Getting Ready for July 4th weekend

I have noticed that I have slowly been braver and adding more details. There is constant thinking about this and how I can make a story from various images combined in one piece. It reminds me of cooking sometimes. I made meatballs tonite for supper, but was perplexed about how to serve them. I didn't want the traditional "spagetti and meatballs", and finally decided on making them like appetizer meatballs. The recipe with grape jelly. Looking it up, I found that the other "secret" ingredient was chili sauce. Hmmm....I just googled substitute for chili sauce and it gave me a recipe to make my own, as I didn't have any on hand. Then, the chili sauce called for cinnamon, cloves, and one other ingredient......I didn't have any of those, but I had chinese five spice---pretty close. They turned out awesome, and I discovered that it is much like what I do in the studio. Grabbing things and putting them in the "pot" and seeing what it becomes.

This one I decided to actually do a little minnie painting, but because it was so little and detailed, I actually drew it out first in india ink and then painted the rest afterwards. I zoomed in on the painting so you could see.

I love everything about this one. I am getting more familiar with what works, and more relaxed about it. Another little drawing/painting, and I am learning to let some things just interpret themselves. I had planned on painting in the lake, but realized that it says it all without doing the. I like the layered textured background. I really enjoyed doing the little sign on the right. I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but everytime I see those signs on the roadside, I get happy. There is so little left of the days when I stayed in those little rented housekeeping cabins. They are slowly being replaced by condos. Seriously, why would you want to duplicate the big city life? If you want luxury, don't go for the Northwoods. I am against all this modernizing, it defeats the purpose to me. Keep it simple and fun. A cabin for 7 people should only have 7 plates, 7 forks and 7 spoons. A small fridge, just enough beds and a fishouse on the property. OOOOOOkay, I will stop now...don't get me going.......
These are my latest up to now. Today, I began painting on metal pieces. You shall see them next. Thanks for stopping by, and do leave a comment. Don't be afraid....there are no blogger police in the recesses of the internet waiting to grab all your information.

Working Hard for Art Shows

Plum Lake Public Pier with vintage Girl Swimmer

I was really happy with the results of this picture. I have had the print of the girl swimmer for quite awhile and knew that I would know what to do with it when the time came. 

You will see how my work evolves as I show you the next few paintings. 

The last time I did these collages, people seemed to like this dark background the best. However, I have experimented with other colors and think people will like them also. 

I like to paint the postcard into the picture if I can. It is difficult to write on paintings, so, if I can, I also add pre-lettered verses instead. 

I like the use of vintage maps and I actually found one that listed the resorts and put them on the map where they were. This is helpful in my research when doing these pieces. 

 

This is the map that listed the resorts. I tried to make it a bigger picture so you can see it. I really like working with fishing and canoeing themes, but I have plans to explore other subjects as well. 

I had a lot of fun creating the background for this nice piece. I enjoy using the illustrations of women in these themes.

Well, that's about it for now, but I hope to make a lot more this week. I will post them as I do them. I will be in St. Germain on July 3 and 4. Hope to see you there!!

Fun Collaging

I am so excited to be collaging and painting again. I feel all giggly about it and at the same time nervous. I am nervous because I cannot plan my art as it takes on a life of its own. I have an idea, but it takes things out of my mind and runs with it. I don't have so much time to create, so I don't want things to not turn out. I need them to turn out everytime......silly, I know.

My computer is acting weird, but I suddenly have the ability to make my photos larger.......I have another I can try to post, but so far it isn't letting me.

2011 Art and Craft Show Schedule for Wisconsin

Here is my schedule for the 2011 season. I have left a couple of shows out, and can talk about that in the future. I will be doing as many of the St. Germain Flea Markets as I can, if I am Up North at the time. I can let you know before I go, or email me for specifics of the shows.

I wanted to keep my schedule as small as possible, but I may find that I left out too much information. We will see.
Now I wanted to show you what I worked on yesterday.

 This one I have to look at awhile because something isn't quite right with it yet, to me. But, for the most part I was really happy. I think I have a good momentum and plans to do about five more before the next show.

I really liked this one especially, and so did my husband, who encouraged me to paint a few more with fishing themes. He especially likes the idea of the woods and cabins. I plan to try to replicate a few vintage postcards of area resorts. We will see how that works out. That's it for now. I have a busy weekend. Please let me know what you think. You will feel like you are having to fill out too much stuff to comment, but trust me, it's safe. Thanks. Eydie

A Walk in the Woods Art Show

This is the part of my display that I highlight my Wizard of Oz things. It is amazing how popular these things are. I noticed that in Minocqua there is a store that carries WOZ things, and Lucy, and Snoopy, John Wayne, Audrey Hepburn, Three Stooges, Betty Boop, and a few other classic themed things. I would have bought a Beatles thermos had they still had it, but there were none left. They also carry the Beatles things.

This show turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I am hoping it is a sign of the other art shows to come. I did better than I did last year. I felt that lots of people attended and they were buying. The weather was unbelieveably perfect. This is a fine art show, so no crafts. It is relatively small, around 50 exhibitors, I think. I wonder about doing it, as I do a lot of shows in St. Germain, but this crowd is different.

I had lots of display space as  I had two and I was an island. There was an aisle in front and back, so I just left it open both sides. At this point, I really don't think there are any bad spots. Eventually, it looks like they want to run them through the woods along the trail, but I am not sure any of us want to be in there because of the mosquitos. 

I am off for the next two weeks, but then I will be in St. Germain again the 3rd and 4th of July. Come and see me there!

Things One Does At the Early Art and Craft Shows

If you are a seasoned art/craft show exhibitor, you know of what I speak in the next few sentences. You get to your show, check out you spaces assigned, figure out how to work around the others also figuring out how to work around you, watch the sky, or listen to the weather scanner, or ask anyone who had access to the tv weather forecast the nite before to see if there are any winds to worry about.

This particular weekend, we also were faced with the first outcroppings of giant Northern Wisconsin Mosquitoes. They were vicious. Sigh.

Well, tents are up, neighbors greeted and we are ready for customers. Where are the customers? Oh! A few stragglers, oh, they are only other exhibitors scoping out their competition, or shopping from their favorite artists. Sigh. Right about now, it would be time for that first cup of java. Hmmmm, thinking about it. But, alas, not to be. I have just been put on a restricted diet, which does not include caffeine of any kind.........Sigh.

Nothing happening yet. Hmmmmmm, I will go and see if "so and so" is here today. I'll be back to check on the sales in a little while. We have a family, you know. A "work" family. Some we see almost every show, some we see a couple of times the season. We can't wait to catch up on what has happened in the months since we last parted.

There are signs you know. Signs of a good show or a bad show. This is where we start reminiscing. (sp?) We share some funny antedotes to keep hope alive. Oh, remember when people were waiting for us to arrive and we couldn't get our tubs out fast enough, and they didn't wait for us to hang our pictures, but began going through them before we got them on the panels? Remember when there were two people wanting the same picture, and waiting for each other to make a decision? Remember when there were lines in the checkout, and some people carried two or three pictures at the same time? Sigh.

 Those signs were from the good old days. The days when the art shows were not infiltrated with "buy and sell" merchandise. When the people who attended them could be sure they were purchasing from the artist who made them. It has corrupted now. Very few of us remain who truly still do our own work.  It is maddening, but times they are a'changing.......soon, I fear, the art/craft roadshow will go the wayside of malls, which were once incredibly popular.....

The other signs we watch for are the food lines, the women's bathroom lines and the bags being carried around of purchases. When you don't have to stand in line for either of the two a fore-mentioned things, it is not a good show. If people are not carrying bags, you are entertainment.  Sigh. 

We talk about all these things, each and every time we are having a slow show. We also talk about "why". Why are there not people? If there are people, why are they not buying? It's the weather, the economy, the advertising, the promoters, of course, never, ever  our product.

Well, this weekend, it was the weather (it was too nice), the economy (people just looking), the fact that there is still school in the lower states for kids--so no vacationers, yet. There were no lines for the women's bathroom. I suspect there was lots of corn on the cob left as I saw no food lines. There was parking available----this is truly a bad sign.Perhaps the worse, is when I saw exhibitors playing scrabble........oh, that's a slow show....

Well, here are my husband's wonderful bird and toadhouses he makes. He did sell some of these this weekend, I was happy about that. They certainly are pretty and different.

We enjoyed seeing our friends again after a long hiatus of winter. Some of the shows are really all about getting to be with certain people, or visiting with them for a short time. Thinking of you Nancy and Joanse, and praying that you will get some healing real soon, and we will get together again, then. Love you both.

Barb's Crazy Quilt Project

 I have made Barb wait almost a half a year for this. I sometimes have to think about it a long time before it comes together, however, I think this frame made this piece really special. The middle crazy quilt is raised from the other background about an inch or so. It gives it depth and motion. Barb gave me a box of things that she collected and said, "Here ya go, do what you think." She left little pinned on notes to some of the fabrics telling me they were from grandma's wedding dress, or her wedding dress, or her daughter's wedding. There were matchbook type things from a Fond du Lac Laundry, that contained little sticks to apply to nylon to stop it from running--I wonder, nylons?....there were the needlebooks, and she gave me three buttons, But a piece this big needs more than three, so I picked out of my vintage stash to add. The little chicken fabric was from her graduation dress. There was one photo, of which I included of her daughter's wedding party along with the lace. I hope to give it to her this weekend. See you next week!!
added this:

New Postmark Art for Spring

 These are the new postmark pieces I made recently. I am excited to take something different to the show this weekend. I will be in Minocqua on Saturday and Sunday, and then I will be in St. Germain on Monday.

Hopefully the weather will be much better this time, as last weekend we got rained out. Rain is never helpful for good sales.
These new pieces include hand drawn illustrations and some calligraphy. They will be about 15 dollars each. Email me if you see something you like. See you after the show.