Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July!!

 

I"m heading over to my in-laws to watch the annual Frederick fireworks.  Husband is playing cards tonight with the boys, so I will be representing our family.   It is always a great time full of OHHHs and AHHHs and plenty of WOWs.  

 

Be safe tonight and enjoy view!

Hilari

Effortlessly Swirling

Recently I had the weekend to play in out workshop and this is what came out of that stolen moment in time. Well, stolen is a bit extreme,  but I know that there were items on my to - do list that were happily, completely ignored. Seeing that, at this moment, I can only do two movements with automata, these pieces are becoming a little easier to complete. I am ready to branch out and have tried, but these are the incomplete pieces cluttering up my workbench.   I leave that particular clutter to keep pushing me not to get to comfortable with what I can do now.  I want the art piece to spin, the saw blade to hack, and Superman to fly.

I love the way the girl swirls effortlessly up in the air. Her beloved is easily able to sweep her off her feet. This is one of my favorite pieces to date.

I have been enjoying the yard sales this season,  finding old items to incorporate into new pieces.  One lady was selling her late father's license plate collection and I purchased a few to play with.  She was pleased that they were going to be up scaled into something new.  I am also on the lookout for old books that need a new life.  I found my favorite Dr Seuss book, One Fish Two Fish, and am going to make a journal out of it.  Both the covers and pages were well read and in need of a second life.

It has been one of those moments in time where we will look back and go "Whew".  The refrigerator leaked and we had to replace one third of the floor we put down before Thanksgiving.   Husband's mother has been in the hospital for over 2 weeks and will come to our house to recuperate when she is strong enough.  And my Aunt Margaret's (she is 88),  the sweetest person in the world, health has quickly declined.  But husband repaired the floor, mother-in-law is getting stronger each day and we are lifting prayers for my Aunt, so we will take each day as it comes.

Peace,
Hilari

Version 2

Version 2

I enjoyed making the project for the KBAG meeting and knowing I should be more familiar with the process before teaching it to my fellow members,  I  wondered what else I could do with the pattern.  Like others, I am fond of working with the tree motif, so I worked up a tree house.  I started with the basic pattern used in the graffiti piece and not so quickly realized that it would have to be modified.  I was able to get the tree to stand on it's root system with ease but attaching the building was more of a challenge.  Just when I would think it was stable and I could breath a little easier, I would sit back and see that it was leaning, not ever so slightly, to the left, then over adjust to the right.  When I added the ladder it became easier to stableize and correct any leans.

When you peek into the window you see a lady painting a flower.  This was the more complicated part of the design. The issues arrived when dealing with the wires coming through the wooden floor. I had bits coming from her legs, the stool and the easel and all of these needed to be tucked or incorporated into the tree limbs. After playing around with adding additional sticks, it worked out better to twist in more wire and sort of hide the small wire parts.  All in all, I am really pleased how it turned out.  It doesn't fall over and the lady seems to be happily painting away.

It looks to he a beautiful weekend.  Our yard is mowed and the zinnias are growing.  So as far as I'm concerned, all is good here. I hope the same for you.

Hilari

My Graffiti Project

It has been a busy time around here, so on my evening walk I stopped to smell the beautiful roses growing in my neighbor's flowerbed.  Our spring had been unseasonably warm but today has been lovely with much cooler temperatures and very little humidity.  I am sure I will be mentioning our repressive humidity this summer with great disdain...but not today!!

  

May was my month to lead the KBAG project and this was my sample piece.  The instructions came from Books Unbound and the use of wire caught my attention while flipping through my stash of books for a project idea.  My appreciation of street art is what inspired the finished piece, so I filled the removable book with images cut from the magazine Juxtapoz and placed my graffiti artists in position to leave their own mark.  This movement has grown in the public eye and some of the work is incredible.  I am in awe of projects on 7 story buildings, done with spray paint, with very detailed and beautiful subject matter. With that said, I do not condone graffiti that harms others or their property. 

I am so happy that the temperatures have warmed so I can get back into the workshop with a little more comfort.  Our little portable heater does not cut 30 degrees, but the window air conditioner does a great job with the heat, so I have been spending some wonderful, if not sometimes frustrating, time in the shop making some automata... well one completed and a second started.  I love the feeling when they actually move, more or less, the way I want them to.  If they get close I am thrilled.  I am sure my tolerance will be less the more projects I get under my belt.  But for now, YEA!

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day.  Thanks to all who have served!
Hilari

A Less Hurried Pace

I never knew how beautiful these little snails were. This guy was trucking along the stoop this morning so I stooped down to click a picture before I moved him to a safer route.   From afar these look gray with a gray house, but up close, Wow, what beautiful color and texture.   What a lovely surprise to start my day.

And in keeping with the nature theme, Husband directed me outside this morning to see the largest earthworm ever birthed.  Now, I wear a size 10 shoe.  No, I am not one of the lucky ones with a small, lovely foot.  The ones that go into the shoe store and come out with all these cute and colorful styles.  Try putting on a red floral, size 10 and see if they don't come across as clown feet.  But, I digress...  This ginormous worm was longer than my ginormous tennis shoe.  Even though I was impressed with its size I did not feel the need to whip out my camera.   Although, I could have been as surprised with him as I was with the snail.

To top the day off, this beauty was wandering a customer's front lawn.  He was stately with vibrant plumage of red and orange and iridescent black/teal tail feathers.  This one I could not not photograph. Nature is amazing if we remember to stop and look.

With tomorrow being Saturday,  hopefully there will be more opportunities to enjoy nature's gifts at a less hurried pace.

Peace,

Hilari

If There's A Will...

This weekend I plan to use my will to finish up some projects that have been poking around in the back of my mind for a while. For example, in 1999 BFF and I traveled to beautiful Builtmore House in Asheville NC.  While there we took pictures and saved momentos which I made into a lovely travel log for BFF.  While cleaning (use term loosely) my art room I found my said travel log...well, lets just say it is not so lovely.  That's project 1.  If I can stay on track, I hope to get projects 2 and 3 finished.  Husband is enjoying a day in the woods with friends so I have the time, hopefully, I will have the will!

I love Godzilla movies!  I watched the 1962 King Kong vs Godzilla recently and was inspired.  I want to make the creature coming out of a book, maybe covered with Godzilla comic pics, to where the book part is his midsection, legs out the side, and the upper torso above the top. I stopped by our local comic book store to get some inspiration and I have a comic on order with the art work by Matt Frank.  If you are into comics as an art form, check out his work.  I find it amazing.  Not sure how this will come about, and I hope I do not get distracted by this today, but the idea is in it's big man suit battling with projects 1,2 and 3.  I cannot start something else...well, maybe just some sketching...no, no no...

It's a beautiful day outside...enjoy
Happy Easter,
Hilari

Enjoying a Spring Breeze

This little gal is sure glad that spring has sprung her head out from the gloomy winter clouds.  She loves to have the wind gently swing her while she reads and watches the new growth pop out on her special tree.  Her dress is needle felted and, as you can see, the leaves are constructed of book pages.  Getting her to swing was a little tricky, but after trying this and that with wire, I dug in my stash and found a bird feeder chain that I could use links from.  She swung just fine but wanted to spin in circles, so back to the wire for a bit of tweaking.  Now she can relax and enjoy her book and the breeze.

 

Winter tried it's best to keep us indoors most of February and after three consecutive Friday delays, we were finally able to have our KBAG reception and showing with great success.  Even though our display was cut short, many made it out to see our books and because of their enthusiasm, we have been asked to have another showing in February 2017. We have been gathering once a month for 8 years and this gives us a reason to keep it up.  We all love learning new techniques and enjoying each others company.  

With the warmer weather, I have been able to spend a bit of time in the shop.  I have a couple of pieces, well pieces of pieces, strewn about on my workbench.  One is a magician with a rusty saw blade and it is starting to come together.  The other is still in the thinking stage so not much to report there.  Husband may be going camping this weekend so I am planning on camping out in the shop and playing with tools.  Yea!

Time for supper and some fresh made banana bread  for dessert, yum.

Peace,

Hilari