2010 Student Art Show

Finishing up the semester while trying to get ready for the holidays was not conducive to keeping up on my blog.  So before I move forward writing about my new ideas and creations, I want to recap what happened the last few weeks of my class.

The biggest news is that I entered my first art show in November.  I submitted two pieces:

"Gotcha"

and "Dragonfly"

 I was so excited when both of my pieces were selected for the competition.  And then, Dragonfly was awarded 2nd place in the 3-D art category!  Not too shabby for my first juried show!

There were some amazing pieces in the show.  Here are some of my favorites:

And if you're interested, you can see all of the award winners HERE.

Happy New Year!

It may be a bit late to be wishing anyone a Happy New Year.  After all January, 2011 is already half over.  I am not sure how that happened.  Seriously, how did that happen? But since I can't change how quickly time seems to move these days, I will try to focus on getting back to creating art and blogging about it.


I've spent the last two weeks trying to get more organized and planning some things I want to create.  I have a few things I still need to write about--like the last couple of projects in my Arts Metals class.  Plus I have several sketches for mixed media projects I want to create and I start my Arts Metals 2 class next Wednesday.  Hopefully that means I will have lots to share in the next few weeks.

But until then, here is my first Random Sunday blog for 2011:  doe-c-doe

This great blog is written by Gina, a graphic designer who collects vintage material and buttons.  Her entry on Thursday, Jan 13, really caught my eye and has my creative juices flowing.  I absolutely love the button display hoop she created and am thinking I may have to try my hand at a similar project.  She's asked that people not use her photos without permission, so I won't share them here.  But click on one of the above links and you see what I'm talking about.    

Random Sunday Blog

This morning's Random Sunday Blog is Antique_Spinning_Wheels, a wonderful site written by Grace Hatton of Lords Vally Pennsylvania.  It is a great little site that I found after only one click on the Next Blog button.

Grace with her husband Fred live on a farm that has been in their family since 1859.   On it they raise Finnsheep

These cuties aren't just pets, they are suppliers of gorgeous wool, both on the hoof                      

and off

                        

  

Grace washes and dyes the wool before sending it off for processing.  She even spins some of that wool into yarn on the antique spinning wheels they collect and restore.

Grace also gardens,

weaves,

knits,

and paints.

Her blog is a fascinating and colorful view into the life of a modern day shepherd.  I highly recommend checking it out!

THE BEST BIRTHDAY GIFTS: love, technology and inspiration.

Although I didn't write about it yesterday, I had a great birthday.  My husband made me dinner and my youngest daughter made me a lava cake. 

Yum!

I got a beautiful new scarf from a dear friend.  It is soft and warm, and makes me wish for cold weather so I can wear it.

I also got a cool new toy:

I've been wanted one for a while and apparently my wonderful husband caught one of many times I mentioned it.  :)  I love it!  Right now I am mainly reading the books you can download for free.  But Barnes and Noble knows what they are doing. 

They gave me a free download of the first six chapters of this book:

Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite books, and this twist really intrigued me.  So I started reading, and started laughing, and was really quite annoyed when I reached the end of the free promo.  But luckily the rest of the book was just a click away.  And now I am enjoying the rest of the story.

The only downside is that buying that book was almost too easy.  I am going to have to be careful or my book budget will be busted every month--especially since I really don't have a book budget.  :D

And yesterday the mailman became my favorite person by stretching out my birthday one more day.  On my doorstep I found a package that contained this:

It was sent by one of my dearest friends.  Elena is an artistic soul and has always been my muse.  Many of my craft projects were tried as a gift for her.  She has another artistic friend that makes these great pieces of art.  She collects trinkets and makes fun shapes and sayings out of sculpty clay and then assembles them into frames. 

Elena has several of these in her house, and I study them every time I am there.  I'm sure it's no shock that I really want to make one and have since the first time I saw one.  And although I haven't gotten around to it yet, I do have a frame already set aside for the project.   I just need to take the time to collect things to put in it.  But until then, I now have one of my own to look at and inspire me.  

Getting older isn't so bad after all! 

Cutest recycling project ever!

Hi, my name is Rover!

I was rescued near a recycling plant and am now looking for a permanent "woof" over my head.  "Sit" is my favorite trick and I am a great listener; I'll always be there to greet you when you get home!  And I promise I won't chew up your couch.

While cleaning out my camera's memory card last week I came across this cute guy.   I saw Rover in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston gift shop and  wish I would have written about him sooner.  Partly because he is so cute, but mostly because I can't remember what material he was made from.   But I can tell you I thought he was adorable and if I could have justified the $125 adoption fee (which, by the way, included shots and neutering) I would have brought him home.  But instead I had to be content with ignoring the rules of museum photography etiquette AGAIN and sneaking out my camera to take this picture.   Although I do still think he would look great sitting on my hearth.   

Wonder what Dakota would have thought of that?

Relax Dakota.  I'm sure he wouldn't have tried to steal your bone!