I See Dead Things

I have a box in my art room.  It's labeled "dead things."

i have a plan for this guy already.  it will involve halloween

 This week i've added two new bugs to the box.  Don't ask me what they are.  One is big and ugly, the other one i saw while mowing-the color got my attention.

 This is in the box also.  look closely and you can see the bird's beak. 

 The frog skeleton.

 Last night while mowing the backyard i came across what was left of a mole.  Here you see his big front feet that were used when he was tearing up my yard. (the dogs have gotten 3 so far this year)  not sure if they got this one too.

 Mole's ribcage-fur still attached but it's falling off.

Here is the skull-with teeth intact.   I also have a skunk and opossum-bones.  Those are in the garage and if I remember, i will take pictures tomorrow. 

Hang Your Party Hat

This is the full view of the piece i previewed earlier.  It now resides with the person it was intended for
so I can post the picture here.  It will receive a companion at a later date, but that is all I can say for now.

10,000

It's official.  I've hit 10,000 pins on pinterest.  I AM addicted.  but very inspired

On A Roll

Two posts in one week-even i'm impressed.  I finished a piece i'm making as a thank you for a friend.  She graciously sent me a package full of vintage photo's that she was "purging" from her stash.  This image was NOT one of the ones she sent, it's one I have.  Nicer than a thank you note I think,  

 

close up of the crackle

 While working in the yard yesterday, i cut back the wild grapevine that grows in the yard.  When i was almost finished i had the brilliant idea to take some of the vines and make my own
grapevine balls.  Some people would go to the store and spend money on these-me, I just harvest my own :)
When they dry out enough, i'll bring them into the house and
put them in a bowl or something. 

This is a rusty (duh) old license plate I found when mowing some land out in Weatherford.  I've mowed the same area the past few years and am always amazed when I come across something that I missed before.  This time I found an old bottle and the license plate.  Anyway, I used some pearl-ex/gum arabic in a copper/gold color and went over the raised areas so you could see them better-before it just looked like a rusted rectangle.  When I was photographing it tonight i had one of those sudden "I know exactly what i'm going to do with it moments" and promptly ran inside to start working on it.  It involves a "recycled" canvas, some old weathered wood, the plate and some barbed wire.  I know who is going to get it also-well, one of two people, depending on whether or not it is too rusty/crusty for the first one I have in mind :)

What I've Been Up To. (ie i'm still alive)

Seems like quite a while since i have posted here. I'll just blame the summer heat

This was in our yard one day. Live.  If it were dead it would belong to my collection of dead stuff.

 

Riley and Jack trying to get the cake.  they didn't.  Mom made a homemade one the next day. 

this guy has been hanging out in the front.  I've seen him on several occasions.

. Let's see, i've turned another year older (may)  I went to stay with my friend Traci last thurs/fri nights.  We went to Canton on fri.  Stopped at LaurieAnna's before heading into the actual grounds.  The store is well worth the visit.  Even if you buy nothing, it's full of inspiration for home decor.  The store used to be in one of the Canton Pavillions.  No pictures allowed.  I didn't take any pictures inside the grounds-well, one on my phone.  A "chucky-esque" doll. what else?     We partook of corn dogs, roasted corn, fried pies, cookie, lots of dip samples....ok, this was a combination of what we both ate, we didn't  both eat all of that.  Bought some photos, burlap coffee sack-might make two large pillows with that, children's book for my children's halloween book collection, homemade pasta, some odds and ends.  The weather was great for this time of year-had a great day of visiting and shopping and just hanging out.    We stopped for italian food on the way home-because once we got back, we showered and were in for the night!  The next morning we went to Panera then the town square in McKinney to hit a few antique stores and shops. After all that, I headed back home.

fun bottle found in mckinney

part of my burlap sack

I've been working on some art this week-very belated birthday gifts.  Here are some snippets-since one of them reads this blog on occasion don't want to spoil the surprise!   That's all for now~

Phillip Phillips: Home - Top 2 - AMERICAN IDOL SEASON 11

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I Am

I finally watched "I Am"
It's a documentary done by director Tom Shadyac after a near death experience.
It's been on the OWN network a few times.  There is some pretty powerful information-when you
hear someone tell you not to be negative-or put out negative thoughts-this will show you why.  
I've been pretty negative the past few yrs with all the crap that has gone on in my "world" but this
shows a strong reason to try to be more positive.  
 This makes me want to downsize-and live a different life.

Art Festival Favorites

Here are a few links to some of my favorite art at Main St this yr.
http://guyhousewrightphotography.com/  photos of peeling paint in abandoned bldgs-LOVE
http://www.westernphotoworks.com/  photos printed in a whole new way-loved these
http://www.marjolyn.com/  mixed media/nostalgia
http://www.jimcbrown.com/  love the look of his work
http://www.kinacrow.com/  found her on pinterest few months ago and just LOVE her work in clay/canvas
 http://www.dresspaintings.blogspot.com/  love how her work has evolved

 http://www.scottolsonfineart.com/  love the "scratchy" look

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/melissaschmidt    some of the most unique jewelry i've seen
http://www.lisauntitled.com/  batiks made into art pieces very labor intensive
http://www.o-liveland.com/cms/   interesting concept (sculpture)
http://www.dlittlewilson.com/  always enjoy her work
http://www.thetincantourist.com/  fun/nostalgic mixed media
http://www.mainstreetartsfest.org/experience-main-st./the-art/artists/patricia-deleon-alfonso
 pretty amazing work

Art Festival and Water Gardens

This weekend was the Ft Worth Main St Art Festival-one of the best i must say.  We went out there on thurs to spend our tradition opening day looking at art.  Lunch at Jake's Hamburgers, then art.  I didn't take any pictures of the booths-i'll post websites later to some of my favorites.  I went back friday evening to listen to some music and walk around again-just for the inspiration.  Sunday we headed back yet again. Can you tell i like to make a weekend out of it?  Lunch at Razoo's, more art then off to the Water Gardens.  Haven't been there since they did renovations.   

Too Much Information

Just found out about this site: www.spokeo.com  from Pam Garrison's Blog
There is allot of information out there on us all-she tells how to go to the site to have your info
removed.  It probably gets added back months down the road so you may have to do this on
occasion.  It has too much info for comfort.  Check it out. (spokeo.com)

Third Time's the Charm

I've been trying to get my camera to upload pictures for over a week now-for some reason, they didn't want to load until today.  I can finally show what i have been up to lately.  First is some fabric (white cotton) that i decided to paint and stamp on to use on some "pod dolls" i decided to make after seeing some large pods in a tree recently.

Started by spritzing w/tim holtz sprays.

Stamped the white image then added the black circles.

Closer view of the fabric.

Last, i added the text in black.  When i finish my prototypes for the dolls i'm calling "pod people"  i will post them here~

Today while mowing out in the "country" i came across tall grasses that had been slept in.  If you look closely you will see a large indention on the left and a small one on the picture on the right.  I'm pretty sure they were from deer-mom or dad left the large indention and the baby left the smaller one- Don't think it shows up as well in the pictures as it did in person.  Saw tons of butterflies, a roadrunner, few hawks and baby birds who could not yet fly.  Gary came across the item below.   It now resides with my collection of "nature finds" for lack of better description. (along with my skunk and opossum skeletons)  It's about 3 feet long. 

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Snake head (rattlesnake)

Help Trudi pick her Moos!

Trudi Sissons (Twodressesstudio) needs help to narrow down her moo card choices.  Click on her link (above) to get the scoop on how to help-and she's making it worth your while with a chance to win a copy of Seth Apter's new book "the pulse of mixed media" as well as sets of her moo cards~

Take some time to check out her blog while you're at it, her digital work is stunning.

Texas Tornadoes

Yes, we do things bigger in Texas-now officially say there were 14 tornadoes here on tues.  I sat in front of the tv watching the coverage-pretty amazing when you think about how they can broadcast a tornado as it is happening.  The most unbelievable was seeing the semi-trailers thrown through the air like nothing-and being glad my son was nowhere near here.  We just got rain in my part of town-thankfully.
  I lived through a tornado when i was in elementary school-in Hurst Tx.  Think it was 1972-hit early on a sat morning.  A section of our fence came through our sliding glass door-thankfully my brother and sister were not up watching cartoons yet as they normally were on a sat morning-30 min later would have been a different story.  I remember my mom yelling "TORNADO, get into the hallway!"  we all ran into the hall and did the "duck and cover" we learned at school (Harrison Lane Elementary) By then it had passed through.  My dad finally entered the hall and my mom said "where were you?"  she had thrown all the covers over on him and tangled him up-he had just gotten loose.  Our dogs were blown into the front yard-dad brought them into the bathroom for us to dry off when he went out to check on house and neighbors.  Our dogs never liked storms after that.  Our fence was blown over/away,  sliding glass door gone and some other damage, but nothing too major-so i think we should all be exempt from any other tornado for the rest of our lives~
    

Quick Update

 First, my aunt Norma turned 70 on thurs so Happy Birthday to her!  (she is on the left-age 19 and my mom-21)  they were so 60's!  

 Next i've wanted to try some little fabric houses (inspired by pinterest of course) so here is one attempt.  We also worked on these at my last art meeting-i'll add that picture later.   the purple houses are flat-made those for our swap.  I actually started making those in 2007-that type, but put them away for "later."  Later came so I made these.      

 This is a piece I started a year or so ago.  Reclaimed wood, joint compound, paint, rusted metal fence piece and egg images.  I plan to add a bird image sitting on the wire, but just haven't done it yet.  

Finally a snippet of a piece I'm sending to an art call from Seth Apter.     Click on the link to read the specifics.  It's in conjunction with his new book: The Pulse of Mixed Media.

Life in the Joy Household

Hard to believe i haven't posted in over a month (OK, so maybe it is)  There has been allot going on in
my life.  Some big changes and more to come.  For those that know my son and his "struggle" to grow

up (that's the nice way of putting it) :)  He has *finally* found something that
that will put him on the path to independence.  Something he never thought he would do, but the opportunity came up, he signed up and was accepted. (no, its not the military) He is driving a truck.  He found a course affiliated with a trucking company-you train for a month then they put you to work-with a training driver, not on your own until they sign off on you. He seemed to take to it very quickly-even aced his commercial test with a 98.
He left Wednesday morning for his first run.  He has been to Denver already and is headed to Pennsylvania as i type.  They stopped at a casino in Iowa last night-good place to park and sleep (more quiet) and you can walk around the casino and stretch. (and pull a slot machine and win $44) He will get a lesson in mountain driving by sat night-Appalachian mountains-i would be sweating bullets.  This is such a huge thing in our family-he has had so many jobs and no desire to grow up-i was beginning to think that I would have to move away instead of him ever leaving.  :)   
    Gary is going to make some big changes too-but I'm not writing about that until he actually leaves on Sunday (assuming he doesn't change his mind)  which will affect me too-
  As for art, I seem to be struggling with creating-last year i went the first 6 months without creating and that seems to be happening again.  I dyed some fabric last week-avacado dying-beautiful.  I made a little 3-d fabric house (picture soon) but other than dabbling here and there, nothing to speak of.  I think it's because I am tired of all I do-I feel like i "copy" for lack of a better word all the other stuff that is out there-i put my own spin on it, not exact of course, but i'm just not feeling the usual feeling I get from making something-I need to find my niche.  Maybe if i clean out my art room-and i mean really think about what i want to keep and what i never use, then having an orderly room would be more condusive to creating.  I have had "urges" to play with fabric, so I think that is what I need to do for awhile~