Day at the Dallas Arboretum

Traci-8 Maids a Milking  "more cowbutt"

Traci

 Sunday our art group had planned a field trip to the Dallas Arboretum to see their new "12 Days of Christmas" exhibit.  One of our members-Traci Hutton, worked on some of the costumes. (she is a costumer by trade-has worked on Barney, Wishbone(award) and currently the Dallas Opera.) We planned to go the 2nd wkend it was open to avoid opening wkend crowds. ( well opening wkend weather was bad and it rained sat so we picked a great day) the weather was wonderful, clear & cool -and early enough that the crowds were small. 8 Maids a Milking and 9 Ladies Dancing were the two that she worked on.  Each exhibit was wonderful-great attention to details.  Since Traci was part of the team that worked on these, we got some of the inside scoop on issues they ran into and just how much work went into these. Traci also worked on 3 of the fabulous ballgowns in the 9th exhibit. Stunning dresses/fabric to say the least.

Traci-9 Ladies Dancing

3 French Hens  Donna G and Mary

This is an example of one of the gazebo's. Each was encased in glass. Each weathervane on top had a cut out to match the theme. This one was
 a french hen for 3 French Hens.














This is a closer view of above.  Each gazebo had painted columns to go with the theme that were glittered and jeweled. The lattice work inside was painted/glittered and mirrored.  Keep in mind each gazebo was specially built for this-and each exhibit moved (turned inside like a carousel.)

5 Golden Rings

  

 The gold rings was one of the favorites. The seals with their golden hoops and the polar bear "ringmaster."  Inside ceiling of each gazebo was draped in fabric-this one had red and white circus stripes.

7 Swans a Swimming

  The 7 Swans had to be one of my favorite.  Very elegant-captured the look of ice and snow.  The swans each had on a fabulous jeweled crown.  Their were strands of crystals hanging down around the perimeter.

One of the houses in pumpkin exhibit

 

 Since the fall pumpkin exhibit was still going on (the last wk) we checked it out too.  Every type of pumpkin and gourd you could imagine.  Several of us also started collecting the stems that had fallen off  for future art projects...won't say which of us kept squatting down to pick them up, but i will say my thighs are so sore today i can hardly walk...

Pumpkin exhibit

   

 

 Really have no idea why i have such a pained look on my face in this picture  I also noticed for the first time that Donna G and i are both wearing lime green.   I do notice the bulging pockets in my jacket so this was after the pumpkin patch :)

Donna (me) Traci, Mary, Donna G   no, we did not plan to match

Denise, Mary, Donna G 

 We all went to Torchy's Taco's for lunch after our outing. We were all starving and what better way to end the day than eating with friends!

Traci, April, Carolyn

Me (donna) Carol

Thanks to Carolyn for the pictures of Traci, the lunch photo's and the 4 walking!  most of mine had too much glare~

Jeanne Oliver's New Endeavor

Go here to check out Jeanne Oliver's newest endeavor and a giveaway~

"My heart behind The Living Studio is that we will all learn to explore and create wherever we live.

I hope to inspire people to step out of the comfort of their studios and out into the world and boldly create based upon the beauty all around them.

The Living Studio combines my love of travel, creating and connecting with other creatives."

Go to the link to learn more about where she will be teaching.  

"Oh the places we'll go"  comes to mind...

The Mask...

My nephew texted me on a wednesday night (oct 15) and asked if I could make him a mask "like this image" (one he included in text) I had had to work thurs and have my garage sale fri/sat and he wanted it for sat night. sure thing.
I said I would attempt something but it wasn't going to look like his image.   I started on an idea
that i ended up scrapping pretty quick.  I looked on pinterest for some mask-making hints. 
I got a text on thurs that he got his dates wrong and I had another week.  OK, game on.
I bought a cheap plastic mask to use as my base and used some air-dry clay to form my mask
that i would paper mache over.
 Once happy with the image I let the clay dry overnight.  I started layering good old fashioned glue/newspaper paper mache to build my face.  When I got it to look like I wanted, I let that dry too.
 Now comes the fun part-painting and embellishing.  I gave it a base coat in white then added my
other colors for a worn leather kind of look.  I sewed over the eye and mouth openings, added buttons
over the mouth and a rusty safety pin through a "scar."   I sewed heavy cotton fabric around the mask
so it could be worn more like a hood.  Blood red paint was added to the scars/cuts and a few other
spots to highlight.  All in all, he was a happy camper when I took it to him.   He said he had several offers
from people to buy it from him..guess i know how to pick up a few extra bucks next year.  :)