Upcoming Show

One of my art pieces was recently accepted into the 41st Annual National Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood National Exhibition to be held at The Octagon Center for the Arts in Ames, Iowa. The show was juried by Gib Neal from Hastings, Nebraska. Mr. Neal served as the chairman of the Hastings College Art Department for 17 years, is a professional artwork conservator and an artist.
The show runs January 30-April 5, 2009.

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The band

George got together with "the band" and jammed on Saturday night. They sounded really good. I forgot to take my camera so here's a pic from an earlier jam session in the machine shed.

Crossroads Conference Art Exhibit

Attended the Crossroads Conference extravaganza on Thursday night. A young, hip event. Luckily my friend, Susan went with me so I didn't feel too out of place. My artwork was hanging in a good spot. Very visible at the top of the stairs right outside People's concert venue. Everyone made me feel at home. Even got a V.I.P. gift bag!!

San Antonio perspective

Just got back from San Antonio. A wonderful time. Attended a workshop on creativity. I was really impressed with the Riverwalk. Nothing like I imagined it. I thought it would be similar to walking on a path next to a river. Instead it is somewhat like a small canal that runs basically beneath the city streets. Aged patina walls and tropical plants line the walk. I especially was enamored with the Alamo also. I enjoyed hearing about its history. Here are some of the sights of the city.

Has it been that long?

Yikes, has it been that long since my last post?
Had a fabulous vacation in October. Traveling and hiking at the northern rim of the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion National parks and around Lake Tahoe. Were lucky enough to see salmon swimming upstream, the barn in Kanab, Utah at the Parry Lodge where Silver and Scout used to hang out while filming westerns and the beautiful hoodos in Bryce Canyon.

Weekend by the Mighty Mississippi

I spent last weekend in Dubuque attending a conference. Found a B&B to stay at in the historic Langworthy district. The conference was at the Grand Harbor Resort which is located right on the river. I happened upon an art gallery opening on Friday night which I enjoyed, then took a ride on the Fenelon Place Elevator. A lovely view from the top where you can see 3 states. Wisconsin, Iowa and Illionois. My group practiced tai chi on Sunday morning outside on the riverwalk. A fun but tiring weekend. Stopped at the Field of Dreams Movie site on the drive over on Friday and also in Grinnell which has some beautiful Louis Sullivan architecture.

Meals from the Heartland

I enjoyed volunteering last week for Meals from the Heartland. I got placed in a group of 10. We traded off throughout our shift, changing jobs to give us all different experiences with the routine. Our group packaged 720 meals in our 2 hour shift. Pretty amazing. I enjoyed seeing all of the volunteers also. Women coming straight from work, standing on the hard cement floor in heels or men wearing white shirts and ties; high school football players wearing their team jerseys; and 8 and 1/2 month pregnant mothers-to-be. Quite a show of support.

Meals from the Heartland

I've signed up to help package meals for the Meals from the Heartland program which will be at HyVee Hall in Des Moines the week of Sept. 1-9. If you'd like to join me, here is the website. Be sure and watch the video.

Art Show

I got accepted into the Crossroads Art Showcase which will be held later this year in Des Moines. Watch for more details to come.

Sleep Deprevation

Between the Olympics, bringing work home from the office and planning my next vacation-- sleep has been lacking at my house. And what about Shawn Johnson!! She is awesome and of course a native of my city.

I did the fair

Just got back from an afternoon at the Iowa State Fair. Exhausting yet fun as usual. This year I discovered a few new things I never knew existed or perhaps they haven't been there before?
Also ran into 5 people that I knew. That has never happened--especially with a daily attendance of around 100,000 people.

Top 10 things I did:
1. saw the winner of the "biggest pigeon contest"
2. watched a woman make "art" from barbed wire
3. ate Indian fry bread
4. saw an old refurbished "beach" jeep that looked like a toy I used to play with as a kid
5. watched a "one-woman band" perform in Pioneer Hall
6. toured the usual animal barns
7. signed up for an estimate for getting new gutters put on my home
8. looked at the baby animals that had just been born
9. cast my vote for president at the WHO-TV booth by putting a kernel of corn into a pint jar
10. looked over the fantastic photos and artwork in the Cultural Building.

Took the bus from the State Capitol to the fairgrounds as I do most every year. The afternoon was topped off with a screaming baby on the bus. Was especially long as we had to wait for a train to pass also. Was a relief to get home!!

It's a Miracle?

I should have had my camera with me today. Bought gas for ONLY $3.33/gallon. Would have liked to have a photo of that sign. Then I got home and found I had received my notice for this year's property taxes. My taxes had gone down by $200/year!! Of course, last year my accessed value of my home went down by $5,000 even though I had just spent $12,000 in renovations!

Question also: Why is it then that as I visited the grocery store this afternoon, two of my favorite store-brand products had each gone up in price by about 40 cents? That is a big jump in a couple of weeks. Perhaps they will go back down as the gas did??

ArtFest

George and I participated as art vendors in our first Art Show. There were about 25 artists present. It was a hot day with a breeze that at times burst into gigantic gusts that blew my pieces off their stands. We met a number of interesting artists and visitors and I collected quite a few tidbits regarding art shows, should we decide to do another one.

After paying for rented tables, sacks, gas, etc. I think we might have broken even with the few sales that we had. The crowd definitely was not large. I don't believe it was very well advertised. It was the 1st Art Show this group had put on before. Overall, though I had a good experience, learned a lot and had some interest in my work. I was disappointed though that I had to miss my yearly family reunion. There's always next year!

Magical evening

George and I spent last night at the Fourth Annual McKinley Park Festival in Creston where he played his sax with Big Al's Blues Busters. There was a good turnout, beautiful weather and best of all--no mosquitoes.

After the concert there were fireworks. Fun since we had missed July 4 while we were in Colorado. The usual oos and ahs from the crowd indicated that they were a crowd pleaser.

Then to top the evening off--upon arriving back to George's place, the sky was lit up with stars and the Milky Way. George, of course, sees this spectacular star show every M-F night when he gets home from work at midnight. Me, being from the city, I only see the show at his place if I stay up late enough!!

Africa calling

George and I had a lovely first-time meeting and lunch with Tammi and Chris (Peace Corps volunteers) in May before they took off for Ghana in Africa and their first Peace Corp assignment. I've thought about joining the Peace Corps since my high school days and the idea has been haunting me more and more lately. I found Tammi and Chris by accident as I was looking through Iowa State University's web site so asked them to lunch. They were very kind to meet with George and me in between their busy packing schedule. What a delightful couple of hours we had with them.

I've been looking for a blog from them and the internet has prevailed. What an adventure they are having. Check out their blog here.

Garden delights and more

I picked my first tomato and cucumber today when I arrived home from work.

I did a search for Mark Cesark after meeting him in Colorado. He is the husband of a friend of mine. I found this video web site. What a creator he is. I have a lot of respect for him and his work.

Tales from the ranch

Back home to realty. What a shocker. After being around so many creative souls, I'm on a real downward spiral. Here is a photo of some of the work I did at the ranch.
The main reason though it is such a downer to be home though is because of this photo. This is the view out the back door of my friend, K's house. Who wouldn't want that view?

The sweet smell of encaustic

Oh, my gosh--what a day. Learning new techniques and working on new projects. I've gotten 7 small boards done, all quite different. Met some great people also.

Tonight 3 lectures all fantastic. Amy Arbus  is teaching a photography class. Check out her work here. Stephen Hogbin is teaching the class that George is taking on conceptual woodturning. And Nathan Lynch is a sculptor who gave an extremely funny presentation. I love his bird images. He also did  very funny wheel project where he drug a wheel around different cities over a period of 4-5 years. 

Painting at Anderson Ranch

I survived my first day of encaustic painting. Am ready to hit the sack and start all over again tomorrow.  Learned some great new techniques. I completed 4 small paintings that I'm happy with. They are all just experiments though. 

Hives

I came home from work yesterday, scratching all the way. As I peeled off my clothes, I discovered that I was infested with hives!! I could just watch them popping out. Bizarre! Applied cortozone cream and took Benadryl. I was out of it all day today also as that drug really wipes me out. The hives are gone though now.

Anderson Ranch Arts Center

I'm trying to get ready to head off to Anderson Ranch Arts Center at the end of next week. I have lots of things to pack up. Last year George and I drove his little Miata and I ended up riding home with a box of my artwork squeezed beneath my feet. This year we're taking my car. I had to borrow supplies from fellow artists also last year. This year I'll be prepared. Besides taking a heat gun and electric pancake griddle, I'll take the usual supply of glue, paints, brushes and collage materials.

Check out this video of Anderson Ranch. Parts of this were shot last year while we were at the ranch. There are a few glimpses of George on it.

B & B weekend

George and I drove to Burlington, Wisconsin the last weekend in May to spend time at the Hillcrest Inn and Carriage House bed and breakfast. This photo is from our first breakfast there. We took an interim bed & breakfast innkeepers workshop throughout the weekend. Mike & Gaye were wonderful hosts/instructors. We throughly enjoyed ourselves and learned lots of information. Stopped at Shake Rag Alley arts center in Mineral Point, WI on the way home. I had originally signed up for a class there that weekend but have postponed that.

Des Moines flooding

George and I went to the ArtDive for a gallery opening last night then because we were so close to the river, drove around to check out the flooding. We hadn't heard that the levy had broken near Birdland Park so were quite surprised to see all the water there. Surprisingly though very few sightseers. I learned my lesson after the flood of '93 and got my basement waterproofed and 2 sump pumps installed. So far, so good. No water in my area.

NBA Biplane Expo

George and I took 4-day weekend last weekend and drove to the NBA Biplane Expo in Bartlesville, OK . We had planned to fly in his classic Cessna but with all the bad weather we've been having in the midwest, that was not an option.

There were very few planes at the Expo but we kept busy on the drive to and from by stopping by the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute, Kansas, the Little House on the Prairie homestead site near Indepenence, Kansas and Woolaroc Ranch, Museum and Wildlife Preserve outside Bartlesville. This is the country estate of the former Frank Phillips, the founder of Phillips Petroleum Company. I especially enjoyed Laura Ingles homestead and the Safari Museum.

Sex and the City

Just saw Sex and the City with my good friend, Susan. Makes me really miss my old group of 4 friends.

Something that had never happened to me before happened tonight. As I was giving the theater cashier my money, she said, "We have a senior discount for people 55 and older." I was so caught off guard that I said, "Oh thanks, I'll remember that in a few years." I kept thinking about this throughout the movie though as I watched all the glamour and glitz. I know I don't look anything like those girls!!! but I just had my hair done this week and didn't think I looked that bad!!! The other part of me though wanted to revel in the fact that I was close to reaching the age where I could get a discount!!