Princes, Peacocks and Portable Art...

This morning I am in Spokane for the second day of a four day visit with my children. My son turns twenty today, that is a milepost for both of us. We decided to celebrate by attending the renaissance festival that is held here every summer, but the day started out with a downpour. Not to worry, one thing about Western Washington weather, if you don't like it, just wait a minute...sure enough, by noon the sun was shining and we were taking our coats off.
As I posted before, I am a fan of these fairs, I usually have a blast, and wanted to share that experience with my grown son. This is a pretty small event, very low budget and run down. The participants are obviously amateurs, but bless their hearts, they worked very hard to entertain the small handful of attendees. My son was chosen to play the roll of the prince, in the Mud Players version of "Rumpelstiltskin" and was approached latter in the day by a curly haired little boy that remembered him from the skit. He got quite a chuckle when the little guy ran up to him and said in awe, "Hey, you are the Prince!"

We were most impressed with the flock of peacocks they have living on the site, I had no ideas they were quite so BIG up close!

I snapped some pictures to use in my art, but they were not very cooperative and kept turning away...

We stayed a couple hours, then decided to head back into town and hit a few yard sales, another pastime my son and I both love. We wrapped up the evening having dinner with our cousins and telling childhood stories.
His birthday is today, but he has to work, and that is, of course, a priority. But it all comes together nicely because there is a water color class being offered at the local art supply store, and I have always wanted to learn more about using them properly. That is my gift to me today. My daughter lives here too, and she has today off work, so we will spend the afternoon shopping together. Or as she used to say when she was tiny and tired of being surrounded by boys, " Mommy, lets be two girls together!" I see a visit to Hobby Lobby and Michael's in my future, and perhaps a little splurge at the clothing store, though I would much rather buy tools or art supplies...

I brought along my new mini watercolor kit that I assembled, for a trial run, and so far it seems to have most of what I want. I was trying for very tiny, and this is still a bit larger than I wanted, but perfect for ATCs.

It was originally a Tootsie Roll tin, and I used pill sorters for the paints. I cut the handles down on a couple of brushes, and the tin's lid is painted white to double as a palette. The next one will be even smaller, and be set up for doing inchies! Until next time...enjoy!

Today's inchie theme is "feather" and here is mine, made using my new kit...

Family Time and Summer Schedules...

Well we have had a busy week around here, graduations to attend, family visits, friend visits, my birthday and Father's Day kept us jumping all over the place. Our work load, both at home and outside, hasn't lightened any at all.

Mr. How2 is wrapping up his construction project, and that means some of my days are spent doing detail work at the job-site. Cleaning, hauling, grouting tile and final creative approval is my prerogative, and some adjustments had to be made, including knocking out a wall and expanding the master bedroom. (I wish we would have thought of it before he hung the drywall and painted!) But everything is coming together beautifully, and it will be a lovely home for a small family.

 My time in the studio was limited, but I had to finish this 8" x 10"canvas, the image was just calling me;

I was a bit conflicted about the gold swirls in the petals of the leaves, and here is a trick I tried to "test drive" the idea. I simply printed out a color copy of the painting, and drew the swirls on the copy first, to see if I liked them before I committed to their addition in the final piece. I liked what I saw, so went ahead and added them. I wasn't trying for a accurate representation of a sunflower, so the whimsy of the swirls appealed to me.

The garden is continuing to grow, I am picking the first handful of fresh strawberries this week, they will be in full production as soon as we get a few sunny days in a row. We are already getting tired of lettuce, spinach and assorted other greens, and the radishes are trying to bolt. I am very pleased with how the flower boxes and planters are filling in, but am especially delighted with the pot full of violas, they are volunteers from last year, and I have never seen them get this lush!

I may just have to paint them!

Our week has been full, but we will hopefully get a chance to slow down soon, and enjoy a bit of the summer. I keep telling myself that summer hasn't officially started yet, and I have plenty of time, but...I don't seem to be listening! Until next time...enjoy!

This week's theme for Every Inchie Monday is "animal" and I decided to paint Storm, my Tabby Point Siamese. Since she won't sit still, I used the photo of her that appears in my page banner;

When we first got Storm, she was quite a handful, and I blogged about her introduction into our family in a previous post called "Summer Storm", go take look if you would like to know more about her.

Outside the Box...

Last week I was a day late, this week I am a day early because Mr. How2 and I are going camping up at the lake for a night. We have been working pretty hard and steady, and wanted to get out over Memorial Day weekend. But the parks and lakes were jam packed with people that had the same idea, so we skipped it. So here is an early treat...

  A while ago I took a class in the art of stained glass. Mostly I was interested in learning the proper way to solder so I could make small pendants using my collage art. But There was so much more to learn! The glass was wonderful and came in so many incredible colors...Here is the project I made in that class;

A simple starter panel, but I am happy with the way it turned out. I loved my experience and was very fired up about making stained glass art a part of my life, but found the supply costs prohibitive. I am sure they are not so bad if that is the only art you do, but you may have noticed by now, I am an art junkie. I love everything having to do with art and craft, the paints the textiles the colors, Oh My! It was once speculated aloud by an exasperated Mr. How2 that I should just open an art supply store, I would need to purchase stock for years...(Ha, the jokes on him, I would love to have my own art supply store, and offer classes and rent out studio space...)
  Long story short, I decided I just could not justify starting an entire new art genre, complete with a separate studio. (It really isn't a good idea to have to much else going on in a glass shop, due to the fine glass dust created during the cutting and grinding process. Especially nothing textile based!) So I let my interest slide, and pursued my other loves...
 Until last week end, when a chance comment at our local library book sale led me to the home of a lady that had decided to give up her stained glass studio to follow her new passion for quilting! ( See, I told you the two just don't jive.) She was willing and ready to sell me everything, lock, stock and grinder for a very reasonable price. I hemmed, I hawed, and I did! I jumped in!

A very few things are duplicates of the basic hand tools I purchased for the class...

 But many are things I didn't even know about...

 and glass...lots of glass!

Not one, but TWO grinders...

 but only a handful of books.

So now I am in search of a safe spot to set up yet another studio, someplace I can close up, since my stained glass artist friend pointed out that the cats should not be allowed anywhere near it. (They walk on the glass dust and lick it off their paws...) and , of course, nothing with carpet. She feels it should really be in a separate building, for safety's sake and for the health of my pets. An issue to be resolved...

But here is the other fun part...as I was rummaging through all my new pretties, Mr. How2 said he was interested in learning stained glass! This took me completely by surprise, but I am delighted! My wonderful husband of 21 years is a very hardworking and serious kind of guy, and he has always been very supportive of my need to make art. But he thinks he isn't creative...the guy who has rebuilt and redesigned too many houses to even remember! I try to explain that creativity comes in many, many forms, not just the traditional fine arts, but he has never truly believed me. But he feels that with stained glass, because there is a pattern to follow and he doesn't have to "make it up in his head" that he just might be able to handle it. Also, he loves precision and is often frustrated with the poorly built/measured/designed buildings he fixes, and he thinks that fitting the glass pieces together may be just the thing for him.

So now we need a two space glass studio, where we can both explore this amazing craft. Don't worry, I am still a mixed media artist, I am having way too much fun with all the possibilities. But it's nice to stray a little off the path now and again, and this time I may just have a companion in my adventures...Until next time...enjoy!

This week, the theme for Every Inchie Monday is "street". Seriously, this is only 1"x1"!  Go check out the other lovely entries...

A Day Late, and still behind...

I haven't had much time for art this week. The house we are remodeling for resale is in it's final inside detail stage, and that's where I come in. On past projects, I have been there every step of the way, but this time, the heavy construction has fallen to Mr. How2 and our nephew. They have been mostly living on site, both for security and the distance, with the occasional visit home for food and laundry. I have been keeping the "home fires burning" mostly working on our extensive garden and lawn. I am still behind, and scrambling to catch up...

 Usually a rainy day is a fantastic excuse to stay in and be creative, but not so much these last few. I am setting tile and grouting today, and spent yesterday scrubbing down the job-site, no creativity at all, I am sad to say. But it's what we do, our livelihood, so we do what we must. 

We have had an unusual amount of visitors this spring, and though no one is staying long, it does take a while to get the house "guest ready" after so much time painting and planting! I just hope none of them want a tour of the downstairs, the place where all our excess junk goes to hide and reproduce. It has gotten so bad, I now need a machete, a pith helmet and a GPS to find the laundry room...

   I have continued to work small, even more now out of necessity and this is my latest little sweetie!

Only 4"x4", on canvas board. I could really see a series of these, maybe a collection of four, to be grouped together, or one more small, and a 8"x10" for added contrast. Lets see how the house project comes along, and then go from there. In the mean time, I am working on a small commission piece, as well as a collection of ATC's for a very sweet lady, and I am almost finished!

I had to skip Every Inchie Monday yesterday, but please still go check out all the other entries on their blog. Until next time...enjoy!