Dizzojay's Dean Dreams

This JIBcon was shaping up to be very different to those gone before, mainly because of Misha's absence, but in the interests of turning a negative into a positive, we thought, 'well that's going to shake up the dynamic a bit', and it really did.  The final panel, which would ordinarily be Jensen and Misha was Jensen and Richard with a little Jared and Rob thrown in.  And it was pure, pure anarchy.  Laugh out loud ridiculousness from beginning to end!  If you get the chance to watch it on Youtube, do - it was fabulous madness!

The addition of Jojo and Drake from the Winchesters was another plus - they're quickly establishing themselves as convention darlings.  But as always, the main draw was each other.

Along with amberdreams, heavenli24, stellamira, dean_hugs_sammy, and our other non-LJ friends, Wendy, Natalie, Chris, Monica and many others, this was a classic weekend.

There have been three JIBs in quick succession thanks to the catch up from Covid, so it could be reasonable to assume the energy and enthusiasm is starting to wane.  However, at this JIBcon, it seemed the exact opposit was true.  The positive energy of this weekend was palpable, and when JIBcon 2024 was announced, there was a stampede to pre-register.

As always, Jensen and Jared were adorable, and gave so generously of themselves for everyone at the convention, and from my own personal point of view, I had a couple of lovely one-on-one exchanges with Jensen that made my little fangirl heart flutter!

When I approached Jensen for my fourth photo with him, he grinned and winked at me, and I just laughed and said, "yep, me again - the bad penny!"
Jensen put his arm around me and said, "oh no, a good penny.  A shiny penny!"  Yes, OK, I kind of evaporated on the spot, so sue me!

At the Monday concert, it was a great event at a fab venue, and right at the end, Jensen et al, sang Hallelujah (the Leonard Cohen song).  The Monday is always an emotional night anyway because it's the last night before we all go our separate ways, but with that song being sung - by Jensen no less, at the end of it, eveyone sitting at our table - me included - was in floods!

After I had composed myself, I went to say thanks to Daniela, the organiser, and I stepped back from giving her a hug, Jensen walked right toward me.  He grinned again, and I blurted out 'that was fabulous - you made me cry!"  To my utter shock, he came over and took me by both hands and thanked me for coming!

Yep, and I evaporated again.  I seem to have spent a lot of this weekend in a gaseous state.  Or maybe just in a state!

So in summary, it was another fabulous JIBcon.  Rome was gorgeous, Jared and Jensen were gorgeous, all my JIBcon lovelies were gorgeous...

I can't wait to do it again next year!
 

I don't know if Open Studios is something that has travelled outside the shores of the UK, but if not, it's an event that takes place every year where people can visit artists at work in their studios and check out their work and maybe even buy some!

I've never taken part in Open Studios before because my house in Surrey is not set up to have strangers coming in off the street to look at my studio and my work (mainly because it's all upstairs) and because my parents' house in the Isle of Wight is — well, it's my parents' house — and I can't expect them to play host to a bunch of strangers!

However, now that dapplegrey art has a permanent home in the Imaginarium in West Wight, I have a base for Open Studios!

So, I have been spending three days being one of seven artists in situ at the Imaginarium, doing some arting, doing a bit of 'workshoppy' stuff, and generally just having three wonderful days just talking non-stop about art.  I even sold a couple of prints! 

Here I am on the first day just doing my stuff!

And the finished product!