to it!

My mom says to do this on an overcast day. It's the best.

Or, ask one of our many photographers for help. I'm sure y'all can work something out to get a quailty picture of your work!

Oh, and make sure it's a on digital camera or your phone!

This is where it gets different.

If you're taking it with your phone

You'll need to send the image to your computer. I do this by emailing myself the picture I took with my phone.

(If you need help with this, please visit the Ellis Library & Reference Center. Or Google. You can do it! I believe in you!)

If you're taking it with a digital camera

Then directly upload it into your computer!

Then, you just click on the "Add Designs" link on your Redbubble Dashboard!

After clicking, you'll get a page that looks like this:

You just click "upload new work," select the file you want to upload, follow any prompts, and BAM!

LOOK AT YOU, YOU JUST PUT A PIECE OF WORK UP FOR SALE ON REDBUBBLE!

A GENERAL FAQ ON REDBUBBLE UPLOADING

1) What?

You know, the easiest thing to do is just link you to their own how to do page. They're going to explain it better than I can.

So click here , and read away!

2) Huh?

As mentioned eariler in the post, if you need phyiscal help with this process, please visit the Ellis Library & Reference Center 's Reference department, filled with Reference Librarians, who literally went to grad school to learn how to help you with this kind of stuff.

My grad degree is in literature. I am no help here.

3) Tags?

You've probably heard younger people say things like "hashtag blessed" or something with "hashtag" infront of it. That's this: #
Also used as a symbol for numbers.
Hashtags (#) are how social media sets up their algorthyms for people to use to find things.
For instance, if you wanted to put up a picture of kittens on a social platform like Instagram, you'd type in "#kittens" in the description box. This means the website will file your picture of kittens under the kittens search engine, so it's more likely to show up when people type in "kittens."

When you go to label your art work on Redbubble, hashtags--or just "tags"--are important.

So, if you upload a painting that's of rabbits, you could put tags like: #rabbits #bunnies #spring #Easter #fuzzy #adorable #lucky #animals #babyanimals

Think: descriptors in addition to what the focal point of the art is.

For more information, ask a young person. Like a grandkid. I'm sure they can help you with tagging your work!

4) HELP!

Please. Please please please. Go to Redbubble's help center page for questions on this. I am begging you

It's right here ! RIGHT HERE . Just click here !

Once there, click on " Setting Up An Artist Account "

Scroll down, and on the left hand side, you'll see a bunch of clickable links with different headings!
Find "Designing" and "Uploading"
There will be a drop down menu for you to pick and learn from

USE IT.
SOMEONE SPENT HOURS MAKING THESE RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO YOU
DO NOT DISHONOR THEM!

There! I think I've covered the basics!

All that's left is for you to actually DO THE THING!

But, if after all this, you're still like "But...how?"

Here.

Have a video.

Anyway, now that that's done, I'm off to not type or stare at a computer screen for a while!

Good luck!

You can do it, I know you can!

Sami

P.s. If after all this, you're like "but I'd rather just put my stuff available on the MAL website's Redbubble page!"
That'll be on the next blog post (which I'll link once I've written it)! For now--please see Audrey Hepburn below.

I See I'm More Popular Than I Once Thought

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 19:43:13 GMT

The Blog is Back (stone cold sober as a matter of fact)

If you haven't seen Wicked--either the stage play or the movie, I suggest you correct your mistake.

It's about the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) and Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz, and it's absolutely packed to the brim with show-stopping musical numbers, dances, and political talk about prejudice, racism, colonialism, rights of the many, and the power of societal standards, misuse of the press, and love.

It's also where I found the picture for the title. (And for the record, while I did like Ariana Grande's Galinda, I much prefer Kristen Chenoweth's original stage version of the character.)

Anyway, as much as I could go on and on about Broadway productions and their Hollywood counterparts (and I could go on and on), I'm here to address the Elton John subtitle of this blog post: It's back, baby!

(Even though the lyrics are "stone cold sober," I am not, in fact, completely sober. My posion of choice is whiskey, and I have been known to wind down with friends at a nice resturant with an old fashioned occasionally.)

Anyway, after sitting down with our newest webmaster, Tommy G--who so graceously came out of retirement to take some of the finer things of maintaining the website off my ridicously overfilled plate (working full time, running my own craft show business, running a romantacy book club with my friends, going to doctors appointments, playing in two Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, and just trying to live life left me very little time to keep regular maintence up for this website)--I handed over some of the more tedious jobs over so they can be regularly updated.

Tommy took a shine to it immedately, and was excited to get to play around on this monster of a program known as Without Code , the software we use to maintain the Monroe Art League.com address.

I was happy he was happy, and told him he could contact me with any questions about it, just please be careful with it as it's stupid sensitive and not to touch the blog.

Because I would be picking it back up again.

Okay, okay, I would be trying to pick it back up again.

One of my New Year's Resolutions™ this year was to write more.
My fanfiction

My original fictions

My journal

and

This Blog.

And I'm just stubborn and spiteful enough (literally, I run on determination and spite. They are my source of power) to acheive my New Year goals.

So, I thought I'd start with this post.

Please be patient with me as I get back on track to updating this blog.

Not every post is going to be stellar, or long, but a post is a post, and that's one step closer to my goal to write 24 of them this year.

Of course, if they end up looking like that gif of Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation 's daughter Lal, where she tries to catch the ball...I appologize in advance. At least I tried.

Anyway, to finish up this post, I thought I'd go ahead and write about some art league stuff, because I guess I should do that since this is the MAL's blog.

This upcoming meeting (Tuesday, February 25th, 2025), I'll be there to not only take notes of this month's presenter to but in the blog like I did before, but I'll be going over some new, exciting things I want to add to the website, including getting it set up with Redbubble for the members.

It's finally time, and I think everyone will come to appreciate it.

It might be hard at first, but like I tell myself all the time: you can do hard things.

This is me, signing off for now.

If anyone needs me, I'll be in my craft zone, amping up my stock for this summer's abundence of craft shows!

See ya real soon MAL folks!

--Sami

Like A Ship On The Weathered Horizon

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Wed, 08 May 2024 18:14:46 GMT

RIP, Sherry Southerland.

I met Sherry a couple of times before she passed away a couple weeks ago.

She was vibrant--in a Stevie Nicks sort of way. Sharp with her laughter, intelligent with her conversation, and caring with how she listened in. She kept track of the conversations I had with her, and when I got her to laugh, it was like the aunt you call when you['re in trouble with your parents--safe, unjudgemental, and a little bit crazy.

Her art was like that too.

I actually have the pleasure to own a print of her artwork (I always think art is worth the hundreds of dollars it's labeled as, but my poor little wallet can never afford some)--because it called out to me, like a ship on the weathered horizon.

It was striking.

(Okay I know this snapshot of it doesn't do the picture justice, but like. I had it special framed and I'm not going to mess that up and get a whole can of worms in the process.)

I hope you had the pleasure to meet Sherry while she was still here with us.

I like to say that there's only one way to immortality--through stories. And I hope you're able to contribute a story of Sherry when the art league meets up every now and then.

It's what she would have wanted.

I'll leave you all with this short In Memoriam, written by my mom, who asked me to share it as the next blog post (which I know has fallen to the wayside lately. I take full responsiblity for that, just because I've been in a world of beads. Sherry would be happy for me that I've found a new creative outlet, I think, and that's what I'm going to use as my excuse).

Without further ado:

We are a blessed group. The Monroe Art League attracts the most wonderful people, and they bring with them their love. Their love for nature, animals, people, and the whole world. We get to see what they see and how they see it.

Sherry left us way too soon. She wasn’t done creating, she had plans, she had people that she wanted to take care of and animals that she loved and cared for, she knew she was needed and she didn’t want to leave. She had a family that will forever miss her. Friends that she inspired. She was just getting started by artists standards and it simply just wasn’t fair that she had to go.

If you were lucky enough to meet Sherry when you joined the league, she would welcome you with open arms, a smile, and a snarky comment. A memorable welcome that set the tone for what the MAL was about. Friendship. Kindness. Acceptance and Love of Art with an easy-going playfulness that made you feel right at home.

Sherry’s work was stunning. Her scantily clad ladies got us kicked out of the library. Her depiction of a storm stopped people in their tracks. I believe she brought to the canvas her skills but also a part of who she was, her ethereal paintings made you stop and simply marvel at their beauty.

We will always have the memories of our time together and with luck we will meet her again as well as all our other loved ones. I like to think our artists friends who have passed are all together, laughing, creating, and enjoying the view.

Eve

Here's to a brighter tomorrow, because unlike Sherry's storm paintings, the sun will always eventually show up.

Take Your Broken Heart Make It Into Art

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 23:30:59 GMT

Winter Blues Is Real

The technical term for it, though, is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD.

That's right, SAD.

So if you find that you're one of the millions of people around the world that get just a little bit sadder; more depressed, lethargic, and just downright unable to motivate yourself to do anything during the winter, you probably have the SADs.

I know I do (and boy does it pair well with my already diagonsed regular depression).
I've had it every year now that I can remember of my adulthood (I don't want to say I really noticed it as a teenager, because. Well. There's already so much going on internally when you're a teenager, it can be hard to tell what seperates hormones from growing and hormones from outside afflictions) and each year is the same: I'm more sluggish, sad (not hollow, like regular depression, or anxious either), and unmotivated to even do tasks I know will bring me joy.

That's why I wanted to focus this blog post on one of my favorite quotes from Carrie Fisher--"Take your broken heart, make it into art."
(My favorite is "Stay Afraid, But Do It Anyway." It's gotten me through a hell of a lot.)

If you're unfamiliar with Carrie Fisher outside of her role as Princess (and later General) Leia from Star Wars , I'm so glad I can take this time to introduce her properly to you.

She's one of my favorite role models, and not just because she's everyone's favorite Hutslaying princess with a blaster.

Carrie Fisher was also one of Hollywood's most famous Script Doctors (someone who comes in and helps edit the script so it makes more sense, flows better, has believable dialogue, etc). She was literally hired to come in and fix up the scripts of several movies to make them better, movies you may have seen such as:

Hook
Sister Act
The Wedding Singer
Star Wars (everything from the original trilogy to the prequels and sequels)
Scream 3
Last Action Hero
Coyote Ugly
Lethal Weapon 3
Kate & Leopold

And these are only the ones she's gotten credit for.

She's also written several semi-autobiographical and autobiographical books about her life, the most famous of which may be "Postcards from the Edge," which later became a film staring Meryl Streep.

Before her death in 2016, Fisher was a champion of mental health and taking care of yourself (she was very open about her bipolar disorder, and when she got cremated, opted to be put in a giant urn that looked like Prozac), and that's where the above quote comes from. It's about turning all of your sad, and depression, and sorrow, and making it into something powerful; something that can sway minds, induce feelings, and change worlds: art.
(She did it all her life, and if you ever feel like dozing down the path of Fisher, you won't be disapointed.)

It's a great idea for if you've been going through stuff: create.

I'd venture to say that what depression is is war. It's a war against yourself; your mind. An every-day battle where you have to fight just to keep on going.

And if you truly want to win that war, you've got to create. After all, the opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation.

You've got to turn your broken, war-roughed heart into art. No matter what kind of art that may be.

I know the League focuses a lot on fine art and that's fine!

But not everything you create has to be "fine" or even "good."

You can make bad art.

You don't have to get a fresh canvas and take your oils or acrylics and turn it into a masterpiece (though it's fine if you do). Experiment a little.

If you've never worked with watercolors before, try. You know how easy it is to get a cheap, Crayola brand of watercolors for kids and some sketch paper? That's still working with watercolors.

Let you imagination flow like you're 6 again and paint simple things: shapes. Flowers. Cats. Dogs. Dragons. Castles!

If you've never fingerpainted before, now's the time to try it. I'm telling you, it's easy to go to a craft store--even Walmart--and find cheap paint sets for kids. Spend $10 on a set and get messy. Let go of it all.

Want to make something beyond the canvas? DO IT. I make beaded bracelets now and I absolutely love it!

There's this place in Plymouth called Creatopia (https://www.creatopiapottery.com/) where you can book an appointment to paint some pottery--either by yourself, or with some friends!

Do you remember coloring books and crayons? They make adult coloring books now. Buy one, and some crayons or colored pencils, and let go. (I'd spend my winter breaks in college coloring in coloring books. I had adult money, and I used it to buy myself that really nice 96 crayon pack that I always wanted as a kid but my mom was like, "no it's too expensive" and then buy the really crappy Roseart crayons for me to use. Eat glass, mom. Adult me says I deserve the 96 crayon pack now, with the sharpener on the back! AND SO DO YOU!)

Don't let a sense of perfectionism destroy your creativity and sense of childlike wonder. Sometimes, you just need to make bad, fun art to fix your broken heart.

The other half of this blog post is inspired by TikTok user freakinlex, who posted this video online (Transcription below):

"I like to make art just because I like to make art. There doesn't always have to be some crazy, deeper meaning behind your creativity. When I'm struggling with my creative flow, I just pick a couple things that I like, a couple things that I feel fit my style and my aesthetic, and then I take all of those things and I just throw them together, kind of collage style. Just whatever feels right in the moment. That's. That's what happens. And this isn't to say that I don't ever make art that has meaning--I most definitely do! It's just that not every piece has to. Let me rephrase this, because these pieces do have a meaning and a purpose. The purpose is fun; it's happiness...it's giving you a reason to smile when you look at it. Creating just for the sake of creating can help you move stagnant energy. It can help you let go of judgement that you hold toward yourself. And it is really eye opening. When you create freely, there is this magical thing that happens where you start to get to know yourself again. And apart from all of that, you learn how to make mistakes. You may even start to build a relationship with your art that you've never had before. It's okay to make art that is really well thought out and has this really great meaning behind it. And that might be what calls to you, but, you know,it's also okay to look at a blank canvas as say, 'I'm gonna tackle this with absolutely no plan.' And there are so many people out there that are gonna tell you that that is wrong and that it's not okay, and that you're not a true artist. Maybe they'll say that you're a lazy artist. But the reality of it is that we didn't start creating because we cared about what other people thought. We did it because it felt good. And it's really interesting what your mind can come up with when you put yourself in this position of having resources and no rules. Imagine what you could create if you allowed yourself to have that judgement free environment. And the hard truth is that you're gonna make bad art. You have to make bad art. you should make bad art. It's all part of the journey. And at the end of the day, we do this because we have to. We are born creative beings. It's in our blood. So give yourself some freedom. Go finger paint, make a flower crown. Sing at the top of your lungs. I don't care what it is. Just make sure you do it and do it today. And do it full heartedly and DO NOT JUDGE YOURSELF. We don't need more structure. We don't need more rules. We need to learn how to have fun again. I hope you take this and allow yourself to immerse in the human experience. And do what brings you joy."

It's important to just make art sometimes, for the sake of making art. Even bad art! Just so long as you're channeling your creativity and letting it flow to get yourself out of your own thoughts.

And I know what you're thinking.

You're thinking it's gonna be hard.

I never said it was easy.

But nothing worth having; worth doing is ever that easy.

And no one said you can't have fun with it--I literally spent like two paragraphs telling you to have fun with it!

Do it for me. Do it for Carrie Fisher. Do it for yourself. Heck, do it for the child that's inside of you (because we all know, you can be 82 on the outside, but inside? You're still that 12 year old kid that loves to doodle on everything you can get your hands on).

I dare you to create something today.
(Heck, I created this blog post today, and already, I'm feeling better).

I bet it'll make a world of a difference!

And remember that other quote of Carrie Fisher's I mentioned?

Hello....it's me.

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 19:00:47 GMT

I was wondering if after all these months you'd like to read...
To go over everything

It's an Adele song, in case you're wondering.

September.
September was the last time I posted a blog, and now it's December.

Truly, I am sorry.

I could go into great detail about how I managed to fight back against my depression...that I was so busy during the month of October, I scarcely had time to sleep, let alone do anything else...that November is my work's busy season (Black Friday and all, for sales) and I regularly work overtime during the entire month to make sure that everything is set to go before Thanksgiving.

That this week has also been kicking my butt, but it's finally slowed down in my work schedule that I have the time to post an update on all things Art League!

On to important Art League business!

Yesterday, Becky and Nancy hosted a Brilliance On A Budget class at the Michigan Wine and Beer Portal, and it was a great time for all!
(Also shout-out to my mom for finally remembering to take pictures so I have something to update the blog with)

I was told that everyone there had a blast!
These Brilliance on a Budget classes certainly are giving people around Monroe County a way to enjoy the evening, and take something home they can treasure forever!

Next, I would just like to say that I would love to report in on October and November's meeting, but I unfornately could not attend, and my lovely mother didn't bring me any pictures to post, so I'm afraid it's going to remain a "you had to be there" kind of thing.

Finally, to add to this blog and make it worthy of a return post (while I hound my mother and get the skinny on everything that needs to be posted since I want to take some time to update not just the blog, but the website in general...and I don't want to surf through all those emails when the source is literally 12 feet away from me), I'm going to highjack the blog and post a bunch of really pretty pictures I took while I was in California in the beginning of October.
I know that artists out there are always looking for inspiration, and LA is one of the most artistic places I've ever been to.
The streets of downtown are filled with art.
The mountains are breathtaking.
And the vibe of tinsel town is one that made my little arts and humanities brain light up with excitement.

I'd never been farther out than Texas before, so going to the west coast was a dream for me.
I've still got a lot I'd like to see (The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Seattle, Vegas, etc.), but I was blown away by what I did see while there.

Above and below are part of the TREK it takes to get to the Griffith Observatory, where we spent the entire day at.

It's iconic for a lot of reasons, but I thought it was iconic because

Well, I looked to my left and I saw the Hollywood sign.

There's really only one other way to really see the iconic Hollywood sign, and that's to hike up to it (I would have died, but I could have done it. My best friend, however, talked me out of it, given we still had to go to Disney later that week. And Disney regularly has us at about 30,000 steps per day. That's about 13 miles of walking).

There are also multiple spots in the city where this is viewable, but nothing comes close to what you can see from the Griffith Observatory. Plus, the observatory itself is iconic, and featured in numerous movies throughout the years.

As much as I loved the observatory, I was more caught up in the view of the city you got from the back:

Unlike Detroit, or Chicago, or NYC, LA is MASSIVE.
And there's really no public transportation.

This entire picture doesn't even capture all of LA or its burrows.

But it's still a pretty skyline!

(Also, for the record, if I had to pick between LA and NYC, I'd take NYC every time. Just because public transportation.)

While there, we also did go to Disneyland:

(It's not as nice as DisneyWorld, and I don't recommend going unless you're a die-hard fan.)

And then ended our trip at Santa Monica Pier--aka the end of Route 66.

The Pacific Ocean is really cold, btw.

And hard to enjoy--there are peddlers every where.

Luckily, we found a lovely restaurant on the board walk, and I got a margarita to celebrate.

And thus ends my schpeal about California.

I'll see you next time...which will hopefully be in two weeks, and not two months...

Lots of love as always,

Sami

Metalwork puns are hard to forge

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 19:56:18 GMT

This is not a drill...

On Tuesday, August 22nd, the Monroe Art League's very own Greg Koesel set out to give a one of a kind presentation about his metal works.

Once again, as it becoming a trend for the Art League demonstrator dates, the United Way building was packed--left with standing room only to get a glimpse of the metal work that Greg had brought with him and hear about how it is created.

"My dad was an auto body repairman and had his own shop for a time. I picked up the basics of metalworking from him. Eventually, I started building and racing cars. (Among them) was a 1930s-era Indy car," Koesel said. "The irony is that the very same skills needed to repair a car fender or to build a race car body from scratch are the same skills needed for creating beautiful art objects."*

Just one of many examples was this car, which he showed the crowd in his slideshow portion of the presentation.

Many of the pieces that Greg has worked on could not be brought in, given their size or permanence in location, but what he could bring in was impressive. A bell, a horse, a crane statue, high-heeled shoes, armor, and even a sheet of metal in several stage developments to show how the process was done.

Greg discussed with the audience how to bend and shape the metal pieces he works with in order to get them into the various...shapes he needs to bring his vision to life.

And as someone who was sitting right next to his demonstration, I can tell you, it's not without a lot of effort.

In addition to using various hammers, Greg also uses various chemicals to age and color the pieces of metal he works with; he uses car paints to ensure the colors pop and last, and he welds together pieces to make them a solid form.

One example that he talked about was this garden arch and fence, explaining the process of how he created it and all the techniques he used.

Greg further discussed with the group how he obtains many of his metal pieces for his works: "I am not above doing a little 'dumpster diving' if I see something that can be repurposed. Anything from a bottle cap to a coil of steel heavy enough to need a hoist to lift is fair game."*

He went on to show the group many of his smaller, more portable works, including an aluminum sword he made that went along with a suit of armor (also aluminum) he occasionally wears to the renaissance festival. When a child attending the demonstration raised his hand and asked Greg, "is it heavy?" Greg kindly smiled and handed the sword over to the child to feel for himself.

"I choose aluminum for things like this," he said, "because it's lightweight and if I'm carrying it, I want it to be functional that way."

Finally, Greg shared with us some of his more intricate pieces--ones that he liked to tell a story.

The Rainbow Fish is a classic children's book about a superficial fish with shiny scales that he prides himself on. One day, another fish asks him for one of those scales and he becomes defensive, stating that his scales are what makes him shine (and better than everyone else). Eventually, the Rainbow fish learns to share his scales with his friends, and everyone becomes happy in the end.

(I should note, being that my degree is in children's literature and I've studied The Rainbow Fish, I hate this story. Sure, it's a somewhat decent lesson in friendship and learning how to share and to not be vein, but it also has the reverse aspect of teaching people how to give away parts of themselves to people-please instead of setting clear boundaries. It's something I have struggled with my entire life, and learning that The Rainbow Fish is taken more in the latter way than what was most likely intended by the author upsets me. The same can be said of The Giving Tree. Except that's more about how women need to tear themselves down in support of a man than a general people-pleasing your sense of self away. Children's books! So full of interesting takes!)

Greg explained what made up the fish while telling us about his visual representation of the fish, and where it came to be displayed. (It is a beautiful piece, btw Greg. I do very much love how you've put the story in a simple visual art form. That part is breathtaking! I just can't stand the book itself--and that's cause I have over 10,000 hours in deconstructing children's books, lol.)

I also personally enjoy that most, if not all, of Greg's work has a punny name attached to it (I love a good pun!) and he seems to enjoy that as well. I always think a good title is an indication of how much a person has enjoyed the work, and from the way Greg names his pieces, you can tell he loves to do what he does.

"I am thrilled when others want to own one of my pieces. Some sell. Others I display at home. Some collect dust in the attic," Koesel said. "The important thing for me is to create something unique. I just do it because it pleases me. It's therapeutic."*

Anyway, that's what you missed at the demonstration for August!

A huge Thank You to Greg for bringing in all his work and taking time out of his day to tell us all about the fantastical work of metal working!!

And apologies for not getting this up sooner!

But, better late than never!

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

*Taken from the Monroe Evening News Article

Like a Light Admits The Darkness

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 18:50:12 GMT

Even Van Gogh got work done through it all...

Hello there.

It's been a while, hasn't it?

I'm ashamed to say it's been more than a while, and many of you are probably looking at this site like, "what on earth happened? It hasn't been updated for months!"

Depression happened.

I'm no stranger to the illness--but when I'd have my episodes, I was usually in college and working at a daycare, so I could mask the worst of the symptoms with endless work. Even during my five years at the library, I was able to hide it away underneath work.

It's so much harder to do that now, working from home, with only the places I give myself to go.

And it caught up with me.

It feels hollow; I am living, but I'm not alive...if that makes sense. And it's hard to find the motivation to do most things, let alone extracurriculars.

If you've never gone through depression, blessings upon ye. But if you have, I know you can understand the grueling plague that is to simply watch the clock tick by and the sun get lower and lower into the sky and feel nothing,

You watch TV, or read a book, yet you cannot feel empathy or sympathy or get excited or angered by what occurs. You eat a meal, if you're lucky, but it doesn't nourish you. You can shower, but it doesn't make you feel refreshed. You sleep. And sleep. And sleep. But no matter what time you go to bed, or how many naps you take, you're always still tired.

And it goes on like this, sunrise to sunset; full moon to new moon.

The worst of it is when you do venture outside to meet up with friends at a social obligation, you spend the majority of the time just. existing. in the same space. You're surrounded by people--friends even!--but you're not there, mentally. emotionally. spiritually. Just physically. And you spend that time engaging in small talk; responding to questions, trying to smile like you're in grade school again waiting for that class picture to be taken until the moment passes, and you return to the empty shell.

I've talked to my therapist.

I know the majority of my depression this time around is a case of Season Affective Disorder--SAD. i.e. the changing of the seasons when we loose sunlight that brings about the blues--and the changing of medications as I try to find one that's a better fit with me.

I've talked to my psychiatrist.

I'm on a new medication that will hopefully combat the worst of the depression.

I've got my happy lamp.

To combat the SADs, and 10,000 lumins lamp that mimics the rays of the sun to help create serotonin.

I've got loads of things to look forward to.

The Renaissance Festival. A trip to California and Disneyland. Spooky shenanigan's with my best friend and nephews. A Shania Twain concert. Busy time at work. A convention where I'll get to meet some Star Trek people.

Yet. Depression isn't a quick fix, nor can it be that simple.

Van Gogh, who I've put forth as the post's header, suffered with it for years with major highs and lows (though his was bipolar depression, which is different than my major depression disorder, even if the depression can come in through the same feeling). And even though we've come so very far with how we treat those with mental illnesses, it still is a major pain to deal with. That, I'm sad to say, hasn't changed.

So, my apologies that I've let the website slide to the wayside for months. Many things have gone on that I've missed out on reporting about, and I'm sure you're all wondering what things the Art League has had in store for the majority of the summer.

I can't add in everything to this post--mostly because I have to sort through a lot of emails that I'll be honest...I haven't kept up with, because I was using every ounce of mental compacity I had just to sift through and take care of emails for my job.

But what I can do is post some things about last month's presenter.

Not in this post, god no. It's too depressing (pun intended) and I'll not dishonor the presenter like that. But it will immediately follow this post, that much I can take care of.

And I'll try to get the website up to date with things while I have the energy to do so, so it won't look as messy.

I prided myself on how nice the website looks, and I want to try and get that back up to snuff, so maybe it won't be so daunting to me down the road.

After all, it's much easier to work with a clean space than a dirty one. If watching people clean their depression rooms has taught me anything, lol.

Anyway, after all this, I hope you understand why the site has been looking down in the dumps for so long--it's because it's webmaster was, in fact, down in the dumps herself.

But even in darkness, there is light. and that's what I have been holding onto for these past few months.

A light admits the darkness.

It Is Good To Love Many Things

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 01:15:27 GMT

The Monroe Art League Angie Terrasi Archives are finally here!

Gooooooooooooooood Morning Readers of This Blog!

I've never been a morning person.

But thanks to some new medication, I find myself waking up early everyday (and I hate it).

The only downside to this is that I'm also still a night owl, so like.

I just work off the same amount of sleep I got in college 10 years ago (that's 3-5 hours) and somehow manage to get myself through the day without crashing for a "when did I fall asleep?" nap.

It's annoying.

I don't trust morning people and their "productivity," yet here I am, 8am on a Sunday, typing up this blog. Being all productive.

It's disgusting.

Anyway, I digress. Let's move on to the heart of this blog post--our new archives and the demonstrator for this month, David Larkins!

First and foremost, I'd like to give a giant Thank You to all the League staff that worked meticulously to make sure these archives were filed accordingly, names were attached to pictures, and that the history and legacy of the League was preserved for future generations: Gladys Drummonds, Heather Lotter, Sherry Sutherland, Rosalie Pasko, and Anne Marie Pederson.

After that, let's get into Angie Terrasi, for whom this collection is named after!

Featured in this painting by Fran, Angie lived--from what I heard--an incredible life.

We were lucky enough to have Angie's family come out to the Grand-Opening of sorts of the Angie Terrasi Archives (ATA), where her granddaughter Ava read to us Angie's biography:

Angie was born in Detroit and lived there until she was three, when her mother sadly passed. Her father then sent her back to Laggio, Italy to be raised by her grandparents. She, along with her younger sister, stayed there until just before WWII broke out. At a time where many children were being sent out of the various countries surrounding the heart of the war, she and her sister, both young teenagers, left the Alps of Italy.

Unable to board the train at the station because they lacked an adult, a German woman saw them and quickly told the conductors that they were with her. They made it out thanks to her, and from there, met their father in NYC to head to back to Michigan.

The sisters then had to learn English from the day to day, as during the war, they got factory jobs alongside their schooling. Eventually, Angie married Angelo Terrasi in June of 1946 and were married for 40 years until his death in 1986. They had five daughters: Joann, Judy, Denise, Jayne, Doreen, and one son--Richard--who sadly passed away in 2010 as well as an abundance of grandchildren (including Ava, who kindly and wonderfully told us all about her grandmother's life at the meeting Saturday) and great-grandchildren.

Angie's life doesn't just stop there, however. Like all of us, she had her interests and hobbies, and was, suffice to say, a powerhouse when it came to delegating her time. She was active in many places of artistic value around Monroe County, MI, St. Anne's Church, Monroe and Frenchtown Senior Centers, and Comboni Missions Auxiliary. She also took classes at MCCC as well as ones offered by the Art League.

She was a well known accomplished artist in and around the Monroe area, a matriarch of her large family, and touched the hearts and souls of all who knew her, purchased her work, and proudly display it for all to see.

Honestly, I'm in awe of her life's work and accomplishments, and I'd be lying if I didn't say I was just a little bit envious of her organizational skills (my poor motivation usually quits on me half way through, because it doesn't see the fun in it. Which is horrible. ... I still enjoy watching all those cleaning and organizing videos though!)

Those skills are why we are naming the archives after her--and after personally seeing and handling her work myself, I say it's well deserved. An extra blessing on her memory for the photo albums--they made everything easier for me to work with and set things up.

A huge Thank You to all of Angie's family that came out to the grand opening of the ATA--I'm sure you're all just as proud as she would be of you!

In addition to the grand opening of the ATA, our special demonstrator this month was David Larkins, who painted his rendition of Van Gogh's Sunflowers live for us--while talking about Vincent's life and how he takes on the impressionistic technique.

David, a member once when he was 15, and then again just recently, spent roughly an hour and a half painting, talking, and answering questions.

I managed to snag a short video this time, so here's a 46 second clip of one of the fun facts about Van Gogh David taught us:

The MAL had over 80 people in attendance for this demonstration, and even held a raffle for the painting that David was doing that well exceeded expectations and will help out the League greatly with future projects!

All in all, this past Saturday was a smashing success!

A big THANK YOU to everyone that came out, helped set up, donated easels, and worked on getting this whole thing together.

And a special shout out to these two ladies, who made it all possible in the first place!

"But wait," I can hear you say. "You said that David was raffling off his painting at the end of the demonstration!"

...I did? I guess I did? I usually don't go back and reread for edits until I'm done writing everything, so I'll take your word for it.

Anyway, yes.

After much anticipation and last minute ticket buying, the head of the Reference department, Lou, came down and pulled out the lucky ticket. Number 6939623.

Which just happened to be Angie's oldest daughter, JoAnn.

If that's not divine interference, I don't know what is!

As they say, all's well that ends well, and aside from me being sleepy, I'd say this is a good place to end this week's blog post.
Look for another one coming at you soon!

For now, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :)

It's Been A Long, Long Time

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 21:41:04 GMT

Trumpet Solo

In case any of you youngins' don't understand the reference to my long over-due post, here's the song it comes from:

I fell in love with the song long before it appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, because I'm a sucker for trumpet solos. But I figured it was the perfect way to start this week's blog post, since I've been gone for some time from writing.

Writing is hard.

Even though I love to do it.

But finding the energy to write sometimes is daunting.
That's why I'm updating this blog now to say this:

This blog will be updated every other week from this point on.

That way, if I'm busy one week, or on vacation (like I was this past weekend), I won't feel as bad for playing catch-up!

And if you're sitting there, wondering why I didn't just start the blog out that way--I am a chronic over-achiever and do try to do as much as possible when I know it's something I like. It isn't until I'm sitting down in the piles I've created for myself that I realize it's time to slow down and ask for help.

Anyway, let's move on to the important bits!

At the Potluck Picnic in Veteran's Park, food was brought (and a thank you to everyone that brought a dish to pass! Everything was delicious, as it always is!) (And a special, personal shout-out to Sue Siebarth from me personally, because I dream about that corn lol. It's my favorite!), memories were shared, and everyone got out of the house for a little while to socialize and relax on a lovely (if albeit smoky) day!

Things have been going at faster pace as well, as we here at the MAL webmaster headquarters (see: my desk, which is covered in Funko pops and fake plants, because I will kill any real plant I touch. And that's not an exaggeration. If you ever need a pesky plant killed, I'm your girl!) have been given so many new things to update the website with!

First and foremost, Monroe's own David Larkins was awarded an honorary lifetime membership with the League, and is now featured on our members page! And as you watch his paintings scroll by, know they are not pictures. (I thought they were pictures, until I read the bio and was like "WhAt Do YoU mEaN tHeY'rE pAiNtInGs?!?" But anyway, I digress.)

Secondly, David's "Paint like Van Gogh" classes are coming up fast, and with limited space still available! This is now live on the website here if you'd like to try your luck at it! David will also be our very special demonstrator for the month! More information can be found on the Home page--but if you want the short and sweet: there will be no Tuesday night meeting this month, July. David Larkins will be giving a special demonstration on Saturday, July 22nd at the Ellis Library & Reference Center. There will be $1 raffle tickets sold to win his painting. If you are not present at the time of the drawing to claim the art piece...

So, as our dear friend Jimmy Tidwell would say, "Be there or be square!"

Thirdly, we're also going to be officially announcing The Monroe Art League Angie Terrasi Archives on the 22nd as well! So soon you'll be able to make an appointment with the Ellis Reference Center to sit down and see all the hard work the League has been putting into the collections from various members throughout the years, but most importantly the archives' namesake, Angie Terrasi , kept since the 60's.

Finally, I'd like to take a moment to share two things.

1) Do you find yourself watching kids on hot summer days and wish you had an activity to do with them? Look no further!

Something we used to do at the daycare was make popsicle paint!

It's really very easy.

The materials (all of which are likely at the dollar store):

Sidewalk Chalk
2 tbsp Cornstartch
4 tbsp water
Ice cube trays
Popsicle sticks
Cheese grater

The steps:

Start by grating a sidewalk chalk piece into a measuring cup that pours. Use a small grater if you can so that you can grate directly into the cup. If you don't have a small grater, then grate into a larger bowl and then transfer to a pouring cup. We used about half a sidewalk chalk piece per color.
Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch into the measuring cup.
Add 4 tablespoons of water.
Mix together
Pour the mixture into an ice cube tray or small plastic container.
Repeat for each color you'd like to make. Double or triple the recipe to make a larger batch. This recipe will fill 2-3 ice cubes.
Add mini popsicle sticks into the ice cube trays. You can lean them to one side to keep them standing up.
Freeze.
Once frozen, let the tray sit out for a few minutes to make the paint-sicles come out easier
Let your imagination run wild...at least, until it rains!

(For a video instruction and credit for this activity, please visit: https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/chalk-ice/ )

And second?

Enjoy some pictures I took of Tennessee and Dollywood.

Who knows, maybe you'll find your next inspiration for a painting!

Until next time, y'all!

And as a bonus, here's some ducks that were outside my hotel room balcony. including Miss Daisy, who thinks she's a wild duck (points if you can spot her, lol)

Happier Than A Pig In Mud

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 16:17:09 GMT

Remembering Our Friend, Jimmy Tidwell

Born on October 22, 1949, Jimmy was only 73 when he left this mortal coil on May 26, 2023.

He was a bright spot in this world, often described as being the friendliest, happiest person to be around wherever you happened to find him. He certainly was a bright spot in the Monroe Art League, and any one of its members can attest to his best qualities.

Personally, I've only had the pleasure to meet Jimmy a handful of times since I've known him through my mom's membership in the art league, but each time he was always friendly and outgoing--full of sayings that I came to find out were more like catchprases to him. And I've always admired his artwork--which is why I loved the idea of having him paint my Taylor Swift jacket for the website compensation (as shown above).

(Also, in case any of you were wondering, since I didn't have time to update the blog proper this month, I did, in fact, wear that jacket proudly over my [very loud, "violently pink"] dress all around downtown Detroit before the concert.

I added patches to the front of it, a line from her song "Bejeweled," and glitter as well. It got an untold number of compliments, and I happily told people that "my friend Jimmy" painted it when they gasped at the image. Some even took photos of it! It made it through the concert in one piece (minus a bunch of glitter and a couple letters I have to re-attach) and I posted it to my personal social media and made sure to tag Taylor Swift herself. There's a small chance she saw it, but I like to think she did. Even if not, several thousand people in Detroit saw it, and that's good too!)

(The lovely lady pictured next to me in that slide show at Ford Field is my best friend Kayla. And if you're wondering why we're wearing a bunch of brightly colored friendship bracelets, it was because it's a Thing to do at Taylor Swift concerts--make and trade friendship bracelets. I made somewhere around 85 to trade, and did trade/gave out all but 10 of them while we were there. The cutest interaction I had was with a child, who nervously came up to me and asked me to trade bracelets. She gave me a hot pink one "cause it matches your dress," and I don't think--between that and all the compliments on Jimmy's painting--I've ever had a better pre-concert experience.)

Over the last couple of weeks since Jimmy's passing, I've had a lot of time to think about how I wanted to write this blog post.

It's hard enough writing about someone you've known all you life, but it's objectively harder to write about someone so beloved that you personally don't know well yourself.

Luckily, I had the pleasure to talk to a couple of Jimmy's best friends about their friendship with such an amazing, well-known artist, and got to know Jimmy a little bit better.

The interviews I conducted were far from anything Barbara Walters would have done--but that's my style. I prefer, when I have to put my Journalism cap on, to conduct things at the pace of the person I'm interviewing, and allow the memories and thoughts to come naturally. It's an easier conversation that way, and there's less pressure on the person being interviewed to think of things to talk about (which I know can be hard when put "on the spot," as it were).

I also wanted to wait some time for the grief surrounding those that lossed a close friend or family member (if they are reading this) to boil down into a sort-of happy rememberance. There's a quote from actor Andrew Garfield, where he said, "I hope this grief stays with me because it's all the unexpressed love that I didn't get to tell her" in regards to the passing of his mum. There's also the quote from the TV Show WandaVision , "What is grief if not love preservering?" And I like to think about those quotes whenever someone passes, because it helps dull the pain ever so slightly and turn it into something easier to carry around with you.

I've always had an interesting relationship with grief, because it takes on many forms. And out of each time I experienced it, I've found that's it's only through time and ability to process it that makes it go from a sad, aching pain to something bittersweet you can live with. And that is mostly why it's taken me the time it has to write this post.

But the time has finally come, and I think it's just about the time where that melancholy turns bittersweet.

The first person I interviewed was Becky Mullins, who has known Jimmy since she joined the MAL years ago. She spoke fondly of him; describing him as one of the first people at her first MAL meeting to greet her and make her feel welcome. "And he did that with pretty much everyone who joined the league," she went on to say.

"Jimmy was my best painting friend. He always made people believe that he was their best friend too. He was always smiling and happy--he loved painting. And he always encouraged kids too, by letting them come up and paint. 'It doesn't matter,' [she remembered him saying.] 'painting's never finished till it hits the ground.' And that was because his paintings would always fall down!"

"We would always paint at the park," Becky went on remembering, her spirit lifting as she continued to talk about her fond days of painting with him. "And Gary [Grudes] would always take pictures of us. Jimmy would always tell us to 'be there or be square!' One time, Anne [Rouan] and I were painting with Jimmy at a Jazz festival, and this guy came up to ask...mostly Jimmy about the work he was doing. I don't think he wanted to talk with Anne and I, because, you know. We're women or something. And he ended up calling us Jimmy's Posse. Jimmy had a great laugh about that, and Anne and I ended up getting T-Shirts made that said 'Jimmy's Posse.' I still have that shirt to this day!"

Becky also talked about her adventures with Jimmy during the 1812 Steering Committee at the old Battlefield museum on Elm, and how they started an art contest that runs to this day.

"He rarely dressed up," she recalled, laughing slightly. "He was always wearing his signature overalls with a plaid shirt."

But, when he won an award, or had occasion to dress up, he did.

Becky even managed to find a painting Jimmy had of himself in his signature attire, which I thought was too funny not to add. It's what Jimmy would have wanted:

Becky's interview ended on a happy note, as she told me all the stories of the times she spent with Jimmy at their standing painting date in his studio. She talked about how Jimmy loved stories that went along with paintings, describing a time where he drew up a painting about her and her husband camping, their heads sticking out of the tent. She talked about how he was an avid reader as well as painter, and how he actually went to college for art (his father was an art professor too, so it most likely influenced him to paint!). Becky also mentioned that Jimmy was red/green colorblind, but how it never stopped him from being able to paint, and that he alwas knew when a painting was done (something she struggles with, and I know I struggle with when I do crafts occasionally).

Most importantly, she talked about how Jimmy loved animals.
"He had 2 dogs," she said, recalling a story that made me laugh so hard I almost dropped the phone. "And two cats. And I'm not a very big fan of cats, so every time the studio cats would come near me, he'd laugh and say, 'she's gonna bite you!' But that's nothing compared to this one time we were in the studio and there was noise coming from this old desk with a cover on it. Jimmy went to open it, and inside we found a baby possum!"

After Becky, I managed to get ahold of Anne Rouan, another one of Jimmy's close friends that painted with him in his studio.

She told me about how she'd known Jimmy for nearly 20 years, and also met through the Monroe Art League when she used to be a member. "Becky [Mullins] was already going over to Jimmy's to paint in 2012, and one day when I was working on a huge project, she invited me to join the two of them. It lasted for 10 years, on and off, whenever we could. Going to Jimmy's studio to paint was one of the happiest times in my life."

She began telling me fond stories of him after that, and pointed out his wicked sense of humor, especially for things that were far into the gutter (for lack of a better way to say it, lol). "I remember this one time, when Becky and I were painting with him in the studio. He used to paint on boards, and would fix the back of the board to paint on it. One day, he offered to let Becky paint on a board, but told her, 'I don't have a primed backside [ready]' jokingly. I loved his sense of humor like that. He was really warm and happy and funny. Like a human ray of sunshine."

"I also have to mention about his cow phase," Anne continued to tell me. "He put cows in all of his paintings. He even did a self portait with a cow in the background. It was probably the funniest thing I'd ever seen him do. Well, other than the time he put a monkey in his painting, just because 'it looked like it needed a monkey.'"

Anne's interview concluded with her talking about how she was writing a song in memory of Jimmy, since playing guitar is one of her hobbies now. When I asked her to describe the song to me, she told me it was going to be faster paced and upbeat; about someone who used to shine, because that's what Jimmy was like. And I think that's a wonderful way to remember him by.

I do hope that this blog post about Monroe legend and MAL friend is one that brings about happy memories and paints a clearer picture of what this beloved artist was like. (Pun absolutely intended.) He was always very outgoing, friendly, and easy to get along with, and had a style that I personally attriubted to the likes of Van Gogh himself. Not just in the way his brush worked on the canvas, but in how fast he was able to paint what he saw. (And Jimmy was fast. He could wip up an entire painting in a couple of hours, and usually did so at local festivals around Monroe--especially the Jazz festival, where he was known to paint the most.)

I just want to give another thanks to the two ladies I interviewed about Jimmy--Becky Mullins and Anne Rouan--and to Gary Gudes, who sent me so many of the photos you've seen sprinkled throughout this post!

Thanks to all of you so much for helping preserve the memory of this happy, joyful, and talented man that many got the chance to meet and befriend throughout his 73 years!

And to anyone else that may need some assurance that you are not alone in missing Jimmy: tell stories to others about your times with him. Spread his laughter and joy and ability to greet everyone like they're a long distanced friend you haven't seen in forever. Keep his memory alive, because that is the secret to immortality; that is the secret to turning the agony and pain of loosing a loved one into a bittersweet, fond memory to carry around with you.

Tell their story.

Jimmy loved stories, so make his a good one.

James "Jimmy" Tidwell

10/22/1949

5/26/2023

May You Rest Happier Than A Pig In Mud

Everything, Everywhere...

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 01:54:53 GMT

All At Once.

If you're one to keep up with the Hot New Movies this year, you'll recognize the title of this week's blog.

That is because it feels like so much has been going on in preparation of the Open Air Market coming up on Saturday!

[I want to pause for a moment, before continuing on with the flow, to say the blog post about our friend Jimmy Tidwell is coming along. It's taking me time to reach out to a couple people to ask for stories and pictures, and I want to make sure I write with a sense of joy and celebration of his life, because I feel like that's the only way he'd want it to read. Well, that and if his answers to the Members page bio is any indication, short. But, sorry Jimmy, I have never done short writing in my life and I don't intend to start now. So, look for that in the next blog update or so!]

At least, if all the emails my mom has been sending that have been dinging my inbox over the past two weeks indicates anything! (I love you mom, but you sent an email at midnight the other day and I was right in the middle of the good part of my fanfiction when my phone dinged and I lost my groove. )

Anyway, a couple of things you need to know about the Open Air Market, if you're like me and just want the highlights:

Set up is from 8am - 9am.
Cars MUST be out of the parking lot before 9am. Cars will not be allowed back into the lot until after 6pm.
We are in the parking lot next to the Merchants Bank on the south side or left as you enter the parking lot.
You can use either the Monroe City Hall parking lot or the Riverfront Parking lot to park your cars after unloading.
Bring your business cards, if you have some.
The show ends at 6:00PM. PLEASE pick up your art after the show. We have nowhere to store it.
If you will be working at the show, please bring a chair to sit on.

If you've signed up for the show and want more specific information or have questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!

Also, just some basic things you should probably know if you're going to the Open Air Market, as a spectator:

Wear sunscreen . As someone who has red hair and fair skin, and now takes medication that makes her extra suseptable to sun burn, I cannot emphasize this enough . It's likely available at most stores, so like. You have zero excuse.
Drink water (especially the night before! This is a trick I learned during my bandcamp days to keep you hydrated in the morning). Yes, you'll have to pee more. But you need to stay hydrated, espcially with the summer heat and especially with the Air Quality Alerts we have had lately (for excess pollen. I know this, because my migraines are triggered by weather and pollen. Yay me!). Also, coffee, tea, juice, pop, and wine are not water. They're fine, but like. Y'all need regular, old-fashioned water.
Eat! Eat a good breakfast. Bring a lunch with you or plan on buying lunch. Put some snacks in your bag or car (i.e. granola bars, crackers, dried fruit, nuts, trail mix). I've seen one too many people faint at conventions because they didn't eat something before going, and didn't eat while they were there. Don't be one of those people!
Cash is King . I can tell you this from years of experience going to conventions: bring cash. Cash doesn't require wifi to work. Cash won't crash when you open it on your phone. Cash doesn't have a loading time to approve transactions. Bring more than you think you'll need--you can always deposit the cash back into your bank account!

But, of course, the most important thing is to enjoy yourself and have fun!

Next up we've got some pictures from this week's Plein Air Painting event, which was held on a beautiful June evening out at Sterling State Park!

What is Plein Air you may be asking?

Good question!

Plein Air is French for "outdoors" and "is about leaving the four walls of your studio behind and experiencing painting and drawing in the landscape. The practice goes back for centuries but was truly made into an art form by the French Impressionists."

Every so-often the Monroe Art League likes to leave behind the studios and guest rooms and dingy-lit places to step outside and paint in nature. With any luck, the fresh air, sunshine, and cool breeze will clear your thoughts and allow you to take in the moment as you paint. And doesn't it look like those lovely, lovely ladies are having a grand time painting out at the beautiful Sterling State Park shores of Lake Erie?

(Fun fact: you'd catch a better sunrise at Lake Erie than you would sunset! If you're looking for a sunset, I highly recommed the two and a half hour drive over to Saugatuck or Holland to watch it over Lake Michigan.)

Make sure to check our event calendar to find out when the next Plein Air painting event is so you can try your hand at it! Don't forget to bring your materials and a chair!

Lastly, Gladys Drummond's watercolors class is having their final night on Thursday! Everyone in the class has come so far from the beginning, and it's a testiment to Gladys' teaching skills that attributes to the wonderful work they're doing!

To round out the end of this blog post, I thought I'd leave you all with a simple thing to do if you ever find yourself in a spot where it feels like everything, everywhere is happening all at once:

(Watch the cat. Breathe in time to the cat. The cat will calm you. And maybe go drink some water. Wash your hands. Get a snack. You'll feel better.)

Until next time,

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

P.s. If you've made it this far and are like, "Sami, you didn't write a post last week, what's up?" My dearest reader. Last week was ridiciously busy for me at work, and then I spent all of my free time getting mentally prepared to turn 32 on June 5th (which was also my parent's 37th anniversary). And like. I don't know about you, but birthdays when you're older are more about slowing down and enjoying the days and less about parties and gifts.
...

They're still about cake, though. :)

Oh My Gourd

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Mon, 29 May 2023 02:26:02 GMT

Lookin' Gourd!

I've always said it's better to get the bad news out of the way first and then deliever the good news.

But for this blog post, I'm going to do the opposite.

Part of writing is figuring out your narrative; the story you want to tell, and this blog post isn't going to be any different. I do have a specific story I want to tell, and for that, I have to give the good news first.

On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, the lovely Ann Arbor Native Michele Robb came out to the United Way Building to give a wonderful, in-depth demonstration on her gourd art (hense all my gourd puns. Puns are truly the best thing in life for me).

She began her story with how she got started in gourd and other nature-based arts: a trip to Frankenmuth when she was a kid, where she saw Fairyhouses like the one pictured below that Robb brought in as part of her demonstration. "I was visiting Frankenmuth and loved all of the fairy gardens I saw up there,” she said. “I started creating fairy gardens after that, but didn't like the mass-produced, manufactured, store-bought things I was seeing. Wouldn't a fairy want to live out of something natural?” *

Robb then went on to talk about the classification of gourds and how she preserves and decorates them to make her art. "I incorporate a lot of fractal woodburning. It’s a process that combines high-voltage electricity with a solution of water and baking soda (for the salt content) to create these very organic lightning strike-like burn patterns into the surface of the gourd. Yes, it can be dangerous, but I take lots of safety precautions," Robb said. *

The entire demonstration was facisnating and a wonderful look into a different genre of art; one that left standing-room only at the United Way Building!
We sincerely would like to thank Michele Robb for stopping by and giving us all such a fantastic take away from her imaginitive, nature-based art (and for bringing her sexy gourds too!). Personally, this blog writer loved the little apple bird house...much to Robb's want of not wanting to make gourd bird houses, lol. (It's not because it's a bird house that I like it, I swear! It's because it looks like an apple. And I am always a lover of things that look like other things. Like play food! I am weirdly obsessed with playfood.) And, as always, thanks to our Vice President Nancy Abb for finding Michele Robb to be May's Demonstrator!

Next up, we've got some updates concerning League happenings...

The MAL Archives at the Ellis Library & Reference Center are coming along very nicely! Most of the things needed for the archives have been sorted through! However, more things keep coming in that need to be sorted and filed away, and Lou (the head Reference Librarian and Geneologist there) has asked that all members of the Monroe Art League submit some geneology history to be placed in the records (think: your name, your birthday, and a handful of your maternal and paternal parents, grandparents, etc.). If you have any questions about the MAL Archieves, feel free to contact us with your questions, and we'll get back to you faster than it takes paint to dry! If, however, you have basic geneology questions (i.e. "what is geneology? I want to learn more about my family history! Is THAT what Reference Librarains spend a good chunk of time doing with their fancy degrees?" please feel free to call up the Ellis Library and asked to be sent upstairs (p.s. the answer to that third questions is: yes and no. A good chunk of what Reference Librarians do with their time is answering questions on the phone with people, helping people on computers, and pulling out reference materials to sort them. Also, fun fact, the people you see in most of the Monroe County Library System are just Library Clerks, which does not require your Masters in Library Science degree. It does, however, require a lot of patience and communication skills. Be kind to your library staff!).
The Open Air Market is on Saturday, June 10th! We're still in need of volunteers, so don't forget to sign up here !
If you're wondering how much stock you should bring for the potential for it to be sold, we think between 2-6 paintings/projects/photographs would work (also feel free to bring prints! Prints usually sell faster to the average person, too! Prints can be anywhere from 1-20 if you want). We'll also be pushing for cash payments, but will have a Square reader for cards, and the League's Paypal account ready for those who have access to Paypal to use. (Don't worry, Paypal is secure and you will get your money once it gets transfered into the League's bank account. Paypal is the only thing I use when purchasing online if possible, because they are really good at getting you your money back if something goes wrong . This is also where I say, "I promise I am working on getting my technology class together. I haven't forgotten it--I have a bright pink sticky note on my Reminders Board that sits above my work computer that says I need to get it set up--I have just been extremely busy with other things like my actual job, running this website, my weekend social life so I don't spiral into depression, dealing with weather-related migraines, and sleeping . Not an excuse...just an explination lol.)
The MAL is now officially licensed to run auctions and other charity events! This is wonderful news, as this means we can generate income to help improve the League while keeping our nonprofit status. This money can help us with things like demonstrators, members-only judged shows, membership prices, and this very website! It's a good thing!
We also now have our very own QR code , which people can use their cameras to scan and click a link that takes them directly to our website! This is completely free and will help spread a sort of "word of mouth" about the fact that Monroe has an Art League! (The amount of people that don't know Monroe has an Art League would probably surprise you.) This QR code can go on business cards, stickers...heck, if you want to paint it on the back pocket of your jeans and walk around town with it, you can! I've even seen people put it on rocks they've painted! It's a really cool thing and a step in the right direction to get people more interested in the League!
Starting on June 1st, the Dorsch branch library will be allowing us to showcase some members art for the public to look at, and, if you wish, buy! If you are not already on the list to do this, and would like to participate, please contact us so we can add your name.
Somethings you need to know if you are planning on showcasing your work:
You can submit 2 pieces of art.
Please have your name and a price if you wish to sell; NFS if you only want to display the work and not sell.
You need to drop your art off at the Dorsch library (18 E 1st St) on Tuesday, May 30th (between 10am - 7pm) or Wednesday, May 31st (between 10am - 5pm).
When the show is over, you can pick up your pieces on Saturday, July 1st (between 10am - 4pm) or Monday, July 3rd (between 10am - 7pm). Alternatively, you can pick up your pieces on June 10th for the Open Air if you want to have them in your tent to sell and return them after the show. The library is a short distance from the tents for the Open Air Market.
Make sure you have wires on them for hanging (no sawtooth).

Finally, here comes the part of the narrative where I have no other choice but to deliever the bad news.

Our beloved friend and League member, Jimmy Tidwell, passed away on Friday, May 26, 2023.

Jimmy was a bright, cheerful artist that could light any room he walked into with a smile and make you laugh with one of his delightful colloquialisms (the one I hear most often being "happier than a pig in mud"). His works were unique and he was known for his painting of people in record-breaking time--especially at Jazz concerts.

He will be unequivocally missed by friends and family and especially this league. And next week, I plan on dedicating the entire blog post to him; his life and work. In the meantime, if you've got a memory or story about Jimmy that you'd like to share and have up on the blog, feel free to email me with it (sweathe23@gmail.com) and I'll include it in my blog post. Ideally, if you could submit your words to me before Thursday, June 1st at 9pm, I'd be eternally grateful.

For more information about Jimmy's service, please get in touch with the league officers.

Rest in Paint, Jimmy.

And thank you for all that you've done to brighten up this world.

Writing Is Hard

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Tue, 23 May 2023 14:56:21 GMT

Time to play catch-up!

I've spent my entire life writing, and the one thing I know is a constant is that writing is hard.

Especially when you can't find the time to sit down and actually do it.

That's what happened to me last week.

(In part, I also got a massive migraine last week thanks to all the rain we got on Friday, so really...nothing I planned on doing got done. I'm still getting accustomed to having migraines, but let me tell you. Those three-day ones are insane and it's all I can do to get out of bed long enough to refill my water bottle, let alone stare at a computer screen for hours.)

But, anyway, I'm back and recharged now and hoping to fill you in on all the things from last week. (As a bonus, you'll get two blog posts this week from me!)

First and foremost, our presenter is coming to the United Way building tonight to show off her amazing gourd art and talk about her process. Michele Robb is an Ann Arbor native and a member of the Michigan Gourd Society. She creates everything from fairy houses to rain sticks from the fruit and other natural items, and she'll be presenting her work at 6:30 p.m. (or, rather, after all the official League buisness is taken care of). Don't be late, and don't miss this unique demonstration!

Speaking of official League buisness, tonight's meeting will also be honoring a local artist for their contributions to the Monroe Art League, so don't miss the celebration and your chance to congradulate them!

There will also be in-person sign-up sheets available for various things like the June summer picnic, the Dorsch Memorial Branch show, and the Open Air Market! (I'm still working on getting all these sign-up sheets to function on the website as well, but it is a huge process that I'm slowly learning. My degrees are in the Language Arts, not Computer Science after all! I was just lucky enough to be born when I was, when computer programming was big enough to be able to be self-taught. And, as any artist knows, self-taught takes a lot of time and a lot of practice to master!)

Finally, if you're looking for an excuse to get out of the house, enjoy the fresh air, and paint surrounded by the adrenline rush of people and live music, come out to St. Mary's Park for the Summer Concert Series! Don't forget to bring a chair and your art supplies! The park usually has an array of food, beverage, and ice cream trucks there for you, but you can always do a pick-up order from your favorite restuarant and bring it with you to graze as you listen to a free show put on for you from the Monroe Parks and Rec group!

I can personally vouch for the July guests--they put on a hell of a show and will have you tapping your foot and singing along to some of the latest, greatest, and ear-wormy music from your favorites!

Don't forget to get to the park early to secure a good parking spot and even better concert seat!

Finally, I'd like to take a little time to talk about my weekend at Motor City Comic Con!

If you've never been to a comic con, and think it's just an excuse for a bunch of nerds to go out and interact...you'd only be partically right.

It's much more than that--it hosts a handful of vendors and artists that earn most of their living this way!

Located at the Novi Convention Center, the event is a three-day long chance to meet your favorite celebrities, comic artists, content creators, and some wicked-amazing artists!

(I especially make it a point to visit "Artists Alley," where local artists set up booths to sell their unqiue and amazing art. This is also where I tend to spend the bulk of my non-celebrity autograph/photo money, because a lot of the other things sold at comic con I can find via the internet. I'd much rather get a unique piece of art and support the artist who made it while I'm there! And sometimes, I become a life-long patron--for instance, Brittney Ann Art is one of my favorites, and the amount of pieces I have from her is in the double-digits. I also should mention that there is a mixture of digital and traditional artists here--and a lot of graphic designers and comic book artists--and it's just a beautiful way to engage with not only art, but in whatever fandom you love!)

The one artist that caught my eye was a pencil drawing artist, Bearded Artist . His booth was eye-catching and breathtaking, and one of many reasons why conventions are a god-send to nerds who love good art and have deep, deep pockets, lol

Finally, just a little gushing on my end...

If you've ever been cool, you've watched Star Trek.

I personally grew up on Star Trek (at the tender age of like. 4-5, I could recite the opening monologue of the orginial series), and have always had the most massive crush on Jonathan Frakes (aka William T. Riker, from The Next Generation).

I first met him in December at Galaxy con, and was completely blown away by him and how charming he was (and, not embarressed to admit, told him I've had a crush on him since I was a child and that he could still very much "get it." I stand by that statement, reader).

He came to MCCC this year, and I decided to meet him again.

He was just as charming as ever, and I believe even remembered me (to take how he Riker Maneuvered his way over the divider between him and Brent Spiner--aka Data--to whisper something in his ear, and have them both make eye contact with me as I walked out of line).

I also got to meet British comedy legend Catherine Tate (aka Donna Noble if you've watched Doctor Who), and she was just the sweetest person ever. I don't think I'll ever recover from the amount of times she called me "love" and "darling" or the amount of selfies she took with me (some serious, but mostly funny faces).

And now...if you've made it this far, I'd like to take a breath...

And get into some information on fandom and its terminolgy, if you're scratching your head going, "I am so confused right now."

First and foremost, let me say that learning about fandom, especially if you’ve never heard or been around someone who participates in it, is a huge task in and of itself. It’s especially come a long, long way from the days of Sherlock Holmes (the first huge fandom) to when comics first came out in the 1940s to when Star Trek premiered in the 1960s (those three are more or less the foundation of modern-day fandom, and I have found when I start there, most people have a basic understanding of the kind of media I’m referring to).

I’d like to give you a simple definition of fandom to begin with, taken from Wikipedia (which is an excellent source for beginners, and this coming from someone with a Master’s in English): “A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices, differentiating fandom-affiliated people from those with only a casual interest. A fandom can grow around any area of human interest or activity. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like an individual celebrity , or encompassing entire hobbies , genres or fashions . While it is now used to apply to groups of people fascinated with any subject, the term has its roots in those with an enthusiastic appreciation for sports.”

It helps to imagine people who like watching sports as a giant fandom. They become highly engaged with the subject, often devoting hundreds of hours and dollars to their favorite teams—in going to events, participating in things like Fantasy Football, or wearing hats, shirts, etc. with their team’s logo on it.

People in modern day fandom also do this, but with things like TV shows, movies, books, etc. They also go a step above sports fans—they create a lot of the stuff they want to display and share with others. This is where fanworks like the fan art I showed you come in (or even fanfiction, which is written work focusing on favorite characters that derive from the original source material. I.e. If someone wanted a story about Captain Kirk and Spock from Star Trek pretending to be Sherlock Holmes and Watson, they would write that story and then typically share it on the internet, for free, on sites like fanfiction.net or AO3 for others who might want to read their story. Fanfiction is my personal contribution to fandom, and stories can run anywhere from 100 words to well over 600,000—the longest fanfiction ever written is over 5 million words, written about Mario the video game character. And again, this is all done for free, just because the author felt compelled to write a story different from the source material about their favorite characters!).

A lot of fan art created is through personal passion that is then shared with others that also have a deep appreciation of an already established character or story. It’s also a good starting point for a lot of young, new, or inexperienced artists, as it allows them to practice drawing with a model they love (as apposed to, say, fruit). Think of fan art as a gateway to learning how to draw, paint, etc. They practice their skills by drawing their favorite characters and then can take what they’ve learned and apply it to drawing other scenes from nature, everyday life, or their own imagination.

Both Etsy and Redbubble are easy websites for fan-artists to show and sell their works as well as get themselves out there as an established artist before committing to something like their own website. Go ahead and open them up on your computer or smart phone! Go to the search bar and type in anything you’d like. I mean it. Anything. 9/10 times you’ll find something someone has made. Examples can be anything from your favorite TV show or movie—like The Golden Girls or The Muppet’s Christmas Carol to something as simple as “beach” or “Batman.” (I also must warn you of the catch-22 of this, and that is there are artists out there who sell adult art of things. The golden rule of the internet is “if it exists, there is porn of it,” so make sure you have your safe search on. Unless that’s what you want, in which case, have at it. No shame or judgement from me! But I feel it’s my obligation to warn you of such things.)

Next up we have Patreon , which is a website where artists (and other creators) can set up specific content to only be viewed if people pay a subscription fee to them, which in turn helps them create more content. Often times Patreon artists will have a shop site through Etsy, Redbubble, or their own personal website, but will create special features—behind the scenes, the making of their art, personal stories, upcoming artworks—you can pay to view. A lot of artists make extra income through Patreon, and there are those who’s entire paycheck is made through Patreon. Many fan projects are funded through Patreon, and there are more than enough people out there who support artists this way!

It’s important to also note that artists don’t always create fan art to make an income! I thought it was important to point out that they have the possibility to create income from their art, because it can help them pay for subscription fees, extra activities in life, or even traditional art supplies if they so choose. Most fan art, however, is done and posted to the internet for free; for other fans to look at and admire. Sites like Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, TikTok, and Facebook host hundreds of free digital fan art images artists created because it’s their passion and they want to share it with their particular fandom or the world at large. Art is art because it makes people express their emotions or create emotion within others. Fan art is still art, it just comes with the addition of being for a particular piece of media rather than just a person’s imagination or scenery.

This leads me to cosplay .

I’ll start again with a definition : “While there is no set-in stone definition, the word ‘Cosplay’ usually refers to the act of dressing in a costume to recreate the appearance of a character from a work of fiction. Popular forms of cosplay involve donning the outfit of popular anime, video game, or comic book characters. Cosplay is not limited to this, however, and can involve non-character specific costumes like maid or school uniforms. Many cosplayers create their own costumes by sewing clothing, crafting armor and props from a number of materials. Others choose to buy ready-made costumes from retailers specializing in cosplay, or commission the work of tailors or other cosplay hobbyists.”

In other words, cosplay ranges from easy to buy costumes at stores like Party City or Spirit Halloween to painstakingly hand-crafted, detailed clothing, armor, or things like wings, jewelry, and other accessories.

People like to dress up. I have no other way of explaining cosplay in its simplest terms. People just like to dress up as their favorite characters and then show off that love to others by wearing their costumes to fan events like San Diego Comic Con . They don’t gain any money what-so-ever from cosplay—it’s purely an art that is done through passion and self-expression. Except they wear their art to show it off, rather than displaying it online or in galleries. It has no other connotation behind it. I’d also like to say it’s probably the most expensive part of fandom, in terms of creation. Because materials for cosplay aren’t cheap, and the only pay-off someone gets is if they are recognized and complemented.

Finally, think of the internet hosting digital art as a type of museum. You pay for access to the internet, and in turn, you gain the ability to look at a bunch of amazing art—various styles, textures, scenery, people, etc.—with that access. If you love an artist or their work enough, you might be lucky enough to buy a print, etc., of their work in the “gift shop” of Etsy or Redbubble. If they have a Patreon, you can give them a donation to help expand their work! Most importantly, the artwork in the internet museum isn’t just limited to the fandom things I mentioned. It houses works that could just as well be done with acrylics, oils, watercolors, or graphite. It just so happens to be created with a stylist, a tablet, and a computer instead. (And, truth be told, there are ways for digital artists to make their work look like it was painted with watercolors or drawn with graphite. Neat, huh?)

P.s. The Art League technically is a fandom! It's a group of people who've come together over their love of art to discuss it, show their work, and be around company with like-minded views of art! So, congrats! You're a part of fandom!

For further information on fandom, you can look at in your leisure time, check out:

“Understanding Fandom: An Introduction to the Study of Media Fan Culture” by Mark Duffet (available through our library system via MeL)

“Nerd: adventures in fandom from this universe to the multiverse” by Maya Phillips (available through our library system)

“Phasers on stun!: how the making (and remaking) of Star Trek changed the world” by Ryan Britt (available through our library system)

“Cosplay: a history” by Andrew Liptak (available through our library system)

Well, I hope this post more than makes up for me being so busy I couldn't post last week!

I hope it was informative, joyful, and makes you better understand the wide-world of fandom.

If not? Oh well. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Are You My Mother?

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Mon, 15 May 2023 01:23:23 GMT

You are not my mother, you are a Painting!

When I worked at a daycare, we would start prepping for mother's day in February.

Do you have any idea what it's like to create 3-5 handmade gifts for upwards of 40+ children? Especially when those children are between 6 months and 2 years?

It's a lot of work. (It's a lot of paint and washing hands and feet and cutting and taking pictures and asking kids questions about their moms that often involve them answering with something so wild you stop and laugh for a solid minute before writing down that their favorite thing about their mommy is that she wipes their butt, too.)

But the most gratifying thing is watching, without fail, each mom's face light up at the arts and crafts their kid put together for them, no matter how sloppy or messy or funny it was.

I imagine that when you see someone respond to a piece of artwork you've created, it's a lot like those mom's faces, seeing their kids work on mother's day. Because they're seeing something you created and it sparks a connection in them. No matter how you feel about the artwork--because I know sometimes all you see in that work you've looked at for weeks is the mistakes; the sloppiness of the lines, how the coloring is off, or that it doesn't fit exactly the picture you had in your mind--it will resonate with someone the exact same way a mom reacts to those cheesy mother's day gifts we'd make at the daycare. And that, in the end, is why you should continue to do your artwork through every mistake you make. Because it will resonate and be loved by someone (especially if that someone is you).

And that is why art is so important, and why we need to keep it alive.

This month, we had someone help keep art alive in the Monroe Art League:

Gary Gudes donated a generious amount to the League in the memory of Larry Hilliard.

We'd like to give a great big THANK YOU to Gary for your support, and for honoring our beloved member, Larry.

It means a lot!

As for other news...

It would seem this past week has been a calm, even-tempered one. Gladys' watercolors class is still going strong, as is the Refernce Center archive's for the MAL. We've got a few field trips coming up, so if you haven't signed up for them and want to, there's still time left for that!

I'm also happy to report that this upcoming weekend is the Motor City Comic Con event in Novi, MI, so the next blog post seems like the perfect opportunity to talk about fandom and fanart, and how it's revolutionizing the modern art world! And best of all, ya girl spends too much money supporting the local artists that have booths there, so she'll have beautiful, real-world examples to show you too!

I know this week's blog post is late and a little short, but they can't all be filled with histories of iconic singer/songwriters, cool stories that accompany paintings, or the life and times of your webmaster/blogwriter.

But, as a treat, I'll end this blog post with the prequel to my Murder Stained Hands story, as I know I've been asked about it! Please bare in mind I wrote these back when I was in high school (the file is last saved at 5/8/2008), and my writing has somewhat evolved since then. Regardless, it remains one of my favorite stories. Maybe someday, when I find myself in another calm week, I'll post the sequel, and then I'll have to find something else to fill the space.

Until next time, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

Flashback

Her finger jabbed furiously at the keyboard. The entire page was covered in black “K’s, J’s, L’s, and H’s”. She stared down at the gray phone sitting beside her. She had no idea why he hadn’t called from the office yet. She looked down at the clock on the computer. It was already a quarter past ten. He should have been home by now.

She looked up at the computer screen and suddenly remembered why she was on in the first place. She had a report due for History on Monday. She hit the backspace button irately and put her name on the top of the page. As she typed, her eyes gazed over to the phone occasionally, jumping every time the anti-virus pop-up popped onto her screen.

At eleven, the phone finally rang. She ran to it, a pink towel rapped around her head, wearing some old pajamas’, and a pair of fluffy hot-pink slippers on her feet. She picked it up on the third ring and asked hello.

“Rosalie Ripley?” A strange voice said her name. Rose didn’t like her tone. It was the same tone that the doctor had used to tell her that her mother had developed…

“Yes. This is she.” Rose quietly replied. What ever this person wanted, it couldn’t be good.

“I’m afraid I’ve got some rather, err, depressing news for you.” The voice said, the tone she had used earlier now seemed like she was telling Rose about a free vacation to Hawaii.

“What is it?” Rose sat down on the computer’s leather chair and locked her knees together.

“Your father was, I’m afraid, murdered on the eighteenth floor in his building today around six.” The voice was weakened now. Rose felt as the hot, stinging tears dropped down from her eyes. Her father, murdered. Her head now felt like it might just stop working. The blood in her veins turned icy-hot.

“Do you know any more about what happened?” Rose asked, trying to make her voice clear, even though it was becoming clogged with sobs.

“I’m afraid I don’t.” The voice said, suddenly becoming soft and kind. “Listen though. I promise we’ll call you as soon as we get more details. Until then, would you like someone to come over to your house to keep you company?”

Rose looked at the black computer screen. She could see her reflection in it, and watched as the tears streamed from her eyes. She knew what she had to do.

“No. I-I’ll be fine. I’ve got to get to bed anyway.” She forced a smile.

“Well, alright. I’ll keep you posted then. Good night.” The dial tone clicked onto the line as Rose hung up the phone. She stood up, and while wiping tears from her eyes, walked over to her bedroom. She silently took off her pajamas and slipped on a pair of old jeans. She threw on an old shirt, and took the towel off of her head. She grabbed the brush on her dresser and pulled through her damp hair.

The phone rang once more before she got the chance to walk out the door. Again, she picked it up, and presses it to her ear.

“Rosalie Ripley?” The same voice she had heard earlier is back on the line. “Rosalie, sweetheart, we’ve found out the reason for your father’s murder.”

Rose inhaled sharply.

“Apparently he was working on some top-secret project funded by the government,” The voice said. Rose couldn’t help but give a sobbing laugh. Her father and that stupid project of his. She faintly remembered how he would obsess over it; how he would stay up half the night, cussing each time he didn’t get the correct answer. All the times she found him slumped over the kitchen table, his head on top of a tattered notebook….

“When someone — we’re not exactly sure who — pushed him down a flight of stairs. He survived that, though, because we’ve found a bullet in the left side of his head. Rosalie?” The voice asked. Rose snapped out of her now distant memories.

“Yes?” She answered, looking back up at the black computer screen.

“Are you sure you don’t want someone over there? We’d be happy to send someone over there to comfort you in this time of need —”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks though. Is there anything else you found out?” She twisted the cored of the phone around her finger.

“I’m afraid that’s all we’ve found out. At least for now. We won’t know any more until the Crime Scene Investigation team comes. You’re positive you don’t want anyone there Rosalie?” The voice sounded like she really wanted to help. Too bad that Rose was so stubborn.

“I’m positive. Please let me know if you’ve found out anything else, though. Good night, officer —”

“Kindley. Officer Lois Kindley, Rosalie. Good night, then.” She clicked the phone. Rose hung up her end and walked over to the front door.

She breathed in the cold night air as she walked over to her car. She got in, pushed in the keys, and started the engine.

One last tear fell from her eye as she backed up from the driveway and into the hands of something which she couldn’t get out of.

She drove down the freeway, pushing the speed limit of sixty-five. Every now and again she passed another set of headlights, but she didn’t advert her eyes away from the road; nor what she had to do.

Within the hour, she was at her father’s office. She parked the car and sat silently and still. Rose would have turned the headlights off, but she was too absorbed in her thoughts of the past.

She felt the time twist back. It was like she had some how altered the laws of time, and went back to before. Back to before all of this; before she was born. She watched as her parents were married, the familiar tape she had seen just nights before visually describing everything. The way her mother smiled, the way her father buried his face into her mother’s curly midnight-black hair. She watched how happy they were.

A tear ran down the side of her face as she slowly glided back to the present. She twisted out her keys and shut the headlights off. She breathed in one last time before she opened the door.

Her father’s office seamed different now. It was no longer a place that you came in to do business. Somehow, whether it because of her father’s death or not (though she highly doubted it was because of something else), it had changed into a place of dread and grief.

She shuttered the thought of her father’s death and pressed forward. She walked through the familiar hallways; even glanced into some of them. Every once in a while, she would pass someone that she recognized, and gave them a slight smile. None of them recognized her though, and that was good.

She finally reached her father’s office. The door opened slowly, as if about to show her a dramatic ending; that everything about her father being murdered was a lie, and that he was sitting at his desk, his dark hair combed and his glasses half way off of his nose.

No such luck appeared to be with her that night. Her father had died, and he wasn’t about to return. She braced herself as she walked in and found several papers scattered about the desk. Smashed beakers lined the wall, and several of them were thrown to the floor. Pieces of broken glass, ripped papers, and flower petals roofed the floor. A picture of her and her mother laid face up, the glass broken.

Rose carefully picked it up and gave a small smile. Her eyes watered up once more as she remembered the day that the picture was taken.

It was sunny out; Rose only being six or seven. She remembered that her parents wanted to go out for a picnic by the Atlantic oceans shores.

“Rosalie!” Her mother had called for her. Her mother had always called her by her full name. Never once had she remembered being called by anything else. Once in a while she would call her something in Spanish; mi amor was what she remembered.

“Rosalie! Come here! Let’s take ourselves a picture, huh?” Rose ran to her, and fell in her lap. She was wearing her favorite white sun dress, the one with the tie-on straps and bell-like skirt. A wrap tied in the shape of a bow was in the back, and it was covered with shiny pearl-shaped dots. Her mother laughed and pulled her up. Rose smiled and looked at her mother.

“Annabelle,” Her father said her mother’s name like he was in love with that word alone. He walked over and sat down beside her. “Why don’t you and Rose have your backs facing the water? I’ll get better light.” He smiled.

Annabelle nodded her head. “Right then. Rosalie, come. Let’s face that way.” She picked her up, twirled her around, and sat her down in her lap. Rose wrapped her small porcelain-like arms around her mothers’ neck and looked into her almost black colored eyes.

Her mother smiled, wrapped her arms around Rose’s waist, and pressed her forehead against her daughter’s small one. The wind blew, making their hair drift in it.

The camera’s flash went off, and Rose was suddenly back inside of her father’s office. She turned the picture frame over, letting the broken glass fall to the floor. She took the picture out and slid it into a pocket in her jeans.

She smiled for a moment, and walked around to the other side of her father’s desk. She started to open up the drawers, looking for some kind of file. After the third drawer, she sat down on the leather chair and let out a sigh. There was no way in hell that he would have left something that important to him in here. She knew it, but she didn’t want to believe it.

She sat up and pulled open another drawer. She pulled back papers, opened books, but there was no sign of it. She shut the drawer and twirled around in the chair, stopping when she faced the window. She looked at her reflection.

She’d gained her mother’s curly black hair, and her father’s strange light-violet shade eye color. She locked her knees together and placed a hand there as she held up her head with it. She stared at her reflection, deciding whose gene code she got more of. She had her mother’s porcelain skin tone, nose, and lip shape. She had her father’s eyes and high cheek bones.

Rose sat there, looking at her reflection in the glass for an hour. For some reason, she didn’t want to leave this room. She felt, as broken as it may be, safe here. Like the spirit of her father was still here, looking after her. She thought about her family now, about what she would do. Her eighteenth birthday was just around the corner, so legally she didn’t need to live with a parent. And even if she had to, there wouldn’t be a parent to live with. Her father had been murdered, and her mother.…

She looked up. Some one had walked into the room. Her body froze, and her breathing grew heavier. She slowly moved the chair around. She sat up. She didn’t recognize the person standing before her, and she was sure that he didn’t work here. He looked way to young.

“Can I help you?” He asked. The guy stood perfectly straight in the door way. His arms were crossed and his feet at an angle.

“I don’t think you could.” She replied. Rose desperately wanted to get out. She didn’t really feel like talking to anyone right now.

“Oh. Then,” He turned around, but didn’t leave the room. He ran a hand threw his hair before turning back to face Rose. “I’m Brian, by the way. And you are —”

“Rosalie Ripley.” Rose replied, not bothering to give her nick-name to him. She followed his path to her. He stuck out his hand, meaning for her to shake it. But Rose didn’t take it. Instead, she stared blankly.

“I believe you’re supposed to shake it. You know, as a form of hello?” Brian smiled. Rose shook out of her trance.

“Sorry. Brian, is it?” Her smile faded.

“Yes. And you’re Rosalie.” They shook hands, Rose immediately dropping hers after only a few seconds.

“I’m sorry.” Rose said. She now somehow felt obligated to talk to him, as if he was there to help her. She looked over at the bookshelf. Something was drawing her there, but she wasn’t sure what. Everything seemed somehow different now that Brian was in the room. It was as if her father’s present was now absent. His spirit had left, and crossly.

Brian walked forward. “Sorry for what? Not shaking my hand? You’ve already apologized for that.”

Rose sharply turned around, her hair flying with her body motion. It had dried by now, and its natural curls bounced on her shoulders as it landed. She stared at Brian, trying to see if she could figure out where he worked. Was it on the third floor accounting office? Or maybe he was just an intern of some sort. She raised her eyebrows, and concentrated on his face. His features weren’t very dominated, with the exception of his sapphire-blue eyes. He had a slightly crooked smile, and one of his ears seamed to be a little over a centimeter higher than the other. His hair was not really long, par say, but it was defiantly not short. It kind of reminded her of Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoons she used to watch when she was little, although, his hair color was more of a cedar brown and his bangs touched the top of his eyebrows.

“Which department are you from Brian?” She asked bluntly. Manners didn’t really concern her at this point.

“I don’t work here, actually.” Brian’s smile faded. He watched as she walked around him, looking up and down. “What are you doing?” There was sarcasm in his voice, and with it, came back his crooked smile.

Rose looked up at him. She squinted her eyes. “If you don’t work here, then why are you here?”

Brian laughed. Rose knew she was being over dramatic, but she couldn’t help it. All of those mysteries that she had watched over the years started to take control of her.

“I’m part of the Crime Scene Investigations unit.” He pulled out a badge and shined it in the light. “I was sent to check the rooms for any evidence. And as far as I’m concerned, you are pretty big evidence material.” His voice dropped to seriousness.

“Evidence, me? Honestly Brian,” Rose walked back over to the desk. She ran her finger across the top. She looked back up at Brian. “Do you really think that I would have murdered my own father?”

“Your fa—father?” He whispered. “I didn’t realize that you were family…I’m so sorry.”

“Now look whose saying sorry. And you have every right to be. The thought of myself, killing my father — my only living…” She trailed off, trying to block the flood of memories that would be coming back to her. Right now, she couldn’t handle that. She looked up and felt a single, hot, stinging tear drip down from her eyes.

She turned around and faced the window again. There was no way that she was going to let him see her cry. She reached up and pulled the tear away, her finger wiping it off on her pant leg.

“Rosalie, if I can help you somehow —”

“It’s Rose.” Rose cut him off and turned around. “Everyone calls me Rose.”

Brian smiled. “Alright, then. Rose it is.” He walked over to her and set a hand on her shoulder. “Would you — would you like to join me for a cup of hot cocoa?”

Rose returned the smile. “Sure. I — a cup of cocoa sounds really good.” She knew that she couldn’t escape her father’s oh-so-important document, but maybe that cup of cocoa that was calling her name would help ease her mind. And maybe, just maybe, if that didn’t, then talking to Brian might.

As Brian drove his black S80 T6 AWD Volvo, Rose looked out the tinted windows. The car ride to the little coffee house wasn’t very far, but it seamed to take forever. Neither one of them started up a conversation, which made the car ride there even more uncomfortable.

“How old are you Rosie?” Brian asked, moving over to the center lane of the highway.

“It’s Rose. I’m just about to turn eighteen. How old are you, Brianie?” Rose knew that his name hadn’t come out the way she wanted to, but what had been said was said.

Brian laughed. “Brianie? Did you just come up with that? I would of thought Brainy, but that just takes the cake.” The car slowly picks up speed, but nothing jerked. He looked her over for a second and returned his gaze back to the road.

“You look about eighteen.” He said, opening up the back two windows. The cold night air somehow felt relaxing to Rose. It reminded her of when her mother would take her outside to look at the stars.

Suddenly, the interior of the car shifted around her memories, and she was standing only a few yards away from her five-year-old self and her mother on her back deck.

“Look over there Rosalie!” Annabelle pointed over to the right. “That’s the seven sisters. Do you know who they are?” She looked down at her only daughter and smiled as the five-year-old Rose looked over to where she was pointing.

“Well,” Annabelle started, looking back over to the star cluster. “They are known as The Pleiades. There’s Maia, Electra, Alcyone, Taygete, Asterope, Celaeno and Merope.” She pointed to each star while saying the names. “Those are some hard names, aren’t they mi amor? So, we shall call them the seven sisters.”

Rose watched as her mother wrapped her arms around her. She smiled and sat down on a bench.

“Now. Shall we get on with the story?” The five-year-old image of Rose shook her head, making her hair frizz up and stick to the blanket that was covering them. “Okay. Well, you see, there was this great hunter, Orion,” Annabelle shifted her arm to point at Orion’s constellation, and then lowered it back down. “To which the seven sisters and their mother had met. Now, you must understand something Rosalie. The seven sisters and their mother had been very, very beautiful.” She leaned forward and pulled the blanket up.

“After the seven sisters and their mother had meet Orion, they became the object of his journey. In other words, he started to chase them down because he thought that they were so pretty.”

The five-year-old image Rose looked up at her mother. “Kind of like the way that boy in my classroom chases after me?”

Annabelle laughed. Rose forgot how her mother’s laugh had sounded. She smiled and listened to the rest of the story.

“No, not exactly like the boy in your classroom chases after you. This is different.” She smiled and looked back up towards the starry sky. “You see, because Orion decided to chase after them, the seven sisters and their mother had to start running away from him. And, Zeus, wanting to help them, changed the seven sisters and their mother into doves, and sent them to live up in the sky.”

“The end?” Rose’s five-year-old image said, looking up at her mother. Annabelle looked down at her daughter and set her head down on Rose.

“Yes. The end, mi amor.”

A gust of wind blew and Rose found herself back inside of Brian’s Volvo.

“Rosie, are you feeling alright? You sort of passed out for a minute there.” The Volvo had stopped, and Brian’s hand was lying on her forehead.

“Yeah. I-I’m fine.” She sat up and looked out of the window. They were at the coffee house now. She unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car. The midnight air was chilly, and it made Rose shiver. She’d forgotten to grab the jacket that was in her own car, and she was paying the price.

“Let’s get you inside Rosie. You must be freezing.” Brian pushed her up to the door, opened it, and they both walked inside. To the left there was a fire place, with a couple of old leather couches in front of it. The walls look as if the brick that was on them had been worn away from the years. To the right sat odd little tables and chairs, and in the center of the shop there was a wooden-top counter, and behind that, up against the wall, were two coffee pots, three different sized espresso machines, and another machine that Rose didn’t know what to make of it. Behind it, a sign read: World’s Best Cocoa Maker.

“Shall we?” Brian stretched out his hand, pointing to the counter. Rose turned to face him. She smiled, and nodded her head. They placed their orders (Rose sticking with their regular famous hot cocoa, and Brian getting their special shot in the dark coffee) and walked over to the couch. Music softly played in the back ground, and the smell from the counter surrounded them.

“So, tell me Rosie, why —”

“It’s Rose.” Rose interjected.

“Alright. Rose, why were you at your father’s office tonight?” Brian smiled and looked up when a waitress came over to give them their orders. She placed the mugs before them, smiled, and walked back over to the counter.

“Nothing important. Just went there to say good-bye, I guess.” Rose lied. It’s not as if she didn’t trust Brian, but this was something personal of her father’s, and she felt like it was their own little secret.

“Oh.” He took a sip of his coffee. Rose took a sip of her hot cocoa. Brian laughed as she set it back down on the table.

“What’s so funny?” She questioned. Brian calmed himself down a bit before he spoke.

“It’s just — you’ve got some whipped cream on your upper lip.” He laughed again. Rose felt her cheeks get warmer. She ran her finger above her lip several times before finally being satisfied, and licked the fluffy white stuff off.

“Did I get it all?” She asked, watching as Brian took another sip of his coffee. He looked up and smirked.

“Except this —” He reached over and scooped off the rest. Rose felt her cheeks turn hot again. Now was so not the time for her to be flirting. She needed to move on to a different subject.

“Anyway. Tell me Brian. What made you decide to become part of the CSI unit?” Rose took another sip of her cocoa, but didn’t set it back down on the table when she was finished. Instead she curled her legs on the side of the couch and held the warm mug in her hands.

“My father was part of it. He would always come home bragging about how cool his job was. Until, one night, he was working over at a chemical plant, or something, and well, I guess someone was still there, and he took him hostage. From what I knew, he tried to reason with the guy, but he wouldn’t listen. The guy shot my dad on the roof of the plant, only ten minutes before my mother and I got there.” Brian’s normally cooked- smile face turned as smooth as rock. His sapphire-blue eyes stared straight ahead, as if looking back in the past.

Rose sat still. She didn’t know what to say. To say ‘I’m sorry’ was somewhat of an understatement. She looked over at Brian and watched as he shook his head back and forth, trying to clear the memories. He set his mug down, looked back over at Rose and his crooked smile returned.

“It’s okay, though. They caught the guy and he’s got a life sentence in prison.” He tried to sound like he was happy. He tried, but he wasn’t very convincing. Rose could tell he wanted to see his father again and maybe to get revenge at the man who had killed his father.

“How old were you when this happened Brian?” Rose asked. She kept still, not daring to move just incase he needed to talk to her some more.

“Ten.” He replied. He kept his gaze at the floor and put the mug up against his lips. “It happened ten years ago last week. I almost forgot about it too.”

Rose blinked a couple of times. Brian sat back and looked over at her. “But enough about me.” His crooked smile came back again, bigger than before. “How are you?”

Rose gave a little smile. “Fine, with the exception that my father’s been murdered.” It felt weird coming out of her mouth. He father — murdered. What was weirder was the fact that her smile didn’t fade when she said it. Her father being murdered was a bad thing. She looked over at Brian. Was it because of him that she couldn’t frown? Or was it because she wasn’t really all that poignant?

“Fare enough.” Brian took another sip of his coffee.

Throughout the night, they shared family memories, laughing about each one of them. They ran their coffee bill higher and higher as each hour clicked by. What started out as a depressing night, turned out to be one of the most enjoyable nights of Rose’s life.

The black Volvo silently pulled into her father’s office parking lot. Brian drove right next to her car, making it look as if it was pulled out of an old used car lot. He switched the headlights to parking ones and turned the engine off. The keys still remained in the ignition and the radio was softly playing in the background.

“Thanks for distracting me tonight. I don’t think I could have gone through it alone.” Rose smiled and unbuckled her seatbelt. She moved her hand along the door until she found the handle. She looked back over at Brian. He smiled and watched as she opened up the door. The light came on, and poured over both of them.

“No problem. It was nice meeting you Rosie.” He turned the engine back on and smiled.

“Oh, for the last time Brian. It’s Rose!” She smiled again and put a foot out of the car. She tried to step out, but felt her self being pulled back in. She faced Brian and followed his gaze.

His eyes looked from her lips, to her eyes, and back down to her lips. “I know.” They both leaned in and kissed.

Rose sat out on her back porch, cup of coffee in one hand, and a blanket spread across her. She watched as the sun rose, illuminating everything around it with a fiery-red glow. The red and orange leaved trees glowed and some leaves shook off. Squirrels jumped from one to another, burying their acorns for winter. She raised the flower-painted mug to her lips and took a deep sip, the steam from the coffee rising into her nose. She looked out and stared off in the direction of the sun.

She thought about last night, and about her father’s murder, mostly. She could no longer be distracted, even if Brian was suppose to stop by and check on her this evening. She thought about that oh-so-important document of her father’s, and why exactly it was that she needed it.

As the sun raised farther into the tequila sunrise backdrop of a sky, Rose thought back to the last time she saw her father. It had been only thirty hours or so ago, right before he left for work. He was a mess, as usual. His glasses were crooked, and his shirt half tucked-in. He was wearing two different colored socks, and his tie was so lose it looked like it might be a belt. She laughed just thinking about it. Her father wasn’t perfect, but she loved him. Why some idiot had to murder him…she trailed off in thought. She took another sip of her coffee and watched the rest of the sunset.

“The briefcase!” The words came sputtering out of her mouth like a facet being turned on with too much force.

The briefcase that her father had been carrying must have that document in it! In fact, she’d of sworn her life on it. She finished up her coffee and headed back inside the house. She rinsed out her cup and set it in the sink. It clinked against the previous nights’ dinner plates and various cups and silverware from days past. She would have to clean them later, since right now she had something more important to do.

She ran up the stairs to her room and threw open her door. A pile of clean clothes lay out on her bed. She quickly grabbed the top set and changed into them. She ran back down the stairs, almost tripping over her own feet on the way back down. She tucked her feet in a pair of beat-up tennis shoes, grabbed the keys to her car, and locked the door on the way out.

The engine revved up and she pulled out of the drive-way. She shifted into drive and sped down to the freeway. She thought of nothing else but that briefcase, that one vinyl briefcase that would have all of her father’s oh-so-important documents in them. She questioned what might be in them. Was it a will of some kind? Her father had told her that if anything where to ever happen to him, that she was to worry about the documents he’d been working on for the past seven years. She remembered the day he told her this clearly.

The light at the end of the de-acceleration lane changed red.

“Rose. Listen to me.” He father was much younger; he didn’t have glasses and his hair was all one straight color; black.

“What ever happens to me, you’ve got to keep this safe.” He handed her a black folder with just enough time to get a good look at it. Then as quickly as he had put it in her hands, he took the folder back out. He shoved it inside of his brief case and tried to smile. Rose didn’t know why the black folder was so important to him; she’d had tons of folders, all very special to her, but none that she would risk her life over.

“Uh-huh.” Rose replied. Her voice was light, and her hair was cut so that it slanted on her shoulders.

“That’s my girl.” Her father smiled. Rose smiled back and started to turn towards her room. All the way back she questioned her father’s black folder. What was in it that was so important?

The light turned green and Rose made a right. The flashback vanished into the morning sky and she drove up to the office without another one.

She got there just before the over-time people shuffled in. It was some what hard to get past undetected, since security lined the entire front of the building. Once the over-timers walked in, briefcases and cell phones in hand, all wearing gray suits, she crouched down and tried to blend in until she reached the elevator. The eighteenth floor button was pressed, and now all Rose had to do was wait.

The eighth time the door opened, Rose was finally here. She was the last one left on, because the eighteenth floor was suppose to be closed off. It was a good thing nobody recognized her, for if they did, she would be sent back to her house with a police escort, and she really didn’t want all of that attention. Right now, the most important thing was to get her father’s brief case.

She walked into the familiar room, and tried to step over all of the broken glass. She reached the closet and opened it. There, lying in side on the floor, was her father’s briefcase. She picked it up and stared at her father’s gold-plated initials, K. R.

She shook her head before even more memories flooded in. Right now, Rose needed to concentrate on getting out of the building. She walked back over to the door way and stuck her head out. No one was insight, so she walked back down the hallway, trying to be as discreet as she could. Off in the building somewhere, she could hear faint voices. It was coming from up here. She rounded a corner, and walked away from the elevator. The voices were getting stronger and she could recognize one of them.

“But he was murdered, John. Murdered! I doubt it was suicide. He had a daughter still…” Officer Kindley said, her voice just below shrill.

“Murder was probably a cover-up. I’ve no sign of anybody coming into his room last night, or for the past two weeks. I’ve talked to a countless number of people, claiming to be witnesses of Kasper Ripley’s death. But none of their stories even fit with what he was doing. You’ve seen the tape yourself Lois. He was in there alone all day and all night. Nobody was with him.” This voice was deeper and stronger than Lois’. Defiantly a man, and most likely Lois’ boss.

Rose stood still, hear head up against the door’s frame. She listened to Lois’ voice, now an ear-piercing shill.

“John, Kasper Ripley did not, I repeat not commit suicide. He had a daughter, and besides, there was a bullet found. With no gun anywhere near him. Nor was there a gun on the eighteenth floor, or in his office. Who ever shot him must still have the gun.” Rose leaned in closer, just enough to get their voice clearer.

“Lois, listen. You can stay here as long as you want — I’m not going to stop you. But Jessie just called—she’s been wondering why I haven’t come home yet. So, I’m leaving now.” Rose froze for a second. She started sprinting toward the elevator—wanting it desperately to be there; ready for her to use.

She pushed the down button and the doors instantly opened. She jumped inside and furiously pushed ground button. The doors shut right before John gets to them.

Rose let out a sigh of relief and waited until the doors opened up again.

She got out and walked out of the building, not caring about all of the guards who saw her. She’d gotten the briefcase — that was all that mattered. She walked out and over to her car, unlocked it, and got inside. The engine started up without a hassle again, and Rose drove back to her house, eager to see what was inside her father’s briefcase.

Around nine p.m. or so, Brian’s Volvo pulled up in Rose’s driveway. She got up from her couch and walked over to the door, eager to tell him what she’d found.

He walked up the steps and Rose opened up the door before he could knock. Brian smiled and kissed her cheek. They walked inside and sat down in the kitchen.

“You look excited about something.” Brian smiled again and watched as Rose paced from the table to the fridge and back again.

“I am. I found something in my dad’s office earlier.” She looked over at him, biting down on her thumbnail, waiting for his expression to change.

It did, but not for the better.

“Rosie.” His voice was strict, and the look on his face meant business.

“Damn it Brian! I had to go!” The hand dropped from her mouth and her eyes’ stared into Brian’s.

“You should have let me go! If they would have caught you there, they would have been a lot worse than I was! I only let you go because I thought you were cute. I’d beg to differ with anyone else that was on the eighteenth floor that night.” Brian looked over her face, and frowned when he saw it turn cold. “I’m sorry. You were saying? What did you find at your father’s office?”

Rose softened her expression and walked over to sit next to him. “I found my dad’s briefcase. It might have those documents in it. I wanted to wait until you got over before I opened it, you know, just in case.”

Brian looked at her. He raised his eyebrows. “Just incase of what?”

“Well, I don’t know! Just incase there’s a bomb in there or something!” She looked over at him. His crooked grin spread out across his face yet again.

“Sure. Because someone would actually take the time to assemble a bomb inside of a suitcase. Right then. Why don’t you bring that bomb-loaded suitcase here and I’ll take a look at it.” He laughed at his own sense of humor. Rose just rolled her eyes and got out of the bench.

She walked back to her room, grabbed the familiar vinyl case, and brought it back out to a laughing Brian. “Here. Check the thing out, loser.”

“Hey now!” Brian immediately stopped laughing and gave Rose a serious look. “There’s no need for name calling, Miss Rosalie Isabel Ripley.” He laughed again and looked down at the briefcase.
Rose rolled her eyes and sat down across from him. She really regretted telling him her middle name. “So, anything wrong with it?” She asked, looking at Brian. She could think of a couple of things wrong with him…but that wasn’t the specific question that she had asked.

“Nothing appears to be wrong — other than the fact that it’s vinyl.” He looked up and flashed her one of his crooked smiles.

“Hey. I picked out the vinyl! I thought it looked sophisticated.” Rose raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. She tried to look upset, but Brian smiled again.

“Sorry. It’s very sophisticated looking, then Rosie. Happy?” He looked up at her for a second, just to make sure that her smile was back, then looked back down at the briefcase. “All right. It’s fine. Shall I open it?”

“No. Let me open it.” Brian handed it to her and watched as she opened it.

Her face looked puzzled once it was open. She ruffled through various papers, yellow sticky-notes, and folders — none of them black. She sat back in defeat. If that document wasn’t in here, then where on earth could it be?

“Is it in there Rosie?” Brian strained his neck over and tried to get a better look inside.

Rose looked over at him and forced a smile. “No.” She could feel hot tears forming in her eyes, but didn’t want Brian to see them. She got up and walked over to the front window. The tears came running down her cheeks silently, and she tried not to sniffle as her nose clogged up.

“Rosie, don’t cry because they weren’t in there.” Brian walked over to her and put one of his arms around her shoulders. She turned around and buried her face into his chest. He rapped both arms around her and set his chin on top of her head. They stood like that for a while, Brian eventually pulling her over to her bedroom.

“It’s been a long day, hasn’t it? Why don’t you go and get some sleep. I’ll be here all night. Promise.” He looked into her eyes. She nodded her head and gave a faint, teary smile. He smiled back and kissed the top of her head. “’Night Rosie.”

He walked out of the room and down the stairs. Rose walked over to her dresser, and slipped into a pair of flannel pants and one of her dad’s old t-shirts. She laid down in her bed and closed her eyes, but sleep never came. She looked at the ceiling for almost three hours before getting up. She tip-toed down the stairs and walked over to where Brian was sleeping.

He was sitting up on the couch, his head cocked to one side, and his left arm laid out across the back. She sat down and snuggled up to him. Brian’s eyes opened and he looked over at her. He smiled, and wrapped his arm around her. She rested her head on his chest and fell asleep listening to the even beating of his heart.

The sunlight streamed in through the living room window, gently waking Rose up. She lifted herself up and looked around her familiar living room. She had a blanket drifted over her, and one of the couch’s old lumpy pillows under her head.

Rose moved her head until she had looked all around it. There was no sign of Brian anywhere. She sat up and stretched. Her legs were curled, her feet underneath them. She knew as soon as she got up, the warmth from underneath the blanket would disappear. She got up still though, wanting to know where Brian was. She walked down the hallway, checking various rooms. No one was in them. She walked up the stairs, checked everyone of the rooms up there, but there was no sign of him. Rose Felt her blood turn cold, and her movements became hummingbird-like. She moved to fast, and started to form a cold sweat. This was no time for a panic attack. She had to remain calm. So what if Brian had left her? He only said that he would stay the night. He probably left around seven or so. It was Sunday. Maybe he went to church or something. She got down to the last step and turned her head sharply so that it now faced the door. She watched, a little scared, as the door knob handle turned. She almost felt like she was in an old horror movie from the fifties, and that everything was being put into slow motion to draw the tension out.

The door opened, and in walked Brian, a white bag in hand.

“Brian!” Rose shouted, running over to him and throwing her arms around him.

“I was only gone to get breakfast. Sheesh, drama queen.” He smiled and pulled her off of him. He walked over to the kitchen table to set the bag down, pulled out various breakfast items, and set them down on the table.

“You didn’t even leave a note, loser! How was I suppose to know you only went out to get breakfast?” Rose walked impatiently over to the table. She sat down and grabbed one of the items in front of her.

“Sorry. You’re a very heavy sleeper, you know that Rosie? I thought you’d still be sleeping by the time I got back. Anyway, how’d you sleep last night?” Brian sat across from her and smiled yet again.

“Fine. At least, until I got up.” Rose smiled and took a bight of her breakfast. She looked up and out the window. Her mind drifted back, and she thought again about her father’s documents. If they weren’t in her father’s briefcase, then where could they be? It didn’t make any sense. Rose couldn’t think of another place where he might have left them.

“Rosie?” Brian looked over at her. She shook her head, clearing her thoughts.

“Sorry,” She said, taking another bite. “Must have spaced out a little to long there.”

Brian smiled. “You’ve been acting like that since I met you. Are you sure that you’re okay? Maybe I should leave — give you some time to morn…” He trailed off as he got up from the table.

“No! No, don’t leave. You’re probably the only thing keeping me sane right now. If you left, I can’t imagine where or what I’d be doing.” Rose smiled and watched as he sat back down.

“Promise me you won’t go crazy. Or, if you do go crazy, don’t do it around me.” Brian again, laughed at his own expense. Rose just rolled her eyes and finished up her breakfast.

The rest of the day went by quietly, and Rose suddenly imagined herself as being an old couple. She thought about her grandparents, and how they were always quiet, either reading the newspaper, or watching the news, or something of that sort. Brian was sitting across from her on the couch, watching something that Rose didn’t really care about. She, on the other hand, was thinking back about where her father might have kept those documents.

The chime clock struck noon and suddenly Rose felt the room shift back and spin. It spun around until she saw herself as an eight year old, sitting across from both of her parents at the dinner table on a groggy night.

“Annabelle,” He father’s voice was barely above a whisper. Rose’s mother looked Kasper straight in the eye.

“We will discuss this later, Kasper.” She looked back down at her plate, then over at Rose.

“I — we need to discuss this now. Rose, could you please go up stairs and do your homework for a while? I need to speak to your mother.” Kasper looked his daughter in the eye. The eight-year-old image of Rose looked up and walked away from the table. She didn’t go to her room though. Instead, she turned around and hid herself behind the door. Her ear pressed against the glass.

Rose too, listened in. She didn’t quiet remember the conversation, but she did remember that it didn’t end very well.

“Annabelle. We’ve got to do something about this…” Kasper’s voice sounded as if he was worried about something that couldn’t be fixed.

Some shuffling came from the kitchen, and a chair was pulled back. The clacking of Annabelle’s heels came forward, and stopped after four. “Kasper, I’ve already discussed this with you, I — there’s nothing more that they can do for me. I’m — ”

Kasper cut her off. “If you let me, I could schedule some kind of appointment, and — ”

There was a loud slap across the floor. Annabelle had just struck her foot down. “I am not someone for you to experiment on! I refuse to go in there for you and your little government project buddies to test this latest theory of yours on!” The clacking sound grew louder as Annabelle walked away from her husband.

Rose watched as her eight-year-old image quickly ran up the stairs and into her room. She remembered that moment, but knew that her mother had never came up. She tried to stay longer, since there was obviously more to the argument, but her mind wouldn’t let her stay.

“Rosie!” Brian’s hands were wrapped around her head and his eyes were studying her face. “Are you alright? You passed out on me again. Maybe we should go to the hospital or something to get you checked out…”

Rose shook her head and sat up. “No. We — I don’t need to go to the hospital. It’s just that — I don’t really know why I’ve been passing out so much lately…a relapse of all of my memories keep coming to my mind…must have something to do with my father’s…” She stopped shaking her head back and forth and looked up at Brian. He was on the verge of tears.

“What? What’s wrong?” Rose questioned him. It should have been her that was on the verge of tears. It was her father that was gone. At least, had been murdered recently.

“You’re acting so brave, Rosie. I cried for weeks on end about my father’s death. And now you keep passing out on me. It freaks me out to see you like that. It almost looks as if you’ve just — just gone yourself.”

“Don’t be silly. You work in a crime scene investigation unit! Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, used to this kind of stuff?” Rose looked over at him. He was sitting across from her, his hands now down by his sides.

“You never get used to seeing that kind of stuff, Rosie. It’s not natural. And the way some of them have been killed…it’s just not natural.” His head was shaking back and forth, the tears that were once almost dripping down now seceded to exist. Instead, his expression had gone blank; his faced looked like a statues’.

“Alright. Maybe we should move on to a different subject. Like what lunch might be?” Rose changed her tone along with the subject. This did little effect on Brian. He did, however, move. His crooked smile wasn’t plastered across his face, as usual, but it was no longer as stiff-looking as a statues’.

“What should we have? Maybe I should cook. After all, I believe it’s my turn to get something for you.” She smiled, and tried to read Brian’s face. She took the jagged mouth line as a sign that it was her turn to do something for Brian. She lifted herself up from the couch and headed into the kitchen.

She opened up the refrigerator door and scanned down the various items lining the shelves. Nothing that she could really make appeared on any of the shelves. There were plenty of meats, and such, but she wasn’t so good with cooking, and rather stick to something that she at least knew how to cook. Maybe something along the lines of…

“Pasta sound good?” Rose’s voice echoed into the living room. No reply came, so she took that as a form of yes. She grabbed a large pot and filled it with water. It was placed on the stove, and under five minutes, little bubbles started bursting up to the top.

Everything was ready by one-thirty. Rose even took the time to make her father’s special sauce (which was actually taking a jar of Prego and adding mushrooms with some various spices and a little bit of vegetables). She sat down at the kitchen table and waited for Brian to walk over. She’d hoped that he was in a better mood. It wasn’t very fun when Brian acted like he did now. She preferred the crooked-smiling Brian much more.

“Smell’s good. All this for lunch?” Brian slid into the booth and looked straight across at her.

Rose’s face lit up. “I come from a long line of big lunch eaters. It’s the most important meal of the day.”

“Really? I thought that breakfast was the most important meal of the day.” He smiled and reached over to grab a plate.

“Oh no.” Rose couldn’t help but smile. She also couldn’t help but realize what it was like to be Brian; always telling jokes to try to cheer her up. “Lunch is the most important meal of the day. It’s an excuse to talk freely and escape all of those teachers.”

Brian’s crooked smile returned to his face. He laughed a little, then poured some sauce over his pasta.

They ate lunch just like they’d spent their first night together; talking about family and laughing every so often. All thoughts about Rose’s father’s documents slipped to the back of her mind. Somehow, when she was talking to Brian, everything else slipped her mind.

She cleared the table around four. She had no idea how three and a half hours had gone by so quickly. Unfortunately, Brian was working tonight and had to leave. He left not to long ago, promising Rose that he’d swing by once his shift was over.

She placed the last dish in the washer and put it on high. She figured that she would spend the time straightening up the house. It’s hadn’t been cleaned in a while, and the laundry had been piling up.

She washed her father’s clothes first, that way she could pack them up and deliver them to Good Will sometime next week. As she poured in the detergent, she wondered why no one had called about her father’s death. It also seamed strange. She was sure that the police department had called her aunts and uncles by now. It seamed strange to her that none of them had called her to see how she was doing.

“Crap!” Rose snapped her wrist up and looked inside of the washer. There was about a cup and a half of detergent that didn’t need to be in there. She tried to scoop it out, but it wasn’t coming out like it should. Half of it was already dissolved in the running water, and the other was slipping into it. She gave a sigh and shut the lid. She might as well just wash the load twice.

She walked out and plopped on the couch in her living room. She didn’t really feel like watching anything, but she turned the TV on anyway. She mindlessly flipped through the channels, searching for some kind of infomercial that she could listen to. They didn’t really bother her, the infomercials. Sometimes they would be quite entertaining. It was funny to think that one machine could do something in less than ten seconds. Nothing was that good.

The time soon pasted, and the clock chiming woke Rose up. She had fallen asleep watching another stupid infomercial. She looked up, her vision clearing each time she blinked.

It was seven-thirty-five. She stood up and stretched out on her way to check the laundry. She turned the dial and listened to the water fill the machine. She turned around and looked at her groggy expression in the mirror. Her curly black hair was ragged and her eyes stared back at her, tired.

Rose shook her head and walked back over to the couch. She sat down and muted the TV. She stared up at the ceiling, bringing her father’s oh-so-important document back to the front of her mind. She thought about what it might be. There was no way it was a last will. Nor could it be something he needed to turn into work.

From that, she somehow thought about the last flashback that she’d had. What was so important about that? Her parent’s fight didn’t clear anything up for her. She then thought about all of the other flashbacks that she’d had over the past couple of days.

None of them seemed to help her with the finding of her father’s documents. She’d never once had a flashback that seemed to help with finding anything. She would have thought that maybe the flashbacks would lead her to finding that black folder.

She ran a hand through her hair and lifted her head back up. Her head started to throb, and her eyes turned everything milky-white. Rose hated when she got a head-rush. It reminded her when…

Her eyes focused into view, and she was suddenly sitting in a hospital waiting room. It looked oddly familiar somehow, but Rose couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

A couple of doctors in white coats walked by, followed by two more in lightly colored scrubs. They were all holding charts, including one with her mothers’ name on the front. A wave of recollection hit Rose and she now knew where she was.

She looked across the hallway and watched as her eleven year-old self walked down the white hallway. Her father was next to her, holding her hand. They came down and walked right past where Rose was, not even noticing her.

She couldn’t really remember what had gone on that night. It was too much of a blur to her now. She followed her eleven-year-old image and father as they turned another corner and into a room. Her mother was lying down on one of the beds, the flower-covered sheets wrapped around her. A couple of tubes ran to her arm, and her long curly black hair was spread out on the pillow underneath her head.

Both of the Roses’ walked forward.

Annabelle raised one hand and stroked the hair of the eleven-year-old. “You remember the story of the seven sisters, right Rosalie?”

Rose’s eleven-year-old image shook her head up and down. She smiled down at her mother.

Annabelle smiled back. “Promise me you’ll not forget it.” She continued to stroke her hair.

Rose remembered what happened next. She didn’t need to be in her flashback to see that. Yet, she still stayed.

Annabelle’s monitor went off, and the two doctors in scrubs that Rose had seen earlier came rushing into the room. Both the eleven-year-old image of Rose and Kasper were pushed out and sent to wait in one of the rooms.

Her mother’s cancer had gone into effect. It put her into a coma for the next two years. Everyday she and her father visited her, leaving her flowers and books and such, but nothing changed. Over the two years, everything seemed to be in a blur it was going so fast.

Rose shook herself out of the flashback. She stared up at the ceiling again, trying to shake the memories. She looked over at the clock and sighed. It was now close to nine. She walked back and switched the loads of laundry. She walked back out of the room and over to her back door. It wasn’t quite dark yet; the summer sun hadn’t disappeared into the horizon. She opened up the back door and walked towards one of the chairs on her back porch. She sat down and looked up at the sky.

She thought about what her mother said about not forgetting about the seven sisters’ story. She looked across the sky, looking for the curvy star constellation. She found them, and a sudden thought struck Rose’s mind.

She got up and walked back into the house and up the stairs to her father’s study. Maybe those flashbacks of hers were helpful after all.

Rose sat down in the comfy leather chair and opened up the top drawer of the desk. Inside lay not the black folder, but a book. This had to be what she was looking for. Unfortunately, the book was inside of one her father’s clear, lockable cases.

She took out the case and set it on top, opening other drawers to find the key.

It was no where to be found.

She looked up and out the side window of the room. A sharp pain struck her head and she found herself back in her father’s office. This was no flashback of hers. It was, however, her father’s. It was almost like she was floating above his office, two nights ago. He was sitting at his desk, looking down at the picture that was now on Rose’s dresser. He smiled, and a tear fell onto it.

Kasper shook his head and set the picture back on the corner of his desk. He looked back over to his computer, and clicked something. A fraction of a second later, the computer dinged, and he looked frustrated as he typed something into it. The computer dinged again, and Kasper’s expression softened.

He scooted back from his desk, and pulled out his cell phone. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and set the phone down on the desk. He opened up the top drawer and set out a small key.

Rose recognized the key immediately. It was the one that could open the case the book was located inside of. She gasped; it didn’t effect anything. Kasper still looked down at the key.

A knock rapped on the door. Rose’s father looked up, got up, and walked over to open it. A rather large man, with a bald head and brown eyes, dressed in a white lab coat, looked down at Kasper. Rose didn’t recognize this man, but she could recall seeing him when she visited her father’s office Friday.

“What can I do you for, Durant?” Kasper smiled and stepped aside to let him in.

“I need that paper, Ripley.” Durant didn’t smile. He stared directly into Kasper, trying to intimidate him.

“I don’t have it here, and I’m sure that my daughter wouldn’t want you disturbing her. I could bring it to you on Monday, if that’s all right.” Kasper half smiled, and walked back over to his desk. He didn’t sit down though.

“You don’t understand Ripley. I need that paper. If I don’t get it, then it could be turned in and get leaked out it the wrong people. The boss doesn’t want that, and I don’t want that. So, Ripley, the paper?” Durant walked forward, stretching out his hand.

Kasper looked from his hand to his face, and back to his hand.

“I told you Durant. I do not have the paper with me. If you want to wait until Monday — ”

“Damn it Ripley! I hate to do this…” Durant started to walk around Kasper’s desk. He tightened his hand into a fist as he got closer.

Kasper braced himself, and very quickly grabbed the key that was laying out and threw it over his shoulder. It landed on top of one of the many books that lined the walls.

Durant picked up Kasper and threw him across the room. Glass shattered and covered both him and the floor.

Rose shook her head and once more stopped the flashback.

She knew now where the key was to the case, and inside the case was a book. A book that she believed to contain her father’s documents.

She practically flew out of the room and down the stairs. She slipped on some shoes and locked the door behind her.

Today was her some what lucky day. Brian pulled into the driveway as soon as the door was shut.

Rose ran out to the black Volvo and threw open the passenger side door. She slid in, the clear case in her lap.

“No time to explain.” She told Brian’s surprised face. “I need to go to my father’s office again.”

Brian shut his mouth and put the car in reverse. He didn’t ask a single question on the way there, and did way over the speed limit.

Rose’s anticipation didn’t help anyone. Her heart rate had sky rocketed, she was sure of it. Unbelievable as it was, they didn’t hit a single red light on the way there.

Brian pulled into the parking lot of Kasper’s office and swiftly parked in front. Rose got out and ran up to the front doors, not caring who saw. Brian was following her, trying to keep up with her pace.

She reached the elevator and held it open until Brian got in. The doors closed and Brian turned to face her.

“Would you kindly tell me why the hell you’re here?” He panted.

“It’s about my father’s documents. They’re in this case, but it’s locked. Don’t ask me how I know, but I know that the key to open it is inside my father’s office.” Rose looked up at the elevator’s floor counter. It was at fourteen. She felt like it was taking way to long.

“Okay. I won’t ask you how you know. But you do know that they searched everywhere in that office and found nothing. Not even a key.” Brian’s breathing drew back to normal.

“That’s because it’s not in an obvious place.” Rose replied. The elevator finally hit the eighteenth floor. She rushed out and into her father’s office. Glass still littered the floor. They might have searched the entire room, but they certainly hadn’t cleaned it up yet. Rose took that as a good sign. She set down the case and walked over to the book shelf. She pulled down the astrology book, oddly enough, and there, on top of it, rested the key to her father’s clear case.

Brian ran inside of the room, and caught his breath when he saw Rose with the key. “Where’d you get that?” He questioned.

Rose ignored him for now. She walked silently over to the case, put the key inside, and twisted it.

Instantly, the case’s top flipped open. She reached inside and pulled out the book. It was her mother’s astrology book. Her favorite one. He had hidden it in Annabelle’s favorite book.

She flipped through the pages until she hit the start of The Seven Sisters of Pleiades. She flipped one more page, and there in front of her, was the black folder that her father had shown her so many years ago. She set the book down on the desk and opened up the black folder. A tear came rushing down her cheek as she read it.

Brian walked over to her and wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders.

“What is it Rosie?” He asked, looking down at the white sheet of paper.

“It’s a cure for cancer.” Rose said. She looked over at Brian and smiled.

~ ? ~

Who's Taylor Swift Anyway? Ew.

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Fri, 05 May 2023 21:00:12 GMT

Cause I've Got A Blank Space, Baby...

And I'll write your name. ;)

Or so goes the chorus of Taylor Swift's " Blank Space " from her album 1989.

If you haven't heard the story by now, allow me to bring your attention to it.

Taylor Swift, one of the world's biggest pop-stars right now, announced a tour for 2023, which would cover songs from the 10 albums she's put out over the last 17 years.

Ticketmaster then put her pre-sale on, where fans could pre-purchase tickets to the venue closest to them, and let it go live for everyone in the country on the same day.

It. Was. A. Hot. Mess.

And I was apart of it.

I waited over an hour in the online pre-sale "line," with over 2,000 other people, for a chance to buy tickets to see her in Detroit on June 9th (four days after my 32nd birthday!). My best friend was also in the pre-sale line, her date for Swift's second night in Detroit, June 10th.

Miraculously, I made it through the line and found myself in a state of adrenaline to pick out tickets that weren't going to overdraw my bank account.

After roughly 2 minutes of searching, I found two seats in the lower right side of Ford Field that were under the $300 a-piece price limit I set for myself (if you had told 2015 me that I paid $289 per ticket to see Taylor Swift in the same spot I paid $160 that year to see her for the 1989 tour, she would have died on the spot). I quickly entered in my credit card info, checked out, and was greeted with the sweet, sweet relief of "Congratulations! You got 'em!"

My friend was not so lucky.

She was one of thousands in the country that couldn't get access to tickets, and who's browser crashed before she could check out. (Good news is I got two tickets, so she's still gonna get to see the concert.)

That's when prices for Swift's tour started going up, and even though I would never put my tickets up for sale, the millions they were going for did look appealing. It also came out that Ticketmaster was gouging their own prices; buying up their own tickets and then putting them on the "verified re-sale" list for profits that well exceeded what Swift wanted them to go for in the first place ($10,000 for nose bleed seats? They started at $50 when I signed up as a Verified Fan. Not okay, Ticketmaster).

The news broke out on social media, and that's when the Swifties (fans of Taylor Swift) attacked Ticketmaster. And Swift supported them. Eventually, Ticketmaster put out an excuse ...I mean explanation to what had happened, and opened up the presale of tickets to the Eras Tour again for fans who didn't get tickets the first time to try and secure them a second time.

But band-aids don't fix bullet holes, Ticketmaster. Just ask Swift about that one.

Anyway, that's the prelude you needed to know for this next part!

When I agreed to volunteer my time to get this new website up and running, I was told that I needed to set a price to be paid for all my hard work. I sat for days at my computer, in-between work stuff, setting everything up, thinking about a reasonable ask from the League for my service for them.

Then it occured to me: I've always wanted a cool jean-jacket to show off, and Taylor Swift's Eras Tour was coming up (which was a perfect excuse to get dressed up): why not ask the artists to make me some one-of-a-kind art to show off at the concert? After all, I can get money from work. When would be the next time I would find myself in a position to ask for a custom painting from one of the League members?

So I set my price. A painting on my jacket from the Eras Tour poster of Taylor Swift.

It was agreed upon, and to my astonishment, Jimmy Tidwell agreed to paint my jacket (I was extra thrilled, because I love Jimmy's work. It's very vibrant and reminds me of Van Gogh--my favorite painter--with the way he paints movement).

The jacket was brought over to Jimmy's studio, and he began work right away.

He pulled out his projector and got to work scaling her picture to size before quickly outlining her features, doing it in the way only Jimmy can.

At first, she was going to be in black and white to go along with the poster, but in the end I'm glad he decided to go with color for her (she is, after all, known for her blonde locks and red lipstick).

He put it together under a couple of hours, and even thought to include her autograph underneath of it, which I think is just the perfect little flash it needed (because, unless by some miracle she spots me in a crowd of 65,000 people, I don't think I'd get to meet her to actually obtain her signature).

Reader, I don't have the words to say how thrilled I am I get to show this off in Detroit with my hot-pink bejewelled dress I'm planning on wearing.

Thank you, Jimmy!

The jacket is perfect, and an excellent payment for getting this new website together!
I do plan on adding a couple of patches that comemorate my battle in the pre-sale and mark the date of the concert, as well as some glitter and a line from her song Bejeweled ("by the way, I'm going out tonight") bedazzled on it, but for now, I can't stop looking at the painting on the back.

So, now you know more than you probably wanted to know about Taylor Swift, but hey. She's like a modern Stevie Nicks, and who isn't interested in feminist icons with killer tunes that dominate the radio waves? (If you're not, I suggest you Shake It Off and j ust enjoy the artwork, lol.)

As far as updates for the Monroe Art League that aren't my super cool jacket with a Tidwell on the back...

Headway on the Angie Terrasi MAL collection at the Ellis Library & Reference Center is still going strong!
There's a lot to get through, but with help from volunteers from the League (and Lou Komorowski, the head of the Reference department--who's one of the best people I've worked with), things are slowly but surely getting to the finish line!

Let's give it up to these lovely ladies!

If you'd like to join in on getting the Angie Terrasi MAL documents filed for the library, feel free to contact us and let us know your availablity! I promise the Ellis Library & Reference Center is a great place to spend an afternoon (and I should know, I worked many an afternoon there for years).

Finally, I wanted to give a quick update on how our classes are going!

On Thursday, May the Fourth [be with you, for all you Star Wars fans], Gladys Drummonds taught the first class in her watercolor series, and it was full of surprises--including two extra people who decided to give it a go!

The class covered everything you could want to know about working with watercolors--from which paints are best all the way down to which type of paper towel is the most absorbant!

I'd say it's on its way to be a wonderful class, with joyful conversation, lots of learning, and a good time in general. You really can't go wrong with watercolors! (And I say this, having taken a watercolors class in college. Honestly, it was one of the best classes I took in all my college career.)

If you have any questions about the watercolors class or want to know more about it, please feel free to check out our classes on the Events page, or contact us. We're always happy to answer questions!

And with this long post out of the way, I'll let you get back to your Cinco de Mayo celebrations (that is, if you celebrate). I'm off to go meet my friend Jose Cuervo and get some tacos! ⁠;)

Until next time: that's my story, and I'm sticking too it!

Painting The Town Red

sweathe23 (Sami Weatherholt) — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 22:37:05 GMT

Layered Backgrounds, Art in April, and Dragons, Oh My!

Happy first week of May, everybody!

I know the post date on this is April 29th, but it's gonna be May soon enough.

There. Now that that's out of my system, I can get on with the body of this blog post!

First and foremost, I'm going to post a little recap of the presentor at Tuesday's meeting: Brandy Gerber

Brandy Gerber is a local artist based in Ida, MI who describes herself as " self-taught ." She's currently the artist-in-residence at the Battlefield Museum in Monroe as well.

Gerber's work is described as “Finding a Painting Within a Layer Background,” and this is what she spent the better part of an hour talking about on Tuesday.

"My painting process allows freedom of imagination and elements of intuitive art play all while building my own 'clouds' on a canvas. I'm able to do all of this through the use of a variety of hands-on painting methods," Gerber's slide show quoted.

She also asked questions of the members and public who attended, having them look at pictures and asking them to describe what they saw.

The clouds were just one of many images that Gerber went over in what inspires her.

She also likes to look for background symbols to use in her work: "I use symbols that are meaningful to me, or are just something I love sketching," Gerber's slide show quoted. "You'll see lots of dog paws, flowers, eyes, circular motives, grides, and so much more in my painting backgrounds. I also make up [my] own symbols and use them. I often use my initals in a decorative signature, and i also use a barebones sketch interpretation of a painting I love."

The art league was in almost full attendance for Gerber's demonstration--not a chair left in the United Way building that night.
In addition to the presentation by Gerber, the audience was able to see tactile examples of Gerber's work, as well as given the opportunity to purchase some of her work, including her children's alphabet picture book (which can be purchased here or checked out of our local library system here --that is, if you've got your library card!)

A very big thank you to Brandy Gerber for taking her time to talk to the Monroe Art League on Tuesday!
And, as always, a thank you to the League's Vice-President, Nancy Abb, for getting us such a wonderful demonstrator!

Next up, I want to spend some time talking about an event that many members of the Monroe Art League partifipate in, the Art in April event in downtown Monroe, MI.

The event took place on Thursday, April 27th, 2023 and it seemed to be a real hit!

Of course, any chance to go view and purchase art from local artisans is going to be a hit, because you get to look at art and maybe even buy some if it calls out to you (and you have the funds! I know if I were a billionaire, first I'd pay off my student loans. And then maybe invest some money into the environment, education, etc. But after all that, I'd buy myself a giant house and go to random art galleries and buy up people's art to decorate it).

But this one was especially great to our members that participated, and hopefully will be something we get to do for years to come!

Check out some picture from the night:

Finally, I'm going to end with a fun note for everyone reading.

One of the League's very own members, Becky Mullins, pulled me aside during the Tuesday meeting to share the most amazing news.
Her dragon piece (featured on the cover of this website) has an accompanying story, written for her daughter.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and I'm always down to learn about the lore of things! I thought it would also be a great way to end this blog post, and ring in May.
So, without further ado:

In the strange land of Eerie lived many kind and gentle souls. They all dwelled there peacefully for millennium.
One ordinary, sunny day, a mighty dragon stumbled onto this normally quiet existence of Eerie. He was large, frightening, and ferocious.

This beautiful land was being destroyed by this evil intruder! The once fertile land, that the villagers planted and tenderly cared for, and nurtured, had been trampled. The crops that sustained the village were left in ruins in the dragons wake. Why did this once peaceful place become the target of the angry beast?
What was to become of Eerie and the frightened inhabitants? The village stood, staring around stunned.

Until, that is, through the crowd stepped a timid but brave young woman named Sasha.

The usually quiet, exotic beauty raised her beautiful eyes to the dark ominous sky and silently vowed to rescue her village. She had been born and grew up with these kind people. She could not allow this tragedy to go forward. She could never see such gentle people suffer so. Her heart of gold would break, as she loved the souls in this land of her birth more than life itself. She had to do something drastic.
As these kind people discussed what to do, Sasha knew they would not allow her to risk her life!
The citizens talked of plans to rid the land of the destructive Dragon. Several strong and kind hearted men in the village resolve to be brave and take on the Dragon. With no experience or violence in their hearts it was doubtful they would prevail.

As the newfound warriors were preparing, with the help of the whole village, Sasha had her own plans. She crept off to her home, looking for her old cedar chest. She found it only after a moment of searching, and dug through it until she found her best royal blue gown. She knew this gown was to be her wedding gown and she always felt so special when she would put it on. She knew it would help her with her plan; it would help her feel powerful. So she quickly stepped into the lovely garment and felt herself gain confidence.

Just as she was getting ready to leave, suddenly, at the bottom of her cedar trunk, she spotted something she had never noticed before At the very bottom of the old but sturdy trunk, wrapped in a tissue paper covered with diamond dust, was a beautiful golden crown. Sasha thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She carefully placed it on her head, over her raven curls. She stepped to the small sliver of a mirror she had hanging on the wall. Some of the diamond dust from the tissue had stuck to her beautiful long hair. It was a magical sight. Sasha knew immediately what she was meant to do. She glided out of the solid wooden door of her home. She knew nothing about her would ever be the same again
Sasha felt brave and strong. Her heart swelled in her chest and she became calm, but powerful. She walked with quiet purpose, her head held high and her heart full of determination.
As Sasha walked along she felt sure of herself and all of her fear was gone. Sasha knew she was doing the right thing for herself and the future of the people she loved. As her slippered feet moved across the forest, she felt stronger with every step. Soon she came upon a massive cave. As she gazed around her, it had become quite dark.

With only the soft glow of the full, golden, harvest moon above her, Sasha stood right outside of the solid stone cave in the side of a mountain. As she stood, gazing inside, she heard the booming thuds, so loud and thunderous it shook the earth she stood upon. As she slowly turned, approaching her was the enormous dragon. His face was of what nightmares are made. His teeth were bright white and very large and sharp. He had horns all over his large head and down his long, enormous back.

In the middle of his head was a twisting, long horn made of thick bone. His body was covered in silver armor plates. As the moonlight hit his scales they turned bronze. As he came ominously closer, the scales looked even larger and like stone. His wings were the largest part of him and they stretched out like giant bat wings with large hook like nails on the ends. It was as if he was built to strike fear in every man’s heart.
Yet as Sasha looked at him, she only felt calm, and breathed easily as a gentle warm breeze swirled around her. She could feel her heart as a strong thud in her chest. She would be okay.

The dragon approached and towered over her, his massive head was directly above hers. Sasha gazed up, her eyes searched and found his, of gold and black.
At that very momentus moment in time the connection was made. A bond was formed, like a bridge from one world to another. Sasha stretched upward, her hand slowly and gently touch the only part of the dragon she could reach: his rough scaly chin.

Suddenly, the diamond dust from her hair scattered in the breeze. It’s magical powers filled her hand and it’s love filled the dragons heart. The sparkles shot through his head and upward, to the tip of his horn. It was so powerful and magical that the shimmer of the golden crown flowed like a river down Sasha’s back, all the way to the ground. Sasha and the dragon were held in a bond that could never be broken.
They stood together for what seemed like a full lifetime before they left together to head down to the village, ready to tell everyone that the dragon would no longer be an evil intruder.
Sasha saved both the village and the people, whom she loved with all her heart, as well as the dragon. But more than anyone or anything, Sasha saved herself! She finally believed in who she was.

And just like that, another blog post wrapped up.
Join me next week, when I'll cover more things art and art league related!

Until then though, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

It's Been A Long, Long Time

Mon, 24 Apr 2023 18:48:45 GMT

The new website is here!

It's been a long time coming, through twists and turns; ups and downs and more obsticles than there are brushes in a car wash.

But it's finally here!

The new Monroe Art League website is live and available to all who connect to the world wide web!

Of course, there is still much to be done. There will be much to add, and much to fix, in the next coming weeks as things get tested out and played with. We're all on a learning curve over here in webmaster land, so I ask that you exercise a little patience as the bugs get smoothed out!

But! In case you missed the in-person demonstration, or need a visual reminder of everything, allow me to break down the basics of the website here.

Home: Our home page is just that. It's an introduction, and has links to our most important pages. In the future, I also hope to include prominate articles, accolades, and some more of our member's beautiful art!

About: The about page covers the history of the Monroe Art League, about the classes and programs we have, as well as (eventually) all our social media apps and info!

Join: Just like it says, this is where people can sign up to join the MAL! It includes information that they need to know about signing up, as well as what it costs and how they can remain a member in Good Standing. And if you need to check into it every-so-often to remind yourself of how much your dues are, or how to keep your Good Standing placement...feel free to check in!

Blog: Hey! You're there now! Congrats! The blog page will have all the blog posts I make, which are important, since that's where a lot of current news is going to be featured! You can also search the blog for specific dates as well, so it's extra helpful if you miss a monthly meeting!

Events: Sign up for classes, check out MAL field trips, and see when other fun things happen! The calendar is first, followed by informational links and sign-up sheets.

Members: Check out of Member of the Month, pay your dues online (or donate a few extra bucks, if you're feeling generous), and learn more about our wonderful members while checking out their artwork!

Policies: Can't remember who's on the board? That's what this page is for! Need more info on our by-laws? They're all there, written out for you to scroll through!

Contact: Got a question? Comment? Thought, feeling, concern? This is where you ask them! And quicker than it takes paint to dry, you'll get a responce!

That's about it for the run down of the menus and pages! If you're wondering what the icons are on the top right of the page, let me help!

The square with the circle inside is our Instagram account. It'll be full of pictures and information for those that have Instagram. It's especially helpful for younger members to get information about the MAL!

The lower-case F is our Facebook page! We're still working on getting this page sorted out, so (as of the writing of this post), it's link doesn't work. Soon, though, it will, and people can like and follow our page to get the best views of what's currently happening with the League!

The double P is our Paypal account. This is hooked up to the MAL's funds, so it's easy to pay dues, give a donation, or, later, pay for artwork (if needed). Only catch is right now you need a Paypal account to use it, but soon in the future I'll figure out how you can use it with credit card, Venmo, or even a check!

Now. I think I've covered just about all of the basics that I can at this point. Of course, if you see something that looks off, or if my wording isn't up to snuff (it should be, I didn't put myself $75,000 in debt for an English degree for nothing..but then again, I'm only human...), feel free to hit that Contact link and let us know, so we can change it right away. Otherwise, happy exploring!

As always, I'm your friendly neighborhood blog writer. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Everything You Need To Know You Probably Learned In Art Class

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 22:47:04 GMT

I'm Sure You've Got Questions...

I hope I've got answers!

In this blog post, my goal is to tell you about how this blog works, give you some general information about the Monroe Art League (MAL), and cover some Frequently Asked Questions.

First and Foremost, this blog is going to be updated weekly to make sure that you can keep up with what's going on with the League's events, members, and projects. This will also help elimiate the number of emails that get sent to the League Members, and allow anyone interested in joining know what we do here!

On weeks when there's no particularly important updates, I may also use this blog to talk a little about different types of art, current artistic events happening in the Monroe (or even Detroit/Toledo) area, conduct an interview with League members, or even give you ideas for fun little art projects you can do when you're bored or with any children in your life. My main goal is to make sure the blog stays positive, energetic, and rich in knowledge for all things art!

As far as General information about the Monroe Art League, check out our About section to get a brief history!

The MAL meets on the fourth Tuesday of every month with the exception of the Summer Picnic in June, and the Holiday Party in December (if there are date changes, etc., members will be notified via email).

The MAL also participates in various Arts Within The Community, where League members exhibit their work in local businesses and public buildings, rotating both artwork and venues. Many such exhibits are ongoing and are called, "Spot Shows."

As for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

How do I become a member of the Monroe Art League?

Joining has never been easier! Just check out our Join page and follow the instructions there!

I'm a member, where can I access the Minutes of the MAL meetings?

Meeting Minutes will be emailed to each member of the MAL after the meeting takes place. If you're not on this mailing list, please visit our Contact page and tell us so we can get your email added to the list!

How do I get my picture, bio, and work on the Members page?

First, you've got to sign up to become a member! If you've done that, you should get instructions in your welcome email. If you didn't, or if you have been a member and at the time this website was created opted to not have your picture, bio, and work on the Members page, please send an email to our webmaster at sweathe23@gmail.com with the subject heading, "I'd like to be on the MAL Members page, please!" They'll be sure to get back to you within 48 hours with instructions on what you need to do!

How long is it going to take to update things on the website if I notice a mistake?

Please give up to a full week for changes to be made to the website. Our webmaster works a full-time job that additionally has on-call hours after 5 p.m. and on weekends (especially during the holidays). This, in addition to her social obligations on weekends (where she finally gets to leave the computer desk!), means it may take her time to get to updating the website outside of its regularally scheduled maintenance.
Please remember, this is completely done on volunteer hours , so your patience and kindness is critical to the running of this website!

Can I subscribe to the Blog to get the weekly updates instead of checking on the website?

Unfortnately, no. The blog is updated reguarly from week to week, with a steady update to be determined. Once that has been configured, an email will be sent out to members and the website will update to inform the public when new blog updates will drop.

Do any of the MAL members sell their work/sell prints or take commissions?

Yes! If you're looking to reach out to a specific artistan, please Contact us so we can put you in touch with them! However, it should be noted that not every artistan takes commissions or sells every piece of their artwork or makes prints.

I'd like to submit a donation to the MAL for their contribution to the art world in Monroe, MI

If you'd like to make a contribution to the MAL, please check out our PayPal .

Where can I find the Quartly Financial Reports?

Because these reports are not required to be shown to the public, they will be emailed to members every three months and discussed at the corresponding general meeting.

How do I apply for the Frances A. Maedel Art Scholarship for Monroe County Community College?

Check out the MCCC website here . Then scroll down until you see the Frances A. Maedel Art Scholarship (listed in alphebetical order).

How do I become apart of member-only juried shows?

Each juried show instructions will be announced at least two (2) months before the show will take place. Submission applications will vary with each show. For more information, be sure to check back on this website under Events .

Where can I find more information about the MAL?

If you want a more thorough history lession about the Monroe Art League, its members, its founding, or its artwork/contributions, schedule a visit with the Reference Center at the Ellis Library & Reference Center (734- 241-5277) to view the Angie Terrasi MAL Collection . When the staff answers, kindly ask to be directed upstairs!

Can I pay my dues online?

Yes! Please check out our PayPal to pay your annual dues! Remember: they're due each September by the fourth Tuesday of the month!

Welcome to the Blog

Fri, 07 Apr 2023 22:17:48 GMT

It's always best to start with introductions...

Congratulations! You've made it to the first post of the Monroe Art League's blog!

I'm going to cut to the chase here and tell you, if you're looking for FAQ's, how the blog works, or information in general about this website, you're gonna want to go to the second blog post, "Everything You Need To Know You Probably Learned in Art Class" here .

This first post I'm going to dedicate to my introduction as the League's webmaster and blog writer, because I can.

With that being said:

Hello! I'm Samantha Weatherholt, daughter of the (as of the writing of this post) League president, Eve Weatherholt. But please, call me Sami. Samantha's reserved for formal occasions, my parents to use when I've done something wrong, or my Uncle Jeff (he's only ever called me Samantha, and at this point, it feels weird to correct him). Plus it's a long name, and I can't tell you how many forms I've found awkward to fill out because my full, legal name is 22 letters long.

But anywhose,

I was born on June 5, 1991, on my parent's fourth wedding anniversary. I had bright red hair, a weakened immune system, and a messed-up sleep schedule.

I think this is why I've always been drawn to the creative arts. (Not my hair or immune system, but my messed-up sleep schedule. They say all creative people have a messed up sleep schedule.)

I've dabbled in various mediums over the years; I took a watercolors class in college, gone to many a Wine and Canvas event, and took up fleeting hobbies with clay, ducktape, jewelry making, sewing, coloring, customizing Funko Pops, scrapbooking, book binding, and decorating totes and jackets with fabric and puffy paints. I never really considered myself an artist, though, because I never could work in a traditional medium associated with "artist" and [ironically] don't have the patience to teach myself how to draw or paint to a point I could be satisfied with.

Instead, I've always been focused on the written word. I love to write. Mainly, I love to write fiction pieces, but I can write academically (my papers in college have been accepted to be presented at conferences; ranging from 5 to 30 pages), in journals, newspapers, emails, captions, copywriting, and blog posts (and now, websites!). I've graduated with two degrees that required a lot of writing; I also helped write an entire program of study for the daycare I used to work at. A fun fact about me is that I actually had my professors have to set a page limit on papers, because I would routinely write over their 3-4 page request. I guess you could say, then, that words are my medium. (And that I'm a bit of an overachiever.)

As a youth, I'd spend hours in front of a notebook, typewriter, or computer, furiously writing down the stories that would pop into my head. I was also an avid reader, and quickly realized that I wanted to be an author when I grew up. Writing was a release for me just as much as anything else--except I had complete control over every action, thought, conversation, and landscape. And that kind of power is intoxicating. Writing also couldn't bully me, and it provided me with an outlet of escape. I participated in the Young Authors program in Elementary school, and later on joined the Journalism club in Middle and High School to work on the Yearbook and School Newspaper. At the time I also kept up my writing outlet--and I still have several of the pieces I worked on during those times to this day.

After graduating, I decided to go to Eastern Michigan University specifically for their Creative Writing Program. I was hoping to hone my skills as a writer, and fulfill my dream of becoming an author.

Instead, my passion for writing fizzled out and I slowly began to despise the written word.

This was not because of the academic papers I had to write (though, they certain didn't help), but rather because the Creative Writing Program at Eastern shuns the traditional fiction writer ("they're sell-outs," I can still hear my one professor say) and instead focuses on new wave poetry, prose, and other unconvential ways of writing. I hated having to sacrific my interest in fiction writing to appease my professors, and even though I won their praises with my work, they didn't know that I was dying inside. I persisted, though, and graduated with my Major in Creative Writing. (My degree is a Bachelor of Science; B.S. for short. Which is appropriate, given what I did was learn how to BS my way through undergrad.)

I even managed to make it through a year in their MFA program when I was accepted into Eastern's Masters program, before I couldn't take it anymore and switched to their Children's Literature program.

That program changed my life, however, and I finally found my people. I have several mentors now, whom I keep up with on a regular basis, who helped spark my other love--reading--into something I could soar with. I got to focus my energy writing and researching about children's media, adolencent books, and fairytales. And around people who bolstered my passions instead of striking them down.

I graduated in 2017 with my Masters of Art; several papers, conferences, and a creative project under my belt.

I survived, and I did so without completely being drained of passion.

After college I got a job at the Ellis Library & Reference Center, where I was able to allow myself to venture into enjoying my time instead of stressing about the next homework assignment or conference paper I had to write. I got to be creative again while there, too, and most importantly, learn to read for pleasure again. I stayed there for 5 years before landing my current work-from-home job at Leo Burnett, a Chicago/Detroit-based advertisement company, where I help project manage online advertisements for Buick and GMC.

While I enjoy doing what I do now, the change from working in the humanities all my life (both academically and career-wise) to business, and from home, has been difficult for me. I struggled with finding ways to get out of the house and socialize; to find motivation to create and find joy in hobbies, activities, and exercise. It took me a while, with some help from friends, family, my therapist, and Lexapro, but I've finally gotten into a place where I can find the motivation for happiness again.

I take trips to art exhibits around Monroe, Toledo, Detroit, and Windsor. I'm a member of the Toledo Museum of Art and the DIA. I've joined Book Clubs for my favorite genres. I take myself to conventions, concerts, and plays (which I couldn't afford to do before on the budget of a broke college student and part-time library clerk) and enjoy talking with people of similar interests, meeting celebrities, hearing live music, and seeing brilliant performaces. I try to write a little bit everyday, whether it be in my journal or my latest piece of fan-fiction (I'll be going into fanfiction, and fandom in general, in a blog post later on). I also try to venture into new hobbies--video games, meditation, photography, fashion, and daily mental health walks that I enjoy documenting. Art has always been at the center of my world, and I'm thrilled to rediscover it again, but this time with a new appreciation and understanding of it.

That's in part why I agreed to write the blog posts for the Monroe Art League's website. Any chance I get to practicing my writing is one I need to take. And I hope you all enjoy my posts. I tend to write in the same style I love to read--first person narrative--because it feels more like talking to a cherished friend about their experience instead of an omni-present narrator that knows all.

That's about it for me. At least from a Charles Dickens style. If you really want to get to know me better, I'm always down for a conversation over coffee. I tend to be bubbly and bright--just like you'd imagine a preschool teacher to be--and I love to show that off in the way I dress, too. I have good days and bad days, and am a human being; I make mistakes. But like Ms. Frizzle before me, you've got to Take Chances, Make Mistakes, and Get Messy if you ever want to learn and create in this world!

I'll leave my introduction at that.

And, as a treat, I'll attach my favorite piece of short fiction that I've written, just because I think it's fair that you all get a sample of my artwork too.

Until next time--that's my story, and I'm sticking to it :)

"Murder Stained Hands"

by Sami Weatherholt

...

He silently walked down the hall and over to the elevator. He pressed the button marked up and listened to the gears of the large metal box fly down to meet him. The doors swung open, and he let out a sigh of relief.

Daryl Durant was a large man, and he couldn’t really help the fact that he was claustrophobic. The elevator was small enough as it was; add three or four people, and well, he might just —

“Good evening Durant,” Jeremy Kenton said, walking inside to stand next to him. He was shorter than Daryl (though, everyone was shorter compared to him), and always wore his tie at an angle. His shirt was wrinkled, and his pants had its crease line slightly skewed to the left. “You did talk to The Boss, didn’t you? He sounded really infuriated last night. Kept going on and on about some paper leaking out to the press…”

Daryl cleared his throat, tightened his fist, and glared his eyes down on Jeremy’s head. “Where do you think I’m going now?” His voice was deep and one might even say it sounded villainous.

“Oh, well then.” He stared up at the floor counter and watched as the numbers glowed in order.

A bell inside the elevator dinged, and Jeremy let out a sigh.

“Well, this is my stop. Hey, are you still up for going over to O’Malley’s after work?” He walked out of the elevator, but didn’t step outside all the way.

Daryl nodded his head, and Jeremy stepped out of the way and let the elevator continue its trip upward.

The metal box stopped suddenly; a dinging noise indicating its journey for Daryl was over. He stepped out and started walking toward the farthest door on the left.

He was halfway there when his knees started to go weak. He groaned, and slunk down to the floor. He ran his hand across his head and leaned up against the wall.

His mind drifted back to last night.

Smoke clouded the bar; the smell of beer and potato chips lined the air. Daryl, along with some partners from work, sat at a table.

His boss walked over to the table, a cigar in one hand, ash falling down to the greasy floor, and a Godfather drink in the other.

Skip Corleone was a rather short man, being only five foot four or so, and had his black hair slicked up with grease. He wore a gray suit, his tie undone and the flower in his left hand pocket smashed. He was kind of pudgy, and when ever he smiled, he showed off his yellow teeth. Years of smoking showed in his face, and his breath forever smelled of gin and smoke.

He sat down, setting the glass in front of him, and took one last drag of the cigar before smashing it out on the glass dish in the center of the round bar table.

“Durant.” Skip said, crossing one of his legs over the other. Daryl looked up and immediately walked over to Skip. He hunched over and looked into the face of his boss.

“Yeah, Boss?” He asked, his voice lighter than usual. Even though Daryl Durant was usually strong and frightening, he still was afraid of his boss.

“You know Kasper Ripley fairly well, don’t you?” Skip reached over and took a sip from his drink.

“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do, Boss. Why do you want to know?” Daryl hunched over more, trying to hear what his boss was saying to him over the loud and rather annoying bar music.

“He’s been working on that Cure for Cancer Project for quite some time now. In fact, I believe he’s done with it.” He set the glass down and looked up at Daryl.

“He is Boss?” Daryl questioned, looking over at the glass of Scotch and amaretto. He didn’t like looking directly into the beady eyes of his boss. He almost felt like he was looking into the eyes of Satan himself.

“Yes, I believe he is. I need to get that paper, Durant. If I don’t have that paper, I won’t be able to charge any money for the development of the stuff. I need that money, Durant. If that paper were to get leaked out to the press, well then, I’d really be screwed now, wouldn’t I, Durant? You see, that paper is the sole reason I even hired Ripley in the first place. He was the one claiming to have the cure for cancer figured out, and all he needed was the money to complete it all.

“You know what he said to me Durant? He said ‘I swear to you, Mr. Corleone, all I need is enough money to buy a couple of elements, and I’ll have that cure for you in a jiffy.’ That’s a direct quote too, Durant.

“Now, the only problem is that at the time he said this to me, I had all sorts of money. So I lent it to him, and what do you know? I’m almost out of money. That paper’s going to make me rich again, Durant. And so I need to get it back. That’s where you come in, Durant.” Skip stuck another cigar in his mouth and lit it. He took a deep drag, let out the smoke in his mouth, and looked up at Daryl.

“What am I going to do, Boss?” Daryl said, again, looking away from his boss’s eyes.

“I need someone strong, someone intimidating, someone like you, to go get that paper from him. And I need it by midnight tomorrow. Got that?” He took another long drag on his cigar before letting out another cloud of smoke.

“I’ve got it boss. It’s just, what if he, you know, doesn’t give it to me?” Daryl looked over at the group of people entering the bar.

“If he doesn’t cooperate, then just use force. And if he still doesn’t cooperate, use this.” Skip pulled out a gun from inside his jacket pocket.

Daryl stared down at the gun, afraid to take it. “But Boss, that’ll kill him. Kasper Ripley has a daughter — ”

“I don’t give a damn what he has.” Skip interrupted, sitting up in his chair. “If he doesn’t give you that God forsaken paper, then you kill him. But don’t leave any evidence. I don’t want any more trouble with the cops. Got it, Durant?” Skip took one last drag on the cigar before putting it out.

“Y-yes, Boss. I got it.”

Daryl stood back up and continued walking down to the farthest door on the left.

He placed one of his meaty hands on the wooden door and rapped on it. The door opened, and out stepped Kasper Ripley.

“What can I do you for, Durant?” Kasper smiled and stepped aside to let him in.

“I need that paper, Ripley.” Daryl didn’t smile. He stared directly into Kasper, trying to intimidate him.

“I don’t have it here — it’s at home, and I’m sure that my daughter wouldn’t want you disturbing her. I could bring it to you on Monday, if that’s all right.” Kasper half smiled, and walked back over to his desk. He didn’t sit down though.

“You don’t understand Ripley. I need that paper. If I don’t get it, then it could be turned in and get leaked out to the wrong people. The Boss doesn’t want that, and I don’t want that. So, Ripley, the paper?” Daryl walked forward, stretching out his hand.

Kasper looked from his hand to his face, and back to his hand.

“I told you Durant. I do not have the paper with me. If you want to wait until Monday — ”

“Damn it Ripley! I hate to do this…” Daryl started to walk around Kasper’s desk. He tightened his hand into a fist as he got closer.

Kasper noticed the curled up hands and quickly grabbed something on his desk. Daryl didn’t see it, and thought that it was a key of some kind. He didn’t care. It wasn’t a key that he was after. He tightened his grip and walked forward.

“One last chance, Ripley. The paper?” Daryl’s voice darkened.

“I already told you. It’s at home. You’ll just have to wait until — ”

Daryl picked up Kasper and threw him across the room. Glass shattered and covered both him and the floor.

The fight continued, Daryl at an advantage. Each time Kasper Ripley tried to fight back, Daryl just pushed him back down, causing more things to shatter, and more blood to ooze out of Kasper.

The fight eventually lead out of the room, and over to the stairway. Daryl was surprised at how much Kasper could take. He threw punch after punch, and still, Kasper got up after each one. He was also surprised by the fact that no one heard all the noise that they were making. He was waiting for someone, anyone, to show up, scream bloody murder and call for the police. But, no one showed up. He shook the thought out of his head, and continued to beat Kasper Ripley.

The stairway door was smashed open, and Daryl once again picked him up and threw him down the cement stairs. He rolled down each one, his head smacking each step. Blood stained the walls, stairs, even the hand rail. Daryl was careful to step over the blood puddles, making sure to not cause tracks.

They both reached the end of the stairway, Daryl perfectly fine, while Kasper, on the other hand, not so much.

His face was so black and blue that you could barely see one of his eyes. Blood seeped out from each direction, causing it to look like some preschooler had just dumped a bucket of red paint over his head. His body was scraped; his clothes tattered and ripped.

Daryl gave a wicked grin and pulled out the gun that his boss had given him. His hand trembled a little, but none the less, he cocked the gun.

“One final chance. Either tell me where the paper is, or your life comes to an end.” He aimed the gun at Kasper Ripley’s head.

“No.”

The trigger was pulled, and Kasper Ripley’s decrepit body hit the floor with a Thud.

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