HAIRiette

this is Miss Hairiette a shelf sitter doll who hasn't seen the inside of a beauty shop for years.

I was messy around with some aluminum roof sheeting I picked up at the hardware store and tried to make her look more copper with alcohol inks... her jumper is scrapbook paper scrap and of course she is bent to sit around and stare ...which she does quite well...don't cha think?

composition book

I made this a few months ago. I invited my two artsie neighbors over for an afternoon of playtime and showed them how to make their own composition books...They loved what they made and even use them. This is the one I made and I even use mine!!!! LOL

the best time to pick up composition books is right after school begins in the fall...I got all of mine for 39 cents each...a bargain and I will get some more this next year too.

Happy Days are Here Again

So it is the middle of January and life is getting more and more normal for us here in Carter Land. DH started back traveling for work and that leaves me home with the dog and nothing to do except maybe some art time??? Yes!!!

Lately DD has been really on my case about getting her baby album and child hood albums done...duh...she will be 25 and I haven't finished her scrapbooks...so my goal is to get all caught up before her next birthday. Do you know how many boxes of photos I have gone through and sorted in the past two weeks? Nope not even close....But I have a plan and sticking to it.... (come closer and I will tell you....for every photo I scrapbook, there are 4-5 that get hidden away....makes quick work of it all...smile)

My two art neighbors and I go every Wednesday to a local scrapbook store and work 5 hours on our albums. today I got 9 pages completed and have plans laid out for next week already.

This evening I was still in the creative mood...and since DH is still out of town...I worked on some ATC''s ....feels so good to get back into making art and not having to stop and take care of DH or take him to a doctor appointment.

Ohio is in the middle of winter...snow, sleet rain more snow wind...and that was just this morning...LOL

It feels so good to be back...I won't take it for granted ever again.

Rudolph, is that you?

photograph by Alan Blacklock who happened to glance up at some cloud formations at just the right time.

I guess it isn't just me who sees Christmas all around.

Art Room re organization 007

I have returned

It has been nearly 10 months since my last entry...a lot has happened.

February 22nd my DH was told he had colon cancer. More tests showed a small blep on his liver as well so in March he had his colon resected and in May he had his liver resected. He recovered quite quickly from each of those surguries and began chemo 12 cycles or 24 weeks. Treatment 1-3 went well...a few side effects but with 4 and 5 he got really ill. So ill he had to spend 10 days in the hospital. He was having stge 4 toxicity to one of the chemo drugs. They were changed and treatments 6-12 went by much better. He has lost his hair, energy and 50 lbs but so far the cancer has stayed away. His last treatment finished up this past Friday the 7th of December. During the same time, the DD had 3 kidney stones and one ruptured and she was in the hospital for 3 days but doing fine now. The dog could not stay out of the act and after 3 weeks of diarrhea...and every test the vet could think of...I asked her to be treated for whip worm and given an anti diarrhea medication and that did the trick in less than 12 hours.

So, as you have so patiently read...I was busy and art had to be put on the back burner.

I did think about doing things and accomplished some mini projects.



I also re organized my art room. This involved weeks of sorting and adding new wire shelf units. I am very happy with the results and hope the dry spell of creative energy gets put to good use soon.

Validation

Today will be remembered as the day I received validation for my art work. I enjoy what I make, and my friends say they like what I make, but is it worth it?
You Betcha!
I had submitted a framed collage work using the Jonathan Talbot technique and one of my favorite altered books I have made to a juried art show at a Dayton Gallery. Today, I got news that my altered book has been accepted for the show. This truly is an honor as over 100 artists submitted over 266 entries and only 43 artists made the show with 57 items.
The e mail called me an artist...a term that I hold in high esteem. Since art is not my profession, I have toyed with the term and muttered it under my breath as what does the term really mean? To me, having someone look at my creations and hold them up to other creations and yet sellect mine as something of enough esthethic value to be put on display for others to see at a place where art is expected...well, that is validation and I feel much better using the term artist. It allows me to feel proud of my creativity and not feel as though I am wasting my time and effort for naught.
Today is a good day.

We may need to build an ARK

Has this weather been strange or what? California is having major freezing problems, Colorado is burried under huge amounts of snow and freezing cold, and Ohio and the East are having balmy but WET weather. This is the middle of January and Ohio has had two minor snow falls, and one of those was in late October!!!! I know the ice and snow is headed our way, and I will moan and groan when it arrives but...the poor trees and flowers here have tried to bud and the ground is so saturated by all this rain, that I may just dig out the plans for that ARK and start sawing away.
This weekend was one of finishing up projects around the house. Dallas and I installed his faux wood grain dash and trim to his Honda Fit and built his new garage workbench and tore down one of the shelving units and I made a mess in my art studio...but had fun doing so.
Tomorrow I get to start cleaning it all up. (gotta have some place to build the ARK).

Art work for Vickie

A very well known art vendor, Vickie at BMUSE, was recently hospitalized for a brain aneurysm and is still in critical care. Many of her customers and friends wanted to create a healing book for her recovery and the effort is spear headed by Sandee on the Art Diva site. For more information, go to Sandee's blog at http://sandees-sanity.blogspot.com and read about and see the other art work contributed to the book so far.

To the left is the front and back of my 4 x 4 page that I am sending.

It's a sad day in Buckeye Land

The championship game is over. Ohio State suffered its largest defeat since 1999 to Florida with a final score of 41-14. The game went from great to bad quite quickly. The very first play of the game....the return of the kick off brought Ohio a score of 7-0 and it went down hill from there. OSU's leading receiver got injured and was out the rest of the game.
Someone had to go home without the trophy or title and I am happy with the accomplishment that the Gators were able to pull off. Why? Well, their coach was born and raised in Ohio and was the football coach at DD's college a few years back. He really is a nice man and very capable and deserving of coaching a championship team. I am also sad for Ohio State as this has been a sad ending to a wonderful season and its very first loss this season.

What is in store next? Why snow of course...the weatherman is threatening our area with snow during the morning rush hour and the high winds are to continue. (I may have to buy that boat anchor for my dog, Maggie, after all to keep her from blowing away when she is outside.)

I picked up a cute item at Target today in the dollar bin. I hope to alter it maybe tomorrow and post the results.

Monday, January 8th

This isn't as easy as it looks. I have a photo way too big for the page and my posts are not going into the boxes I put them in...but a bit more play and I should be able to coax the powers to be to line up and fly straight.

DH is flying across the country today on a business trip. It is cold and rainy here in Ohio and DD is has the day off...gee...what to do? I could entertain DD and take her to lunch and maybe FORCE myself to stop by Michael's and see if they are having any great sales or I could clean the house and start to get ready for a condo wide community progressive dinner on the 20th, or I could do some art.... Maybe I should do all 3.

But tonight is the big championship game of Ohio State vs. the Florida Gators and I will be sitting in front of the TV with my OSU shirt on and eating all sorts of junk food that is required of a big fan on game day and cheering on my team. Keep your fingers crossed.