Bowls

KJ and JB are hosting a Yard Art Thing that they call "YART" in October and they have kindly asked me to attend and show/sell my stuff. I was (of course) thrilled to be asked and said (offhandedly) "sure".

So then I started thinking "What will I show/sell?". Who would buy my little drawings? If you don't know me you don't know silly Miss Em, so why would you buy a picture of her...or fish with legs...or anything like that. I have my decorated mirrors, and some other stuff but not enought. I felt I needed something additional - so I started making some more paper mache bowls.

Here is the thing - I love paper mache bowls. They are easy and quick-ish, and you can experiment with different papers and different shapes and embellishments. I have a bunch that I made last year and am planning on bringing those to YART but needed more.

So I made more, and here they are.

( As usual, without sunlight, my camera tinges everything yellow since I can't get the flash to work)

here they are from the side....


And from the top. The one in the back is copper leafed and not really completed yet.


These are tissue paper and embellished with beads and handmade cord from ribbon, sewed on with both metal and metallic thread. My sewing machine was like "what's this??"

The one on the right is cloth. Not overly fond of either one of these, I don't like neat edges. But other people (in my house) do like neater edges....


These are my favorites, and of course you can't see them too well. They are brown paper and leaves. I did the first one (on the left) and liked it so took it a step further with the second one by cutting around the shape of the leaves, and putting copper leafing inside. A bit more work to do on these.

What do you think? Too kindergarden? Good for a "YART"?

Mitzvah Friday

Does it count as a good deed if you give up something that you wanted to do in order to do something else?

My MIL is sick again, back in the hospital only this time she's been diagnosed with a possible stomach cancer. Poor thing is not very happy about this; neither are we. So we are giving up the 100th birthday party in Atlanta, and going down to be with her and to see what has to happen next. If chemo - how? How do we support her and be there for her when we live 1500 miles away? We have discussed DH staying there for a few weeks, or even a few months. We've discussed having her come up here for a few months.

I guess we'll figure it all out.

I just hope that she can be comfortable thruout this whole ordeal.

Shades of Sheldon is (are?) worrying me.

So...my good deeds for the forseeable future is being with my MIL - supporting her and DH and myself. And maybe looking for a job.

wow.

Animal Wednesday - from the river

More from the River float on Sunday - as I said - the sky was cloudy and the colors were intense. This river is very close to our house, only a 5 minute drive away, and it's just about my favorite kayaking route. As I was paddling on Sunday I amused myself by thinking about growing up in Brooklyn yet here I am floating down a gorgeous river. Sometimes it amazes me that I'm in this spot - how easy it would have been to stay. Not bad, just different and certainly none of this scenery.

I crept up on this guy and got a good shot. I have to get close with my little point and shoot as it only will zoom 3x. But this guy stayed still until....

...he got spooked and flew away.

This little family was nesting under a bridge. The mama and papa are shown here but when the mama bird left, there were two tiny heads peaking out - so adorable. Hard to get a photo of them, as the river was pushing me along, I had to hold onto the bridge to stay in place and take a picture with my third arm - at least that's what it felt like.

Along the river bank were houses and barns and gardens. These guys were resting on the riverbank until I came close and then they hustled away. Cute picture tho' don't you think?

Have a happy Animal Wednesday!

Sunday River images

River kayaking on sunday - or maybe I should call it river drifting. It was a beautiful overcast warm, slightly breezy day - perfect for being on the river.

These first set of images would be perfect for AW - but I can't resist posting them. The turtles on this river are shyer than the ones on the river we usually go to - less speedboats on this river so they must not be used to noise. But it's a cute series isn't it?




The colors are just wonderful at this time of year - look at these gorgeous reds, yellows, greens - I couldn't get over the richness of it all.



Let's see if Blogger will let me upload a video that I took yesterday....it wouldn't do it last night. Right now it's looking good....it loaded and it's Processing....OK - the twirly thing has stopped so I hope this short drifting video conveys the absolute sense of relaxation I had on Sunday.



In my book, since I didn't think of much else...it was an A+ day

New Books

Where have I been? I am SO hooked on this book series! I heard of it thru a passing reference from Suki - went out and got one...and boom!! have to read them all NOW. Have to watch the HBO series (haven't done that yet - but am gonna do it soon)

I just love a good read series - if you like vampires, and werewolves and things that go bump in the night - this is for you.

I'm going back to see if he bites her....

playing on the plane with colors

Before I left on my last business trip I printed a picture of a barn onto hot pressed WC paper and on the way home worked on it a bit with colored pencils. Just trying some fooling around with colors.

I'm going to do it again with my own barn photo, or maybe a woodcut type picture of a barn. Fun to experiment

Animal Wednesday - Geese

It's just the beginning of August - why are the geese flying in formation?

I've seen two sets already honking their way somewhere. I didn't really check to see if they were going north or south but the geese are the first harbingers of autumn and hey....it's WAY to early for migrating geese. So I will choose to ignore their subtle message and enjoy the heat and August sounds and smells.

Check out these posts with geese messages.... Kates Geese Artwork
and KJ's poem reference

Happy Animal Wednesday all.....