-----------------------------------------------------photos by Kristin and Elaine Russell

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Things were a little crazy. Any time you are part of a group of people you are bound to run into personality conflicts and a little drama. Yesterday was one of those days.

If you belong to any group.. you know what I mean. Now personally, I would not say a group of artists would not be any different; but there are some who would sigh and disagree. More drama than usual... some would say.

At any rate.. things are starting to quiet down.. and perhaps things can go "as usual" for a few days.

Now -- don't misunderstand. I absolutely love being part of an artist community.. and wouldn't trade it for anything. One of the perks of being in this group is the energy and excitement you get when talking with artists about the creative process. For the past couple of days I have had the opportunity to work a bit with the creative souls that do our window displays. They are fantastic. Where they come up with some of the ideas.. I don't know.

Our grand opening window was a colorful mix of a selected art piece from each of our founding members. Imagine 20 -some pieces of art in one huge window. Black backdrop and red accents. Coolness.

The Day of the Dead theme show window was amazing. We had life size sculptural renderings of a skeleton wedding party. Accented with Dia de Las Muertos papercut flags and flowers.

The "What's in the Box" theme for December was carried out with elaborate styrofoam snowflakes, faux snow, a winter goddess cloaked in her winter finery and these really cool boxes with pictures in them that glowed from within. Hard to explain.. but I will try to upload photos.

So-- here we are for the Chinese New Year theme...and it is coming along nicely. There is an antique costume cloaked mannequin with a vintage paper umbrella, as well as lanterns and RAIN. Yes, faux rain.

WOW.