365/2013 - Day 204

that collage really ties the room together

Yep...much like The Dude's rug, this collage by my friend Joan Potter Thomas really ties this room together.  Everything about it "works".  I LOVE IT!!!  

I wish I could take a photo of the ENTIRE room so you could see how great this all looks -- maybe you should just come over and see it in person...let me know before you come, though.

A close up of "Tribal Flag" by Joan Potter Thomas.

And now...back at it again...back to prepping and plaster cloth'ing parts for guys.

Look, Leann -- I am really using the sketch book you gave us!

Working out how to put this rabbitish/catish guy together.

One "leg" covered with plaster cloth, one more to go...both were covered with masking tape first and the pilot holes were drilled in both ends.

All done...this is as much as I can do today.  Those are the wooden pieces that Joan's husband Andy cut for me in his workshop on Sunday...thanks again, Andy!

365/2013 - Day 67 (updated)

a full day and night


A lot happened today...here is a little bit about most of it.

morning
I fell in love with Claudia Roulier's artwork a long time ago.  I don't recall exactly when I first saw her work, but when I was making and selling and collecting ATCs and ACEOs on eBay I bought this card by her.

a shot of a card made by Claudia Roulier (2005)

Jump ahead to January 24, 2013 and Claudia's blog post for that day -- I fell in love with the imagery instantly!  I got up my nerve two days later to comment (for the first time) on her post of the finished painting.  

The Juggler by Claudia Roulier

Several emails have been exchanged since then and today I made my first payment on this marvelous piece!  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!  The Juggler will be one of Claudia's pieces in an upcoming circus-themed show in Evergreen, CO that runs from April 26 to May 23.  Other artists in the show include:  Kathy Beekman, Penny Bidwell, Dave Sieler, and Tim Flynn.  Man...I wish I could go to see the show in person!

afternoon

The Northville Art House has given me the opportunity to curate a show of my own -- it will be in October of this year.  It will be called "Under the (Inspired) Influence" and I have chosen a handful of artists whose work has thrilled and inspired me beyond words.  There is so much planning and  preparation to take care of and this is the sort of thing I absolutely love to do.

October seems like light-years from right now, but I need to get down to work.  This afternoon I made an appointment with Joan and we discussed the first steps I need to get started on.

my friend Joan Potter Thomas...director of The Northville Art House

early evening

I picked up my friend Ruth and we headed to Juana's to pick her up.  Then we made a stop at the Woods Gallery to drop off one more piece of mine for the "Spirits" show.  

"Spirits" will be Baby Beast's last exhibition appearance

Lisa (in Gallery Director mode making adjustments) and Juana and Ruth snapping pics

Baby Beast casts really cool shadows in this lighting/setting

I'm SO excited to be in this show with my friends Juana, Lisa, and Renee!

evening

Next Juana, Ruth and I hotfooted it over to another incredible artist friend's solo show at Birmingham Gallery.  Kate Paul...what can I say about Kate Paul...how about just look at the photos and get yourself over to the show to see it in person!

postcard for Kate's solo show "Kateland" at Birmingham Gallery

this work is so cool -- it is interactive and lit from behind and you can adjust the background colors

my favorite piece in this show -- "Rebirth of a Rainbow"

detail -- "Rebirth of a Rainbow"

you may remember the painting I recently acquired -- "Earning My Stripes" (detail) -- this piece is not in the show, I just wanted to show it off again

night

Next Juana, Ruth, and I headed back up Woodward to Ferndale to see the exhibition "For the Love of Reading" at the Ferndale Public Library.  The show is an artful celebration of books, characters, stories, and reading.  Juana and Peggy have fabulous pieces in this show.  It is a really great show and the reception was packed!  Don't miss it!  (It is difficult to get photos w/o glare...but here are a few shots -- I'd like to go back and revisit the show when it is a little less crowded.)

Where Juana's piece is

closer view of Juana's "A Young Ladies Illustrated Primer" -- you need to see it in person!

Peggy's work for the show!

And you know how I rarely ever see anyone I know when I am out and about?  Well -- at the "For the Love of Reading" show we ran into Lisa and her friends outside of the library as we were going in...plus:

Peggy!

Carla!

and these two out of focus characters -- Mark and Leann!

After seeing the show Ruth, Juana, Mark, Leann, and I went to get some dinner.  Ha!  Good luck getting in anywhere in Ferndale on a Friday night!  We met up at one place (an hour and a half wait) and we moved back up Woodward to another restaurant with only a few minutes wait.  Good food, GREAT company...fabulous end to a long, FUN day!

365/2013 - Day 16

a bunch of stuff

Chugga chugga, chugga chugga, screeeeeee -- crash!  That's the sound of the Tookies production train falling off the tracks.  I came into the studio this afternoon to gather the boxes together and start printing labels, etc. only to find that I had forgotten about all of those Penciled In artpacks I sent in last time and I am incredibly low on my supply of boxes.  I have to order more -- so that puts the Tookies on hold for now.

In the meantime --  This morning Joan, Leann and I finally got a chance to meet up for Wednesday Morning at Joan's (only not at Joan's house).  It  has been SO long since we have met for our little group -- it was so great to talk and catch up!  Leann also suggested a sort of field trip for next week -- I can't wait!

Leann and Joan at Tuscan Cafe this morning.

And Leann had this fabulous art quilt for me (Joan got one of Leann's voodoo boxes).  This piece was in a fiber arts challenge by the Running With Scissors group called "Above & Below".  After it's initial exhibit at Two Twelve Arts Center in Saline, MI the show moved to the library out there.  This is the first chance Leann has had to get our pieces to us. 

Here is a detail of one of the flowers in the "above" portion of the piece.

I LOVE the roots and skeleton in the "below" section.

THANK YOU, Leann!








Later on I had my first physical therapy session for my bum knee.  After that I made a very quick trip to Michael's to pick up a couple of wooden balls with flat bottoms for the black sheep-creature.

I think these will work well as feet/bases for the legs of the creature.  The tubes are a bit uneven and I need to adjust the heights and gaps between the balls and edges of the legs.

This is how it looked when I tried it out.

Tonight I also needed to remove the head of the creature so that I can make the neck longer.

Again, I felt pretty bad about doing this to someone else's artwork.

It was not easy cutting through the neck.  It turned out there was chicken wire inside, as well as thicker wire inside of that.

That was a lot of work sawing the pieces apart.

I think I found the element I will use as the base of the new construction -- an empty salt container I had in my stash.   It is just about the right thickness, it won't take too much building up to match the head and body.

It is also a pretty good length for the extension.

After finding the salt container I moved on to doing the prep work of adding the wooden balls to the legs.   I used that tacky stuff and then masking tape.

This is the one that has the biggest gap between the leg and ball.  I only filled in two sections with the tacky stuff.  I want to really work some plaster cloth into this one.

This was another time consuming (and upside down) step.  I was pretty physically worn out after this so I took a break and watched some television.


Apparently I dozed off in front of the tv because I startled myself awake and found that it was 11 p.m. already!  I have been fairly limited with this stupid knee injury and I have been taking it pretty easy for the last month and a half or so.  I guess all of today's activities wore me out more than I realized -- LOL.   I am going to attach the balls to the legs tonight but I wanted to come in and get this blog entry posted before my midnight deadline.  What a great day!