A Few Pictures...

Thought i would post what I made for my swap for this month's art mtg~I made this guy-and 3 girls, however the picture of the girls didn't turn out too good. so he'll have to do. i'm working on a few more-so i'll post when they are done. If i had had more time, they would have been more embellished, but since i came up with the idea the night before, had to whip them out a bit basic. Oh well~just sparked more ideas for me.

Class at KC Willis' Studio: Leslie Venable's Bound Reliquaries

KC Willis now has a studio-where she and others are now teaching workshops. An upcoming class in Feb is Leslie Venable's Bound Reliquaries:

http://studioretreats.ning.com/page/visiting-artists-classes

The class is limited to 10 people. When the first 5 sign up there will be a drawing and one of those lucky artists will receive the class at 50% off the class price... :) But hey it doesn't stop there....when the next and final 5 sign up another drawing will be held and one of those lucky artists will receive the same 50% off discount off of the class!!!!!

2 lucky attendee's will get 1/2 off the cost of the workshop-good odds with only 10 spaces!

You can click above to see the info on KC's ning site, and go to Leslie's blog to see her work~

Pictures and Sneak Peaks...

I call this the "missouri" spider-they were everywhere-in kimberling city and st louis. will have to look it up-but this is the underneath-looks like a face-cool for this time of year i thought.
These are some of the books i found in Branson-think i pd $5.oo for them all. They might become covers of new books-or used in a piece of art.

These are snippets of 3 pieces i am currently working on~will post full pictures when they are done~

251 and a giveaway

I originally thought i would have a giveaway for my 250th post-but i missed it by one. So for all those who actually leave a comment this next wk-you will be in a drawing to win something~ probably the piece that i did for my class last month. But, i've been known to change my mind in the past-and it could end up being a different piece of art, but as of now, that's what it will be.
also-check out the link next to this post-no affiliation, just found it today-some cool digital art sheets~

Missouri and a Wedding

Drove to missouri with my parents on the 23rd-we stopped in Kimberling City to visit with my grandfather-were able to see my gram's headstone at the National Cemetery in Springfield while we were there. Fri we headed up to St Louis for my cousin Nicole (and Eric's) wedding. Reception was held at the Planetarium~very cool-even showed what the night sky would look like on their 50th wedding anniversary. It was nice to see family that i hadn't seen in so long.
Beautiful wedding.
Sun after the present opening, my aunt took us to the new CityGarden downtown. Beautiful gardens, water features and sculptures there. My fave was pinnochio. Of course, we had to stop at Ted Drewes for frozen custard on the way home! yum.
Got to visit with my cousin Kim on monday-met up with her mom and my parents for dinner in St Charles-at R T Weilers. Customers can bring in their pet photos and they are hanging in the restaurant. Back to grandpa's on the way home-spent a day there and now i'm home- got spoiled with all the wonderful cool fall weather...

Greetings from St Louis

No pictures yet-i'm in St Louis for my cousin's wedding and can't upload. The weather up is is wonderful-cool temps. rained a bit on wedding day, but not during wedding time. Reception was at the Planetarium-the place i saw my first star show as a child~very cool. Wanted to update, pictures when i return-we'll be stopping in the Branson area on way home to see my grandfather-so stay tuned~

Poison Ivy

Just when you think the yard is devoid of all poison ivy, it comes back-and you don't realize it UNTIL you start to itch. And i do mean itch. It is on my arms, legs, feet, stomach and i believe my face-unless that is just sympathy itch...
Gary of course, got none. never does. ever. We worked in the yard sun-cut down overgrown grapevine that appeared again this yr. I thought we had everything-but after the itch started, then the red lines and bumps-i knew. I went back out and sure enough-there was poison ivy. I donned the rubber gloves, got the scissors and plastic bag to shove it all in-and hacked away. I think some of it might have come from the dogs-they were facinated with that area of the yard until we cut everything down. Time for some cold compresses-they say not to scratch-obviously the brain that came up with that one never had poison ivy...

KC Willis and Sarah Fishburn

Sarah Fishburn is teaching a workshop in December at KC Willis Studio Retreats
Those that read my blog know i took 2 online classes from KC the past few months-which i loved~although i haven't been too creative this summer-the idea's are there-just need a better frame of mind.
Sarah has been around "forever" and you are probably familiar with her work-if not, check it out!
Check out KC's new studio retreat info too-she's hosting several workshops there!

Teaching

Here is a class i'll be teaching at Stamp Asylum in Plano Tx on sept 19th.

In this workshop you will create a piece of wall art using a variety of paints and papers while learning a technique to add texture to your backgrounds – not only in this piece but in other you create later. Once the texture is complete, you will add imagery, draw your cage, accent it with charcoal and seal for a finished 12" x 7" piece ready to hang. To create a similar palette as the sample, you will need dabbers in the following colors: Aqua, Citrus, Cool Peri and Juniper. Optional: Pool, Lake and Pink Sherbet dabbers. If you have a different palette preference, bring the dabbers for your palette. Also bring your tool kit that includes paint brushes to paint and to glue.
Donna Joy [$45]

Cheryl of Ten Seconds Studio posted this on her blog and thought i would pass it on. It made me wonder how many people smiled every time they thought of what they saw that day~or how many wanted to "jump in" and dance with them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k

.with no warning to the passengers passing through the station, at 08:00 am a recording of

Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system.

As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances.

They created this amazing stunt with just two rehearsals!

Final Phase: Disentegration Collaboration

This past winter Seth Apter started the
Disintegration Collaboration (DisCo)
We put our bundles out in the elements until May, then revealed
what they looked like after 3 months. Now the final phase-creating a piece of art with pieces or all, of our bundle. I took some of the papers and glued them to a piece of plywood, then added part of the bundled papers that survived the wind, rain, sun and ants. Added some paint for a bit of color and a few rusty washers-
If you go to his blog, you will find a list of links to other artists that did all 3 phases-you can see the final products of the elements!

Yep, still alive

But that's about it. working on a few things (art) that i'll post when finished. I'm also finishing up the deconstruction project that Seth Apter started this past winter.

Still Here

Still alive-trying to work through some "stuff"~no art to speak of, but soon i hope!~

KC Willis Studio Retreats

If you have followed the art of Lipstick Ranch throughout the years, you are in for a treat! Besides the online classes she is now offering, KC Willis now offers retreats in her new studio at her home in Longmont colorado-http://studioretreats.ning.com/
Check out the website for info regarding a retreat in this gorgeous setting!
If you aren't familiar with her work, check out Lipstick Ranch to see what you've been missing. I've admired her layering of vintage fabrics, cowgirls and doo-dads for years~ and recently got to take her online class-and am about to start the second one~a treat for sure!


Visit KC Willis Studio Retreats

What in the WORLD was I thinking?...

Want to re-do the art room. It is torn up and boxed up and a huge mess~I really need to purge some of this stuff...
these are my new shoelaces-a birthday gift from a friend-Ramones shoelaces....woohoo!

What a Pain!

Blogger changed over to google and i had to go through hoops to get signed in again...
will update later on today-just finished some yard work and off to meet the old work friends for lunch...

Power-less

Wed night some nasty thunderstorms blew in-and blew out our power-the tornado sirens were going off-the winds were nasty-nathan,myself and the dogs spent a bit of time in the hall closet-we ended up without power for 30 hrs. The first night it was raining all night/all morning so there was a cool breeze coming in. The next night-i stayed at my parents' house. :) Power's back on, fridge/freezers are cleaned out. I've begun the slow process of re-stocking..thank goodness insurance will help with that :)
so, needless to say i am very behind with projects i intended to do this week.

Last Comments on Vegas

While reading some reviews online of our hotel-probably good that i didn't see them ahead of time! One person whined about how dark it was-all the art and mirrors creeped them out and it wasn't on the strip.-well duh, didn't you look at the info online when you booked it-or the fact that it WASN'T on the strip. they complained about the slow draining tubs-yes they were-but that and the fact that we didn't get our bathroom "serviced" w/new towels got us a $50 gift card that we gladly spent in the bar-the dark bar w/mirrors all over... the BEST part of it all-that i didn't know about until we were home-is the fact that alot of the strippers that fly in to work the nearby clubs on the wkends-stay here. Gosh-missed that fact-although there is a good chance the woman we saw in the elevator fri afternoon was one of them...

Vegas/Red Rock Canyon

On friday we went out to Red Rock Canyon. It's really beautiful out there. The red is from iron being in the rock and oxidizing-it only takes a small amt, but don't remember what it was. There were alot of areas you could hike-we walked around quite a bit, but were not prepared for hiking. If i ever go back, would like to do that. The top pictures shows an area that is white at the bottom-that is a wash-we walked down it a bit too-. There were clouds out so it wasn't terribly hot that day-it rained late afternoon-after we were gone so i wondered if any of the washes filled up-there was no rain in the city where we were, but it looked like it rained all around. Would have liked to see the rain come down there. I took more pictures-but won't post them all-who wants to sit through "vacation photos?" If you're ever in vegas, it's worth the short drive to see-$5 well spent. Back in the 90's we went out to Valley of Fire that is about an hour away-it too is well worth the drive. Got to see real live petroglyphs there.

A bit of Art for Good Measure!

Thought i would throw in some art i finished before we went out of town. I'm taking an online class with KC Willis as i've mentioned a few times. Loving the technique-and her style. It's been fun and got my creative juices running again. She is about to host 3 more classes that are sure to be great too. I'm taking another one for sure! You can check them out on her site under workshops.