Spice Drop Soup

ArtFest Pictures Continued

Vendor night, view from the stands.  It was so crowded, and I don't handle crowds well.  When crowds are involved, I'd rather be an observer then a participant.   

An example of a Morpheus Box, my day three class, Michael DeMeng.  Most of the class finished their boxes.  Mine is . . . unfinished. 

Another Morpheus box.  We started with a basic wood box with center piece, shaft and hardware.  Michael walked us through a number of steps he uses to create his many assemblages.  The most important step is the "yuhze" or yooozzhha".  Spelling this is insignificant, since it's not a word that will be found in any dictionary.  It's an entire concept, regarding a faux aging technique that gives patina and interest to a piece of art.  Michael uses Golden's Quin Nickel Azo Gold as his primary "yuhze" but other colors can  be used.  In a shoe shrine making class taken a couple years ago, I used turquoise to create patina.                                 

Mount Rainier

Thanks to an eagle-eyed commenter and a small amount of research, I've learned that my mountain picture is of Mount Rainier!  Yep, Mount McKinley is in Alaska.  I appreciate your comment.  Keeps me humble.

An ArtFest Pictorial

It's been two weeks now, I'm totally unpacked and ready to share a little of my adventure.  ArtFest was wonderful.  It's all about the energy.  Once you have experienced it, you will want to come back.  This was my third ArtFest.  I've also been to ArtFiberFest, which is great in its own unique way.  Here's a pictorial of the journey.

Mt. McKinley from the plane.  Perhaps others are not so awestruck by mountains, but I was born and grew up in Monroe, Michigan (sea level 70 ft) and moved to Dallas, Texas (sea level ?).  Here, highway overpasses are the highest point. 

This dome was created in my Thursday class - Artist unknown.  The basic shape is created with wire, in this case a black hardware wire - a pretty raw material.  It is covered with pig gut.  The gut (intestine/casing) was freeze-dried, thawed, reconstituted, slit and wrapped on the form.  The process is relatively simple.  Most of the work is in thinking through the design and determining exactly what areas to cover and how to best achieve the look you desire.  The wet gut on the raw wire causes some rusting to occur, with interesting results. 

A grouping of objects by another unknown artist.  If anyone recognizes these pieces, I'd be more than happy to acknowledge them. 

Jason & Matt Have Birthdays

Yesterday was the midpoint between the birthdays of my two sons-in-law.  Our little family gathered at my oldest daughters home, and celebrated in our usual summer way - a cook-out on the grill. 

Here is Jason in his new "hoodie".  I didn't really understand why he was so gung-ho on this piece of clothing, but soon found out that it has a number of interesting features.  It is "wired" for his ipod and has multiple pockets for various male essentials, somewhat the same as a purse. 

Matt got a set of barbecue utensils and this really cool "Bar-B-Q for Dummies" apron.

The  tight smile says it all.  He is secretly thrilled to get all the new equipment to play with, but the whole apron concept is a little beyond him.

One last attempt before stopping for the night

I think I have figured out a few things. 

1.  I need to use the custom settings

2.  I need to use "thumbnail", but change the size.  The picture of Donna and Joan was 800 pixels.  This time I'll use 400 pixels, as a test

OK!!!!!

This is more what I had in mind. 

So, this picture is a locust, made in Melissa Manley's "Gut Instincts" class.  It was made by my table-mate, Jim . . . Somebody.  (I'm so bad with names)  Anyway, Isn't it cool?  Well, here's a few more pics from the same class

This face/headress would make a great doll.  I do not know the artist.  If you know who made this, please let me know.

One more before I sleep - I've now set this size, etc. as my default.

Donna with her starfish. 

Oh, the possibilities are endless!  My camera won't know what happened to it.  I'm so psyched!

Another Attempt

Donna Joy and Joan Kerr on the beach.   

Attempt to insert pictures!

I will attempt to insert pictures here.  Not that I haven't already done that, but I've not been able to size them to my liking.  Here goes nothing!

View this photo

I'm getting a "view this photo" thing.  I think I did something wrong.  Rats!  And now, I''ve lost my big type.  Will I ever get the hang of this?  Anyway, if you go to the picture, it is Mt. McKinley with Mt. St. Helens in the background.  This was taken from the window of the plane while flying into SeaTac Airport on the way to ArtFest.  I got about 4 good shots of Mt. McKinley, but this is the only one with both mountains.

Kita & Trouble

Heeerrrreeee's  Kita!  Short for Chiquita Margarita.  She's my huntress.  This is my 20 pound cat with no idea of her size or power.  What you see is her all warm and cuddly.  In real life she is The Mistress of The Hunt; fierce, strong and determined.  The smallest noise has her running to protect us from every flying, crawling or hopping monster.  Far be it from the imagination of the moth who flies in, to believe that a floor bound cat can launch herself 12 feet into the air and catch it in mid-flight.  Yet, that is exactly what Miss Kita will do.  The life span of an intruder is very short, indeed.  Her partner in home justice is Mr. Trouble.  Here is a very small image of him.  He's my One True Love.  The one that lays in the crook of my arm as I fall asleep each night, serenading me into slumber with his quiet hum.  Trouble is timid.  He came with his name, but I think all the trouble was scared out of him before he was mine.  He is a climber and even now is high atop my shelf unit peering down at me as I type.  I'll try to snap a picture and download it.  ta ta

Earth Day

I saw this on my feralvegetarian Yahoo group, in a question asked about how we each celebrate Earth Day.  I thought I would share it with you.

All beings tremble before violence.
All fear death.
All love life.
See yourself in others.
Then whom can you hurt?
What harm can you do?

Just thought it was worth thinking about. 

Is it me?

First, a little run down on ArtFest - it was, once again, GREAT!!!

Second, friend Carol has created a lovely fabric collage of . . . Me?  Not that I want to be conceited, but this piece of art really looks like a sleeping me.  I like it.  So I guess I am a little conceited.  hmmm.  It's the second time "my" image has been captured in fabric.  Look at my information to see another fabric me. 

Third, did you see what I just did?  Yeah, I inserted an image into my blog.  WOW!! That's big for me!  Of course, I couldn't figure out how to insert the other picture, but I'm on my way there.  Soon, my blog will be filled with colorful images, pics of beautiful sunrises and examples of all the art I've seen and loved.  I have tons of beautiful ArtFest pictures that I'll have to add when I get them out of my camera and into the computer.  The whole world is opening up!