I need to do this more often

I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted. Yikes! So, what have I been up to recently, you ask? Well, I respond, I have been busily making lots of new stuff for competitions. In January I made a piece to enter in the Vision art quilt show in San Diego. I am still waiting to hear if I got in. After that, I got to work making stuff to enter in the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach. I have been trying to get into that show for many years. In previous years I knew I didn't have much of a chance given the disparate work I was entering. I had not yet learned that the jurors like to see consistency, not examples of everything you can do.

Also, this year, to increase my chances of getting in, I applied in several different categories, sculpture, mixed media, and fiber. The fiber category was difficult to enter in since most of what I wanted to enter has been sold and I don't have any good quality photos of those pieces. I had to scramble and find something I already had in inventory since I was out of time and could not make anything new. And, I felt better at least attempting an entry in as many categories as I could.

If you want, you can click here to see all of my entries.

My original intent with the sculpture was to have the kelp plant, a dolphin, and a flock of sanderlings (shore birds). Well, the dolphin didn't work out as I had planned. Then I couldn't figure out how to do the birds. Then, suddenly, in a fit of inspiration, my brain said, "Tide pool!" Perfect! I could do that without have to do too much experimenting. So, back to Home Depot I went. (I have spent more time at Michaels, JoAnns, and Home Depot recently than all last year combined.)

So, here's the beginning of a tide pool for your enjoyment...

I started with a 24" diameter table top and started adding pieces of Styrofoam packaging material to build up a general shape of the tide pool. I just hammered some nails into the wood and shoved the foam pieces onto the nails. I suppose I could have glued the pieces on. Actually, maybe if I had done that I would not have hammered that nail into my finger.

So, the next step was to use another product from Home Depot, foam in a can. It is used as a gap filler. I just squirt it on top of and around my foam pieces, and here is what I ended up with after using up two cans of the stuff...

And here, after hours and hours and hours of making anemones, and starfish, and mussels, and rocks, and other sea life, is the finished tide pool. (Well, almost finished. The side that you can't see in the photo does not yet have any creatures on it. I still need to make several dozen mussels and whatever else I decide to make to fill in the rocks.)

Merry Christmas!

For the first time in a while, I put up a Christmas tree. But, not just any Christmas tree. First, have a look at the original...

This is my 6 foot tall rendition of a California Giant Kelp plant. Now, have a look at my Christmas tree...

I never really thought of using my own artwork as a Christmas tree, and I like it! Thank you Scott Sutton for the idea!

Its Been a While

So, what have I been up to? Well, not much. I got another cold that I am just getting over. I've been selling lots of fabrics on eBay. And, I actually sold one of my ornaments on CafePress. I also managed to get my Christmas cards out just in time. The above photo is of one of the poinsettia flowers I made for this year's cards. I really like the way it turned out. This is my usual technique as I used to make both the rose and the kelp sculpture. Eventually, I'll get some photos of those to post.

Last show of the season

Well, the Pomona Harvest Festival was this past weekend. It was a very nice way to end the season. Of course we had to contend with a few minor difficulties along the way, like rain all day on Friday and a bit of flooding on the floor. But, other than that, I talked to lots of people and even met a fellow Glendale High alumnus.

Here's a photo of what the booth looked like during setup. It takes me about 4 hours to get all set up. Most of that time is spent dragging all the boxes and display stuff from the car to my booth space. This photo shows my tent and walls put together and some of the boxes and tables waiting to be moved in. It's amazing how much work goes into putting together a booth. And, when it is done right it looks just perfect.

As exhausting as it is, I do so enjoy the show life. It is a very intense few days, from the last minute production of artwork, to loading the car, to the setup process, to being at the show ready to talk to people and sell my artwork, to teardown, and finally to getting home and recuperating. That's what I've been doing today, recuperating.

What fun!

I have been adding more images to my CafePress store. Now there are three different dragon designs, and two different cat designs. More designs will be coming soon. The hard part is deciding what types of products to sell. So far, I have greeting cards and ornaments. Some of my designs my also lend themselves to t-shirts, but I'm not sure if I want to do those or not. Anyway, check it out. Click on the link in the links section.

New Work

I still have this cold, but it is going away, very very slowly. In the meantime, I have been hard at work on new items. I am doing some Christmas ornaments to have available for the Pomona Harvest Festival. I'm not quite sure what I am doing yet, but there seem to be stars forming from bits of fabric. The first idea I came up with for stars uses the gold holographic fabric that I found in Las Vegas when I was there during Art Expo. I am trying to figure out a way to do music theme ornaments.

I have also just opened up a web store. So far I have only put in two different images, the black cat with the yarn and the red dragon. More will be coming soon. I need to do lots of work to get the images sized right. This is the link to the store.

The image shown is called "Who, Me?" and, of course, as with most of my cat art, I had some inspiration from my favorite cat. He used to dig a nest in my piles of fabric and yarn. And then he would look at me with those eyes, pretending not to be guilty. Yeah, right! By the way, the original of this piece sold at the San Diego Artwalk earlier this year.

Great Show!

Well, the Del Mar Harvest Festival was great! There were lots of people there enjoying themselves and I sold many things. Unfortunately, I ended up getting a cold which is why I haven't posted until today. This is a photo of what my booth looked like. The piece on the far left is called "Do I Have to Practice Now?" It was given a new home by a lovely lady who absolutely fell in love with it and couldn't resist. Now I am going to have to get to work to make something new to replace it. For now, it is time for sleep and try to get rid of this cold.