Christmas on Mars

The latest project that I'm now working on has the unlikely title of "Christmas on Mars". This Evergreen Federal Bank sponsored event in Grants Pass, OR is the latest brainchild of Brady Adams. The back-story goes something like this:

Unknown to most people Santa has not only been delivering toys to the boys and girls on Earth, but also to the children of Mars. When Evergreen Bank tore down the old Riverside Hotel in order to build Riverside Park they accidentally damaged Santa's toy delivery system to Mars. In order to make things right with Santa, Brady agreed to build a rocket ship to ensure that toys continued to reach Mars by Christmas morning. Are you still with me?

So that's where a bunch of artists (including me) come in. We're now building a huge rocket ship, Martian toy store, and a whole bunch of Martians to run the place. You literally can't make this stuff up. Well I guess you can, but no one would take you seriously. So here's the proof in pictures...


This is Del Hearn posing with his huge rocket ship creation. Several artists are now building the interior, complete with Martians astronaughts.


An early test to make sure the engines are working properly. These huge rockets will have their own lighting and sound system!

A Martian Christmas tree. Kind of a cross between Dr. Suess and Tim Burton.

Some of Janet Higgen's Martians in progress.



More soon as construction continues!

Pumpkin Time

I love this time of year. The weather is mercifully cooler, the trees are exploding with fall color, Halloween is coming, and of course there are pumpkins. There's something therapeutic about pumpkins. They're a cheery orange, they have an organic, earthy appeal, and no two are alike. What's not to like. As those who know me can attest I especially enjoy carving these gargantuan gourds.

This year I'm up to my elbows in pumpkins as I try to meet my obligations to clients. So far I've carved out about ten big pumpkins, and I have a few more to go. I use a surface carving technique where I cut my designs through just the skin of the pumpkin. I don't bother cutting open and scooping out the guts. After carving and painting I use a sealant to preserve my pumpkins, giving them a respectable shelf life. Last year one of my clients kept their pumpkin on display until May! They typically last until Christmas or so.

Here are some of this year's crop 'O carved pumpkins:

Prospect Park

In all the years that I lived in the general vicinity I never set foot in Prospect Park (except the Brooklyn Bontanical Garden once years ago and that's a seperate fee area so I don't count it.) Prospect Park was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the same designer of Central Park. The park is 585 acres. Here are the things I learned about Prospect Park today in the 3 hours I wandered around:

The squirrels here are very shy. I thought this fella was going to rip the camera out of my hands. You never know what's edible when you're a rodent, I suppose.
You need to look up when in a city, even if you know you will be branded tourist. You'll miss much by only looking from pigeon strut to traffic light level. I wandered through the Chinese Pavillion and in the middle, up high, hiding in the peak, was this beauty:I caught my breath when I saw this stained glass. It's in really good shape. I understand that the pavillion building is around 100 years old, so I was surprised at the condition of this window.

Harry has a wall. I never knew....

Some of the best advice I've seen to date:

I think we all need to heed this advice. Keep this in mind next time you're outside.

Greetings from New York City

My sentiments exactly:

I had to travel all the way to NY to find this message.

Art Gallery

We stopped at this intriguing art gallery in Crescent City, CA. Unfortunately the artist wasn't there and the shop was closed so I didn't get his name or any further information. I would like to go back and do some shopping - I need some things for around the home:This would look great in the garden:I need a new lounge chair for the living room (looks comfy, doesn't it?):And I sure would love to have a new desk:

Bits and Bobbins

The good news is....the sewing machine works. It sews so neatly and quietly -I love it! It monograms and has a double-needle sewing feature and all these groovy stitch patterns that my cheapy hobby sewing machine does not. I'm missing some kind of ring that holds the thread in place and I think there were a couple more feet for it but I can use it as it is now and, for 5 bucks, I will not complain. I can order all the accessories online.

I'm scribbling along in my Drawing Lab class sponsored by ART. There are 5-7 labs to complete each week and they vary in style so widely; I find many that I love working on and some I have to struggle through a bit. It's been an enlightening process. I've discovered that I don't do as well with drawing purely from imagination:This lab was called One-Eyed Monsters. You draw an eye and then create a creature for that eye. It was fun but my monster lacks animation or character. I drew another that ended up looking like a peacock:
Monster indeed.

I really like drawing anything that involves drawing objects in dimension. This was a lab about drawing a toy:I enjoyed working on the shading. Shadows have always been difficult for me but, since I started this workshop I'm noticing more how light falls on people and sculpts faces. I want to learn to draw with less line and more depth.

Someday I will tackle perspective. Once I get to using perspective in sketching (it's unavoidable really, if you want to understand drawing) that's when I throw in the towel and stop drawing for years. I hope to pass that hurdle this time around.

Thrift Share Monday

Welcome to thrift share Monday. Please share your weekend thrifty stories with us at Apron Thrift Girl. I was busy all weekend so I didn't hit the sales until Sunday morning. I found 2 nice hoodies for a buck a piece. The gray one is 80% lambswool from Great Northwest. I thought I would use it for felting but after a thorough scan I realized it was in like new condition and it fit me. I'll have to wear it out before I can use it for craft projects.The brown shirt is cotton from Shaver Lake. Looks like it has never been worn. It seems a tiny bit too small for me but really, I'm going to lose those extra 15lbs any day now and then it will fit just fine.

Here's the score of the weekend: A Brother XL3010. This is an older machine but it has excellent reviews and I've seen used ones on sale online for $100. This one is great condition, although it is missing a couple of the accessories. The seller said that it needed a tune up and it would be good to go but I'm not sure it even needs a tune up. The motor purrs along and all the pieces seem to move smoothly, so I'm hopeful it will work. I'm going to fiddle with it tomorrow and actually try to sew something. The best part? I paid $5 for it. I couldn't leave it there at that price.

I hope you all had an incredible thrifty weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

Photos by TreeGeek

Thrift Share Monday

Welcome to Thrift Share Monday. Please hop over to Apron Thrift Girl and share your thrifty finds with us. Or go there to ogle other people's amazing thrifty finds. The yard sales in our area are winding down as the summer heat builds up. I went to one (one!?!) yard sale on Saturday. There I found a nice winter coat, brand new. Fit perfectly. It was hard to even think about winter in the 90+ heat on Saturday but the coat was so cute that I had to try it on. It came home with me and is hanging in the closet awaiting the first frost.

I'm always looking for art/craft supplies for my artsy dabblings. I have found many useful tools, expensive art paper, sketching pencils, etc over the years. More recently, I've been making journals and I'm always looking for ephemera to make interesting journal pages with. I also like a good mystery. So I couldn't resist these: I found a full set of blueprints, life sized, 1 each for a Ruddy duck, Pintail duck, Teal and Great Horned Owl. Why on earth would anyone make a full set of plans for birds? Life sized, no less. At first I thought they were for making decoys but when I brought them home and studied them fully, I realized there is no indication that is what they are for. Odd. I think they will make great journal pages. I love finding bizarre stuff like this. Does anyone have any ideas why someone would go through this much trouble?

Drawing Lab drawings

I have been taking part in an online drawing workshop and I'm loving it. I've always been intimidated by drawing and I get frustrated when the result isn't perfect (whatever that means) and then I don't attempt again for a few years and then I try again and get frustrated and wait a few more years and suddenly I'm middle-aged and I Still Can't Draw. Go figure. I recently acquired a copy of the newly published Drawing Lab by Carla Sondheim. The labs in her book are drawing exercises designed to help one loosen up and see the creative potential in every sidewalk crack and eyedropper full of ink.

Portraits made with an eyedropper and acrylic ink colored with markers.

Water colors randomly painted on a page- search out and outline whatever image appears.

Without the pressure of creating perfect art I can draw up a storm of insignificant marks that encourage me to keep moving ahead. Carla is a genius! It helps that I'm in a workshop and on a schedule to get things done. Schedules seem counter-productive in art but I need the structure and the deadlines. If I wasn't in this workshop I would have done one or two exercises, gotten frustrated and put the book on the shelf. And then would occasionally feel vaguely guilty about it and want to go back to it someday. Which becomes never.

One Liners - pics drawn with a continuous line without lifting pen from paper.

Artists of the Round Table (ART) is hosting the free workshop. The drawing lab workshop is now closed but ART offers many other kinds of artsy workshops. If you join the Yahoo Group you will get updates on all upcoming workshops and you will have access to the lesson plans of previous workshops. OK, I'm going back to the drawing board (oy!). Hope to see you in ART land.

Wrong handed portrait - portrait drawn from a photo with non-dominant hand.

Coast trip

Our usual summer heat has finally caught up to us. Since it was so hot yesterday afternoon we drove to the northern coast of California to hike, have dinner and catch the sunset. It's amazing the difference that 50 miles and an ocean make. We needed jackets when we got there. We wandered around Crescent City and enjoyed the sights and the blissfully cool, yet sunny day. We went to Point St. George first:Then we went to Crescent City Harbor and watched the harbor seals and sea lions. Lying around. Not doing a whole heck of a lot. Well, some yapping and stinking was going on: A random sculpture: Another random sculpture: The fish commemorative plaque and cement sculpture: It says "Crescent City Harbor District Inner Boat Basin, Dedicated October 5, 1974, To the people of Del Norte County, A project of the Crescent City Harbor Commission". A grand gesture to be sure. Who doesn't want a cement smiley fish in their harbor?I hope you had a good weekend so far. Enjoy the rest of it.

ROD Journal #2

Here is a Remains of the Day (ROD) journal I made mostly from pages I received in a swap. There are 2 signatures with 6 pages in each one. The cover is made from melted plastic bags with stitching over the top, inspired by the "Shopper's Joy Book" in Eco Books. I'll fill up this journal with travel pictures from my upcoming trip in August.I received some beautiful swap pages:I'm still not sure how I feel about this style of journal making. I was so excited about it when I started the ROD class but I don't know if I'll be comfortable working in a journal that is so visually busy to start with. I'm going to plunge in and add words and pictures during my trip and see how I feel about it then. Can't really tell if it will work for me if I haven't actually tried it out!