Sunday, December 6, 2009

A Bright Spot In An All Around Grey Day


Today was grey in more ways than just the sky and the cold and the... well everything is grey and drab and cold. My sister called from Texas to tell me that my dad was taken by ambulance back to the hospital with pneumonia. He had only been home 2 days after being in the hospital for 7 weeks and things aren't looking good. I have reservations to fly down next Sunday, may have to change that to tomorrow.

So this piece is my one piece of brightness in the day-I already had the flowers in the frame, I collaged the frame, adding tissue paper, stickers, buttons and bows. It is for the letter F. Family, Friends, Flowers, Forever.
I am not an emotional eater but I am craving macaroni and cheese. comfort food, right?

Saturday, December 5, 2009

December Doings

The house guests are all gone from November, first we had my sister in law and her husband and then we had my daughter and her boyfriend. I really do enjoy having company come see us. I do have to sacrifice my studio space as that doubles as the guest room but that is a small price to pay for seeing those we love. Besides it gives me a concrete reason and deadline to clean and organize it, as it does get out of hand quite often. So anyway now that it is quiet around here I have been busy making stuff.

The collage above is titled " A Walk in the Woods" It is in a 3x5 frame that I already had, then I found the photo in an advertisement and cut it up and collaged over it. This scene reminds me of the last two winters in Idaho and snowshoeing in the beautiful back country. Then to the frame I glued a leaf button and some gold plant like items from a thrift store.
This piece I made with my friend Lindsay in mind. She owns the North End Organic Nursery and I have about 30 some odd pieces of art on display in their retail shop. I stopped by this morning and she said they already sold 2. the piece above I call Beautiful Boise in the Spring. I painted the house frame and made a backing for it, cutting out 2 openings for the larger flower pieces. Most of the items are thrift store finds. The lamb is a vintage lamb that was my mothers. Behind the lamb is a photo of the Boise foothills were you can sometimes find sheep grazing. One thing I love about Boise is the four seasons and spring IS beautiful. Guess I'm already looking forward to it and it is only December!
The last time I fished was in Girl Scouts off the pier at South Padre Island TX and didn't catch anything, so even though I am not a fisherman, I like piers and boats and water. I was in Monterrey CA this past spring and saw all the sea lions sunbathing on the fishing piers. This piece is called Fun Fishing.

If you read my blog and are in Boise, our winter Gypsy Gallery Show will be up for an extra week until the 13th! I had fun sitting down there this afternoon, it looks so pretty with all the Christmas Trees and lights and my friend Nancy came down and sat with me for a while and then we went next door to Macy's and promptly spent any $ we had made from our art. (But we did get some good deals)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Gypsy Gallery




Last night my daughter and her boyfriend and my husband helped me set up for the Gypsy Gallery's 7th Annual Holiday Show at the Empire Building, 10th and Idaho, which opens today, Tuesday, December 1. Show hours are Tuesday December 1 through Saturday December 5, open 11-1 and 4-6 T, W, F; 11-1 and 4-9 First Thursday, 10-5 Saturday and 11-3 Sunday.

Marianne, a friend and fellow artist who was one of the founders of the Gypsy Gallery wrote up a nice history of the group on her blog today, so if you want to know more about it...check out her blog @

http://mkonvalinka.blogspot.com/2009/12/about-gypsy-gallery.html

There will be 19 of us set up- we will all be there on Thursday night but are taking turns sitting with the art the rest of the week. I am going down tomorrow at 1 to learn the procedures and then my first shift is from 4-6.