Star Wars Celebration V and other Creative Inspirations

I went to Star Wars Celebration V in Orlando, FL (August12-15, 2010) which fueled my creative juices.

I have ALWAYS been a HUGE fan of Star Wars and truly admire George Lucas, one of the creative geniuses of our time.

I passed this love of Star Wars on to my oldest son, Gray, and nourished his interest with a bedroom decorated in all things Star Wars including a loft bed set against a glow in the dark star covered wall paper, posters, and practically EVERY Star Wars action figure, ship, diorama, and micro-machine made by Hasbro.

Ross, my youngest son, got his share with Star Wars LEGO sets.

So, given the opportunity, and with the help of a few days of Phil (my husband and their Dad) working overtime, we pulled together a trip.  Gray is going into this Senior year at high school and will soon lose interest in "family" vacations, so we wanted to make this one extra special.
No Star Wars Celebration would be complete without costumes.  So the week before our trip we started putting together costumes for the boys.

Ross, at first, did not care to dress up, but as the event drew near, he became more inspired.  He is an earlier version of this Galen Marek Sith Apprentice from Star Wars Force Unleashed.
I even let Ross get his hair BUZZED for the occasion.

This was the only image he gave me to go by..

I suppose this guy is like a Pokemon because he morphs throughout the game. (See photo of his stages below)

We asked a friend to fashion the collar out of metal but he never got around to it.  So, at 9PM the night before our early departure out Jackson, MS...I was up sewing a collar out of vinyl and attaching a makeshift restraining bolt made from and aluminum foil jelly sample container that I had saved, God only knows why, because I thought it looked interesting...and after all, I am an artist!  Well, the good Lord must have had a plan to put me through this, still somehow, the collar came out pretty cool and looked almost as nice as some of the other "homemade" costumes the kids were wearing but in NO WAY competed with what the adults had fashioned out of a material called Sintra which is a PVC sheets.that fabricated into just about any shape.

Boy, did I learn A LOT!  I am looking forward to getting my hands on some of this material!  Guess what Ross is going as for Halloween!

Gray took three costumes.  On DAY ONE, he went as Luke Skywalker (Return of the Jedi) which he pretty much assembled himself but it also meant my creating a belt and shoe covers (boots) that were reversible to accommodate his other Jedi costume borrowed from his friend, and independent filmmaker, Matthew Ramsaur.

 

On Friday, we dressed in matching white T-shirts that featured an image of our license plate I created.  

If you see an '98 White Ford Expedition running around north LA with this license plate...it's me!  On the front of our shirts was our Bounty Hunter's Scavenger Hunt's team name "Rogue Squadron".

On the last day, Gray went at Indiana Jones.  Not, as we discovered on DAY ONE, and original idea.  Still, his wardrobe was better than any other Indy we saw.


Anyway,,,
There is still so much to share!  When I eventually get the 300+ photos and dozens of videos organized, I'll add some photos of the amazing costume show we attended, the wonderful characters we met, and my artistic endeavors helping to create the gigantic Hoth diorama.

too sick to blog...

Yesterday, I tried to get off to a great start by taking my dog, Hero, on a walk while listening to the audio book Havana Bay by Martin Cruz.

When I got home I began working with my Wacom Intuous4 Medium Pen Tablet to use along with the book Adobe Photoshop CS3: Top 100 Simplified Tips & Tricks until I got a phone call from a potential art student who wanted to drop by and see what I could offer in classes.

I have an adorable studio nestled in a cottage garden that overlooks our pond.  It is fun to work and hold classes in and I teach a variety of mediums.

The studio is 12x24 and is attached to our 24x30 workshop.  The staircase in the photo leads to a 24x24 playroom we built for our two boys.  Best thing we ever did!

The only trouble is that since I last taught an art class (at a church...until Christmas) I began dumping the stuff from the class on my work table and basically, using my studio as a storage building.

 Sad, because I actually have a storage building!

 So I spent an hour cleaning up my studio for her visit and still did not get finished!  So after her visit I spent another hour cleaning AND still have work to do organizing stuff and getting ready for lessons on Wednesday mornings.


Then, a combination of fibromyalgia, migraine, carpal tunnel syndrome and a mouth ulcer hit me pretty hard and I had to go in an crash in my recliner for a couple of hours.


Last night I had choir rehearsal for the funeral of my church's dear organist and accompanist (for almost 25 years) which was a bit difficult to sing the Hallelujah Chorus with tears in your eyes.


After that I went to my play rehearsal The Dixie Swim Club where I play Jeri Neal, the nun gone bad!


So basically, I DID have a creative day...just did not have the energy to blog about it when I finally got home last night.


I hope you did something creative!

Geri's Gallery of Cast Off Masterpieces "Poppies in a Field"

My creative expression for today was taking an 8x10 acrylic landscape MASTERPIECE that I found at Goodwill for .99 and a yard sale frame I paid .50 for and making it GALLERY WORTHY...in Geri's Gallery of Cast of Masterpieces at least.

The solid wood frame and been painted gold with a peach decorative stripe and dry brush technique applied to tone down the gold.

I painted over the peach with a red acrylic paint and lightly brushed over the entire frame with an acrylic metallic gold paint. 

After allowing it to thoroughly dry (which in this heat only took minutes) I applied a brown antiquing gel and wiped away the excess.

With a final coat of a gloss sealer (I thought it would make the gold pop) this artwork is ready for an exhibition! 

Now, you find an obscure painting and frame it up for your gallery and send me photo!