So I Gathered...

An Art-Full Weekend

So I meant to post last week, but I was so busy getting things ready to teach my Magnetic Personality workshop to a group of guinea pigs, I mean students, at my home that it just didn't happen! 

 

Some lovely vintage hankies for the students...

 

On Friday, my friends Kim Loya, Deryn Mentock and Sally Turlington all came in from Houston.  The three of us go way back to when I lived in Houston...at least 10 years!   I hadn't seen Sally in about three years and Deryn in about two.  We had agreed to meet for lunch down on South Congress then head over to Uncommon Objects for a little shopping therapy.  Kim and I made it to Uncommon Objects first and made a couple of rounds while waiting for the other girls.  When they arrived, we took a break to eat at Guero's and then back to Uncommon for the rest of the afternoon!  It is fun to shop with friends who have such similar interests.  We laugh when we see items one person has and say, "I picked that up too!"  We also think to ourselves, "Now how did I miss THAT?"  We are definitely a group of enablers as we encourage each other to buy things!  Here is Deryn going through a plate of mourning brooches...

 

Here is my tray of goodies...I do believe it runneth over!

 

Afterwards, we walked over to Hey Cupcake because Deryn wanted to try one...

 

 

We also stopped in to Hill Country Weavers where we all drooled over the fabulous fibers and Deryn found a few that were just perfect to use in her jewelry endeavors.  Diane Cook joined us later that evening for dinner and ice cream at Baskin & Robbins.

On Saturday morning, four other lovely ladies joined us for the class.  Jennifer Rowland is another good art friend and she brought CeCe Grimes, whom I had met several times in Houston.  Mary and Beth were some new faces that rounded out our group.

The first part of the workshop concentrated on sawing the doll out of wood with a jeweler's saw.  Harley was overseeing the process...

 

  

Here is a look around the work tables...

 

 

And finally, some fancy fashions...

Sally

 

Jennifer

Deryn

 

CeCe

 

Kim

 

Diane

 

Deryn

 

A heartfelt thank you to all of these talented artists!  It was a wonderful class and I appreciate the feedback.  I will be teaching this class next year at Art and Soul Vegas in February and at ArtFest in April.  I hope to see some of you there!

Deryn, Diane, Kim, Sally and I went out for some Chambord 'ritas and scrumptious food at one of my favorite restaraunts, Z Tejas on West 6th Street...I think we used the menus more for fanning ourselves than ordering because the AC wasn't working well!

 

Up the next day to head out to the Austin City-Wide Garage Sale.  You would have thought that we were shopped-out by now...

 

Once again, we all found some treasures and I will have to show mine in the next post.  Kim found a great old machinist's case with lots of small drawers to store beads in and Deryn found a beautiful birdcage and groovy metal stool.  The trick was transporting said items back to my house and then trying to load them into Sally's small car for the trip back to Houston...that's Deryn pointing and saying,  "How are we going to go from this car to that car?"

 

But we persevered and were able to load everything into Sally's back seat rather than tie it to the top of the car! 

A wave of the hand and they were off!  A fabulous weekend with fabulous friends.  I miss you already.  "Oh Sally..."

Wren-tal Property

So I was out on my front porch yesterday taking photos of new paper doll outfits when I noticed that a tiny wren was fussing at me and Harley continuously.  I ignored it for a while, then my attention was caught when I saw her fly over to a small birdhouse my neighbor had hanging in a tree.  She poked her head in the hole and I heard a chorus of tiny peeping sounds.  She flew away out of sight, so I grabbed a step-stool and went to take a closer look.  Here is what I found...

 

Three baby wrens all tucked away in their wee nest.  The one in front gave me a rather baleful look as the camera lens intruded...

 

I pulled the step-stool back and waited to get a shot of the female feeding the babies.  She came back with a large insect in her mouth and hopped around the bush beneath the birdhouse, fussing the entire time.  I didn't think I was close enough to bother her, but she wouldn't fly up to the house.  I finally noticed a black tail lazily tapping the dirt near the base of the tree.  I walked around the tree and there was Harley laying in the dirt, watching the birdhouse intently.  I tossed her back into our house and settled in to wait.  The wren flew up to the birdhouse almost immediately and I got my shots.

 

 

I will keep an eye on the family as it grows.  A few weeks ago I had been watching a mockingbird nest that was in a branch right over our driveway (and my car!), listening to the babies cheep each time I went outside.  I was devastated when Fiona found the three almost-fledged baby birds in a pile on the other side of our driveway.  I can only guess that a raccoon or a opossum got to them.  I don't think it was Harley because it happened during the course of a night when she is in the house.   Nature can be so cruel at times...

Oh, and here are the pictures of the new doll outfits.  My class was accepted at ArtFest and I decided that I needed better pictures, then I decided I needed better outfits, and so on...

Here I painted a dress with acrylics, added some definition with a charcoal pencil and finally used some tiny floral brads that I had been hoarding forever and a day...

 

I used tiny magnets to attach these enameled metal flowers to her dress... 

 

Here I made a super-long skirt out of collaged vintage text and a map...

 

Well, I am off to babysit my nephew for two days while my brother and his wife are on a photo shoot, so not much creative time.  However, I am taking my Rio Grande catalogs to look for some new tools for some metalsmithing for jewelry ideas that I have...

They Grow Up So Fast...

So that second really busy week included Fiona's "graduation" from pre-K to kindergarten.  I am a bit dubious about such ceremonies, but I was right up there with the camera, lol!  This post will be a photographic catch-up of Fiona for friends and family, so if you are looking for art, you might want to wait until the next post, lol!

We had dinner at an Austin institution and Fiona's favorite restaraunt for tortillas, Chuy's, with our family...this is Fiona with her cousin Ty.  They are 5 months apart and more like siblings than cousins.  People think they are twins when we are out and about.

 

I actually got her to wear a dress for the evening...

 

Wearing Nena's (her grandmother) vintage tassel necklace...

 

I see that the giddiness of graduation is present, no matter what the age!  I won't post the picture of her hiking up the robe and dress to run faster...I'll just save that shot of the Tinkerbell  panties flashed until she is 16 or so...

 

My parents have property right outside of Austin in the tiny (blink and you'll miss it!) town of Driftwood and they have a pony that Fiona loves to ride.  He is a halflinger named Fabio and is more like a big dog than a horse.  We named him Fabio for his muscled chest and the way he shakes out his golden mane as he trots over to greet us.  Fiona is learning how to care for him and the correct way to behave around horses.

 

 

We definitely have a budding equestrienne!

 

 

I couldn't resist this shot...

 

If you have small children and need music for the car that doesn't drive you insane, may I recommend our favorite, Joe McDermott?  He is an Austin-based musician who writes fun, catchy music that both adults and children can enjoy.  He performed downtown in Symphony Square the other night and we took Fiona.  It was so much fun to watch her dance and sing along with the live performance!

 

Nothin' like a little air guitar...

 

Pretending to be asleep during part of one song where Joe told all the children to lay down and go to sleep...wonder if he could do the same on those late nights when she won't go to bed...

 

Symphony Square has a stone ampitheater that goes down to a small waterway with the stage across the water.  Shaded by tall trees and stone buildings, it is a wonderful place to watch a show!  As I said, we love Joe's music, but the fact that you could purchase margaritas as you listened didn't hurt any! 

 

I think we have the makings of a groupie.  During a lull, my child stands up, cups her hands around her mouth and screams out at top volume, "Play the Brick Song!"  Joe heard her, laughed and obliged.  Everyone had turned around to see who made such a ruckus.  I think if she had had a lighter, she would have held it up and swayed from side to side...

 

I told Joe that he definitely rates...she won't even sit in Santa's lap!!!  She did tell him that he had forgotten to play "My Cat Can Fly"...

 

We took her back to Symphony Square this past Wednesday for Children's Day.  They have these every Wednesday in June and July and for 50 cents per child, you can see (up close and personal) musicians playing symphonic instruments, try them out yourselves and hear a musical performance.  We also got to see Ballet Folklorico, a Mexican dance troupe who performs various traditional regional dances from Mexico.  They also have a lemonade stand and have arts & crafts and face painting.  Fiona asked for a butterfly on her cheek, but ended up with a beautiful butterfly covering most of her face!

 

 

Catching the first glimpse...she loved it and wore it all day long.  People smiled whenever they saw her and I think she enjoyed the attention!

 

And last but not least, a shot I took of her one evening as we enjoyed some ice cream by this cool water feature...she is indeed growing so fast...

The Unveiling

So I meant to get this post up this past weekend, but came down with the crud on Friday.  I woke up this morning and the crud had progressed to a nasty sinus infection that seemed to have settled in my inner ear so I was stumbling around like I had enjoyed a bottle of Layer Cake Shiraz all by myself!  Very weird feeling...I had to call my mom to come and take Fiona to school.  If I closed my eyes to try to stabilize myself, that just made me nauseous.  So, I slept for a few hours  more then sat and watched a Sundance Film Festival mockumentary on teaching called "Chalk" (hilarious, by the way) and now most everything has drained and returned to what I consider "normal", lol!  That was probably TMI...

So, here they are...my two newest workshops...Magnetic Personality and Novel Little House!

In Magnetic Personality, we will create a wooden "paper" doll made from specially treated wood and create a multitude of magnetic outfits for her from paper, fabric and metal.  You can hang her on the wall and change her outfit every day if you like.  Let people know what kind of mood you are in (I magnetized a vintage Midol tin for her to hold).  Of course, if you have trouble dressing yourself already, this might not be the class for you...  Here are a few prototype photos...

Notice her little striped socks I made from ribbon...

 

Waxed butterfly wings...not the sturdiest of structures, but very cool!

 

A painted muslin dress that was waxed...

 

More of her wardrobe...see the paper dresses and the garments made from vintage handkerchiefs?  Are you getting excited?  I am!!!  Do you see the possiblities??  This is just the tip of the iceberg!  I will try to post more outfits as I create them...

The flower skirt is made from gluing those tiny paper scrapbooking flowers on a piece of paper and dipping the whole thing in wax.  Did you notice the tiny flowers on the tips of her shoes?

 

The Novel Little House class came about from my making a book with plexiglass covered niche containing a butterfly person in it as a sample for alternative boxes for my Butterfly Boxes workshop.   The students seemed to like it so much that I worked it up into a two day class!

 

Openings are cut in the cover to provide frames for some favorite images...

 

Here is the inside niche hollowed out from the text block and hiding a little butterfly girl...

 

A close up of the hinged door in the front cover and the tintype hidden behind it...

Are you seeing the possibilities?  Fun, fun, fun!

 

I think that is it for this post.  I spent some time at the computer before posting to send out the email for the workshop I am teaching at my house later this month and I am starting to feel distinctly woozy from being upright for a length of time.  Gonna go get horizontal...