Building Away.

I've been caught up in the world of canvas assembly lately.  Here are my 2x2"s with quarter round molding glued  & tack nailed to the surface.

These canvases are 22x22" and larger.  I love making my own stretcher bars - it saves money and I've found that they don't warp nearly as bad as commercially made canvas bars.  Once I cut them down to size I glue them together using a ratchet strap to hold it snugly together.  

After they dry for at least a day, I'll drill holes and secure the corners with 2 1/2 inch wood screws.  Tomorrow, I'll start stretching and priming!  

In other non-power-tool-related news, I've been watching this spider outside of my porch window for days:

It is a female Garden Spider, and she is massive!  Her abdomen measures close to an inch long and with her arms she could almost span my palm. 

Before photographing the spider I had to check to make sure it didn't have miraculous jumping powers so I poked it with a stick.  It didn't jump but it grabbed on to the stick and pulled back!  Creepy!  

Anthologies in Flux at the Washington Pavilion

A few weeks ago Nate and I went in to Sioux Falls for the evening to attend the opening for Anthologies in Flux, a show featuring the work of Diana Behl, Ceca Cooper, and Liz Heeren.  It was a great show!


Each of the artists had abstract work that borrowed beautifully from the world around us.





{Concurrent - by Liz Heeren}

Liz Heeren's pieces were both quiet and grandiose; abstractions of a silent underwater world in which nature and man-made structures collide.  They are both beautiful and uneasy.

{Liz Heeren}







{Ceca Cooper}

Ceca Cooper's work is deeply connected to the natural world here in eastern South Dakota.  There is a flatness in her paintings that presses the subjects in her painting right up to the viewer, giving them the ability to see the world through her eyes.







{Diana Behl - March}

Diana Behl's work is also deeply influenced by her surroundings, these paintings are from a series of works named after the months.  They evoke a sense of familiarity - they seem like snippets of memories.  Their abstract quality makes them easy to become immersed in.


{Diana Behl - May}

If you live nearby, you really ought to make it out to this show.  It is located in the Washington Pavilion and runs through November 13th.

Hot Off the Presses

Finished this little painting last night for a show I was invited to participate in in Illinois.  It is 8x8" and oil on canvas.

I love how it turned out.  I prefer to paint using a 'wet in wet' technique where all mixing and painting is done in one session - instead of putting down a layer, waiting for it to dry, and glazing paint over the top of it.  Usually I do a thin underpainting, and then paint the final layer over the top of it in one to three sessions.

I was using this painting as a dry run for a painting I will be doing (live) at an event I'll be participating in on October 1st called "Take the Day" held at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls.  I wanted to try using a thin acrylic underpainting on the piece to speed along my process a bit and still have nice thick paint layers.  The event calls for artists to create a piece in the main gallery while the public is open to watch and talk with the artists.  Here's the lovely feature that was written by TJ - the organizer of the event:  Artist Spotlight  And another recent snippet from the Graphic Content blog:  New Contributer: Cassie Marie Edwards

I am really pumped to be able to meet so many amazing artists from our area!

Recent Furniture Refinishing Projects

Between starting to teach my class and Bobo getting sick, I made some time to finish up some projects I'd been working on.

The first is a $10 mid-century bedside table that I spruced up using some restor-a-finish.  It was pretty scratched, and worn, but the restor-a-finish totally brought it back to life.

Then there is this table that (shamefully) I've had in the works for over a year!  Here is the before image:

It was really scratched and the finish was badly damaged, so I decided to strip the base, and repaint the top.

Here it is partway through:

And Finished:

The color in the photo is a little darker than it is in person - here is a better pic of the color:

Another piece we picked up recently was this great desk!  I used restor-a-finish on this piece as well, and it looks good as new.  The handles aren't back on yet, but you get the idea. :)  

The cats love it as much as we do. 

We also painted our kitchen this last weekend - we got rid of the ugly country yellow (finally!) and we opted for a light grey/white.  There is a lot of wall space in the kitchen, so I'm hoping to make some big paintings for the walls.  

With school starting, housework, and the cat being sick, we had a bit of a long week.  Good thing we've got a comfy couch.

My Buddy

Last weekend we had to take our cat Bobo in to the vet at 2am because he was suffering from a blocked bladder caused by a UTI.  The vets in town wanted us to wait until the morning to take him in, but he started showing signs of extreme pain (terrible yowling and trying to hide - hissing when we would try to pet him), so we decided to take him to Sioux Falls (an hour away) at 2am.  We found out there that he could have died if we waited until the morning - blocked bladders can quickly become deadly in male cats.  We are very thankful to have listened to our instincts.  He had to stay at the Animal Hospital for three days with a catheter, IV, and antibiotics to make sure he wouldn't block again.  We've had him home since Monday, and he's been such a good sport taking his medicine and eating his new food.
Even Rascal missed him!

We are so thankful that he's alright - it was such a stressful week knowing that he was sick, at the hospital, and then hoping he would be fine once we got him home.