Dig Two...

My second dig for re-posting involves working with an artist from Rapid City, Betty is all I remember for her name. She was building the windows for the church in Chamberlain SD and I was commissioned to paint the Saints portraits onto glass.

Beginning with a charcoal sketch I make the size portrait I need to fit the blank template I was given from Betty, that should fit in place into her window panel when I am done.

Once I have the sketches approved I cut the glass blank and begin my series of stains and firings in the kiln.

Each application of stain is a mixture of ground glass, flux, minerals and ores that produce the pigment, a binding agent mixed to a consistency that is spreadable with a brush, applied to the substrate and fired in the kiln to 1300 degrees F. You can tell when the firing is complete when the "paint" melts into the glass by it glossing.

Here Saint James has all his firing done in stains for his portrait we have to add enamels one of the predominant features that can't be ignored is his red cloak. Stain isn't fired in red so I have to move into the enamel field

Same process affords the above finished piece. Red is a really tricky color to achieve...I ended up applying this mineral 4 times...1 second too long it will evaporate...timing is everything when messing with enamels.

Saint Anthony didn't require any enamels. They wanted him to keep his minimal appeal as a monk, so he is all stains.

Thank you for joining me again in Seth's Part Two of digging for treasure. I have enjoyed meeting a lot of the artsits off his list...and if you are new to the game...go visit Seth and run through the list..you will not be disappointed!

http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your bloghopping...get ready with a beverage and a good seat!

Prairie Brand...

Cruising through the fields Craig is pointing out all the pretty wild flowers...here is one....isn't it preeetty...

they used for toilet paper!!!!!

Yep,
I was not impressed either
however,
it is really soft...I didn't give it the old try and I am taking his word on it..but it was the favorite "brand" the Indians used and the wagoners coming west...
wagons HO!

Oh I so would be on that first train back East...IF I was still in the wagon to begin with!

I am much more comfortable at being the pioneer woman for today ...thank you very much!

This southern accent gets me in all kinds of trouble...but the people traveling through like to think of me as the true pioneer woman for today...
give me a chuckle and earns me a tip
so
anyway I can please the crowd works..

Earning Their Badge...

A day in the Studio...




These little ladies belong to GEMS a version of Girl Scouts. Their leaders called and book an afternoon of art to earn their art badge.



After a lecture about how many different ways their is to express one's self in an artistic manner..and showing them the bazillion books I have on the subject...and showed them some of the examples I had laying around the room..I gave them a box of stamps, pads and pens and told them to play...

Their efforts have earned them an art badge and made them enthusiastic to their now creative outlet through art...even that thank you note to grandma..they learned this was art..well as well as polite!

they went away happy..

Some Stuff ...

LOTs goes on around here! If you remember the Creamery
(the gallery where I worked in town and showcased) closed.
I scored this really cool old case. The kind that you see pictured in the 1800's stores...perfect to showcase work and not keep it boxed up forgotten.


Then, harvesting the wheat has started...this is the combine showing what a dusty job it is!!








Here i am showing the difference in harvested and still standing.
They are nearly finished our crop...it produced fair numbers better than some of the other seed brands which is good...they might consider buying ours next year :)








Thanks for stopping in !

Buried Treasure...

I am participating in Seth's buried treasure dig, where we re-post from our archives, what we find interesting, or are particularly proud of.
I have to post it sorta early...I don't know how to delay the post
and I won't be able to post it tomorrow and be on time for the activity...so hope I am not stepping out of line...but here I am..now.

If you are here, most likely you came from Seth's blog http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/
if you are checking in because you list me...then GO check out Seth...don't stop with this post go digging all the way back to the beginning of his blog..he is most interesting.

A lot of us are new to the blog thing...but many of you are veterans..I am not too long here however, I seem to have a fair amount of posts.

I tend to only go but so far into a blog that I am visiting.
Looking mostly at the current listings and rarely going all the way through them
NOT because I am not interested in the work...but because I have only but so much time I can spend at the computer and still have myself, a productive day.
The treasure hunt will give us a little glimpse into the distant past.

I am re-posting my first post.
This picture is kinda special in that it is the first canvas piece I had done in many years. I had been focusing primarily in the glass medium...ANYthing working with glass.

I was sorta intimidated to even post the piece, not being very sure about the quality of the work after so many years.
I began working in charcoal/watercolors/and oils.
Since this post I have lightened up a lot...and I am not so shy about posting work.

This collage is worked on canvas. The background is blended inks. The added elements of the rocks and fish are on watercolor paper/watercolor and ink. Then i added a fun element for movement ..the fiber yarn.

The subject is the Walleye.
This is a vibrant piece and I haven't had a lot of success in photographing it. The original post shows a washed out version and this isn't a whole lot better...but, it IS better than the original post.

Thank you for dropping in.
I hope you look through my blog, and see I am getting better explaining what I have done with the work I post, trying especially to explain the processes I work with the glass, as many of y'all don't work in glass.

I will be cruising by to check out what you re-posted.
Thank you Seth for hosting this event!

Paper Kaleidoscope Class

We had 22 participants ranging ages of 4 to 12. Seen here is my niece Kristy, helping one of the younger students get going putting their scope together. They we all very patient as we went around to each one.



They all had a big time, and did so very well!

Sure wish their little designs showed up in the picture. They all shared the colors and markers well and made what was in front of them work for them...I was pleased no whining.

It didn't take the full 2 hours...so I read to them the instructions for some of the other projects in that book
then they studied the book, looking through it until the parents arrived.

All in all a good experience.

Western Living

Elizabeth at http://thelastdoordownthehall.blogspot.com/ likes to introduce us to some of the older establishments in her area, as she has today.

Which has prompted me to post a homestead we came across when showing the area to our guest this week.

In our travels we went through Ideal, SD we are talking a small town, and I think this is the last of it, because there wasn't anything else to see there!

Notice how they curved the roof line up, and how close they built it to the ground!...there were 4 other to the ground buildings on the place, it is being used for pasture now.

In the day though, this was a large prosperous family.

They had a lot of wood in this house...hard to come by and expensive!

Not to mention several windows.

Then the cost to have raised the other buildings, so this family was doing well.

Or brought wealth with them from the East.

Our guest were a SIL Donna, her daughter our niece Kristy and her daughter our grandniece, Kendyl...they had a big time as did we..all together a whirlwind of 4 days!!

BUT, I just discovered...I DON'T work tonight!!! and I thought I did..so YAY!

thanks for dropping by.

An Award!

Tracy Kaufman...http://tracykaufman.blogspot.com/ Kindly awarded me this honorable award. Thank you ms Tracy!

The wording for this award is as follows . . .
The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.
I am to deliver this award to eight blogger, that is where it becomes difficult. I have found so many bloggers that have inspired me so this is the difficult part, yet one that is important so visitors who haven't heard of them might become familiar to their world.

In no particular order:

http://redfishartwork.blogspot.com/ Vickie

http://jkbeesartopia.blogspot.com/ Janet

http://distractedbydesign.blogspot.com/ Carmen

http://dneese.blogspot.com/ Grrl

http://lindart.blogspot.com/ Linda

http://lindavincent.blogspot.com/ Linda

http://gaalcreative.blogspot.com/ Anne

http://greenwomandesign.blogspot.com/ Mary

I encourage you to visit these blogs...I have listed a diverse group...their artwork alone is worth visiting but read about them too, they are so interesting to get to know.

Tracy, truly I feel honored with the context this award has been delivered to me. Thank you!

Rain & Wheat

Raining all day...the crops are happy but my wheat isn't..too much wet and it causes it to lay down. See how the hay in the foreground is laying over...the wheat up on the hill is doing the same thing.
If it doesn't stand back up..it can rot.




Here is an attempt to get back to painting. A journal page about droopy wheat.
I also did some letter practicing..not a lot the pen was picking at this paper..I didn't gesso and it makes a difference!

Having a good stand doesn't guarantee a decent crop. We were predicted a 60-80 bushel harvest which would have been nice.

Hopefully the sun will come out and it will stand back up and do it drying...another week and it should be ready to harvest. If it doesn't I suppose it will make some mighty nice hay for the cows.

At least something will eat!

...A Situation....

We had us a situation...

a cow situation...last evening.

Two momma and calf pairs escaped into the wrong pasture.

Possibly they are mmmoooooving to California.

They noticed Mabel had to fight that strong headwind during the Winter month, so planning for better weather they are leaving now!

The little girls want to break into films...they think they are a LOT cuter than the ones that were auditioning for that ..commercial..