The Barn Sale

Since my trip to Wyoming is going to take a while to write out, I'm opting for sharing a shorter jaunt instead. Yesterday was The Barn Sale that has been advertised on a little flier hanging on my fridge for several months now. Being so freshly back and not quite into the normal routine, since what is normal changed right before I left with school just starting, I almost forgot. Luckily I spotted it amongst the stuff and loaded up my nine-year-old and headed off.

Since it was a long ways out on a road we rarely take, even just driving out to the place was an adventure for us. Once we arrived there was no mistaking we were there--cars were parked clear out onto the road. Yay! We don't have these types of events around here often (or maybe I'm just ignorant!), so we were excited!

The first booth had a beautiful box of little silk flower parts that was so colorful. They were in the shade, which made for that nicely saturated light that really pops colors. Unfortunately I didn't check the pic before moving on and didn't know it was out of focus until I downloaded it from the camera. Note to self--don't do this again! But the colors were lovely and the little flowers in the middle--mine. Oh yeah. They had a whole stack of vintage travel postcards for only 25 cents each! I managed to only buy $7 worth. At some point I want to get back to my travelling Louisa project and these were perfect, although the assistant got a bit bored once her pulled pork sample ran out.


Thanks to Junebug (509-990-4558) for allowing me to take these images and for the deal on the postcards!

















The next booth used a lot of natural flowers and grasses to accent their wares, and I'd like to thank Jennifer Henry at the Trellis for allowing me to photograph her wares. I love her casually elegant style.























This adorable little yellow cabinet was from Two Women. She also had a a ring that the assistant was salivating over, but was not rewarded with. A bit spendy to end up lost in a nine-year-old's room. We'll check St. vinny's 50% off day instead. ;-)















Across the way was another shopping find. Ribbons. Not like I need more, but I bought some anyway. I mean really, who could resist this? Maybe my husband, but not two girls with cash! This vendor from Sandpoint also had a gorgeous variety of handmade cards, journals and tag-like cards all embellished with authentic glass glitter. The colors were so sweet, like petit fours on paper. If you want to see more visit Barbara.



















So many goodies! We saw some lovely charms, an adorable doll tea set, bunches of old patterns, lovely linens. It was hard to not want to buy stuff, stuff and more stuff. But being the owner of already too much stuff, I really was thoughtful in my purchases, instead of succumbing to the greedy part of the brain (now do you suppose that's left brain or right brain? Hmmm...).


A number of the next booths showcased more outdoorsy wares, so our next stop was at a lovely little booth with the nicest displays and who sells at Etsy.















There were so many cool displays and lots of fun goodies we saw while just strolling around.



















One of my favorite booths was owned by a lady whose daughter is one of my art students (and very talented I might add!). Suzie Q's (208-765-8460) is a local store that has a great mix of vintage with a few new things here and there, along with some handmade wares.
One of the customers had a sweet little dog conveniently for sale, but this mom has a heart of stone for these types of temptations, which is good, because the assistant does not! Love this heart vase. And it would be so fun to live in one of those places where you could actually have a chandelier and stand outside on a stone patio with flowers all around. But, here in Idaho--not likely. Although I'm sure it would entertain the dog.




























In the end I made it through without too much monetary damage, but having had a bunch of fun. Just going and taking photos was a blast. On the way we followed the road out further and saw some new sights. The assistant came up with a great regional joke on the way home (saying the name of the town "Chilco" as a sneeze) and I'm sure I'm fated to hear it for the rest of her childhood until it becomes family lore. And really, that's the best part of the day.

Here's a great word: hendiadys

Main Entry: hen·di·a·dys
Pronunciation: hen-'dI-&-d&s
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin hendiadys, hendiadyoin, modification of Greek hen dia dyoin, literally, one through two
: the expression of an idea by the use of usually two independent words connected by and (as nice and warm) instead of the usual combination of independent word and its modifier (as nicely warm)

I still need to share my trip, but that's going to take a longer post than I currently have energy for. However, one of the things I picked up on my trip was an Edward Gorey book. (It was only $2 at the silent auction held the last night of the workshop.) I used to watch Mystery on PBS almost religiously and of course anyone faimliar with that show (I don't even know if it's still on now) knows Edward Gorey's opening credits. So for $2 I couldn't resist. It really takes a dry and somewhat twisted sense of humor to appreciate, so I'm not sure what that says about me (!), but we had some silly chuckles this evening with parts of it.

The second piece is called "The Nursery Frieze" and features little hippo-like animals running by saying various words that create a nonsensical rhythm, with every fourth word rhyming. I got quite a kick out of it, but my nine-year-old was mystified. The fourteenth word is hendiadys. Now you know that there is a word for this linguistical phenomenon. Go forth and use it in your conversation somewhere today. I dare you!

I'm off!

Off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of...

Oops, wrong trip. I'm off to Wyoming for an art workshop with my mommy. And to the best of my knowledge it will not involve any tin men, scarecrows or cowardly lions. Just acrylics, watercolors or oils, depending on what I decide to participate in. The non-objective expressionist meets landscape and portrait professionals. Should be interesting.

See you next week!

Free Motion Stitching

I spent today working on some art projects of the hands-on variety. Exercising the creative brain parts was a nice change of pace. I've really not spent much time in that mode this summer, although I had big plans to work on all kind of projects.

Today's piece was a fabric postcard for a friend. It started with several layers of various fabrics tacked together with a couple ribbon sections. My attempt to draw the FME design on was really a non-productive exercise: my sewing machine has an LED-type light that is going out (giving a nice strobe light effect--ever sew in a disco?) so I have a lamp that I shine strategically into the sewing space to lessen the effect, which essentially erased my light-colored chalk lines. Consequently it was even more free free-motion, that's for sure! If you've never tried FME, I recommend it--very (dare I say it?) freeing. Ha, ha, ha! Okay, bad Rin, I know. But it is quite fun. I highly recommend a darning foot, also. In all my years of sewing I've never stitched a finger, but it would be awfully easy to do while doing FME without a foot. (Of course I don't bother to put my projects in a hoop, which probably adds to the danger of footless sewing.) If you've tried FME and are frustrated by it, I would encourage you to give it a bit more practice. If you can get into a rhythm, everything starts to flow so nicely. After finishing up all the FME sections I took my heat gun and burnt off the layers of chiffon and some of the netting, to go back to my bottom layer. I really should have taken pictures before and after the burning because it made a dramatic difference on the piece. I'm very happy with it and now have to send it off.

Here is another fabric postcard I made recently and finished up today. It needed a little more color, so I pulled out my water-soluble wax crayons (a favorite toy), colored, then brushed on some water for some soft accent coloring. Free motion stiching and burning fabric also played a part here. (The burning thing could get a little addictive--I might finally understand my husband's desire to have a burn pile twice a year. The first year we lived in town [we're both country kids] he burnt the lawn in the spring. I told him that city folk just mow it--lol!) It will also be sent off to another home.


And finally, here's a little reject from a swap I participated in with some other artists in the Christian Paper Artist Yahoo group. We made pages for a Fruit of the Spirit book; my page was joy. Knowing the Lord always gives me a deep-seated feeling of joy; I am not an Eeyore (sp?) Christian. Even in the hardest of times I feel joy deep within. How to express joy on a piece of paper came easily to me--color. Every idea I had for how to approach this topic involved bursts of color. In the last year I've begun to realize that a large portion of my art falls into the category of non-objective expressionism and I find that I frequently want to express emotions with colors. Words and letterforms have always fascinated me, so this depiction of joy worked for me. And I had fun playing with my brush pen that gives such fun lines--sort of a French feeling.

What makes you joyful? What expresses joy to you? How would you depict joy? I would love to know (feel free to leave a comment. I moderate my comments, so it won't come up right away, but I check in frequently). I really would like to hear from people on this topic, because I'm trying to expand my interpretations and understanding of what I see in art. I'm not sure I'm explaining myself well, so here's an example: there are many paintings that I encounter that I dismiss as simple sentimentality, but I'm starting to wonder if I am missing something in the interpretation because of my personality. I'm not highly sentimental, so if I looked deeper would I see that the painting really says something bigger about love (for instance)? So, in that mode, I would really enjoy hearing how other people would depict an abstract concept like joy. BTW, this little page was a reject because I stitched it the wrong from the wrong side and then tried to cover the resulting ugliness with a satin stitch, which effectively made a cutout of the fragile sheet music on the back. The rest were stitched correctly and sent off. I can't wait to get the book.

Gearing up for art!

After a summer of reading drawing books, and a few bits of aesthetics in places, my art curriculum is almost finished. I was a bit stuck on illustrations for the concept of contrast, but found some lovely examples after a bit of research, including a striking "Pieta" by Jean Fouquet. There's a starkness about it that reminds me of twentieth century art, but Fouquet lived circa 1420-1480.



Because we'll be focusing on improving our drawing skills, I've been spending some time searching for drawings (rather than just paintings) by the masters who have gone before us to use as examples in our class this year. Here's a gem by Albrecht Durer, titled "Head of an Angel". Durer was an immensely talented artist. I'm always amazed by the details in his engravings, especially those with words--remember engravings are made backwards.



But in honor of going back to school, I want to share one of my favorite paintings by Caravaggio called "Rest on the Flight into Egypt". An imaginative painting to be sure (can't think of any violin-playing angels in the Scriptural story...), but so lovely and delicate, with such a sense of peace. Astonishing, coming from such a wild man. A reminder, perhaps that outward appearances can be decieving? Enough of my musings, however--here's the painting. Be sure to click on it and view it larger or you'll miss out.

The Holohan Sisters

During our weekly library trips I've been checking out different CDs to try to find some new music, especially things that inspire my creative spirit. I can usually tell within three or tour tracks whether or not I would ever listen to something twice, and truthfully I haven't found much that I've liked (I'm rather particular about music I guess). Several weeks ago I tried the Chieftains and found several songs I quite liked, including "The Foggy Dew". While looking for it on YouTube I found this wonderful gem. My grandma used to sing me old cowboy songs and old folk songs, but I hadn't heard this one. Beautiful voices. BTW, in the last blog reorganization I moved the music plug-in up so it's easier to get to it to turn off the music playing already. Enjoy!

In Mourning

Today I am in mourning.

I am lamenting the passing of one of my favorite people: the copy editor.

When I was younger it was a wicked little pleasure to find a typo in a book because they were so rare. Nowdays it's just a nuisance.

Yesterday I found two typos in as many pages in a book on aesthetics. One moment I was reading about values and the next thing I knew we were discussing valves. It was really quite distracting. Rather like being on a train when someone has pulled the emergency brake (well, I'm really guessing on that account because I've never been on a train when that has happened--but it looks like that). The thoughts start falling all over each other as the brain comes crashing to a halt. Valves? Where do valves come into this discussion. Oh, oh, it's a typo. A dratted typographical error. And that was the second one, after a from/form mix-up. Both of which tell me that someone relied on spellcheck.

Which, I suppose, was better than the book I was reading today where the editorial staff couldn't even be bothered to use spellcheck, as evinced by their immensely creative spelling of words such as generally. I don't remember what the other misspelling was and quite frankly, I'm glad--it's all too depressing. Having worked for several years as an editor, I really hate typos and strive to even keep my e-mails free from them. When I comment on someone's blog and then discover that in my haste I left a typo I feel like I should post an apology.

But e-mails and comments are one thing--academic books about fine art (hidden in a plain white cover, amongst the dull books of academia--I knew it had color photos the moment I picked it up: I could feel the weight of the clay-coated glossy paper inside) are quite another. I'm only halfway through Umberto Eco's "History of Beauty" and have already found three typos. Where are the copy editors?! The irony to me is that it seems like spell check would make things easier. I mean they used to set all that type with little metal letters put into trays backwards--shouldn't we have fewer errors now?

So, I have to conclude that copy editors are rapidly going the way of the wooly mammoth. Wave good-bye now because they are going fast--perhaps they're a victim of global warming.



Thank you to Liam for the picture of the old books.

Recent life in pictures

I'm taking a cue from my friend Andi and posting some life without much text just pics. Hey, don't they say that a picture is worth a thousand words? Just think how much time we're saving on reading it all this way. ;-)

4th of July















Swaps in Yahoo groups: first up, inchies.











Next we have charms for swaps, in process and done:









Summer field--the pic wasn't very good, so I goofed with it a bit.



Prepping for the 4-H dog show. Okay, the dog didn't go in the fitting and showing class this way! The spoils? My daughter won a blue and a red and we all lived throught it. Now I remember why I quit showing horses, though.



New art in progress. This piece was started last spring and is finally moving forward. A new palette of colors for me--I don't usually use greens and yellows without pink and I avoid orange like the plague. Well, unless it's with some pink...

Good News!

If you read the bit below about our teacher trying to bring his family into our country legally, then you'll be pleased to know the updated story: he's found the sponsors!

Other good news--our powerful confuser is once again connecting with the e-world. I really like my space bar and am most appreciative of its normal sound and easy functionality.

I actually had an art day today. The family went into the mountains on a disappointing huckleberry run. Such a small amount for all their effort on a hot day. But I had fun at home. I worked on a piece that I started earlier in the spring and got a lot done on it. Of course the nice spring quote odesn't quite fit now, but I'll work something out. I'll share pics when done. I also painted some pages in an altered book that had been in my brain for a couple years now. It's a sort-of pop culture take on different Bible verses (not irreverent, though, by any means). I've been saving all kinds of bits and pieces and need to start piecing together and glueing. Just getting the little bits and pieces stuck in something so I can throw away the extra will be so nice. My sweet husband once referred to my office/studio space as a "mouse playground" but he was off a bit--it's a packrat's paradise!

Looking forward to more art time tomorrow. I'm trying to be more disciplined this week with mornings set aside for study and afternoons set aside for some play. We'll see how it goes.

Away...

Well, I've had lots of things in my brain to share lately, but our internet is down again, so I'll be away until the service provider can resume providing. I'm at the library right now on a computer with a space bar that either sticks or is inordinately loud. Or maybe they're all loud and I'm just the only one using the space bar. Stay cool wherever you are!

Need a sponsor to come to the U.S.

In my personal life I tend to be very opinionated when it comes to politics and such, but I try to keep it away from my blog for a variety of reasons. So I hope any readers will not be offended by the following small indulgence, along the way to a serious need. (Is that what is referred to as a disclaimer? ;-) )

Life is so interesting. While our country has a serious problem with control over its borders and is dealing with providing health and education services to vast numbers of people in this country having not come through the proper channels (which would technically be a breaking of the law), and while the politicos try to drum up support for allowing these people to stay regardless of proper procedures, one of our teachers is trying desperately to get his family into this country legally. The challenge? For each family member he must have a sponsor who will sign papers stating that they will provide financial support in case of catastrophe. The reason? So they will not become wards of the state and drain our government financially. Which makes me scratch my head in wonderment at the aforementioned politicos.

Why are so many of them endorsing breaking our own country's law in this immigration debate? I know, I know--I've heard the heart-appealing arguments about not wanting to break up families who already have one member here. Wait a moment, what about our teacher? His family is stuck in another country because of our law. Oh and then there's the other argument about needed labor. Well, here's a novel idea about putting to work some folk who aren't doing much right now. Obviously not appropriate in all cases, but certainly for some it could be and it would be job training to provide skills for after release (and I'm sure much more effectively than my feeble attempt to teach short story writing in this environment!). As for the cost of rounding up people who are here without proper paperwork--what if we quit providing government-funded services and put that savings toward finding them and returning them to their proper country. If they want to come back that's fine--just do it the right way. Just go through all the red tape and proverbial hoops, like our teacher is doing. Too hard to do all that? Well, I was always taught that anything worthwhile takes sacrifice.

I'm not trying to be heartless. My great-great-grandparents were all immigrants, as were many peoples' ancestors. Come--just follow the law. And on that note, if there is anyone who can help Mr. Phillips, here is the link to his blog again. He needs one to three people to step up as sponsors for his family to be allowed to come. He gives info on how to reach him, if you can help, or know someone who can. Or contact me and I can pass info on to him.

Thanks for indulging my little rant. Yes, I know it's a complex issue, and no, I'm not without a heart. But I do look at the situation of one family trying to do everything right and how difficult it is for them and then look at the state of this issue in our country and wonder what has happened to the sanity of our leadership. Oh, and yes, I called my Senatorial representative and let him know my thoughts also. ;-)

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

The Early Bird Award Goes to...

...this fellow. Can you imagine? I can't--coming from the clan of the perpetually late, the early bird award isn't one we're holding our breath over. But it does leave me wondering how this sort of thing gets to be one of the top mentioned stories on MSN? Nothing more important going on in the world?

Sorry, was that sarcasm?

So the days go by

There is always something to occupy my time lately. I just wish it wasn't so much work. Oh well, I guess I need to clean off the dining room table every now and then--hee hee. Yesterday I spent some time photographing some items and listing them on Etsy. Most of them are various supplies I've collected and won't be using, but there are also some new waxed stars and some sets of bookmarks. If you want to check them out, visit my Etsy shop. I hope to stay on track and add some more stuff later today, but since my library books are looming due (at a fairly local University and I've already extended the deadline once) I should probably finish at least a couple.

Aesthetics. That's the current topic. I think the academic brain is finally coming back (it only took 30 chapters so so!)--or maybe the topic just changed enough that my mom brain is now comprehending. Or maybe it's the quiet reading time from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. that is allowing me to focus better...

Who knows, but the contemplation of beauty and what it means has made me want to go out and water my flowers. But it's too hot so now I'm too tired and I haven't even gone outside yet. Perhaps laying on the couch will bring back my motivation, but what's that? Socks on the floor. Now whoever could have put those there? Ah, wait, these are my daughter's, so I'll just pop into her room and oh my! What a frightful disaster. What kind of mother lets her child live in a room like this. This will never do so I'd better march right downstairs and get her to come up and clean it. Well, how come this bowl never made it back upstairs? I guess I'd better take it upstairs before I forget. Drat! Look at all those dishes piled up-how do we use so many in a day--I mean I just did them yesterday. Which reminds me, I need to call the insurance to see if they've processed our claim yet. But there are messages on the phone--I wonder who called and how I missed them... And so on. Anyone else have a life that resembles this situation?

Wait--I have a solution (no, not fire! We already had a close call with that!). If I just leave out the punctuation I can pretend I'm living in a James Joyce stream-of-consciousness novel, right? No reality here. It will return tomorrow. But wait, tomorrow is one day before the library books are due and we're going to the beach, so I'd better read today. Oh Mr. Kant, where are you?


P.S. In the time it has taken blogger to attempt to post this message I've actually gone outside and deadheaded my flowers and watered while I read. Really, I did!

Art History Answers--The Ambassadors

Hmm, well it's been a while since I've had time to post some updated art history. I'll give some answers to my last post and retire the program for a while. The last image I posted was "The Ambassadors" by Hans Holbein the Younger (yes, there was an Older and he was an artist also). The items on the shelf between the two men represent many aspects of their lives. The globe is set to show the location of a town in France from whence one of the men came. The lute reflects their mutual interest in music and had one broken string as a reminder of the decay of the world (a vanitas reference found in many paintings; whenever you see skulls, decayed items or timepieces they are frequently references to mortality). One of the books is open to a hymn by Martin Luther. There are also several tools used by astronomers, reflecting again their common interest in science and the heavens. Off the top of my head those are the items I remember, but I'm sure there are more.

But what about that bizarre thing in the middle of the floor? It is the ultimate vanitas reference painted in anamorphic perspective. The object is a skull and it is easily visible if one observes the painting from the lower right side of the painting. Many historians/critics speculate that the painting hung on a staircase where the descending viewer would see the skull in correct perspective for a moment while passing. Sort of a nice way to remind you to make the day count because you'll soon be dead. Wondering what to do about the whole death question? Don't miss the small silver crucifix in the upper left corner of the painting. Don't leave earth without Him--at least that's my intention, if not the artist's also.

Want to learn even more about this fascinating painting? Visit here for a deeper discussion of the symbolic meaning of the items and here for more information on the history of anamorphic painting. That's all for art history for a while. I'm busy reading about aesthetics now, so maybe we'll return with philosophical questions in the fall... In the meantime I need to make some art!

And here is a skewed and cropped version of the skull. I tried to leave a bit of the image as a reference point.

Yay!

Andy Warhol may have his 15 minutes--I got a whole day--lol! ;-)

Tribute to Vincent Van Gogh

I've always liked Vincent Van Gogh and thought this was a wonderful way to experience his work. If you want to know more, scroll down toward the bottom of my link section and visit Katey of Blue-Eyed Duck for insight into Vincent's life and death. --L

Flickr & other new things

I've finally taken the time to load a few photos to my Flickr account. No pics of art--those are in my ZNE gallery; I have updated that space recently, too. So, if you'd like to see either, your best bet is to use the links at the top of my link section because I'm still working on getting them to work in my text. ;-)

And thanks to Carol C. (also in my links) for the help on how to create a banner for my blog. I was able to get that to work today. So there is hope for my tech savvy...

How unusual am I? How unusual are you?

I've been tagged to share seven things about me--unusual things, habitual things, or things no-one else knows. After that I'll tag seven more people. So, here goes:

1. I find 4-leaf clovers all the time, anywhere there is clover. But I believe in God, not luck.

2. I once taught short story writing in a prison. The class ended after only about five sessions when a couple of my students were released and my star student was thrown into lockup (the others just quit coming). When I quit, the volunteer coordinator told me that I had lasted longer than the poetry teacher!

3. I'm a Tintin fan. My grandma brought me "The Black Island" from Martinique when I was quite young, but it was in French, so I couldn't read it until my mom found an English copy when I was in the fourth grade.

4. I really detest most chick flicks. That goes for chick fiction, too. I'm not terribly sentimental. Give me "Lord of the Rings" anyday--I much prefer adventure and action.


5. I should be a member of the Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things.
(Yes, I used to watch Monty Python, but don't much anymore.) My office is a constant battle against large piles of things, although my fabrics are all filed by color and my buttons are sorted by color and my beads are sorted by color, my spices are sorted by color--okay, not really, but I am noticing a pattern here.



6. I've always wanted to go to England and used to watch soccer just to hear the accent (so I could practice my own) when I was a kid. Instead I've been to Canada, eh.

7. I still have my Viewmaster and all my disks of pictures, as well as my Breyer horse collection. I rarely throw anything away--see #5. ;-)

Hmm, unusual enough? Now I have to tag seven other people to share seven random facts, sooo, how about:
Amber at http://altered-art-by-amber.blogspot.com
Dianne at http://www.magpiesenvy.blogspot.com
Becky at http://www.bees-in-my-bonnet.blogspot.com
Carol C. at http://carolclasper.blogspot.com
Jenny at http://jennysaustralianneedleart.blogspot.com
Nola at http://inchtextiles.blogspot.com
and Steve at http://www.orangefrog76.blogspot.com

I still don't know how to get the links to show up. Help, anyone? I try the little link thingy at the top of the posting page and it just doesn't work, so you'll have to copy and paste to your browser to visit my friends' pages. It just seems so, so, low tech--the horror!

Women In Art

I found this YouTube video on a friend's blog today and thought I would share it. I love the images and how they merge. And after intensely studying my art history for the last eight months I even recognize a number of them. Woohoo! See if you recognize any of them.

Art History--test your knowledge

Now that school is finally out I have a little time and hope to update with some of my art form this spring sometime soon. In the meantime, here's another art challenge!

But first, the answer to the last one. The image was "The Presentation in the Temple" by Ambrogio Lorenzetti from 1342. Originally part of an altarpiece (many were cut apart and sold in pieces through the centuries), this painting is considered one of the first accurate and realistic portrayals of an interior space since Roman times. Quite beautiful. Ambrogio painted the famous frescoes of the Allegory of Good and Bad Government in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena (the town of which was the artistic rival of Florence for a time). His brother Pietro was also an artist who painted some of the frescoes in the lower section of San Francesco in Assisi. Both brothers died during the plague of 1348.

Now, on to the new. This time I am presenting a famous double portrait from the Northern Renaissance. The men pictured were friends, from France. One was sent as an ambassador to London and his friend, the bishop in the picture, was visiting London. The items on the table each represent different aspects of the two men's lives. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what the items mean, but what I really want to know is what is that strange object in the lower foreground of the painting and why is it there? Happy hunting.

Woohoo!

School's out for the summer! I almost can't believe it. I'm crashing now--wait I have training next week. Still, that's easier than the last two weeks. Wowza yowza!

Magic Bean of Power

So, if you had a magic bean of power what would you wish for? After flicking remains of tonight's dinner from the table to the floor and receiving a reminder that there will be no bean-flicking, but rather bean-throwing-away, my DD asked "But what if it's a bean of power?" I said, "Then wish for something important."

She wished for our car trunk to not be broken. (The aftermath of our most recent adventure with emergency personnel. The car is going to be totalled. This is both a good thing and a bad thing--but back to the regularly scheduled post...)

My son wished for his room to be clean.

Well, if you're five that's important, I guess. ;-)

So, if you had a magic bean of power, what would you wish for?

New art listed on Etsy

Well, nothing like an expiration date to get me moving. Helps me clean out the fridge, and tonight seeing nothing showing up on my Etsy, due to expirations, prompted me to finally get some new things listed. *Well, I was going to say you could visit here and add a link, but I'm an html moron and can't get the link to work, so you'll have to visit my shop via the second link in my link section to the lower right--those ones work!*


But here are a couple sneak peaks:



Left is a new waxed star about beauty. This piece resulted from wondering what else I can do with my stars.



At right, a bottle cap necklace.



This wood sign currently sits in my dining room and I'm almost loath to let it go. I wish I had bought more when I found them--they were on such a good sale. Sigh.

Okay, for the other new items, check out Offerings, my Etsy shop! ;-)

Art History Challenge Week 3

Time for the answer to Art history Quiz week 2a. The artist was Artemisia Gentileschi, a female artist of the Baroque period who was taught by her father. Nude figure drawing was not considered suitable or proper for women at that time, so many women artists were trained by relatives or in other circumstances. Artemisia's style was modeled after Caravaggio, who was a master of contrasting light and dark. One of her frequent subjects was the story of Judith from the Apocrypha. More information can be found here: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/bio/d/duccio/buoninse/biograph.html

Now, on to the next challenge! This painting has the distinction of being known as one of the first accurate depictions of an interior space. Who painted it?

A few more days off...

Well, I'll be taking a few more days away than I had planned. Someone ran into our car on the way home from school the other day. Not a major accident--no blood or broken bones, but the standard whiplash-type injury, so my back is not desiring to sit at the computer for long. And such an unneeded hassle. :-( But I must remember to praise God because we were knocked into the intersection as the light changed and we could have been hit again and much worse. Thank You, Lord, for holding us close! May God's blessings rain down on you where ever you are today! --L

Busy, busy, frightfully busy

Too much life this week--good, though. I'll be back in a couple days with some new art to share and a new art history challenge. My dd scored our soccer team's first goal in regular play the other night--and it was a close one! Woohoo! We moved to a new league this season and our team has really taken a beating. Blessings to you and a double portion to all those moms! --L