hummingbirds.....

My parents have a hummingbird feeder that was buzzin' with birds this weekend and I just couldn't resist sharing these pictures. These pictures are especially for Steph because she loves birds so much! Just think Steph , How close I must have been to these little birdies!

New art for the wall

My mom and I went to an arts festival in the Quad Cities this weekend and I came home with some new art for my house. Jan Byron, the artist my mom and I bought our pieces from, is from Oklahoma but unfortunately she has no website. Jan Byron creates stuffed figures with with wire and beads and shrinky-dink type faces.

Dog Park!

Violet my adorable Beagle enjoyed all the attention this weekend!

The weather has been fantastic so we have taken advantage of it and gone to the dog park! Nothing beats an afternoon surrounded by 15 to 20 different dogs chasing one another through a big beautiful park. I am so in love with the Pug puppy we met and the adorable Boston Terrier named Oliver. We also met a dog named Crash the is part Beagle and part Pug--- Puggle??Here is Dottie with her new friend Crash.
Jeremy made a friend at the Dog park too- yikes!

new camera!

I was so amazed by my new sister-in-law's camera that I bought a new one! (thanks Joy!) Check out her great photography at WildFlowers Photography
So... I have been messin' around with my new camera and here are a few snap shots of this great mushroom that popped up in our yard after a few days straight of pouring rain.

It's been a busy month....

I have already taught two days of school this month, where did the summer go?
August has been a busy month, so busy, I have not even had a chance to post. We went to California to visit Jeremy's brother and his wife and darling new baby. We went shopping, to the beach, and out to lots of great restaurants.
We spent some time in San Diego which we found to be lots of fun and very beautiful. We took little Gracie to this park to splash in the fountain.

When I returned home, I had only a few short days until the big surprise party we have been planning for my mom. She will be 60 this month so we wanted her birthday to be extra special. I will say, she WAS surprised! We asked everyone to create a scrapbook page with memories of them with my mom. We had so many we needed two books! She loved it, she cried and cried and couldn't go to bed that night because she just kept looking over the books and going over the night!











Of Course on Monday I turned around and started back at school. What a whirlwind it has been but what a fun month! Crazy thing is.... the month isn't even over yet.
Last Night JP and I bought a new computer and new digital camera. We are excited! Today will be devoted to figuring them out!

inch by inch, row by row

I'm gonna make my garden grow.....
This has been the best summer for gardening! I have had good luck with everything I planted this year. I can't stop picking green beans, zucchini, and egg plant. My broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, and peppers (and whatever else I put out there) should be ready soon. Unfortunately it seems we always go on vacation right when the garden is at it's best. This year is no different. We will heading to the lake with our entire family (22 of us) and then off to California to see Jeremy's family and meet our new niece Gracie Ann.

These are globe thistles that I planted last year. they are supposed to get really big purple globe like flowers on them. I am waiting patiently. Last year there was not even a flower, so this year looks much more promising!

New adventure!

Kirsten and I have have been working hard this week to open our own own Etsy shop. Here is the link WeMiKiWi.etsy.com The name comes from combining our first two letters from both of our names. It grows on you.... say it WeMiKiWi. We are making lots of paper bead jewelry right now but will probably expand into cards and more of our individual artwork later on. Yesterday we even made these adorable little business cards to share with people!

More ATC's.....

My latest creations: Wind up Robot toys. I created a few hand-carved stamps for these cuties.
Black and white photo ATC's: I used old black and white photos I took in college when I ran the dark room.

Here are a few of my Frida inspired ATC's for Kirsten and Maralena!

I am working on a few books right now and should get around to posting those later this week! We are busy painting the porch and the garage door so I am doing a different kind of painting this week! This is the last week of summer school!! Yippee!

summer is here....

Yeah!! school's out- too bad I am such a such a sucker, I signed up to teach summer school! JP and I have been spending a lot of time cleaning out stuff. We tackled my over-grown and neglected art studio this weekend. As the end of the school year draws near each year- I start piling and piling and losing control of my already tight studio space. Here are the before and after pictures for you.

BEFORE:

AFTER:


YEAH!!! NOW I BETTER GET BUSY MAKING LOTS OF ART!

New ATC's

So I joined a new art group recently ATCards.com and I have been having so much fun making ATC's. For anyone who reads my blog and does not know what these are, it stands artist trading cards. They are baseball card size works of art that are traded through the mail. I am so addicted!

Here are a few new cards I just completed and sent out!

Striped Legs ATC's

Continuous Line Drawing ATC's

Collaged House ATC's

Cloth ATC's

weekend at the lake...

We went to my parents lake house this weekend and had a nice relaxing time. Jeremy did lots of fishing, and I spent time drawing, riding in the boat, and hiking the trails with my mom and the dogs! Here is a few great snapshots of the beauty of Wisconsin. I fell completely in love with the turtles that were everywhere this weekend!
Jeremy's big catch!

Recent ATC's

Worst Ways to Die ATC's ... starting with the top one is "20,ooo Leagues Under the Sea", "The Birds", "Attack of the Killer Bees", and the last one is, "Towering Inferno".

Mixed media Collage ATC's .... for EC swap. Pictures from my wedding which I cannot believe will be two years ago this June!!


Sock Monkey ATC's for the EC watercolor swap. I love my monkeys!


Rachel Davis ATC's ( a wonderful singer) I think I should email her these and let her know she has her own trading cards- hee hee!

Shades of Brown....

Three shades of Brown paper were given to me to create a work of art. Why, you may ask? In order to pass National Board Certification ( to be certified as a teacher in all 50 states) I must pass a portfolio of work and a long exam testing my knowledge of art and art history. This lovely brown paper assignment is part of the test.
In less than 35 minutes create a work of art using all three shades of 9x12 brown paper. Use only a glue stick and scissors to create the work. Nothing else. So..... here it is!!!Happy Mother's Day! Here is my array of mother's day cards I created for all the moms in my family. I will be hanging out with my mom next weekend in the Amana Colonies for a yummy breakfast and shopping!
I was inspired by Kirsten's cute button flowers she made at my house last art night!

check out my awesome friends' blogs....

Dona (who rocks my world) posted some most excellent photos ....
and the absolutely wonderful Kirsten ( who truly knocks my socks off)
also posted great photos.
By the way, I am still sore from the weekend.

Chalk the Walk

Rain or Shine..... we are chalkin' the walk!!
well, almost. The weather for the Chalk the Walk street festival in the little town of Mount Vernon, where I live, was windy but beautiful yesterday, but today the rain could not stay away. Kirsten and I were almost finished with our parody of Van Gogh's bedroom, which we jokingly called "Van Gogh's girlfriend's bedroom," when the rain began to pour. It was sad but beautiful to see the stream of colored chalk run down the street this afternoon. It was a wonderful weekend, full of good art, family, and friends!
My niece Marissa (who is very artistic) helped us for a while today!

Here's the best of Show: a portrait of this young man's niece.


Here is the large community collaborative piece: Seurat's Sunday Afternoon in the Park or "La Grande Jatte". Sadly, it was not comlpleted before the rain began to wash it away....
More Pictures to come!!!!

Art Show Judge!

I was asked to judge an art show this weekend at the University of Iowa. Congressman Dave Loebsack hosted an art contest for high school students. This year marks the 25^th anniversary of the Congressional Arts Competition, sponsored by the Congressional Arts Caucus. The 2007 exhibition, entitled “An Artistic Discovery,” will feature exceptional artwork from all 435 congressional districts. “An Artistic Discovery” was created in an effort to recognize the creative talents of young Americans. It was great to see art from so many different schools. I must say the photography was most impressive! Here is the link to the article in the press citizen newspaper where they quoted me- let's just say I do not like how reporters always make you sound ridiculous!

Dave Loebsack giving a great speech about the importance of art!

Children and Art

I love children's art! I find their work to be fresh, full of energy, and their ideas are always new and exciting! Check out this young man's work after a printing lesson. We were pretending to be scientists and we labeled our bug's parts.


Our students performed a music program all about Colors and we helped make the backdrop in class. It turned out great!

Melvin is a work of Art

For a mere 30 dollars, our lovely fluff-ball of a cat, has been sculpted into a beautiful work of art. Check out my sweetie with his new spring look- the Lion Cut.

We held a district wide art show, with portraits as our theme. It was wonderful to see such a variety of media and wonderful work by all the students.

birds

I am putting a bit of work in a small shop in Iowa City called Decorum. The owner is showing all kinds of hand made work ( with a bird theme.) There will be jewelry, bags, cards, and my little collages and boxes. I am not sure how I finagled my way into this little birdie boutique, but what fun! Here is a sneak preview of some of my recent pieces.