Cold Wax Update

I added more color to the background the other day...then last night i finally decided what my painting's subject was going to be when i saw an egret at the reservoir...
i have always associated egrets with calm and peaceful

so i was again finally able to work on the painting some tonight...i have the egret begun...

there is a lot more to do to just the painted portion but i need to add some more texture to the overall piece and i needed to know where the bird was going to sit...
i just happened to have some green in the piece...hmmm was that a subconscious plan...muuuaaaawwaaaaaa hahahaaa
probably not

so stay tuned for the next phase of the project

PLUS

tahdah...soon will be the launching of my new website!!!!!

i could not do the site myself...i tried
i totally do not speak web design...and it was beyond frustrating for me
so
admiring a fellow artisan who does web design as well
Christy Sobolewski at www.gulfspite.com
she has all the features within her site i was desiring...so...i asked would she design me a site
and i am SOOO excited ...she would!

I will have my classroom and all my information in one place!
which i think is awesome
plus
i don't have to wonder if the site i join and begin to have host my classes is going to change or die...
so
soon will be the unveiling of my beautifully designed site...

thank you for coming by have a great weekend!

Cold Wax Project

At http://www.gulfsprite.com Christy has a coldwax class going on...I have my project going...

There is a layer of color and papers...then this layer of color and wax for texture...

usually...i go a little too dark on my backgrounds so i am working them reversed with this project....i am not sure that the project will turn out any better than the other way around

but it is an experiment just the same.

Christy has many videos for this class...ALL informative and inspirational..i really like adding my textures in the wax..quick! and the wax smells so nice.

use oils with this technique and i was glad that Christy uses the water oils first it is what i had

but i am sensitive to regular oil paint so it is water oils for me...

working with the cold wax is less hazardous i think too and the effects are creamy and deep...

i really like this new technique a lot!

check her class out though...you will not be disappointed and reasonably priced too!!!

Sunday Snaps

Last night it was clear enough to get a picture of the moon...i think it turned out pretty cool..

isn't this a pretty mushroom...i like the fringe of black and that it has irregular edges...

hope you are having a great Sunday!

GAH!

SEE this STUFF!!!

HAIL!

By the time I got the camera out and going most of it had already begun to melt and the rain had begun...my beautiful drying bean crop... but I am not the only one suffering a loss this year!
This struck at 2:30 this morning!

Craig looked though and luckily not all of the pods were knocked off..maybe where they weren't all the way finished drying and still leathery helped keep more on the stem.
what also helped was no wind!

I AM thankful though it was not the golf ball size or larger hail being reported in other areas.
This was about the size of a dime. Lasted 4 minutes...but torment just the same.

I hope for this week no more of this stuff and they can combine me and be done!

Yesterday Hannah and Charlie began painting the backgrounds for sack to take trick or treating.
they made a huge mess and had a great time...i won't put up pictures of each step but i will place their final project bag up when we are done.

Have a great weekend!

Retreat!

Hannah, 5 and Charlie, 3 came to grammas on a painting retreat, as rewards incentive to go to school without much problem over the week. Here we are practicing dipping brushes into water and paints and painting on store bought color book pages...they caught on fairly quick!

Hannah loves pigs and one of her favorite cartoons is Olivia, she is a pig...remember Hannah is 5

Charlie's image undertook the look of a bird!!! do you see it...he is 3!

they painted going on 3 hours and didn't get tired..we ran out of paint...i mixed up some goldens for them but that contains lead so i didn't do that for very long...

but they learned how to handle a brush fairly well and how to not get the brush toooo wet when you want color...

they did better than some of my older students for focusing!

She is very much looking forward to next friday too...:) So is Charlie but I really think Hannah will equate it more special if she gets to come alone...we will see...

Hannah has Autism and going to school she likes to do

but the socializing with the children kind of freaks her out a little

it is a small class and she has been with these children for 2 years in pre-preschool and preschool...so she will readjust in a week or so more...i hope...

thanks for coming by!

Reorganizing

Been spending a few days...okay all week trying to reorganize the pigpen studio...big job!
Here is the view to show one side of the room.

This view shows the other side of the room...i have a lot of stuff..

this table shows a panel i have just picked up that is going to be refurbished and broken into 2 windows...

this is my painting area...

and this table shows my station set up for working on these platters...still in progress...

this is what i have been up to...and since i haven't blogged in a few days might have even been a week i thought it was time to check in and go visit y'all too and see what you have been up to..

thank you for dropping by!....(i had no mispellings!!! that rarely happens!)

VENtiNg..

Grass cutting is rained out...isn't that a shame...LOL

enamels are finely crushed glass with ores and minerals for color striking
(like stains)
but they have more flux added to the mix
so the burnoff is achieved at a lower temperature
keeping a good color

I am finally ready to begin firing platter 1...the kiln is loaded and vented
I have to vent out the nasty burnoff of the oils...venting protects my coils
it ramps up reeeeaally slow...to prevent the glass crashing

a success would be i am done

this rarely happens
i am always missing places and need to reload the enamels and fire again
but
should i have good coverage
i will finished with platter 1

here is platter 1...enamels can be loaded from either side

sometimes i do both sides

and i might yet with this one

that gives a lot of depth to the pieces

i begin with the loading on the backside

this way

if i want to add more i load from the front

or

it might be done

then the trace lines are fresh looking which are on the front

so we will know more tomorrow when i can open the kiln...

thanks for following along...

Late...

Can you see the babies? This is a really late hatch..they can't be more than a couple of days old. Momma was carefully watching out for mr hawk..while the babies were probably warming their little feet in the sunny dirt.

Here it is cooling off so much and supposed to be below temperatures this week

rain on the way...there is still lots of cover so they might do okay

and they are in our beans which are weeks away from harvest...

i hope they grow...

Craig spotted them for me to get their picture....i was ready...or i surely would have missed them...

if i can enlarge them just a little more

they will be the next pheasant platter...

i am STILL enameling the platters!!

i haven't fired again though so nothing to show...

thanks for dropping in and have a fabulous day!

holiday too if you celebrate those kinds of things...

Call The Girls...!

I foresee fun with this feature! 3 pictures stitched together for a panorama!!! Today...


I am still enameling the platters I began the other day of the turkey and pheasants...it is also cow check day where I help out River Hills Ranch...okay gonna go check the cows...I check the east of town ones first because they are furthermost away...everything is fine..


go to the pasture south of me and I see the girls need mineral...again...out of habit i look in the creekfeeder...empty...look around...humph they came and took the weanling's out...don't need to call in about creekfeed...turn around and the tank is empty...go trip the breaker


sometimes it trips itself and is a simple fix
nothing
check the oil
this is a really old well and an even older engine to get the water up...oil is fine
hmmm


call nick...the electrician
cause i sure don't know what i am doing


nick arrives


by now the girls are hovering around me
they are thirsty and wondering when i am turning this rig on...


nick looks over everything
welll...he says...(and i am lucky to get that much he doesn't say a whole lot)
you need to call REA...the wires into the fuse box were fried


oh
i guess that was in the storm the other night i heard a really loud thunder crash and knew it was close
i guess it was real close


yyyeeep...(tell ya he is really chatty)


so he gives me REA number i call them...
gonna be an hour


okay


plus once this thing does get started it isn't the fasted fill tub in the world..so
to contend the situation i go to my place
(just a mile)
and retrieve an old tank i used a few years ago for a planter
(when i was into gardening...i have since outgrown that for awhile anyway)
it has holes drilled in the bottom for drainage
so
i ducktape over those and put the tank under another water source further over in the pasture
a old fashioned pump...not that old a fashioned i didn't have to hand prime it or anything
just turn on...
called the girls
that is in cow language
mmaaaaoooooooooooooooo

and the picture above is the wait line at the tank...
aren't they cute


and courteous too

thanks for helping out today!
have a nice holiday weekend!!

A Heavy Cross..

The Cross installation is complete at Mount Funeral Home in Platte, SD

Jerod Meryerink fabricated the metal frame...and I really like how he treated the metal giving the art and craft flavor we were looking for in the overall effect.

Mark is going to add a couple more lights in the center to help illuminate the glass...nothing to stark

the reds pick up the light lovely the browns are a little heavier and are resisting the lights right now.

Project completed...

ps.

Mark plans to repaint this wall

when we began the project the cross was to hang ON the wall

a happy mistake decided the cross frame should be installed INTO the wall

so some emergency drywall adjustments have occurred and the blemishes haven't been erased yet..

this is a rather large cross 5ft x nearly 4ft...hefty iron metal unit as well

and they made the back the entrance to place the lights so no removing the glass unit each time a bulb dims...

thanks for looking and following along!