Hello,

It was nice to see everyone at the family reunion.  Forrest put this picture on Facebook saying that he loves his grandma.

Today I entered my first juried art exhibit.  It is for the Handmade and Bound venue in Nashville that we went to last year.  I will be notified mid-August if I get in.  This is one of the few times that others will look at my creations and say if it is worthy...not my friends and family who, thankfully, have always supported my work.

She is made with a wire body with the lower half, tail and hair formed with felt.  She even has wire mermaid boobies.  She is leaning against 2 rocks which are wired between repurposed book covers, the top one watercolored to resemble the ocean.  The word across her face reads Beauty.  12.5 by 7 by 5

Her story of why she is holding a flower in type written in her tail.  It go as follows:

She went to the sea to see what she could see.
It was to the coast she headed.
She had a shell to exchange for a beauty worth the same
and into a fisherman she ran.
She flagged him down with a wave and a smile
then explained her request.
He was happy to swap a flip for a flop
for by his side was a bouquet for his bride.
Both were in awe with the beauty they saw
and each went happily on their way.

It is time for the Olympics.  We know a very proud daddy of a swimmer, Clair Donahue, who placed 7th in the final 100m swim.  Because of her making it to the finals she has been asked to swim in the prelems of the 400m relay on Friday.  Good luck to her!

Hearts,
Hil

Hello,
Thank goodness for the rain.  It will sure help the flowers perk up and sing.  These Black Eyed Susans were at a customer's house and they were singing loudly.  They also had Purple Cone flowers which are one of my favorites.

For this one I used a thicker wire to create the heart shape and torn book pages shaded with color pencils
for the filler. The shades fall from red to pink to gray and finally spill out with black.

This picture better shows the dimension of the piece. I had to figure out how to get the paper pieces to "fall" without having the bottom layer color covered by the next layer.  I knew if I used a glue stick I would be one big blob of small torn colored pieces of paper so I used small thin double sided tape squares to form the shape.I was able to manipulate each piece and place them inside the curvature of the heart to gain the dimensional feel.


Time to get settled for the evening.
Hearts,
Hil