The girls' first art show.

 What an experience!!!  Downtown West Monroe hosted an art crawl and I was invited to be an artist in their show.  Each artist was paired with a store in our downtown Antique Alley (which you retreaters might just get a chance to go visit).   I explained when asked that I would only do the show if I could include works done alongside my girls.  Our art would be called  Mother-Daughter Collaborative Art!

 The girls were picked up by JinJin that day and I met them there as soon as I could get off work.  I'd sent out a few invitations to people, and they surely didn't let me down!  This is Kelsey!

 She has been coming to therapy at my office for the past 13 years or so.  I started seeing her when she was about 5 years old.  It was very nice of her to come see our work.  And this is Lane...

 Lane is one of the cool kids who is in my art classes this year.  His mom brought him to the show, and he chose a painting to take home with him.  I bet one day he'll be showing in his own artshow!

My sweet little Gabbi Girl was just there to be cute, I think.

Here's another Layne.  She was our first sale of the night.  This one was started by Ellie Sue and finished up by me.  It has what has to be one of my new FAVORITE quotes.  It is the quote that lots of my upcoming retreats and maybe even my entire next "business venture" will be based on.  It says, "You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you."

Ain't that the truth?!

And we ALL have talents, by the way!
This is Lila, Layne's mama.  She even gave me a crisp one dollar bill to frame to remember the very first dollar my baby ever made.  I love it when my friends think as big and forward as I do for my kids.  Yep.  Someday, she'll say "I knew Gabbi when...."  (and I say Gabbi because I think Ellie will be dancing and tumbling.  I think!)

Mrs. Suzy came all the way from Haynesville, LA to celebrate my girlies' first show.  She is an art teacher herself, so she really knows how big of a deal this is.  

She even brought them these sweet little gifts which say, "Congrats, Gabbi.  1st Art Show  10-3-13".

I love that they're on these cute little ceramic birds.

See that sucker in E's mouth above?!  I had the girls help me tag a whole bag of suckers with tags that said, "Thank you for coming to our art show" and on the other side, "Ellie and Gabbi".  They handed them out to all of their guests.

Sean, above, was an MMPT student doing his internship at our clinic, and he brought his girlfriend to our show too.

This is Mrs. Suzy's friend, who so graciously bought of one Ellie's canvases.  Ellie started this canvas with big brown dots.  I tinted them with cooler colors and added, "Some people feel the rain.  Others just get wet!".

Ellie also collaborated with me on this one... she started with an entirely green background and added a few snippets of paper all around the outside with ModPodge.  Yep... she knows totally how to decoupage paper to canvas... anyway, then I added my layers and "Train your mind to see the good in everything.".

Ellie chose these glasses on her own, by the way.  She packed them in her bag with her outfit for the night.  Cracks me up that she realizes they make her look artsy.  She has a sense of style as a  year old that most don't have at 44.  Like, ummm, me!

We were paired with an antique store, and used all of their furniture and such to add some variety to heights and levels for viewing.

Brooklyn, my friend, even went and got us some pumpkins and mums to really "fall up" our fall-themed paintings.

Gabbi sat and looked in this mirror for a really long time.  Doesnt' she look like a little flower in this picture.  Her skirt looks like her petals!

This baby!!

Of course, Kimie came to support the cause.  As did DeeDee and Granddad and JinJin and Pops and Nana, and many others....

Oh... and Gabbi's "other best friend", Katie.  Katie bought a canvas made by me and Gabs, which had all sorts of cute pastel strokes all over the background.  It is a sweet one!

Tashia is a true friend and came and bought a small little house canvas that Ellie Sue and I made together.  It says, "Love lives here.".

Yep.  These are my good buddies!  THank you to EVERYONE who came out to support my girls in this special night.

I look forward to other art shows in my girls' futures.  Unless they lose the love.  In such case, I'll support whatever new venture they decide on.  Trying to find their strengths... and steer them that way.

Don't forget the upcoming art retreat.  I have a couple of more spots available.  I have not been able to get in touch with Heather.  Hey, Heather, you still in!?
Contact me at mojoy@att.net if you are interested!

MO