Oktoberfest at the Chattanooga Market!

Yesterday, was my first time to participate in our infamous Chattanooga Market! This local market features local handmade and produced. This particular beautiful day was "Oktoberfest" themed! Mucho German influence....and oodles of people! It was a great day....met many wonderful vendors.....and made a little moo-lah! Yippee!

Added Pleasure!

"There's no retirement for an artist,

it's your way of living so there's no end to it."

-Henry Moore

We have now returned from our little family vacation....it was fantastic! Upon a friend's recommendation, we took the segway tour of the grounds at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.

It was a beautiful day and filled with new experiences. One being the knack of driving and riding a segway. Not hard....but, not a typical thing for which I have skills. One of the high points of the day was stopping at the reflection pond. This particular body of water was created to reflect the mansion...and, it most certainly did. Our segway guide does numerous tours daily for guests from everywhere in the country. But, on this particular day....the moment I happened to be taking the segway tour...a group of artists had parked at the edge of the pond to practice their skills. Our guide has never seen this in the five years she has worked for The Biltmore. I buzzed by them upon assembling their easels...and 45 minutes later had the pleasure of seeing their almost finished paintings. It was quite cool to see how 10 people painted the same thing. The age of the painters was varied...and so were their skills. But, I loved seeing the process!

What an added pleasure for me!

BE!

Taking a couple of days to experience a little family Fall break. Can't wait to experience what we have planned...it should make for some excellent photo opportunities. Have a great weekend! Just Be!

Quite Busy!

"When I'm not writing or tweaking my computer, I do embroidery.

When I'm not plunging into the past, tweaking, or embroidering,

I'm reading books about history, computers or embroidery.

-Lynn Abbey

This is a little sneak peak of my version of a sampler...can't wait to share the full photo...but, still has some work needed. It is no doubt the optimum....maximized...version of a piece of art. Quite busy!

Recycling Artistically!

"Thanks to my mother,

not a single cardboard box

has found its way back into society.

We receive gifts in boxes from stores

that went out of business twenty years ago."

-Erma Bombeck

Recycling does seem to be the word of choice lately....and a commitment my household is attempting to do, but sometimes in my definition of 'recycling', I always think of crushing or changing the content or consistency of the discarded object. (i.e. plastic bottles crushed and made into playground mulch) Often you don't really have to change it, to re-use it....only alter the purpose. Thus, recycling has occurred. Mixed Media Art...like most all of my art, had a previous purpose prior to me globbing it on a canvas. I love seeing quirky little pieces of _______(most anything) re-purposed in an aesthetic way. I keep a book of clever ideas and projects I would like to make some day....and this one below came from that scrapbook. I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due regarding this idea, but I found it in a DIY type magazine about three years ago. Finally purchased two accordion styled measuring tools (I'm sure they have a professional name) at an estate sale about three weeks ago. The original idea was slices of the tool on a leatherette cord. In my version I added the great word, added a vintage bauble and strung it on ball chain.

The cross is created from the joints of the accordion measuring tool....I thought it looked so industrial, but interesting. Once again, I added the spiritual wording.

I thought these turned out great. Not my idea, but a variation of some one's brilliance. Thank you...Someone! Just another form of recycling artistically.

Virtue of the Camera!

My daughter snapped this photo while traveling down the road at 65 miles an hour. I loved it! The intensity of my first born, coupled with my offspring all in the blur of road foliage is quite interesting. My girls never cease to amaze me.

"The virtue of the camera is not the power

it has to transform the photographer into an artist,

but the impulse it gives him to keep on looking."

-Brooks Atkinson

New Eyes!

Recently I went home for a few days...family duties. Had a little time to enjoy my surroundings for a change. It has been 20+ years since I lived here...and have learned that we often take for granted the artistic beauty that surrounds us. When I think of the farm....my brain automatically goes to getting up at 5am to beat the hot sun, shucking a truck bed of corn before noon, push mowing the 1+ acre lawn, pulling and setting tobacco for hours...the list goes on and on. A farmers daughter's work is never done, yet today....I see it differently.

It is quite true, minimal negative thoughts can invade many, many positive ones. What once seemed dirty....yucky...nasty...labor intensive...hard....now looks, beautiful....quiet... peaceful...aged....home.

Different times....different light makes all things look DIFFERENT!

Lesson to learn: don't let the less desired memories override the wonderful ones.

Stop and look at your surroundings with new eyes!

Finally...Be!

Finally...the old technology element of my world has come to be working! Yippee! Although, the lack of a computer has somewhat increased my ability to create...I still missed it immensely. It now seems the computer is my link to the world...used to be the newspaper...then the television...then came the cell phone...and now it is my computer. My how things change so quickly. Can't wait to start loading in all my goodies I have seen and made. Below is a little piece I did about three months ago...and my has that simple word become so prominent. With the loss of all my blogging companions....connections to my creative outlets...I've just had to learn to "be". All whining aside, it has been fun.

Just BE!