Cricketts Inky Art Blot

We made crazy vehicles in Michael DeMeng's workshop. Here are a selection of some of the works in progress: Here we had a critique with Michael discussing everyone's progress. I loved this steampunked up critter! This is the cool studio by the harbor that we worked in for four days, pretty cool view! Later in the day we had a project with Tracy and Teesha Moore with a bunch of artists from different workshops.

Last week my hubby and I went to Petaluma on an art retreat. It was more of an art treat! This is me looking smug because we had arrived at the hotel! Yes, I brought costumes ;-) We love the art of Michael DeMeng, so signed up for four days of working with him. Here are examples of his work (photos from his blog). He is represented at Blumfields Gallery in Boise. We actually bought the "Babbage Yabba Birdhouse" and spent some time under Michael's direction making our own versions. This is mine (awaiting a beak). Below is my husband holding his creation.

I have entered an art contest for Wine Hill Hotel, called "Wine is Art". The winning art piece will be used for the wine bar and it's publicity materials. The artist also gets to exhibit in the hotel for a year, which makes it an attractive proposition, so I figured that I might give it a try. I headed up to St Mary's Art Center to use their beautiful press. Prior to arrival, I had scratched a drypoint etching into a plate and prepared it for press work.  I also had a clear plate the same size to add a monotype. The next stage was to add, then run some leaves on blank paper through the press on the inky plate. The clear plate was then discarded and then the inked and now flat leaves were laid onto the drypoint plate. The drypoint was inked up using a heavy amount of brown, the leaves were almost completely black. This was done to add some visual weight to the activated edge of the print and to emphasize importance of the wine i

Recently I took part in an open studio event at Wildflower Village. There are pros and cons of open studio events, a big con for me, is that I am not always sure that the work is finished enough to show. One big plus, is that I don't have to frame the work, so it is no biggie to change up the work after seeing it in a gallery type setting. All of the paintings below are oil paintings and easy to start reworking. The palette is much lighter than I usually use and I am still deciding whether to glaze deeper.

The art retreat starts tomorrow. Apart from clothes, I just have one final thing to work on and pack; an art donation to 'The Fabulous Women'. This is a nonprofit group that provides emotional and financial support for families facing various challenges. I am adding the last touches to a Tree of Life image that I thought would be a suitable image for the cause. The image is now finished and signed, ready to be framed. All done and I found a small piece as an addition to the larger one. I guess that just leaves packing the clothes!

I have a bunch of little tradigital art pieces made up for art retreat later this week. These will serve as art trades between the other artists. Half my studio is scattered around the dining room floor and table, so packing needs to start before the kids get lost in the mess or someone does themselves an injury! I'm SO excited to go, I know it will be a fun time.

Last weekend was the big event of the High Desert Steam Ball and Medicine Show at Virginia City. We drove up Friday and attended an art show to kick off the festivities. Saturday morning we joined the Steampunk parade through the main street of Virginia City with many folk from Nevada and California. There were even some cool art cars such as the two behind me. Here my husband and I are shown carrying the banner.   The old train in Virginia City takes a tour down to Gold Hill. We joined many steampunks from Sacramento on the journey that highlights much of the silver and gold mines from the days of the gold rush. After checking out some of the vendors, we returned to the hotel for some tea and a change before heading out to see the Medicine Show. This was the highlight of the weekend for me and I thought the acts were quite splendid! The Ball was immediately after the show and the Grand Finale was a performance by Unwoman. Airship privateers Admiral Lord Worm

The cube was erected at Black Rock in time for Burning Man. Finally being burned on the Friday night, the wishes and dreams of many were scattered to the wind. Photos are by Tizzle (the artist's Burner name).

So here is the description of the Life Cube as promised! THIS... is what I wanted to be a part of this year at Burning Man.

Well, it has been a busy, busy Summer, but now the kids are back in school, my daughter recovered from her emergency surgery (don't even ask!) and my adventures in Europe (I am SO going to have to post some of those) are over. In theory, I am able to resume my posts. Of course, I can't think what to start with... Let's go with the most recent adventure, Burning Man. My original group project choice never got the funding needed to get the art on the Playa. Late Summer after I had returned from Europe, I heard about a project that was still in need of a few artists and I signed up. The project is called The Life Cube and had an earlier version on the Playa in a previous burn. Scott Cohen, better known in Burning circles as Skeeter, founded the project and with a team of other artists the cube began to take shape. I will add a second post with the project video when I have found it later :-) The Life Cube was partial constructed before taking it to Black Rock in an art

It's been much too difficult to work with the kids off school. I'm taking a jolly (Jolly Holiday/Break) and will report back later with news/images from the summer. I hope that you too, have an adventure filled summer!

Happy birthday Gauguin!

I am getting my head straight for packing. I have a big trip planned to Europe and I have not had a chance to start the packing. This morning I pulled out a few clothes and tried them on, then was struck by panic when I realised that I seem to have outgrown many. I also lost every pair of shorts I own. Of course, this panic meant that the clothes were abandoned on the floor and I made plans for lunch at the local Thai restaurant. The afternoon was super hot, so this evening I am hanging out at the pool with the kids.I am sure the clothes will figure themselves out somehow.

I quite like this vase image, even if it was not the Absinthe green carafe that was the original intention. I was pulled to a different green, then some blue, a little purple and hey, I have a vase! I had a crazy and annoying kind of a day today. I won't go into the boring details, but my blood was pretty much boiling for the majority of the day with one thing after another. The final straw was that the local beaver took down the only tree in my back yard. I hear that the best top hats are made from beaver...

I tried to work with a couple of images today, but nothing was working out for me today. After those couple of rejects, I switched to filing the edges off some plastic plates in preparation for printing. I did that it's good to turn to a process when things are not working out.

I'm suffering the effect of having 2 kid's birthday parties and a sleepover with multiple girls at my house this weekend. Birthdays are hard work! We slipped out for a quick BBQ with some of our Steampunk friends for lunch by the river. After making a late start on cleaning the kitchen we realized that somehow our youngest daughter had acquired a watermelon. Don't you think watermelons have wonderful skin?

A few splashes of red have sprinkled themselves about my day... From lunch in the sun... ... to constructing a skirt hitcher for the renaissance faire.