Gadabout Artist Days 18 - 20

So, Mr. How2 and I spent three days wandering around Quartzsite, seeing what there is to see, and getting a feel for the place. I mean, what a crazy concept, right? All this activity springing out of the middle of the desert. But you do find, as you move from one tent to the next, there is a repetition to it all. We would walk into a space, look around and ask each other if we had been here already. No, that was on the other side of town. Weird...
  We spent three evenings camping out in the desert too. That was beautiful at night, and cooled down considerably. We needed the extra blanket from the first part of our journey! We were quite comfortable, and had plenty of food and water and soaked up the peace and quiet and not moving! We eventually came up with a plan, we decided the best thing to do was to explore a few days, then head to Tucson to visit our family, which is where we are now.

We plan to stay here for a few days, helping out with some home improvement projects around their new home. I will not go into my rant about lousy contractors that take advantage of unsuspecting home owners right here, but lets just say there were some very hinky goings on when they put this place together, and there is no excuse for many of them. Just pure laziness and shoddy workmanship...
  Mr. How2 is dancing a jig, he is so in his element doing this kind of work for the people he loves. I actually caught him singing to himself as he traced down a mysteriously disconnected wire and figured out why three wall switches seemed to have no effect on anything in the house. I knew he wouldn't last long just doing nothing, looks like his limit was 20 days...

  As for art, I mentioned in a previous post that I was taking an online course, with new lessons every Monday for four weeks. I have been playing some more with the techniques from the first lesson, and here are my creations.

 This one is done on watercolor paper, and I think it might make nice background paper for a collage, maybe even cut down to fit the art I am doing for the Art-o-mat project. This is 6" x 6" and I can get at least four out of it...

These last two I tried on small canvas board, not the best choice. A big part of the technique is the use of oil pastels, and though they go on nice and creamy over the watercolor paper, they look choppy and unfinished on canvas...Duh, I should have guessed that! The cutesy, free-form designs are outside my comfort zone, not really sure if I like them as finished pieces, but I will keep playing around to see what develops. I did figure out one neat trick. When you want to add more paint or pen work after you have added the oil pastel, you have to be careful because it sticks to your pens, or acts like a resist to your paints. The pastels stay tacky, and can smear. However, if you add the oil pastels, then seal them with a coat of Mod Podge or Gel Medium, then let it dry completely, you are free to add as many more layers as you wish, the pastels are firmly set and will not smear. I didn't know this would work before I tried it, but fortune favors the bold and I figured it was worth the risk...

  Tomorrow we are being escorted to a swap meet by my lovely niece, and I will let you know what treasures we find! Until then...enjoy!

Gadabout Artist Days 15-17: Quartzsite and Camping in the Desert

The 15th day out was almost all about travel, we drove south from Ash Fork, way up a mountain, topping off at 6100' and a slow, very slow winding down the other side, into the lowlands. It was a nerve wracking drive, the down side was so steep and so winding, we hardly breathed, and crawled along at 30 miles an hour. Mark that route off the list for next year, there has got to be a better way...

  We got into Quartzsite in the early afternoon on New Years Day, so of course, everything was closed. It was a nice quiet evening, we got full hookups and showered, cooked and went for a stroll down the street. We spent a few hours reading up on all the craft shows and rock and gem shows, and generally making plans for the following day. I also started a four week online class with Traci Bautista, called Creative Doodling, and I am having a lot of fun exploring this free spirited way of making art. Here is my first week "assignment"...

 I had to work with a few substitutions, and on a much smaller scale than the lesson intended, but I am happy with the results. I think it would make a great background for either ATCs or a collage canvas...


 It is difficult to describe this town. It starts with about 2000 permanent residents, and swells to around 150,000 in January and February, all in RVs. Every inch of space is packed cheek to jowl with motorhomes, campers, trailers, trucks and vans, and everyone of them has a tent set up and is selling something!

 We have walked around town now for two days, and still there is no end in sight. Believe it or not, this is just the beginning! The "real shows" haven't really begun, they are scheduled for this week end and for every week from here until the end of February, and just a bit into March. Right now there are a couple of Gem and Mineral shows happening, and I am having a very hard time resisting the BEADS! Every color, shape and size you can imagine!

The prices vary from wholesale, to retail, to sky high to dirt cheap, with no rhyme or reason to them, other than what the market will bear.

Then there is the camping...you can choose to stay in a RV park, if you book the previous year, or you can "dry" camp, or "boondock" out on the surrounding BLM lands which are vast and free of charge. There is also a middle ground, called LTVAs and there you can stay for a ridiculously small price for months at a time. You have to drive into town now and again for water and a sewer dump, or there are clever resourceful souls, that truck these services right out to you. We are only staying one more night here, so we chose the short term site. Then we are off to Tucson to visit my niece and nephew, and my new little grand niece! Until next time...enjoy!