Images of TX

I have been snapping pictures of just about everything I find down here in Texas
there is still a lot of critters indicative to both SD and TX...that being the case a lot of what I am getting pictures of will find their way into future artwork.

Some for paintings be it either canvas or glass and I have a few murals planned for the new store. Here is a shy longhorn calf peeking around momma.


And I KNOW these are bad critters when they grow up
wild pigs get to be 600 and upwards of over 1000 pounds as an adult
and they are destructive and MEAN they WILL kill you
but aren't they cutest little critters as babies.

they stood by the road for the longest time
well until i got the camera ready then they toooook off
and they are FAST too!

I do not know where momma was but i guarantee if i had gotten out of the truck she would have made her presence known!

The BIG Lamp Reveal

Here are the final results of the lampshade and the story I hope to portray.
As you saw in the last post the paint is fired onto the lamp from the inside. This means there is NOTHING painted on the outside of the lamp. You gaze at the image when the lamp is lit. Unlit it just appears as shadows. Lamps are incredibly hard to photograph...and then I went through a gazillion images until I decided on these.
The first image shows life on the trail for the homesteader pioneering west to their piece of land...indicated with a Homestead Ticket..which is shown in the next image.

Along the way many didn't make it...indicated with the memory of a grave marker. Other places on the lamp are snippets of journals, as many pioneers documented their journey.
The grass was tall in these times usually 6 ft!

If you look at the left portion of this image and the right portion of the next image you get a sense of the 4th side..."the sod family" which is being featured in a guest post with Anne Gaal. Until then I promised to show that side (in its entirety)



In the meantime here is side 3 the journey made with the wagon, that often was home a bit longer after they made their destination.

Life as a pioneer was extreme.
Extreme bouts of weather
Extreme losses
Extreme dangers

I live in relative comfort in SD and I can admit I would not have fared well as "pioneer stock"
I probably would have made it some how...but I would have complained a LOT!

Reverse Shade Continued

okay well it has been so long!! I reversed the top and bottom image
the line image is the shade after it has been fired from the matte step and I am now ready to begin adding color

i know it has been forever!
getting to know the new camera has been a challenge for me
that coupled with the Internet issues here in Texas
i have suffered quite the patience curve
we bought a booster antenna and that has helped
some

the color palette is fairly limited that i work with
these low firing paints are extremely expensive
so i chose colors that could be mixed and thus i have a fair palette to work with....

these were the colors i used
the green, pink, orange, white, red and blue
all mix well with squeegee oil that makes a paint like elixir
fired onto the crystal



and you get the top picture
not this one
the painted side fired and ready to look at through the other side!

well I have since finished the lamp
so look for that blog post

i learned that with a slow connection
a person MUST change the size on their pictures

i am spoiled, apparently, in SD to high speed internet
I didn't know

but I have missed y'all and hope you have a good new beginning to another year
:)