Christmas elf

It's getting close sleeping elf's are starting to show up. Merry Christmas....

Naughty and Nice List

I started a naughty and nice list this year and decided to think about how to make some of the naughty a bit nicer. The nice pretty much takes care of its self. For example I love spending time with little kids who believe in Santa, and  rain hitting the window at night so I can hear it from my warm toasty bed. No need to change any of that, but...Here it comes the naughty list.
Brazil nuts. They come in a can marked “less than 50% peanuts” because it's 51% Brazil nuts. They taste wrong in fact I think they taste a bit like mold. The challenge now is what can I do with a naughty Brazil nut.
 

Have them stay over for the holidays?

Let them help trim the tree?

Go out and play with them?

 We all know they don't clean very well.

Or just chop them up and put them in a cookie. NO!  Remember they taste like mold.

I say just set them free and send them all back to Brazil.

Please leave a comment with something from your naughty list. It would be fun to do a post about it.

This post is an example of what happens when an artist is in full art mode from our resent show and attempts to stop abruptly and start cooking and cleaning too fast. I do have faith it will all level out soon.

Getting Ready

It’s time to make it all come together. The tree is a small little thing on a table at the edge of the kitchen. It holds special ornaments made by some of my art friends and is sheltering a few gifts to torment the grand children.

I found these magnetic bugs last summer, perfect for a metal Christmas tree.

My art group had a Christmas party last week, such a happy celebration after the busy show. We draw names and exchange gifts, visit and share a feast beyond compare. This flaming heart was my gift from Stephanie Brockway. Steph knows my sense of humor hence the words. I have wanted one of her hearts for a very long time, lucky me, thanks Steph.

We started baking yesterday, Jen made wonderful butter scotch cookies and I made some sugar cookies to be decorated by the family with great quantities of sprinkles, icing, and hot coco.

Apple pies for the freezer waiting to be baked Christmas eve.

 

I had some help emptying the cupboards and tasting cookies.

The parents of Natalie had new carpet installed so everyone including Nat must wear slippers in the house, a good rule. Her fathers shoes size 14 and her shoe size 4 &1/2.

I think Winnie will not be invited over, poor dog.

Winnie will be staying in today warm by the fire. She and I have had enough wet dog days for awhile.

 Stay warm friends and enjoy the holidays and everything they offer you.

A Huge Thank You

  We opened the doors Friday morning to our own winter wonderland, our  guests came in to see silver and white decorations gleaming around our art. I had front lobby duty the first hour of our show to help guide everyone back to the gym. I was not prepared for my feelings. It was like Christmas morning and your mom called out "Santa Clause came come see" only you are told "except you, you need to wait an hour", that is when it hit me just how excited I was. It was not a let down when I got in there, there was a burst of natural light coming in the windows accompanied by laughter and people enjoying everything we had done, Thank you. 

                                         

 This piece was named "Flight", she found a great new home.

 I sure enjoyed talking to everyone.

 A little Christmas shopping...

 I loved her coat...

                             Two high school friends meet up after 60 years.
Thank you everyone who came and who encouraged us. The show was a great success we could not do it with out you.

Winnie

 I was cleaning the frig and dropped this parsnip before I knew it Winnie was on it and gone, a good move for a Newf.

It looks like I need to feed her some veggies.

Getting Ready

Last April I did a felted soap tutorial and now is the time to try it. Here is the link. Give it a go it really is fun and they make great gifts.

 If you don't have time to make your own you can pick some up at the show next Friday and Saturday.

I have also made a few more characters.

I have a very little story about them on the PAC blog.
And speaking of story's, my sister saw last weeks post and named the character with the dots on her arms and wrote her a story, here is is.
Penny Polka Dot

 One sunny afternoon while Penny was strolling down the path a very large leopard came up beside her. Although quite frightened she struck up a conversation with him. It seems he had just returned from a wild adventure and was anxious to share the events of his trip with someone.  Calmly she walked beside him as he explained just how he had come to be in her part of the forest.  She had never imagined that a leopard could actually fly much less navigate from one continent to another. Skeptical of his story she began to ask questions and challenge him on parts of his tale. He was a little taken aback by her attitude and felt that she was disrespectful. She was determined to get the truth out of him and he was just as determined to finish telling her about his adventure. So he began speaking in earnest to get done before she interrupted again. The third time she stopped him he became quite angry and began to run in circles around her. Faster  and faster he went until he was no more than a blur. Soon she was caught up in the whirlwind of activity and she herself flew into the air. When she finally stopped  and came back down to earth she was covered with little red poke a dots. Alarmed she demanded to know what had happened, the leopard simply turned and walked away. When he was nearly out of sight he paused, looked over his shoulder and winked. Now, he said, tell everyone how you got your spots and see if they believe you!

Thanks Becky that was fun!

Cast of Caracters

I have been working on these people for a few days now and several story's have come to mind about their life's and personality's. It is not until I paint there faces that the story's begin. Some of these characters will be in the Portland Art Collective annual art sale and some are going to Gaurdino Gallerys Little Things Show. I hope you can come meet them in person, follow the links for dates and time.

I'm not sure what Colman is holding but it is like a syringe made from glass.

Al has just trimmed his mustache for the show.

Yoga is getting ready for a workout.

What a good man Dart is ready for action.

I don't need to say anything about Art.

I don't know her name but I like her hat.

J.G. worked hard for many years.

 Look at the move Yoga is putting on good old Dart.

 You can never get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.

This is my dear friend Winnie, she is happy the weather has changed so she can spend the day at my feet. She is a Landseer Newfoundland named after the artist Sir Edwin Henry Landseer, who featured them in many of his paintings.

10 Days in Alabama

It was so sunny in Alabama with temps almost 80 degrees what a difference as I look out this morning to dark gray skies. But before you all move they don't have the flowers we have.

I stayed at my daughters home in Huntsville in the north of the state. I was surprised to see almost every house was made from brick with VERY large lawns but no flower beds.

Red clay soil can be seen at every turn, this could explain the bricks. It was hard to see what crops had been planted but there were cut fields of cotton and corn.

We drove past cotton bales as big as a house and I couldn't help jumping out of the car near a field to pick this piece.

The mixed woods are beautiful and so full of color. We took a picnic to this nature park and sat in wood rocking chairs overlooking the lake.

                                                         A trail of red chips and confetti colored leaves surrounded the lake with a magical covered bridge to transport you back in time.

I took some arty shots of the kids and fell in love with this one as they are trying to make a serious face.

 

I had great plans to bring home loads of old rusty stuff to do art with but for the life of me we couldn't find much. I did buy an old white wash paint brush but that was about it. This old home looked so rich with color, the red walls against the yellow fall leaves, brick and rust yummy my palette.

Drinking from this sink you can feel the history flow into you.

  Women's Christian Temperance Union - click on image below to read the sign.

After talking to several local artists it became clear I was not in the north west. How lucky we are to have the arts in abundance here. One glass artist told us about Lowe Mill a huge brick building with wonderful light and three floors of mixed arts.

 
 If you don't take the stairs you ride in an old fright elevator operated by this young man.

 I wanted to take lots of photos but was almost tackled and told NO photos (sorry).

 We did spend some time visiting with a puppet artist and learned the history of the artist cooperative. When I go back I will have to spend some more time here. I would love to take a workshop from her.

 As every trip when you are visiting loved ones the time passes to quickly....