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....

 

So much fun!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALIE

It has been a whirl wind of activity the past week and a ton of fun.

Actually it started over a week ago with the Portland Art Collectives biannual art retreat that is never a let down. What came down was plenty of rain.

As soon as I got home it was time for the Day of the Dead show at Guardino Gallery.

 

That was Thursday night you can still catch the show it will run for the month.

Friday night was story telling at the fabulous John Palmer house with my Mom and sister Becky. It was a fund raiser for nest share read more about it here. You will have to go next year it was a wonderful why to celebrate Halloween.

Then Saturday we had an early birthday party 1 is such a great age!

Yummy cake... 

Sunday was Halloween with a Ladybug infestation

A six week old monkey came along....

as well as Dracula, he does have a reflection.

In the morning I'm off to Alabama my daughter is setting up a studio and I can't pass that up.  We will be soldering and playing with clay. I also heard that there are plenty of antique stores with the kind of stuff I like to make art out of, I will be posting pictures.