Much to celebrate

I have been writing this blog since June 12, 2009

My birthday is June 11

I am very close to my 100th post.

I say it’s time to reward faithful readers. I have a few mini purse shaped books remaining from the shower, and one could be yours. On June 12 I’ll choose five people from those who make a comment between now and June 11. Followers and those who sign up to follow get a double entry. You can post anonymously but put a first name in the comment so I’ll know who to list as a winner. Make your comment by midnight EDT on the 11th. On June 12 I’ll post the names of the winners and how you can contact me to claim your prize. Be sure to look at the post on the 12th, because unless I know you personally I won’t know where to send the prize.

More Good Fortune Birds

After making about 10 strands of these birds, I’m back to making more. I had forgotten how much fun they were to make. I need to make a replacement for my daughter’s strand because she is taking them to Germany with her on Monday to give to a wonderful family in Tönisvorst‎. They are the family that hosted her for six weeks when she was a high school student. They have since hosted her and other members of our family several times. I loaned my strand of birds to an artist and frequent contributor to CPS magazine for consideration in a future issue. So here are new birds for me and my daughter.

Wordle

This applet is so cool. Go to www.wordle.net and create a word cloud with your choice of text. You can choose a font and a color scheme as well, and wordle makes something that looks like this.

I didn’t choose any special words, I just asked it to use words from my blog. I did have to find and learn how to use the snipping tool on my computer. Not hard, just did a search in help.

A book! From scratch!

Using Debbi Crane’s instructions from her book Mixed Media Explorations, and an online class from Creative Workshops, I have managed to make my first book.

It has a cardboard spine, five hand stitched signatures, a front cover a back cover made from the board on the back of the watercolor pad. I has forty watercolor paper pages. I used a piece of tissue paper I painted last summer for the cover. It’s a little bit wonky, but I’m pleased with it.

Then I got so excited about the first one, I made a simpler one, a pamphlet stitched book with only one signature. It has 32 pages and a painted canvas cover. This could get to be a lot of fun.

Both books have watercolor paper for the pages, so I can do all kinds of wet work in them.

For Your Entertainment

I haven’t been spending much time in the studio lately, so I don’t have any work to show, but here are two videos to make the point that a great song can be done in almost any genre.

On The Rocks, an a capella group from the University of Oregon in Eugene, does Lady Gaga.

and an opera singer does Dave Matthews

Modern Stitchery

I have a lot of things going on in my life right now, and I don’t feel particularly creative. I’ve learned that the impulse to create ebbs and flows for me. These days I’m enjoying our beautiful weather, taking long walks, planning for company and getting ready for Laurel’s wedding. That doesn’t stop me from enjoying the creativity of others.

Check out this blog for some old school/new school hand stitchery. The first half of the blog is about the opening of a gallery show, the second half is devoted to the 10 hand stitched quotes. Lisa Borgnes, the artist, gave me permission to post some photos. Click on the second photo to link to her fabulous blog and all 10 quotes.

Interstate Sandhills

Near the station where we buy gas Tom and I happened upon a family of Florida Sandhill cranes. The adults are about 5 feet tall. The area behind the station is a wetland, less than half a mile from I-95. I’ve seen the parents before, but now they have a chick. Sandhill’s chicks are called colts, and a nesting pair usually only has just one colt.

look at the size of this colt’s feet!

Back to the studio tomorrow. I’m going to be working in 3-D.

Things that are green

We’ve been traveling for a couple of weeks, and while we were gone, all manner of green things cropped up.

Just left of center in the photo below is a green chrysalis. A monarch butterfly will emerge in about a week. We counted four on our porch, and our neighbor has seven.

I’ve been trying to establish gaillardia on one of the outside corners of our lanai. I think I have been successful. There are at least 400,000 seedlings that will need to be thinned to five plants.

The basil reseeded and is smelling wonderful. I’m waiting for Tom’s tomatoes to ripen so I can have them with basil and mozzarella.

Mint is a new addition to the garden this year. I’ve learned that it has to be contained in a pot. We made mint juleps yesterday for the Derby.

The weather is finally warm enough for me and the reptiles that live on our lanai. I do love summer, even if I do have to tolerate the likes of these.

Laurel is thinking about using a variety of green vases for table decorations for the wedding, so I scored a few at our church rummage sale on Saturday.

105 days and counting

Laurel is getting married! Jeremy Trantham proposed on Easter weekend, and the next weekend they set a date, August 14th. In my father’s words, she and Jeremy have “hit the ground running”. Location for the ceremony and reception is secured, dress is on order, save the date cards are mailed, caterer engaged, food tasting completed, and so much more. We are so excited about having Jeremy as part of our family.

Putting the inchies together

What started out as a compulsion to make these 1.5 inch squares with metal, has turned into something I like. Nothing is fixed yet, I just have the inchies temporarily glued to card stock so I can transport them. I need to let this simmer awhile so I can think about how to assemble it.

ATC and super inchie swap

The yahoo mixed media art friends group is having a swap of artist trading cards and plus sized inchies. These are mini works that measure 2.5 x 3.5 and 1.5 x 1.5 respectively. They are addictive and fun to do. The maximum number you can submit for each swap is 25 cards in no fewer than five series. I tried several different techniques on each of them. I have some extra ones of just about all the cards. Just leave a comment if you want to trade.

I’m a lot like Billy

Family Circus is usually a bit too sappy for me, but today I had to laugh. My studio is just like Billy's room.

Who says Florida doesn’t have seasons?

After the coldest winter many Floridians can remember, spring has finally arrived. The races are long over, the bikers are gone, the snowbirds have departed, and the spring breakers have returned to campus, leaving the natives here to enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Tom and I went to Winter Park today to visit Leu Gardens, a botanical park between the cities of Orlando and Winter Park. The park was not crowded and was lovely. Tom took his camera, and captured some beautiful shots.

The azaleas were past peak, but the cold weather has prolonged the camellia season. They were beautiful.

In one of the demonstration gardens we both caught a whiff of a delightful fragrance. Having grown up among this scent, I should have recognized it.

A few minutes later, we discovered a citrus grove in bloom. there were grapefruit, oranges, satsumas, tangelos, lemons, limes and varietals I had never heard of. I just couldn’t get enough of the glorious smell.

The woman at the information desk had suggested we visit the orchid tree, a little off the beaten path. It was worth the search.

The visual prize of the day, and Tom’s best photo was of a yellow tulip tree.

After lunch at Too Jays Deli, we headed home. We’ll go back another day.

Pink Martini

This weekend while Tom was out of town, I had the pleasure of visiting Lynn and Randy Evans in Jacksonville. They invited me to attend the Jacksonville Orchestra’s concert featuring Pink Martini. The concert was fabulous, and I did not want it to end. I have listened to their music on CD for several years, but the difference in hearing them in person was astonishing, plus there’s all the onstage action to observe.

Before the concert, Mike and Elizabeth Milton had us over for a cocktail supper where they served pink martinis. Elizabeth had outdone herself with festive food and decorations. It was a great weekend. So here’s a little hand made acknowledgment.

Working Small

In my Yahoo mixed media group we have started another book study, Mixed Media Mania by Debbi Crane and Cheryl Prater. When the group does a book study, we go through the book chapter by chapter and members and try the various techniques and projects. We post our works so we all can get inspiration and make comments. There are also frequent swaps where you send in your version of the project, and receive an equal amount of the same project from other members. The results are always surprising and the swaps cause me to try new techniques.

One of the swaps coming up is 1.5 inch squares. It’s more than just cutting a photo out of a magazine, it’s a mini collage that can have a lot of elements. So here’s my take. I started with junk cardboard, painted it with black gesso and then used iridescent, and interference paints to create backgrounds for my squares. I learned this technique from Chris Cozen and Julie Prichard’s online class, Pretty Papers.

Next I painted metal foil with alcohol inks.

The foil comes in rolls in copper, and brass colored and has a silver back which can also be painted. I always paint both sides so I have a variety of colors.

Next, the foil is tooled using Walnut Hollow’s creative metal tools. I was introduced to these products at the Quilt festival in Chicago last year. Judy Coates Perez was the instructor, and she does beautiful work. Check out her copper book covers.

I purchased a beginner’s kit last year, here are a few of the tools. Walnut hill sells real copper, not the color coated foil like I have.

But back to the 1.5 inch squares. I’m having so much fun creating them. I’ve laid out my finished or nearly finished ones in a grid pattern, and it may become a larger work

I’m going to try to do the 1.5 inch squares in at least 5 techniques that are new to me.

Fiber artist group

I participate in a monthly gathering of fiber artists held at a quilt shop nearby. It’s a diverse group of women who are constantly challenging each other to learn new techniques and hone skills. Last week when we were meeting a belly dancer who makes all her costumes was in the shop purchasing supplies. We asked her to show and tell.

Here she is modeling one of her “skirts”. The skirt has thousands of tiny beads.

Here’s another skirt. this one was crocheted, and again has thousands of beads.

Here’s what she wears with the skirts, a beaded one piece with thong. And you thought quilters were a bunch of stodgy old ladies.

a crafter's obituary

Sometime in the 90's newspapers began seeking new revenue and allowed families to write obituaries and pay for the privilege to do so. Obituaries suddenly became much more interesting. My husband started a collection of the unusual ones. Today he handed me one that read:

"entered a place where glue and glitter have been replaced with true love, joy, and happiness"

It just makes you want to know more about the woman from Roanoke, Virginia who loved her glue and glitter.

Winter Park Art Festival

Florida has some wonderful art shows in the spring, The Winter Park Festival is one of the best. Each year over 1600 artists compete for 250 juried entries. It is celebrating its 51st year this year. Tom and I went today, and it did not disappoint. I did not take any pictures since most of the artists do not want you taking photos of their works, but I have put in links to the websites of some of the ones I liked. If you click on the link above, it will take you to the festival site, and you can click on artists gallery and you can see a representational piece of each artist's work.

A trip to the Festival is not complete without a walk through of Timothy’s Gallery (where I have found some exceptional jewelry over the years) and lunch at Bosporus , a Turkish restaurant on Park Avenue. The nine appetizer tray Tom and I shared was delicious.

here are some of the highlights of the festival

Matthew Cornell His ocean paintings are absolutely spectacular. He always sells out on the first day, and his paintings are pricey. We’re talking a 5” piece in the hundreds. The large ocean water one was in the neighborhood of 10K.

Adam Spector Tom and I bought a couple of his pieces. It was the first time I had seen him at the show.

William Kidd These were wildly fantastic ceramics, very sensual.

Clare Malloy One of these days I’m going to have to take home one of her landscapes. She gets in the show every year.

John Costin Before the show opened he sent me a postcard of his most recent hand colored etching, Pensive Great Blue. Today we saw it at the show. It was spectacular, but almost 48” tall with a very large price tag.

Amy Flynn Tom didn’t care for her found object robots, but I found them delightful to look at. She gets her finds at the Raleigh Flea Market held each weekend at the fairgrounds. I’ll have to make a field trip next time I visit Laurel.

Anthony Pack If you can stand another found object assemblage, his work was fun to look at too.

Emerson Matabele This New Orleans photographer had some of the most engaging photographs of the show. If you click on his website, be sure to click on the tabs at the top of the page called light, wisdom and discovery.

John Petrey This sculpture is very appealing. If you visit the website, be sure to click on the dress series for images. It is fascinating to see his work and know that it is just made of sticks, or asphalt shingles, or cards.

And if you have hung in there this long, I’ll reward you with a photo, and you’ll see that everything at the festival is not “high art”. Here’s Tom with two of my favorites

Air ball

I’ve been doing an online journal prompt each day from this site. Today’s prompt was “the one that got away”. I’ve had basketball on the brain lately, and after the Kentucky Wildcats poor showing against Alabama in the SEC tournament, I was hopeful that today’s game would not be the one that got away.

‘Cats were great today. Go Big Blue!

Photo Finish

This has been a year to finish projects. I’ve had the photo transfer on canvas on my design wall since last summer’s art camp. It was a practice piece, but I liked it. On Thursday I found a strip pieced orphan block made long ago with hand painted fabrics. I paired this combo with a batik I found in my stash. It’s quilted and bound, but not finished.

I pulled out my beads and buttons and added some pizzazz to this quilt. I think I’m finished, but I’ll need to look at it for a few days. I took this photo in morning light on the porch so it’s truer in color to the original.

Headboard Rescue

I’ve been taking an online class from Julie Prichard and Chris Cozen entitled Color Beyond the Basics. It’s a class all about acrylic paint, it’s properties and the ways you can manipulate it. My artistic painting skills need development, but today I tackled a project that has been annoying me.

The paint on our metal headboard had worn off in spots, and needed to be touched up. But it was a mix of many colors of paint applied in layers. Before I took the class the job of repainting it was too intimidating. In the class I learned enough to identify the colors in the headboard and today I repainted.

Here's the before picture

And the after one. The curled piece shows the original finish. I only painted the horizontal and vertical parts.

The Marquis of Carrabus

Today’s prompt in my journal exercise was collage. I borrowed from Claudine Hellmuth’s blog and made a collage of the beloved pet of my childhood, Markie. His real name was the Marquis of Carrabus. He’s been gone for over 40 years now, but seeing his sweet face still brings back wonderful memories. The dress and hat is something he might have worn since he would allow my sister and me to dress him up in doll clothes, although I’m pretty sure he would not have gone for black boots.

Goodbye studio, Hello guest room

It doesn’t happen very often, but about twice a year, I break down my studio to make room for guests. It gives me a chance to clean everything and get rid of things that no longer interest me.

House party this weekend! Three other couples are joining us for Food, fun, and art. We’ll mingle with the thousands of bikers who are in the area for Bike Week, we’ll go to a fabulous show of Florida art at the Museum of Arts and Sciences, have a cornhole tournament on the porch, eat well, and generally enjoy each other’s company.

And look who flew in one day last week. I hope He/she hangs around for the weekend.

It’s Bike Week in Daytona

And the locals are loving it.