Travels and Time Management

I haven't had the chance to post in about 4 weeks, due to traveling for Thanksgiving and preparations the Holiday Market at Studio Channel Islands Art Center, where my studio is located. Here is a brief update of the last few weeks:

Traveling to Oregon for Thanksgiving

Every November I get to to go to Oregon to visit my mom's family for the whole week of Thanksgiving. We left the Friday before Thanksgiving week, and returned on November 30th. I have been making the drive up to Oregon with my family every year since I was a young kid and it is one of the events I look forward to every year. Every day was busy with activities but also time to rest and visit with family. This year we got to make a special trip up to Seattle to visit my Uncle Dan and got to see a few different sites in Seattle. It was also great having my brother, his wife and her parents come to Oregon to share in the events as well. They all added to much fun to the trip.

Here is a glimpse into my week:

In Seattle & Portland:
  
   

My Grandparent House in Lyons, Or.
       

   

  I used the week to relax and rest before the Christmas/Holiday rush that I knew was going to take place the day I got back to my studio. And it did...

Holiday Market

The name of the game for the week after Thanksgiving was "TIME MANAGEMENT". From the day I got back from Oregon I started in on preparing for the Holiday Market at Studio Channel Islands Art Center. The Holiday Market is one of our bi-annual markets where many artist, musicians, food & drink vendors, visitors and holiday shoppers converge on the old elementary school campus that houses SCIART (Studio Channel Islands Art Center). There is always so much to do to get ready and everyone was very busy. Not only do we artist-in-residence have to get our own studios ready for guests, but we also have to get the whole campus ready. The planning process and marketing happens months in advance, but the week before the event the campus is alive with activity. Lights and decorations are hung, everything is cleaned, new signs are put up. I personally had a list of about 30 things I needed to do just for my own studio. I ended up dividing everything to do by day and did a pretty good job of getting everything done.

 
On the day of the event we had so many people come through the campus. I saw many friends and met new people who were very encouraging and supportive of my drawings. It was a great day. Time went by pretty fast because of all of the people that came through my studio. I calculated over 400! This is what my studio looks like for the Holidays: