Thrift Shop Art

Click on the title and take a trip to The Wurst Gallery...Spend some time with the befores and afters...and then...make some art. No more excuses. Look at this stuff! What a riot!

Share is having some snow

Hi Share!

Busking in Boca

We needed a break today. I said, "Beach." Tom said, "Beach." We packed up the instruments and drove to the pavilion at the end of Palmetto.

Played for half an hour or so before the nice ranger lady told us we had to stop. "You're getting money," she said, "the City has rules against that." "That's not our fault," said Tom, "we're not that good." What a scream.

Ha. We left with a bunch of ones and a $20. Whoo hooo!

hot tomatoes 

glades profusion 

burned sammy 

Fold-out book. 4 x 4 1/2". Handmade blockprinted cover/Mi Teintes; Pentalic leaves. 

Small Sketch book 4 1/2 x 6". Mi-teintes cover; 5 signatures of Pentalic.

Book #1. 3 1/4 x 4 1/2" Handmade block printed paper cover; Pentalic leaves. 

Final Caring Core ATCs In

Well, now. Aliza. These are pretty amazing ATCs. My husband almost passed out laughing at Camp Cupcake. He says you're brilliant and all that jazz. I had to feed him to make him stop. HA!

So, at any rate, the first official ATC swap of Caring Corers is complete. And I am delighted. Scroll down to see ATCs of Aliza, Liz, and Jeanne. Cool. Nothing like cheese food here, kids!

"Camp Cupcake" by Aliza 

"Piggy" by Aliza 

pastel blonde 

red slabs - surfboards for sale - pastel 

Recipe for pastels

Sinopia is a marvelous resource.

Pastels

A favorite medium of mine is pastels. Chalk. Love it. A few years ago, I realized that I needed to GET MORE. That day, I took myself on an Artist's Date to Jerry's Artarama, and what ho! They were having a sale! Still, I spent a small fortune. Can't help myself.

I should just commit myself to making my own pastels. I make my oil paints. Just getting lazy in my old age...and there are already some terrific pastels on the market!

So...here are a couple of little drawings. One, inspired by the sight of my tomatoes in the screen room, ripening in the winter sun...and the other, well... A little boy was snatched in Miami yesterday...and found last night...and I've been seeing his face every couple of hours. The last time...I was in the middle of sketching something else...and that face was so dear.

Back to work!

sunset 

blind contour #1 - pastels 

all red DADA 

Liz's ATCs 

Spray booth DADA 

Raffia DADA 

DADA Themed Pieces

This is DADA week in one of my online groups. My nervous system came up with a few things. Using raffia and yarn, chicken wire and a filthy spray booth filter, and a seed pod wrapped in plastic, I tried to give myself over to DADA for a few minutes.

Round square #3 

Round square #1 

Natural dyes (turmeric, sedge, tea, onion skins, earths) on California fleece 

Slubby handspun square 

Working the Wool

Alrighty. I admit, it's hard (for me) to work with fiber when it's 95 degrees in the shade, but this cold weather has me hunkered down on the couch surrounded by baskets of wool and UFOs. The Great UnFinished...ahhhhh...I think the time has come to but some of these projects to rest.

The next few pictures are of some of these works in progress. With the exception of the round squares, most of the fiber was dyed and spun by yours truly.

1st SE Pickin' & Fiddlin' Contest

was a great success! Every winner got a good prize. A fiddle, bows, a mandolin, a couple of banjos, tuners, music stands, tickets to a great Blues club, fiddle lessons from a famous fiddler, t-shirts, hats, strings...all useful, valuable stuff. Our judges were all highly regarded musicians and promoters...and one "real live celebrity"...Bob Carlin.

Our "staff photographer" has yet to edit the 500 some pictures she shot at the stage. I'll be posting the best of the best as soon as she gets them to me.

Jeanne's Mandala ATCs from our 1st Swap 

This Weekend

So...here we are, facing down the weather...eye to eye with the rain gods. I'm supposed to be emceeing the Pickin' and Fiddlin' contest at this SoFla Folk Festival all weekend. Sure, I'll be playing a string-band demonstration here and there and we play the last dance of the festival, but mostly, I'm at the contest stage.

Promises to be exciting either way...at the festival...great musicians...great judges, and the dancers! I love to play for dancers...what a blast. And if we're rained out...heck, the musicians come back to the house and we jam here! Last night, we played a dance after a houseconcert by Bob Carlin...and tonight, he was here, and both guest rooms are full of musicians, so we had a heck of a jam!

Our fingers are crossed...all these cool prizes to give away! The contest must go on!

Cracker Architecture

Crazy for Cracker. Mmmm. The Dogtrot is a very cool design. Literally. Porches front and back. Central breezeway between equal sizes "pens"...kitchen in a separate box behind the house. Okay. I want one.

Work in Progress: Handknit "egg sweater" of handdyed, handspun wool (and some chenille).  

Cracker and a Devil Box Player

So, she says I look like - just that. And one headed for high country. She may be right. Yessm. Yessuh. See http://www.flyingturtles.itroubador.com for proof.

The thing is...where in the hail is the high country in Florida?

Ahhhhhhh.

ATC 5 - 1/7/05 (traded)

ATC 6 - 1/7/05 (traded)

ATC 4 - 1/7/05 (traded)