a challenge!

3 pumpkins in 30 minutes

Furniture refinishing

Here's what I worked on on Sunday after K ditched me to do laundry instead of going biking:



This is furniture refinishing 'lite'.... the shelf wasn't in particularly bad shape to begin with. There were just a couple of dings and scratches, plus a 3"x4" spot where someone had spilled something that practically fused some cardboard on to one of the shelves. That was the hardest thing to fix without scratching the shelf more since it was really stuck on there. I probably could have sanded the sides more, but I got bored and/or antsy to just get it done :)

Now it's chock full of books in my bedroom.

Finally finished this piece, too.... I made the bead some time last year and started twirling the metal and left it.... for months and months.....

For my little brother....

Here's the first draft of his birfday invites:

What to do with leftover red paint?

Here's what happened after working on Dan's painting... someone may have possibly gotten a little enthusiastic with the amount of red paint she squeezed out and didn't want to just throw it away.... so here are 3 views of an unfinished painting.... it's starting to (almost) look like a patchwork flower that's unraveling. Right now, though, it's floating in space and definitely looks unfinished, so you only get to see these three close-ups.

Dan's paintings

I'm still debating whether or not to straighten out the red line....and also whether or not to post the original pictures he sent me so y'all can see how i slightly changed the style....it maybe might have gotten a little boring trying to paint all 'smooth' so i dropped that idea and became more textured... *I* like it... now let's see if the recipient likes it....

Notice that in the original sketch (sketched during a mandatory 4 hour work meeting, of course :) i ran out of light to finish the rt-hand border - they dimmed the entire auditorium for the last hour and a half or so) the border was much bigger.... I couldn't find any linoleum locally that was the right size to make this happen. What you see here is the biggest piece i could find (6.75" x 11") ........ plus i realized that I'm so out of practice with my linoleum/wood carving skillz that I needed some practice before trying to create intricate details:







Ummmm... i got sidetracked... i was going to do the entire 26 print edition tonight, but.... it's already almost 11pm. i guess i'll do it later this week. So far, I have 3. The plastic sleeves haven't arrived in the mail yet, anyway, and I still have to write a (small) something or other to send in along with the prints, too. ugh.

What I'm trying to decide is whether to:
A) add background color? (if yes, what ones?)
B) vary the print color - either via ink changes or paper changes? (is it kosher to vary the ink color i use w/in an edition? I think I may get tired of printing entirely in black on very white paper by the end of the run....)
C) I could just start working on those other blocks, since in a moment of crazed internet use ala Gerald inspriation I ordered a bajillion of them....

Here's what I've been complaining about working on the last few weeks. Done. Finally. This took way longer than tiling the front porch with slate. The front porch was 54 sq ft, this back one is 96.... but it took far more than twice the amount of time/effort/materials. Luckily, it's done. Just before winter. wonderful. Keep your fingers crossed that the workmanship is solid enough to withstand the freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw that is Wisconsin winter.... I guess my new project next spring might be "Learn how to repair tile flooring" which isn't necessarily a bad skill to have...

I think I need to arrange a porch-warming party in the next month or so.... perhaps with some grilled food and a bonfire... hmmmm....

I promised my neighbor I'd restore his frontdoor Buddha back to his earlier gloriousness. Turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.

in the pipeline....

Here's what you'll see in the next few weeks:

1. a three panel painting. Total size = 8' wide x 3' tall
   (I'm still working on making the frames and stretching the canvas)


2. a lino-print for a print exchange in California (I'm still..... ahhh.... remembering how to cut linoleum. yeeeouch.)


3. some Latvian-inspired metal work


4. some more sketches from work
   (need to remember to bring work notebooks home for the evening)


5. Eventually some more lightswitch plates, too.
   (It's about that "that time"... though I have yet to signup for any holiday fairs... I am procrastinating. a LOT.)

These two paintings need your help...

There's something missing from both of them and I've had no luck figuring out what it is... I'm sure I could just sit down with paint and 'doodle' but there's a good chance that if I do that I'll end up massively changing the 'feel' or the 'look' of the painting to the point where it won't be recognizable as what I'm showing here right now... thoughts? ideas? suggestions?

fleece blanket

Would you believe that I got a blister from where my fingers were rubbing up against the canvas I was working on top of while tying all those knots? ouch. Next time I'm picking a better surface to work on.

Rooster - mixed media

..... been playing around with watercolors, black ink, and oil pastels.... true to form i think that every possible color ended up in this one, too.....This was made by splashing colors on paper and then coming back a day or a week later to see what might have formed by those splashes. Then I took other art supplies (pens, markers, oil pastels) to define what *I* saw in a way that other people can see it too.... i never know what will come out of this, which is part of the fun! For example, notice that there's a little orange fish in the middle of the air...

Glass ornaments ..... part 3 of 3

ROUND ones:

Glass ornaments .... part 2 of 3

Odd-shaped:

Glass ornaments .... 1 of 3

Long ones:

Marbles!

Took a class a couple of weeks ago....

Spiral cat-eye marble


A vortex marble!


and.... two broken marbles.... here's one of them anyway:


I'll post the other broken one later tonight, I hope. I should be able to start making these at home on my own soon. I just borrowed a small kiln from my parents and can't wait to get started!

inky sketches

Made while listening/participating in meetings @ work....

Food as art?

Some of us may have gotten a little over-enthusiastic while picking strawberries last week... what you see here is almost 9 lbs of strawberries being washed... which were later turned in to:
- Straw-blu-barb streusel
- Strawberry meringues
- Strawberry gelato
- Strawberry salad
- Straweberry-papaya shakes
- Frozen strawberry yogurt




...and we still have a BIG bowl left of them for eating fresh.... unfortunately no one at my house wants to look at strawberries any more at the moment....

more tie dye....

More tie dye from last week.... there are still a few other things I haven't photographed yet.... but I think I am moving on to other stuff :)