Where does the time go?

I can't believe a week has passed since I posted. We have been quite busy. We are going to have new carpet installed. We live in an older ranch and the baseboards had to be totally replaced before the carpet can be started. That meant so much work for my hubby. I have tried to help all I can, but sometimes it's just best for me to stay in my studio. Ohh, what punishment!!
For a break in the work, Thursday, we went to the local festival that always runs Memorial Day Weekend.

Here you see us waiting for the first act to start.



It was a local band that did pretty good. The second band was a Zep tribute band and they weren't very good. We did get to meet some interesting festival goers and talked to some folks we hadn't seen for years. That's always fun. The main reason that we came to the festival today, was to see the headliner. DH wanted to meet the singer and get his autograph, so he went through his stash of vinyl records and grabbed the sharpie and I took the camera and off we went. There was never any question in my mind as if DH would accomplish his mission, he usually does. We meet lots of folks this way. Like Smashing Pumpkins and Cheap Trick and Chuck Negron and Rebecca St. James. The list goes on.

Right before the second band was finishing, he says "OK, give me the camera, I'm going to try to meet him". He wasn't gone long enough at all when I saw him talking to some folks he knew and he began walking back. Sure enough, he had his album autographed and a great picture of him with...



The awesome and so very cool Edgar Winter. How's this for proving an autograph?

Some of you might wonder how the movie making event went on Saturday morning. It didn't. It fizzled out. Only two teenagers showed up and we (I) decided not to participate. We went to breakfast at a local restaurant (folks nearby will recognize it) and ate way too much.



Later Saturday, we went back to the festival to see another band and video some footage for DH to include in his show. I took some good photos of the band. I used to take photos of the bands that DH was in, back in the 80's. Imagine me, big hair and all, prancing around, taking band pictures. I loved it!

(I was going to post a picture of DH taping the band, but my computer wont cooperate)

Well, until I can get the rest of my pictures loaded, I guess that is it for today. I am typing from my temporary station (card table) and it's not conducive to extra long sessions. Hope you like the pictures of my honey, I think he is quite a catch. We will talk more, I'm sure. I will probably be posting pictures of Saturday's art gallery, also. So, I'm off to get into something. See you soon.

How do you save money?

As an artist, we find many ways to spend our hard earned cash, but what can we do to save money? We are intelligent and inventive individuals, so let's post some of our ideas. What do you do to save money? What are some of your favorite ways to keep costs down? I have always been frugal, (maybe too much, sometimes I'm just plain cheap) so I have several ideas that I will share over the next few days. I love to shop at thrift stores, especially Goodwill. If I need a specific piece of material, I would just as soon buy a garment or two, in the colors that I need and cut my pattern out of it, as go to the Fabric Store. This way the fabric has already been laundered and wont shrink, and I get buttons and sometimes trim in the process. It also helps create employment for the great folks that work in that store. I made a cape for one of our local public access daredevils out of ready made garments from the thrift shop. I bought a white satin dress from the children's department and an American flag patterned shirt from the men's department and cut them apart to create a super- hero type cape for him to use in his show. It was quite a hit.

Let us know what you have done or what you think would be a good idea. Save money or make money? Which is better? Come on folks, let us know.

Well, that's all for now. Keep us posted on all your ideas. We'll talk soon.

Here's the latest...

Hi folks! First off, I want to say thanks to all, for the kind comments you made regarding my castings. I think this is definitely something I want to continue. I have been reading up on casting and checking out the other blogs and I know this is something we will be doing more of. I am on the lookout for things to use as molds, so please keep me clued in on the possibilities you find.

This is a busy month at my house. Next Saturday, DH and I are planning on participating in a movie making competition at our local art movie house. We will register at 8:00 am, get the theme and the items that need to be included in the movie, then we have until 8:00 pm to video and edit and turn in the completed movie. All the videos will be reviewed and the ones the judges pick will be shown on the big screen at midnight. My hubs is great at this type of thing and I am, if nothing else, enthusiastic , so hopefully , between the two of us, we will come up with something. In any event, it will be fun and maybe worthy of posting on YouTube or on Hub's public access television show.

The next weekend, we have another Altered Art Group showing at the library headquarters. We met this weekend and worked on a display board for the newest category. We are doing a collaboration using the theme "of Goth and Strange", you might remember the piece I posted a while back. In addition to working on the display, we discussed the demonstrations that we will be doing. I am going to attempt to demonstrate how to make wire butterflies to be worn on a ribbon or used as embellishments.

The art display is a large board that we textured with caulking and paper and then glazed/painted with black. My picture doesn't do it justice, but it will look really good when Marnie finishes up on it. Here is what we had at the end of the day.

It will look great when the art is displayed and it will be definitely different from our other more traditional art . I hope small children don't get scared, but if they do, then we will know it was a successful display.

Here's a shot of Marnie applying her newly acquired skills from the Art and Soul seminar, to the display piece. It looks really wild, Marnie.

In addition to making movies and the art show, my darling hubs has been running himself ragged, getting our house ready for new carpet. The baseboards had to be replaced, several rooms painted, closets revamped...everything is looking great. We still have a ways to go and I may be without my usual computer for several days. Hopefully, I won't go into blog withdrawal. It will be worth it in the long run and I will certainly be checking out your blogs, even if I'm not posting as often.

Well, that's all for now. Remember to take time for yourself and make art whenever you can.

I'll be back soon with some updates. Until then, take care and we'll talk soon.

Casting Call

Here is my first attempt at paper casting. Crusades #20 is paper casting, I saw this over on Maralena's blog and decided to try it. The butterfly is done from an Amaco mold and the figure is my own hand carved stamp. I added watercolor to the tissue when I did the butterfly for a different look. These will make interesting elements for all kinds of art. Give it a try and show us your results.

I have several other projects in the works. I'll keep you posted. See you later!

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there that are moms. My husband and I have been without our mothers for about 12 years now. They died almost one year apart. How we miss them both. Picking out special cards, finding that beautiful potted plant, the trip (30 miles or 30 steps, depending on the mom) to deliver the gift. I miss them both so much. I know they are with God and nothing can compare to that, but just to be able to wrap my arms around either one of them for one more hug would be so wonderful. They were both beautiful, strong women and I am so blessed and fortunate to have been the daughter and daughter-in-law. So here's to you, Barbara and Lois, Happy Mother's Day and thanks for being the best Moms ever! We miss you.

Back to work

I like to think things are getting back to normal at our house. It has been over one month since Baby Milo left us for the Rainbow Bridge, and although we miss him so much, we are doing ok. Last night hubby got out old video tapes from at least 10 years ago and seeing all of our baby kitties was such a treat. Seeing what we looked like was quite a hoot, also. Me with long, long hair and him with short, short hair. How funny.

We went, Friday, to check out the local strawberry festival that is an annual fund raiser in our area and had a shortcake and a sundae. That was yummy. On Saturday, we did the flea market and only came away with one record album and 3 tomatoes. Lots of sunshine and walking made it worthwhile, though.

Last week, one of my projects was hand carving a "portrait stamp". Hubbs said it looks like a lemur, but it is supposed to be a version of the avatar that you see in my profile. I had to carve it twice, because I forgot to reverse it. I always do that. Also, I forgot to leave the eyes on the first one.


I wanted the stamp to be sturdy and easy to use, so I took a purchased stamp that I never use and removed the stamp from it. I, then stamped the image of the hand-carved stamp onto the area where I had removed the other stamp, put a piece of packing tape on it and then glued the hand-carved stamp to the wooden block. It looks just like the real thing. I had never used material made for carving stamps, only erasers. This is so much softer and easier to carve. The thing is, the carving material was so much thicker than I am used to, so I sliced it in half, just to get the hang of carving it, next time I will use the entire piece.





I also decided to use it in the piece that I will be submitting for our next art show at the library. It is a collaboration, using the theme "Of Goth and Strange" and was to be done using a book cover as the support. Here is a sneak preview, see what you think.


As you can see, I used the Barbie head that I cut in half last month and altered. I also used several masks that I have sculpted in the past, I decided that some rubber Madonna bracelets made a good frame for the masks and a rubber snake, painted white, adds (I hope) some texture and interest. I printed out some personal remarks and pasted them down. I don't know if it qualifies for "goth", but the "strange" part was not a problem.

Well, that's all for now. It's a beautiful day today, so I just might go back out on the deck and take it easy. That is, if that territorial bumble bee doesn't get an attitude. We'll see. Later folks, enjoy the rest of your weekend and don't forget to do your art!