SouLodge by Pixie Campbell

Only TWO MORE WEEKS till Pixie Campbells amazing SouLodge! Registration is open for one more week. Hurry Hurry Hurry to take part in this transformational energy circle.

A description of the class from Pixie's own blog:

This session will focus on the aspects of rebirth, renewal, ceremony and celebration of the season, using both traditional and purely intuitive crafts, meditations, journeys and tools to keep us feeling sacred as we lead through and up to the holidays.

It sounds like a great class! I'm planning on joining the winter quarter.

City of Suwanee SculpTour - part 2

A few of my pictures got left off the last post!

One thing I really liked was how they used vacant store fronts to display art. Here's a picture of some blinged out cats!

Free Spirit by Jennifer Freeman: "as the title implies, is meant to depict a free and joyous woman delighted by life. The sculpture is created from fiberglass and cement substrate, partially covered by mosaic. It weighs 60 pounds and its dimensions are 4’x4’x4’. "

This was my favorite!

City of Suwanee SculpTour

Sunday morning, 09/11, we decided to go check out the new SculpTour in the City of Suwanee. It must have been fate because we didn't realize that Suwanee has a piece of the World Trade Center as a centerpiece of their park. It was very sobering to see this piece of twisted metal on such a noteworthy day.

After paying our respects we went off to discover the beautiful sculpture scattered around the park. There are 15 pieces (I think... 15 or 17). I didn't take pictures of them all. Some of them just didn't do anything for me. Others were kind of hard to photograph. But below are a few of the most eye-catching of the group.

Dreams of Flying by Harry Zmijewski: "using a creative process much like that of a child: fresh, clean and, simple. The sculpture is constructed of reynobond with a steel frame and mount. It weighs 65 pounds and its dimensions are 72”x48”. "

Deconstructed Bolt by Andrew T. Crawford: "Directly referencing the techniques of collage, this piece looks as though it has been cut apart and rearranged creating a playful gesture in an otherwise stationary object. The sculpture is fabricated of galvanized steel and weighs 190 pounds. Its dimensions are 89”x 12”x 12”."

Arachnid by Damon Lusky: "Inspiration comes to Damon Lusky from memory of childhood toys. “You know when you see something and you have that moment of reflection and you feel a smile on your heart,” he says, “I think that’s what I'm shooting for.” Arachnid is around knee tall and 10 feet in diameter. It weighs approximately 200 pounds."

Amne by Harry Zmijewski: "Amne is a Tibetan word that represents a tall cloth-covered pole with tassels at the top. They are located in villages, monasteries, and parks, among other places. These poles are symbolic and made to protect the people where they are located from harm. In the artist’s version, he has used recycled car bumpers to form the contemporary abstract sculpture that resembles the Tibetan amne. The piece weighs 500 pounds and its dimensions are 15’x7’x7’."

Prayer Booth by Dylan Mortimer: plays on the idea of faith in the public realm. By morphing a telephone booth into a prayer station, the piece invites viewers to participate, or at least think about, the concept of prayer. It fuses humor with seriousness in order to ask questions about faith in public. Prayer Booth has been displayed in Kansas City, Chicago, Baltimore, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque (Iowa), New York City, Jackson (Tennessee), and Olathe and Lawrence, (Kansas). The piece is constructed of aluminum, vinyl, and plastic. The sculpture weighs 100 pounds and its dimensions are 110”x21”x24”. "

Mother and Child by Eluisa Altman: "represents the child as an extension of the mother. As the child begins to slip away, the mother stretches her arms as far as possible to hold on to her. The sculpture is minimally detailed but is meant to portray a strong family feeling. The piece is constructed of resin and weighs 78 pounds. Its dimensions are 33”x31”x12.5”. "

detail of Intrusion by Harry McDaniel

Intrusion by Harry McDaniel: "an exploration of the interactions and energy created by pushing three large irregular forms very close together. The composition conveys a sense of tension between the three sections. The matching curvature of the gaps between sections draws the viewer’s attention into those spaces. The middle section, differently finished from the other two, seems to be forcing its way between them, thus the title. The piece is constructed of steel, aluminum, and powder coat paint. Intrusion weighs 600 pounds and its dimensions are 7.5’x 9’x 4.5’."

How I spent my Summer Staycation

Last week we both took time off from work for staycation. Staycation is always our favorite! It's great fun to go on trips. But we love taking vacation at home; taking day trips and seeing the sights, doing work around the house. We love it!!!

Here's a few things we did on our staycation:

We went to Harlem, Georgia to visit the Laurel & Hardy Museum. We LOVE The Boys!!! Ya know, they do the same joke over and over (and over and over and over...) and I laugh EVERY TIME!!! It was a beautiful drive over on the back roads of East Georgia. And while the museum wasn't huge and full of memorabilia (not much left! they reused props in every movie back in those days!!!) it was still very cool. We saw lots of old pics of each of The Boys. Stan being Ben's favorite and Oliver being mine.

a mural in the center of town

Me with The Boys

Ben with The Boys

We also did a lot of things around the house. Here is our old porch rocker looking brand spankin' new with a fresh coat of black paint. The rest of the porch (and the entire house and barn!!!) will be painted next week. Can't wait!

We also did a LOT of work in the kitchen.

We had remodeled the kitchen about 7 years ago. We got 90% done and lost steam. We never finished the molding on one wall. We didn't paint the windows. We didn't paint the cabinets.

Then 2 weeks ago we had someone remove the horrible sliding glass door and replace it with a nice porch door with simple glass pane. We told them we'd finish the inside if they did the outside. So we used our staycation to finish up the kitchen. ALMOST! We still need to paint the cabinets. Well do that labor day weekend.

Here's a shot of our beautiful molding. I love how it came out!!!

Here's another shot showing the molding, New England Red walls and cream bead-board paneling. LOVE it!!!

We also went to Folk Fest the first part of our staycation. Saw tons of great art but didn't buy anything... well, except for one. We bought art for the dogs. We got this great painting from Bonehead Arts to hang above the dog door. I LOVE it. I think the pups do too!

And a bigger shot of our kitchen. Still lots we want to do, like new floor and new counter top. But those are projects for next year. Once we get the cabinets painted, we're done!

I did lots of art during staycation. Here's a sculpture I've been working on FOR EVER! And it's almost done now. A few finishing touches. But it's done enough to share I think. :)

Here's a piece I'm working on for Gary Reef's Sardine Can Challenge. It's no where's close to being done. But I think I can still share a peak.

I posted this yesterday but here it is again! I made this journal to mail to other artists for a Round Robin. Can't wait to get it back full of wonderful art!

Back to work we go!!! The Man and The puppy heading back to work on Monday.

And me too! Back to work after a WONDERFUL week of staycation!!!

Collaboration

I'm involved in a real fun project Over Here on Tam's ning, Willowing & Artist Friends. It's an art journal round robin.

I probably should be patient and wait to post pictures. But I'm diggin' the books so far! I won't post what other people have done so far (though I will post my whole book once it's complete!!!) But here are my pages.

This is in Mindy's book. Her theme is about self discovery. I've started trying to incorporate my own symbolism into my work. So I didn't say "in words" my self discovery. But it's meaningful to me.... in my own secret language.

This is the cover page on my book. I first started to make the theme Victorian Side Show Freaks. LOL But then decided to make it a little looser... Just Circus related.



Here are my side show girls. Their circus name is Double Trouble. It's not finished yet. But what can I say. I'm impatient!!!

If Round Robins and Collaborative Art interests you, please check out the group!!! We have a few spots left and this is a fun group with lots of great artists.

Oh Deer

I did both of these a few weeks ago. But as they were presents I didn't want to post them too early (and ruin the surprise). I'm happy with them both.


acrylics on canvas; this one is done very much in the style of my most recent canvas' though a lot less folk art and a little more graphic. But I like it. I struggled with the background for a long time. It went from light green to pink to yellow. Then I put a burnt umber wash with fluid acrylics and suddenly it worked!

This one was a total experiment (as I'm likely to do in the studio lol OFTEN!) It's made from found object (the plastic deer) covered in joint compound. I then did several washes in various colors of fluid acrylics. I like the simplicity of this one. I think it works.

weekend update

What a busy weekend we had!

Saturday we cut our path pavers (for lack of a better word) for our Zen Garden. This is what we plan on doing. And last Fall we had to cut 6 trees out of the yard. We saved them and let them dry out. Saturday we cut them into 3 inch thick stepping stones.

I'm not sure we have enough. But it's a good start. We can always do more later... or adapt our design a little. Either. :)

Saturday night we went and saw one of my FAVORITE bands at Verizon Wireless Ampitheater. My first time at the venue and enjoyed it a great deal!!! It's nice to have such a great venue so close to home. We'll be back.

But now, please enjoy the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy! They are The Shizzle!

EDIT: Try as I might I can NOT get YouTube to embed this video. But HERE they are. Enjoy!!

Bear's Village is the Trees

I painted this for Ben's birthday. He seemed to like it. :)

I can't seem to get my pictures to post straight today. I'll spin them when I get home from Harry Potter tonight.

EDIT: He's straight now!!! Whew! One problem solved!

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the Goddess Noyeovia

I finished her! And I love her. The skirt, background and ice cream cone are collaged with hand-painted paper with a mix of fluid acrylics, acrylic inks and gouche. Actually I just painted coffee filters. The Goddess figure is painted in acrylics.

I'm posting this on my phone and I can NOT get the picture turned right. I'll fix that when I get home from Harry Potter!

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i love bentos

Would you believe all this food is less than 250 calories?

I make my tuna (80 calories) with white wine dijon mustard (0 calories) instead of mayo. The sandwich round is 100 calories... instead of using bread. They're tasty too!!!! Then I load up on fresh fruit and veggies.

YUM!

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