My art made it into the South Dakota Magazine!

Well, you can sure imagine how excited I was about getting my work in this magazine!! It is the most popular magazine in SoDak. You can find it in the May/June 2010 issue...and, of course, I bought several! All the folks at the magazine were so wonderful and helpful. I want to especially thank Katie Hunhoff for all her efforts...she was a delight to work with.
I also want to thank Brenda at Expressions Art Gallery and Frame Shop in Watertown, SD. Brenda volunteered to take the photos to send to Katie. I am still just clueless when it comes to this kind of technical stuff. She did a wonderful job with the photos. And I can't say enough about their excellent framing...all three pieces that I have entered in competitions were framed there. I have to think that the presentation these frames created added to my work...all three won ribbons! And now the best part...Dianna, at Expressions Gallery, asked me if I wanted to display this piece in the gallery! So I have finally reached my first goal...to get my work in a gallery. Dianna has it displayed with the magazine article. And it is right next to one of my favorite wildlife artists...Josh Spies!! This wonderful artist won the national duck stamp contest recently. He also has many of his pieces at the Goss Opera House in Watertown.

Philadelphia International Flower Show...other entry

This picture, titled 'Front Porch of Life', is my other entry to the show. This one took the first place ribbon in it's category. I spent about 3 weeks on this one and leaned a lot, also. The walls and porch are made of the fall leaves of the day lily. They are brown and brittle when I pick them. Then they were re-hydrated and ironed dry and flat. The flowers in the window box are oregano blooms, white alyssum, purple candytuft, thyme sprigs and bachelor button petals. The watering can is made of the gray backsides of the white poplar tree leaves and the gloves are of fall leaves. This one is now on display the the Redlin Art Center in Watertown, SD. It is in a competition that is sponsored by the Watertown Business Association in conjunction with their Arts and Crafts Festival on June 12, 2010. I will be displaying my art at the Health Food Store on Kemp St. during this show.

Philadelphia International Flower Show Entries

Last March I entered two pressed flower art pieces in the Philadelphia International Flower Show and was honored with awards on both! I was very pleased! Above is my Mt. Rushmore picture that took 3rd place in its category. This one was an extreme challenge for me. Took me 6 weeks to get this one done...but learned a lot in the process! The sky is made of blue and white petals of delphinium. The faces and most of the rest is made from the white/gray side of the white poplar tree and also from some weeds I found at our lake place that had gray undersides. I am also very happy to say that Expressions Art Gallery in Watertown, SD has asked me to let them display it in their shop! Finally got into a gallery!

Oh, my! Has it been that long since I've posted on here?! Lots has happened since my last post so guess I better get busy.
My fall shows went well. I sold my favorite piece, 'Time for a Rest'...the one with the geese landing in the harvested field. It went to a good home in Texas though. And I got 4 orders for 'Midnight'! I was glad I decided to take orders and after doing 3 more of him I think I got the technique, as well as drawing horses, down pat. I really want to do more with the cotton wood 'fluff'...found a couple of trees with the pods low enough that I can get to them before they 'pop'.
I met a wonderful lady on line recently who does beautiful work with pressed flowers and mandalas. I never heard of these but sure hope to be learning more soon...very intriguing. Here is the link to her website:
http://www.tamlondonhummingbirdarts.com
She is a truly wonderful blogger and is the one who has inspired me to get back to my own here. You will find a link to her blog on her home page. I am betting that you will be just as intrigued with her mandala art as I am!
Will post more tomorrow about the Philadelphia International Flower Show...stay tuned!

'Midnight'

His name is 'Midnight' and I really, really enjoyed this piece! AND, you will never believe what this horse is made of...the 'cotton' from the cottonwood tree! This 'cotton' actually came from the Ukraine. It was sent to me by the instructor in our last month's class on the guild. This one was taught by Alyona, a wonderful master artist from Ukraine and she sent the 'cotton' to us. We have a ton of this floating through the air in the summer...looks like snow in summer sometimes! But I did not know how to collect it then. Next year I will have to talk some little fellow into shimmying up a tree to pick some of the seed pods for me before they 'pop'!
I plan on more of these! Hmmmmm...what else could I do with this...ideas, anyone?

Brook in the Woods

Finally got back here! What a summer on the High Plains! Cool and wet for the most part. The perennials and the weeds loved it...the annuals and veggies shivered but finally gave me something for my hard work. Beans are still blooming, but the tomatoes are about to give it up!
Well, I did get a few classes completed this late summer. This one is called 'Brook in the Woods' and was a class done by guild member Elaine McMahon. We learned how to use mushrooms for rocks and onion membrane (yes, membrane...the very thin silvery skin between the layers of the onion!) for the water. And I used sanwa tissue over the background to soften it. Loved this class...thanks, Elaine!

The fourth piece in my 'South Dakota Wildlife Series'

My goodness...what a challenge and a stretch this picture was! I learned so very much and thank Irina for another wonderful class. This one is titled 'Calm Morning on the Slough'...don't get many calm mornings on the High Plains! Our goal in the class was to learn how to use bark for sky and water. Since I don't find birch bark in this area that is readily available (would have to raid someone's yard tree!) a friend from the WWPFG sent me some from Pennsylvania...thanks, Nancy!
Birch bark is a tricky material to work with. If it is cut from the tree in the spring when the sap is running, I understand that it is easier to separate into thin sheets. And besides the obvious white their are a variety of pinks, yellows and beige colors in the individual sheets. All of the material used for the sky and water are done with sheets of birch bark. The muskrat houses are made of the faded day lily leaves. The trees are made of various skeletonized leaves and the mallard ducks are made of white poplar, banana skin and fall leaves.
Oh, just a bit more info about the muskrat houses that I didn't know til recently...ducks and geese sometimes make their nests right on top of these houses...high and dry and with a pent house view to boot!