An American Idol Finalist Visits Downtown Toledo...

I can't help myself ~ I love to watch American Idol! Perhaps it's because I love to sing, too ~ the only difference between us, though, is one thing.....I CAN'T sing! Pretty much tone deaf - I still crank up my home stereo to unhealthy audio levels so I can sing my heart out and can pretend I'm actually hitting the notes! BUT I can marvel at the ease with which most of these young people can sing and live vicariously through them.

So Crystal Bowersox came to visit DT Toledo last Friday. I work down there - and the area she stopped in to sing - Levis Square - is located a very few yards from my office! Needless to say, I was in the middle of that huge (for Toledo) crowd! Even the parking garages were crowded - I probably know a lot of those folks in the picture above! We have also had many horrendously cold and rainy days lately, and fortunately, Friday wasn't one of 'em!

I didn't get as close as I hoped to, just pointed the camera in her direction and hoped for the best - but one pic came out really well! She did perform one of her original songs, "Holy Toledo", which I'm starting to really like. It's not just a song supposedly about Toledo - a lot of times it's just a generic song with the city's name stuck in it somewhere - it's a genuinely good song, written with a lot of feeling, and it was inspiring to us, in a city that's going through some very tough times, to hear someone (who no doubt will soon be a star ) in the heart of that city singing that particular song...

...Crystal made it to the Top Two tonight, and we are wishing  her the best!

New Places...

Some of my work is now carried by Silver Lining Gallery in Waterville - I'm in their newsletter this month!~

Opening the treasure chest of local art!

Join Us at the Zoo


The Silver Lining Gallery is participating in the Destination Toledo Summer Expo at the zoo on Monday, May 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We will have a display booth featuring, not only the gallery, but all of the other wonderful businesses in Waterville . Be sure to stop by our booth to say hello and sign up for the Silver Lining Gallery gift certificate drawing.

Waterville Clock Tower

There’s Always Something NEW at the Silver Lining Gallery!


Stop by soon to check out all the new art at the gallery. The Silver Lining Gallery is fortunate to have many new artists interested in showing their work in our shop. In addition, our established artists frequently bring in new items so there is always something new to see! Stop by soon to be amazed by all of the wonderful choices available.


Here are just a few of the new artists at the gallery:

Acrylic paintings by Michael D. Hall

Glass by Debbie and Bob Less

Leaf casting by Nanci Shufritz  (!)

Silver Lining Gallery business hours:

 Tuesdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
 Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
 Thursdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
 Fridays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
 Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Closed Sundays and Mondays



The Silver Lining Gallery Mission Statement - Opening the treasure chest of local art

• PROMOTE local artists by displaying their work

• OFFER eclectic creations for the enjoyment of all

• ENCOURAGE giving the gift of art to others

• ENHANCE the community by creating an environment for the arts

The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.


~William Faulkner

Silver Lining Gallery
122 Mechanic St.
Waterville, OH
419-441-0025
www.silverliningart.com
Co-owners: Sherry Seiler and Lisa Exner
silverlining@bex.net
.

The Quest For The Unobtainable

I bet you think this post is about striving for wealth, or power, or fame - something along those lines. Well, no, it's about my great creative ideas using hardware or craft items UNTIL I find out no one makes the particular items I have in mind!

Well, here's what I mean...Example #1~ I normally don't like to add "silly" stuff to my leaves, but when I first began, I thought the waterlily pads were sort of boring (especially before I started painting my pieces), so I found little ceramic frogs/toads to attach to them, and discovered they were really popular. Enough so that I had trouble finding more! I finally found a local florist shop that agreed to wholesale ceramic toads, snails and turtles to me (they were floral picks), and they worked great! Then the store closed, so that was no longer an option (yes, they even gave me the name of the company, but they ignored my emails). Well, I'd just look online! Oh sure, I found lots of frogs and toads on Ebay - unfortunately, they were either the wrong size, too unrealistic (like wearing clothes or playing instruments ), or "collectible" - i.e., expensive!

 

...So here I am, making molds of the critters, and casting my OWN amphibians in cement! Then I have to paint them...yes, it was a good save, and it makes each one even MORE one of a kind, that's true, but it is also more labor intensive!

Example #2~...When I was much younger, I was fascinated by greeting cards that had glitter and rhinestones glued to them to enhance a scene, a flower, etc. I especially liked the "dewdrops"- tiny clear glass cabochons that looked like dew on flowers. I even got to the point that I would lift all the cards with dewdrops out of the rack, because inevitably, some of the stones would get knocked off loose in the card rack, then I'd pilfer them! (Well, I knew no one was going to go thru them and glue them back on, and I couldn't bear to see them thrown away!)

Here it is, thirty (or so) years later, and I decide that dewdrops would be perfect to add onto my leaf pendants. Simple; I'll just go to the local craft store, right? Well..., not so much. While they had faceted rhinestones up the wazoo, none were smooth! Still, I wasn't worried - again, I was sure I could find them online! Surprisingly, that didn't seem to be the case either. I found only ONE online store that carries them, and first, they are slightly larger than I'd like, and second, they're acrylic while I really had glass in mind.

So here I am, buying little clear glass beads that I'm actually physically BREAKING IN HALF to achieve the look I want! Again, more time and labor!

 

Example #3~I wanted to cast little steel nuts {no Iron Man jokes, please....I'm laughing though -"nuts" is a funny word! :-) } 

into my small bird feeders so I could just buy rods with threaded ends to screw them onto. Guess what? No one MAKES steel or aluminum rods with threaded ends - they are either threaded the entire length of the rod (which is unpleasant looking), or not at all!

.....So here I go again, manually threading aluminum rods individually because NO ONE MAKES WHAT I WANT!!! hmph.