Art Show Coming Down

My show at the Dakota Harvest Bakery comes down today. I plan to get busy and photograph the felted landscapes and felted madonnas, along with a bunch of my newest pottery, in a pretty light green glaze, this week. I'll get them listed on etsy just in time for Christmas shoppers. I am also hopeful of revamping my website and adding a shopping cart feature to it - our good neighbor, a computer guru, is taking care of that for me.

After returning from Egypt, I started an Egyptian art unit with my 28 weekly students. We are doing tempera batiks and some clay cartouches in the pottery studio. The more I read about the ancient Egyptian culture the more interesting it becomes...and the connection between the culture and the art is SO pronounced - one could hardly exist without the other. It was fascinating to be in the tomb of one of the high priests from 4,400 years ago and see the relief carvings and learn why they were done...my kids are doing paintings of themselves doing something they enjoy in this life, that they also would like to enjoy in their next life.

One of the boys is hang gliding, Egyptian style - his face is in profile, with a frontal eye and shoulders, but feet and hips in profile. One of the girls is swimming with a long Egyptian gown on, complete with fancy pectoral collar - quite a swimsuit! We are having fun learning about and trying out some of the Egyptian art ideas.

My husband is trying to get a new TV and Wii up and running - I think I'm happy to watch our old one. It has far fewer buttons on the remote. I'm not sure I'm up to learning about the new one. We're hoping to have fun with the Wii at Thanksgiving when family will be here visiting!

Holy Land & Egypt

We're back! It was an awesome trip - to walk where Jesus walked, to see the sights of Jerusalem and Jericho, to climb Mt. Sinai in the dark of the night in order to experience the darkest of skies and a magnificent red sunrise, to float in the Dead Sea (the first time in my life that I have really floated!), to have a boat ride on the Sea of Gallilee,

to pray in the Garden of Gethsamane, to have communion in the Garden Tomb site, to visit Capernaum where Jesus did much of his teaching and ministry, to go to the site of the Miracle of the Five Loaves and Fishes, to see many ancient Roman ruins and aquaducts and learn about their marvelous building accomplishments, to put our feet in the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized, to visit Bethlehem and the place where Jesus was born,

to go to the Dome of the Rock where Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, to learn about the Bedouin nomads, to walk around the top of Masada and see the caves at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, to walk through a tunnel and touch the Western Wall that stood in Jesus' time in Jerusalem, to learn about Hasidic jews and a bit about their lifestyle and culture, to see the Treasury at Petra, one of the Wonders of the World, to see the Sinai and Sahara deserts, to ride in a tunnel under the Suez Canal,

to see the well where Moses met his wife and the site of the burning bush, to see some of King Tut's tomb treasure and his golden death mask, to see the Giza pyramids and the vendors hawking camel rides, horse rides, postcards, head scarfs, beads, photos and other merchandise, to see the Great Sphinx without his nose and beard (because French soldiers used them for target practice), to see reliefs carved in the tomb of a high priest 4,400 years ago in all their original colors, to see places where soldiers and police are everywhere, to experience the culture shock that is Cairo - this trip will be a resource for the future for me, spiritually, emotionally and artistically.

How blessed we are to live in the United States - to have the freedom to travel to other places in the world, to say what we want, when we want and not fear reprisals, to know that in large part our well-being is directly proportionate to how hard we work and what we envision for ourselves and decide to pursue!

Vacation Time

Tomorrow my husband and I follow our hearts to the Holy Land and Egypt. We are going with a group from Fargo (yes, Fargo of movie fame!) and will be seeing the sights and walking where Jesus walked...pretty amazing!

The final Art and Wine Walk of the season was Saturday. I did well - my best wine walk sales of the year so that was really fun. The Dakota Harvest Bakery has a mini-show of my clocks, felted wall hangings, weavings and tapestries up until Nov. 16. When I get home I'll have to get busy and get some new things made for the Holiday Show I'll be in on Nov. 15...it'll be a rush to get things made, dry and in and out of the kiln in 9 days! I seem to do well under some time pressure, but I won't go so far as to say I thrive on it.

I switched out some things at the Canad Inn gift shop this morning - they now have some reversible words, bison, mugs and teacups, necklaces, white dry erase boards, wine charms and 'keep it dry' coasters. I picked up the "God Bless USA" desk top flags and the birdhouses. There probably isn't' a big market for birdhouses in North Dakota in the winter!

We had two of our daughters home for the weekend, along with our two granddaughters, Taylor and Haley. It is always so quiet after they leave...luckily they leave behind some messes so I can be busy with straightening up and putting away - it takes my mind off the quiet for awhile!

Will blog again when we get home - unless I have time and access from abroad! Take care...

Dragon Table Donation - Rescue Mission Silent Auction

I made the decision to donate my Dragon in Suspension Table to the Grand Forks Northlands Rescue Mission for their Silent Auction benefit coming up on Oct. 23. I put a minimum bid on of $200 to cover my expenses. Hopefully, it will bring in more than that as I really believe the Mission's mission is an important one in our community.

The Mission provides support in the way of food and shelter to people who really have no where else to go. The weather is starting to get cold and nasty here in the north country - the mission is warm and safe, with strict rules and help for people to get back on their feet. I give half of my art sales to the Mission - I figure they can put it to good use and it is a way that my God given gifts can benefit others.

Waiting for my art kids to come this afternoon...we are doing take-offs with oil pastels on "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.

What makes me scream? Spiders and centipedes, worms and snakes, deep water and heights, staying alone. Is that everything? It is enough!!!

Landscapes, madonnas & clocks

After an almost - all nighter, I delivered a bunch of new art to the Dakota Harvest Bakery for a mini - show they are having of my work for the next month or so. I also switched out my pottery in the curio there. I'll be displaying tea cups, mugs (large and small), matching pitcher and salt and pepper set and a small herd of buffalo.

On the wall at the bakery, will be five artsy clocks (including three that glo-in-the-dark), several felted landscapes (including a wonderful summer sunset), a felted mother and child wall hanging that I call "Mother's Love", my Creation weaving, a weaving designed to hang in a window that is complete with crystal beads called "Steely Night" and a landscape called "Moonlight on the River". I used metal warp for that one so it is shimmery like the metal trees that I incorporated to embellish the tapestry.

My art kids have been working on a "horse" unit. Hopefully, most of them will finish their paintings this week. They've been practicing drawing horses, and last week concentrated on drawing the head. Most have chosen acrylic paints to use for their finished work, and they are turning out beautifully. We looked at a lot of horses in art as a precursor to the unit. Lots of famous artists have chosen horses as subjects - they are certainly majestic, elegant animals!

Time to pick apples - lots have fallen off the trees already. We plan to make some pies, crumbles and cobblers to put in the freezer to enjoy later this fall and winter. It is great to be able to go to the freezer and get something nummy, but it will be a long day today!

Kelly in Virginia bought my "Is it Wine Time?" ceramic clock this week so it is winging its way to her this weekend. I'm sort of getting into making clocks - both ceramic and with polymer clay - they are fun!

Red buffalo, teacups, jewelry and pottery frames

The red glaze came on Monday evening, and I had the kiln fired up 2 hours later. This morning I opened it to find most of my beads melted onto the kiln shelf. I learned a lot about glazing beads this time around. I wish I didn't have to learn most lessons the hard way...

But, the good news...6 little buffalo, oh, so happily, standing up nice and tall and proud! I love the new glaze - it is a rich dark red, and the feel of it is wonderful, too. I think I'll try it on some mugs and other things next time around. Everything except my jewelry and my biggest bowl came through the firing intact, with no surprises. The biggest bowl has a crack on the foot ring - darn!

I've started working on felting and weaving landscapes inside the new pottery frames...the first one is flax fields, with a river in the middle and a stormy sky. I love the wonderful blue color of flax fields and decided to incorporate it into my landscape. I'm trying to get it finished so I can hang it in at the Dakota Harvest Bakery on Friday (the show will be up until Nov. 17).

Waiting for a glaze...

I ordered a new Cone 6 glaze last week and was really hoping it wouldn't take the week to arrive that the salesperson said it would...but today it has been a week. It is a red shino and I ordered it especially for my little buffalo. Everything else is glazed and sitting in the kiln, so I should be able to fire the kiln up an hour or two after receiving the glaze.

Tomorrow I'm taking some art to the Dakota Harvest Bakery. It will be in a mini-show for about 6 weeks...including the next and last Art & Wine Walk for this season. I made two new clock faces last night, with Sculpey clay so I need to pick up the clock mechanisms for those today. Hard to think that it has been 6 weeks since the Art & Wine Walks for this season started. Time marches on too quickly!

I'm working on a large felted madonna. So far the basic design is complete - the mother and her child are on the background felt. Next I'm going to either felt some shiny fibers on top, or sew them on, but I'm having trouble deciding which colors to use. I hate taking things apart so I'm trying to make the right decision from the beginning. I didn't weave a basic structure first for this one and it has worked out well, except my felting brush is so small that I'm constantly moving it. I could use a large piece of thick foam but I really like using the brush instead.

I'm hoping to post some photos this week of my new glaze and my new madonna!