3rd time's a charm?

Cabernet Corks

Good Luck

Your Perception

One of my many goals as a Visual Artist is to be the cover artist for the Boise Weekly. No small feat. I have submitted work twice and it was rejected but they can't tell you what they are looking for...just if they see it, they know it...so after looking at the covers now for over 2 years maybe I have it down?

The first time I submitted images, they were all flat square collages or paintings. The second time, they were photos of my 3D assemblages. This time they are the original art but more of a flattened type assemblage. All 3 are made in CD tins, that AOL used to send in the mail every other day. I'm glad I saved them. They also all use my new favorite media- wax.
Wish me luck... I drop them off tomorrow. :)

Early Spring in Eugene

M.E.C.C.A. & artist garage sale finds

When I went to Art and Soul in Portland I met Yona who was from Eugene and volunteered at M.E.C.C.A. Materials Exchange Center for Community Arts, so I made sure to put that on my to-do-list when I knew I would be going to Eugene to visit my daughter for Spring Break. It was a cool place and Yona even happened to be there. It is a non-profit organization whose mission it is to divert reusable materials from the landfill and put them back in the hands of people who can use them. We stocked up on some cool stuff for my art projects and then when checking out we saw a flier for an artist garage sale and got some more finds. My daughter and her boyfriend had been talking about wanting to make candles out in the back shed and we found a whole box of candle making supplies for $10 so mom got it for them.:)
We had three days of wonderful early Spring weather with no rain! We explored several parks, ate at many good local restaurants and visited Cody, Panda (the dog) and Victoria's favorite spot on the river.

Bill and I got to stay in the special " loft apt." above my daughters new home. It was reached by a ladder in the hall closet and you couldn't stand up in it but it was newly carpeted and a big space so we could spread out all our crap. I felt like a hobbit. I've always loved cool spaces like this.

and when I got back I had a special surprise waiting for me..my Artful Blogging magazine that I won on http://voodoonotes.blogspot.com/

A parting shot of the beauty of Eugene.

Your Perceptions....

So let me tell you about this one... well first I saved a fortune cookie insert that said, " Your perceptions are sharpened through careful observation." Then I found a magnifiying glass and I put the two together in my studio for about 5 months to percolate. Then recently I bought that wood storage spice cabinet that was highlighted on my blog a week or so ago. I am using it for my little embelishments, well I had taken all the tops of the spice shakers off but of course I couldn't throw those away, they were added to the growing collection on my table. The face came from a bag of ceramic heads I bought on our "art trek" out to the hinter lands in Caldwell ID. The Yellow is an Encaustic wax sample I picked up at an art store in Portland. In the wax are embedded some found pebbles and beads. My next step is to pour resin all over the whole thing. I have not had good luck photographing items with resin on them because of the glare created, so this photo is sans resin.

Exquiste Corpse

Pam's piece in progress...

Zella, Marianne, Nancy, and Susan all collaborate on Zella's piece.

Zella working on ATC's

Pam's ATC's

Today was such a great day for "an art date" with a bunch of fun, artistic girl friends. First of all it had been an early spring here in Boise and we were all marveling over the warm temps and budding trees and flowers, then this morning we woke up to snow! So it was a great day to stay inside and create.

Well, Marianne (click to see her photos and blog) invited us all over for a day of art, she generously shared all of her wonderful art supplies, books and techniques and we learned from each other.

We were each to bring a "substrate" something to start the piece on and then we would each have an hour to work on each others piece and pass it around. We had a lot of laughs, a lot of sharing of ideas and a lot of the "F" word which actually wound up on the back of my piece after we had been through a couple of bottles of wine and some great hour-devours!

A few of the men came out of the woodwork by the end of the day when we broke out the steaming pot of chili and Pineapple cake to top off the days work.

Some of the pieces may wind up in the silent auction at We Art Women-April 8th at the VAC and look for the ATC's around town as we get ready for our Modern Art Show at the "Modern Hotel" on May 6th.

15 years

Someone asked me today how long I had been married, I said 15 years this month, then looked at my watch and saw that we both missed our anniversary- it was yesterday! The photo above pictures my loving husband who went out of town on our 15th anniversary without me.

Seriously we have a great relationship and holidays and anniversary's don't mean much to us. It is better to celebrate the daily life together than to get caught up in the "what Hallmark says you should do thing"

The photo above was taken on our last family vacation with the girls and I think it was my youngest, Katherine,who altered the photo and made it cool. We had stopped the truck and all gotten out at some lake and were playing around with the driftwood...a good memory.

Happy Anniversary Bill!

3 good things

This week I found out that I was accepted into two juried art shows. "We Art Women!" chose "Time for the Show" for their fourth annual benefit for the Women's and Children's Alliance of Boise. (pictured above) and "If I'm Going to Die I might as well have some fun" (pictured below) was selected for an extended two-month at the Visual Arts Collective (VAC).


Other exciting news was Marianne, Zella, Kevin and I were chosen as participating artists in Modern Art 2010 a one night event at the Modern Hotel May 6th. Last year I think something like 3,000 people attended. We will be showing our work as well as hosting a table for people to make their own ATC's.

And last but not least I was checking one of my favorite blogs last night and saw the words "Hey, Pam McKnight" You win the copy of Artful Blogging. Send me your address, and I'll get it in the mail~~congratulations! How cool is that!

Lending Library

"Never lend books-nobody ever returns them;
the only books I have in my library are those which people have lent me. "
Anatole France

Last night I went over to my friend Nancy's house for our Tuesday "Studio Night" We have missed Marianne our other "regular" as she has been out of town or busy the last 2 weeks. This newest addition to my "ABC's" of Every Little Thing, I finished while at her house. These are the book spines I bought from Aimee (Beach Chicken) a month ago.

The quote I cut from a book (audible gasp) instead of copying it. I don't know why , just more waste of paper...(I made sure I read what was on the back of it first) and the book was printed on better quality paper than the cheap computer crap paper.

About the quote...it is humorous and I try to keep my art lighthearted and (2) it is partly true... I hardly ever buy full price hard back books but I have bought one, once or twice in my life and if I paid that much for it, it must be one that I want to keep and then I lent it to a co-worker I thought would appreciate it and then for 2 years heard " Oh I've been meaning to give you back that book" then he switched jobs...and never heard from him again...oh well...lesson learned.

I added my little 3-D embellishments, finding things that would go with each book title. The wooden base/frame was found at the bins. The whole thing was "antiqued" with alcohol based inks that I bought locally and then rubbed on the wood and embellishments.

Can't have enough.....Storage

AFTER

I found this cool organizer at "Savers" the other day for $4.99 I think it was handmade and was just begging to be decorated. Each little drawer handle is screwed into a spice jar. I glued the loose screws and removed the little plastic thing in the top of each container that has holes in it to sprinkle your spices. And added bottles caps, seashells, pins, dice, buttons, beads etc.

I have had fun figuring out what is going in each "drawer" as well as adding paint and collage items to the exterior.

BEFORE

WAY BEFORE

I had this ugly plastic one I used to keep all my little things in until my husband appropriated it...but I waited patiently and then this other piece fell into my hands. Wood is way cooler than plastic anyway....

Treasure Valley Artist Alliance

Last night I attended and officially joined ($) the Treasure Valley Artist Alliance whose mission is to forge connections among visual artists in the Treasure Valley in order to create opportunities for creative collaboration, support and community contribution.

Building upon this mission our new logo is one that all can contribute to. It is a 4 x 4 grid the spells out TVAA. The idea is for all members to contribute their own 6" X 6" 300dpi version of one of those letters, an ever changing logo that all can have the opportunity to collaborate on.

As a member at large on the board and the education committee chair of the TVAA. I would be happy to answer any of your questions or if you have any great ideas you would like to share...share away....:)

I Capture the Castle

(9" X 9" X 4 1/2" D)

We've all heard the sayings- Queen of the Castle, I want to be treated like a Queen, etc... I had purchased this Queen figurine awhile back and she came with a matching King. I was going to use them as a pair, but nothing seemed to work. I've had them sitting in my studio for a few months now, trying out different ideas.

I also have a miniature crystal ball and dragon that I am trying to work into a piece of art. The dragon is one of the remaining "original" miniatures that I collected as a child in NJ. Now that I have figured out a scene for the Queen, the King might have to be all about the magic.

Last week while participating in the February Arts and Crafts Show, I met Aimee in the booth next to me who sells notebooks made out of old books. She was selling the spines of the books which she no longer had a use for. (10 for $1 if you need any) Talk about reusing. Well when I saw I Capture the Castle- bingo! I had my theme. I had never heard of the book so looked it up and found out that this was the first novel of Dodie Smith (published in 1949) who afterward became famous as the author of 101 Dalmatians.

The glass coffee stirrer with the crown was given to me by my friend Deborah who had saved up a whole bag of goodies for me.

The thimble was purchased while I was traveling in England about 10 years ago. There is an "underground" ticket on the back wall from that trip. Inscribed on the back of the thimble is 100th Birthday of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

I have used a lot of different purples in this piece as purple signifies royalty. The curtain is a vintage handmade piece from my grandmothers collection.

Besides finishing this piece today - this morning I lead my first 1/2 of a docent tour at the BAM... 6th & 7th graders touring the robot exhibit with Bonnie, my docent mentor. I think it went very well.

This evening I spent with Marianne from the Gypsy Gallery, we attended the Capital City Public Market annual meeting and then went to the Modern to drop off our application for the Modern art show scheduled for 1st Thurs. in May. Then since our hubbies were out of town...well we might as well stick around and have a drink at the bar. Tonight was vinyl night which was pretty cool.

How sweet is that...

So last night just after watching my newest Netflix rental (The Nanny Diaries) I went outside to clip it to the mailbox and when coming back in the house, I thought I saw something on the front porch. I bent down for closer inspection and it was a small red tricycle. A very weird thing to find but as an assemblage artist of found objects...voila...a found object, right on my doorstep! Thank you to whoever left it for me, that was a very sweet gesture.

Tonight I attended my first board meeting as an official board member of the new Treasure Valley Artist Alliance. What a great group of artists all volunteering to help other artists in the area. If you are an artist in the Boise area you should click on their website and plan to attend our next general meeting on March 1st.

"Time For The Show"

20" H x 11"W x 3" D

This has been a fun piece to create. Lot's of playing involved. I bought the main piece at the "bins" a few months back and have looked at it every day trying to figure out what to do with it. I was going to use a "dinosaur/monster-barbie" I had created, but her hair overwhelmed the whole thing.

My first step was to cut a base for the giraffe to stand on and a back for the piece. As I was picking papers for the collage, I came across a ticket from the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. This started the Circus theme really rolling, but I didn't want a traditional circus so I put the wings on the giraffe that I took off my barbie creature.

I painted the whole contraption with what Michael DeMeng calls "uszhhh" a mixture of colors he usually uses. Then dry brushed green and white over it, to give it a feel of verti-gri. The metal decorative cross pieces are drawer pulls that I painted with some Alcohol Inks they come in a small squeeze bottle and you just drop them on.

I wanted a kind of Victorian Fantasy world feel for the piece. I have been researching the Steam Punk movement (thanks to my new artist friend Cheri) and this was in the back of my mind. The old Walthum pocket watch on top came from either Bill's family or mine. We can't remember which. Decoration details include vintage buttons, game pieces, beads, and hand painted designs. I plan to enter this piece in the We Art Women 2010 Juried Competition.

Saturday Hunt and Gather Expedition

Today my daughter and my friend Nancy and I had a fun girls day out. First we stopped at an Art tag sale and visited a few friends. Then we ventured out of the Boise Bubble and actually got on the interstate and went all the way to Nampa and Caldwell. I have lived in Idaho for over 2 years now and had never been to these two towns before. (Except for driving through them without stopping.) Today was the Re:Use art market monthly opening. Everything is free for artists with a donation. I got a lot of wood items, some candles, old razor blades, and small silk flowers. Katherine and Nancy also found some cool stuff. And we got to shop in the White Pine boutique up front and Katherine bought a short sleeve grey sweatshirt.
We walked around the downtown area and saw quite a few cute shops we would like to come back for when it is warmer and to visit the Sat. market when it is open.

Then it was off to Caldwell, the main attraction there was a Tex-Mex restaurant that I had met the owner of -last summer at the Boise Sat. Market. He was originally from San Antonio. Well when we walked in and saw the Huge Texas Flag on the wall and the cooler of Big Red Soda it felt like we were back home. After a satisfying lunch of Cheese Enchiladas it was off to see what Caldwell had to offer.

Well we got back in the truck and saw a huge billboard down the street that said "Arts and Crafts" so we head that way and found a block of 3 storefronts that were just filled with art stuff. I bought a big roll of white paper to use for my seamless background for when I photograph my art. A miniature giraffe and a wood cello. This was a HUGE store and the woman at the register knew the price of everything. (even things that were not marked)

Down the street was a thrift store and antique/collectible store which we stopped in before going back. I purchased the book and creepy doll with the cut off hair.

So all in all it was a great day.
Now it's back to creating....

Your Dentist Recommends....

Found object assemblage/collage in a hand-painted wooden frame with game pieces, burlap, buttons, jewelry parts, rick rack, beads, wax and resin. 9 1/4" X 9 1/4 square.

One of the items in the collage is an old ad for Viceroy Cigarettes, that says Viceroys filter the Smoke! and "As your Dentist I would recommend Viceroys."

I have named this piece "Your Dentist Recommends" AKA "Playing with your life" hence the game pieces.

As some of you know, my dad is currently battling for his life with all kinds of cancer throughout his body. He is only 73, which is I consider fairly young nowadays. But he smoked his entire life, did not exercise and ate the typical American diet, which isn't all that healthy...they say smoking cuts 6-12 years off your life. I'm just saying.

Valentines Day Arts and Crafts Sale

I am participating in a 3 day show in Boise. 16 artists have taken over a vacant store front, it has been lots of fun meeting new people and lots of local artists that I had not met before. We are located at 6521 Ustick Rd. Tomorrow, Valentines Day will be our last day and we will be there from 11-6. The above picture is a photo of my booth of assemblages.
I did make a few new things for this show with a heart theme. These hearts I had tole-painted back in the 80's and updated them with some glitter hearts.
This is an assemblage piece I just made titled "Ode to Granny" The original photo is of an unknown woman I found in the bottom of a box at a thrift store. She is on a tin heart candle holder that I have attached pearls, beads and a miniature ceramic vase and hangs by a gray ribbon.

Inchie's Frame

A couple of posts back I told y'all (I can say that since I have lived most of my life in Texas) that I entered a challenge to create some 1" collages called "inchies" Well I won the challenge, I think her cat picked the winners:) and my prize was a frame for one of my inchie's. It came just a couple days after I won, all the way from B.C. Candada. http://www.artchixstudio.com
The above photo are all the cool things that came along with my winning package.

Here is what I did with my frame. Lots of fun.

Those cold gray days of winter

I think we are all a little tired of the cold gray days of winter. Not everyone can jet off to Mexico or Hawaii, so with us poor folks stuck in the gray in mind I have created the I Wish I Was Someplace Tropical -drink/candle holder. Bird and wooden base from the Salvation Army, Coral from Florida from the 1960's, metal coaster from my family from the 60's, Fish from Belize.

This piece along with many others will be for sale at the February Arts and Crafts Sale this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday 11-6 at 6521 Ustick Rd. Boise. Come stop by and say hi.

Good Luck

I just finished reading a book about survival in extreme conditions, and who survives and why. It pays to be prepared and to be able to keep your head in an emergency, but like a roll of the dice...a lot of it comes down to just plain 'ole good luck.

This piece came about when I was testing the whole wax with resin idea on the plastic cowboy.
The cowboy is in a top from a tea canister. The words in wire and beads that spell Good Luck were given to me by my daughters when they both gave me all of their scrap booking paraphernalia. I added the dice as a symbol of luck. All the items are attached to a metal tin that a CD came in. The yellow thing is also a test piece for the wax/resin. It is a button in a metal bottle cap.

Butterfly Brilliance

Butterfly lamp- found parts of lamps at 2 different thrift stores. The base even had a bulb in it that worked! I put them together added silk butterflies and leaves and painted the same on the shade. Cute little lamp selling for $25.

YouTube Artist Video's

So after a short tutorial on how to embed these into my blog. I now have all 3 videos on here. If you missed the story about these, just read my previous blog. Randall filmed me for about 45 minutes. Unscripted, no re-takes, had to think fast. Of the 45 minutes of speaking he edited it down to 3 videos of about 23 minutes total time.



Though it is painful to see oneself as others see you, I think it turned out pretty well, and I'm not too embarrassed to share it with all of you.

Things are happening this week!

So I met this muralist the other night at the Treasure Valley Artist Alliance "Mingle at the Modern." Randall Miller who is making educational video's of artists. He films them in their studio's or homes and just lets them talk about their art. I thought what a cool idea, but I don't think I'll do it. Then I saw one he did of Melissa, another artist in the TVAA, whose work I really admire and thought- I can do that.

We made an appointment and he came over yesterday at 3. We walked around the house and into the studio and back patio and I showed a lot of my art and collections and talked about my evolution from painting to collage to adding 3D elements to doing almost all 3d assemblage at this point.

I know I was very nervous at first- having no script, and when I am nervous I talk really fast, and say dumb stuff like " you can see my art at: and then I gave my email address. My husband was listening from the back room and assured me I sounded very articulate.

Tonight I went on to YouTube and found he already put part one up-here is the link to my first YouTube video.

I also went on my first docent tour Tuesday at the Boise Art Museum and followed my mentor Bonnie Peacher. What a good experience that was.

Then I wrapped up the day by going down to Kristy's studio and got to hang with Kristy, Marianne, Vicki, and Nancy while working on a new assemblage piece and drinking some good wine Marianne found at the Grocery Outlet of all places. It's always refreshing to get to work with others instead of by myself, though it is hard to decide what to pack and bring and then you always forget something you really need!

The fun did not end today when I was notified that I won my very first online art challenge! It was the "Inchie" challenge I blogged about a few days ago and won a frame for them. Yeah!

Working with Wax

I have been intrigued with using wax in my work but had never done it before. I had an old double boiler I had saved for years for just this purpose but left it behind in Texas when we moved out west without ever having used it.:(

I had heard about encaustics but was told it was really expensive to get into. Then when I was at Art & Soul in Portland last year, I was given an artist trading card by one of my teachers and she had used wax on it. At the make and take table we collaged a tag and then dipped the whole thing in melted wax.

I decided to try this at home. My experience- First off, don't float a pie tin in a skillet of water and expect it to stay upright. The wax melted and the whole thing started tipping into the water. So I got wax in my good skillet and water in my wax. Then called my husband to come help, he didn't know what was going on and grabbed the whole thing and poured it down the sink! My daughter then reminded me that I had a little melting pot somewhere, that plugs into the wall and is made just for this purpose! duh! Much easier!

The Dia De Los Muertos frame is a collage of paper and 3D elements that I then spooned melted wax over and used water soluble oil pastels on top to add some color. Then coated it all with matte medium. The picture is removable, so you can add your own if you like.

The bottom project is a handmade wooden box filled with bottle caps that I have painted and glued into the box. I gathered together a collection of charms and small items that went well together color wise, some of which I have had since I was a small child. A charm was placed in each compartment and then I poured the wax over them. Somehow it didn't quite look finished, as after the wax was dry some of the pieces were still loose- so I poured resin over the top of each one to seal them in. I stamped "The ABC's of Every Little Thing"around the edges of the wood. And have decided to give it the name of my blog as this piece typifies what I am trying to do with my art. I am not sure if it is finished yet. Suggestions welcome.

fun time scouting for cool stuff

Katherine and I had lots of fun going to thrift stores yesterday. I dumped it all out on the table and added up the receipts. I spent a total of $7.88 I can feel good about it being stuff that no body wanted anymore and the $ goes to charity.

Katherine had done a massive room cleaning and had to drop some stuff off at the Salvation Army and of course since I was there I had to look around and found a whole bag of misc. game pieces, then while we were out we might as well stop in at the Antique Mall- were I bought the Victorian lock, then it was on to the Idaho Youth Ranch, cause I need a lampshade for a project and still had not found one- BINGO! they had a slew of them, picked one out and yes- it fit! Tonight's project is to paint butterflies on it to match the base.

Today I went to find the location of my next art sale. Feb. 12, 13 and 14 from 11-6 at 6521 Ustick Road, Boise. We are located between a sex shop and a Baptist Church! Stop by and say hi.

Inchies

I have seen a lot of different on line "art challenges" and this one seemed just right. The challenge was to create 5 "inchies" I had never made an inchie before...but turns out they are just a 1" collage. 1" is pretty tiny, but it was fun! This could become addictive. I will be making more.
If you would like to join in on the fun go to:
http://myartisticlife.typepad.com/my_artistic_life/2010/01/new-art-challenge-inchies-winners-more.html

These are also posted on my Flicker site along with a category for ATC's, collages, and Found Object Assemblages. http://www.flickr.com/photos/75115793@N00/

Upcycling

Upcycling
A term coined to describe the creation of a product with higher intrinsic value, manufactured from a material at the end of its service life, which had a lower initial end use value.

I had heard this term before but wasn't sure of it's exact meaning, so I looked it up today at http://www.egreenideas.com/glossary.php?group=u

and saw that that is exactly what I am doing as I am purchasing or using things that people no longer want or have a purpose for because it is outdated, or broken or missing parts and by combining it with other items I am turning it into a piece of art, hopefully making something new that someone can relate to and want in their life.

The "Kiss of an Angel" Jewelry Box was a joint effort between my daughter and I. She purchased a plain old used boring brown jewelry box at a thrift store, then painted it white and distressed it and added some crocheted doilies. I made the top out of leftover "greenery" a metal candlestick holder and an angel that looked as though it was missing it's kissing cousin...and antiqued it with acrylic paint. All of this was then attached to the top of the jewelry box.

Ducks in a Drawer

In keeping with my theme of double alliteration...

I bought this jewelry box drawer at the "bins" a warehouse filled with bins of leftover garage sale type items that can't be sold at a regular thrift store. The bins are just stuffed with everything imaginable including lots of broken glass. I find it so sad that things are just thrown in all together in a huge jumbled mess and not more organized. This is kind of like last stop shopping before the city dump. After you collect your items they are put on a scale and you pay 50 cents a pound. I don't think I have ever paid over $2.

Once I found a bunch of cool things to use in my assemblages but the line was really long so I just put the stuff down and left and now every so often, I think of one of those items and try to find it in my studio and how perfect it would be for a current project and then it dawns on me. oh shoot, I didn't buy that because of my aversion to waiting in a line!

I will do anything to avoid waiting in a line.
One time I was at a JoAnnes or Michaels in Dallas and was in line and I heard a woman in a loud voice on her cell phone talking about the rude person that cut in front of her and all of a sudden it dawned on me that she was talking about me! The thing was I am always very polite and I did not cut her off but because I got there before she did, (they had just opened a new lane) she had to call her friend and vent! (She had a full cart and I had one item)

So anyway...I have this drawer and think, what can I do with it...ahh yes....ducks....but now the name reminds me of that Justin Timblerlake/ SNL skit. D....in a box. and I laugh and blush every time.

ATC's

Here are the Artist Trading Cards I finished last night at the studio, they are a mixture of collage and acrylic paint and marker.

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist_trading_card:

Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs) are miniature works of art about the same size as modern baseball cards,^[1] or 2 ½ X 3 ½ inches (6cm X 9cm),^[2] small enough to fit inside standard card-collector pockets, sleeves or sheets.^[3] The ATC movement developed out of the mail art movement and has its origins in Switzerland.^[4] Cards are produced in various media, including dry media (pencils, pens, markers, etc), wet media (watercolor, acrylic paints, etc), paper media (in the form of collage, papercuts, found objects, etc). The cards are usually traded or exchanged rather than sold.

Productive day and night

After my last post of getting organized and getting stuff done, I hadn't posted or finished any art. Not that I haven't been doing anything, just not finishing anything.

Well I got a lot done today! I finished about 6 new pieces of art that had been in various stages. Including the one above.

Then I went to Kristy's Studio that she is an Artist In Residence in in BoDo. Nancy, Marianne, Kristy and I had fun hanging out and working on our art. I completed 10 ATC's. Kristy has the studio until the end of February so we will probably go back next Tuesday evening.

Some of my other projects have been getting started as a docent at the Art Museum. Getting voted onto the board of directors for a new non-profit starting up- The Treasure Valley Artist Alliance, entering a 3 day recycled theme arts and craft fair held on Valentines weekend and starting a Facebook page for my art titled "Every Little Thing." Guess I haven't been slacking after all!

This assemblage was put together using 2 odd's and ends I had floating around that I had picked up at thrift stores. Playing around with them I saw that they fit together and kind of looked like a trophy. My good friend Sharki gave me a necklace for my birthday/Christmas and the packaging that came with it was too good to throw away and I cut it out and used it for the "plaque" on the trophy. It says "Dear friends are always close to the heart." I also attached some gold beads and caulking and then painted layers of color to unify the piece and make it look old.

What a mess...with a pleasant surprise

So I went to pick up all my art that didn't sell over the holiday's at the Organic Nursery, items to repair... and then had a large tub of art to go through that was picked up for me by Nancy from the Gypsy Show downtown, then I received a notice from the IRS that they didn't receive my sales tax payment from last quarter. My art room is piles high....my husband is occupied teaching a class tonight...sooo...


I'm lighting a fire in the fireplace, (one of the reasons I wanted this house and this room in particular for my studio) pouring a glass of wine and here goes....time to get organized.

But first I have to blog about it...staaallling.....

This ties up the ends on my first full year as a full time artist and I was pleasantly surprised when I added it all up. I sold 52 pieces this year! I was really shocked , I had no idea I had sold that many pieces. Yes I keep track but each event's sales doesn't seem like much but when you add it up, it's one a week for a year.

My next show will be First Thursday in March. Downtown Boise, Place TBA. A good reason to get back on track.

Keep posted for what's next for the New Year!

Treasure Hunting in San Antonio

Well I was 2 weeks in San Antonio with my dad. He was not expected to live more than 2-3 days when I arrived but he is one tough old man and beat the pneumonia. I was fortunate to be there for the big move into a Nursing home and things are stable for now. Of course I got sick for the first time in 3 years from the stress and germs and little sleep one gets from sleeping in the hospital.

I did get to go out a couple times while there. My cousin Nancy and her family came down from NJ and we went to a Mercado were I picked up these cute hand made charms. Now to think what to do with them.
I stayed with my sister Dana who lives in a small town in the Hill Country and while waiting for her son to take his guitar lesson we went into an Antique Store and I found this mixture of items just waiting for a project on the letter "D"...
Nothing is glued down but this is the general idea I came up with, I also have some old dominoes and a vintage picture of children playing dominoes that also fit with the letter theme.
While I was thinking about D's...I found these cute little ducks in my collection and thought they would fit great in this little drawer. "Ducks in a Drawer?"