Black Swamp Arts Festival 2010

Although every art show is the same in many ways, they are also very different from any of the others. Of course, we set up basically the same, have to bring the same materials and supplies, and have the same hopes and goals for the day(s) of the show.

But then, the weather always is an unknown (Check with the weathermen? Yeah, right... ), our "neighbors" are usually artisans we have not seen/met before, and the space or area is never the same. Of course, since I never have two pieces exactly alike,my inventory is constantly changing, too!

Sunday was beautiful...

And something new and exciting (to me!...) always happens at each event I participate in. This past weekend it was...

 1) Several people telling me that out of all the artists there, it was my art they liked the best (a few were men, too),

2) Someone affiliated with the Arts Commission asked me if I would be interested in having a one person show (no details were discussed; but hey, even being ASKED meant a lot!),
3) Hans Ruebel, one of the other artists in the Kuhlman Corp. exhibit, stopped by my booth to say hi, which was very nice of him

4) I made a great trade with Larry (of Lars Glass ~ one of my "Art Show mentors") for one of his Sun Chains, something I had been yearning for thru the past 3 shows we had both been to, and
 5) One woman who acquired a Faerie Door from me 3 weeks ago shared with me that she had been having an awfully bad day at the time, and finding her Faerie Door really brightened her mood ~ wow ~ what more could an artist want?!

...And I'm ashamed to say that I judged someone by their appearance, something I always try not to do ('Cause I have no room to talk!Have you seen how I dress at these things?!)

Anyway, coming back to our booth around the close of the second day, I discovered my husband conversing with a man who looked...well, I'll use his words- "I've been a "bum" all my life!" ( Hey, I work in downtown Toledo ~ believe me, I see a LOT of "bum" like creatures!)...So that was my initial thought, until we spoke with him for awhile, and realized he was no bum, just an artistic, free spirit who lives happily with his wife of 29 years (like us), childfree (also like us!) but not very many similarities beyond that. His wife then joined us, and we had an interesting and fun conversation with them about their lifestyle, (minimalist and mostly "off the grid"), our life, and art ~ and my preconceived idea of them quickly disappeared. These are folks I will remember for a long time... and Sam and Brenda, I look forward to seeing you again!

Levis Commons 2010 - In Retrospect

Art shows are such an experience! I often wonder if I could live my life on the art show circuit - could NOT having a 9 to 5 job make up for the physical labor and worry it takes to do shows? Probably not, especially with my medium - if I had fiber or jewelry, something easily transported, and could fit everything I would ever need into a truck or van, I think I could handle it. OR if I was 20 years younger! ;-)

Anyway, I did participate in the Levis Commons Art Fair this past weekend, and did quite well! Despite a near washout on Saturday and being windblown on Sunday, it didn't seem to faze a lot of the shoppers, and of course, it doesn't harm anything I sell! All of the birdbaths are displayed outside of the canopy, so the display factor was increased Saturday by showing off how just well the birdbaths looked filled with water!

Saw some old friends (Rhonda/Ken and Janine/Jeff!)...and made new friends!....

And I really like to talk to the other artists - every one of them have interesting stories OR great tips on what they do in various situations (like how to keep your canopy's top from filling with water! LOL). I learn something new every show. With this show, I was somewhat concerned that our display was too "homemade" looking compared to everyone else's, but no one seemed to notice or worry about it - they were more interested in my work - as it should be!

I do have to mention The (Michigan) Guild of Artists and Artisans, the same association that organizes Levis Commons as well as the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair . When I saw all the rules and regulations regarding the show, I actually lost sleep over all of it! Yikes! What if "they" don't like this? What if "they" don't want me to have these things over here? Well, I should not have worried. Evidently those are just set out so if someone IS being inconsiderate or unreasonable, there is something in writing.

Actually, everything was well organized (and VERY well advertised, so I stopped whining so much about the cost to be there). We always pack sandwiches and sundry food items for a show, but they had a very well stocked "hospitality" tent for the artists, with donuts, bagels, water, coffee, bananas (and my sincere appreciation goes out to a couple of local businesses, namely Andrew Z's- for providing PIZZA on Saturday and Max & Erma's for the WARM chocolate chip cookies on Sunday!), so we didn't want for much.

My work, as usual, didn't receive any awards, which is not surprising at an art show like this - there is just too much around I myself would consider extremely Fine Art, but it would be nice to at least SEE a judge glance my way once in a while! Hmmph...

 

Did have fun, nonetheless, despite the rain,the long hours, the wind, the dumb questions ("Oh, does this one hang?" - While pointing to a leaf HANGING up on the lattice... ), and getting thru the inevitable period of time during each setup and takedown where Hubby and I fight the urge to punch each other in the eye! (He's very organized; I'm not - need I say more)?

Art In The Park 2010

~In the middle of my angst-ridden summer, reveling in and appreciating the acclaim I am receiving from my events and the Kuhlman Corporation exhibit, while at the same time fretting about the shows every two weeks and if I'm going to be able to keep up this pace with no vacation time left from my "real" job!

I would almost kill to have all the vacation time I had at my old job (in the days before "Creative Castings", when I didn't really need it!), while conversely, I would not want the irritation and stress of that same job! I have never been a realist. A realist would say, "This is the way it is, and no use whining about it", instead of buying Lotto tickets, wishing for an unknown wealthy relative to expire and leave me an inheritance, or for Robert Redford to come along and offer me a million bucks to have sex with him so I could quit!

But on to the useful information. :-) My next event is this Saturday and Sunday, in Port Clinton Ohio, at Lakeview Park.

Lakeview Park...

...and the lake! (Erie)

This is our first time here ~ all I want is good weather, and the rest will have to be up to us! Hope you can stop by, see my new pieces and the birdbaths that have shells (I actually found on this same beach) incorporated into them. I risked life and limb to get them (see below).

Ran across this beautiful creature while picking shells. But all involved went their separate ways without incident!

"In Another Garden" 2010

Despite the thunderstorm we awakened to at 4:30 AM that began the day, it had stopped by the time we arrived at our destination at 6:00, and despite the weather predictions of very hot, very humid, and stormy, they did not come to pass. Yes, it was warm (it's SUMMER, after all), but the humidity was tolerable, plus there was a perfect breeze much of the time. The location of our booth was on a pretty stained and stamped concrete driveway with the white garage door behind, as a result I think I now finally have some decent "booth shots" for art shows.

Oops, my bins are showing! I hate when that happens... 

The view from inside the booth, facing the adjoining garden...

...And the best part! The owners of the aforementioned garden also displayed one of MY leaves in the flowerbed! Wish they would have washed it out though. It rained the night before and the gardener probably overlooked it. Did not get to meet them, but I was very excited to see one of my "babies"!

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.

Some Impressive, Talented Artists!

I am not real impressed by a lot of artwork that I see - not because I'm such an expert, or even that I know what constitutes beautiful artwork, but IMHO only, since I have a little talent, and my father is such a talented painter, a lot of what I see is nice, but not amazing. Certain arts, such as glassblowing, constitute something resembling MAGIC to me, as far as I can tell! I have never tried it, and so can't look at it and understand how it's done. Other artwork, such as pottery or jewelry, is something I understand, but if someone takes it in a new direction, something I would not have thought of, it is impressive to me. Here are some artists I was fascinated with at the Black Swamp festival....

I seem to be attracted by pottery, and, although working in concrete is WAY different, I can relate to what potters do in some ways. I did not purchase any of them, though - every place I could think of to put a piece seems to be taken up by a leaf! Hmmm. I tried not to say to them what always bothers ME, though -" Oh, your work is beautiful! Such good prices! How Unique! Too bad I'm (choose all that apply) A) downsizing, B) broke, C) A parent of young children, or D) moving." Oh well, C'est la Vie!
Some more colorful pottery by Parsley Pottery (I like that name!) in Cincinnati, Oh. (NOTE: While I do not mind photos taken of my work, many artists DO, so please ASK before taking photos of artwork! And if you do ask and they say no, don't get upset - they need to protect their livelihood.)

...And some amazing sculptures!

This is Larry Mack of Lars Glass Originals http://www.larsglassoriginals.com/, he has been a friend of ours for a long time, and has been in this business for a long time, too (of course, he probably started when he was 5 or 6, right, Larry?)

But now that I am starting in the art field, he has become more like my "Mentor"! We have been at some of the same events, and he gives me good advice and information on what shows may be successful for me and shares different techniques he has found that work for him at these shows. Our artwork is at totally different ends of the scale (he works in glass; that's more of the stuff filed under "Magic"!), so we're not competitors at all. We own some of each other's work. In fact, here's one of Larry's glass and copper pieces in my garden, fashioned to place in a birdbath ( NOTE: did you know that copper inhibits algae groth in fountains and birdbaths? Just throw a couple copper pennies in it - or get one of these sculptures!)

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Good Show!

My apologies for not updating this sooner (still recovering!) But I only have 2 words to describe last weekend - PER-FECT! Started off with finding out no one was on one side of us, since this is very space - intensive, that really helped a lot! Set up went well, there was a hospitality room provided to the artists, with food, coffee (!), water, restrooms, etc., the weather was just what I would have ordered if I could have - temperate, light breeze, sunny...

...ready for the crowds!

The crowds were great - a constant flow of buying customers, no weirdos (sic), we were close to the food and music (see below).

From the people who said they showed up just to see me because they had seen my blog (finally!), to the lady who told me she went thru the whole show, could only afford to purchase from one artist, and chose me because my work was the most unique.....

And I don't think I'll forget the person who wanted one of my nicest birdbaths as a memorial gift for a friend whose gardener spouse passed away.....

The view from our booth Sat. night. (below)

Coming back from a short walk and is - that?.....Naw, couldn't be MY booth with the crowd of people around it! Feels like I'm having an out of body experience!

So next time I complain about the weather or the sales or the food (WAAA!), remind me of this past weekend!
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NEW PIECES...

...That will be going with me to Bowling Green! Getting into some Fall coloring. Tis is a large Okra (!) leaf that can be placed in a flower bed, used as a centerpiece, or hung as wall art with the aluminum hanger in back.

This one is my only large Gunnera leaf I have at the moment (it doesn't throw very many leaves at a time - I'm just happy I am able to keep it going in my climate!) Another that may lay flat or hang.
Another big Okra formed into a birdbath, it has a copper fitting cast into the bottom and comes with a 2 1/2' copper pipe. The birdbaths can also be used to lay flat on the ground (the fitting can just fit into a little indentation in the ground for stability).

Well, gotta go! Hubby and I have a truck to load! :o)
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New Stuff!

One of the few larger Gunnera leaves I have, painted in more Autumn -like colors. Turned out very well!
...And since the summer is staying very cool this year, and my Lotus hasn't thrown very large leaves yet, I wanted something to substitute for now. I came up with multiple waterlily leaves, which is still an aquatic theme, but larger (and more awesome) than a single leaf! This is the only one I had so far, it sold within an hour at the last show, so I will be working on others, along with the Lotus.

Break Time (?)

For my second year there, Art On The Mall was consistently busy, with nice weather (too windy, but dry) and the event people and volunteers were exceptionally considerate and accessible. On the survey they gave me, I told them there was nothing I could see that they could have done better (...except maybe provided free ice cream? - hey, it's worth a shot! ). If I am still doing this next year, I am certainly planning to be back!

Sold all of my Lotus birdbaths- fortunately, looks like one of mine is finally starting to throw big leaves! I know what I'll be doing the next few weeks!

The Life of a Sandcast Leaf * Final Installment!

...A few tweaks to the colors......then a coating of 2 different sealers, a penetrating type, then a glossy concrete sealer on top of that.
A "tryout" on the copper post, just to see how decorative it is next to the pond, glowing in the evening sun.


...And here it is at the Farmer's Market, waiting for a new home!

The Life Of A Sandcast Leaf * Part 5

I usually paint the Rhubarb leaves as close to their natural color as any of my leaves, since the pink/red veins and light olive of the leaf itself is a pretty combination, but on this one I'm trying something different. Starting off with a gold color...

The second layer goes on as a wine color

Continuing with greens...I'm not sure about it, though...don't think I'm finished with it yet!...

Looks like one more installment to go!

The Life Of A Sandcast Leaf * Part 4

The "unveiling"- I always look forward to this part! (There's also a little Burdock leaf on the left to use up extra cement.) Most of the time, the leaf has sort of "cooked" from the warmth of the curing cement, so when I peel it off, the leaf has a distinctive fragrance that reminds me of hot tea!

...Almost all off. The leaf remains will go into the compost bin.
Ready to cure for a while

Here it is, sitting in the garden on a rainy day. Water helps cure the material, just like a freshly poured driveway or sidewalk! Next step- painting! :0)

The Life Of A Sandcast Leaf * Part 3

...Time to work! This one looks good for the first casting of the season!

Not the largest I could do, but there'll
 
be more very soon!

All set to go ~ on a sand bed and

"shaping stones" I make with

leftover cement.

Oooo! Isn't the Redbud pretty against the blue sky?

Oh...back to work...sorry..

...thought this was CLEAN work, did you? V
 

...Starting to play in the mud!

Almost done (for now!). All I need to do is add one more layer of the cement.

Elapsed time: approximately 1 hr. 15 min.

Part 4 coming soon!

The Sacred Lotus

The plant these leaves came from (Perry's Giant Sunburst).

Here are some of my recently finished Lotus birdbaths. I embed a copper pipe fitting into the back and place them on 1/2" copper pipes. The Frogs are cast and painted by yours truly, also, mainly because I can't find any Frogs I like anymore!

...Note the other frog (also a fake!) on the rock in the pond in the background :)

Below is the latest one, and my favorite (although I just think that my favorite is always the last one I did!)

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