this week was a whirlwind...just don't remember where everyday has gone...went to the Dr. on Monday...have to go back in a month....I've been recovering from knee surgery, resting,etc...kids were here this week....they had a great party which included a lot of their friends and of course the dogs....seems like the dogs had the best time...grabbing hot dogs and doing other fun things like going into the pond, chasing the zip line and so forth..Moe was so tired the next day that he couldn't wag his tail...just gave it a short flip to say hello...he slept the whole day...Mocha was probably the same..she is a little older but she loves the pond...it's the first place she goes when she comes here...even in the winter....they had tents and even one of Aaron's friends brought his camper...with drinking, they just camped out overnight instead of driving home...at least some of them did....Me..???... I kinda slept thru the whole thing...watched the basketball game and saw the Lakers win, in between, Pat came up to my room to say "Hello" and Liz showed up a few times to see if I was sleeping and ask if they were bothering me...I just turned up the tv and went to sleep...heard nothing from the outside except for the bongo drums going at intervals and lots of laughing...all in all I guess the party was a success and they will be doing it over again sometime later this summer...
I had to pass on my trip to Chicago to see grandson Joel graduate...my knee just would not support all the walking that would have been involved, so I got a credit on my airline ticket...not that I will use it...would cost me another $150.00 to change things, so I guess I'll just say bye bye to it for now...have until next April to make up my mind..my tempory handicap placard didn't arrive either...that would have saved some walking...we could have parked closer to the stadium...
Judy called me last night from the stadium....it poured down rain and they handed out plastic ponchos to everyone...she didn't talk to me too long though..Joel gave up his robe to another student who got soaked and since he was in the program, all he wore was his hat and of course his street clothes... could hear some music when Judy called...I'm really thinking it was a good decision on my part to stay home...now to get a card out to him, means I have to get dressed, go to town and find one, or maybe just do one of my own...I usually do that, not to save money, but to let my kids know that I took the time to do the card in the first place and then get it off to them...will do that next week....
I'm trying to find my muse...she is around here somewhere..I just do not have any ambition to do much creatively although I received a long awaited reference book that I ordered on Amazon...it was a used book and it took a long time to arrive..thought it was lost in the mail, but it came yesterday (Friday) and I saw that it was shipped from England...took almost a month...
it's really supposed to get hot today...
"Arts on the River" is going on today and tomorrow...I had to pass on this show because of my trip to Chicago, but I probably wouldn't have been able to do it anyway because of the knee surgery...It is a really good show for me..Liz really wanted to do it but "sorry Liz" I just had to pass...hopefully we can do it next year...I did send in a cd to Mountainfest ...in Nov....it's down at the Mountainlair at the University in Morgantown...Nov. 4-6...will know the first of July if I got accepted...
in the meantime, gotta look for my muse...I know she is here somewhere....here musey, here musey..of course if someone called me musey, I would hide too......
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
ANOTHER DAY...
It's Saturday afternoon , June 12...had the knee surgery on Tuesday around 8:30 am...was ok on Tuesday until the numbing wore off, then it was kinda really a bad rest of the week. Today I am up, going to take a bubble bath later ..no pain killers today for once..although I didn't have to take any yesterday, only before I went to bed...I'm feeling good today...Kids have called me everyday, and Liz , Leah and Ace were here checking on me on and off all day on Wed. or Thursday, I think ..lost track of the days...just sleeping them away and resting....
Had a little urge to do some art work yesterday, but it left me almost as soon as it arrived...went back to bed and watched the tube, or I should say, slept thru some programs on the tube...read my e-mail, etc...I am really low on energy, ....
will be seeing the Dr. on Monday...took off the pressure bandage because my knee was itching..is that a good sign...it is numb right in the middle of the kneecap. lets hope for better news on Monday...the stitches will come out then....I'm thinking the syn-vest injections may be put on hold...we will see....
I am taking care of some retreat business while I am up...we may keep the registrations open a few more days...this retreat is going to be a sweet one..have lots of things lined up thanks to Mona, Syd and Heidi ...I'm sure as the days go by, my knee will be feeling better...tty all later..A
Had a little urge to do some art work yesterday, but it left me almost as soon as it arrived...went back to bed and watched the tube, or I should say, slept thru some programs on the tube...read my e-mail, etc...I am really low on energy, ....
will be seeing the Dr. on Monday...took off the pressure bandage because my knee was itching..is that a good sign...it is numb right in the middle of the kneecap. lets hope for better news on Monday...the stitches will come out then....I'm thinking the syn-vest injections may be put on hold...we will see....
I am taking care of some retreat business while I am up...we may keep the registrations open a few more days...this retreat is going to be a sweet one..have lots of things lined up thanks to Mona, Syd and Heidi ...I'm sure as the days go by, my knee will be feeling better...tty all later..A
Sunday, June 6, 2010
IT'S A RAINY SUNDAY AFTERNOON
Here it is, Sunday June 6 ,,,I can't believe I was away the whole month of May, or was I...????
Been busy down here in Mt. Morris...Grand daughter Liz asked Pappy if she could do some "potting" out in the barn and once we explained things further, he said ok and started to do some preliminary cleaning and pitching of junk out of the bottom of the barn....
Since I was a potter, a long while ago, I kept ALL my Stuff, hoping that one of the grandkids just may want to play in the mud sometime. I did offer to sell my stuff to a woman down in Fairmont, but didn't hear any response from her, so I just let sleeping dogs lie regarding selling the STUFF. Then along came Liz...some say she is a version of me, and I do see some resemblence at times, but she is her own person and right now she is definitely into the mud...
We continued to clean out the barn and got the pottery reasonably set up...looks pretty good...we have shelves that we brought in from out under the pine trees, Pap did some wiring and got us the proper plugs for the kilns...(we have 2)...we set up the wedgeing table with the plaster surface (to wedge the clay)..shoveled out tons of crap from the floor of the workroom, and I mean shoveled out tons, moved the clay bats onto a shelf within reach , washed off everything that had STUFF on it, found the shimpo potters wheel under a pile of STUFF, ..if I keep saying STUFF, it's because there was an accumulation of it everywhere.....as we plowed thru it, I found things that I thought were gone forever. ...tons of tools, pottery, drawings.....I'm not going to go into that for now, but anyway it was fun having the grand daughter really pumped up about mud. We found a box of clay..50# of it that was still soft and in working condition after laying on the bottom of things for about 30 years....yesssss, it's been that long since I had mud on my hands. Liz did some wedging and we were in business...she happily turned out some pretty neat mugs. One of her friends came down and they played a bit with the mud and so did Leah, who didn't seem to do too bad. Her pieces are still out there on the bats..they are dried by now, so she will have to work a little to trim them, but it can be done.
Liz and I went on a road trip to Standard Ceramics down in Carnegie and picked up more clay,
had breakfast at Pineras and lunch at a neat little restaurant in a building under "Before and More"...a shop that sells used clothing...had a great time there also...(got some Chicos) ....while we were at the ceramics store, we also picked up some neat glazes that we both are anxious to use. We had previously ordered a splash pan for the potters wheel, I worked all those years w/o one, and the woman that managed the store found one in the back that was probably as old as my wheel and she gave it to us to see if it would fit...IT FITS!!!! and works perfectly....so our heartfelt thanks go out to her...I sat down at the wheel on Wed. and played a bit...it was as though I had never left throwing pottery...we both had a lot of fun as I explained a few things to Liz...showed her how to make handles for her mugs, and a few of my techniques that just came flooding back to me as the wheel turned ...I always did like to play in the mud.....
more news....
about 7 or 8 weeks ago I was giving our small horse of a pup a bath and he decided he didn't want to get into the tub, and as I lifted his front legs to get him into the tub, he reared back and knocked me off balance and I twisted my right knee...DAMN!!!!..the pain almost knocked me over and when he saw I was kinda pissed with him, he jumped into the tub and I proceeded to bathe him...he does like the water and stood there while I soaped him down and rinsed him off, then he jumped out of the tub, dripping wet and shook...yeah...the bathroom was flooded as he stood still for a second while I toweled him off...he has lots of fur, so he was really dripping wet....anyway, he finally went out into the house and let me dry him further and then he laid down while I finally got to take care of the knee....I thought I had just pulled a muscle, and took some motrin for a couple of days, but it didn't get any better...not being a wuss, I just tried to ignore it for several weeks, Syd and I went to Artiscape and then to a workshop with Dayle Doroshow and thanks to Aleve, (no motrin )I plodded my way thru things...also I went to work down at the gallery in Morgantown during this time.....finally I realized the pain wasn't going away, only was getting worse, and so I made an appointment with my doctor...another 10 days went by and when I finally had my appointment, he thought I had done more damage to my knee than twisting it....to make a long story short and avoid elaborating on my experience with the could care less office staff at my physicians office, I finally had an MRI...diagnosis...torn miniscus...what a blow....so after another 7 days of waiting, I finally got in to see the specialist and he took exrays of my beautiful knees and found them riddled with arthritis....trying to avoid surgery, he suggested that we do the Syn-vest treatment...injecting this gluton thick like viscous solution made from Rooster and chicken combs into my knee...3 treatments in all...supposed to really help,( I did run the risk of crowing at dawn though).... so, after an injection of cortozone into the knee, I was to come back in 3 weeks and begin the treatment....HOWEVER, my knee had different plans...while going up the stairs, (very carefully) something gave out in my knee and I had PAIN...like never before...oh wait..!!!!...I did have that pain ..back in 2001 when I had my other knee scoped ...this was on a Sat. night, so I lasted thru Sunday, & Monday..(Memorial Day) thanks to drugs and using crutches the whole time...I got in to see the Dr. on Tues...after looking at the swollen knee, he decided that we would have to have surgery after all...so on the 8th, I will be in the OR. at S.W. Regional Center having the deed done on the knee...KNEEDLESS to say, I missed Nathan's graduation and may miss Joel's also if I don't behave and heal ...so for now, thanks to vicodin, I'm dealing with things...not looking forward to the surgery, but to the end of all this misery of not being able to walk...what a shame, I won't be able to play soccor, run any marathons, bike in any races, etc...too bad Annie, just stay off the knee for now....and get better, ...we have our PCCMMRetreat in July that You have to go to.....something to look forward to.....so you better behave yourself.....
Been busy down here in Mt. Morris...Grand daughter Liz asked Pappy if she could do some "potting" out in the barn and once we explained things further, he said ok and started to do some preliminary cleaning and pitching of junk out of the bottom of the barn....
Since I was a potter, a long while ago, I kept ALL my Stuff, hoping that one of the grandkids just may want to play in the mud sometime. I did offer to sell my stuff to a woman down in Fairmont, but didn't hear any response from her, so I just let sleeping dogs lie regarding selling the STUFF. Then along came Liz...some say she is a version of me, and I do see some resemblence at times, but she is her own person and right now she is definitely into the mud...
We continued to clean out the barn and got the pottery reasonably set up...looks pretty good...we have shelves that we brought in from out under the pine trees, Pap did some wiring and got us the proper plugs for the kilns...(we have 2)...we set up the wedgeing table with the plaster surface (to wedge the clay)..shoveled out tons of crap from the floor of the workroom, and I mean shoveled out tons, moved the clay bats onto a shelf within reach , washed off everything that had STUFF on it, found the shimpo potters wheel under a pile of STUFF, ..if I keep saying STUFF, it's because there was an accumulation of it everywhere.....as we plowed thru it, I found things that I thought were gone forever. ...tons of tools, pottery, drawings.....I'm not going to go into that for now, but anyway it was fun having the grand daughter really pumped up about mud. We found a box of clay..50# of it that was still soft and in working condition after laying on the bottom of things for about 30 years....yesssss, it's been that long since I had mud on my hands. Liz did some wedging and we were in business...she happily turned out some pretty neat mugs. One of her friends came down and they played a bit with the mud and so did Leah, who didn't seem to do too bad. Her pieces are still out there on the bats..they are dried by now, so she will have to work a little to trim them, but it can be done.
Liz and I went on a road trip to Standard Ceramics down in Carnegie and picked up more clay,
had breakfast at Pineras and lunch at a neat little restaurant in a building under "Before and More"...a shop that sells used clothing...had a great time there also...(got some Chicos) ....while we were at the ceramics store, we also picked up some neat glazes that we both are anxious to use. We had previously ordered a splash pan for the potters wheel, I worked all those years w/o one, and the woman that managed the store found one in the back that was probably as old as my wheel and she gave it to us to see if it would fit...IT FITS!!!! and works perfectly....so our heartfelt thanks go out to her...I sat down at the wheel on Wed. and played a bit...it was as though I had never left throwing pottery...we both had a lot of fun as I explained a few things to Liz...showed her how to make handles for her mugs, and a few of my techniques that just came flooding back to me as the wheel turned ...I always did like to play in the mud.....
more news....
about 7 or 8 weeks ago I was giving our small horse of a pup a bath and he decided he didn't want to get into the tub, and as I lifted his front legs to get him into the tub, he reared back and knocked me off balance and I twisted my right knee...DAMN!!!!..the pain almost knocked me over and when he saw I was kinda pissed with him, he jumped into the tub and I proceeded to bathe him...he does like the water and stood there while I soaped him down and rinsed him off, then he jumped out of the tub, dripping wet and shook...yeah...the bathroom was flooded as he stood still for a second while I toweled him off...he has lots of fur, so he was really dripping wet....anyway, he finally went out into the house and let me dry him further and then he laid down while I finally got to take care of the knee....I thought I had just pulled a muscle, and took some motrin for a couple of days, but it didn't get any better...not being a wuss, I just tried to ignore it for several weeks, Syd and I went to Artiscape and then to a workshop with Dayle Doroshow and thanks to Aleve, (no motrin )I plodded my way thru things...also I went to work down at the gallery in Morgantown during this time.....finally I realized the pain wasn't going away, only was getting worse, and so I made an appointment with my doctor...another 10 days went by and when I finally had my appointment, he thought I had done more damage to my knee than twisting it....to make a long story short and avoid elaborating on my experience with the could care less office staff at my physicians office, I finally had an MRI...diagnosis...torn miniscus...what a blow....so after another 7 days of waiting, I finally got in to see the specialist and he took exrays of my beautiful knees and found them riddled with arthritis....trying to avoid surgery, he suggested that we do the Syn-vest treatment...injecting this gluton thick like viscous solution made from Rooster and chicken combs into my knee...3 treatments in all...supposed to really help,( I did run the risk of crowing at dawn though).... so, after an injection of cortozone into the knee, I was to come back in 3 weeks and begin the treatment....HOWEVER, my knee had different plans...while going up the stairs, (very carefully) something gave out in my knee and I had PAIN...like never before...oh wait..!!!!...I did have that pain ..back in 2001 when I had my other knee scoped ...this was on a Sat. night, so I lasted thru Sunday, & Monday..(Memorial Day) thanks to drugs and using crutches the whole time...I got in to see the Dr. on Tues...after looking at the swollen knee, he decided that we would have to have surgery after all...so on the 8th, I will be in the OR. at S.W. Regional Center having the deed done on the knee...KNEEDLESS to say, I missed Nathan's graduation and may miss Joel's also if I don't behave and heal ...so for now, thanks to vicodin, I'm dealing with things...not looking forward to the surgery, but to the end of all this misery of not being able to walk...what a shame, I won't be able to play soccor, run any marathons, bike in any races, etc...too bad Annie, just stay off the knee for now....and get better, ...we have our PCCMMRetreat in July that You have to go to.....something to look forward to.....so you better behave yourself.....
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
MORE ON ARTISCAPE
Here I am , back again...now to continue my comments on ARTISCAPE..
.Saturday
My third class, MAKING A LEATHER JOURNAL.. was held at European Papers...A neat little shop owned by Lisa Ohmer..the retreat director. I really looked forward to this class and I wasn't dissapointed....
To start off with, she had very good handouts, very explicit...one could go home and make a journal if they had the supplies...and speaking of supplies, she had great leather for us to use and everything was cut and ready to assemble...she showed us how to lay out the leather to get the most and best pieces out of the hide, she had the pages ready and then explained the proper way to fold the different segments...she also had beads and waxed twine in attractive colors for us to use. I chose a tan leather journal cover and turquiose thread as the binding. The end result was a beautiful leather journal..I placed a couple of beads in the outside binding thread and cut a piece off one end of the folded journal and made a book mark out of it..I thought the inner cover was a bit long. I also followed one woman's actions and rounded off my corners...it really helped enhance the cover....
Now for the bad part...I didn't expect the class to be out of the hotel since it wasn't stated in the initial application. Also it was really uncomfortable in the classroom because we were all jammed in there like cattle..one couldn't get up to go to the bathroom if one had to. For anyone that has visited European papers, you know that the workroom is upstairs...which is neatly laid out, but the work area was too small to accomodate the number of people that were there..some were late and the class was delayed a bit. It was poorly lighted...we couldn't move our chairs without interrupting the person behind us..good thing I wasn't claustrophobic, or I would have had to leave...I was lucky that there were people at my worktable that knew what had to be done, because it was difficult for Lisa to get around to all of us....she did her best though, so I compliment her on that...another bad thing is that the store is not handicap accessible..unheard of in this day and age.....the stairs going up to the classroom are extremely steep and since I had a bad knee, it was most difficult for me to get up to the classroom..there was another woman who had the same problem, so we left as soon as we could in order to avoid the rush out of the building...I'm sure that there are handicapped people who would have loved to take this class..I saw one woman in a scooter type wheel chair.....the shuttle was used to get us there and back. the class was timed right , so we only had to wait 15 minutes for the transportation to get there. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give this class a 5, mostly due to it's location, and lack of informing people upon registration of this and the crampted quarters.
the next class I took that day was "FLORAL JOURNALS"...
It was held on the 11th floor if I remember correctly. Even though I am an accomplished watercolorist, I always like to learn new techniques from other painters. This woman was an accomplished calligrapher..her journals were spectacular and well made...turns out that she is or was an associate editor for lettering for Somerset Magazine. She encouraged us to look through them, which I did and she was most pleasant to work with. Her techniques seemed to be impressionistic, and her demos were very informative...she demoed each page that she was teaching and then we went back to our workstations and tried to do as we were instructed. She also had handouts for us with calligraphy suggestions. This lady really went all out for us, she had paper, and paint boxes for people to use..I brought my own sketchbook and paints, because I really wanted things to be easy for me to get to when I got home....she even made us each a hand made little sketch book to do our flower painting in...the cover was handmade paper and had dried botanicals imbeded into it and was really quite beautiful ...I brought it back and showed my watercolor students what we did..now they can hardly wait to do the same things...in a scale from 1 to 10, I would give this class a 10..loved it...
Saturday evening was the big dinner that a lot of people went to....Syd and I chose to not attend and we were really glad that we didn't ...We ordered in a Pizza from Donatos...the shop around the corner and it was delicious...I did the dinner last year and decided it just wasn't worth the extra charge this year. After we ate, we took our pepsies and went and sat in the lounge and waited for some friends to meet us after dinner...Seems like there were a bunch of disgruntled people that came out of the dining room...turns out that they ran out of food due to the fact that the retreat director failed to give the proper count of attendees for the meal and they ran out of some food....Hey...when you don't give a bunch of women dessert, you could have a big uprising on your hands...there was a lot of bitching about the food or lack of it...in fact the hotel manager heard a lot of complaining and came over to our group and told us to take the problem up with the retreat director since she didn't give him the proper count and there were more attendees than they had planned for. In fact when we were eating our pizza in the lobbly, we noticed and heard Lisa comment to the employees at the front desk that people only got 1/2 cup of soup and she paid $3500 for the dinner....we were really happy with our pizza that night and glad that we made the right decision.....service at the hotel went downhill from the start of the retreat....one would think that they would have bent over backward for all the attendees, opened the restaurant early , had breakfast at an early hour and lunch at the proper time, dinner to accomodate the classes and made everyone happy...We could only imagine how much revenue they lost due to this....we left the lounge around 11..I had an early class on Sunday.
Sunday morning...I got up early, Syd slept in and I went downstairs to find out what room my class would be held in...AGHHHHHH...I found out that it was held out of the hotel and that also was not noted upon registration..Damn....good thing I was early, but the shuttle had just left for the airport...lucky for me another driver was available to take us to the studio ???? where our class was to be held. The studio was in a bay at a discontinued garage. Wow..!!! it was at least on one floor....they had breakfast food for us, muffins and coffee and tea if we wanted it, also water and soft drinks for anyone that wanted them...unfortunately the damned place was really cold, and not too clean...there were only 6 students in this class , so there was plenty of space....the instructor was very knowledgeable and talented...sad part was that some people were late, and she took too much time talking about sketching and drawing, which I assume each person would know anyway. Unfortunately the flowers that we were promised to use for the class were purchased on Thursday and by Sunday they were kinda wimpy, so we had to go outside and raid the flower pots for live flowers to paint...needless to say, we didn't have enough time (2 1/2 hours) to complete a painting as was promised. the handouts that one would assume would have some directions or suggestions, consisted of a list of books by flowers painters that one could purchase. This class would have a lot of potential if it were held for a longer period of time. It could also have been held in the hotel for the convience of the attendees.
Sunday afternoon...syd and I had a class together.."Journaling With Wax"...We saw this teacher demoing downstairs the evening before and we were enthralled with her work and happy that we chose this class. What a teacher!!!!!..she was great..!!!..she had enough supplies for everyone was very informative, had enough equipment to work with, had plenty of handouts and materials to use in our pieces, but we could have used more workspace to create in...For the life of me, I couldn't understand how the pieces we made would fit in a journal but it turns out that this type of journaling was meant to be displayed on easles or perhaps hung on a wall...her work was exceptional and we really loved it and the class...she has a DVD out and I hope to buy it at some time in the near future...the class was timed perfectly and we had plenty of time to work and create...we invited this teacher to come to our retreat next year and are really looking forward to seeing her again.....
That evening we went out to dinner at Lindy's ..the food was perfect, the atmosphere was great and we were happy to be together one last time before we left for home... all in all , with good friends, we had a fine time and a safe trip home on Monday morning...My dog was really happy to see me....
.Saturday
My third class, MAKING A LEATHER JOURNAL.. was held at European Papers...A neat little shop owned by Lisa Ohmer..the retreat director. I really looked forward to this class and I wasn't dissapointed....
To start off with, she had very good handouts, very explicit...one could go home and make a journal if they had the supplies...and speaking of supplies, she had great leather for us to use and everything was cut and ready to assemble...she showed us how to lay out the leather to get the most and best pieces out of the hide, she had the pages ready and then explained the proper way to fold the different segments...she also had beads and waxed twine in attractive colors for us to use. I chose a tan leather journal cover and turquiose thread as the binding. The end result was a beautiful leather journal..I placed a couple of beads in the outside binding thread and cut a piece off one end of the folded journal and made a book mark out of it..I thought the inner cover was a bit long. I also followed one woman's actions and rounded off my corners...it really helped enhance the cover....
Now for the bad part...I didn't expect the class to be out of the hotel since it wasn't stated in the initial application. Also it was really uncomfortable in the classroom because we were all jammed in there like cattle..one couldn't get up to go to the bathroom if one had to. For anyone that has visited European papers, you know that the workroom is upstairs...which is neatly laid out, but the work area was too small to accomodate the number of people that were there..some were late and the class was delayed a bit. It was poorly lighted...we couldn't move our chairs without interrupting the person behind us..good thing I wasn't claustrophobic, or I would have had to leave...I was lucky that there were people at my worktable that knew what had to be done, because it was difficult for Lisa to get around to all of us....she did her best though, so I compliment her on that...another bad thing is that the store is not handicap accessible..unheard of in this day and age.....the stairs going up to the classroom are extremely steep and since I had a bad knee, it was most difficult for me to get up to the classroom..there was another woman who had the same problem, so we left as soon as we could in order to avoid the rush out of the building...I'm sure that there are handicapped people who would have loved to take this class..I saw one woman in a scooter type wheel chair.....the shuttle was used to get us there and back. the class was timed right , so we only had to wait 15 minutes for the transportation to get there. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give this class a 5, mostly due to it's location, and lack of informing people upon registration of this and the crampted quarters.
the next class I took that day was "FLORAL JOURNALS"...
It was held on the 11th floor if I remember correctly. Even though I am an accomplished watercolorist, I always like to learn new techniques from other painters. This woman was an accomplished calligrapher..her journals were spectacular and well made...turns out that she is or was an associate editor for lettering for Somerset Magazine. She encouraged us to look through them, which I did and she was most pleasant to work with. Her techniques seemed to be impressionistic, and her demos were very informative...she demoed each page that she was teaching and then we went back to our workstations and tried to do as we were instructed. She also had handouts for us with calligraphy suggestions. This lady really went all out for us, she had paper, and paint boxes for people to use..I brought my own sketchbook and paints, because I really wanted things to be easy for me to get to when I got home....she even made us each a hand made little sketch book to do our flower painting in...the cover was handmade paper and had dried botanicals imbeded into it and was really quite beautiful ...I brought it back and showed my watercolor students what we did..now they can hardly wait to do the same things...in a scale from 1 to 10, I would give this class a 10..loved it...
Saturday evening was the big dinner that a lot of people went to....Syd and I chose to not attend and we were really glad that we didn't ...We ordered in a Pizza from Donatos...the shop around the corner and it was delicious...I did the dinner last year and decided it just wasn't worth the extra charge this year. After we ate, we took our pepsies and went and sat in the lounge and waited for some friends to meet us after dinner...Seems like there were a bunch of disgruntled people that came out of the dining room...turns out that they ran out of food due to the fact that the retreat director failed to give the proper count of attendees for the meal and they ran out of some food....Hey...when you don't give a bunch of women dessert, you could have a big uprising on your hands...there was a lot of bitching about the food or lack of it...in fact the hotel manager heard a lot of complaining and came over to our group and told us to take the problem up with the retreat director since she didn't give him the proper count and there were more attendees than they had planned for. In fact when we were eating our pizza in the lobbly, we noticed and heard Lisa comment to the employees at the front desk that people only got 1/2 cup of soup and she paid $3500 for the dinner....we were really happy with our pizza that night and glad that we made the right decision.....service at the hotel went downhill from the start of the retreat....one would think that they would have bent over backward for all the attendees, opened the restaurant early , had breakfast at an early hour and lunch at the proper time, dinner to accomodate the classes and made everyone happy...We could only imagine how much revenue they lost due to this....we left the lounge around 11..I had an early class on Sunday.
Sunday morning...I got up early, Syd slept in and I went downstairs to find out what room my class would be held in...AGHHHHHH...I found out that it was held out of the hotel and that also was not noted upon registration..Damn....good thing I was early, but the shuttle had just left for the airport...lucky for me another driver was available to take us to the studio ???? where our class was to be held. The studio was in a bay at a discontinued garage. Wow..!!! it was at least on one floor....they had breakfast food for us, muffins and coffee and tea if we wanted it, also water and soft drinks for anyone that wanted them...unfortunately the damned place was really cold, and not too clean...there were only 6 students in this class , so there was plenty of space....the instructor was very knowledgeable and talented...sad part was that some people were late, and she took too much time talking about sketching and drawing, which I assume each person would know anyway. Unfortunately the flowers that we were promised to use for the class were purchased on Thursday and by Sunday they were kinda wimpy, so we had to go outside and raid the flower pots for live flowers to paint...needless to say, we didn't have enough time (2 1/2 hours) to complete a painting as was promised. the handouts that one would assume would have some directions or suggestions, consisted of a list of books by flowers painters that one could purchase. This class would have a lot of potential if it were held for a longer period of time. It could also have been held in the hotel for the convience of the attendees.
Sunday afternoon...syd and I had a class together.."Journaling With Wax"...We saw this teacher demoing downstairs the evening before and we were enthralled with her work and happy that we chose this class. What a teacher!!!!!..she was great..!!!..she had enough supplies for everyone was very informative, had enough equipment to work with, had plenty of handouts and materials to use in our pieces, but we could have used more workspace to create in...For the life of me, I couldn't understand how the pieces we made would fit in a journal but it turns out that this type of journaling was meant to be displayed on easles or perhaps hung on a wall...her work was exceptional and we really loved it and the class...she has a DVD out and I hope to buy it at some time in the near future...the class was timed perfectly and we had plenty of time to work and create...we invited this teacher to come to our retreat next year and are really looking forward to seeing her again.....
That evening we went out to dinner at Lindy's ..the food was perfect, the atmosphere was great and we were happy to be together one last time before we left for home... all in all , with good friends, we had a fine time and a safe trip home on Monday morning...My dog was really happy to see me....
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
AFTER ARTISCAPE...
It is now a week since we came home from ARTISCAPE...
We arrived early as we usually do, registered into the hotel, unpacked a few of our things, and then went downstairs to the restaurant to find that it didn't open until 5 PM. We should have remembered this from last year, but we were optomistically thinking that since there were things buzzing with the retreat, that things would change. Not so....we were lucky that we stopped on the way and had a bite to eat, so that held us until 5.....since we had a class at 6, we ordered salads and talked with a new friend that came in from Denver. We also noted that at the table next to us Pat Osbourne, the teacher that was teaching the class was also ordering her Dinner, so we felt that we would leave when she did...
The class was terrific...Pat was well prepared, had lots of supplies, had a great and explicit handout, and timed each segment down to the minute...I haven't completed my pages yet, but the basic book and box that holds it was completed in class....it ended up a beautiful piece of Art....I will try to complete it in the next week or so and post it on this blog. I have lots of photos from our trip to Italy to put into this book.
After the class, we went to the lounge and met some more friends, talked, had a drink and were in bed before eleven...
The next day I had the morning off and in the afternoon, Syd and I had a class together...it was Collage With Moxie....the teacher was a good one except that she loaded us up with too much information ...I'm guessing that she wanted to inform us of this technique and give us as much information as possible...she also had a handout that was very easy to understand and very informative...she seemed annoyed that myself and a few others took pictures of her demos, but I felt that it was the easiest way to remember things...she seemed very guarded about some aspects of her work and didn't seem to want to give out any secrets, not that she really had to. As I worked with the waxed colors and did some encaustic works on the paper she provided, I thought it was a lot of fun and the results were also unique...the only part that confused me was the fact that we then used the small iron that she provided and did what she called a mono-print onto newsprint....I wish I had brought some acid free watercolor paper to use instead...perhaps 90#....I was looking for the things that I created in this class and for some reason or other, they must have gotten lost in the shuffel...can't find them, so I will have to look some more...maybe someone picked them up by mistake...she then led us into another segment of her presentation and I was totally lost...I have a lot of trouble doing collage, but I tried and after the second one, she complimented me and said I had a breakthru...beats the hell out of me , since I really didn't understand what I did and can't find myself doing very much in the way of collage, but I thought I would try it, and for the most part, I enjoyed the class.....I noticed that some people must have thought they were on overload , because they left the class early mumbling and confused. Myself, I did learn a few new things and that made it worthwhile for me....I love to learn new techniques and want to do it all.
That evening we went to Max and Erma's for dinner...great food...the shuttle took us and picked us up...very convienent. We came back and met up with some friends in the lounge again...it was a relaxing evening.
I will write more about our classes tomorrow...some were great and some were just ok....I am teaching a watercolor class this evening and have to gather all my things...we will be painting some tulips and bleeding hearts from my garden and I'm hoping my students all made their color charts so that we can paint tonight....
.STAY TUNED FOR MORE NOTES FROM THE LILY POND...
We arrived early as we usually do, registered into the hotel, unpacked a few of our things, and then went downstairs to the restaurant to find that it didn't open until 5 PM. We should have remembered this from last year, but we were optomistically thinking that since there were things buzzing with the retreat, that things would change. Not so....we were lucky that we stopped on the way and had a bite to eat, so that held us until 5.....since we had a class at 6, we ordered salads and talked with a new friend that came in from Denver. We also noted that at the table next to us Pat Osbourne, the teacher that was teaching the class was also ordering her Dinner, so we felt that we would leave when she did...
The class was terrific...Pat was well prepared, had lots of supplies, had a great and explicit handout, and timed each segment down to the minute...I haven't completed my pages yet, but the basic book and box that holds it was completed in class....it ended up a beautiful piece of Art....I will try to complete it in the next week or so and post it on this blog. I have lots of photos from our trip to Italy to put into this book.
After the class, we went to the lounge and met some more friends, talked, had a drink and were in bed before eleven...
The next day I had the morning off and in the afternoon, Syd and I had a class together...it was Collage With Moxie....the teacher was a good one except that she loaded us up with too much information ...I'm guessing that she wanted to inform us of this technique and give us as much information as possible...she also had a handout that was very easy to understand and very informative...she seemed annoyed that myself and a few others took pictures of her demos, but I felt that it was the easiest way to remember things...she seemed very guarded about some aspects of her work and didn't seem to want to give out any secrets, not that she really had to. As I worked with the waxed colors and did some encaustic works on the paper she provided, I thought it was a lot of fun and the results were also unique...the only part that confused me was the fact that we then used the small iron that she provided and did what she called a mono-print onto newsprint....I wish I had brought some acid free watercolor paper to use instead...perhaps 90#....I was looking for the things that I created in this class and for some reason or other, they must have gotten lost in the shuffel...can't find them, so I will have to look some more...maybe someone picked them up by mistake...she then led us into another segment of her presentation and I was totally lost...I have a lot of trouble doing collage, but I tried and after the second one, she complimented me and said I had a breakthru...beats the hell out of me , since I really didn't understand what I did and can't find myself doing very much in the way of collage, but I thought I would try it, and for the most part, I enjoyed the class.....I noticed that some people must have thought they were on overload , because they left the class early mumbling and confused. Myself, I did learn a few new things and that made it worthwhile for me....I love to learn new techniques and want to do it all.
That evening we went to Max and Erma's for dinner...great food...the shuttle took us and picked us up...very convienent. We came back and met up with some friends in the lounge again...it was a relaxing evening.
I will write more about our classes tomorrow...some were great and some were just ok....I am teaching a watercolor class this evening and have to gather all my things...we will be painting some tulips and bleeding hearts from my garden and I'm hoping my students all made their color charts so that we can paint tonight....
.STAY TUNED FOR MORE NOTES FROM THE LILY POND...
Sunday, April 11, 2010
MORE FROM THE LILY POND
BACK AGAIN...I've been busy today doing all these posts and trying to catch up on my writing....earlier today I coaxed my big dog Moe into my van for the second time...the first time was when we brought him home from the animal shelter 9 months ago and he puked all over the place....He had his bath yesterday and I administered some flea and tick meds to his back at the shoulders and at this tail as the directions advised...the ticks are really bad out here in the country....I picked 7 off him in the last 2 days.......for the most part, he likes his bath, it's trying to get him in the tub that is hardest of all...once he is in there and the warm water sprays all over him, he loves it....
He loves to go down to the pond and get a drink and just jumps in at the muddiest places and thinks nothing of trying to get into the house with the mud all over his legs and belly....
anyway to get back to the ride...he hesitated getting into the back, but with a little coaxing, he finally decided to jump in...as I closed the back gate of the van, he looked like he was going to bolt as soon as I opened the driver's side door, but I talked nice to him and he came up to me for a scratch on the head and a pat on his back...as I backed the van out of the parking place, he came up under my arm and I had to soothe him some more by telling him what a nice dog he was...finally as I got to the main road, he squirmed up into the passenger seat and decided that was where he belonged....as he looked out of the window that I lowered a bit, I could see how excited he was to know that he was moving and didn't have to work at it. I'm imagining him with his head out of the window and goggles on his face and the wind blowing his big ears back...he may also need a scarf to go along with the goggles..... He drooled all over the seat and I had to stop and clean things up a bit, but he loved that seat...as we went down the road, he decided to go to the back of the van and watch things go by from the back window, then he decided to come back up to the front...I took him on a short ride for about 20 minutes,didn't want to stress him out any more, talking to him all the time and he seemed to enjoy the excursion....he was also really glad to get home and out of the van.....as soon as I opened the back gate, he headed for the house and looked back to see if I was following him....after a while, he came back to me just to see what I was doing....
After I moved some things out to the barn, I decided to try to get him to get into the van again, but no dice...he took off, hell bent for election and went to the door on the porch side of the house...He is really a gentle dog, and I hated to try to get him to come back into the van, but I figured I should do it again and see if indeed he would get up into the back on his own again...so I put the leash on him and he walked nicely and calmly out to the van again...as I opened the gate, he sat down and just looked at me as if to say " what ????are we going to do this all over again...damn"!!!!.. I scratched his ears and talked nice to him, coaxed him a little and low and behold he just jumped up into the van and sat down as though he owned the place...I had him jump out and then jump back in and he did it with enthusiasm as though to say..."ON THE ROAD AGAIN"..his next trip will be to the vet's for his second round of shots.....good dog, good dog....
He loves to go down to the pond and get a drink and just jumps in at the muddiest places and thinks nothing of trying to get into the house with the mud all over his legs and belly....
anyway to get back to the ride...he hesitated getting into the back, but with a little coaxing, he finally decided to jump in...as I closed the back gate of the van, he looked like he was going to bolt as soon as I opened the driver's side door, but I talked nice to him and he came up to me for a scratch on the head and a pat on his back...as I backed the van out of the parking place, he came up under my arm and I had to soothe him some more by telling him what a nice dog he was...finally as I got to the main road, he squirmed up into the passenger seat and decided that was where he belonged....as he looked out of the window that I lowered a bit, I could see how excited he was to know that he was moving and didn't have to work at it. I'm imagining him with his head out of the window and goggles on his face and the wind blowing his big ears back...he may also need a scarf to go along with the goggles..... He drooled all over the seat and I had to stop and clean things up a bit, but he loved that seat...as we went down the road, he decided to go to the back of the van and watch things go by from the back window, then he decided to come back up to the front...I took him on a short ride for about 20 minutes,didn't want to stress him out any more, talking to him all the time and he seemed to enjoy the excursion....he was also really glad to get home and out of the van.....as soon as I opened the back gate, he headed for the house and looked back to see if I was following him....after a while, he came back to me just to see what I was doing....
After I moved some things out to the barn, I decided to try to get him to get into the van again, but no dice...he took off, hell bent for election and went to the door on the porch side of the house...He is really a gentle dog, and I hated to try to get him to come back into the van, but I figured I should do it again and see if indeed he would get up into the back on his own again...so I put the leash on him and he walked nicely and calmly out to the van again...as I opened the gate, he sat down and just looked at me as if to say " what ????are we going to do this all over again...damn"!!!!.. I scratched his ears and talked nice to him, coaxed him a little and low and behold he just jumped up into the van and sat down as though he owned the place...I had him jump out and then jump back in and he did it with enthusiasm as though to say..."ON THE ROAD AGAIN"..his next trip will be to the vet's for his second round of shots.....good dog, good dog....
HERE IS MORE TODAY.....
Hi again..I figured since I'm sitting down at the computer, I may as well write some more...I did some rings that I fired in my new kiln..along with some charms that I made for my charm bracelet...I gave one to my Daughter for her birthday, and one will be going to the CHARMS FOR CHARITY project that our Pittsburgh Guild will be donating to , I believe we will be making a whole bracelet with a charm from each one of our members that wish to donate. There will be a PMC convention ..(that I will sadly miss) in July, held at Purdue University in Indiana, tickets will be sold and there may be as many as 30 or more bracelets that will be given as prizes....one need not be present to win, so I intend to get me some tickets and take my chances on winning one of the charm bracelets that will be given away. Unfortunately some of the photos are blurry...I purchased a photography unit that was supposed to help with my photography...I'm thinking it's not the camera, it's me..for the most part, some photos come out great but some really should be deleted...ahhhh, I'll just post what I can and try to do my best to show some of my work....now if only the camera will cooperate...........!!!!
BACK AGAIN.... IT'S BEEN AWHILE
Here I am , back again...I know, I know,...it's been a while, but sometimes crap happens...
In the meantime, let me tell you about my new kiln...
My art sale commissions were high enough this Christmas to enable me to purchase my new SC3 kiln...what a nice piece of equipment it is.... now I can create pieces larger than almost a 50 cent size and make rings that will be fully sintered and will be able to sustain constant wear...
Here is a picture of my new toy..it is large enough on the inside to place a couple of shelves and tons of pieces of finished work...now we can sinter the silver clay for 2 hours as it is recommended and if we want, we can still also use the torch in my silver clay classes...I have one coming up on the 24th of April. It is basically for beginners, but I also get repeat students that want to refresh their techniques all over again...this kiln will be going with me to the POLYMER CLAY COLLABORATIVE AND MULTI MEDIA RETREAT IN JULY...We are really looking forward to this year's retreat. As one of the coordinators, I can tell you that we have some terrific classes on our roster. I am teaching a PMC silver workshop for beginners where we will be making earrings, or a pendant or 2 ..I also show my students how to make earring findings from fine silver wire..no more buying earring findings for me . I also am having a class where we will be making a pinkie ring and perhaps inserting a stone in the clay...they both are fun classes and easy to accomplish. I will also be teaching a basic paper marbling class..the papers that we will create can be used in any bookmaking project that people may be doing....last year the books that were made were beautiful and were a wonderful keepsake to take home from the retreat.
Here is the web site addy ..
http://www.pccmmretreat.com... ....check out the pictures from last year....
If anyone is interested in finding a great retreat on the east coast..it is close to Wash. DC and easy to get to..and also very reasonable...EVERYTHING except the very reasonable classes is included in the price. It's a real bargain..!!!!
our yahoo group is Http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pccmmretreat
We have people coming from Finland and Sweden, from the west coast and also up north in Vermont and down south in S. Carolina... our teachers are Marie Segal, Meredith Arnold, Meta Strick, Debbie Jackson, Ellen Marshall and myself. Last year was our first year and it was a rumbling success....lots of fun, laughs, and great food. All for one price. We will also be doing a ton of demos every evening. There will be lots to do and see in this little college and artist's village of Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
Check it out...hope we see you there...
Friday, March 5, 2010
A BAD WEEK....
Today is Friday...March 5th...the sun is shining and its about 39 degrees...we still have a snow pack of about 6 or 7 inches outside. Yesterday I went down behind the barn to check on my beautiful bees. Yes...I'm also an amateur beekeeper...It was quite a hike in the snow. I trekked down the hill to the barn and finally got to the hives.....I knocked on the sides of the supers and put my ear to the walls and they were quiet...not a sound or a buzz met my knock. I had prepared some pollen and honey patties to feed the ladies, because I was hoping to have them meet me at the top of the hive. When I opened it, I found that any precious feedings that I had given them to get them over the winter were all gone, the upper super had drawn out comb in it, but no capped honey, bees or larva...bad sign....I quickly looked down into the frames as best as I could, and didn't hear a peep or a buzz....since it was only 39 degrees, I quickly placed the patties into the hive and went on to my second hive....the same thing happened...there was still a little food left in this hive , but I didn't hear anything or see any movement. I pulled out a frame of drawn comb and saw that a mouse had been nibbling on it...ate a hole right in the middle of the frame, so I checked a little further and found nothing but empty comb...in this hive I couldn't see to the bottom either...I saw no dead bees outside of either hive, so I am hoping that they moved down to the bottom super to stay warm and maybe they were still sleeping. I called my good friend Tom Kees prior to going down there, talked about getting a hive from him and he told me that he had his doubts about his hives. It was a bad summer for bees last year and he had concerns about his girls making it over the winter. He lives down in Fairmont and anytime I need advice, I call him...
I started beekeeping about 5 or 6 years ago..everything went fine until I had a bear visit the hives ..it tore them apart, ate all the honey and any brood that was present..parts of the supers and frames were everywhere along with it's huge paw prints in the mud and teeth marks on the boxes. At that time I had 3 hives. I was crushed and really pissed that a bear had the nerve to attack my hives ...we really don't live far into the booneys, but there is wilderness all around us and the homes are far apart so we do have some critters that visit now and then. Fox, lots of deer, stray dogs, cats and of course lots of ground hogs and numerous other wild life. As I surveyed the damage, I noticed that there was a buzzing sound coming from under one of the huge blocks that the bear had strewn around the bee yard. I looked closer and found a small cluster of honey bees clinging to the under side of the block in a small hole that was in the ground. I ran to get another super and some frames with new foundation and set up another brood super, then I quickly got my bee brush and using my bare hands, I scooped up the bees that were on the cement block and gently put them into the new hive...then I scooped up more bees and a few more bees and was satisfied that I had retrieved the queen since they were all together.. they flew around my head as if to say thanks mistress for saving us and getting here before the damned bear came back to finish us off. I contemplated driving our little chevy S10 down there and sleeping with a rifle across my legs..ready for action in case the critter came back, but thought he could sneak up, quietly eat the rest of my bees and be on his way...instead, we put a couple of huge cemet blocks on top of the hive and I prayed that they would be good for the night....after a sleepless night, the next morning I went down there again and they were as I left them.
I called the game warden in Green County..he came around a few days later and comfirmed that indeed it was a bear...probably one that the mother had banished from her den and he was no doubt on the move looking for his own territory. I was advised to get a balloon and fill it with ammonia and smear bacon grease on it and hammer it into the tree that the hives are under...if he decided to come back that may intice him more than the few bees that were left....when he would lick the bacon off the balloon, it would probably break and he would be get the contents in his mouth and it just may cause him to run off and leave things alone.....since a few days went by and he didn't return, I felt that perhaps he had eaten his fill and moved on to other parts, so I didn't do the bacon, ammonia and ballon thing.
The bees seemed happy all summer , coming and going and doing their thing..Syd and I left for our long anticipated trip to Italy in September..had a great time, came home and a few days after we got home, I went back down to visit the hive....I WAS SHOCKED ...there was not a bee to be seen, there was no honey or brood in the hive..everything was quiet...no one was home...I took the hive apart, found no trace of bees, or honey, no evidence that there were bees in the hive except for drawn comb. they had disappeared...I called Tom....we thought they had swarmed or perhaps became victims of CCD......all winter I hunted for more info on the internet, joined the organic bee yahoo group and followed any advice that was given by the pros on that group. Last Spring, I bought 2 packages of bees, placed them in the new hives and all summer I hoped for the best...it was not a good summer for the bees and I had to continuously feed them in order to try to get them started...they were southern bees...brought up from Georgia...as I read more and more on the organic yahoo group, I worried more and more that they just may not make it over the winter. Seems that my worries were valid...this past winter was a hard one and from what I can see they didn't survive the horrendous sub zero temps we had. I will go down there again next week..it's supposed to get into the 40's so maybe I will be surprised...if any of them made it, it will be something more to write about...in the meantime, I have my order in for 2 more packages of honey bees...the queen is supposed to be a buckfast Italian...one that is bred to survive some cold winters..maybe we may get honey this year after all.........
I started beekeeping about 5 or 6 years ago..everything went fine until I had a bear visit the hives ..it tore them apart, ate all the honey and any brood that was present..parts of the supers and frames were everywhere along with it's huge paw prints in the mud and teeth marks on the boxes. At that time I had 3 hives. I was crushed and really pissed that a bear had the nerve to attack my hives ...we really don't live far into the booneys, but there is wilderness all around us and the homes are far apart so we do have some critters that visit now and then. Fox, lots of deer, stray dogs, cats and of course lots of ground hogs and numerous other wild life. As I surveyed the damage, I noticed that there was a buzzing sound coming from under one of the huge blocks that the bear had strewn around the bee yard. I looked closer and found a small cluster of honey bees clinging to the under side of the block in a small hole that was in the ground. I ran to get another super and some frames with new foundation and set up another brood super, then I quickly got my bee brush and using my bare hands, I scooped up the bees that were on the cement block and gently put them into the new hive...then I scooped up more bees and a few more bees and was satisfied that I had retrieved the queen since they were all together.. they flew around my head as if to say thanks mistress for saving us and getting here before the damned bear came back to finish us off. I contemplated driving our little chevy S10 down there and sleeping with a rifle across my legs..ready for action in case the critter came back, but thought he could sneak up, quietly eat the rest of my bees and be on his way...instead, we put a couple of huge cemet blocks on top of the hive and I prayed that they would be good for the night....after a sleepless night, the next morning I went down there again and they were as I left them.
I called the game warden in Green County..he came around a few days later and comfirmed that indeed it was a bear...probably one that the mother had banished from her den and he was no doubt on the move looking for his own territory. I was advised to get a balloon and fill it with ammonia and smear bacon grease on it and hammer it into the tree that the hives are under...if he decided to come back that may intice him more than the few bees that were left....when he would lick the bacon off the balloon, it would probably break and he would be get the contents in his mouth and it just may cause him to run off and leave things alone.....since a few days went by and he didn't return, I felt that perhaps he had eaten his fill and moved on to other parts, so I didn't do the bacon, ammonia and ballon thing.
The bees seemed happy all summer , coming and going and doing their thing..Syd and I left for our long anticipated trip to Italy in September..had a great time, came home and a few days after we got home, I went back down to visit the hive....I WAS SHOCKED ...there was not a bee to be seen, there was no honey or brood in the hive..everything was quiet...no one was home...I took the hive apart, found no trace of bees, or honey, no evidence that there were bees in the hive except for drawn comb. they had disappeared...I called Tom....we thought they had swarmed or perhaps became victims of CCD......all winter I hunted for more info on the internet, joined the organic bee yahoo group and followed any advice that was given by the pros on that group. Last Spring, I bought 2 packages of bees, placed them in the new hives and all summer I hoped for the best...it was not a good summer for the bees and I had to continuously feed them in order to try to get them started...they were southern bees...brought up from Georgia...as I read more and more on the organic yahoo group, I worried more and more that they just may not make it over the winter. Seems that my worries were valid...this past winter was a hard one and from what I can see they didn't survive the horrendous sub zero temps we had. I will go down there again next week..it's supposed to get into the 40's so maybe I will be surprised...if any of them made it, it will be something more to write about...in the meantime, I have my order in for 2 more packages of honey bees...the queen is supposed to be a buckfast Italian...one that is bred to survive some cold winters..maybe we may get honey this year after all.........
Monday, February 22, 2010
This is a photo of a charm bracelet that I'm still working on. I traded with a few people in my certification class when I went to the PMC convention at Purdue University over a year ago. The bracelet is sterling silver and I must confess that there are a few sterling silver charms that I picked up when Syd and I went to Italy. Most of the charms are fine silver.
A WET MONDAY
It sure was a dreary day today...Glad I got called to work at the Gallery in Morgantown..that job saves my sanity...today was the second day back this month...
This past weekend my muse directed me to do a little clay work, so I got out the cernit clay and played making hands and feet and arms and legs... I do this occasionally just to keep my skills current...I just love doing the hands..(a la Mo Carlson...thanks Mo....she taught a really simple technique at CFCF the first year Syd and I went)......one can make them as expressive or as thick and old as one wants...I love twisting the feet and toes ...I feel like I'm tickeling them as I make them..I can hear them gigling in my head and I just go further and further twisting and rubbing and turning...hummmmmmmm...guess I should stop that for now...my muse just loves it when I get zoned out with the clay...then I usually will do a head or 2....I can spend the whole afternoon and most of the night out there playing around...maybe have a glass of wine or two...
I just started using the Cernit clay that I got from Marie Segal at our retreat last June....I just love the stuff...it is so easy to condition and when I start manipulating it into figures, hands and feet, legs and arms, it just seems to do what I want it to do with no effort at all. When it is cured, I can antique it and then use a terry cloth towel on it and it rubs out to a soft glow...the light flesh color is what I use...if I can get the photos to post, I put them up as soon as I can. I plan to use them on some dolls that are hanging out in my head just waiting to come to life thru my hands...
I am waiting for my new silver kiln to get here...supposed to arrive on Thursday...I am also a PMC certified artisan and I'm having a workshop the end of April, so I'm working on some silver charms and other pieces of jewelry. I love doing the silver..imagine taking a lump of silver clay and turning it into a beautiful pendant or a pair of earrings or some charms...everyone that has taken the workshops just love the process. Last year I had a stamp made out of a design that I doodled...yes, doodled..it has a number of different sections that I can combine and the results are unusual and one of a kind...I hate doing production work..had enough of that when I was a potter...making dozens of mugs is very boring. I did enjoy the process though...now my granddaughter is in college and has visions of becoming a potter...she will have all the equipment since I still have the kilns and potter's wheel out in the barn..all she has to do is get pappy to set the basement of the barn up for her....that is going to take some coaxing.
We may have some more snow this week, lets hope it's just flurries..everything is getting black and kind of dirty looking out there now, especially along the roads. We still have a lot of snow, one of our front gutters has fallen away due to the ice accumulation...."OH SPRING WHERE ART THOU.".!!!...just think, she should be here in 27 days....
more later...stay tuned for some photos..that is if I can remember how to load them ......
This past weekend my muse directed me to do a little clay work, so I got out the cernit clay and played making hands and feet and arms and legs... I do this occasionally just to keep my skills current...I just love doing the hands..(a la Mo Carlson...thanks Mo....she taught a really simple technique at CFCF the first year Syd and I went)......one can make them as expressive or as thick and old as one wants...I love twisting the feet and toes ...I feel like I'm tickeling them as I make them..I can hear them gigling in my head and I just go further and further twisting and rubbing and turning...hummmmmmmm...guess I should stop that for now...my muse just loves it when I get zoned out with the clay...then I usually will do a head or 2....I can spend the whole afternoon and most of the night out there playing around...maybe have a glass of wine or two...
I just started using the Cernit clay that I got from Marie Segal at our retreat last June....I just love the stuff...it is so easy to condition and when I start manipulating it into figures, hands and feet, legs and arms, it just seems to do what I want it to do with no effort at all. When it is cured, I can antique it and then use a terry cloth towel on it and it rubs out to a soft glow...the light flesh color is what I use...if I can get the photos to post, I put them up as soon as I can. I plan to use them on some dolls that are hanging out in my head just waiting to come to life thru my hands...
I am waiting for my new silver kiln to get here...supposed to arrive on Thursday...I am also a PMC certified artisan and I'm having a workshop the end of April, so I'm working on some silver charms and other pieces of jewelry. I love doing the silver..imagine taking a lump of silver clay and turning it into a beautiful pendant or a pair of earrings or some charms...everyone that has taken the workshops just love the process. Last year I had a stamp made out of a design that I doodled...yes, doodled..it has a number of different sections that I can combine and the results are unusual and one of a kind...I hate doing production work..had enough of that when I was a potter...making dozens of mugs is very boring. I did enjoy the process though...now my granddaughter is in college and has visions of becoming a potter...she will have all the equipment since I still have the kilns and potter's wheel out in the barn..all she has to do is get pappy to set the basement of the barn up for her....that is going to take some coaxing.
We may have some more snow this week, lets hope it's just flurries..everything is getting black and kind of dirty looking out there now, especially along the roads. We still have a lot of snow, one of our front gutters has fallen away due to the ice accumulation...."OH SPRING WHERE ART THOU.".!!!...just think, she should be here in 27 days....
more later...stay tuned for some photos..that is if I can remember how to load them ......
Monday, February 15, 2010
NOW FOR SOME SNOW PICTURES
This is the view of our back yard when we woke up on Sat. morningthe first picture is of the pond
MORE OF THE FISH STORY
ohhhhhhhhhhhh... check out those hot lips, the dorsal fin and the georgous eyes..also notice the wine glass..yepper, it's empty....now for the story of 'WON FON FISCH.'I've decided that we will call her she....
W.F.F. lives in the outer waters of Decker's Creek...she hangs out along the mossy banks and keeps her eyes and gills pealed for other unworthy kritters who try to call the creek their home. Her tale began with her humble beginnings in Anne's mind and resemble some of the fish that swim in the Lily Pond. She escaped a horrific fate by jumping off the hook of Anne's grandson Aaron's hook one day last summer while he and a friend were fishing. scared her to death..!!!...She almost became know as Filet-O..( you know Mc Donald's filet o'fish) and could have very easily ended up roasting on the end of a stick over a bonfire. She somehow found her way from Dunkard Creek down to Deckers creek via the Mon River ..quite a trip for a polymer fish...This is where she met the Friends of Decker's Creek and may someday become famous. More on her later.......
ok...this is the beginning of my new fish ..it's name is "WON FON FISCH"....I started with an aluminum foil base, poke a hole in it and added the hanger...covered it with masking tape and proceeded to add the polymer clay, poked in the glass eyes and then got out my cane assortment and started to cover it randomly....notice the wine glass....1/2 full....NO PHOTOS YET....
Hey out there...I've been trying to post photos for the past 2 hours and for some reason, I'm not being successful...so I guess I'll just write a few words...
When I made my first post, I mentioned making fish out of polymer clay ( inspired by someone on the internet)...well. I made a couple, gave one away as a birthday gift and then made another one that I will be donating to an organization called FRIENDS OF DECKER'S CREEK... the owner of the gallery where I work called me yesterday and said that someone representing the organization came in and was asking for a donation to their cause...(Penelynn contributed last year)I think they are having an auction or something, ...so...I said sure..I had one that I had finished...it's name is "ONE FON FISCH" and he lives somewhere along the creek banks... no one really knows for sure...he has been swimming in my head for a while now and finally he is for real....I had a bank of photos showing his creation that I was trying to post and on the table I noticed the glass of wine I was drinking ...as his creation took place the glass of wine slowly dissapeared....more on that later....for now, he is finished and some time this week, I'll take him to Morgantown to meet everyone....He just may make the pages of the newspaper..who knows...
I've also been doing some pretty little heart earrings of polymer clay and sometime this week, I'll get started making more fine silver earrings,...the hearts were for "V" day, but I just didn't get down there in time to get them in the gallery...the snow has really messed things up for everyone around here...there has been no school in Central Greene Co. for the past week..I guess some people still don't had their power on ...I'm betting the kids are getting tired of this also...can't get out to see their friends...not tv, no internet....AGHHHHHH..!!..
One thing for sure is that our dog MOE just loves the snow...have photos of him also ...damn, I wish I knew more about how to post photos....it's snowing again out there...we are supposed to get 3-6 inches on top of what is already on the ground...this winter reminds me of past winters when I was a kid...we just prayed for snow and had lots of fun sled riding on some of the steep hills around where I grew up...everyone walked to school since it was close ..didn't have school buses back in those days..everyone had coal furnaces, and I can't remember the power being off during the heavy snows...it probaly was, but by the time we got in the house from playing in the snow, we were so tired we just flopped down on the rug and fell asleep.....I remember the smell of baking bread and soup simmering on the gas stove at home and putting our snow clothes over chairs near the floor heaters to dry....my grandmother had a wood stove..none of those new fangled contraptions for her...she always had the coffee pot warming on the back of the stove and I remember her making me coffee loaded with milk and sugar(it looked like caramel milk) when I went to visit her...we always had jelly bread also...homemade of course.... I'm going to have to seach my memories , do some sketches and come up with a watercolor of the good old days....have a few photos of the good old days and the snows back then....
I love to paint from old photos...putting color to the sepia toned photos and making them come to life in my mind is great for my muse...she just loves it when I paint, or do anything creative
...time just flys by ...
I have lots more to write, but I really don't want to bore anyone...will be back soon, so come back often...maybe I'll have the photos up by then...
When I made my first post, I mentioned making fish out of polymer clay ( inspired by someone on the internet)...well. I made a couple, gave one away as a birthday gift and then made another one that I will be donating to an organization called FRIENDS OF DECKER'S CREEK... the owner of the gallery where I work called me yesterday and said that someone representing the organization came in and was asking for a donation to their cause...(Penelynn contributed last year)I think they are having an auction or something, ...so...I said sure..I had one that I had finished...it's name is "ONE FON FISCH" and he lives somewhere along the creek banks... no one really knows for sure...he has been swimming in my head for a while now and finally he is for real....I had a bank of photos showing his creation that I was trying to post and on the table I noticed the glass of wine I was drinking ...as his creation took place the glass of wine slowly dissapeared....more on that later....for now, he is finished and some time this week, I'll take him to Morgantown to meet everyone....He just may make the pages of the newspaper..who knows...
I've also been doing some pretty little heart earrings of polymer clay and sometime this week, I'll get started making more fine silver earrings,...the hearts were for "V" day, but I just didn't get down there in time to get them in the gallery...the snow has really messed things up for everyone around here...there has been no school in Central Greene Co. for the past week..I guess some people still don't had their power on ...I'm betting the kids are getting tired of this also...can't get out to see their friends...not tv, no internet....AGHHHHHH..!!..
One thing for sure is that our dog MOE just loves the snow...have photos of him also ...damn, I wish I knew more about how to post photos....it's snowing again out there...we are supposed to get 3-6 inches on top of what is already on the ground...this winter reminds me of past winters when I was a kid...we just prayed for snow and had lots of fun sled riding on some of the steep hills around where I grew up...everyone walked to school since it was close ..didn't have school buses back in those days..everyone had coal furnaces, and I can't remember the power being off during the heavy snows...it probaly was, but by the time we got in the house from playing in the snow, we were so tired we just flopped down on the rug and fell asleep.....I remember the smell of baking bread and soup simmering on the gas stove at home and putting our snow clothes over chairs near the floor heaters to dry....my grandmother had a wood stove..none of those new fangled contraptions for her...she always had the coffee pot warming on the back of the stove and I remember her making me coffee loaded with milk and sugar(it looked like caramel milk) when I went to visit her...we always had jelly bread also...homemade of course.... I'm going to have to seach my memories , do some sketches and come up with a watercolor of the good old days....have a few photos of the good old days and the snows back then....
I love to paint from old photos...putting color to the sepia toned photos and making them come to life in my mind is great for my muse...she just loves it when I paint, or do anything creative
...time just flys by ...
I have lots more to write, but I really don't want to bore anyone...will be back soon, so come back often...maybe I'll have the photos up by then...
Monday, February 8, 2010
THE BIG SNOW
Hello again from Mt morris...
yes the snow fell ...wet, heavy and deep...we finally lost our power around 2 am on Saturday morning after a few brief outages..was going to post on Saturday morning, but we had no electricity...we did have our gas and water , so we were fairly comfortable...we got about 24 inches of snow on top of the 4 or 5 that had melted earlier and in between snowfalls, we were blessed with some freezing rain...woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful landscape of snow covered pine trees, (will post photos soon) downed limbs from the maples and a pond that is completely iced over and covered in snow. I'm really glad we were prepared with plenty of food, spirits, and toilet tissue...
our dog really loves the snow...he jumps and dives in it like a little kid ...he caught a mouse and played with it as it ran on top of the snow and finally got away from him...he thinks anything that moves is something to play with..on Saturday night, husband let him out to do his business and as he ran off the porch, he ran smack into a large deer that decided that he was going to come onto the porch and see if there was anything there it could eat...scared him so bad that he screamed...(imagine a dog screaming??)...and he almost knocked Henry off his feet as he tore around the hot tub trying to get back into the house...he did go back out, and then barreled back into the house to safety...big bad watch dog....I guess for 7 months, he is doing pretty well...I'll be really glad when his big boy teeth finally come in...he is chewing anything from the rugs to the rails on my chairs...loves my socks and my shoes (will have to buy more) and has devoured almost all his rag doll toys...he has a squeaker toy the he loves...we play catch with it and he is getting his eye- paw coordination together...he likes to play catch and for the most part is catching things that I toss up into the air...the other day he caught a piece of apple that I pitched to him..surprise, surprise.. he shocked himself that it was something he could eat....our other dog Freeland was an expert at catching food thrown to him...soooo...hopefully we will get thru the chewy puppy stage and get to the big boy refined, well behaved stage soon...he is growing by leaps and bounds ..doesn't know that he is too big to be a lap dog, and just loves to sit on my lap...he is turning into a small kinda well-behaved horse.
Heard from Syd this Am...she and her husband went to a hotel and are staying there until their power is back on...the Elec. Co, says around Friday, the 12...guess Allegheny county has thousands w/o power ...the shopping centers are functioning ..she is close to a Michaels, so she plans to get out there and try to buy some stuff to play with....guess they had to drain their pipes and do all that winterizing stuff before they left...I'm hoping that they come home to a nice warm house soon...
the gallery where I work also has a big problem...seems like the good neighbor that ownes the small shopping center that houses the post office and a couple of restaurants had his parking lot plowed out and the person doing the plowing just piled all the snow onto the Gallery property...now no one can get in and there is nowhere for us or our customers to park our cars even if we could get to work...very thoughtless of the person doing the plowing..so I guess I'm not going to work until the parking lot is cleared out....
looking out of the window onto my back yard ...I can see tracks of all the deer that visit and my bird feeder that is full of hungry birds..the pine trees and maple trees look beautiful dressed in all the snow...just like a picture post card....the sky is a rich blue with a few clouds and the sun is shining, turning the snow really glistening white with blue shadows ...glad I don't have to go out into all of this and I'm just glad that we have a warm house and plenty of food to keep us nice and cozy...it is so quiet with all the snow...
I hope that all of you out there are safe and those w/o power are keeping warm somehow..
until next time, stay warm and stay safe........
yes the snow fell ...wet, heavy and deep...we finally lost our power around 2 am on Saturday morning after a few brief outages..was going to post on Saturday morning, but we had no electricity...we did have our gas and water , so we were fairly comfortable...we got about 24 inches of snow on top of the 4 or 5 that had melted earlier and in between snowfalls, we were blessed with some freezing rain...woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful landscape of snow covered pine trees, (will post photos soon) downed limbs from the maples and a pond that is completely iced over and covered in snow. I'm really glad we were prepared with plenty of food, spirits, and toilet tissue...
our dog really loves the snow...he jumps and dives in it like a little kid ...he caught a mouse and played with it as it ran on top of the snow and finally got away from him...he thinks anything that moves is something to play with..on Saturday night, husband let him out to do his business and as he ran off the porch, he ran smack into a large deer that decided that he was going to come onto the porch and see if there was anything there it could eat...scared him so bad that he screamed...(imagine a dog screaming??)...and he almost knocked Henry off his feet as he tore around the hot tub trying to get back into the house...he did go back out, and then barreled back into the house to safety...big bad watch dog....I guess for 7 months, he is doing pretty well...I'll be really glad when his big boy teeth finally come in...he is chewing anything from the rugs to the rails on my chairs...loves my socks and my shoes (will have to buy more) and has devoured almost all his rag doll toys...he has a squeaker toy the he loves...we play catch with it and he is getting his eye- paw coordination together...he likes to play catch and for the most part is catching things that I toss up into the air...the other day he caught a piece of apple that I pitched to him..surprise, surprise.. he shocked himself that it was something he could eat....our other dog Freeland was an expert at catching food thrown to him...soooo...hopefully we will get thru the chewy puppy stage and get to the big boy refined, well behaved stage soon...he is growing by leaps and bounds ..doesn't know that he is too big to be a lap dog, and just loves to sit on my lap...he is turning into a small kinda well-behaved horse.
Heard from Syd this Am...she and her husband went to a hotel and are staying there until their power is back on...the Elec. Co, says around Friday, the 12...guess Allegheny county has thousands w/o power ...the shopping centers are functioning ..she is close to a Michaels, so she plans to get out there and try to buy some stuff to play with....guess they had to drain their pipes and do all that winterizing stuff before they left...I'm hoping that they come home to a nice warm house soon...
the gallery where I work also has a big problem...seems like the good neighbor that ownes the small shopping center that houses the post office and a couple of restaurants had his parking lot plowed out and the person doing the plowing just piled all the snow onto the Gallery property...now no one can get in and there is nowhere for us or our customers to park our cars even if we could get to work...very thoughtless of the person doing the plowing..so I guess I'm not going to work until the parking lot is cleared out....
looking out of the window onto my back yard ...I can see tracks of all the deer that visit and my bird feeder that is full of hungry birds..the pine trees and maple trees look beautiful dressed in all the snow...just like a picture post card....the sky is a rich blue with a few clouds and the sun is shining, turning the snow really glistening white with blue shadows ...glad I don't have to go out into all of this and I'm just glad that we have a warm house and plenty of food to keep us nice and cozy...it is so quiet with all the snow...
I hope that all of you out there are safe and those w/o power are keeping warm somehow..
until next time, stay warm and stay safe........
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sooooooooooo, here goes...I took my friend Sydney's advice and just now have become a blogger.
This could prove quite interesting since I'm really not a writer. I love to draw, paint with watercolors and am now working with polymer clay again. I saw an artist that did some fish on Polymer Clay Daily and I just loved her idea. In the past I have done watercolors of tropical fish and thought I could possibly go ahead and design some fat , pregnant looking, colorful tropical fish with some outlandishly georgous colors on them as I did in the watercolor painting that my grandaughter now has in her apartment. I'm working on it and will post some photos as soon as I learn how.
For now, this is a start...more comments will follow as soon as I get more things completed...I will also post some photos of my paintings as soon as my grand daughter Leah gets here to help me and show me the ropes.
I am feeling really creative this week...must be the full moon that Syd was talking about and also the fact that it's so damned cold I really don't want to do much more that sit in a warm place and play.
more later....
This could prove quite interesting since I'm really not a writer. I love to draw, paint with watercolors and am now working with polymer clay again. I saw an artist that did some fish on Polymer Clay Daily and I just loved her idea. In the past I have done watercolors of tropical fish and thought I could possibly go ahead and design some fat , pregnant looking, colorful tropical fish with some outlandishly georgous colors on them as I did in the watercolor painting that my grandaughter now has in her apartment. I'm working on it and will post some photos as soon as I learn how.
For now, this is a start...more comments will follow as soon as I get more things completed...I will also post some photos of my paintings as soon as my grand daughter Leah gets here to help me and show me the ropes.
I am feeling really creative this week...must be the full moon that Syd was talking about and also the fact that it's so damned cold I really don't want to do much more that sit in a warm place and play.
more later....
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