Ever Done This?

Have you ever done this? Probably not! Tonight I took my bottle of "Poodleskirt Pink" paint and shook it up, but what I did not remember was that I had already taken the lid off. I really should have grabbed the camera to show you, but I was too busy grabbing the "shout" and trying to get the pink paint out of my "let us pray" t-shirt, my capris, and of course, the carpet. All the time I was wondering what the ____ was I thinking???? I do recall daydreaming about how to get rich doing this. First of all, I must stop throwing paint around - although Pollack got rich doing that!

I Believe God's Promises

Cats and Girls

Even though I myself am not a big cat fan, I know there are plenty of people out there who are. So I sort of had to swallow my gag reflex and my pride when I saw these plain gray carved cats at Goodwill. They were crying out for fresh paint and wings. Ta-da! This chorus line of gals is - are? - is? made from wooden appetizer plates. Their heads were where you'd set your drink. I put paper right over the cork and added wire arms. If they had legs I'm sure they'd be kicking up their heels.

Like Mother, Like Daughters

Here we are at Valley Junction last weekend. The turnout was great, we had lots of great feedback and we tried our best to overcome the challenging wind gusts. We look forward to returning there again. Notice our new sign? It says, "Like Mother, Like Daughters." We think it's cool that we are a family who creates together - and wanted to convey that to other people.

Historic Valley Junction Spring Art Market

Sunday, May 18, 11AM - 5 PM
5th Street, West Des Moines

Nearly 100 artists from 8 states will be featured in this year's Spring Art Market. Enjoy musical entertainment throughout the day by The Saylor Hillsliders, Joel Kinser and Dennis Kain and children's art activities. Many of Historic Valley Junction's antique and specialty shops, art galleries, boutiques and restaurants will be open.

I know the map is impossible to see, but our space number is #314. We're on the west side of 5th Street, North of Elm. Looks like we are going to have great weather and we're looking forward to a really fun day!

BBBBBeebeeeeeBirdies!!!

This is my view from my bathroom window. The fuzzy stuff you see in the nest is the tops of baby birds heads!!! I mean it's right out my window in the honeysuckle vine. When I first saw them, their little gold beaks were sticking up in the air wide open, but we must have startled them and they snuggied down in the nest by the time I got my camera. We think they are robins, but we haven't seen Mommy Bird yet. What a thrill it was to discover them. And gosh, they are things with wings, aren't they???!!! God is amazing!

There goes the neighborhood!

Here's a little neighborhood of my new houses. They are canvas, stuffed and painted. Each has an old key attached as well as a fun saying. What you can't see in the picture is a wire swirlie at the peak of each roof. (Ignore my feet!) I hope Valley Junction shoppers like us. We might be crazy to be trying this just a couple weeks before the Iowa Artsfest, but. . . . well, ok, call us crazy!

Little Journals

I had a lot of fun making these journals - no two are exactly alike, although they're all birds or butterfly ladies. I love paper. It's thrilling to me to put different pattern and color combinations together to come up with something new. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

How Does YOUR Garden Grow?

Look what wonderful things have been growing in my garden! Well, I wish I could grow sweet ladies like these....Actually, I grew them inside, at my work table, made out of sample upholstery fabric swatches. Here's my favorite. I'm going to keep her....

I'll have twenty or so of these gals for sale at Valley Junction on Sunday.

Sneak Peak

We are super excited to be going to our first Valley Junction art market this coming Sunday! Hopefully the weather will cooperate! Here's a taste of what will be there:

Good Times. Good Times.

Well, we survived our first art show of the year...barely. There wasn't a whole lot of traffic, which makes it hard to be too sucessful. It was for a really good cause, so it was worth it. And we get to have girl time, which is always an adventure. The outcome of a 'slow show' is usually we get a little silly. We usually feed off of each other. Of course, it's usually something really stupid and probably won't be funny to anyone else. For example, walking around critiqueing each others art and giving 'helpful hints' ,which were hilarious at the time. Like, for instance, we all stood around, thoughtfully studying this bird and Mom says, "I think these legs are a little on the long side" and Jill responds, "Yes, and I do believe that that eye is slightly out of proportion". It's conversation like this that we find absolutely hysterical...
Then, we had a long, deep discussion on hands. We discovered we all have certain coping mechanisms to avoid having to paint a hand, which is REALLY HARD! So, we walked around and documented these rare and sometimes freakish deformities. Hey...you got to be able to laugh at yourself.

We all agreed that this one was the most ridiculous AND the the most hilarious...This is the very rare "long skinny arm with a ball on the end". FYI...this same affliction has affected her feet and legs as well. Poor thing. We wish her well.

This is an example of the 'rounded hump'...it is a throwback to craft shows from yesteryear. I believe there were some bunnies with this affliction and maybe some amish people, too, circa 1986.

This one we have lovingly named "Lobster claw"... it just opens and shuts like a clamp. Open. Shut.
" half-moons" are good for praying and...more praying. That's about it.
Jill often goes for strategic cropping...I think she's a chicken -BOCK, BOCK! another case of "lobster claw"... Look at how well she's CLAMPED onto that piece of string, though. Good job!

"Web hands"- This one kinda freaks me out. It's the stuff bad dreams are made of. That red polish is great, though. And that hair! Delightful!...
Is she hiding something behind her back?!?... No, someone, who shall remain nameless, once again chickened out. BOCK BOCK!
This whole thing had us close to tears. I know. We're wierd. But, hey, it took up at the very least a good 18 minutes out of our long day. Good times. Good times.