glass beads

Here are a few of the results of all of my hours spent in my garage studio. I have a whole bunch of beads that are slowly being made into focal points on a new line of jewelry I'm working on. I want to do soemthing different than just stringing beads on a sharp stick...

ummm... still working on getting the hang of the new camera... the middle left pin was photographed with amazing focus.. the rest of them... not so hot... I'm going to try again over the weekend and update with clearer pictures if possible.

More next steps include... finding a supplier for jewelry boxes. I've been looking locally over lunch with not much luck... after checking out one more 'lead' this weekend, I may have to order off of the internet... somewhere. I haven't looked on-line just yet.... I get too tired of sitting in front of a comptuer while at work...

Jack-o-lantern!

Inspired by Paul R's drawrings!

Coasters, take 2

Here are the results of my new camera! Too bad good picture-taking skillz didn't come along with it. I noticed that it focuses so well that I will really need to pay more attention to how well I clean my pieces before photographing them....

Next up? Glass beads & jewelry.

The last few weeks I've been trying to spend a couple of hours a week in my garage studio playing with molten glass. It's been fun, but out of every 5-10 beads I make only 1 is something worth showing other people :/ it kind of makes me wonder if torchwork is worth the effort. I guess I'll keep going for now and see what comes of it.

Scarecrow by Laima's mom

How COOL is this!!?!
I love it!





My mom just sent me these pictures of her latest scarecrow. possibly her only scarelady. I'm not sure. I'll have to ask :) I say "her latest" scarecrow as if she makes it a point to make them. she doesn't even like them particularly much. I think she may have made it to enter some contest. ok. i just proved that i wasn't really listening. hmmm. i plead this: i was far too excited about the brand new digital camera i just bought tonight!!!! 12x optical zoom - how cool is that!!?! i can't wait to post more pictures of projects. Look again on Sunday/Monday night since the camera doesn't arrive until Friday...

I figure it's been a week+ since the wedding so now I'm allowed to post pictures. Recycled interior design calendar and tiles from the local ReStore. and spray paint. and a liquid glass type sealant. I've got more. I just need.... to buy a camera. SOON. for real.

A series of fairies, 1999

Since i can't post new stuff (no camera) I will post an interesting series of fairies caught in uncomfortable postions in everyday life. I'd say these are from.... 1999 I think. at the UW. 3 are from my drawing class and 1 is an attempt at a lithograph. I think I already waxed poetic about how much i like litho and how sad it is that it's a) toxic and b) not something i can do at home.











At any rate, you will also probably notice that I need to take some time to properly frame things at my house. I, ah, maybe have been on somethign of an instant gratification kick lately so when I find something I made a long time ago and want to put it up... rather than framing it and protecting it I have put a lot of things up on my walls with thumbtacks (even though I own a kajillion frames and a mat-cutter and could frame them if I even tried a little bit). Though, to be fair, my mat-cutter isn't set up and everytime i decide to use it I spend about half an hour putzing tryign to jury-rig a usable setup.

Shrinkydinks

Did I ever post this? One day this summer I bought some shrinkydink paper at the most excellent price of 50 cents and demanded that a friend of mine come over to make shrinkydinks with me. One of these is my work and the other 6 are Craig's. Who wants to guess which one is mine?

I made a couple others that have not been photographed, yet, but will update with those (as usual) once i get my hands on a digital camera. no. i still haven't bought one.

a non-art post just for fun

Here is what happens with two people who get bored at my house... we start playing pretend. apparently we were pretending to be from the middle east:


....and here are some pictures of flowers that were at my house (that I rather wish were still at my house - my house could use more flowers! actually, i was admiring the flowers outside this morning - some have already died from the cold weather but there are still bunches of them happily blooming.)


I did actually work on some torchwork this morning.... some day when i get a camera i will post those......

an old charcoal sketch

I think it's interesting how very different the same drawing looks when you use flash and when you don't:




this is an old sketch with brown charcoal on some remnant of cardboard i found while at a friend's house for an Art Party where everyone contributed to a HUGE painting. I'm tempted to have an Art Party where i take down all the ceiling tiles from my downstairs bar and have everyone paint one. I figure they're reversible (so one side will always be white) and even without that they're relatively cheap to replace if i hate the look of a funky painted ceiling - right?

so..... what should i do to this painting? add more details to define the angel? Or leave it all shadowy like it is right now? this one is currently sitting on my black chinese cabinet in my living room. incidentally, i have no idea how to frame paintings that are on any kind of canvas. it's on my list of things to learn. anyone out there have any suggestions for good framing books to check out?

4"x4" tiles

(glass & mirror on tiles)


(magazine ad cut out and glued to a tile)

what do you think - do you notice that one of these pictures are before sealing and one of these is *after* sealant?

cement mushrooms!

Made in Wisconsin.
Photographed in their new home on the banks of the MIssissippi river in Port Byron, IL.

Painted while living in Japan.
Watercolors and ink.
very small.... about 2" square.

more Laimadoodle paintings

Paintings from a couple of weeks ago. Nothing special. Didn't turn out the way i wanted them to, but I like them anyway.

tiles in progress....

i wouldn't bother clicking on the picture to see it bigger - this is being kept intentionally small since all of what is pictured here is in progress. i'd like to figure out a way to make these into both a coaster and a wall hanging... but the hanging hardware i've found so far isn't cooperating. plus, i think i should have attached the hanging hardware *before* gluing on photos/paper because any glue i use now can't be cured by heat --- or it *can* but i'd have to watch pretty carefully. i'm not sure if the chemicals modern paper is treated with make paper more or less flammable. hmm.

Garden monsters?

These were harder to make than the other cement sculptures because the partly set cement was all crumbly which made me have to keep changing my design to make up for ears and eyebrows and eyeballs that crumbled off as I tried to shape them.

As of last night, I think I finally figured out WHY the cement was acting differently.... I forgot to close my bag of portland cement all the way, so I *think* that the integrity of the cement was compromised by all the water the portland cement had absorbed from the air... especially considering the large amounts of rain we've had in the last few weeks... now i don't know what to do with my half empty, but slightly damp bag of portland cememnt... any ideas?

Garden critters.... part 2

NOT zombies..... almost people!

Well.... not perfect, but less like zombies than a good number of other paintings from the recent past. The question remains..... do i attempt to 'fix' the lady in the dress so she's not slouching? Or do you like the uncertainty of her stance? and does her dress need straps?

lots of yellow paint...

I had help when I was taking pictures.... perhaps I should figure out a place to photograph art work that is not my basement floor :)



these are just some acrylic 'sketches' from the past year... mostly just using up paint that was about to die.