Dec 29th.... Oh my!

Well, I had a busy weekend, bought a new car. Hunydai Santa Fe, it is silver and very pretty.

Over Christmas Amber and I picked "Pokies".

I am not sure what they are, but they are lethal! VERY POKIE!

I sprayed mine with glitter, but should have painted them

silver first. I will do that next year.

I thought that they looked very wintry.
They are some kind of a seed pod with lots of nasty spikes.

2008 is winding down

The Day After Christmas Snow, north side of my house which was cold enough to freeze the snowflakes in this pattern. I like the branches too.

more snow

and more. Luckily it was very wet and did not stick.

Front (??) cover of my egyptian journal. May be the back??

The other cover....

This is kraft paper that will be embellished and painted, and I will put a smaller bookplate on it.

Interior page of the journal. This is a large book (12x9.25 inches) that I found in the give-away pile at work. It is published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, and the caption across from this page reads:

"surgical practices designed to transform the human body began in acient Eqypt in 3000 B.C." This particular etching is from the first textbook on plastic surgery.

I will post more as I get more into the journal.

No New Art

This has not been a good week. Along with my continuing issues with my co-worker, I had an accident on Wednesday night and totaled my car. There may have been possible medical implications (pre-crash thank goodness!). Neither the other driver or I were injured, which is another thing to be thankful for.

Got a neat Solstice message from my friend and mentor, Jan Phillips. She also sent a link to a great song off of her new CD. You might want to listen on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MMuhuiZtM.


Hopefully more art will appear, as I have two weeks off! Don't know that I have ever taken two weeks off a one time, so I am looking forward to it. I am already lounging around the fire, watching movies and reading books, so I am taking care of myself.

Blessings of the season to you and yours.

Snow and Some Art!

My Rusty Bits covered in snow.

You can see my rug under the table.

Don't worry, it is made out of recycled milk jugs, so it is impervious!

Rainbow Artists is having a show in February titled I (can't find the Heart symbol) Red.

This is the beginnings of my piece, which will be backed by stretched canvas.

Full lenght view.
I have attached hearts (can't find the heart symbol!),
red hand stitching in perle cotton and
will embelish some more before the show.

Another link! (No art ;{)

Lisa Volrath of Go Make Something and 10-2 Studios had this link on her website today:


http://www.dumpr.net/christmas-ornament.php

This will make any photo into a christmas ornament, but there are other interesting ideas also.

It is snowing here, has been all day. It did not start to stick until about 6, but the pavement is now covered. Nasty commute in the AM, but I am sick with a cold so I may stay home tomorrow and have a blazing fire all day long!

I will work on art tomorrow, Sorry but I have been going so many places that I have not had time for art!

Bluebird of Happiness??

On the way to work this am (EARLY! about 5:45) the full moon was setting in the west. It was HUGE and looked like cheddar. Very amazing.

I have been in a mood lately, and this pretty well sums it up!

Another image from Icanhascheezburger site that made me laugh!

Could not resist this pic!

This is from a great site called LOL Cats

This just tickled my fancy and I laughed out loud!

Quiltart List - An amazing qroup of Quilters

this was posted by a member of Quiltart, who received it from "her soldier". Something to consider at Christmas...

LTM said...
This was forwarded to me from "my" soldier in Afghanistan, and I broke down weeping as I read it. Regardless of our political feelings about the current war in Iraq, I hope we are all doing something to acknowledge and remember our men and women who "stand at the front of the line".Peaceful holidays to you all,

A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room
and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood,his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snowblown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
" So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right.""
But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," Iasked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.

My latest efforts

I purchased two of these books from Borders (buy one, get one free!)

and have covered one. I think that I will use these for Christmas Gifts.

Here is my latest batch of decorated envelopes.

I always try to send out decorated envelopes!

I spent the afternoon at a friends house with five other like minded women for an informal Artist's Afternoon. Great very relaxed afternoon, good friends, good food and great art!

I iwll give it a try again

OK, looks like Blogger is going to let me upload pics tonight, so here goes...

I said that I had not done any art, but I fooled myself.

I made these ATCs for a swap on

swap-bot. Winter, snowflakes were the theme...

I found the directions for these cards in a book from the library. Interesting process and the "Small Joy" came out better than the "Large Joy". Maybe that is a statement??

Of course, I made the "Large Joy" first and actually followed the directions and measurements, and on the "Small Joy" I did my own thing. I think that my wanderings are more successful than trying to follow someone else's directions slavishly!
However, I am always on the lookout for inspiration, and often find it in the strangest places!

Xmas Cheer

Well Blogger is being persnickety, so I will only upload these two pics. These are gift card holders that I created for Swap-bot.com. I have poster board that is silver on one side and gold on the other, so it makes for interesting combinations.

I have some more things to post, but will have to wait for Blogger! Free is free, after all so I really can't bitch too much!

December??? ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, where has 2008 gone? My grandmother told me the older I got the faster time would go. I jokingly (???) say that I will be 99 before I know it!
No photos or art on this blog, but I did want to let everyone know that I am thankful for the following:
1. my family and friends
2. my furry aliens Baby Cakes and Fuzzy Bucket (cats in case you can't tell)
3. my health
4. what wealth I have left
5. my upcoming trip to EGYPT

I have already been gathering books and images to start my travel journal, and have requested some books from #1 above on the subject for Christmas presents!

I spent the weekend mothersitting with my Mother, and we had a quiet but thoughtful Thanksgiving weekend.

Gratitiude

I went to a very moving Thanksgiving/Gratitude service tonight with friends.

I think that this quote sums it up (shamelessly stolen from Leslie Riley's blog)

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.
Edward Sandford Martin

Enjoy your holiday!

Two Items

I got this information off of the Quiltart Mailing List. It is a website that is trying to get 1 million cards to send to our military troops and families.

See the website for guidelines and other opportunities to send Holiday cheer!

http://www.redcross.org/email/saf/

I am going to climb up on my soapbox now:

Something like this makes me feel good about the holidays, which I feel have become overly commercial. Maybe, with the economy in the shape that it is, people will be less commerical this year!

I sold a commission piece! I took several pieces to the Member Art Show at First Unitarian and got a commission. This one turned out OK (I have had some bad experiences with commissions early in my art career, and usually shy away from them)

This is Frayed Around the Edges II (Teal and Orange)

OBAMANOS

If you are an Obamanos, check out this Peace Train Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n16T35yx3nY

Bad week at work, so I am not posting much today. Hopefully I will be back on track next week!

No art, so I am giving you URLs!

This is an amazing video, please check it out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QVQSZA9zSk

I am also cutting and pasting a great Obama letter from the sister of a friend of mine. She lives in Vienna Austria, and I thought that it was very moving! I have edited out local Viennese tidbits, but otherwise left it intact.

i wanted to write because i felt it was crucial to acknowledge that America, through its electoral process, has just participated in a massive, non-violent, political revolution!
i woke up in Europe this morning with tears in my eyes and a hope i haven't felt in years. i have never believed in a political figure, but somehow i believe in Obama, call me naive, but i realize that without faith in my political system, the idea/hope of change is insurmountable...suddenly a new world is possible and that is perhaps the biggest gift we have all received from this election, a restoration in faith; faith in the democratic process, faith in each other, faith in the possibility of change.
...
unfortunately, i will be in India on january 20, otherwise i would plan to go to Washington DC and wear my inaugural gown in the street! i have never been to our nation's capitol, but for the first time in my life i feel deeply compelled to go...instead, what i would like to do is encourage you to keep the spirit of change alive; celebrate it, cultivate it, give it, demand it. throw an inaugural party, invite everyone to wear a gown, a tuxedo and to bring seeds that can be donated to community gardens. share hopes for the future. ask everyone to make a commitment to sustaining this spirit of change...organize, volunteer, donate, blog, make art in the tenderloin...affirm, through community ritual, to hold hands in the future and say, Yes We Can! because it would seem we actually have a friend in the white house, willing to do what he can within the confines of what our current political system will allow.
and if someone wants to hold a yoga rally in Washington DC or San Francisco on January 20th, to inaugurate peace, wisdom and the pursuit of collective integrity, i will gladly send you a recording of my kick-ass play list, but you must promise to do yoga in your gowns and tuxedos!
i sat next to a woman from Ghana this morning on the metro. she was thrilled by the election, astonished and personally affirmed that a black person had not just become president, but miraculously, president of the United States...she came to Vienna 20 years ago, was one of the first black people here and knows there isn't a country in Europe where the same victory is currently possible.today i am finally proud to be American and witness the resurrection of a dream...
in prayer,sri

I took a break

I have not been doing any art since Goldie Garcia's last class, and did not do anything then as I had to go to a meeting at church. I am a member of the Building Project Task Force and we meet every other week (except for last week...)
I am very please about the election results, and attended a racous Obama watching party Tuesday night! New Mexico we blue for the first time ever!
I got a treasure from my Uncle Charlie. He had a signature quilt with 99 names on it, all embroidered. My Mother, Uncle and sister sat down and identified all the names that they could. I will post more later about this treasure!

Goldie Farcia Class Shoe Shrines

After a run to Goodwill for a shoe to alter (looking for a stilletto, but alas, no luck) I found a pair of faux alligator brown shoes (forgot to take a before picture). This is as of yet unfinished...
A hindu goddess is inside the shoe, will have to do some research on which one she is.

Since I finished early, I was fascinated by some dicitonary pages Goldie had brought, and found the Z pages. Below is the first layer of a shoe shrine (decoupaged Z pages) and I will trim with zebra print fabric that I have from my black and white quilt.

More next week, when we are doing holiday shrines. I plan on doing an Obama shrine, as eitehr way it goes, it will be historic!

Goldie Garcia's shrine class

Goldie's class started last night, and I guess after Cyntiha's class last week, the artists are just different. Plus there are 15 people in the class.

Anyway, I did not have any images that went with what I started, and guess that glitter is not my medium. But I will keep going, and we are doing a shoe shrine next week?? We will see

Two shrines made from sardine cans and glitter. The top has black velvet and dark blue glitter, with shiny star netting fabric. The bottom has a Goldie Garcia bottle cap, gold paper and diamond glitter over blue paint.

The beginnings of a new shrine, nothing is glued down except for the dictionary page and the brown paper in the bottom right. I can't see glitter on this but it does have shiny eyelash yarn in orange!

Swapbot.com

I have joined Swap-bot.com. It is a clearing house for swaps of all kinds. You have to work your way up to the goodies, so I am starting at the bottom. You swap, and then build up your ratings so you can get into the really neat swaps.

I have signed up for two recipe swaps, on postcards.

I am making an effort to recycle in my art, so I made the postcards from packaging cardboard. The recipe is on the reverse side.

Hope the post office gets them where they need to go!

Junking Part One

Cynthia Cook, queen of the found object, took us on a field trip to a pre-1900 trash dump. Treasures abounded. Here is some of what I found

The white bottle, with the cap rusted on, still has the remains of the contents (Milk of Magnesia?? maybe). I can see these showing up in a future shrine.

These are glass shards, the lilic ones are pre-1900 (before 1900 they used magnesium (??) and the glass turns lilac when exposed to sunlight). These should also appear in future work. The glass is resting on a huge rusty bit!

The whole treasure trove, including loads of tin cans and the white porcelain chunk at the bottom of the picture that looks like a dinasour vertabrae. I may never use it, but thought it was interesing enough to pick it up and carry it back to the car!

Last Class with Cynthia Cook and new Fibre Piece

Tonight we had our last of three classes with Cynthia Cook.

I was so sorry to see it end, as I had a blast in this class.

This is a small piece that is a WIP. I added the jungle print with a

cabachon from a beading class with Mary Tafoya.

I still have to cover with glass and it will go on a larger piece.

This is the yet unnamed dyptich.

This is Frayed Around the Edges in the preliminary stages.

Finished Piece

Closeup

Art from Cynthia Cook Class

More results from Cynthia Cook's recycle Art Class. Unnamed, unfinished Diptych
More additions to the Panda collage.

I was out of town this weekend and worked
on a wall hanging that I will post later.

More Rusty Bits

OK, I am finally ready to show some new work. These are pieces

for the Member Show at First Unitarian Church

Oct. 19-Dec. 6, 2008.

This piece is Fools Gold Klondyke, Mixed Media Fibre Collage,

11 1/2" x 13" $250.00

Cirlces of Life Africa, Fused Wall Hanging, 24" x 24" NFS


Fools Gold Southwest #2,

Fibre Wall Hainging with Rusted Fabric,

21" X 24" $300.00

Newest Rusty Bits fabric.
I like the pointy bit best. The white piece will have to be
overdyed, as it did not dye well.

Now I have to create some pieces to use all the
fabric that I have dyed!

Artful Saturday

Instead of cleaning house, I worked on Art all day today.

That was an easy decision.
This is a work in progress

These are inchies that I am working on.

And my lazy studio cat! Doesn't look like she could be

comfortable, but she was.

I am taking a shrine class from Cynthia Cook at Harwood Art Center

that is really great. We are cutting glass, cutting tin cans, doing collage and other neat stuff!

Two more weeks to go, and then I am taking a class with Goldie Garcia.

Can't wait for it either!

No rust dyeing today, and it was cool and rainy here today.

More Rust Bits

Yesterday, I posted the first day of the rust process.

Today they were dry and the results are shown below,

including a curious kitty!

The rust was yellowish, with some black patches.
and the fabric was very stiff (salt, maybe??).

It was also black and stiff around the edges.


Second piece, on a different rug!

After rinsing and ironing, this is the result.

This is the long narrow piece that was in the dutch oven lid,

and all of the black has washed out.

The rust migrated, and I lost the yellow cast and most of the black from the tin can lids (in the bottom right corner on both pieces). I love the stripe in the left of the piece above

This is the second layer, and is more washed out. You can still see the tin can lids in the bottom right hand corner, and some of the more yellow cast to the rust.

All in all, I think that I prefer to just use water instead of the vinegar and salt. I may try with only vinegar, and then only salt, instead of both.