Holiday Wishes

I can't believe how fast the year has run. So many adventures, sculptures created, shows attended, time with friends and family. Posts ran away from me, but....
I always have time to wish all my friends and family a very special year full of wonder.

June Blooms

"MMM...Tasty" is in the spotlight again. It was chosen to be in the Art of the Animal Kindom XIV in Bennington, VT, June 13-July 26. (www.benningtoncenterforthearts.org )

The Carnegie museum in Pittsburgh had a special members night for their members to preview their new exhibit on robots. We were thrilled to discover some old friends included in the exhibit.
I was excited to see Klatu from the classic science fiction movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (the original, not the remake).

And of course C3PO and R2D2!


My birthday was shared with my cousin's wedding in the Cleveland area. My folks flew in from Dallas which was a special treat.

The bride and groom were lovely dancing their first dance, but my favorite couple on the dance floor were my parents. They celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary this June!
Dad took Vic and I and my Uncle Marvin and Suzanne out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. With sculpture always on my mind, the pile of garlic mashed potatoes became ...well...a rabbit.



The restaurant celebrated my birthday too and treated me to a lovely tart complete with candle!

The next week we headed to Cincinnati for the Riverspan Sculpture show held on the "purple people's bridge". The bridge spans the Ohio river connecting Newport,KY with Cincinnati. It's a lovely venue and the breeze from the river made an otherwise very hot weekend bearable. This was my first year doing this show and we enjoyed meeting the people in the area.

Monday morning we started on our next great adventure, an adventure we hope will last many years. We drove to the Toledo area to pick up our new four legged, furry child. Andrew is just about 1 year old, a Cavelier King Charles spaniel. It meant we were on the road all day, but it was well worth it. He is quite the little lover.

The Merry Month of May

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post! Well I guess I better get caught up. May 15-17 was Sculpture in the South held in beautiful Summerville, SC. Thank you Nancy and Ned for being wonderful hosts letting us stay at their house. The weekend was amazingly wet, but we managed still had some wonderful people come to enjoy the sculptures. Azalea Park provided a wonderful backdrop for outdoor pieces.

Both "Slurp" and "Butterflies Are Free" attracted much attention. The tents tried valiantly to keep us dry. The quick sculpt was a fun event.

Elephants were my subject again. There are endless possibilities for a small group.

Home for a few days and then off to my friend Michelle's to get the elephants fired in her kiln. On the way down I stopped at my "bff's" daughter's (she is my daughter's "bff") and get a baby fix with her her son Max (my grandson's "bff"). Confused? me too.


At Michelles we fired the ellies and worked in her studio, took some walks and visited the Richmond zoo. We road the sky ride and looked down on the rhinos. Along the way some Galapagos tortoises have a discussion.


Since we all had birthdays coming up in the not too distant future and I don't get down to see her and her husband often, we held a birthday season party. The theme was dinasaurs. Movie of the night was "Night at the Museum". Pizza and yummy treats were had by all.
When I returned home I presented Vic with a "discard" from my friend Paula. I have my bike, but it was hard to get Vic convinced to ride when we didn"t have wheels for him. Well now he has wheels and for those who know him...guess what, it doesn"t have a motor!
The end of the month was the opening of "Wild Things" at the Annmarie Gardens in Solomons, MD.( www.annmariegarden.org ) I was pleased to have 2 pieces accepted for the show, "Neck 'N Neck" and the big "Butterflies Are Free".

I unfortunately did not get to the opening but word has it that Butterflies recieved an award!!

Cleveland zoo

Vic and I had a wonderful afternoon at the Cleveland Metro zoo early April. We were thrilled with some of the beasts that are featured there. Lots of walking and perfect weather made it very enjoyable.
An island of Colobus monkeys was a black and white sensation.

And speaking of black and white, the zebras were a treat as well in a lush pasture shared by some Egyptian geese.

We observed a cheetah up a tree, a California Condor munching a rabbit and a lovely group of lesser flamingos.

The grizzly bears were surprisingly active.

We headed home having enjoyed some wonderful time together and collected great reference for future art works.

April in Dallas

What more can I say! Heather managed a few days off and flew to Dallas where Great grandparents, Great uncle, aunt and cousins reside. It was easy to fly in and join the fun.

Grandma Karryl





Great Grandma love.

Great Uncle Jan and Great aunt Cindy have a Portuguese Water Dog, Hannah who thought Isaiah was delicious.

Isaiah helped Great Grandpa read the papers
and did some reading on his own as well.


The visit was all too short, but there was sculpture to be done at home so we reluctantly hugged our goodbyes



Peace!

A Sneak Peek at Spring

The winters in Pittsburgh can seem very long. Just when I thought I'd had about enough gray and cold the Phipps (Pitts' botanical gardens) held a special members evening. Their spring groupings of tulips, pansies, hyacinths and more were the perfect medication for the winter blues.The orchid room is magical with it's lovely variety of delicate plants. Some look like special little creatures. It was a magical evening. I guess with all that gray I just needed a dose of color to lift me up!

Gone to the Dogs

At the end of March was the AKC all breed dog show in Pittsburgh. I love going to the show where I can enjoy everything from the itty bitty chihuahua to the giant, elegant Irish Wolfhound. I find something wonderful with each one. Both conformation and obedience were featured over two days.We each have our favorites and Vic was quick to make friends with a Clumber Spaniel. It is one of the breeds on our list of possibilities to add to our family.
One of the pleasures of going to an all breed show is getting to know what I'm not familiar with. The Tibetan Mastif is an ancient breed, but new to AKC. I had never met a Tibetan Mastif puppy before and this little girl was a charming teddy bear.

Although I wouldn't choose to live with one, I love the spunk of both the Border Terrier and the PBGV

How's this for a face! The Neopolitan Mastif has the greatest wrinkles. I got to feed him a cookie and he has a velvet muzzle.



Finally by the end of two days we were dog tired. The breed that stole Vic's heart was the Cavelier King Charles Spaniel. We made some wonderful friends and I got some great ideas for sculptures to come.

Ellies go home

In March I headed to Virginia to visit my friend Michelle who just happens to have a kiln. Perfect for firing the quick sculpt elephants. Spring was beginning to show her colors. Daffies, forsythias, flowering pears lots of wonderful colors. I love the new spring green leaves popping up on the trees. Virginia is ahead of Pennsylvania in the coming of spring so it was a treat to soak up the spring there.

We fired the elephants and mounted them on the wood base. Off they went to their new home.

SEWE continued

Thursday was a special preview for collectors. It was a wonderful time to talk to some old friends and make some new ones. It was a relaxed afternoon. Evening was the big opening event. Great food and drink. The "belle of the ball" was Rachelle Siegrist looking beautiful in a dress her mom had worn and made for herself many years ago. It seemed like it was made just for Rachelle.
One of the highlights of the show was the sale of "Uno" , my wolf sculpture. This is the last one available in the edition and the mold will be destroyed.

Friday afternoon was the exciting "quick draw", actually a quick paint and sculpt. Some of the artists came with material in hand and at the signal we had 1 hour to create a piece. We each created at our booth so people could walk around and see the artists at work. I chose to work in a paper clay that will need to be fired. This gave me the freedom of control of the piece from start to finish. It's material I enjoy working quickly in.Three little elephants emerged in clay on my sculpture stand. Behind me in the photo frame we had pictures of the 2 baby elephants that where born in the Pittsburgh zoo this summer. Watching them play with each other was the inspiration for the piece.
When all was done an auction was held of all the pieces created in that hour. One by one artists were put on the spot with their pieces held up for all to see and bid on. A great auctioneer kept things going at a fun pace. My little "ellies" I named "Playmates" caused quite a stir. I couldn't believe all the people bidding on my little group!

Thank you to all who participated. it seemed that everyone was having an amazingly good time! My little elephants will be fired in a kiln the end of March and mounted on a wood base and sent off to it's new home. I had so much fun creating this piece. Working in front of everyone was a thrill. I sure hope we get to do it again next year.

Charleston, SEWE continued

Wednesday morning is work time. I so enjoy catching up with my sculptor friends. Hugs all around. We worked hard getting all the stands, lights sculptures and whatever else we need up to our space upstairs in the historic hotel. Part way through the process, Vic wisely gets me out of the booth for lunch. This gets me back to see things with a fresh eye. Actually he plans it so we don't miss having a meal at Hyman's, yummy seafood. We shared some fried green tomatoes. He had scallops and I had shrimp and grits. Yum. All too soon it was back to work. I think the booth looked good!Wednesday night we stopped by Mills House for the opening there and to visit our carver friends. Thursday morning we had a little free time. Wind was blowing and it was a little chilly, but nothing like Pittsburgh. There's a lovely walk we like to take. We see lots of birds and you can look across the water to Charleston.

The bridge from Mt Pleasant to Charleston is beautiful!
One year along our walk we saw otters, but this year we were mostly entertained by the birds. I was quite taken by this little one.
As we started our drive away from our little morning treasure, I spotted some white birds splashing about in a lovely area protected by some bushes. I couldn't resist just a little more time. Leaving vic in the car I crouched down to catch a group of ibis having their morning bath.I guess Vic couldn't resist one more picture either.No more time to diddle about now. We changed into our meeting the people clothes and headed into Charleston to the show. (to be continued)