Roving Artist

Fort Worth water gardens

2013-04-23T14:34:00.001-04:00

Well, I opened the blogger app to post and saw that the last one never posted after three tries. Luckily I am at work - things always post here. I guess I can only post on my lunch break from now on...

This is a sketch of the fort worth water gardens from ten years ago. I need to start sketching again!

Art Journal, last bamboo pic and a park sketch

2013-04-23T14:30:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I have gone five days in between updates after doing so well posting these - relatively, that is, since some of the posts took a day or so to actually POST thanks to my connection. I got distracted. I had planned for several years to eventually buy a Class B RV, but lately I have started thinking that I may want something bigger. Jerry's bird cage - the one I plan to get him for the RV, from Cages by Design - will take up a lot of room, and I really do need an actual freezer for the meals I take to work for lunch, as well as a decent bathroom with shower (i am sure all future co-workers will appreciate that). So, I am looking at Class C models, and mulling over the idea of looking at Class As. The problem is that I want to remodel just about anything, and I would like to get a dog, so part of me thinks I ought to just save up and get a custom unit. I am already planning to get a temperature paging system that will alert your cell phone (and a few back up numbers if you don't pick up) if the air goes out and the temps start to rise in your RV. There are several out there, but the one I like (from www.rayallen.com - I don't know if the app will make that a link or not - it's in the K9 transport section, two pieces, the cell phone dialer and the heat paging system) is made by a company that makes equipment for police dogs. The unit can be wired to remotely roll down your windows for you if you send a message from your cell after you get the call, and I believe turn on a fan. It's not cheap, but I have had Jerry for long enough he can almost vote, and I am pretty sure he's old enough to drink, so it's a small investment compared to that. :-) I got him in September 1995, and he had been living at the pet store for two years before that because they wouldn't sell him. They weren't sure how old he was, but he has to be at least 21. Plus, if I do get a dog, it will already be in place.

Anyway, here is the third bamboo page, and a page of a park my sister and I took the kids to ten years ago. The quote by her was said when the child in question had already walked away. :-) but it was funny.

First Prayer flag, not quite done

2013-04-10T17:19:00.001-04:00

I used one if the stencils in the Sacred Geometry series that I bought from ArtistCellar to make the background design on my first prayer flag. I stayed up an hour later than normal watching Dallas :-) but still didn't have time to put a word on it. Haven't decided between peace and love yet anyway. The top three inches will be folded over for the hanging sleeve. I probably should have made the red section a bit longer si that the orange would still be seen in the body if the flag. Ah well.

I really like the stencils, and the tulip paint pens are nice - but, the blue I used did not even come close to matching the cap! The cap was much lighter than what came out. I will have to do a swatch with each pen and post it next to the pens so you can see. Actually, I should post that on Amazon. I do remember seeing a review which said something about that, but I don't remember if there were pictures. Then again, I was looking on my phone... But, I liked working with them. Glad I had ironed the fabric to freezer paper first. Will try to finish it tomorrow night.

Art journal, bamboo

2013-04-09T23:09:00.001-04:00

These were done using a painting kit I got for Christmas in 2003. Yes, still on 2003...

In other news, when I opened up my blogger app to do this post, it said it was still trying to publish the post from last night. This has happened more than once, or I will wake up and see that the publishing failed (as it just did while I was typing this). I guess my connection here just isn't good enough to upload more than one photo at a time. Sigh.

Colorful quotes

2013-04-07T22:50:00.001-04:00

These were also done at Christmas n 2003. I think I had new paint to play with. :-)

Christmas 2003, post 5

2013-04-05T21:55:00.001-04:00

Two different sketches of the windmill which was in my parents backyard that Christmas. Note the wintery grass, not the white snow. Wichita doesn't get a lot of that at Christmas.

Christmas 2003, post 4

2013-04-04T21:21:00.001-04:00

Another tree sketch, this time I think I used markers... And stickers. :-)

Christmas 2003, post 3

2013-04-03T10:20:00.001-04:00

Well, I saw today that yesterday's post never published, so today has two posts.

This is the Christmas tree my mom had set up on her end table in 2003. It was very pretty. :-)

Christmas 2003, post 2

2013-04-03T10:18:00.001-04:00

I sketched a lot that Christmas. This is a very bad sketch of my nephew (who was about 4, and I cannot sketch people) with my brother's air hockey table. Everybody had a lot of fun with that table - my sister's family even got one if their own later.

Much better!

2013-04-01T18:14:00.001-04:00

I decided the new, fancy, "dynamic" blog themes were annoying. So, here we are, with a plain, simple, easy to read blog again. Yay!

I am glad to see that my phone posts with the pictures from my art journal are coming out okay. They're bigger than I thought, actually.

I also went to my website today and attempted to update it. Actually, I was going to cancel it, but they convinced me to try updating it again since the engine, tool, app, whatever, that they use now is supposed to be better than before. Well... maybe. I couldn't update the weaving site because it would only load to 85% and then stop. But my art site was okay. It was still HARD to get the pictures to line up, and the beadwork pictures are a mess, but I gave up on those for today. The rest is acceptable.

sheeptopia altered art

I changed my blog name - not the web addy, because I don't want to change the domain name - but I did change the name to Roving Artist instead of Roving Weaver, since weaving is an art and, really, until I settle down again, I probably won't be doing a lot of weaving.

And now, to Kinko's (I am at Starbucks, land of coffee and wi-fi) to print out things I have needed to print for quite a while...

Christmas 2003

2013-03-31T13:51:00.001-04:00

I hope this picture shows up correctly. The icon blogger is showing me for the picture is about half of the actual pic.

The art journal I am documenting is an accordion style journal, with several two or more page layouts. The most I could reasonably fit in my phone lens at once (probably my camera, too, but I using my phone because it is easier) is two pages, which works for most of them.

This was drawn on December 18th, 2003, when my niece was in first grade. Santa flew in on a helicopter for the kids, so I sketched it.

From Prayer Flags to art journals

2013-03-30T23:28:00.001-04:00

I have loved prayer flags for a long time. They are beautiful, and so is the idea behind them. Over the last couple of days, I have gone from looking them up to buy them to figuring I could make them and looking up tutorials for that, to getting completely side-tracked on the tutorial blog by the artist's watercolors and journals. I need to figure out how to post a link to her blog from the mobile app - she is fabulous. I got to thinking that I ought to take a class from her, since back a dozen years ago I did a lot of sketching and watercolors, and some mixed media, too, in journals, but I lost my confidence and enthusiasm for it several years ago. A class might get me back in to the swing of things. Her class in Italy sounds great. ;-)

I got out my current travel art journal, which is about 5"x5", and started looking through it. I had forgotten A), that I actually like a lot of the artwork, and B), I started it in 2003!! I can't believe it is almost ten years old!

So, since my other journals are in a box in OK right now, I decided to document the pages of this one over the next few weeks. First, the cover and front page. I made the journal - I think this is my fourth travel art journal of this size, and I made three of them. The other two used fabric I had marbled in the early 90s, but this one used fleece with an owl on it. Owls were not popular ten years ago, and I was thrilled to find it, even if it was a brown camouflage print. The paper is a mix, since I wanted to test various papers I had. My favorite ended up being Fabriano Uno, which of course they then discontinued. I have some still, and the one they replaced it with (Artistico?), which isn't bad. I honestly don't remember the difference right now. Since I started back to traveling for work, I haven't had much of a chance to play with big sheets of watercolor paper.

The front page has a tarot card with Athena on it and letter "pebbles" that spell out "find wisdom," Scrabble style. It was done on December 18th, 2003.

Here's hoping this posts! Happy Easter, all.

The Pavilion parking lot at night

2013-01-25T19:40:00.001-05:00

I took this picture a few days (maybe a week?) ago. I am working at Dynacare labs in Milwaukee, and this is the view from the third floor of the Pavilion as you leave the elevator - part of my nightly hike through the complex from the lab to the parking lot I am allowed to park in. It is a beautiful place, and I love working here. It is the largest lab I have worked at, and my favorite. I wouldn't want to work here forever simply because I value being a generalist, being able to understand all areas of the lab, and here they tend to compartmentalize people too much. I don't think I could handle working only in one area so long that I forgot basic ideas of other areas. But, I still love this job, and I am glad they have extended me through the end of April!

It's funny - I was talking to someone on a list I am on, and told them I had thus blog but hadn't updated it for a long time. Then I said I should see if there was an app for that. I logged on tonight and saw that back in May I had posted using the app! That was on another phone, and I remember having problems with the app. They have updated it since then. Hopefully I will have better luck this time around! I intend to start updating again. I haven't been weaving a lot, but I have gotten in to Zentangles - maybe I should rename the blog "roaming dreamer" instead of roaming weaver. :-)

That's all for now...

Delaware Art Festival - Fabric

2012-05-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Starfish Earth - Another place I was very, very tempted by! And a good example of how pictures on business cards can have a big impact - this artist has a picture of one of her bags on the card, and I remember the other things she sold as well. She had bags and shirts with tree prints on them - the tree prints were beautiful. She also had trees on her recycled leather bags. You can buy from her website or her etsy store.

Sew Darn Simple - I bought a lanyard (with bees) and a Kindle case (purse-like) from this vendor. Love them both! I do wish I had asked if the Kindle case would fit a Kindle with a manufactured case already on it. I have a pink case that I bought for my Kindle Fire when I got it, and although the Kindle does fit in the fabric case I bought Saturday without it, it doesn't fit while "wearing" the pink case. So now I am trying to decide whether to use the new Kindle "purse case" for my Kindle, or just use it for my journal and look for something larger with a strap for the Kindle. They did have an iPad case next to the Kindle case - it was larger, and I came close to getting it to have more room, but then I thought that was silly. Live and learn. It's still a very cool case, though! I don't carry a purse to work, but I do carry my lunchbag, and I have been putting my Kindle in my lunchbag with my frozen dinner... not the best idea, I think. The case with a strap is a much better idea.

Delaware Art Festival - Paintings

2012-05-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

Susie Lowder - she had big, bright, beautiful paintings. I loved the flowers! I think she also had a huge, bright sun painting that I loved. I should have taken notes! It has been too long already. I'm afraid I am not doing these artists justice in their reviews.

Jennifer Float - mixed media pieces - fabric and paint, lots of owl pieces. Love owls. She also had other animals, and every piece I saw had a quote as well. They were lovely, and would look especially nice in a nursery, though I can see them in an office as well - something calming to look at during the day.

Dennis Zimmerman - watercolors, and he does custom paintings from photographs. He had wonderful landscapes.

Jurate Phillips - this artist had dandelion paintings that I loved. :-) You can buy from the website.

Pulpa Paper Products - Okay, not really in the painting category, but very cool. Cast paper bowls and sculptures, as well as journals, stationary, invitations, and other paper products.

Delaware Art Festival - Jewelry (post 2)

2012-05-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

Beadful Things, by Erin-Lynn McAleer. I love steampunk! I have a lot of steampunk embroidery designs from Urban Threads, and Beadful Things has a lot of steampunk jewelry. Very nice! I am glad I got her card.

Jewelry by M.E. - This shop had nice jewelry... however, I confess I don't remember it very well, and the etsy store has nothing in it to refresh my memory (also, the site on the card was printed wrong and I had to rearrange the shop name and the "etsy" part when I did the link). Maybe after the art show season they will list jewelry in their store again.

Delaware Art Festival - Jewelry (post 1)

2012-05-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

Despite the fact that I make jewelry, I am insanely attracted to all of the jewelry vendors - partly because there are so many different kinds of jewelry design (and, try as I might, I don't have time to try them all), and partly because I don't actually sell my jewelry right now, so I'm just drawn to people who do... whether like a bee to a flower or a moth to a flame I'm not sure. :-) These three artists use wire, from fine sterling wire that is crocheted, to big bright colored wire wrapped in big wave-like patterns - and the third does chainmaille! I would love to be able to do all three, and sadly had already purchased jewelry before I saw any of them, so I gathered their cards so I will remember them and possibly order from them in the future...

Well, heck. I didn't realize until I got to this point that Linda Osterhoudt doesn't actually have a website listed on her card. I did, however, do a google search and find a gallery listing, which I linked to her name. She does beautiful work! She does the fine silver crochet.

Mostly Maille - chainmaille by Pamela Lemons. I loved the way she didn't just have straight link necklaces and bracelets (she does have those), she also had crosses, hearts, and circles. I was amazed at the different patterns in the maille, too.

Funky Jewelry by Melissa Woods - I loved this jewelry!! Bright colors and swirls of wire - very summery. I would have spent longer in the booth, but it was completely full and I was getting claustrophobic. I'm glad she has an etsy store! :-) This is an excellent example of what I loved in her booth - it was the main thing that tempted me. She had a lot more at the festival than what is in her etsy store right now. :-)

Delaware Art Festival - Glass, Pottery, Stone

2012-05-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

Canton GlassWorks
John Boyett is the glassblower at Canton GlassWorks. I was sad that I had spent my limit by the time I reached his booth, because he had the most gorgeous tree ornaments - clear glass ornaments with enclosed trees. You need to check out his website to understand - they are just fantastic. I had never seen anything like them before. He also does workshops.

Catherine Tietz Boring, blown glass and pottery
Not only does she make gorgeous glass and pottery, she has classes (adults and kids) and camps for kids! She had a beautiful pink vase that I had to tear myself away from. Sigh.

Peachblow Pottery
I pass by the sign for this studio every day on my way to work. Now that I have seen her work, I want to go see the studio! She does fine art porcelain, and the colors are magnificent.

Dan Roth, stone carver
I never really appreciated stone carving until I watched Mr. Roth demonstrating it at the Art Festival Saturday. I am pretty sure I could not take a lump of stone and get a leaf with a face out of it. I have a greater appreciation for all of those ancient statues now, too - David, Venus de Milo, etc.

Teardrop Trailer on Instructables

2012-05-20T15:11:00.000-04:00

Teardrop Trailers are absolutely adorable. I love them. I would love to have one, despite the fact that I really don't wait to tow a trailer - they are just so cute! :-) This Instructable shows the process of making your own and keeping the costs down. Interestingly, although there are the expected Instructables for other teardrop trailers and teardrop pendants in the "Related" sidebar, down at the bottom in the "Guides" section is a picture of an X-Wing... I think I need to go check that out!

Here it is - wow - an X-Wing Fighter Soapbox Derby Car! How amazingly awesome. I want!

Delaware Art Festival - Candles

2012-05-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

Nature's Own is another vendor from the Delaware Art Festival I went to yesterday (but which is going on today as well). They hand roll beeswax candles and decorate them with flowers, leaves, shells, and stones. They were gorgeous!

Fire Stones - I have two stone candles that I got in Vermont at an art festival six years ago, but they are made from either granite or slate (I'm sure I have it written down somewhere). This artist had candles made with agate slices! Many different, beautiful colors, including bright pink!

Delaware Art Festival - The Scrabble Chick

2012-05-19T19:00:00.001-04:00

I could not resist three scrabble tile pendants from The Scrabble Chick - I got an owl, a bee, and a Star Wars pendant. :-)

Delaware Art Festival - Local Shops

2012-05-19T17:55:00.000-04:00

The Bare Bowl
I am working in Delaware, Ohio for the next three months, and figured I should post about things to do and see around here. Today I went to the Art Festival they are having this weekend. I was not able to buy everything I wanted - that would have required thousands of dollars and a U-Haul - but I did get cards from my favorite vendors. I meant to take my camera, but I forgot... I probably would have felt funny telling them that I was going to write a blog entry about them, anyway. :-)

The Bare Bowl wasn't actually a vendor at the festival - it's a shop downtown - but I went in after I was done going through all the stalls, and I love it! I've been driving by the store every day on my way to and from work, and thinking that I would love to go work on a set of dishes every day after I get off work once I'm on night shift. Unfortunately, their hours are 11am to 8pm and I will be getting off work at 6:30am, and it's at least a half hour drive back to the hotel. So, it may be something I end up doing every once in a while on my days off, instead. If they had opened at 8 or 9, I could see going to the coffee shop next door for a couple of hours and then going in to paint, but four and a half hours is a long wait...

I also spent some time in Beehive Books in between wandering around the Art Fest. Love it! Had a smoothie and a cupcake and cooled off - I spent three and a half hours at the festival and the sun was happily shining down the entire time. The bookstore is wonderful. I've been in independent bookstores where the staff couldn't be bothered to help you and it was like pulling teeth to get someone to go to the coffee shop to make your drink - this was completely different. They were friendly, seemed happy (either because of or despite the extra work from the Art Fest, LOL), told me they could do flavor combinations for smoothies and suggested a few, and the atmosphere was relaxed and comfortable. I'll definitely be going back.

I'll save my stack of business cards and post them a few at a time... don't want to overwhelm my own blog. :-)

Shop Smart Magazine for the Kindle Fire

2012-05-17T05:06:00.001-04:00

I went to Amazon this morning to look for free Kindle books, and instead ended up looking at the magazine section. There are 15 magazines available for the Kindle Fire. I was happy to see that one of them is ShopSmart, which is one of my favorite magazines! Now if only I could get my computer to load the page before I have to leave for work, I could download the free trial subscription and try it out on my lunch break today. If anyone has any good laptop recommendations, I'd be happy to hear them. I may be buying a new one by the end of the year...

Amazon Newsstand

HOW TO: Ice Cube Tie Dye, DIY Ice Painting

2012-05-15T20:02:00.001-04:00

<p>Very</p>

Very cool video on freezing fabric dyes and using them to "tie dye" fabric!

Before I came to Ohio

2012-05-14T06:18:00.001-04:00

In between Milwaukee and Ohio, I stopped in Kansas to see my parents. My mom babysits my triplet nieces, and we took them to Botanica in Wichita. I don't know if I have permission to post pictures of the girls or not - my brother made his blog about them private a while back - but they loved this ladybug, and were happy I got a picture of it. :-)

I am happy I downloaded the blogger app! I like posting from my phone.