Art Chickadee's Reflections

Projects from Kari's Diva Bash 2009

Oh my, I think I have a new love...TLS (the liquid Sculpey) and canvas!  I made these two at Kari's.  The snowman we did in her class and then I made the angel below after we'd cleaned up some when the Divas all left *sniff* and Kari and I hung out in her studio for about five hours!

I used some of the TLS leftover from the angel canvas to paint some arms on the snowman canvas.  It was just what it needed!

This is a small canvas, 2 x 2 inches and I'll probably edge it in grosgrain ribbon and hang the little dude on my tree. 

I got this neat metal piece at European Papers and just had to do something with it!

Altered Art Divas Weekend at Kari's house!

Playing in the art journal again

I've missed it.  But finding time at times, can be a challenge!

Getting Home Ready for the Holidays

New bows everywhere this year.  I love the bright red but it just doesn't go with our burgundy door and wreath.  I do like these, though.

 

I love the way brickwork shows up in photos. (above)

 

Now to get the inside ready.

 

okay, I know it's not home, but I commute through Richmond every morning.  Notice the loaded coal cars on the tracks.

You can see VCU Medical Center (formerly known as MCV) on the right.

That's all for now.

The Garden of LIghts at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

 

If you find yourself in the Richmond area between Thanksgiving and New Years, you owe it to yourself to visit Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens' "Garden of Lights."  Each year they have a different arrangement of lighting and new features that have been added to the ever-growing botanical gardens (no pun intended there!). 

In fact, any time of year is good for a visit there.  It's stunning in the spring with the bulbs in bloom.   In summer, your children can climb all over the tree house, splash in the sprinkler garden while you watch them from benches.  The fall is beautiful with the vast array of plant material in many colors and forms.  Don't forget to have lunch or a snack in the Japanese Tea House.  

Each year, there are some trees decorated by local elementary schools.

 

A close-up of some of the dried and otherwise preserved plant material that decorates the trees.

The spiky, asteroid-like balls hanging from the chandelier here are nothing less than the dried flowers from the onion!  Sprayed and glittered it has a very delicate appearance.   Very clever use of plant material.

Dried hydrangeas and strawflowers provide decorations for the sconces in the library.

 

The conservatory is always a wonderful place to visit with poinsettias, paperwhites, cyclamen and orchids blooming.  I love the orchid room.  This year they even had a wreath of orchid blooms over the door.  Spectacular.

Joe and Donavan in front of one of the school's trees.  Wake up, Joe!

At other times of the year, they have the butterfly exhibit and you can go into one of the arms of the conservatory and see how many types are hatched out and take some great photos.  Very fun, indeed.

Donavan's astute observation revealed that Miss Spider was created out of soccer/dodge balls!

 

Inside the conservatory was the largest staghorn fern I've ever seen!

Ever seen a wreath of orchid blossoms?  WOW!

Thanks-giving

We had an early Thanksgiving dinner by most standards.  We sat down at 1 p.m.  That way everyone could visit and wouldn't be too late when it was time to go home.  Mom seems to do better during the day and a late dinner would be a bit much.  Also, some of the nieces and nephews had dinners to do to on the other side of their families. 

We were missing one of my brothers and his wife who were at a sister's (hers) house and my nephew Daniel's wife had to work at the hospital. 

It was nice to get together than there was no lack of food!

Isn't that cute?  Holly and Adam (my niece and nephew).  She's the barrel horse champion and he's an RN.  A good one, too.  He helped take care of my dad in his last days.

I love the picture below, too, but of course, I'd be prejudiced.  My two wonderful kids.  Brittney will be 21 on Monday, Dec. 7. 

My nephew Daniel (whose wife was working) pronounces the mashed potatoes and stuffing satisfactory while his sister wonders if he can fit any more in his mouth!

My oldest brother, Bill, challenged my mom to a game of Mastermind, one of her favorites.  Requires too much thinking for my tiny brain! 

The Sunday School class that my dad started (for young married couples) many years ago, sent my mom this beautiful arrangement of flowers.  It was the perfect size for the table (to eat and still see over and around!).  That was so kind of them. We missed him being with us, of course, but his spirit could be felt among us.

I went for a walk later to enjoy the fresh air and walk off the slice of pie I had and saw a beautiful, loaded holly tree in a neighbor's yard.

 

This was in another neighbor's yard/drive way and he was so cute that I had to take his picture.

I finished my beads for the Diva Rosary swap.  I'm just not happy with them but had too much going on to try to make something else and they were do in just a few days.  I used red, since it's my favorite color, and the crow stamp (by Paula Best) is one of my favorite stamps.  I laughed with a friend of mine and said I must be a crow because I'm attracted to sparkly things so it seemed appropriate.  I glued a "gem" in his beak and my initials "CG" are stamped on the back.  I did have fun, however, beating the **$#@%$ out of the wires that I ran through the bead to make attaching loops.  I love hammering metal.  Anyways, they're on their way to Kari.

 

I guess you're wondering what a Diva Rosary is.  It's not a traditional rosary at all since there's a variety of beliefs in the participants.  The Altered Art Divas who were "playing" in this swap were making a bead to represent themselves and would get a bead back from each other player as well.  So, you can string them together and give you way to think of each of your artist friends and send them good wishes, smile, pray, etc.  Pretty cool, huh?  I've seen some of the other examples and they are amazing!

I wasn't done playing with beads and hammering, so I took an odd assortment of beads and made an off-beat icicle ornament. 

 

That's it from this part of town for now.

Another weekend, another train show and some art

My son loves trains.  No, obsessed is more like it!  He loves them.  He thinks about them constantly.  He even thinks of things in terms of trains.  Not sure where he got it but he does.  We went to Ashland's Train Day, an annual event, and checked out the layouts, displays and so forth.

At least the rain held off for this even if it stayed cloudy.  Right as we arrived, an Amtrak train rolled through.  Not long after that, CSX stormed through with a freight train. Everyone gets involved for the event, even the library workers.

 

They display all train-related books in the window, train layouts and story-telling in the library.  A small train (actually a lawn tractor with a "train" housing) pulls kids around in the cars through a parking lot.  There's train art, banners, etc.  There's the Iron Horse Restaurant where you can have lunch.  It's a good place to take photos and not just of trains.  Many old Victorian houses are along the tracks or just a block off them.  An interesting small town.

 

 

 

Isn't this beautyberry amazing?  It was in a yard near where our car was parked.  I never cease to be amazed at these lovely berries.

 

I went to my sister-in-law's house and made a few bracelets with her and her sisters and mom.  We had a nice time.

   

Yesterday, I worked on the covers of some small composition books.

 

 

And lastly, to round out this hodge-podge of a post, we saw the pace car from the Brickyard 400 race while we were out.  The inaugural race was probably over ten years ago.  This car was about two blocks from our house.  You never know what you'll see around our parts. :)

Art Piece has Personal Meaning

You hear many days that the battle against breast cancer is improving.  Maybe so, but not for many.   My sister-in-law, Lucie, is fighting hard but she's got a real battle.  There are others that I know who have fought breast cancer.  I did a collage one time...a very quick piece that had lots of pink flowers cut from a gardening catalog on it.  I put the names of the people I know on it. 

Since then, I've wanted to do a painting.  At last it's finished.

You may or may not be able to make out the names.

Along the ribbon is the names of the survivors. 

You may able to just make out the name of Lucie Pelletier (upper left of the photo below) who is my sister-in-law.

This last one is just another angle.  The flash was working against me.

Anyway, the import thing is the people whose names are listed:

Lucie Pelletier

Nicola Stewart

Joanna Pierrotti

Dawn Baugh

Rita Wynn

Ida Wynn

Terrie Simm

Ida Carbaugh

Janet Lowry

Diana Voda

Connie Johnson

Kelly Snelling

Kara Klein

Bernice Hill

Meda Rae Holland

Debbie Harper

We've come a long way in the battle against cancer, but the war isn't over.

Autumn is here and free images to use

Halloween has passed, colorful leaves have begun to fade and fall and Christmas music is heard in commercials and decorations appear in stores.  Where has the year gone?

I have actually done a bit of Christmas shopping.  Okay, you can get up now.  I happened to see things that "fit" a friend or two and happily picked up the items.  Brothers are the hardest to shop for.  Either their "wants" are out of my price range or they need tools that are well, I KNOW I'd get the wrong thing, okay?  So, it ends up being gift cards.  I love gift cards myself but sometimes feel like I'd like to know something they'd really like.  *sigh*

Below is a close-up of a dock on a river in Virginia.  Have fun using the texture in your own artwork which can be for sale. Do not use any images from this site for the creation of CDs of images for sale, however.  Thank you.

The river was frozen near the shore.  Interesting texture, isn't it?

 

Have fun with these.  I'd love to see your creation.  I wish I was better with Photoshop Elements.  I can imagine some neat stuff with these and cabinet card images...

Christy

For all you pet lovers who also love jewelry

If you like fine jewelry and adore your pet, you've got to check out this website!

Esquivel & Fees

They can even take a picture of your pet and make a custom charm!  I kid you not.

Take a look here!  They did a white West Highland Terrier in silver or white gold and did the bow in yellow gold.  There are several other examples on that page too. 

They are the best animal charms I think I've ever seen.  I requested a guinea pig charm a few years ago and do you know they have now come out with a line of them as well as horses, chinchillas, sugar gliders, ferrets, rats, hedge hogs (are you out there, Sue Trump?) as well as many breeds of dogs and cats. 

They even have charms commemorating your animal's "Best in Show" or "Best of Breed."  Really cool.

There's also non-animal charms - bees, flowers, four-leaf clovers, wishbones, Chinese symbols and so on.

Well, you know I had to get a guinea pig one to honor the "studio pigs" that have kept me company.