For Your Viewing Pleasure

I've been gone of a while, you may have noticed. I've been distracted with many things. (I never realized before just how easily I am distracted. I blame technology. And children.)

For the last 2 weeks we have been sick. It started as a simple cold one child got somewhere and shared with the baby, who shared with Gabe. Then shared with me. The kids didn't seem to have it that badly, except for maybe the baby. It's difficult to say if his was all sick or if some of it was from teething as well. Maybe the kids were just too busy to complain much.

For my part it started as a normal cold with sneezing and runny nose but quickly turned to headaches, backaches, general body aches, a raspy terrible cough, chills and hot flashes, and lightheadedness. This was all on one day, which happened to be my 14th anniversary. Nice way to celebrate, eh? No fever though. Weird. The cough lingers as does baby's stuffy nose so we have avoided our friends so as not to contaminate them. I'm happy to report that I had no less than 4 of them contact me today to enquire of my missingness. It only took 2 weeks. But at least it proves that I do have a couple friends.

I have also been distracted by a "mail art" project which is finally finished and I promise I will show you what I worked on for it soon. In the meantime though I also visited the Denver Art Museum during a little known free day event and would like to share some pictures from it with you.

construction on the outside

"Orion" by Deborah Butterfield


"The American Indian" by Andy Worhol

"Fox Games" by Sandy Skoglund

Where I Create...(hopefully these will be 'before' photos)

I just read the new edition of 'Where Women Create', they have such beautiful studios. All filled with glitter and billowy fabric and soooo many lovely little storage containers. To store things. I like keeping things neat and orderly. I like having my sock drawer organized and it is very vexing when someone (named Gabe)(who does the laundry)('cause laundry is a boys job, so there) puts the short sleeved shirts in the same pile as the long sleeved shirts. Yes. Vexing. However, as you may have guessed, I am grossly outnumbered (5-1) in the 'lets keep things neat and orderly' department. And despite my efforts to do so, things are not kept as neat and orderly as I would like. Even when I label them with little pictures on them like this:


I also suffer from a sever lack of neat little totes. (And I probably have more than the 'normal' person) But that's my excuse. Because while I'd love for my studio to look like that:









images from 'Where women Create' fall '09


(and by studio, I mean the tiny space that used to be a small portion of the family room but now houses all of my crafts, plus the kids school, plus Gabe's home business) sadly, it looks like this:

And this is on a good day. I even cleaned up a little. Note Gabe's space in the background. Surprisingly, mine looks worse at the moment. Don't know how that happened.




Here are some of my plans to improve my studio (apart from building above the garage where I would have a studio with a kitchenette and a balcony overlooking my tea garden-which is really a weed garden right now, but that's another story).

My desk is far too small for me and Gabe's is too small for him, we also have a tiny house (before we finished the basement we had 860 square feet) with a tiny bedroom so I plan to remove the closet doors and replace them with either bi-folds or a pretty curtain. That way I can use 1 or both doors as a nice big desk. Then Gabe can have mine. I also plan to move him so I can have this whole space to myself. I don't like sharing. (Last week Gabe said he was going to send me back to kindergarten so I can learn how to share) (I said stay away from my chocolate, buddy.)

I hope eventually to add some more shelves and of course paint and make a slipcover for my ugly chair. ( I have several ugly chairs of various sizes. I love their style but they really are ugly)
And I definitely need more neat little containers with labels. Definitely.

Please tell me I'm no the only one with desk issues...

Meliss

What Have I Been Doing?

Well, I'm trying to get more items on my little Etsy shop. I have several finished pieces already, several almost finished as well. And of course plans for things that I really need to schedule if I am to actually get them done. I posted 2 new pieces today and have photos of several more that are just waiting to be posted as well.

I haven't yet started my #mailart postcard project but I was able to get better paper. I wasn't happy with the thickness of the paper found at normal craft stores so Gabe made a trip to Xpedex especially for me. I have some ideas for the pieces and not a lot of time so I had better get started.

And of course I've been cooking. With zucchini. I'm thinking I may need to make categories in my blog so they are easier to navigate. Art and recipes and mom stuff. Maybe?

Today's recipe was borrowed from a friend. Marilyn writes for the Denver Examiner and recently interviewed me on my fabulous frugalness. (Really she wrote some questions and I gave her like 8 pages of answers.) I hope to expand on the things I left out in the interview soon.

The recipe was for Mock Apple Pie. I altered it a bit, that's what I do. It called for a double crust but I only had 1 so we made a crumble top for it instead. Here is the original recipe:

4-5cups zucchini, peeled and thinly sliced (like apples) -FB
1 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1 can (2c) applesauce -FB
1-2 T cinnamon
2 pie crusts
mix ingredients and pour into bottom crust, add top crust and make slits, cook for 1 hour at 400F.

Now here are the changes I made and will make in the future:
We had 1 crust so we made a crumble top. Mix 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup oats, 1/3 c brown sugar, and 1/4 c oil til crumbly and sprinkle on top of the pie filling after its in the bottom crust. Bake as normal.


This pie was pretty good, but not totally appleish. Part of the problem, I think, was that Gabe used the apple corer so the zucchini was in big eatable sized slices instead of thin appley pie slices. The bits that were quite small did have the apple pie taste that they were supposed to so I think that was just us not doing it right. The big chunks were not bad, but we could tell that they were not apple pie. Slicing nice and thin is probably an important step in tricking the kids into thinking its apples. I also may add just a bit more sugar to the filling as it was not as sweet as pie. (But we had it for a lunch so less sugar is not a bad thing.) I think I may also add 1 apple next time so that the appley pieness is more appley. And I will probably stick with the crumble top. Its less healthy, but I think its more tasty.

Give it a try, tell me what you think.

Meliss

P.S. Here's a little sneak peek of new items I will post soon...

necklace detail

bracelet detail

a one of a kind ATC with tiny 1" painting by me, sent to customer as a free gift

Real Artists Don't Skimp

I always tell people when you go to the festival at least bring enough money for the food. Some of it is a bit pricey but it is sooo good. Every year I get chocolate covered strawberries and a big chunk of chocolate covered English toffee to bring home.

Visiting the renaissance festival each year is a tradition in my family. We all have costumes and go in full regalia, packing kids and accessories into the wagon. I once suggested that we might try visiting like normal people sometime, in normal clothes, but I was unanimously outvoted. So this year we once again spent all morning dressing and preparing for the day. So many layers and laces.


I usually really enjoy a day at the festival but this year was a bit of a disappointment. Oh, they still had the chocolate booth and we watched a show we hadn't seen before. (Arsene of Paris was a silly french man who didn't speak but let us in on a few magic trick 'secrets' and juggled fire. Gabe loves anything with fire juggling. He is not allowed to, he's still working on 4 ball.) But we didn't have much time to window shop. We only got to stop at a few shops between being 2 hours late and needing frequent stops for 1 person or other.







The window shopping is an integral part of visiting the faire,especially if you are an artist. There are well over 200 artists at the faire selling any number of things. I love being able to ask the artist personally about their work, being able to see demonstrations or learn about new (old) forms of art. Many craftsmen there take pride in working the same way as, or offering the same products as would have been available in the 1500's. For the artists like that I expect to pay them well for what they are worth as I appreciate the work and workmanship that went into their wares.

I have a pair of leather shoes from Renaissance Moccasins that I bought about 10 years ago that are still in fabulous condition. They are so comfy. The artist makes each shoe from 1 piece of leather and she gives them a lifetime guarantee. If they ever need fixed-which mine never have- just send them in. Now some have told me that these shoes are too expensive. Over $50. But these are HANDMADE LEATHER shoes. Hello? A pair of Nike's costs at least that much and they are ugly junk that I know wont last that long. And if they wear out can you send them to Nike to get them fixed? No. Nice try.


The problem that I have been seeing though, is that there are just as many artists there that have been 'cutting corners' to make a buck. There were a couple shops that we visited, that I have purchased from before, that I was deeply disappointed in. The materials that they are using now are cheaper, flimsy, not as pretty or fancy, and yet they are charging the same or even more for these lesser quality items. Now I understand trying to keep costs down or dealing with inflation, but to switch from a nice quality product to something obviously inferior just doesn't sit well with me. Part of the appeal of the faire was the artist/customer relationship that blossoms in that type of environment. I imagine its like walking the main street stalls in old time England visiting with the person who actually created the thing, and even bartering a little sometimes.


One of the shops we visited used to be a favorite. I bought my self and my eldest daughter bodices there when she was little. (both of her sisters has since worn it) I have since sewn my own bodice that I usually wear, but this year I wore my old one to better facilitate Baby Boy's nursing needs. It's a beautiful bodice with several types of fabric patch worked together and that was actually the inspiration for the bodice I made a couple years ago. I love it's green and brown tones, the velvet and the brocade. I love how adjustable it is with the lacing, it's just a really nice garment all around. That they don't make anymore. Not only do they not make bodices like this anymore, but they were rather snide about it when Gabe asked. And the young girl that was 'helping' run their booth knew nothing about the product or company. (Nor did she endeavor to play the part and speak with a proper English accent. Another pet peeve of mine that has permeated the kingdom these last few years.) The bodices they sell now are all plain, 1 fabric (not even pretty fabrics) with no character, no imagination, no customer service, and no business from me.

I know not all the artists there have given up on their art or its quality just to 'do their job', but there were too many that did for my tastes. I so want to go back, though I don't think finances will allow, to visit all the shops that we missed, which was a lot. To visit all the shops that are still run by true artists that don't skimp on quality, who are happy to take a few moments to visit with you, with your kids, who will give you mini lessons and demonstrations , who are there because they love their art and they love to share with you. I want to go back and see some real art from real artists. And maybe get a bit more chocolate.

Baby Boy in his festival cloak. Baby moccasins dangle next to him.

Daughter #3 on the climbing wall. Yes, she went all the way to the top!

Daughter #1 at the archery booth

Daughter #2 at the archery booth

~Meliss

Sew Much To Do...

(Lilliput)

I'm totally distracted. I guess I'm always distracted though. I think I'm gonna get "stuff" done but there's always something. I finally got Gabe to show me how to set up the computer to take photos for my Etsy shop, but he set up on his computer so I don't have the pictures until he transfers them. I should probably have him show me how to do that too.

This weekend is the first weekend of our local renaissance festival, which we attend every year. It's a great place to visit for an artist of any level. There are jewelry artists, painters, sculptors, metal smiths, leather workers, costumers, musicians and instrument makers, henna artists, artists who make masks, hair sticks, shoes, feather art, and the list goes on and on. So many have been regulars for as long as I've been going (17 years!) and there are many, many whose work I admire and aspire to. I also go for the chocolate booth which is just a round the corner from the petting zoo.

Now I know some people don't like the festival because there are some "weirdies" that work there but come on, there are "weirdies" at the mall. And Walmart. And just about anywhere you go. And no, there is not a larger concentration of them at the festival either. If someone is providing a service, or a piece of art that disagrees with my moral standing or conscience I avoid it, whether I'm at the mall or some other place. It doesn't mean I don't go shopping. But that's just me.

(Gabe in a slightly upgraded costume-he started out as a peasant. This was bought.)

Shortly after I met Gabe I learned that not only had he been to the faire near his home, but that he had worked at it. He worked for a leather shop watering the dirt. Yes, watering the dirt. He was later upgraded to hawking wares. He therefore had his own costume, and I had mine. Not cuz I worked there, just cuz I'm a dweeb. After we had kids we started to get them their own costumes and even upgrade our own. I've sewn at least half of them myself. I am currently working on a cloak that was supposed to be for my oldest daughter, I may wear it first though. I'm having trouble getting motivated to sew. I just realized that I don't really like to sew. Which is kinda strange. I like to make things and I like seeing the outcome of what I've sewn but the actual process of sewing always puts me a bit on edge. Not sure why, it also frustrates me because no matter how hard I try, my sewing is not as beautiful and straight as the work of so many other amazing seamstresses. And that's just annoying.

(I made this coat to mimic the one on Geoffrey in 'A knights tale' and bought the amazing leather top hat at the festival. I also made the sash to match.)

I have two days to finish the cloak (and hopefully a mini one too) and I know I can finish it in one. The question is will I? Or will I let myself get distracted by things and be up at midnight trying to finish? Or will my machine poop out? That tends to happen a lot when I'm almost done too. I bet I would really love sewing if my machine cooperated more. And did all the work. (I guess its a good thing I don't have to make everyone's clothes by hand, what a whiner I am.)

(This is the fabric that will soon be a cloak. I'm about 1/3 of the way there.)

(Baby boy testing out his costume. This one was bought at the Cali faire.)

I'd better get to bed, I've got work to do tomorrow.

Meliss

Things I Want To Be Cool At

I have a list that I wrote out about 3 years ago. Before my surprise son, before Gabe lost his job and we had to short sell our house. And before the renters destroyed our 1st house and stopped paying us so that we had to kick them out and move (for the 3rd time in a year) back in after gutting the place. (We even had to replace walls, it was so gross).

I called it my 'Things I want to be cool at' list and I saved it in my palm pilot (and forgot about it because I only use the palm for a glorified calculator and grocery list.) In looking at the list, I see that there are many things I wrote that I haven't really made any headway with, some that I started to but circumstances changed, many that I would still like to try and some that I think I've changed my mind about.

Here is a partial record of my list.

Exercise: do P90X, be stronger, strengthen core---
I actually did this, then I got lazy and didn't really exercise much, not consistently. Then I had a surprise pregnancy-he's 8 months old now-and I was sick for the first 4 months so my plan to keep exercising was altered and I craved nothing but nachos for the rest. So I currently can not do the X anymore. But I aspire to get there again.

Sports and Recreation:
archery--I'm still interested, and daughter #1 plans to take lessons this summer too.
croquet, juggling sticks,--I have a nice set of sticks and I was pretty good at first, better than Gabe even. But he is kinda obsessive over techniques and stuff so he ended up getting much better than me. Which annoyed me. I still like playing with them but I don't do anything real fancy.
hiking, surfing.--OK, first of all, I can't swim. And second the friend that tried to convince me that surfing is good and I don't need to know how to swim moved far, far away. Also, I live in Colorado. I've heard some very resourceful ones figured out how to surf here, but I'm still gonna fall back on the I don't swim excuse.

Parenting:
Be consistent with Love and Logic, Share my love and my time, do things with the girls-outings, cooking, enjoy their company. Commend their positives and be empathetic to their negatives.---

I have not been consistent. I have a drill sergent personality, I want it done and I want it done now! I also have a hard time being empathetic to stupidity-especially in adults-this is a hard one to break. My mom used to belittle me at times and I work really hard not to do that to my kids but I still need to be more empathetic I think.

I read a quote somewhere that said "children spell love T I M E" and I can totally see that. They don't need the fancy toys (they don't really play with them when they get them anyway, the stuff just gets lost or broken.) but they relish the time we spend. I instituted 'Mom and Me day' a few years back, (maybe when I first wrote this list, I don't remember) its a time where I spend the day with just one of them. We don't even do anything fancy, I run errands or we go for a walk or do some baking, but its just the 2 of us. All the the girls love it and ask when our next one will be. I wish I could do it more, I don't want to be one of those moms that thinks they know their kid when they really have no clue. These are each individual people and I want to know them all.

Jewelry:
necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, ropes---these I've done many of.
pins, charms, hair sticks, pmc-these I sill want to try or do more.

Art:
painting, drawing, masks, (paper mache, resin...) collage, stamps, paper, clay, altered books, furniture (paint, cover, build)---
Many of these I've done but not nearly enough. I started a project as an anniversary gift for a friend about 3 years ago which is still not done. I wanted Gabe to sculpt part of it for me as that is his area of expertise, and he still has not finished, so neither have I.
I have not experimented with the masks yet but I still think they would be cool. I am in the middle of making covers for a few pieces of furniture, but I'm such a beginner when it comes to sewing that the stitch ripper is my best tool.

Playing:
bass--Gabe is a bass player. He's played since he was about 14, he doesn't play everyday so he claims he's not that good. He needs to stop comparing himself to Les Claypool. He is good and has written some great bass songs. And his fingers are abnormally long and stretchy because of it. However I have learned that I can't learn from him. Not well anyway. His teaching style is a complete opposite of my learning style and I get very annoyed when he takes over stuff. He's trying to get better at that, but maybe that's why he hasn't showed me a lot of stuff I asked him to show me. He used to teach bass in school and his students went on to perform but after 14 years I still don't know how to play. Maybe that's my fault? Nah.

Meliss

Paintings of a Friend

A friend of mine married this weekend and as a gift I painted some pictures for her. I wasn't too sure how I felt about them but they did turn out OK. And she liked them too! That's quite a compliment since she's an accomplished artist herself. (Another friend made this beautiful, scrumptious cake. Art comes in all forms, I think.)














There were some challenges in making these pictures. When I went to take a photo of her (she didn't know why of course) I had forgotten my camera so I used my phone. I had only tiny pictures to look at, I may have been able to move them to my computer but I didn't have time to mess with it.














I tried to start on Monday and the wedding was on Saturday. I was not able to work on the paintings all of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or half of Friday because of forgotten errands, pop-ins, a school function, a Drs appointment and more pop-ins. That turned my 5 1/2 days to work into 2, minus all the school and kids and nursing and nagging-that gave me about 3 hours to draw and paint 3 pictures and create a keepable wedding card to boot. (which I forgot to photograph)










My friend is quite a ham, so in all the pictures I had of her she was making faces. That's OK, it fits her perfectly.

I only have minimal, inexpensive equipment, which I am determined to make work for me. I believe great art can be made with modest tools, its not the fancy materials that makes it art.












This is the first time I've watercolored/painted skin. I have colored people with chalk and pencil but usually when I paint its nature not people. The paintings turned out pretty good despite my inexperience.















I've never really considered myself good at sketching, especially people, but I was happy to find that my pictures do basically look like my friend.

















I tried something different with the color this time as I only have an eight pack of watercolors. I was wanting to find just the right mix of colors for my friends rich skin tone so I took my chalks and used them with the watercolors. I tried wetting the brush and touching the chalk but in most cases it was way too light. I also have a blender pen to give the chalk a watercolor look but I didn't want to pen such a large surface. So instead I used a file to grate the chalk, even combining the colors of chalk and the watercolor paint to get the right shade.











I used watercolor brushes(cheap) for some application but I also used a wetted Qtip dipped in the wet color. I really liked how the Qtip gave some of the softest lines. (I didn't think to use it until half way through the second picture) And I was able to blend the colors so much easier than with a brush.







I seem to do most of my best work as gifts for other people. Maybe art as a token of love is the best art a person can make. That's why it's important to only make what you love yourself.

Meliss