I Love to Brag!

These are the finished shoe shrines from the October stArts class. Aren't they wonderful?

The first one is Raven's Uncle Ray. He enjoyed fishing and playing games.

The second one is Summer's Grandmother. The interesting thing about her grandmother is that Summer looks so much like her at a young age. Very pretty lady.

The third shoe was my own dedicated to my mom. I made Mom's picture (I think she was about 4 or 5 in this picture) into a faux getting card. She is the Queen of Hearts! A lot of my childhood memories revolve around the whole family playing games, card games, board games. Lots of fun.It was certainly a great experience for all of us. Students and teacher. Doing the shoe for my mom was a nice way for me to visit some precious memories. I'm the oldest of 7 kids and I kind of think if all of us did a shoe or shrine of some kind, we'd all do something different.

Three days in a row! Wow!

I got out into the garage yesterday with all the intentions in the world of actually doing some glass work. The only problem was, after a couple of months of stuffing things in the garage to get them out of my way and saying really intelligent things to myself, like-"Oh, I'll get that put away later", I ended up with more of a mess than I could handle. So, now that I have at least a path dug to the glass kiln and a small space I can work on, I can get a batch of glass in the kiln while I spend some time working on the rest of the garage.


More on the stArts program:
October was the shoe shrines. It was a small, but great class. We really got some good work done. These classes are fairly short. They are only for two hours on Saturday and they last for a month. Not a lot of time.

The lady's shoes on the left are of Summer's grandmother.

The man's shoe on the right is of Raven's Uncle Ray. Neither of these pictures show the finish of the shoes at all. Hopefully I can get a good picture of them as they eally look. They are so pretty!

These are just work-in-progress pics. If I can get over to the Arts Center today, I'll get a shot of the finished shoes. They also did a lttle hanging plackard to tell the viewer something about the person they were honoring.

"stArts" is a local mentor/child art program that I have had the privilage to participate in as a teacher. In September, we did "Altered Barbies". The picture is of the students' work and my own. The one in the middle was the inspiration doll for the class. The one with the game pieces on her head is the one I did along with the students.

Each of these dolls has a story. The little book is her body and has images and words that tell that story. It was a fun class and a real learning experience for me. But then again, every time I teach a class I learn something new.

It's time for me to get serious with some things.
My art, for instance. I put off too many things for too long.

Today I will be in the back studio fusing lots of little glass pieces. I will try to get some photos of those sessions on the blog tomorrow. I've been working on a lot of mixed media lately. Mostly as examples for classes I teach at the Arts Center. The work has been fun and my students have been terrific. I'll have some pics later today. I do have a show coming up on the first of Dec. It would be very good to really get down to work and get all those things I've started actually done!

Here's to getting going! Yay!

Well, it's now time for New Year's Eve resoutions. So here goes: My resolution is to not resolve anything! It seems as though the more I try to resolve to do such and such and try to do good, the more I get myself into trouble.
How about if I live for today (not for what's on down the road, or what I get to do later on).
Eat to live, not live to eat!
Do the stuff I need to do now, not worry about what I might need to do in the future.
I other words, If I resolve to do "stuff" then I am saying that the future is where I'm living, not the here and now.
I know I'm not saying this very well, but I guess that's the way it is. If I'm going to enjoy life at all and not be stressed about it all, then I'm going to have to stop expecting things of me that are unrealistic. No more demands.
Do good for anyone who needs it at the moment.
Love God.
Live by faith that He (and only He) will take care of me.
Take my vitamins every dayif possible. Do my workout as often as possible.
NO MORE LEGALISM!!!!
No more demands.
Happy New Year!

It is time. My first post to my first blog.

I'm excited. The blank form in front of me is full of promise, even to this 50+ grandma. Now where do I go and what do I do with it?

Let's see. The weather seems to be faily nice for a West Texas summer day. Rain is forcast for the weekend. Don't need too much rain or the cotton will spoil. We are not farmers, but you absolutley cannot live in this part of the country without personally knowing someone who farms cotton!

What else? The kids are fine. Jonathan and his wife and three wonderful little girls are basking in the sun in New Hampshire and Denine is busy chasing around her two little ones (and husband) in Katy, Tx. Don't need to worry about them.

Well, I guess it's to my art and that is what this is all about, anyway. Art- the very thing that does keep me going. My problem with art for some reason is when I am doing cool art I feel guilty thinking there is probably something else I need to be doing that's not quite as fun! So, I just need to get over that and do it!

Here's to art. I raise my coffee cup to you and wish you a very art-ful day,
Nancy