Happy Birthday Cards and Rhinoceroses

I made this birthday card for my friend, Andy, today as my creative gesture.
I've been creating my own greeting cards for several years now under my "logo".

Andy collects rhinoceroses and this is probably the best artistic rendering of the rhinoceros ever created.  I felt the image made an appropriate birthday card created just for him.

I found the clever quote regarding birthdays online but added the part about the hide, etc.

As a college art student back in the 80's I had to copy the work of a master, so I chose this piece by Albrecht Durer  The detail was quite a challenge.

My drawing hung in my brother's office for many years.  I wonder where it is now?

Geri's Gallery of Cast Off Masterpieces "Embroidered Bouquet" and "Madonna and Child Box"

I am still cleaning an organizing my studio for summer classes and I came across these two poor little cast off objects d' art.

The frame this little embroidered bouquet came in was plastic so I simply switched it out with another yard sale find (actually, from the yard sale of a fellow artist...I just LOVE her yard sales!) that I found more befitting the diligent work of the small (3x4) embroidered piece.

The next piece was a 4x6 wooden box that someone decoupaged a Madonna and Child on a background of antiqued green.  The inside had never been finished and the box lacked the structure for the lid to remain in place.

So I used some leftover mottled gold and red mat board and created the sides, bottom and top for the inside of the box and glued them in place.

Then I painted the interior edges of lid and the visible white portions of the mat board gold.






 Okay, so I haven't been doing any original work...but I'm getting there!

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!

Burn Notice by Kyle Mills and Other Book Reviews

Burn Notice, a fictional story by Kyle Mills (2001), features Quinn Barry, an FBI computer analyst who is blamed for a glitch in a forensic computer program then is quickly whisked away to another position while the FBI’s “clean up” crew attempts to put a lid on the Pandora’s Box she’s just opened.

A more thorough summary (talk about your oxymoron) is available at http://www.amazon.com/Burn-Factor-Kyle-Mills/dp/0061098035.  In the meantime, I merely want to make my observation that I found the plot very predictable, the characters unrealistic, and it difficult to visualize their “world” probably due to my lack of effort.

I enjoy listening to audio books when I walk and I should devise a scale based on how far I walk each day and if I am interested in continuing to listen to the book when I get home.

I typically walk one to two miles.  If the book is interesting, I have walked up to four miles at a time (Sweet Potato Queens written and read by Jill Connor Browne) or continue to listen to the book when I get home until it is complete (anything by James Lee Burke especially those read by Will Patton).

It took me a while to finish this particular audio book because I would only listen to it every now and then.  It did not hold my interest.  In fact, I set it aside for about a month and opted for talking on the phone while walking or just enjoying the sounds of nature.  

I even switched to two other audio books (Traitor’s Gate and Pentecost Alley by Anne Perry) that are short, held my interest, the characters are interesting and are performed with a variety of masterful accents by David McCallum.

When I did listen to this audio book, I was more interested in the serial killer (and that is pretty sick) than the pedantic relationship budding between Quinn Barry (the antagonist) and her love interest/accused killer.

I really did not care for the choice the reader, Michael Kramer, made in styling the voice of the serial killer after that of Hannibal Lector (Hannibal and Silence of the Lambs) and the “redneck” accent of Barry much like that of Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs).  It only gave power to my new found “psychic” abilities to predict the characters’ behavior and know EXACTLY where the story was going.  Psychic powers or déjà vu?

I like a challenge.  This book offered none.

Would I read Kyle Mills work again?  Perhaps, but probably not.  However, if you have not already saturated your brain with some the greats like James Patterson, Clive Cussler, Ken Follet, Robert Ludlum and John Grisham, by all means, pick up one of Mills' Mark Beamon series and tell me what you think!

Catherine’s Wedding Photos and Other Creative Bridal Gifts

Catherine is a very precious young lady. She is my “daughter by another mother”, my soul sister in dreams and aspirations, and my friend.

As a teen, she wanted to study sociology and be an archeologist and in her college studies takes classes that keep her connected to her dream. She wants to be a writer and has kept a journal for many years. She plans to travel and this is why, when she told me about her plans to marry, I made her promise she would still do everything she could to live out her dreams. She is only twenty and I want so much for her to have a rich and wonderful life and she told me that her new husband is supportive and willing to let her grow.

When I tried to find a special gift for her I found anything that she put on her bridal list for her kitchen or apartment were merely material things that would only encumber her when she did have the opportunity to travel.
 
I decided the best gift was that of my creative self (and the use of my Nikon D90) to take a series of photos that provided a different angle of her wedding day memories and I hope somewhere in the 487 photos I took, many of which will be deleted (those darn blinkers!), she finds a special image that captures her special day that the professional photographer did not.

Personally, I am very glad I did this. Had I not been walking around annoying people taking “party pix” I would not have met so many of the people who love Catherine as much as I do. I would probably have ended up mingling with those friends and relatives I already knew and listening to my two sons asking when we were going to leave.

The difference between someone with a camera and photographer is that the photographer is not afraid to take dozens of photographs to get that one special look. So, be a PHOTOGRAPHER and take LOTS of photographs and don’t be afraid to delete the bad ones.

And by the way…I did slip some cash in the card I made for her…just in case.

Garage Sales and Other Creative Sources of Acrument

I never had the opportunity to post a creative blog yesterday because I was packing and traveling to Arkansas for a wedding. So, consider this my post for yesterday, Saturday, June 12th. I am writing this from the lobby of the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

I know my Saturday is getting off to an ideal start when a great friend picks me up at 7AM to take me GARAGING (as in to attend a Garage Sale) AND brings me a baggy of sweet cantaloupe and cherries.

According to dictionary.com, GARAGING means to put or store in a garage. But in my vernacular (dictionary.com Word of the Day June 13th), it means to go in search of purchasing items that others have put in a Garage Sale.

Yarding (as in to attend a Yard Sale) just doesn’t roll off the tongue the way GARAGING (guh-rah-zhing) does. Go on, pronounce GARAGING. Rather nice, don’t you think? It sounds exotic and a bit French. Besides yarding is not recognized by my Microsoft Word spell check…but GARAGING is. Go figure? And yarding conjures up images of weeding, raking, mowing, and sweating. Where GARAGING brings to mind shopping, socializing, and spending very little cash on a car, or in this case, a Suburban, full of goodies!

Linda, my partner in crime, hit the road with the Ruston Daily Leader’s Thursday’s paper in hand. You’ve got to love the RDL’s Thursday edition which includes a general map and short description of where each of the local Garage Sales are located and some of the items for sale. The 50¢ investment is well worth it. Key words in the descriptions generated by the Garage Salors, that are most attractive to the Garage Salees, include Moving Sale, Multi-Family, Too Much to List, and the most attractive word “HUGE”.

Our best deals for the day include Linda’s purchase of 3 solid wood dinette chairs for $10 and my best being a wooden wine box (from Ecuador) filled with 6 gold rimmed seeded glass chargers with 2 matching serving plates and 6 Lenox amber (my favorite glass color) water goblets all for SIX BUCKS!

How to set up a BLOG and Other Things That Make You Want to Pull Your Hair Out.

I just spent approximately 12 hours trying to set up this BLOG!

Minutes after I added AdSense…everything went SOUTH.

My computer has been running TERRIBLY slow so recently, in order to clean up my laptop, I put ALL my photography (and I had an insane amount) and most of my documents on my USB. This did not help.

So, after setting up this BLOG with AdSense, I tried to access it and I got the dreaded block box telling me I still had some work to do.

This little “suggestion” got me started on creating my NEW AND IMPROVED laptop and if nothing else came from the hours I spent deleting and downloading… . (I needed an extra dot there) I did end up switching my search engine to Firefox and VOILA, I’m back in business!

So, I guess you can say my CREATIVE DAZE today incorporated technology and I suppose that means I used the “other side of my brain”, and therefore…I am a better person! HA!

At least I can use my creativity to customize my homepage!

Tweaking the Teak and Other Challenges of Patio Furniture

I ordered several pieces of patio (in this case “deck”) furniture in early May from One Way Furniture. I chose the 5 piece Milano Outdoor Living Set that included a bench, two chairs, coffee table and side table plus ordered two more chairs and a dining table that matched. It was just what I had in mind for our deck and I was pleased to find all the pieces I wanted in one place and the price.

It took about a month to receive the set and, of course, there was some assembly required.

Three of the eight boxes had suffered some dings in transit so the driver (a friendly guy with R+L Carriers) and I opened these boxes to check for damage. The teak furniture pieces (actually it is eucalyptus but this set came up in my search for TEAK OUTDOOR FURNITURE) were undamaged however the hardware package was missing from a table.

The individually boxed furniture pieces averaged five partially assembled pieces, a package of hardware (the exact number of 3” bolts you need for assembly with no extras), a tiny pillow of white glue, an Allen Wrench, a sheet of care suggestions plus a single sheet of simply drawn and void of text instructions. I believed my two sons (12 and 17) and I could assemble all 8 pieces together in about an hour. HA!

Just a little bit about me. I am capable of following directions. I have three college degrees, am a whiz with LEGO sets (and if that doesn’t give me credibility…I can’t imagine what would!) as well as, among other things, I am an artist, creative in multiple medias, and a pretty fair carpenter.

First of all, the shoddy hardware included with the furniture was inferior and very frustrating. After suffering the difficulty of using the provided Allen Wrench on the first few bolts, I switched to a DeWalt power drill with a hexagon bit.

This is when I discovered the holes in the furniture pieces were not long enough for the screws. This is when I had to get another DeWALT drill to drill the holes approximately ¼ inch deeper.


When I opened the second pillow of dried up glue, I opted for Loctite Wood Worx.

Even with setting the drill on low, I managed to strip the head of several inferior screws.

Some where between walking out to our shop to collect glue, drills, bits, switching out spent batteries, and getting a damp cloth, finding a block of wood and a vice-grip to remove the stripped bolts, minutes of my one hour “goal” ebbed away.

After two trips to Lowes and a local hardware store not being able to find the same type of bolts and eventually going back to find replacement bolts, a combination of three hours assembly time, aching forearms, carpal tunnel syndrome pain, a few tears, not to mention the swear words plus the loss of my religion and the sad thought that when I die I may end up in Hell spending eternity assembling patio furniture, the set DID come out looking great. I still need to find cushions (although it is rather comfy without), get some of those nail on floor/furniture protectors (just because I want some) do some light sanding, and buy some sealer for outdoor teak furniture.

The set was indeed a challenge to assemble; however, it is great for our space, I would order the furniture all over again. Except next time…I’d make my husband assemble it and I’ll go get a manicure.

Thank you for reading and please pray for my soul!