cheer!

playing catch-up

found the scanner! so much has happened while i was away from all of my four readers...we moved on the last weekend of september...the realtor offered a free moving van...



some friends, todd and jen, came over to offer some very valuable help...

mr. pop pirate vacuumed everything (suprise, suprise) saying we were not going to take any of the effingham dust to the new bungalow...

the piano ended up being donated to the local ault elementary school because we could not sell it on craigs list to save our lives...



we ended up looking like the beverly hillbillies, complete with grannie's rocker, while we were at it...

we got straight to work, tore down the existing fence, started the new one, and friend sara offered to paint my kitchen...it's a candy apple red... from this...


to this... i bought an art print on ebay to go on this big wall...


and we are just a bit more settled now...the front porch tea room... (where i'm currently blogging from)...
i had to work but mr. pop pirate got to go see obama when he came to fort collins...here's a family that has always voted republican and are now obama fans...

long lines...

50,000 people...he couln't get a shot of The Man...

last night i thought i was going to a costume party...but this pirate grrl, andi, had a trick up her ruffled sleeve...
a suprise birthday party for me! pop pirate grrl!!!!!!! it's the best party i've ever had... a million thanks and shout outs to my fellow pirate!!! sorry not everyone could be there...

here's jen, me , and emily above... and some more great friends...erin...(french whore)
and grant from behind...he had a baywatch costume on complete with big boobies and a crotch area that had a bunch of (fake)hair down there...he has no idea i'm taking this pix from behind of his behind...

steph (whore), sara (unmasked) and mr. pop pirate himself
andi, todd as orville redenbacher, and jen as little debbie
emily as suzie chapstick
jette as a madame and kelleen ...
it's a beautiful 70 degree day here today...indian summer will come to a close at some point...mr. is now making campaign phone calls for the next three days, doing his civic duty by volunteering for obama...

bread and water can so easily be made into toast and tea

...or banana bread...

this recipe came from the ol' work horse, the joy of cooking...simply the best banana bread on the planet...


went to nunn, colorado yesterday for some grrlfriend time...kelly and i went out junking, finding this sale of repossessed storage unit junk...found pastel-colored yard sticks for decorating my studio, a small rack of antlers that will be painted chartreuse...

then we sauntered over to "oak n' tokens in ault, colorado where these two gems run their store that never changes...


happy spring (finally)...



off to my very first mammogram....aaarrrr...

seattle--day one of artfest

I was thrilled to be on the jet plane on my way to seattle for artfest...you see, i registered for this event waaay back in september of last year...talk about lack of instant gratification...not to complain (but i will just a little) i haven't been on a vacation in waaaay too long...

my flight was, thank fsm, uneventful...all have to say is i'm also grateful for ipods...keeps me from going postal on public transportation situation....

i met up with lisabeth who flew in from Anchorage AK to meet up with me...sun was shining and we had the top down on the convertible sebring....here are some pix from the bremerton ferry...

lb in all her beauty with hair flying in the cold breeze on the sundeck...

we arrived for check-in at fort worden and the first thing i saw was this automobile assemblage...i knew i was in the right place...

the car belongs to a woman of a certain age (in her 70s?) who wore a different crazy beany hat every day...it has happy meal toys, mosaics...even (my favorite toy) devil duckies (see left side of the pix)

we checked in, received a bag of cool artfest swag and i took some time to look at the gallery of art...the theme was woodland creatures...here's a look...





what talented people...all woodsy and delightful...

some didn't quite stick to the topic...

great nontheless...

as fate would have it, lb had friends from Anchorage sailing on the puget sound at the very time we arrived...they invited us to see their water craft... at the marina...



here's the cutest darn houseboat ever...complete with container garden and scrolled porch decoration...
we all ended dining in town at a great local restaurant instead of artfesting it that night....great choice...

more to come on thursday as i must (gulp) go back to work for a couple of days ...arrrr...

day #10--exploring

i've been inspired lately by this artist, andrea fuhrman...her composition and juxtaposition of simple scraps creates what i think is eye-appealing art...

so , thus inspired, i spent time making this piece, "gives up the goods"... mr. pop pirate, my in-house art critic, really likes it...

here's a closer look:


this one, "stereo," is a work in progress...


still working on "no wonder" (see this post)...i know what this is needing, and that is paint...now, i have a blockage when it comes to painting...i took a watercolor class way back around 1985 when i first went to college...i liked the medium and felt proficient in still life rendering but...that was back then and now i'm using (or in this case, not really using) acrylics...some would not agree that water colors are more forgiving but that was my experience...acrylics are there--permanent, bold and not easily (for me) manipulated...i worry that i will "ruin" my hard work and vision with painting it...not quite getting the results i see in my head...

i went out friday night to our village's art walk with my best friendy, emily...we sauntered about, looking at tradition (read: boring, been there, seen that) and modern assemblage, photography...in the fort collins museum of contemporary art you can tour working artists' studios upstairs...i had a chat with a gal named lyse whose oils and acrylics have traditional landscapes but with luminescent qualities... she asked me if i am an artist, of course i said yes (and so are you, dear reader) but confided that i hesitate when it comes to adding painted elements to my art...she encouraged me to study other painters and to enjoy the process of learning about the qualities that paint has to offer....

i see on many art blogs that artists have art journals they play around in...trying techniques, exploring visions and feelings...i have a couple of them that i woefully ignore...no more...time to reintroduce myself to them....it's time to explore, to encounter my blockages and bust through them...we'll see how it goes...arrr

day #6--my bucket list

i haven't seen the movie with morgan freeman and jack nicholson yet but i get the jist that it's about finding out you have a terminal illness and figuring out what you really wanna do before you kick the bucket...

on the way back from a hike with my friendy emily, i was spouting off something about something i'd like to do before i die... she sagely handed my a notepad and a pen and told me to write that bucket list....that moment has remained with me as a profound smashing up against my own mortality...

you'd think i was pretty aware of this for as an oncology nurse, i see people, well, get the word that they might just be leaving here soon... people who are just cruising along in their lives, making dinners, seeing kids and grands grow up, making plans and boom...arrrr...they get cancer and look ahead to weeks, months, years of chemo, nausea, doctors appointments....do they have bucket lists? well, i've never asked a patient this but i bet they have one at least at the back of their minds...

i'm gonna die one day, so i GET IT that i gotta make my dreams, plans and goals reality....sooooo, here's my first efforts toward one of my goals....in 2009, i want to have my art shown locally say in a coffee shop...this is the year to create the body of work to be shown...

so i bought a piece of mass produced art (i think it had gondoliers on it) at goodwill...i liked the shape, the plastic frame around it that makes it a deep canvas and it had a ready-made texture painted on it....i painted it with sophisticated finishes iron metallic surfacer on the canvas to ready it for the rusting solution... it comes out black/grey before you antique it...

you can see where i wiped it away to allow gluing the box with a found nest in it on the surface...


i added one of my "word salad" cut outs...


and collage papers...i love the one of the iridescent bottles found in a national geographic ( i find the best pix there)...




as the piece evolves i'll share it with you...questions? comments? constructive criticism? let me know.....

merry merry silly

a banner day

who doesn't like to get packages in the mail... well, this gifty came all the way from palmer alaska
from fellow crafter lisabeth ... she decorated the jewelry box complete with pop-up armadillo... inside was a great jewelry pendant "inchie"...


lisabeth, who went to art school before she became an A-#1 R.N./F.N.P., made a linoleum print card...love the raven...thanks l.b....only 126 days until artfest, baby...

the day the package arrived, i was busy...i took these....


cardboard templates, beautiful papers and sparkly letters and made this...

it says"grateful"...i think it turned out fab...it is hung above our new xmas tree i picked up at
a&j antiques, where i have a booth, as many of you know... it's plastic and white and pre-lighted, and has glitter all over it...




for someone who really could take or leave xmas...i sure am having fun with the holiday spirit already...ho ho arrr...