twobluecrows

2011-11-09T13:31:00.001-05:00

Test post

new/old camera treasure!

2011-11-07T18:33:00.000-05:00

Months ago I picked up an old camera at the local Salvation Army store, and just now got around to Googling it, and what a treasure! It's a Zeiss Ikon, Super Ikonta 530/2
Thanks to Mike Elek at Classic Cameras, I have access to a manual and lots of lovely images of my camera!

There was a roll of film in it when I got it, and now I know that only six pics had been taken. I got the film developed at Cooper's Imaging in Norwichtown, CT--very nice people! I brought the negative home and scanned it into Photoshop to see what was there.

I like the rose the best, and the last one of the trees and barn next, but have no clue where they could have been taken. The Cooper's guy said the roll (Kodak Vericolor III, 120) was probably from the 90s, and one of the images has an above ground pool in the back--behind bushes and a railing (#4).

I bought a new roll of 120 film and armed with the manual from Mike Elek's site, I'm going to learn how to use this really cool piece of German engineering!

My Challenge Blog...

2011-09-05T00:26:00.000-04:00

So, I've officially created my Virtual Bakery, a dream that just needs visualization, and a bunch of money, to come true. This first baby step is the creation of it's own blog, http://rowantreebakery.blogspot.com/ where I'll post pics of the results of the challenges I'll try in The Daring Bakers monthly challenges. The first one is for September, and is Croissants, using the recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two. Julia Child and Simone Beck.

I'll also post more baking pics there as I practice new recipes and techniques. The challenges will tell me if I'm ready to go for it and make RowanTree a reality!

More cake! ...and Daring Bakers!

2011-08-24T21:27:00.005-04:00

My latest adventure is with l'Opera Cake. It's French, and so delicious it can make me cry!

The recipe was online, and it's basically the one Dori Greenspan uses in her fabulous book Paris Sweets (which I immediately ordered from Amazon), and she adapted it from one made at Dalloyau, a shop on the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris.

It consists of layers of joconde (an almond sponge cake)drenched in espresso syrup, then spread with a generous layer of espresso flavored French Buttercream--something that, once you've tasted it, you may never go back to the stuff you make with shortening and powdered sugar, for sure!--then more cake and syrup, then ganache, more cake and syrup, then a glaze made of melted chocolate and clarified butter blended into something unbelievable!

So, now I'm on a joconde journey. I'm going to try at least ten different combinations of this scrumptious cake and fillings and glazes--how can I not?

My search for Joconde led me to The Daring Kitchen and I joined right up to face the challenges put to Daring Bakers there! I can't wait for the first one!

Cakes, Cakes, Cakes!

2011-08-15T21:59:00.002-04:00

I've been so busy baking, that I haven;'t had time to blog--I even have a new smartphone, but I'm not quite 'smart" enough to blog from it yet--soon!

Meanwhile, I've uploaded all sorts of pics of cakes I've been making to my fotki site, click here to see them!

This one is an almond cake with Raspberry Buttercream, and lemon lettering, and toasted almonds on the side.. The hummingbird was done freehand.

What tarot card am I?

2011-04-10T18:18:00.001-04:00

You are The High Priestess

Science, Wisdom, Knowledge, Education.

The High Priestess is the card of knowledge, instinctual, supernatural, secret knowledge. She holds scrolls of arcane information that she might, or might not reveal to you. The moon crown on her head as well as the crescent by her foot indicates her willingness to illuminate what you otherwise might not see, reveal the secrets you need to know. The High Priestess is also associated with the moon however and can also indicate change or fluxuation, particularily when it comes to your moods.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

OWOH WINNER!!

2011-02-20T20:10:00.001-05:00

IMGIRL is the winner of my OWOH giveaway! I've e-mailed her and just waiting for a reply!

Congratulations to all winners and bloggers in this fun event!

One World, One Heart Final Giveaway Event

2011-01-31T19:45:00.004-05:00

This is the final year this event will be held, so I had to join up again.

I'll be giving away two 12" quilt blocks SIMILAR to these two--the colors and fabrics will be different as they are scrappy quilt blocks I haven't made yet! The patterns will be the same, and the fabrics will all be quality quilt cottons, prewashed and carefully sewn.

I'll make it with preferred colors if possible if the winner has made a preference in his/her comment.

LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS TO
THIS POST
TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY!

One World, One Heart--Final Event!

2011-01-29T17:16:00.003-05:00

It's starting Monday, 1/30 so check back here to post your comments again this year--my giveaway will be posted on Jan. 30 so you can leave your comments and hope to win!

This has been and is a great bit of blogger social networking--visit all the creative and artistic and crafty bloggers who link in, and see how wonderful the world is!!

One World, One Heart--Final Event!

2011-01-23T15:24:00.015-05:00

It's Coming!

Nuccio's

2011-01-22T22:49:00.002-05:00

I'm hired! I have three good jobs now, all adding up to one full time, which is great. It works perfectly into my ADD, since every day is something different, and I have so many new things to research and develop and learn--from Microsoft Word and Excel and Quickbooks, and a big list of other interesting programs in the secretary job, then general cooking and menus and recipes for the cooking dinner job at the monastery, and then there's all the baking!! I love baking!

Nuccio's Italian Market is a NY style Pizzeria, with a deli and market on one side and a bakery case I get to fill daily--well at least the three days I work there. There's another woman working there, too, who has been there a year+ and basically has the experience in how this particular bakery case needs to be filled, and I'm learning it gradually, since I'm only there three mornings Thurs, Fri and Sat.

January with all the new snow we're getting has slowed things down a bit, but I can work in the kitchen doing other prep if there is no baking to be done, so it's ok. I'm also going to try to enter some cakes in the CT Cake Competition in February. It's a busy time for me! YAY!

New cakes

2010-11-27T12:35:00.003-05:00

I've worked a little in a new place--still waiting to hear if they actually want to hire me. These cakes were part of my "audition"

Birthday cake #1

Birthday #2

Wedding Cake #1

nanowrimo is already almost half gone...

2010-11-08T23:37:00.002-05:00

...well, a week into November anyway, and again, life is just a little too busy for writing. At least novel writing. I used to write a lot before I had a real life--this one is pretty full and I barely have time to paint, or draw, or do most art. I spend a lot of time on the computer, admittedly a lot of it watching tv and checking my e-mail LOL--but I'm working on three websites, and organizing my photos, and back to work at both jobs after three weeks out for shoulder surgery--I'm doing ok all things considered.

I have a list now, of prioritized things I actually must get done in a reasonable time, and I'm checking things off every day--this is a great feeling! Next in line is Lara's wedding dress and the gumpaste tropical flowers for her cake! I'll be carrying them down on the plane (that decision finally made, too!) and assembling the cake there. I may ship cake layers down there if I can find a shipper that's trustworthy enough to get them there in one piece...each.

Pictures will be coming soon, as I work on things.

Oh, and did I mention it snowed last night? A heavy dusting that rapidly turned to slush and rain--it all came from what they are calling a Rogue Storm, the likes of which have never been seen before. In the satellite pictures it looks like nothing but a hurricane! There were 62mph winds in Maine, trees down and power outages--not so bad here, but there was definitely wind!
It's a little early for snow, our lilac bushes still have some leaves on them!

NaNoWriMo is coming!

2010-10-12T20:03:00.002-04:00

I've know about this for several years now, but always remember it sometime in early December. This year, I stumbled upon someone else who likes the idea and had a link in their page--Voila! So I'm adding it here, so I may notice it again before November rolls around in full force!

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

http://blog.lettersandlight.org/

The Grill Cake! LOL

2010-09-01T15:19:00.005-04:00

Fred told his brother I'd make a cake for the annual family picnic, a Grill Cake--so I had a challenge!

The hot dogs are pretzel rods dunked in melted butterscotch chips, the burgers are cut out of fudgy brownie, and the cheese is gumpaste. The flames are royal icing.

The cake was from scratch, and flavored with a secret blend of extracts! Yummy

The frosting is all real chocolate buttercream, colored black with icing color, and the hot coals and ashes are ruby red petal dust, and powdered sugar colored with a little black icing color.

It was gigglingly received and eaten up!!

Pepper's getting plump

2010-07-01T15:18:00.001-04:00

Pepper has outgrown her "window seat" in the front porch/Cat's room. Fred built two wider shelves for them to sit on now and gaze out at the world...or nap.

New cakes and some pondering...

2010-06-27T16:34:00.007-04:00

This is the final cake I did for the Wiltons Fondant and Gumpaste class. The cake is a 8" x 3" layer of yellow cake, crumb-coated with buttercream, a little thicker than just a crumb coat, with pale green fondant covering it. The board is covered in white fondant with Royal icing rosebuds around the edge, then a green fondant rope border at the base of the cake. The Roses are Royak icing in peach, dark pink and pale yellow; the daisies are gumpaste with yellow sparkly sugar on the center part; the primroses are royal icing, and the leaves are modeled fondant and cut out gumpaste.

Close-up of the flowers.

This one is the final cake for the Flowers and Cake Design Course, which I took at the same time as the Fondant and Gumpaste. The cake is a two layer 8" round Butter Pecan cake with buttercream filling, and blue buttercream frosting. The basket weave is white vanilla buttercream, and the flowers and top border are royal icing.

Here is a 'from-the-top' view: I wanted a sort of Wedgewood look, and I may touch the edges with some white or pink luster dust to add some shimmer and maybe color--still thinking about that one.

Cake Decorating

2010-06-12T11:12:00.007-04:00

I've been taking Wilton's Cake Decorating classes for a month and a half now. I took the first one, which was the basics, and the book and kit were the "old" ones, then between that class and the second one, they put out the new versions, so my second class is the "new" one--I'm also taking #3 at the same time so I can finish them up quicker.

It's fun, and I've remembered a lot of what I did back in school (Johnson and Wales in the '80s) so I'm catching on fast and already looking outward to new and different ideas.

I made a couple of cakes for the church I work for:

they were for the Parish Council Dinner, welcoming in the new Council and thanking the outgoing members. The chocolate cake is German Chocolate cake, with a chocolate ganache frosting, and buttercream flowers. The Flowered cake has a very pale pink buttercream frosting, and buttercream shell border, with gumpaste flowers I made in class--two calla lilies, three roses and two carnations, the edges of which are dusted with gold dust. The Chocolate cake was eaten to the last crumb, and the other had a few pieces left over for Sunday's Coffee Hour. A pretty successful endeavor!

Need for CDs!

2010-03-21T19:56:00.003-04:00

Still no word from Netflix

I need a source, or multiple sources for thousands of old, damaged or just defective or unwanted CDs and DVDs. Any size, and condition--even pieces and parts--they will be drilled, so no one will ever use them again even if they were good. Also old dead motherboards, ethernet cards, modems, hard drives, any interesting looking bits and pieces are welcome, but mostly the discs. My goal is 4000, so please contact me if you have any to donate to this art project, or know any place that might have a LOT to dispose of in a creative manner.

Secret Sundays

2010-03-21T19:44:00.004-04:00

Seth Apter has several inspiring projects going through his blog- The Altered Page.

"Secret Sundays" just ended--18 weeks of wonderful "secrets" from artists all over the place.

"...Over 150 (!) artists have answered a series of questions which make up The Pulse. Their responses will be presented as a series of online and print projects. And the first begins right now!

Beginning today, join the The Altered Page every Sunday for "Secret Sunday." Here the secrets of all your favorite artists will be revealed. It could be a technique, a product, a secret source, a little-known website, a hidden shop, an inspiration, just about anything!..."

Next up is the Book Guild "...The Book Guild will meet every Sunday, rain or shine. So stop by to be introduced to a whole new library of art-related books. The Guild will be more than just a list however. There will be links, book reviews, giveaways, and interviews with many of your favorite authors. And I promise you that there will be some major events that are guaranteed to knock your handmade socks off!!..."

Come along and join the fun!

New Spring-Summer projects Project

2010-03-14T17:32:00.006-04:00

Ok now I'm stepping away from all the swapping, which is a fun thing to do, but takes up a lot of art time. I've just about finished my 400th swap, so it's a good time to stop for a while and do something else.

I've been sewing quilt blocks most lately, you can see some of them here I've sent all of these out so far, and now just wait to get blocks back in the mail. I'll assemble the most likely ones into a scrappy type quilt top.

I have plans for three quilts now--the scrappy swap quilt, a string quilt (sample here--not mine,
but a basic idea of what they look like), here is one of my blocks:

and a dutchman's puzzle variation

this is a virtual quilt of the pattern, created in Photoshop. The dark blue pinwheels are a fabric with celestial images in blues and yellows and touches of white, the yellow is a yellow-on-yellow geometric pattern fabric, the white is just white with fine sparkles all over, and the outer blue border is a sponge-looking blue on blue pattern, and the light blue squares has also a celestial sort of pattern with little yellow moons and yellow and orange-red stars, with dark fine scroll design over all.

The other projects I'm looking at, besides cleaning out the garage to make studio space, are more paintings, and the Secret CD Project.. Of the 4000 required old cds and DVDs I need for this one, I have now acquired about 900. I'm also looking for dead motherboards, hard drives, old RAM chips, and any other components that have the green circuit board parts. Once I get at least 2000 parts, I'll start assembling. I recently wrote to Netflix to ask if they'd like to recycle their old DVDs through me--that could bring my totals right up! I hope they consider it!

We Have a Winner!

2010-02-15T22:39:00.001-05:00

Susan of http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/ is the winner of the Wire & Bead Heart Pin that's my giveaway for the One World, One Heart Blog event!

Congratulations Susan!

One World One Heart Giveaway!

2010-01-28T19:43:00.006-05:00

Once again, I'm participating in this fabulous Global Blogging Event!

I'm giving away one Wire and Bead Heart Pin:

Assorted gauge and color wires curled and twisted with glass beads to form a two-way brooch--it's fastened onto a pinbacked piece of grosgrain ribbon in Navy Blue with a stitched point at the bottom, but can be removed and pinned on directly to a loose-weave fabric garment--the wire making the pin part is a little soft--hence the backing to protect it. It was my second effort in making wire jewelry.

Please leave a comment here and I will choose a winner according to the rules of the event--Happy Blogging!

Cyn

Sashiko Pin Cushion--Finishing steps

2009-12-21T00:04:00.008-05:00

This is the back, the embroidery finished and sewn to the pin cushion and lining (that's why it's lumpy)

This is the pin cushion side--one square of blue flowered fabric the same size as the embroidered back, and another square of the same fabric, turned 45 degrees, appliqued on and stuffed with polyester fiberfill. I made the stitches as invisible as I could, using a sort of hem stitch.

Two opposing points are folded in and stitched down, the other points will be the "cover" and "needlebook"
With a button and loop to hold it closed when not in use.

Here it is all buttoned up.

and from the back.

And here it is open and ready to use. The needle is tucked into the left side, and the pins in the middle.

My problem now is that I really like this little thing, so now I have to either make another one, or something else for the swap!

Progression--embroidering the straight lines

2009-12-20T18:27:00.007-05:00

Here, I've drawn out the pattern with the soapstone pencil. The ruler came in handy, as did the lid form a spray can I had handy to trace the biggest circle. The inner ones I just did by hand in roughly thirds of the space.

I began the embroidery with the outline, then planned to work all the straight lines and do the circles last so they'd be on the surface. I'm using the perle cotton and the quilting basting needles. The eyes are smaller than the soft sculpture needles, and they're a little shorter, but I'll try the others on another project. This needle is working out fine so far.

I don't know if there is a rhyme or reason to the traditional methods of this embroidery, I was too impatient to start to look up any more detailed instruction. I does help to pay attention to where you go with the pattern, as you can end up cutting thread and moving around too often. I tried to look ahead for the next direction when I started out and it has worked ok so far.

It's kind of like following a maze. Or one of those puzzles where you have to trace every line without running over any twice. I have to admit I ran into a couple of dead ends and had to take out the stitches and re-think my route.

Here, I'm beginning the last of the straight lines, the corners. I should have somehow worked them into the rest of the outer squares or triangles, but, hey, it's my first time! I have two remaining longer straight lines to fit in and then I'll do the circles and be done with this part of the project.

Sashiko pattern

2009-12-20T17:58:00.006-05:00

This is the pattern I'm starting with for the project for the Swap-bot Swap--it's the back of a pin cushion that folds like a furoshiki bundle--a variation of the Yotsu Musubi

I found the idea on this page the third item in their list on this page. I'm looking now for the lining fabric, undecided whether to use a floral pattern or a geometric, like the striped one in the picture. I drew it out onto the piece of fabric with the soapstone pencil--a very cool tool! It brushes off easily, but not so easily that I lose the pattern as I work.

The next post will be pictures of my progress with the embroidery.

Sashiko Embroidery

2009-12-17T11:09:00.007-05:00

I'm starting yet another new project--

Sashiko embroidery is from Japan and is done with heavy cotton fabric and fairly heavy cotton thread, long needles and a choice of many lovely patterns. I found this tutorial and decided to start a Swap-bot swap for beginners to get myself to actually make something of it.

This is a picture of the two fabrics, thimble, soapstone pencil, washable fabric pencil, perle cotton and two types of needles I found--3" soft sculpture needles and quilter's basting needles. I'm working out a pattern which I'll post soon.

Time to get more serious about Art

2009-11-02T22:43:00.004-05:00

I wake up sometimes with ideas in my head, and sometimes they fall out of my printer, unsuspected. This time, I was printing out an application for a juried show for my friend Frances, my art mentor, and I decided I could apply, too! it's for small pieces, and that's what I seem to have a lot of lately.

I've been painting almost regularly for the first time in my life. They may not be good, but I like them, Fred likes them and it makes me happy to do them, so I'm going to keep painting. The new stuff is like and unlike anything I've every done, so it's a sign of evolution, growth, or something. A little freedom and right-brain activity.
We'll see.

The other thing that's happening is the Baking! Autumn demands that I bake! Biscuits, cakes, cookies, brownies, and PIES! This morning I made, with the help of a good group of people, a ton of apple pie filling for the Thanksgiving Pie Sale for St. Augustine Church in Canterbury. We worked for several hours, peeling, coring, slicing, cooking and bagging the fillings for pies we'll be baking the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving as a fundraiser. Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan! Yum! We're hoping to sell and then bake 100 pies! Wish us luck!...and if you're in the area, order some pie! www.staugustine-canterbury.org

Also, the moon is full, and things also seem to happen at this time of year. I also just got asked to do another bookmaking workshop out of the blue--no pay, but opportunity to see what other creative people can do with the things I play with! I love other artists! I want to be around them, talk to them, play with them--it's such a good thing!

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Fabulous Fabric Giveaway

2009-10-21T21:01:00.003-04:00

I was just waxing a bit of nostalgia about the One World One Heart Giveaways, and skipped over to a new Artexplorations Group member who had posted about this one on her blog, --and that's how it works--you go there, get the URL, and post it on your blog, then make a comment on hers and you could win something--in this case, 27 fat quarters of primitive art fabrics--look pretty snazzy! So, here's hoping I win!

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Fabulous Fabric Giveaway

Back to painting again

2009-10-21T20:09:00.007-04:00

Sunrise Through the Storm

So, I made this small (5"x7") acrylic on linen canvas for a lovely person who sent me a good package of old, no-good cds** (very much desired by me right now!) and we did the exchange as a Swap-bot swap, so I read her profile and saw that she liked modern art, and pink, so I sat myself down and worked this one out for her.

I've been pondering a series of paintings in this sort of style, so it got me going. I've finished two more, one on canvas-11"x14", and another on well-gessoed birch plywood, about 14"x14", and have started three more small ones--all just smaller than the 5"x7". I really need to get up into the garage and get some larger canvases!

It's difficult to settle into a series if it takes too long for me, even with the Strattera, my ADD is a daily obstacle. I'm still working on the Peeks, as well as knitting a scarf, working on small things for Swap-bot swaps, like ATCs, and planning a fundraising Holiday Pie Sale, for Thanksgiving, at the church I work for part time. I'm just a little bit concerned about having enough help for the baking days, but if I absolutely had to, I could bake 100 pies by myself in two days. I'd be exhausted at the end of it all, and with a little luck, I won't have to actually do it! We'll see!

** The cds are needed for a HUGE art project I'm also working on! I need about 4000 to complete it, along with a few dead motherboards, some floppys, and some of the nini cds, too. More on that later...

Vaughn's Zazzle

2009-10-07T23:51:00.003-04:00

My late son had a lot of fun creating the stuff he sold on Zazzle.com. I'm keeping it up to make a little money for his daughter, and it's doing so-so. Every little bit helps. I'm learning the ins and outs of how the whole thing works and found this nifty gadget to embed into my blog here--please check it out and maybe you'll find something fun to buy!

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

all hail His Noodly Appendage!!!

2009-09-20T20:39:00.001-04:00

back to art...

2009-09-20T12:19:00.003-04:00

Here's the last of the first three "Peeks" it and the No. Grosvenordale mill are in the Landscape exhibit at the Silver Circle Studio in Putnam.

Swap-bot Rocks!

2009-09-10T22:48:00.000-04:00

There's a giveaway going on at Swap-bot.com's blog, and all I have to do to enter is to post here about it--easy peasy! The original post for it in their comments section is below:

http://blog.swap-bot.com/2009/08/30/huge-giveaway-for-atc-lovers/

My favorite ATC is a folded japanese-looking envelope type thing with a beautiful image inside–the folding and everything is fabulous and I can never open it up and close it in one try! Very interesting and a challenge everytime I show it to someone!

Swap-bot has been the source of all that is beautiful in my house right now! I’ve had so many terrific swaps with interesting and talented people all over the world–one of my favorite little treats is a tiny llama figurine from Peru, stuck into the package by the mother of my swap-partner from Argentina because she was so excited about the whole thing!

Living in rural northeastern Connecticut, we don’t have much going on here that encourages or even makes meeting new people possible, and my new world of artistic and creative friends through Swap-bot keeps me going!

Thanks Rachel and Travis for opening this virtual, and “postal” gateway to the world for me and everyone else!

Cyn

Good News!

2009-08-17T13:42:00.000-04:00

I got a couple more calls from local Boy Scout leaders who heard from the original district person about my request, and one presented the idea to his next troop meeting and actually got a positive response and a couple of the boys and their parents were going to talk to my friend to see what she needs!

My faith in people is restored a little more today!

Nation of Nancys??

2009-07-29T09:29:00.000-04:00

My son used to talk about a "Nation of Nancys" meaning the state of affairs in this coutry whereby no one lets kids do anything anymore that might result in some liability issue--no running around free in the woods or neighborhoods, no treeforts built on a whim, no exploring without adult supervision. Many things that, as a mother, I understand, but still...I remember my own childhood and the many things I did that could have resulted in injury or worse, but I survived, learning some valuable life lessons that I wouldn't have from merely being told the possibilities. As kids, we humans have a sense of invulnerability that make it possible to try new things without fear. Sometimes we get hurt, but with luck, it's not serious and we go on, a little more carefully.

I know there have also been serious crippling injuries and death--a young man from my teen years dove off a pier and broke his neck--he lived, but is in a wheelchair to this day. There are many stories of bad injuries and deaths from childhood accidents, so I know it's not something to take lightly.

My main complaint today is the liability issue. I also remember my brother in Scouts and the troop had adopted several elderly folks who lived in their own homes, but couldn't take care of the lawn and outside work anymore. The boys would go weekly to mow the lawn and weed the flowers, and everyone was happy. One boy tripped and skinned his knee one time, but no one sued the old homeowner who helped him wash the scrape and put a band-aid on it. The boy got back up and continued raking the leaves.

As a Girl Scout, we did similar things and no one got sued. We actually helped people who needed help.

This week, I ran into a friend who hasn't been able to mow her significant yard--the weeds are three feet tall. Both her knees are swollen with arthritis and she can barely manage to keep her job, much less manage the grounds of her small farm. She'd be happy to just have a path mowed to her fenced garden patch so she can grow some veggies to supplement her food budget. I thought of the boy scouts and went to considerable effort to track down a nearby troop--I had to eventually leave a message with the district leader--finding that person was like pulling teeth, virtually anyway, but they responded quicly to my message.

Unfortunately, they don't do personal assistance things anymore, due to liability issues. They are restricted to community services like cleaning up and taking care of public parks and things. They also have trouble finding a place for the troops to meet because of liability issues--none of the businesses want to have that responsibility of having Boy Scouts meet in their buildings.

While I'm glad they are still out there doing community service in some way at all, I think it's such a sad thing that we've come to this situation in the world.

Maybe out there somewhere is a group of adults who still do personal service volunteering--I'll keep looking. But I wish we'd find some way to get rid of the sue-happy attitudes and learn to (and teach our kids to) take responsibility again for our own actions.

Meanwhile, I think I'll take the weedwacker over to my friend's house and trim away some of the weeds for her. I can take a first step towards not being a "Nancy" (no offense to all you real women named Nancy out there--it's something someone else came up with!)

Disintegration...last?

2009-05-31T19:48:00.000-04:00

...Maybe not, but the bundles parted company again, and I think I'll leave the two packets where they are, draped over the flowerbed fence. The bundle of tubes still hangs out, looking none the worse for wear after a winter and spring of typical New England weather.

Disintigration

Newest member of the family...Pepper

2009-05-31T19:36:00.000-04:00

We were really missing having a cat around since our old calico queen, Sassafras, left us for the great hunting ground in the sky, so I started by posting a message on our local Freecycle looking for a calico kitten, and within a week we found Pepper, who is a little over 2 months old, and settling in fine.

New Peek--Putnam bridge lamp circa 1920s

2009-05-29T12:33:00.000-04:00

Here is the latest finished--or nearly finished Peek. I'm not as pleased, as now I see a difference in the width of the top of the lamp from the one in the photo, so I may work on it a little more. I'm generally pleased with it though. I'm aiming at photo realism, and each one gets a little closer, and I learn more and more each day about how to "see" things better.

I had printed out a copy of the photo to use as I painted, but my printer was acting wacky with the inks, so the colors were off, so there is some orange-brown-brown tint here and there that I actually liked, so I left them in.

Another thing I've learned is that the Cerulean Blue paint I use in the skies darkens considerably when it dries. I think I have the lightness down, and later it's too dark, so I have to remember that for the next one.

First "Peek"

2009-04-22T09:52:00.000-04:00

Here is the first finished painting for my "Peeks" series. It's of a tower of a major Victorian mill in North Grosvenordale, CT, now housing an assortment of small businesses and warehouse space.
Once major employers in the area, many of these old textile companies left the area to go south for better economic chances, leaving behind beautiful old buildings made of brick, constructed by mason artists of a bygone era.

The shapes and silhouettes invoke those older days when skill and workmanship meant something.

North Grosvenordale, acrylics on canvas board, 8" x 8"

Time doesn't stop...

2009-04-09T10:48:00.000-04:00

It's been a little over a month, and I'm floating in a sea of confusion and surreality at times. Life just goes on no matter what happens, and bills have to be paid, work done, everythign just keeps going, so I have to wrench myself away from the sadness and step back into the river and swim with the rest of the fishes.

I'm working on a portfolio review at QVCC, which involves looking at my art and trying to organize it in some useful way, and eventually create a portfolio that shows my "body of work". This is more difficult that it sounds, as I don't really know what that body of work is yet. I do too many different things.

However, I do see some little bits of patterns developing as I lok through masses of photos of my collages, photographs, paintings, ATCs, etc. Nothing concrete yet, but I see possibilities. That's what the program is about, so I'll keep going until something flows together into a cohesive package.

**********************
To start the wheels rolling, I'm working on the first three of a set of nine "peeks"--small 8"x8" paintings in acrylics, of little images from this corner of my state. There are vintage streetlamps, clock towers, cupolas, Victorian milltowers, etc., all little peeks into the things we see everyday but perhaps don't really notice. Below are photos of the first three. They are from Putnam, Brooklyn, and No. Grosvenordale.

In Memoriam Terry "Vaughn" Stewart 1973-2009

2009-03-10T21:30:00.000-04:00

The worst thing I can imagine has happened, I have outlived my only child.

We had a tumultuous life but it always worked out, and we were not just mother and son, but friends, too.

He had end stage renal failure which came on suddenly in 2006 and he'd been on dialysis since, with many problems caused by extremely high blood pressure, and the other complications of having failed kidneys, which finally contributed to a weakened heart which just stopped.

He was only 35.

Last December, just before Christmas, he decided to move back to Florida, which was his heart-home, and though I hated to lose him, I'd so enjoyed having him near to talk, goof around ont he computer, listen to him talk of his plans and ideas, I knew he wasn't truly happy here in cold Connecticut so I didn't try too hard to change his mind, knowing that his illness may take him away from me at any time, but he needed to be happy.

A few years ago he came upon The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, a book by Dan Millman, which changed his life and added to his ultimate happiness. He read it and it rang a clear note in his spirit which made him a better person, able to even help others, something no one who knew him as a unpredictable teen would have ever suspected.

.

I must tell you all, whoever may read this that there is never enough time. Gather your loved ones and tell them, show them you love them and keep doing it, even if it means that they move away, because you will be helping them reach their happiness in life, and there is nothing better you can do!

My little boy grew into a wonderful man, a caring friend and loving father, and I'm so happy to have seen it happen, but I will miss him more than I can say.

His Myspace

Disintegration 2-24-09

2009-02-24T20:11:00.000-05:00

A little rain, a little snow, some freezing, a lot of wind...

Disintegration

Disintegration 2&3

ATC FYI

2009-02-24T18:58:00.000-05:00

Just an insteresting aspect of ATC History!

House of Cards

OWOH Winners!

2009-02-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

#1 is Angie Hall Haviland

AngieHallHaviland said...

oh...mystery box!! Crossing my fingers!

What a FUN event this is....making friends through ART

is always WONDERFUL!! Please enter me in your drawing!!

Be sure to stop by my blog :O)
http://angiehallhaviland.typepad.com/angiesartfulllife/

#2 is: Brenda

Brenda said...

Your mystery box of doodads sounds wonderful. Please enter me (#574)

****************************

I must say, this event certainly opened my eyes to the massive possibilities out there in the internet, and to the amazing numbers of really great artsy folks out there, too! I'm happy to have been a part of it all!

Cyn

Disintegration 2

2009-02-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

Well as you can see in the picture, two of the three bundles didn't survive the wind we got this week!
I have the square bundle, so I'm going to interfere and wire it back on.
We haven't had any rain, and its been so cold that the snow blows around and doesn't melt on the bundles at all. We need warmer weather, for more reasons that just this project!!! BRRR!

Disintegration 3: Interference

I picked up the lost bundles and wired them back on. Weather is coming, we're expecting a lot of rain and wind!

Butterfly Award!

2009-01-28T12:35:00.000-05:00

I received a Butterfly award from Lani Gerity at 14_Secrets ofArtist Happiness blog !
Thanks Lani!

Here are the guidelines for receiving this award:

1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Nominate 10 other blogs for this award
4. Add links to those blogs
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.
************************
I Nominate--not in any order of preference:

1. Duane Keiser--A Painting a Day
2. Dot--originator of the Dotee Doll--Dot's Life and Art
3.Seth Apter--The Altered Page
4. Lisa Swifka--One World One Heart--The Whimsical Bohemian
5. Michelle Schafer--The Studio at Crow Haven Farm
6. Kim's Art By the Sea
7. Carolee Clark--King of Mice Studio
8. Enzie Shahmiri-- Sur la Table Cuisine
9. Amber Dawn--Amber Dawn's Inventive Soul
10. Fatma's Place

Disintegration

2009-01-28T12:23:00.000-05:00

Through another artist, I found and got involved in this Winter project of Seth Apter's on his blog--The Altered Page, so the basic idea is this--to take some pages from a book (mine were torn out to make room for the alterations in a round robin project) and tie them together in a bundle of some sort and expose them to the weather to see and record what happens to them--with "Nature as collaborator". Sounds very interesting! So here is my image of the three little bundles of pages I tied together and hung on the windchime chain outside my house!

We'll see what happens to them over the next few months--it's snowing/raining right now--a good weathery start!

One World One Heart Giveaway Post

2009-01-18T15:44:00.000-05:00

This is the post to comment on, in order to win the giveaway. I'm number 069 on the BIG LIST

My Giveaway for this event will be for two winners, each will get a 8.625" x "5.375" x "1.625" box filled with a variety of papers, stickers, ribbons and fibers, photos, ATC Blanks, Inchies, doo-dads and whatchamacallits useful for collage and assemblage. A "Mystery Box" filled with many things leftover from projects I've already finished, and things I can't stand to throw out because they are still useful, plus a few new things, too. Nothing will be materials that can't be shipped overseas

These boxes will accomplish four things, , participation in this fun event, the winners gets prizes, ,useful things get recycled, and I get a little more room!

So, all you have to do is comment on this post and watch back on February 12 to see if you've won!

One World One Heart Event

2009-01-18T15:33:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon this fascinating blog event yesterday--just in time to get ready to participate.

It's apparently an International mingling of bloggers, by means of a blog giveaway event whereby people will go to your blog after January 19 and comment on the giveaway posting (the posting on that day stating what they can win by just posting) and then, on February 12, a winner is drawn (ior winners, as some will be giving away multiple items) and prizes mailed to the winner(s).

So, I thought, what a cool idea! I want to play, too!

I'm going to post my giveaway on Monday and join in the fun!

Here is more info about the event
and
here is info about the earlier events in 2007 and 2008

********

This badge says a blogger is participating, so watch for them everywhere you go!

IT STARTS TOMORROW, SO DON'T POST A COMMENT HERE! THERE WILL BE A NEW SPECIAL POSTING FOR THE GIVEAWAY!

Back at the TPL--Thompson Public LIbrary

2009-01-17T17:39:00.000-05:00

I was all set up to fill the lobby display case with my Ida Baily Allen cookbook collection for the month or January, but life happens at the best and worst of times, and I couldn't get it all together in time. With only a couple of weeks left in the month, I managed an Altered Books, Etc display instead, using many of the wonderful bits of art I've received in swaps this past year.

There are Altered Books, and tip-ins, Altered CDs, Alteered Matchboxes, big and small, Altered postcards and Mail Art, Art Dolls, mostly dotee dolls, Artist Trading Cards and Inchies.

My friend Alma came to help me organize it all and it took a couple of hours but it looks fine. Very colorful! I'll get pictures soon.

Next on my artistic agenda is registering for a Portfolio Review: a one-credit independent study at QVCC with Annie Joly where I hope I will finally begin building a real and professional art portfolio. She has been enormous help already, as the teacher in Introduction to Computer Graphics for a second time, after about 15+ years of technology had advanced Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop so much that it was all new again. I learned a lot about CS3, enough so that I am really loving it all!

I was organizing my photos, adding keywords to everything using Adobe Bridge--really, really excellent and fast-- and managed to crash my main data drive! Talk about Blazing Fast! Fred, ever my love and My Hero managed to save everything using his technological magic and an icepack!! It was about 5 hours of work that I had thought down the drain--not to mention ALL my photographs and records and documents--everything I've done for the past 6 years!!! He is just the BEST!

One of these days I'll go back and finish the Bridge job, I was only about half done.

I also want to revamp my website(s), perk up my blog, maybe put Wordpress into my website, paint a few paintings, finish up some swaps, and clean up the garage and office/studio. Not in any particular order, but any of it would be nice--especially the garage.

Time Flies...still!

2009-01-10T14:31:00.000-05:00

One of these days I'll set up some sort of schedule for adding to this blog. I can't believe the huge amount of things that have happened in the world and in my little life since I last posted in October.

Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New year for starters. None of which were particularly spectacular in and of themselves.

We do have a new President though, happily I voted for Obama and he won! It seems to have broken the family curse--everyone we've voted for in the last umpteen elections has lost. :(

I've done a few new small pieces of art.
Some inchies in an animal theme for the 100Inchies Swap series in Swap-bot. The little animal pictures are cut out of a ratty old Webster's New American Dictionary from 1955.

and some ATCs--here's one for a Quick Turnaround Swap in Swap-bot called "Songbird"

And a set of four Blue and White Colors ATCs for yet another Swap-bot swap.

I haven't picked up a paintbrush again yet, but still have hope!

29-Days of Giving Challenge

2008-12-02T21:07:00.001-05:00

Something worth checking out!

more painting!

2008-10-26T21:44:00.001-04:00

I did this one for a swap--I think it's the last painting swap I'm going to do for a while--I want to keep some!!

This little painting, "Gardenias", is 7" x 5", acrylics on canvas, and went out to my Swap-bot partner in Los Angeles with a digital art ATC also of a gardenia.

Back to Art!

2008-10-19T20:20:00.000-04:00

This is an art doll I made for a Swap-bot Group swap--the Autumn-Winter Recycled Art Doll. They are all to be made from mostly recycled materials, and this one is form an empty Boost bottle, scraps of fabric from other projects, extra silk leaves form another project and a bit of twine from a package. The little charm is the only non-recycled thing, I got it in a swap form someone else and it needed to be part of this doll!

Get Out and Vote! But intelligently!

2008-09-24T13:39:00.000-04:00

I'm ashamed of my own ignorance in politics, but I'm definitly working on it! I will vote for the persons I think best able to do the job, but I'm going to vote!
This came in an e-mail:

Why Women Should Vote

This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

(Lucy Burns)

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.

Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail.

Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)

When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited.

She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

Alice Paul

So, refresh my memory.

Some women won't vote this year because ... why, exactly?

We have carpool duties?

We have to get to work?

Our vote doesn't matter?

It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say.

I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.

Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient. My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry.

She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women. The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum, want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized.

And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse.

Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave.

That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men:

"Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

Please, pass this on to all the women you know.

We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote Democratic, Republican or Independent - remember to vote.

History is being made.

Separation of Church and State

2008-09-24T13:04:00.000-04:00

I'm a little slow on speaking out, but fortunately, there are some good people out there who can help me out!
Palin's Pastor Problems

The only good thing about Sarah Palin is what she's done for me politically--I've never been so active in any political event in my life!!

She and McCain scare me!

Palin? Just say NO!

2008-09-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

Here's another voice speaking the words I would if I had them!

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Online Labyrinthe for meditation

2008-09-16T19:53:00.000-04:00

This is wonderful!
http://www.gracecathedral.org/labyrinth/interactions/index.shtml#

Vote for Change!

2008-09-13T17:34:00.000-04:00

Someone e-mailed this to me, and I have been trying to gather all my thoughts about the subject to write on it--and here theya re!

Thanks to Eve Ensler!

*******************
> Eve Ensler,
> the American playwright,
> performer,
> feminist and activist,
> best known for "The Vagina Monologues",
> wrote the following about Sarah Palin:
>
> DRILL, DRILL, DRILL
>
> I am having Sarah Palin nightmares.
>
> I dreamt last night that she
> was a member of a club where they rode
> snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned
> and starved polar bears around their necks.
>
> I have a particular thing for Polar Bears.
>
> Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness
> or the fact that they live in the arctic
> or that I have never seen one in person
> or touched one.
>
> Maybe it is the fact that they live
> so comfortably on ice.
>
> Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.
>
> I don't like raging at women.
>
> I am a Feminist and have spent my life
> trying to build community,
> help empower women
> and stop violence against them.
>
> It is hard to write about Sarah Palin.
> This is why the Sarah Palin choice
> was all the more insidious and cynical.
>
> The people who made this choice
> count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.
>
> But everything Sarah Palin believes in
> and practices is antithetical to Feminism
> which for me is part of one story --
> connected to saving the earth,
> ending racism, empowering women,
> giving young girls options, opening our minds,
> deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.
>
> I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one
> of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime,
> and should this country choose those candidates
> the fall-out may be so great,
> the destruction so vast in so many areas
> that America may never recover.
>
> But what is equally disturbing is the impact
> that duo would have on the rest of the world.
>
> Unfortunately, this is not a joke.
>
> In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept,
> the bizarre be elected to the presidency with regularity.
>
> Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution.
>
> I take this as a metaphor.
> In her world and the world of Fundamentalists
> nothing changes or gets better or evolves.
>
> She does not believe in global warming.
> The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying
> our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers,
> are all part of God's plan.
>
> She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list.
> The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered.
> The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered.
> The oil is here to be taken and plundered.
> Iraq is here to be taken and plundered.
> As she said herself of the Iraqi war,
> "It was a task from God."
>
> Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion.
>
> She does not believe women who are raped
> and incested and ripped open against their will
> should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby
> or not.
> She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control.
> I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence
> and we know how many babies that makes.
>
> Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking.
> >From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library,
> has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently.
> She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and difference.
>
> This is a woman who could and might very well
> be the next president of the United States.
>
> She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.
>
> Sarah believes in guns.
> She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle.
> She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip.
> She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.
>
> Sarah believes in God.
> That is of course her right, her private right.
>
> But when God and Guns come together in the public sector,
> when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are
> denied in his name, that is the end of separation of church and
> state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.
>
> I write to my sisters.
>
> I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands.
>
> This vote is a vote that will determine the future not just of theU.S.,
> but of the planet.
>
> It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make
> it forever
> uninhabitable for humans.
>
> It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and diplomacy in the
> world
> or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack.
>
> It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning
> or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency
> and destruction.
>
> It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare
> or whether we build more and more methods of killing.
>
> It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society
> or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.
>
> If the Polar Bears don't move you to go
> and do everything in your power
> to get Obama elected,
> then consider the chant that filled the hall
> after Palin spoke at the RNC,
> "Drill Drill Drill."
>
> I think of teeth when I think of drills.
>
> I think of rape.
>
> I think of destruction.
>
> I think of domination.
>
> I think of military exercises
> that force mindless repetition,
> emptying the brain of analysis,
> doubt, ambiguity or dissent.
>
> I think of pain.
>
> Do we want a future of drilling?
>
> More holes in the ozone,
> in the floor of the sea,
> more holes in our thinking,
> in the trust between nations and peoples,
> more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?
>
> Eve Ensler
>
>
>
> September 5, 2008
>

The Show Went On!

2008-09-10T12:45:00.001-04:00

My art exhibit at the Thompson Library was lovely! I missed my own opening though due to a short hospital stay, but Fred stood in for me and talked to people who came to see my stuff.

I have pictures I'llpost later, when I get a little better organized--I'm trying to stitch them all together into a 360 deg view, but haven't sat down to do it yet! That'll be interesting!

I was fortunate to have someone drop out of a class at QVCC that I wanted to get into--Intro to Computer Graphisc--it happened on the last add/drop day, and was a little miracle for me. I was just shutting down my computer in expectation of the bad thunderstorm heading our way, and thought to check just one more time to see if anyone had dropped--I went all gaga and called the college to have someone walk me through the process of registering online I was so excited! I felt like an idiot! LOL--it was like winning an auction on Ebay!

I took this class years ago when both Photoshop and Illustrator were new, and the college didn't even have syquest or zip drives, so we had to adjust all our images to fit on floppy disks!! I enjoyed it then and it launched me into the love I have for Photoshop today, but I never really utilised Illustrator much. This time, the teacher assured me that it would be about 2/3 illustrator, and using the newest versions, so I'll learn something I've been wanting to learn for a long while.
I can't wait for class tomorrow morning!

Busy with Art

2008-06-16T09:46:00.000-04:00

"The Harbor, Monhegan Island, ME" acrylics on canvas, 16" x 20"

I participated in an Adult Open Studio program at TreeTop Studio with Nancy Shay over the last couple of months. My six weeks stretch out a bit due to skipping a couple, but I worked on two paintings in acrylic and actually finished one!

Nancy had some pictures she had taken in Monhegan Island, ME and I picked one of the Harbor to use for my subject. I'm so amazed at how it went and was totally surprised and pleased with the resulting painting. The experience has inspired me to continue painting now at home--or at work where I've moved all my painting supplies so I can work in the off-shift time between lunch and dinner.

I'm having a solo show at The Thompson Public Library, too. August 1-26 with an Artist's Reception on Thursday, Aug 7 from 6:30-8.

It's exciting, though mostly I'm using the event to see what I really have, and to get more organized. It's forcing me to pull everything out and make sure all the good stuff is framed properly and ready to go. The show is called: "A Little of This, A Little of That: a Multi-Medium Exhibit" and I'll be showing Paintings, digital art, photography, collages and sculpture. Should be educational, for me, at least!

Top Three Laughing Babies

2008-03-16T00:11:00.000-04:00

This is hysterical--one of the reasons people survive as a species, I'm sure! The #1's all look like my brother in law, James!

Dotee Dolls!

2008-02-25T22:53:00.000-05:00

Now there is the cutest fad going around in the crafty art doll and Swapping world--Dotee Dolls! They are little finger long dolls shaped rather like Good n Plentys with faces, beaded tails and fancy hair, with a loop to hang them. Here are two I made for a swap on Swap-bot:

The next picture is of three other dolls I made for swaps--the two on the sides are "icicle dolls" and the little one in the center was for a Goddess Doll Swap:

They're fun and easy to make, quick because they are small, but no limit on how much embellishment you can add to make them really special!

My First Juried Exhibition!

2008-02-25T20:46:00.000-05:00

Ok, here I am grinning ear to ear with my very first entry accepted into a juried art show!

The 65th Annual Connecticut Artists Juried Exhibition at the Slater Museum in Norwich, CT. This was my third try to enter something into this local but prestigious (to me!) show.

The piece is a collage called Circular Generation and it's composition came from a collection of circular and flowing items that are arranged to represent the circular flow of life itself, from the little ways day-to day activities can lead us back to beginnings and the large circle of life where we all return to the beginning one way or another. It's a little piece with a lot of meaning.

Here's a close-up:

How to Become a "Real " Artist

2008-02-23T21:27:00.000-05:00

That's the question. I've been pondering this concept for a while now, and having just had my first artwork accepted into a major (for our area) Museum Art Show, I feel like I can take the whole thing more seriously.

I subscribe to three Art business newsletters:

Fineartviews by Clint Watson

Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter

and just newly subscribed to: Art Marketing Action newsletter from Alyson B. Stanfield
Here's info about her new book:
I'd Rather Be In the Studio: The Artists No-excuse Guide to Self Promotion(.pdf)

They communicate with each other, so they contribute to each others' information to confirm and recommend the best ways to work out the business of being an artist.

It's a little overwhelming at times, and sometimes I feel like I'm reading and researching too much and not making art enough, so I have to make some decisions. Winter has been a time for research and pondering though, so as spring peeks around the corner, I'm making more plans to do art instead of just thinking and talking about it.

No Time, oil on canvas, 13.5" x 15.5"

Last lunar eclipse till 2010

2008-02-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

I caught this one picture of the lunar eclipse starting tonight, no tripod, I had to use my car!

ArtandCraftAuctions

2008-02-18T19:35:00.000-05:00

I've listed a collage on the new website to be part of it all, I have to work on gathering other pieces to list this week, so watch for them.

This is the site for my current piece listed today

"Eye of the Storm"
mixed media, 11" x 8.5"

New Auction site for Art only!

2008-02-18T12:59:00.000-05:00

Well, Ebay pissed off enough people to get boycotted this week, and to send many of the self-representing artists scrambling to create a home of their own. It's http://www.artandcraftauctions.com/ and should be up and running sometime this afternoon.

It's going to be an auction site where only Fine Arts and Crafts and supplies will be up for bid, and no big corporate businesses, powersellers with a zillion satelite sellers scattered all over, but the real artists themselves.

I'm hoping I can get in with some of mine to help get them off the ground, I know the 250 charter members will be rushing the "doors" this afternoon to register and get in, so check them out a little later on when things have quieted down somewhat.

Later!

More Snow!

2008-01-14T12:28:00.000-05:00

The snow came again in the night last night, soft and quiet, it piled up on the trees and the cars. I managed to get out of my driveway just before the big maple at the end of the drive gave way under the weight of the heavy snow and came crashing down on across the driveway, taking the power, cable and phone lines with it! Strangely enough, that line powers the big house, which still has power, but the little house out back which is on another line altogether is without pawer, cable or phone. Strange quirky things happen sometimes, I guess.

It's stopped snowing now, around noonish, and the drive at work has been plowed and the snow is melting across the blacktop so with luck my drive home will be easier than the drive in. Nothing had been much plowed and it took me an hour for the normally 1/2 hour drive.

It looks great though! like a winter wonderland. Pictures will be forthcoming!

Enjoy!
Cyn

End of the year is nigh!

2007-12-27T12:47:00.000-05:00

The weather has been weird, but, hey, it's New England. We had a pile of snow a couple of weeks ago that turned to rock hard ice on the driveway, treacherous to try to walk or drive on, and nearly impossible to clear away, then it got warm, in the low 50s and the driveway and paths all cleared just in time for Christmas, but enough snow stayed around for looks, and now it's raining again. January and February will probably bring more snow and ice, and thaws like normal.
We'll manage, though Fred has been thinking about moving to North or South Carolina, and counting the weeks until spring is supposed to come.

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-12-23T23:32:00.001-05:00

Making Matchboxes from Scratch

2007-12-16T00:07:00.001-05:00

I've been in at least ten swaps of decorated and filled matchboxes. I know ten, because I bought a ten-pack of small matchboxes aw Wal-Mart and used them up--except for the wooden matches which I out in a jar, waiting for something creative besides using them to start our outdoor fireplace.

So I decided to take one apart and make a template so I could make my own out of sturdy cardstock as I need them for various creative endeavors.
This is the basic pattern. I use Hammermill 110lb cardstock from Staples , or Georgia Pacific 110 lb I found at Wal-Mart. I prefer the Hammermill because it seems a smoother finish, good for printing color images on.

These are some samples of templates that I decorated in Photoshop, ready to cut out, assemble and further embellish, or not.

December already?!

2007-12-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Wow, time does fly when you're having fun, or just crazy-busy!

Ice and rain this week, no real snow yet!

Sat., Dec 1, I did another workshop at the Putnam Library, this time on making handmade holiday cards, and 6 people signed up, but only two showed up. Disappointing, but we had fun anyway! Their loss!

I got to bring two of my "grand-friends" (my best friend's granddaughters age 10 and 8) and Pat from the Library participated and some really beautiful cards were made and taken home.

The reporter form the Reminder News came and took pictures and interviewed people, and there were pictures and a nice article in the paper, though I have yet to see it--I have to get one soon!

I'm all caught up with my Swap-bot swaps again, and haven't signed up for many new ones--a few in January and February. It's too addictive to let go completely!

I do want to get some other art going now though. The old gym at work is being heated, so I'm going to bring my paints and supplies in to work on some ideas that have been mulling around in my head for a while now. It'll be a nice change of scenery!

Take care and have bright and happy holidays!
Cyn

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-10-03T14:59:00.001-04:00

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-08-29T20:44:00.001-04:00

Giant Tag Sale

2007-08-22T22:56:00.001-04:00

Our art guild (Northeastern CT Art Guild is having a Giant Tag Sale next weekend (Oct 5&6) at the Sunshine Shop Greenhouse on Upper Maple Street in Danielson, CT

We had one last year that was a good time and raised us a nice sized chunk of change to help fund some of the programs we run monthly in the guild.
Lots of cool stuff is donated and sold for good prices some antiques, some art, some household items, lots of eclectic collections of things you just might need. So if you are in our area, stop on by between 9am and 3pm each day and see what treasures you might find.

I hear there may be some tasty bake sale items, too!

Summertime, summertime

2007-08-01T17:25:00.000-04:00

Well, three weeks have passed like a blink, mostly because my 9 year old granddaughter was here! Time passes so quickly when you are having fun! I didn't get much art done at all, save a few ATCs here and there, but now I have time to get to it once again.

I had so many plans for this summer and it's already August and nothing much has been done, but, oh, well, que sera, sera! I'll do what I can as I can.

My sister is up from Virginia with her cool quilting and embroidery machines (both of which cost more than my "new" car (see a picture of that below in an earlier post). We'll have some time to play with them soon, too!

So for now, best laid plans, blah, blah, blah..and time marches on!

More Exploration

2007-06-12T16:39:00.001-04:00

We're all on a road to discovery, like it or not. Every day something new comes before us to see, like or dislike, enjoy or toss--but it's all part of the journey.

In my Art Journey I'm exploring a lot of mediums, and having a good time doing it! This past week I've made about 20 ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) through collage, photography and painting. I've painted three little cars as part of an altered car swap, I made my first watercolor painting (not too bad), and am pondering the wire flux welder sitting in my garage!

It's scary, and is probably one of the biggest challenges I've come across in a long while. You can't see or feel what you are doing, because you have to protect your eyes with a black lens, and your hands with thick leather gloves. And then you have to guide a thin wire along the seam between two pieces of metal you want to join at an even pace without melting the whole thing because it's spitting out a zillion degrees of electric current!

My first effort was pitiful, but I'll try until I get it. I have plans for that welder!

The Glimmer-Mobile!

2007-06-08T13:41:00.001-04:00

Here it is--Well this is not an actual picture of MY car, but the same year, model and color(except for the sunroof, none on mine!). In all the rushing to the DMV and back again, I forgot my camera today or I'd have a real pic. It's lovely to drive! All sorts of power this and that, and air conditioning! My Neon's A/C had stopped working two years ago, and I got really adept at finding shady parking spots all around town. No more of that!

Anyway, it's fun to have something new and NICE for a change! Its silvery shimmer in the sun is very satisfying to the sparkle-loving crow in me!

"New" Car!

2007-06-07T16:40:00.001-04:00

Tonight after work, I go pick up my new-to-me 2001 PT Cruiser! My trusty 95 Dodge Neon is still running fine, with over 178k miles on it, but I need a taller car because of my bad knees. The Neon sits too close to the ground. As luck would have it, I found a great deal on this PT Cruiser and was on the spot the first one to look at it, and put "dibs' on it while I scrambled around trying to put the money together. For a change, things worked out all the way around, because now, my son, Terry, aka Vaughn(He really wants to change his name and I'm trying to get used to calling him that, really I am!) has been driving a total gas hog, a 93 chevy blazer stuck in 4WD to make his thrice-weekly 50 mi roundtrips to dialysis. Two thirds of his miniscule Social Security income has been going into that gas tank every month!! We're having to help him along with food and sundries, and he sleeps on the floor at my mom's house because it's the only space available. Even if there was a Housing authority apartment or room come available, he doesn't have the money to move in! This kidney disease is hard on a 33 year old who still would like to have some semblance of a life! Anyway, I'm giving him the Neon--its 32 mpg will help a lot, and he can sell the truck and use that money for gas and registration and insurance for a while.

What do you mean you're not artistic???

2007-05-08T12:57:00.000-04:00

I just want to say that ATCs are the best way to get over the idea that you aren't artistic! Anything really does go with this art form.

I've seen them made of polymer clay, small sheets of embossed copper, pieces of glass taped around the edges like a stained glass piece, plastic from milk jugs, cardboard, plywood, fabric, burlap, laminated leaves, crochet, knitting, and the list goes on infinitely. In the outer larger world of ATC trading, there are no rules other than the 2.5 x 3.5" dimensions.

I've seen some that have parts attached by brads that you can pivot and unfold to show a person with arms and legs and/or wings, that all fold back up into the 2.5 x 3.5 size. There are little houses that are three-dimensional when unfolded, but they still comply. There are little ATC zines and books that are accordion-folded with many pages, or folded in a certain way to be an 8 page book made form one sheet of paper.

They come with strings and fibers and ribbons and beads and tags and stars and feathers and bones and playing cards, watch parts, optical glass, scrap booking die-cuts, rubber stamps, linoleum prints, woodcuts, etchings, pen and ink drawings, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, pastels, pencils--graphite and colored, watercolors and crayons.

Don't let anything limit you in this terrific art form, let your imagination fly free and make it small!! I particularly like doing a sheet of card stock all over with ink doodling then cut it up, using the ten-card template, into ten cards. Even if you photocopy the whole sheet and turn it upside down, you can get ten different cards off the same design! Then color it, ten more, then cut them into pieces and glue them onto a sheet of colored stock--ten more! And that's just one simple technique!

The ATC-world is your oyster--eat it up!..."

Art and the ATC

2007-04-26T13:58:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking suddenly about ATCs in a different light than I was, say, yesterday. I don't know why or how these things happen, but I suddenly remembered that the first ATCs I ever made were alctually small acrylic paintings, on gessoed watercolor paper. I treated them like any other painting with all the care for preservation I would have something 11x14 or 36x48. It was, to me a little work of Fine Art.

I started doing collages sometime last year because I've been spending a lot of time with my friend Frances Kornbluth, a fabulous local artist, who also has a summer studio on Monhegan Island, ME. I started out as her driver when her husband was ill and neither of them could drive, and the relationship evolved into a friendship and sometime studio assistant/driver. I've been able to study her work for long comfortable hours while re-hanging things for an open studio, or organizing the materials she uses for her collages. She, too started out painting, oils mostly, but also watercolor and acrylics, then came to collage sometime in the 60s or 70s I think. I love her work, almost all of it, (you know there has to be a few I just don't get yet, but I'm sure I may change my mind later on)

Anyway, I find collage very ...I don't want to say "easy" because that implies I don't want to "work" but it happens almost intuitively, almost makes itself, more than paintings anyway. I start with a background of some sort--painted watercolor paper, cardstock, canvas, wood, then rummage through the bits and pieces I have collected, and just begin. I get into a zone and sometime later I step back and look at what has been wrought. Some kind of theme almost always becomes clear, even though I didn't plan any such thing. There are layers and textures and colors and materials that lead my eye around the piece, taking it on a merry chase, or a leisurely stroll. I like it! I've only got one piece I really hate, and I'm pretty sure it's because I had to make it from specific things in a specific period of time for a group thing. It looks like nothing, noplace, nobody. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable just to look at it. Weird. I keep it for just that reason though, it's weird and does something, I just don't know what.

I'm not too fond of uncomfortable art. Those things made of garbage, excrement or other yucky stuff. Dark images with lurid colors that make you remember a nightmare you had when you were 9. No fun for me. I like art to soothe or stimulate the good parts of my mind, to remind me of happier things and places and people. I want to be surprised and have the feeling of excitement or just joy well up from within.

I'm more fond of straight color abstracts. Colors stimulate these things in me, make me feel creative and positive. Sometimes it's black and yellow with streaks of gold or copper; blocks of primaries with dots of white; blues, greens and purples with hints of cadmium red in the background, and a thin streak of chocolate with highlights of silver. Next comes texture. I can look at "touchy" art all day--mixed media stuff--fabrics, tree bark, beads and bumpy ropes, as long as it's not made of yucky stuff--just my personal preference. If I want to look at dog poop, I can go out in the yard for cryin' out loud.

So now the big question--are so many people doing more mixed media art on their ATCs because of where they come from (scrapbooking, altered books, etc), or what? Where are the small paintings, etchings, drawings, monotypes, encaustics, and lino-prints?

I've asked some of these questions and more on one of my Yahoo Groups, I'll wait and see what kind of answers they give me there.

Just curious! :)

Young @ Art Guild

2007-04-13T11:37:00.000-04:00

There was some brainstorming going on last week, and now the Small Art Club has suddenly morphed into an art guild for those "young at art". Aimed mostly at kids aged 8-18, membership is also open to their parents. We'll be having monthly hands-on art workshops, exploring all sorts of artistic things, starting with the ATCs and Alteredbooks that I've got going already.
It's a new and exciting process, and I'm not sure where it's going to go, but we're working on it and more brainstorming sessions are in order.
young @ art guild

2007-03-31T19:54:00.000-04:00

The upper right and lower left ATCs are Iris folds using pieces of food labels (the swap theme). The bottom right is a paper weave technique, and the upper left is shown in detail here, a collaged "goddess".

2007-03-31T19:52:00.000-04:00

This was an Iris Fold postcard swap. I'd never made one before and was totally intrigued by the process. I used different colored inner sides of security envelopes from junkmail and bills for the paper and made a five-sided pattern. Then I made a few more for another ATC swap.

ATC and random art pics

2007-03-31T19:49:00.000-04:00

So I thought I'd post some more pics of various things swapped in Swap-bot and Group swaps.
This one is froma Numbers Countdown Swap-bot swap/ I like the one in the upper left best--it's called "When owners start to look like their pets"

Spring and thoughts of space!

2007-03-31T18:05:00.000-04:00

Spring has finally sprung. The nights are still cold, but the sun was warm today while we began our annual garage clearing project. It seems like we clear it out and it fills right back up mysteriously over the winter. The truck is full of junk going to the dump, I have a big bag of stuff for the Salvation Army and another even larger pile of stuff to freecycle. I have motivation this year, more than before to clear out, because I really want studio space up there. We built a room in the back corner with electric outlets at desk level all along the walls, and either Fred will work his computer shop there, or I'll do art up there--we may have to flip for it! I'm more tempted to convert the whole thing into a house though, it's almost three times larger than The Little House (the 400sq ft cottage we share with the cat).
I can visualize a beautiful big eat-in kitchen, a bathroom with a tub and a shower, two bedrooms, a living/family/greatroom. It could be really nice! Large windows on the back wall could look out over the lovely view of the woods and the brook at the bottom of the 'ravine', and a pergola built over the parking apron on the front would hold a flowering wisteria or some other beautiful flowering vine to give us shade to sit under in the summer. ~sigh~ At least I can dream :)
Cyn

Second Successful Small Art Workshop

2007-03-31T17:53:00.000-04:00

It was low-key but fun. We had 12 people show up to the second workshop, this one for adults, though there were 5 girls there, too. We are starting a club that will meet on the third Saturday of each month from 12-3pm, so we'll see what happens there. I'm hoping we can eventually work up some swaps with other clubs out there in the world, perhaps through a yahoo group or Swap-bot.

Cyn

got some time on your hands?

2007-03-27T13:04:00.000-04:00

http://www.onlinesketchpad.com/

And Who, might you ask, is Gloria Page???

2007-03-07T16:22:00.000-05:00

http://www.impressionsart.com/Main.htm

I'm about halfway through Holy, Moly, Mackeroly! a wonderful kind of autobiography by Gloria Page. This is the very first book that I can remember reading(with pleasure) that was not some sort of fiction, aside from cookbooks and art/craft/woodworking/pottery how-to books.
Sci-fi, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, that's my usual reading material, with perhaps the occasional Historical Fiction or Bodice-ripper thrown in in the summertime.
All through my school years, well into college I could barely keep my eyes open long enough to read anything "required", ie: textbooks, novels (for Contemporary American Lit), etc. When I got this, I thought it was going to be another of the many, many how-to art/craft books I buy regularly. I started reading it though and found it so different, and so fascinating! that I keep going back to it daily for a few pages at a time and sometimes a few chapters! Her style of writing is so pleasantly familiar and conversational, that it keeps my deficient attention for long moments at a time (a challenge for the best literature!)

I also find it to be one of those magical things that you run into now and then in your life, I read the stories and connect with them in many parts of my own story. While different in many ways, we are very similar in spirit I think, and, imagine my great surprise when I read that her grandmother's name is Gagne--just like mine!!! Even though Gagne, in Canada, is much like Smith here in the states, it's in interesting coincidence--we could possibly be cousins!
She also grew up in CT, where I was born and have lived on and off for most of my life (even now) She speaks of places I know and have been to or passed by at times when under other circumstances, we might have actually met! Fascinating.

I would love to meet her sometime, after I finish the book, and perhaps obtain others of hers. I heard recently she was having health problems, and I want to send out into the ether through this blog all the best and healthiest thoughts and vibes I have to send to my "cousin" and hope all comes good and she gets through the crisis with flying colors.

What is Art all about?

2007-03-07T16:20:00.000-05:00

I'm an artist. There, I've said it. I'm not "an emerging artist" or a "newbie artist" or anything else less than the real thing. It's taken me a while to come to this decision, but I realized that I really live when I'm making, practicing, teaching, talking about, or just enjoying art, so much so that everything I see can be described in artistic terms--colors, textures, smells, sounds, tastes--it's all there in everything, and art is everything, expressed in forms and media that are manipulatable and can capture thoughts and emotions, images and imaginings.
So, when I pick up some scraps of paper, or bits of junk from the ground, I see in them the potential to be more than what they are, but all that they are at the same time. When I pick up a paintbrush, pen, pencil or rubber stamp--the potential is there, too.

Collage is the thing I am busily exploring right now. It encompasses all the media I like the best--photography or printed images, painting, assemblage--a little sculpture, composition and playing with glue and acrylic medium. It's fun and very expressive, bringing things out of your inner being and onto the paper, celebrating the past by bringing old parts out new and fresh into the present whole.

Altered books are scary at first! What!? You want me to tear pages out of that book!? Don't people go to Library Hell for that!? Of course not! Old books that no one wants anymore, need to be reborn as something new and exciting. Rather than see them sit in a cellar rotting away or being eaten by mice and bookworms, I can tear, cut, fold, glue, paint and otherwise alter them into something really cool! And, there are places on the internet where I have found many other people who do the same thing, and are willing to swap pages with me! How cool is that? I now have over 2 dozen lovely, interesting, inspiring, intriguing works of art that I can tip-in to my altered book and make a new journal of contemporary art to enjoy for many years to come. I hope that my granddaughter will love them as much as I do!

What is your art? What inspires you?

Second Small Art Workshop-Mar 24

2007-03-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

I'm doing another free small art workshop at the Putnam Library, March 24 from 12-4 (I think)--I can't remember the exact times, but it's in the afternoon, and for adults only this time. I'm going to try to set up another kid's workshop sometime, too.

We will focus on ATCs and Alteredbooks in this one, and also talk about forming a club that will meet regularly and perhaps do some swaps with other clubs. I'm going to be talking with Pat at the Library soon and will post the real details soon.

Digital painting ATCs from one sheet

2007-02-17T21:06:00.000-05:00

ATCs made in Photoshop using the Poster Edges Filter

2007-02-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

Frappr Map

2007-02-17T20:52:00.001-05:00

ATCs for a Swap

2007-02-05T23:44:00.000-05:00

These are made using a transfer technique for the background from Bernie Berlin's book: Artist Trading Card Workshop.

Small Art Workshop Pics

2007-01-22T21:12:00.000-05:00

These pics were taken by my friend Raymond F. Gould, a very talented Photographer and artist!

Photo Album

2007-01-21T23:20:00.001-05:00

I'm testing this link to my Small Art photo album in Fotki.com.

The collage posted here is called "Button, Button, Whos' Got the...Oh, I do!"

Saturday Small Art Workshop

2007-01-21T23:12:00.000-05:00

Saturday I held a free workshop at the Putnam, CT Public Library on Small Art. This pic is the group of kids from the morning session with their finished projects! They had a good time and made some wonderful things.

We did some collages, ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and several of them started Altered Books--taking some old books form the library(with permission!) and tearing pages, painting and glueing papers and yarns, sparkly things and stickers on them to begin a theme that they can finish later, a form of Art Journaling.

It thrilled me no end to hear several of them ask when the next class was going to be! I'm inspired by their creativity and energy to do it again!

In the afternoon I worked with a similarly enthusiastic group of adults and teens, and a good time was had by all. I have some pictures coming from a couple of people who were there--I was a little busy! I'll post them later.

There was a surprising amount of interest in this type of art, and I think we'll be starting a club soon to further explore!