Artorama

Snapple cap fact #99: You burn 20 calories per hour chewing gum. Enjoy the Dover clip art.

It is hard for me to put my art on here. In a workshop most of the people around you are supportive of what you are doing. When you put your art in public, it is out there for people to judge. At my age I have to be able to take whatever critisim comes my way. This is not for everyone and I know it. Just like clothes and food and religion, everyone has their own way of taking in the world and expressing themselves. This is mine. For now. I am always changing. That's why the title of the blog is Artorama. One day I am doing fine art, ie Oil Painting, the next day I am cutting up tin cans or soldering microscope slides. I cannot figure out what I want to do, so I do it all. For a while I just worked on perspective with a pencil and pad. 2 years ago I bought a bird bath to mosiac and I am just now getting around to doing it. I am supposed to be getting ready for a barn/garage sale. I guess it will be in October. It's a better time of year, since the mosquitos will

Real Fact #339: There are more doughnut shops per capita in Canada than in any other country.

Here's something for you to make.

Last year when we went to Victoria...I think it was last year.. Maybe it was the year before last... Who doesn't like Matisse

This is one of Keith's pieces. I attended his wire workshop earlier this year. Besides Micheal deMeng , he was one of the most interesting and nicest instructors I've ever had at VR . The last day of class he wore a Man Kilt . He will be teaching a dual class with Micheal deMeng at ARtfest this year. Wish I could go. It should be interesting. Their styles are so different, yet each are extremely talented.

Nina Bagley taught us how to make a fiber bead. This is what the finished product looks like. Darned if I can remember how to do it... The lady who made is 80 years old. She makes her own wool in Wisconsin. She is just as sharp and vibrant as the women in the class who were half her age. I hope she continues to make art and stays healthy and happy.

This is Gordy the cat. I adopted him after Cecilia asked me to go see him at the county shelter. He had been in a cage for 9 months. Nobody wanted him. He was too old. He was so sweet. He is a large cat. Not fat, just big. Anyway, I took him home. That was about 5 or 6 years ago. Gordy is probably the best cat I ever had. No, he is the best cat. I should tell you he has all his claws. Never uses them. He is very vocal. Talks all the time. He likes meat. Comes over to the refrigerator and wants little itty pieces of meat, the size of my fingernail ... He prefers red meat, but will eat chicken and tuna and sausage. He'll even eat cheese. He will come if you call him by name. His stomach moves to the left and right when he runs. He loves to be groomed. I tooked 10 lbs of hair off of him this morning. I can trim his nails myself because he lets me. I have never harmed him. I am very careful. The vet recommends he has his teeth cleaned, but I think he is too ol

This is the newest cement addition this year, besides the 2 ton statue on the screened in porch. Isn't he sweet? He sits on the back stairs with his carrot welcoming everyone. Ellen said he looks like he came out of Alice in W0nderland. He does look pretty regal. I really like him. I will take good care of him. He will have to be moved so he is not hit with the plow in the winter.

I was in the back today discussing thin set mortar with Ellen when she spotted this huge butterfly by the flowers. We both went for our cameras. It hung around for a few minutes waiting for us to photograph it on the Phlox. She said she gets really big butterflies like this at her house but does not know what they are. I am working on a mosiac which I was going to do 2 years ago... finally am starting the bird pond. I've never done thin set mortar before. Lets see how it works. I cannot find my nips anywhere. I even straightened out the barn a little looking for them.

Every year something wierd attaches itself to the back door. This year it was this spotted white moth... Of course it matches our black and white floor and black and white dog...

There is no question, this is art, eh?

These are more photographs of Astro. He was pretty excited when I saw him so I did not get a chance to take better shots of him. He was in good spirits whe n I visited him and he was really happy he had a nice new bone to eat. Astro is a special dog.

This is Kaylee. She lives next door. She barks a lot and has a lot of energy but once she settles down is the sweetest dog. She gives these little kisses with her huge tongue. She's very athletic, so she's on the trim side, not like Astro or Howie. I think Kaylee has papers, but she won't be breeding as she's been fixed. The 3rd picture is Karen's feet( nice white castle t-shirt) and in the background, on the floor is Astro, Howie's brother. I gave him one of Howie's peanut butter dog bones and he went crazy for it. He is just as sweet as Howie.

In addition to cats, there are 3 dogs, I only photographed Gino (or is it Geno?), the other 2, Pearl the rat terrier and Deacon were in the yard outside. The cockatiel and zebra finches were hard to photograph. They were delightful to watch. The artwork is Emmas. She drew this portrait of her cat Eddie, who is now dead. She wrote a really cool book about all the animals in her house. I met Eddie before. He used to be really fat before Cecilia took him in from her brother. He was a lover. As he got older, he got thinner and weaker. I think he lived a good life with the Browne family.

I went to Cecilia's House the other day. While she and her house are always interesting,I like visiting because she has neat animals. Mr. L, sitting in the window is really big, but you can't see it in this photograph. He kisses thier daughter with his tongue. I've never seen a cat groom a human on the face. Nino is the cat in the bowl. His coat is just beautiful. All of them are just precious. May they all live a healthy long life.

This is Dufield Pond. It belonged to the owners of our home 160 years ago. Lots of people go there to fish. The second photograph shows you where a frog should be, not a can of corn a fisherman left behind. What's the deal with litterbugs? The Dufield Pond has stories behind it. One of the stories I heard has something to do with a horse and buggy which was trying to cross the frozen pond, when it collapsed through the ice and people died. It's sort of sketchy, I don't really have all the details, but have heard it several times since I've lived in the Dufield House. When I have a garage sale this year, I'll see if I can get the details. Lots of people tell me stories about the house when they stop. All of the houses around the pond can use the property to the best of my knowledge. Only 26 acres is open for public use. It is a peaceful place with a lot of nature.

Jacob

Everywhere we went we saw these dolls dressed in folk outfits. I remember getting some when I was a little girl. My grandfather, who lived in Prague, must have walked past the same stores 45 years ago and thought: Hey, I'll send my 3 little grandchildren some Czech dolls, won't that be fun? Actually, they were the "you can't play with that doll". The doll was stored away somewhere and not until after my mother died did I even get the doll. I have the doll my mother played with when she was a girl in Rouen France. There is some real human hair worked on the doll's head... we always thought someone must have put the hair on there for her. Was it her hair? Her mothers? We don't know. This is what happens when everyone in your family is dead. Lots of mysteries.

I just loved the form these seats showed at the Prague train station. I sat in them and they are comfortable. Jake and I wanted to flatten out some of our really cool Czech coins on the train tracks. (no Euro coins in CR yet) When I put a bunch of them down, I guarded them for a while so nobody would steal them... then I got distracted and when I went back to look for them someone went down onto the tracks and stole them. Only left the lesser coins. So not only did I not get my coins smashed, I had no coins. Of course the American coins were left there... Czech thieves.

This is the Burg family taking a rest in Budapest. It wasn't often we would just sit down because we all wanted to see everything we could while we were there. It is not as "pretty" as Prague, nor are the people easy to look at. They have a rough look ,not the soft features like the rest of eastern europe. It's hard to describe. It's as though we were in Siberia... Really, compared to the Czech Republic, it was an adjustment. The older Hungarians are mad they have to work for money now. Under communisim, they went to work, did nothing and got paid. Sort of like some lazy americans who work for our government... I don't know where Sara is in this picture, maybe she's next to me taking the same shot? From left: Adam, his brother Jacob behind him, Frank, Sandy and Peter. June 2008

Real Fact #309: Ancient Egyptians believed the "vein of love" ran from the third finger on the left hand to the heart. Cool. Another image about cats in honor of Yoki being home.

Snapple Real Fact # 82 August has the highest percentage of births.

Yoki, the cat who escaped from Stu and Susan's house a couple weeks ago, returned. How cool is that? (I told Frank that cat was not dead. I knew she was ok). She was probably being fed by someone. Susan said she looks ok, healthy.. She is so sweet.. Just when life became difficult for Susan, something wonderful happened. Her beloved cat returned. If that isn't Karma, what is? Frank and I are overjoyed for them. We know what it is like to become attached to a 4 legged member of the family. May Yoki live a long healthy life.

This storage box was left behind. I hope the Gregory family is doing well.

The Gregory dairy farm is gone. Ellen and I were lucky to get over there and take some photographs before they demolished the place. We've taken photographs of these deserted barns before. We like documenting they were once here and part of our county. There is a ghost like eerie feeling when you are there... just you and your camera and Ellen and I rarely photograph together, so sometimes I call out for her to make sure somebody did not snatch her or something... There was lots to photograph, but I did not have a lot of room on my camera, so I did not take a lot of pictures... Ellen liked the way the grass got so tall....

It is a sad fact of life: Graffiti is all over Europe. We saw it in Italy, Prague,Paris.. I don't like it. At least here in America it is removed in public places.. I did not edit the shot... I took this one day when we were walking around Budapest just like any other Hungarian.

metal urn, our sitting bench and frank and howie's hammock