Sticks and Stones

Unfortunately, I have been rather unproductive this week.  I had planned to make a headdress using twigs for this girl, but let me just tell you--my art group really panned that idea.  They said the sticks would decay or be broken off the canvas or...whatever.  So I am going to plan B and saving the twigs for a girl to put in the Bijou!

Plan B is for a headband but it will fit her differently from what she now has, and I am hopeful that I can make her hair look right!  Oh, yes, I am also planning on her having a nose.  In fact, I think that next week she will look very different and much better.

You saw this last week, but it is just about finished now.  The Cyrillic letters are actually painted on as are the Greek ones.  The Greek word is not very obvious in this photo.  It needs a bit of touch-up here and there, and then it will go to the MMIA jury.

On a More Personal Note:
Today is the one-year anniversary of my house break-in, and I was a bit hesitant to leave.  When I went to the grocery store, I left my computer in the room with Brooklyn.  I knew it would be safe there or we could follow the blood trail.  I am a bit on edge because the chairs were stolen off my porch two weeks ago.  Evidently, there is a target on the Bijou!

I have less than two weeks to get my paintings ready for submission to a juried show.  I can send 5 for jurying, and I really hope something will be accepted. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Uninvited Guest

Because July 5 was oh so nice I decided to take Brooklyn with me on an errand.  We were gone probably for about 20 to 30 minutes.  Upon entering the house, I immediately noticed that my computer was missing and then I realized my iPad was also gone.  Yikes! 

First call was to my sister who thought I was joking but when she realized I was serious, she came right over and arrived shortly before the police.  

Now here is the thing, the Bijou was in a terrible mess and in dire need of cleaning.  The dust on all my furniture made it easy to SEE the finger prints but more difficult to actually GET a finger print.  Note to self: Keep house clean.  This is my guest room where that white box on the dresser had been opened.  No valuables there...only handkerchiefs. The police took the box hoping to get DNA.  

Oh yeah.  See the walls?  They are not in a prep stage; they are meant to look distressed.  

Nothing in this box either except for remote controls and pencils.  Another dead end for my unexpected company.

This dresser drawer didn't yield much either or if it did, I don't remember.  I may have had some money there.  Another note to self: Get this drawer cleaned out!

In case you are wondering, these drawers are not dirty as they may appear but I distressed them.  The bottom two drawers are on my "to do" list. 

Ok so what else was gone.  Well as far as I can see they took my fingernail kit.  REALLY?  Note to police: look for perp with nice nails.

Also gone was a check I'd written for a whopping $11.51.  More on this later.

The following day I dug some change out of the bottom of my purse and walked over to my "shoe" bank, lifted my hand to drop in the money and....it was GONE!

Have I ever mentioned that I love Cleveland?  The policeman who was here Sunday stopped by on Thursday to tell me they had a guy in custody.  Remember that $11.51 check?  He had it but it had been altered.  He was arrested on other charges but at that time had not been charged with the incident here.

STAY TUNED!

As Promised

Some of My Works in Progress

I have several paintings that are in progress.  I guess I am waiting for inspiration to hit me when I actually know that one has to make the effort in order to get said inspiration!

 I know it is not an good photograph but perhaps you can get the idea.  Much more work needs to be done. The bits of color on it are from deli paper that I designed along with some stamping.  Oh and I altered some National Geographic pages using a cleaner.  

The piece below does not have such a mystical quality to it but I think I would like that if I knew how to achieve it. Part of this is raised and a grout type product was used to achieve the look of the hair.  He (Fat Head) will have more color in his final appearance.

While walking with Brooklyn, I saw these:

These crepe myrtle blossoms were huge and hanging out over the sidewalk. Beautiful even after the rain had given them a beating.

Speaking of rain.  I thought this was an interesting way to divert the way to the gutter.  If you look closely you can see there is also a drain under the rocks.     

 

The small bridge captivated me.

I had been raining and pouring around here and more is expected.  

A Bit of a Walk

Walking the Dog

Lately we have had lots of thundering, rain and wind with the result of cooler weather for the past several days. Another result was fallen branches and at least one home was lost.  (see below)

Holding Brooklyn's lease and taking a picture is not easy so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have like to.  I am trying to develop a photographer's eye and obviously I have a long way to go.








Another interesting sight was where this plant was growing.  I looks like part of a crown on the house!










Today I attended a demo on how to marbleize fabric and paper.  After several problems this was our results.  I think they probably should have been even more dramatic but something was off in the formula we were using.  The last one turned out well;  the first two were a bit weak but perhaps they could be used as an underpainting.

I think this would work on some types of paper which would be what I was interested in but after seeing the process, it is pretty much off my agenda of something I want to try.






















These are small pieces of fabric.  I have no idea how to do something larger.  This is done in a vat of the mixture.  The bathtub?

Safety

Just a bit about Brooklyn.  She is calm during a storm.  She doesn't run around the house. She doesn't shake and quiver. She doesn't bark.  But she does seek safety.  The water closet is a good choice!

One last item

I've been working on a website for an art group of which I am a member.  It is Mixed Media Inspired Artists or MMIA.  There are some very talented people in this group and you may find a piece of art that speaks to you or you may just be interested in seeing the styles of art we make. mixedmediainspired.com

If you can't comment on this, it may be because you are reading this in from your mailbox rather than actually being on the site.  Just click on the site to make it active.

I'm Baaaaccckkk!

It's been way too long since I posted  and I hope to get in gear and accomplish something.  I'd like to share those accomplishments with you.  I'd love hearing back from you.  If you have an idea how I could improve my work, please tell me.  I also am trying to make some improvements around the Bijou.  Trying is the key word!

ART
I'm in an art group with 14 wonderful women.  There is much talent in the group and people are so generous with their help.  The group is called MMIA( Mixed Media Inspired Artists).  Please visit our website that was just published: mixedmediainspired.com

I had done some painting and have two in progress.

Here is one I finished.  These colors screamed at me to use them.  Of course, you may think these colors just scream!  I've actually made some slight improvements to it since this photo was taken but the picture I have of it is on a disc and guess what?  Yep, this computer does not accept discs.  So I need to transfer it to a flash drive.  Of course I'll have to use someone else's computer...

Water Garden

I don't have pics at this time of the work in progress but I'll post some in a few days.


Home

 Have you ever tried to get people to do work on your house?  It is not easy.  After having a huge unfinished patch in my ceiling for several months, I hope that next week someone is coming to fix it.  I am planning to change the cabinetry in the kitchen by putting in drawers.  The cabinet man came here oh about six weeks ago.  About three weeks ago, he wanted to send someone to measure again. Last Wednesday, he said he'd either call me on Thursday or next Monday before that someone came here to measure.  Please cross your fingers for Monday as it didn't happen on Thursday!

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Who Knew?

I had no idea that a tiny part-time job would keep me so busy.  Last semester kept me hopping but things may slow a bit now that I have only five residents to supervise.  They are at two schools in Chattanooga which are fairly close to each other but Chattanooga is a lot farther than right in town as two of mine were last semester.  It will give me an opportunity to check out a few things in Chattanooga.

On the home front, my son and his wife distressed the walls in what is now my old world (of sorts) guest room.  It isn't the look that everyone would want but I think it is fun.

Before

Nice color but very dark even when curtains were opened.  (This was taken at night)

These pics were taken during the process.

And here are some pics of the finished product--they do not look very different from the "in progress" pics!

Those strange looking iron pieces next to the bed are going to be the headboard.  They are rusted sides to an old school desk.  The chest is more the color of the pillows rather than green as it appears under the incandescent lights. The quilt is from my grandmother and they bear is from my childhood.

Next up for painting is my bedroom but it will be a solid color!

A Nice Little Surprise for Me!

Yes, I had a nice little surprise but I'll tell about that later.  First, I finally got a few things done at the Bijou but as Robert Frost said, "I have miles to go before I sleep."  Well at least I have many things to do before I am near completion of my guest room.

Does anyone else forget to take the BEFORE pics?  This time I was fortunate to find one.  My Uncle Harvey made this cedar chest but I am not sure when, perhaps when he was in high school which was before WWII.  It needs repair but I didn't realize how much until I made it mine.

This picture of how it looked originally flatters it; the wood did not look nearly as good as this.

What can I say?  I like paint!  I painted it dark and then gave it a crackle finish.

The bed is not finished but I am pretty pleased with it. It is difficult to find a queen bed that looks right with my old furniture so I asked Jenny, my niece, to built it and a few weeks later it was delivered.  Now I need to paint.  I could stain but I really like paint!  Then I will put another surprise piece on it for the headboard.  I have my fingers crossed that it will work.

Oh, did you notice the curtains?  I found the fabric but never could make myself sit down and sew them.  Jenny to the rescue.  Then the task became hanging them because I couldn't  screw anything into the wall. Even the electric drill would stop short.  In the end I decided that a backing was needed (we used a 1x6) and got someone with a nail gun to put them up.

The Christmas cactus is blooming right on schedule!

And now for the surprise.  Actually I had two surprises.  On St. Nicholas Day I found a borrowed shoe on my porch will with chocolate coins.  You better bet, I'll be leaving my own shoe out next year!

A few days later I found this poinsettia on my porch.  I have no idea who gave it to me, which is a bit disconcerting... But if you are reading this blog, I want you to know I appreciate it very much!

 (oops, I left the top to a candle jar on the mantel)

Doesn't it look beautiful on the mantel?

I hope all is well with you and as always, I'd love to hear from you!