When it's too hot to go outside

When it is this hot outside, (108 degrees yesterday afternoon - ugh!) I stay inside. That's OK, because now I need to get to work on my challenge piece for this year's Retreat with Sherry Goshon and Jean Bernard. We are supposed to do something related to Halloween or Harvest, and I knew right away that I wanted to do a Ghost. Not just any ghost, but a White Lady. I'll tell her story later, but in the meantime, here are some in-progress photos of what she looks like at the moment.


I am using the techniques I learned at last year's retreat. I still need to sculpt her other hand and also decide what I want to do with her other foot, but I am so happy with her form so far.

And here she is from the other side.


Her face is sculpted and beaded and ready to apply, but there is a lot more work to do on the figure yet before that can happen. Hmmm... I want more detail in the color of her face I think. Otherwise, so far, so good!


Because there is absolutely nothing on TV, we are watching our collection of "Lost" DVD's again as a family, so I have a lot of time in the evenings to catch up on some beading, so I can give you an update on the white-on-white collar too. I finished beading the segments and got them lined and edge-finished, so now I am ready to add the fringe.


This is the fun part!

Photo of the Week - Worth the Wait

I am a day late in posting this week's photo because I spent this past weekend at my daughter's freshman orientation at Oregon State University. What a fabulous place! The campus itself is beautiful, and the course offerings put my alma mater's to shame. She's excited... I'm excited for her, and more than a little bit jealous, LOL. *I* want to go to college tooooooooooooooooooo!!!

This is a macro photo of the colorful ingredients of my new most favorite salsa. It is very mild, so if you are a heat junkie you will be disappointed (though there is nothing to stop you from adding the heat source of your choice - it WILL work, I promise.) I think even my new-food-phobic family back home might be willing to try mangos if I served them this way.

Corn, Black Bean, & Mango Salsa
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup of frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 fresh red bell pepper, diced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
8 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt (I prefer 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt)
1 tablespoon olive oil, optional (I wouldn't dream of leaving it out. Really now... that is a healthy amount of a healthy fat.)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Let rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving. If you keep it covered in the refrigerator, it will stay tasty and good for 3 days or so.



I know a lot of people don't like cilantro and I admit it took me a time or two to learn to appreciate the flavor, but its flavor contribution really makes this salsa sing. I intend to experiment with some finely diced jalepeno chilis next time.

When good projects go bad

I really really wanted to enter this month's challenge on BPCAG, but my sculpt is not going well. It is just too hot to work with polymer clay, so I am taking a break, and attempting to restore some order to my studio instead. My poor studio needs some TLC badly anyway. I don't mean to be so messy, but I can't seem to help it!

While I was putting away the things that have accumulated on my work table, I rediscovered this piece of bead embroidery. I don't remember deciding to stop working on it - but it was buried pretty deep under the layers, so I know it has been a while since I laid eyes on it.


Now that I don't wear contact lenses any more, I find that I can see those little beads so much better without any glasses at all. It makes it tough to watch TV while beading, but I keep my bifocals handy and pop them on when things get exciting, so I do OK. It's nice to have a project that I can work on in a room that is air-conditioned.

I am such a sissy about the heat.

I am so glad I put up this photo today, because now I can see that I need to add something a little dark to the upper part of the right hand segment to keep the colors balanced. If I keep at it, I should be able to finish the beading this weekend and get started on the fringe. I have some drop pearls that will be just perfect for this.

Photo of the Week - Finished Dinosaur Canvas

I finished my T-Rex canvas this weekend - the photo is a bit dark on my monitor, but the colors are true. I am both amazed and amused that something so bizarre came from my hands. I have never ever done anything like him before in any medium, and I kind of wonder what hidden little corner of my brain he came from, LOL. Me? Dinosaurs??? Go figure...



A high level of texture over the outer edges of the canvas, effectively suggesting a primaeval forest for my creature to stroll through, was created with several mediums as well as wrinkled tissue paper. To make the footprints in the lower right I sculpted a dinosaur foot in polymer clay and stamped it into partially dry gel medium. (It would have worked better in texture medium, but I am out of that and I really wanted to complete this project.)

The things we do for our art, LOL!

Photo of the Week - "Weeds"

I do not understand why blackberries are considered "weeds". Yes, I know they are a bully of a plant, but so is mint, so are strawberries. Then again, I like dandelions and wild violets too, so maybe it's just me, but I don't take offense to the presence of blackberries the way some people do. I love their pretty pink blossoms.


I especially love their fruit! In just a few weeks these embryonic berries will start to turn to a purple so deep it looks almost black. Mmmmmm... I can almost smell the cobbler now.


I like bees too, but that's not why I put up this little guy's photo. I am getting better at finding my camera's focus point in macro mode and I am darned proud of the way he turned out. Isn't he a photogenic little bug?


I gotta say that is is MUCH easier to find things to photograph around here in the summer than it was in January!

Finding Time to Paint

My main project at the moment is a sculpt-in-progress that I cannot share as it is a challenge piece. However, while various bits are being baked and cooled and what-have-you, I have begun painting my T-Rex canvas. So far, so good!



I absolutely love Quinacridone Burnt Orange - it is my favorite color and I am seldom able to keep my brush out of it. However, just this morning I fell in love with Pthalo Turquoise. SO gorgeous...

I have no idea where I am going with this canvas, but it has turned into such a fun thing to play with that I don't really care. (Seriously, who could possibly take this seriously, LOL??!) Right now I am thinking that it needs a little more texture to balance the bas relief, and also something for him to be roaring at...

This month's UFO Challenge Piece: the T-Rex Canvas

I started this canvas well over a year ago after a class with Linda Misa on Doll Street. The idea for this one was inspired by my oldest daughter, who absolutely adores dinosaurs, and an old book on dinosaurs that was retired from the children's collection of library where I work.

I got stuck after I added the dinosaur image and so it has been sitting on the couch in my studio silently roaring at me ever since. Last week I had a dream that gave me the idea to render the dinosaur in bas relief in paper clay, so last night I sat down and sculpted and carved him in 3-D.


It was easier than I thought it would be. Now I just have to wait for the clay to completely dry, then I can seal it and get to the fun part - painting!!

Photo of the Week - Inspired by Picasso

We here in the United States celebrated our Independence Day this past Saturday. Our family did up the holiday in the traditional American way, with a barbecue in the evening, and then fireworks at sunset. After all, everybody loves things that go "bang", LOL. I also discovered that fireworks are surprisingly easy to photograph.


Things got a little more creative when we pulled out the sparklers. A long time ago, I saw a copy of this photograph in a magazine - I found it fascinating, and I've never forgotten it. Of course none of us is Picasso, but surely we could manage to write our names in the sky? Turns out that it is pretty challenging after all. Lydia is the only one who managed to get her name done in the 4 seconds I allowed for the exposure.


Seth almost made it - I think his sky-handwriting is just too big. I'm including his photo too because I like the way the "e" in his name frames his face. It would have been so cool if he could have squeezed in that last letter in the time alloted.


Now all I want to know is how in the heck did Gjon Mili (Picasso's photographer) manage to keep Picasso in focus while all the while he must have been jumping around like a bug?

Finished!

Even though I only had a few more hours of work on the Hatchling since the last time I posted before I could call him finished, it still took me nearly an entire month to put in those few hours. (It is the end of our fiscal year at my day job and coping with the year-end details sucked up a lot of my energy.) BUT, here he is at last.


And from the other side.


I finished him off with lots of layers of different colors of acrylic paint. What really made his color come to life was the final glazes of Luminarte's pure pigment powders. You have to be careful with those as a little goes a long way, but I think I got it right this time. You can see the faint wash of Sun Gold on his face in this close up. It's a cool effect.


I owe a huge thank you to Sprite for teaching me her technique for creating skin textures. These show up best in this photo on his hips, thighs, and tail. I need a little more practice with this method, as I tend to squish one side while working on the other, but I'll get it eventually. (If you like baby dragons, or fantasy sculpts in general, you have to check out her blog!)


Sprite also gave me the idea to line the inside of his shell with the illusion of crystals. I don't know how she did hers, but I created mine out of several sizes and colors of shard glass glitter, micromarbles, fine glitter, and thin washes of the luminarte glazes again. I love the way the silver shards catch and reflect the light.


I have always loved dragons - I definitely see more of them in my future!

Photo of the Week - Fresh Fruit

I love Farmer's Markets!

Success at last!

My faithful Google has done it again. After several false starts, missteps, and the complete loss of all my gadgets, I finally found the customizable 3-column template of my dreams to play with! I case anybody else wants to play, there are an assortment of Blogger-Beta-compatible templates here. Mine is the "minima white".

As you can see I still have some tweaking to do, but from now on it will be fun rather than frustrating. Thanks for all the good luck wishes - you have no idea how much I appreciate your company here online.

Updating

I hope you will excuse the random changes in the appearance of my blog. I am attempting to coach myself through some HTML exercises and make this blog a little more personalized. It isn't hard, but the learning is taking place in the midst of other "real life" tasks, and it may be a while before I am satisfied with what I am able to accomplish.

My main goal at the moment is to change this "Minima Stretch" template into a 3-column layout. I *thought* I had found the solution, but I haven't been able to make it work yet. ...grumblegrumble...

Anybody care to wish me luck, LOL?!

Photo of the Week: TWINS!

While twin calves are not common, they are not particularly rare either. However, twin heifers only come along once in a blue moon. These two little darlings were born early early Sunday morning, and Jake is accepting them as a Father's Day gift from the universe, LOL.


As you can see, getting born and having your first meal is exhausting, so they were not in the mood for a portrait shoot.

On the way back to the house, I stopped to pull a weed from my tomato beds and lo! and behold, we have tiny green tomatoes on the vines already. I always plant too many tomatoes, but I can't seem to help myself. They are SO good!


And oh, the promise of good things to come!


Sunday was also Alice's 18th birthday, and she requested a cheesecake for dessert. I tried out a new recipe for a Raspberry White Chocolate Truffle version, which turned out very well, but it is very rich. Trust me, a little goes a very long way!

The photo didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, so I guess food photography has its tricks like any other subject. Time to do some googling.

A Dairy Tale

I am busy gardening this week. My art time has been taken up with finishing projects and beginning work on a challenge piece that I can't share until it's over, so let me tell you a little story instead. It's a sad story, a true tale of woe.

I took my camera out one lovely evening to snap some photos of my roses. (I found this blackberry vine growing up through the canes of my old rambler rose. It has to go, but in the meantime, don't the 2 look pretty blooming together?)


As I wandered around the yard, I gradually came to notice a calf in the weaned field making an awful lot of noise. She was actually following me up and down the fenceline, mooing her little head off. This little calf has just been moved out of the calf barn and taken off milk, and she is NOT happy about it. Not happy at all. She wants some milk, and she wants it NOW darn it!

I wasn't paying much attention to her, but she continued to moo. I think a flock of birds caught her attention here...


Please believe me, she is not starving! There is plenty of food available in her new part of the barn, and she has free access to pasture. And yet she is suffering badly. Just ask her, LOL.

She has been mooing nonstop now for 4 days, and as of this morning, though she has lost her voice. she keeps trying to convince somebody to bring her some milk. It is the tiniest bit pitiful to hear them try to moo when they have no voice left, and yet I can't help but laugh and be grateful that the racket has finally quieted down.

Don't you feel sorry for her?

Photo of the Week - Payback Time

I take a lot of teasing from my family for living in a place where it rains so much and so often, and yes, I have done my share of complaining about the rain too, BUT... this is the time of year when we are reminded why we love it here so much. Trust me, Oregon in June is about as beautiful as it gets. Everywhere I look, something is blooming, or ripening, or being harvested in abundance.



These Royal Anne cherries are about as colorful as they are going to get, but they are a little firm yet. By next week I will be hustling to pick as many as I can before the birds get them all.


If you have ever had a real Oregon strawberry, you would turn up your nose at the giant rocks disguised as berries being sold in the supermarket. These beauties will soon become berries worth holding out for! They only last for a few weeks, so we indulge while they are here. Yumm!

Hatchling, Ready for Make-Up

I have been on such a roll with this little guy - here he is with the rest of his muscles and skin applied, and his wings assembled and attached. I tried to take a good sample of photographic views of him, as he is different depending on how you look at him.


His pose turned out exactly the way I envisioned him in my mind, which is a rare achievement for me. My intent was to capture a fire lizard at the moment of his hatching, ready for Impression. (I am a huge fan of The Dragon Riders of Pern series of books by Anne McCaffrey - I have always wished for a fire lizard for my very own, LOL.)


I am also pretty happy with the way his wings turned out, though they ended up getting a little thicker than I wanted. If I try this technique again I will do it just a little different. Even so, they are wonderfully translucent -- see the backlight shining through?


Here is one last view of the detail of the texture of his egg. This was made using techniques and instructions developed and written by the wonderful Julianne Sizemore.


I love it when a plan comes together!

Baby Dragon next steps

Just a quick update for those who like "in progress" photos. My baby dragon has his pose on with completed feet and his egg. I need to make a base for that egg yet so that it sits still, add a tail and wings to the new hatchling and finish texturing his skin. I'm getting to the part now where I'm afraid to work on him for fear of messing him up. I WILL keep going!

Really, LOL.

Photo of the Week - Works in Progress

I meant to upload these last week, but due to multiple family events and activities I literally did not have a minute to set up a photo shoot. Fortunately today has been much more laid back and I was able to get out my camera again.

As promised, I bring you my second Breyer repaint for my daughter. I was going for a "Goth" sort of feel on this piece, and I am satisfied with the way it turned out. So is Lydia, LOL. Unfortunately, the subtlties of the colors in the finished piece don't show to advantage in this photo - I have no idea why the red around the eyes is so pronounced, and the shades of green that are dappled through the coat are all but invisible. I guess you're just going to have to trust me on this one - it turned out pretty cool.


I still need to embellish and insert the wings, but although I like this pair I'm not certain now that I want to use them. I think I want something a little more dragon-like.


And finally, here is my little baby dragon as is he so far. He's come a ways from that ball of tinfoil, hasn't he?



His little face turned out exactly the way I wanted it, so I went ahead and baked that part already. I have been doing some reading and experimenting with sculpting then baking in stages, and I think this might just be the technique I need to protect my works from inadvertant squishes and fingernail marks.

Next up will be to give him real hands and feet instead of the mittens that show here. I am really anxious to finish him, but one step at a time is better than never finishing him because I don't have time to settle down and concentrate on the whole thing in one sitting.

Photo of the Week - Annika at Silver Falls

My sailor son is out to sea for a few weeks, and I had the great pleasure of entertaining my daughter-in-law and granddaughter for a whirlwind visit this weekend. We have been harvesting the spring silage crop this week and busier than busy, so we decided to take today "off" and go up to Silver Falls State Park for a picnic and to have a little quiet family time away from the farm.

(Oh! how I wish we had been camping instead and could have stayed for a while. sigh...)

Of course I took my camera along. Nothing compares to the charm of a happy and playful one year old, especially to her Nana, LOL.

Hatching the Eggs

I finished my UFO for the month! I still need to open the 2 larger eggs, but here is the little one completed and mounted on its base. It turned out really cool - I need to make more of these!


The little tape creature inside is the armature of the baby dragon who will be "hatching" out of the egg. (I see now that a neutral beige background was a mistake for this particular photo. Oh well...) I have the clay mixed and conditioned and ready to begin sculpting... now I just need to find some time to concentrate.

And, just because I can, I have begun another Breyer repaint, this time of a Spirit Classic. I am *trying* to remember to make myself take in-progress photos, but so far I keep forgetting. I lifted this photo off of the internet to give you a decent "before" shot.



I'll post an "after" shot later this week. His paint job turned out beautifully, and now I'm just waiting on a supply of embellishments so I can finish his wings.

I have been reading up on these. Turns out there are techniques whereby you can actually reshape the model into other poses. That sounds like something fun to try next...