MY NEW STUDIO DESK !

No longer will I be answering e-mail on my lap! We moved the two file cabinets, Roy built a top from some pieces of heavy plywood in his shop, and I draped a cool tie-dyed rayon scarf over it. I have had the scarf since I bought it in Santa Fe but never found a way to use it so that I could see all the cool colors! Perfect! Yep! Makes me very happy!

"NESTLED" . . .

Yet another experiment in style and subject matter. I watched a documentary yesterday on the life and art of Paul Cezanne. It got me energized to try something new on paper. This is the result. I kinda like it......in a soft and primitive way. I might try another piece......looking for improvment of course. I will share it with you when it is finished. When I look at my gallery of works on Fine Art America it looks like a collaboration put togther by several artists. Oh well, I will just keep trying new things until something sticks......or I might just keep doing new and different things!

SELF- PROMOTION AND "PUTTING IT OUT THERE" . .

Self-promotion is hard! Rejection is real. But, unless I do this, my studio will fill up with stacks and stacks of artworks and no one will see them. I love creating my work, but even more, I love having other people enjoy it. So, since there never has been a long line of people outside my studio, I needed to figure out how to "put it out there". Yesterday ( after writing a letter of introduction via e-mail) I met with the coordinator of a fabulous program called "PA Route 6 Artisan Trail." After looking at my work and spending 2 hours talking about all the opportunities available to artists locally, he invited me to submit three pieces, of my choosing, to become a part of the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail exhibit. This exhibit currently has 70 pieces of work that will, over the next year, travel along Route 6 in PA, being hung in galleries and other venues across the entire state. So far, the exhibit has been displayed in three locations with an attendance over 3000. After the exhibit finishes the PA tour sites, it will begin it's journey the length of the United States for a period of 3-4 years. As it travels, it will form the impetus for the creation of the proposed National Route 6 Artisan Trail. After much thought, these are the three pieces I have selected. "Time Traveler" - wall art doll

"Pods" - painted fabric

"Bella" - paper collage with acrylic

I will deliver these to the coordinator on September 10th to begin their long journey away from the studio. I am so excited to have this opportunity and if, by chance, the exhibit comes close to your home over the next 4 years, I encourage you to check it out. In the meantime, I hope I don't foget what my work looks like! Here is a link to the PA Route 6 Artisan Trail site. I invite you to read about this wonderful adventure!

http://www.paroute6.com/static/index.cfm?action=group&contentID=13

STORYTELLER DOLL UPDATE . . .

This morning I added a shoulder bag to the doll . Inside the bag are 2 tiny "books" and I think it looks really nice on her!

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING ? . ..

Well, I just finished another "storyteller" doll. I love making these, and all of them are quite different from each other. As usual, this one was made with bits and pieces and scraps from my studio. The face is polymer clay on a form of crushed newspaper and masking tape.The body is several layers of cardboard glued together, and then covered with a knit bodysuit filled with a polyester fiber to give her some softness. At the initial construction I attached a fabric loop to the back so that it can be hung on the wall.

Then came the fun parts: painting the face, stringing the necklaces and sewing the dress. Her hair is a raw silk yarn and her head scarf and waist sash were cut from a piece of brown gauze I have had for about 14 years!

Her underskirt is part of a lace and polyester slip and the design on the bottom of the skirt was made by using a stamp I had made and acrylic paint. She measures 25 inches long.

I love her! And, now I am wanting to make another one!

CAN YOU SAY "TASTY" ? . . .

On our recent trip to Canada, and the fabulous day of winery touring, we stopped at one vinyard which had a wonderful cheese shop. The ladies in the shop were preparing canapes and offered up samples. Below is my recreation of the best one! The base of the canape is stoned wheat crackers (no, I am quite sure that refers to a milling process). Next is a lovely slice of Brie Cheese. Topping the cheese is a chutney made as follows: Finely dice a peach and a plum (or any such fruit that is getting too ripe). Add some chopped basil and then a bit of wine, whatever bottle you have open. Put the chutney in the fridge to keep cold until time to assemble. So, this was our lunch on the porch today. We added some wine (since, of course, the bottle was already open) . I encourage you to try this! See, the plate is quite empty! As are the glasses:)

It was soooooo tasty!

OH CANADA ... .

Earlier this week we took a couple of days to go north and fell right into the fabulous Ontario Wine Country. We stayed at the Capri Inn in the city of St. Catharines. a lovely room with a view over a river (?). We visited several of the 57 wineries in the region and it was a beautiful day for wine touring! This was our very favorite winery!

Here is Roy, getting up close and personal with a vintage wine press.

Here you can see just one of MANY rows of grapes. Rows and rows and rows and rows.....they just went on and on.

All of the vineyards and their attached wineries had beautiful gardens. And, many of them had quite extensive gift stores. One of them had a fabulous store of artisan cheeses. Samples came faster than you could taste them and we came home with several pieces of speciality cheeses. Of course, the wine tastings were wonderful too and we brought home a case of assorted wines.

The gardens were so pretty I had to photograph the flowers.

At one of the wineries we had lunch outside in view of all those grapes. We shared a lobster and shrimp baguette, lightly dressed green salad and a very nice Chardonney. Best lunch in a very long time.

Roy has his hands full of cheese!

And here I am under a grape arbor holding four really tasty cheeses.

I have no doubt we will be going back. There are so many vineyards to visit! So many cool labels, so little time. It was a wonderful trip and we stopped at Niagara Falls on the way home. Stay tuned for the requisite "falls" photographs!

A RAINY WEDNESDAY IN NW PENNA IS FOR BAKING . ..

Cooling on the table is a peach and raspberry tart! The peaches were bought frozen in bulk at our local farmer's cooperative and Roy picked the raspberries in our woods yesterday. I don't really have a recipe for you because I generally just wing it for these. I confess to a frozen pastry round for the crust.

I combine peaches and raspberries and some water and some sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and lemon juice. I cook it for awhile and then thicken it with corn starch. That's it! I bake it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Postscript: The tart is resting comfortably on a cake stand I made when living in Mountainair, NM where I took a pottery class. I have been waiting for a chance to use it!