Artist Co-op on the Tweed

Well my boxes of goodies arrived just over a week ago, and it has been like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one, as I open the boxes and rediscover my treasures!

Tuesday I went to the AGM of the Tweed Valley Artists Co-op andmet some delightful folks there.  The Gallery is in Community Hall, in the village of Tyalgum, which is about 20 minutes from Murwillumbah.  I loved the diverse mix of art that is on display there, and I am looking forward to putting some of my creations there too.

The Co-op has an Art Cafe event coming up on April 28th at the Tyalgum Hall, which promises to be a fabulous day and I am planning to share a table with one of the other artists, wish me luck!!

New Beginnings

Long time since I posted anything.. 

For those who don't follow me on Facebook, I have moved from the USA to Australia ~ Long story, but I had to move closer to my children, and so here I am.  I live now in Murwillumbah  in the far north of New South Wales, just south of the border with Queensland, and the famous Gold Coast.

None of my art supplies or my dolls are here yet, but the crate that holds all of my beads and other art supplies, as well as my dolls, has made landfall & all being good and well, it should be here in the next week or so.  It first has to be cleared through customs, I hope they manage to get everything back in the crate, as Joe and I packed it pretty tight ~ had to be to prevent things from sliding around while it was out there on the ocean.

This is 'The Keeper of Faces'  she is my first Art Doll made using assemblage & she was so much fun to make that I want to make more.

Her body was made from a small drawer, this allowed me to attach her head over the drawer pull, she has 'barby' hands which are attached with wire to small pieces of dowel and beads that form her 'arms'.  Her legs are polymerclay over dowel for strength.  Of course I had to use beads, and I had such fun gluing her beads on that it was hard to know when to stop.  I guess I will be doing more of this kind of beading LOL

She has a story, and it's attached to her back

I added 'LIFT' arrows so that she can be picked up without touching the beaded areas ;)

Before I set off on my newest adventure in life ~ moving back to Australia ~ I managed to finish a couple of UFOs that had been sitting for a long time.. 

The first is 'Mother & Child' I like how she she sits without the need for a stand ~ I weighted her bottom end with lavender seeds..

The question here is......   'Do these beads make my butt look big?'

 This guy is Joe's Polar Bear...  He was a labour of love, a gift for a wonderful gentle man, enjoy him Joe  ♥

 I have a few beads here, I and might pull them out tomorrow and see what happens, my hands are sitting idle and I don't like that!!

Long time no art..

But that is changing, and I have a couple of teaser pictures for you. 

Arthritus in my hand, makes beading with a needle and thread difficult, so I am sad to say that my beloved beads have sat alone for the past year or more it seems. 

Now, I have begun to play with assemblage art, I collected STUFF for a long, long time.  I even had a nice studio, out in the back of an old trailer.  That was the problem I think, it was in the back and the only window looked out over the neighbours messy yard.  I really felt shut away from everything, sometimes that is a good thing but not always, a moot point anyhow because the trailer went away, and I had to move my supplies.  That turned out to be a good thing!  I have a new studio, which looks out on my back yard, and it's much easier to warm, two good reasons to be happy, and I am.

Assemblage, oh my the possibilities are endless ~ polymer clay, paper clay, found objects, this, that, cut, glue, paint, stick, drill, screw, nail, sand ~ I am sure you know what I mean.  My DHJoe has made sure I have all the tools and then some, and it is so much fun.

Of course before I knew it, some beads began to sneak into my art piece in progress, I have to say I do love tacky glue...

The first picture show some of my wood burning skills, and yes I'm playing with wire..

This one you can see some blue beads, yellow and red, but what are they doing?  That is not a head..

Expect some pictures of other bits soon

Obsession Exposed

Taken today in Astoria, Oregon.
Not sure now of the name of the cafe
But they make delicious Panini. Mmm mmm

Anyhow, the cafe is part of a hotel downtown
And this wall of 'Things' is in the lobby.
Such a fabulous collection

That I really had to capture it

One man's junk, is another man's treasure.

Never more true, than what you see here.

Maps 'n floats 'n telescopes.

Boxes 'n books and this 'n that.

Stacked so neat and stacked so high

It really does catch the eye.

Nope, not my pile of neat stuff ;>)

I used it for my daily picture on my 356Project..
Joey this is for you ;>)

Our them this week on 365Project, is Over Exposed..

Before

After cropping and processing to 'expose it to the light' 

Click on the pictures to make 'em big!

Rose Red - 365Project

This week's 365Project theme is RED & so I roamed my garden looking for red things & happened on this lovely red rose which is called Taboo.  I had not noticed until then, that it was no longer a bud because it lives in a part of the garden that is a bit messy ;)

Gunnera - 365 Picture for Sunday 22nd

This huge plant grows at the base of a small hillside in my garden. Normally grown in bogs or the edge of ponds but this does just fine here as long as I keep its roots nice & moist. The spikes are the 'flowers' & are covered with tiny reddish-green florets which are the seeds. The spikes in this picture measure from 2.5' to about 4' long & the leaves are about 7-8' tall & 5' across.  We have had this amazing plant in our garden for the past 5 years & this is the first time I've found seedlings, which I'm nurturing in my greenhouse.

A link to more info about the plant & a close up of a 'flower' spike

Man am I ever running behind..

I tried to post yesterday but blogger would not let me upload my picture so here we go with the 365Project pictures for the 20th & 21st

This is the seedhead of an Arum Lily full of seeds almost ready to burst out & scatter all around.   I won't let that happen though, I intend to capture them & plant them to sell later in my plant sale..

Here is a tiny Hover Fly -1/2" long- commonly called Flower Fly of the Syrphid Fly family, on a Cone Flower.  I always thought they were tiny bees as they appeared to be collecting pollen but I know now that they actually eat the pollen & nectar & that their larvae eat ahpids etc so I am happy to see them in my garden..