I am going to have a vendor booth at the 15th Annual Sage and Songbirds Festival this weekend in the Viejas Casino Outlet courtyard in Alpine, CA.
I am very excited to be outside, meet some great people and enjoy the events of the weekend.
Hope you will try to join me!!
"Little Pearl" - Pearl Crescent Butterfly
|
|
I guess I should tell you about my failures as well as my successes here. I had a somewhat major failure here this past week. I am working on painting some more bird pieces and had 7 more that I fired over the weekend.
Out of 7 pieces, I got only 3 usable ones. I have never had this happen before. I have had some paint colors turn a slightly different shade before. Or get a bit darker than anticipated, but I have never had 4 pieces at one time not only change color, but become so completely unusable.
Here is the problem - the yellow turned gray. And with these birds it is quite noticeable and unacceptable.
Not only should this Lesser Goldfinch have a yellow chest, but the flower is supposed to be yellow!
You can't have a Yellow Rumped Warbler with no yellow on him...
Robins are known for their yellow beaks....
And this Kestrel should have yellow around his eyes and an orange/yellow mustache.
So, between the loss of time, paint, frit and electricity, needless to say I was a bit frustrated. But, I am in the middle stages of completing these pieces again as well as a piece with two Magpies that I am excited about and 2 other birds as well. Hopefully these will be more successful than the yellow catastrophe.
|
|
I know that I have heard before that a group of owls is a parliament, but while looking for a name for one of the 3 owl pieces that I am going to enter in the juried salon show in June I came across the term again. It fit this piece just right.
Aproximately 5 x 5 x 17"
This burrowing owl is on the look out for his afternoon snack. Hence the name "Two O'Clock"
Approximately 5 x 5 x 24"
And the large piece I told you about in my last post - I titled it "Night Owl". If you recall, this is now the largest piece I have made to date. I am actually quite happy with it. I played around with the painting in order to add light shading and pale coloring. I ended up washing on a very watery color in some areas as well as full strength paints, then used white frit to color in the whole owl. The color wash shows up as a much more natural light color that would not otherwise be possible with just paint or frit. It is difficult to see it in this picture, but there is just slight color in the individual feathers of the front wing and as a shadow on the underside of the owl.
Approximately 16 x 8 x 27"
I think the worst part is that I won't be able to show or try to sell these pieces until the salon show or afterwards. I will be printing out the pictures and sending them in with the application this week. If they are accepted I won't be able to substitute them - they have to be there for the show.
I am also playing around with the natural colored background for the photos. The shadows are killing me - I really need to work on the lighting, but I think the pale color looks as nice or nicer than the black and really brightens up the overall feel.
|
|
I don't usually actually make New Year's resolutions. I like to make goals for myself all of the time, so it seems sort of redundant.
But, this year there are a couple of things that I really do "resolve" to do.
1. I resolve to eat as "vegan" of a diet as I can. This can be difficult when eating out or with friends. And reading all of the ingredients on packages is quite tedious. But I feel very strongly about this in my life and hope that I can make a difference in my health, the invironment and for farm animals everywhere.
2. Secondly, and I just thought of this today, I resolve to try to live every day as if I am on vacation. I thought about how I slow down my movements, my thoughts, my interactions when I am on vacation. I tend to enjoy moments more on vacation. That could be because I am away from regular surroundings where people and things become mundane chores, but I think it might have more to do with a state of mind. This one will be tough. I think I am up for it.
As for goals - those will start soon and continue throughout the year. I am really looking forward to a very healthy, happy and fun 2012. Hope you are, too!
New Year's Eve dinner with hubby. :-)
|
|
It has been far too long since I posted here. Sorry about that. In late October my husband and I took an RV trip out to Santa Fe, New Mexico. We saw so much art and had a great time just poking around the town and surrounding areas.
There were two art highlights for me. First, we went to Shidoni Bronze Foundry and watched an actual bronze pour. Pretty hot and scary work. The grounds are littered with metal sculptures for sale and some were super impressive - some were just plain fun.
In the bronze gallery on the lower back section of the property was where we saw the actual pour and during the week they have more in depth tours of their process studio. That is where I saw an art piece that has inspired a new thought - but that is going to be much later - probably after the holidays.
We also went to the outdoor Tesuque Flea Market. I didn't get any pictures, but here we met a fantastic Flea Market Artist - Kelly Moore - doing graphic oil paintings on canvas, wood, etc. His booth space was phenominal and he does his painting right there. The ground of the space is covered in puzzle pieces! You just have to check out his website. He is also a magnificent poet.
Image borrowed from www.kellymoore.net
So much inspiration! If you want to see a ton of art in a small stretch of space/time, you must visit gallery row in Santa Fe.
So....the point of the title of this post? While we were there I picked up some nice, smallish, basalt rocks. I had seen another artist using small rocks and painting ravens on them. I thought it would be fun to try some.
I painted with acryilics and varnished with a water base finish. They came out nice. I made 9 of them and I actually sold 3 of them at a small art show in Redlands a week or so ago.
This one's cute, huh? Mark's idea. Ants with Cut Leaf "Hello"
|
|
Just wanted to give you a quick update of my upcoming shows for this fall. I am going to be a very busy little bee!
October 1st - I will have space at the Crestline Art-Tiques Walk from 4pm to 8pm. This includes a wine walk put on by the Crestline Chamber of Commerce.
October 8th - Pine Cone Festival in Twin Peaks. A wonderful mountain experience with Pine Cone art, music and contests!
October 15 & 16 - Big Bear Oktoberfest in Big Bear, CA. Should be tons of fun with art, music and BEER!
November 4th - First Friday at The Lake House in Cedar Glen. I am one of the featured artists for this event happening 4 to 7pm - come on down for Wine, Hors d’oeuvres, Friendship & Fine Art! What a great way to start your weekend !
November 6th - Festival of Fine Art in Redlands. This will be an all day Sunday show. It is a fine event with wine, pianist and upscale art and artists. It is being held in the old Fox Theatre in downtown Redlands. I am really looking forward to seeing the old building and the history of it.
November 19 & 20 - Arts and Crafts show at the Oak Glen Retreat in Oak Glen, CA. This is the heart of one of Southern California's apple orchard areas. I expect lots of good apple foods and wonderful new artists.
November 25, 26, 27 - Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair at the San Moritz Lodge in Crestline, CA. I did this show last year for the first time and had a lot of fun! The lodge is large, warm and inviting and the variety of arts and crafts is just great!
December 10th - Christmas Tree Lane Lighting Ceremony and Winter Arts and Crafts Festival in Altadena, CA. This one is fantastic. There is one street overhanging with majestic deodars that are strung with over 10,000 holiday lights. The festival has music, arts and crafts and of course, the trees are lit.
I have been working on stuff like crazy and I don't think the pace will slow until around December 11th. I look forward to seeing some of you at one or more of my shows. Happy Fall!!
|
|
I am trying to get ready for the upcoming holiday season shows. I have several in October, lining up some for November and at least one in December also. I will be updating my website Shows section as the locations, dates and times are confirmed.
In anticipation of some great shows, I have been making jewelry and tile pieces like crazy. I have to get working on more ornaments as well.
Up til now I had only been painting my little driftwood pendants with an off white painted tree design. I decided to try the black paint on the light wood colors and I think I love them! I have also begun using stone beads above the pendant instead of the metal beads. I found some beautiful agate and jasper on my vacation in Oregon this summer that I think simply accentuate the wood tones. I am pretty particular about which beads I use for each necklace.
I've got 15 tile pieces in the kiln that will be mounted on wood. Some of them I am pretty excited to see finished. I tried a close up of a giant tortoise and a close up on a hare as well as some leaves, trees, an owl and other birds. Oh yeah, and another little mouse. Fun Stuff!
|
|
I am so proud to be showing my art at this years' "Art on the Lake" premier art show in Big Bear Lake this weekend. I have been working very hard for a couple of weeks, just making, making, making more tile on wood pieces than ever before.
This time my pieces range from bears to eagles...
finches to owls......
Art on the Lake XII
Marina Resort
40770 Lakeview Dr.
Big Bear Lake, CA
|
|
I finished several tiles this past week. A co-worker was kind enough to give me all of his old fence boards he was tearing down. To some, that would mean a pile of trash. To me, it means Art Project!
"A Fruitful Day" approx 3 x 6-1/2" - The hares I have been doing have really been fun.
I have used these boards as backings for my tiles. They make a terrific, rustic look and really contrast so well with the glossy-ness of the glass. The addition of the small branch pieces gives the pieces dimension and makes a great framework.
"Over the River" Another hare :)
"Leaf It All" Ode to leaves. Notice the leaf wing on the bird?
"Fox Run" This one was fun. The fox is another of my favorite animals to draw and paint. The tree, though is the focus on this piece. It is almost lyrical in its form.
I hope you enjoyed these. I have a bunch more wood ready for glass. Gotta cut the glass, draw some designs and get paintin'! See you soon!
|
|
Pretty much have not done any glass work in about a week. We took our trailer up to San Francisco for 5 days and played tourists. While getting out and visiting other places and cities can be fun, it can be kind of overwhelming to be in a big city like that.
On the boat ride back from Alcatraz
My favorite part was taking the boat over to Alcatraz. We have been to the city several times, but never took the chance to see this island. They have a group of volunteers that are refurbishing the gardens over there. They are really neat, all tucked into a courtyard and built into the ruins of basements of buildings that have burned out and been demolished.
Gardens on Alcatraz
We also went to Ghirardelli square, rode the cable car, the bus and BART train, toured an American submarine, had a Delicious lunch of soup and sandwiches at Boudin Bakery, visited (and got locked in at) the Italian Cemetary, had the most amazing vegetarian "meatloaf" at Ananda Fuara, toured the cable car museum, and took walks on the beach.
Sailboat through the ruins
View from our campsite
All in all, a nice trip once you get past all the PEOPLE!! and traffic.
I did bring my sketchbook and made a couple of drawings for glass tiles. This is the only bird I attended to, though, and the sketch is rather plain, but my bird of the week is:
|
|
