Eternity

I finally went to pick up this piece which had been in a members show for the Hampton Art League. It was so much fun to make! I've had this cast of my hand for two years and couldn't figure out how to use it but this all came together. The bird is much more interesting in person because he has lots of texture in his feathers and I used interference colors on the black base. Now let's see.....what else can I use the hand for?

Pat A Cake

Pat a cake, pat a cake.....today as I was conditioning my clay, that rhyme kept going through my head. I was so excited about bringing my clay to the Blue Skies Gallery to demonstrate today. Another artist and I brought things we had made and lots of clay to work with. Right away we had a crowd, well....not a crowd, but just about everyone in the gallery came over to look. My sister suggested I put out a bowl full of beads and that proved to be a magnet for everyone. People couldn't keep their hands out of that bowl!

These are the miniatures I made for a show at the Charles Taylor Art Center and decided at the last minute not to enter them. They are just not my  best work, so I'll wait til next year and come up with a better idea.

Fall Is Here

It seems like it was just sweltering, hot, and sticky and now, all of a sudden, it's glorious fall....my favorite season. Every afternoon I can hear the high school band practicing and it brings back all those college football games we went to in South Carolina. Good memories.

This is one of the pieces I've made from the Stroppel cane, which went viral last week on Flickr. It's a fun and easy cane, and you can't really tell how it will look until you slice it open.

I've been working real hard on my entry to the Tidewater Artists Miniature Show, which will open October 21 at the Charles Taylor Art Center in Hampton, Virginia. I've entered for the past four or five years and its a fun show with a lot of ingenious entries. Last year I took second in sculpture, so keep your fingers crossed for me this year.

After the show opens I'll reveal all three of my entries for you to see. Let me know what you think.

Busy Day

8x10

Yesterday I did stick to my plans most of the day and I put in about half an hour on the above 8x10 painting. I thought I'd try to do one a day, just for practice. But maybe some of them will require more time. I'm not going to get lost in one, though. I'm not ready. 

Then I spent some time painting gesso over a few tries from last week. Geeezz!! Last week? I can't believe I've hardly produced anything since last week. I had company over the weekend, so there's one excuse.

6x6

Then I finished one of my miniatures for an upcoming show, which looks terrible in this picture. I have the other one going and it needs a few hours more of work. 

Today my friend Ilse and I went to a show at the Charles Taylor center and couldn't believe what received prizes. It was crazy! I guess you just never know what will appeal to the judges. Well, it was interesting anyway. Then we went to the Blue Skies Gallery and completely changed out all of my work. I should have taken a picture to post on here. I will when I go there again. We had a long discussion about framing and I think I will try some colored pencil work on sanded paper and have it framed with a mat, which I don't do now. Usually my cp pieces look like oil paintings after they have been varnished, so I just pop them in a frame and go.

As if that wasn't enough, we drove ( well, I drove because we always have to drive in my van so I can get in and out of my wheelchair) to Norfolk, which is about 30 miles and through the Hampton Roads Tunnel, which, if you live around here you know is gambling because when there is an accident in the tunnel nobody goes anywhere. By the time we got to Norfolk we were starving so we went to get lunch and then went to a pagoda with some lovely gardens and water features. After that we had to go to see the D'Art center, which was the reason we planned the trip anyway. But, wouldn't you know, just as we got there at 3 o'clock most of the artists were leaving. It's open til 5......so what gives? Well, we had fun and got some great shots of the pagoda and a couple of birds there.

Now that I read this over, I just want to say......I really did teach my students not to write run on sentences!

10x8

And the last thing I did was finish this little painting I tried weeks ago. I'm happy with it for now.