Harvest Market

So today we (after a few starts and stops) wandered down to the United Church of Underhill's annual Harvest market. It rocked. We spent hours there, and I'd go tomorrow if I wasn't teaching a class. But perhaps I'll get out in time...

The Clutter Barn was where I immediately got swept away from the Rick. Crowded like crazy but dang: the treasure! I got one of those terracotta cooking pots, assorted kitchen utensils that I couldn't live without, and a small spiky fish-lizard thing that was someone's 8th grade ceramics project. I could not resist him, he was only 10 cents! And he will look fabulous in the garden next year.

After that, I joined up with Rick who had found an interesting lamp and a set of headphones. From there we hit the cider & donut tent for a snack, tromped through the flea market, I had a taco, then we shared a small fried dough, listened to the Fife & Drum band, talked with one of the members, and saw the best kilt ever: it looked like this guy had taken carharrts and made a kilt out of them. Pockets!
Somewhere after that we made it back to the cider tent and bought a half gallon. This is the unpasturized, they-squeezed-it-twenty-minutes-ago right there stuff, and it is ABSOULUTE PERFECTION.
Then we listened to the first set of Bob Degree and the Bluegrass Storm Rick took pictures, and we got their cd too.
I think we headed back after that, but with one final stop in mind: GERT's PIES.
Let me just say: Michael Smith was right. Apricot pie.
Seeing as how I found rather heavy treasures early on, my arms were about to fall off at this point. We headed back home for pie & the hammock. I was so wiped that we didn't make it back down in time for the book barn, and then on the way to Jacob's to get Rick's soda, we realized we'd also missed a whole street's worth of other yardsales & booths! There was also the craft fair in the middle school. I certainly hope to get back in time on Sunday.

art art art

Rather out of the blue today, I sold a painting. Zing! It was one I had put up at the store on a sort of "gee I should get this framed and see how it looks" whim. One of our regulars happened to see it on her way out with her husband, and about an hour or so later, they came back, brought it home to take a closer look, called back, and approved! Thank you!
Another bit to add to the art account. And a former art teacher had seen the same piece yesterday and gave me some great ideas for places to show locally, one in particular which I never would have thought of on my own. Thanks Ms. Rupe!

Excelsior and all that...

now back to work.

Ahh, a good shot of the cake: Rich chocolate layered with raspberry sauce from our own berries. Chocolate frosting, covered up the sides with crushed oreos. A bit clumsy in the edges, because I finished it about fifteen minutes before everyone arrived (read: 25 minutes before the ceremony itself.)
And check out the teeny toppers, from the Jackson's 1938 wedding cake. It's next stop: Alyson & Duffy's on Oct. 5th (cheesecake....)

The leaves are turning

1.) Oh the rude awakening of shorter days and dropping temps. Still, my first real vacation in years was a perfect balance of warm days and crisp nights.

2.) Two nights before our wedding, we sat on our deck watching meteors, one of the planets (forgot which one of course) the milky way, and even the space shuttle and it was amazing.

3.) The coyotes still have their nightly sing somewhere nearby.

4.) I'm hoping all our tomato plants will fruit before we get into frost weather.

5.) The neighbor's velvety pristine lawn makes ours look hilarious. Someday I will master this arcane art known as 'landscaping.'

6.) One reason our lawn looks the way it does is a very good reason indeed. During vacation I actually got lots of work done on my current paintings: Lizard man & All good dogs. Have nearly worn out my Rasputina & the Decemberists' Crane Wife cd's in doing so.

7.) Rick is designing a new portfolio site for me, seeing as how we never got the last one up and running. The color palette is quite nice.

8.) Vacations are both wonderful and dangerous in that one never wants to have to work for anyone else again at all ever thank you very much, though I suppose it helps pay for the wonderful home & studio. Lets just say it's actually been rather inspiring.

My ex-boyfriend

Finally official: August 12th, 2007

So, courtesy of Rick's dad Spike, here are a few shots of the wedding. Our Justice of the Peace is a wonderfully nice lady, who looks positively angelic in these images.
Not sure where Rick's attention was at this point...












And something caused this expression but he doesn't remember what...














But all's well that ends well. (save for the damned panty lines.)

Afterwards it was off to Tiny Thai for lunch, then back to the house for cake. Ann & Spike had to head back to Massachussetts after lunch so they missed out on cake, which was rich chocolate with raspberry and crushed oreo for garnish. Lorrie was sweet enough to lend her parent's china bride&groom cake topper from 1938. Mom was awesome and took me out the night before to find shoes that were tall enough to get my dress off the ground. Our garden was kind enough to still be blooming!

Next up, the friends converge on our house for some food, music & so forth. Lots of food...

Goodness it's been a long time. How dare I scoff at other's dusty blogs when I myself am so very very guilty? The main reason I've held off is that I never manage to get pictures of my work (the reason this is called sweet enemy ART) scanned and sized. Arkonbey says go ahead and just write stuff. But I am not one for writing so much as I am one for reading the work of others.
So while I'm waiting for paint to dry ( no, really) I'll offer up some of my favorite web readings:

Mimi Smartypants
(excellent)

Minor Tweaks
(amusing, and writes for Salon.com, another good read)

Cerebral Smatterings
(Amazing artistic skills, found him through Illustration Friday)

Brass Goggles
(There are some people with amazing talent & focus out there)

&
Drawn!

Those last two are more aggregator sites of cool things, but certainly they will lead you to some interesting reading.

And finally, COMIX

Order of the Stick

PS238

There. At least I've updated. Now back to painting for a bit.

the studio

Here's a few shots of the studio, there are ones which dictate the size better, but this will do.
The view as you enter: just after I cleaned up and just before I decided to take down that red rug thing.

My new favorite spot, in disturbing collaged format. Now that I've made this area welcoming, the easel is getting quite a bit of use. It's usually set up by the door now within easy access of the paints. And the level of crap getting stuck in my paint has, as a result of working vertically, decreased greatly. Oh how I love this place.