Please take a look at the upcoming SAQA auction-a wonderful way to support the arts and buy an affordable piece of original artwork. The Auction for pages 1a and 1b will begin Thursday, September 10th, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time-

you can get more info on their website:www.saqa.com

a current work – very cathartic after an extremely difficult week. my son was in a serious car accident -i very happy to say it looks like he will make a full recovery. each day is a gift and i am reminded that the most precious things in my life are taken for granted far too often.

my daughter is working in aspen this week-so i have my “fur granchildren”-2 cats and the bunny. violet is the white puff-always in the middle of whatever i’m trying to do. these are 2 of the pieces for the upcoming “made in brazil” event at the ten women gallery in venice.

hope you can join us for  the upcoming “made in brazil” event.  sandra  zebi, our resident brazillian artist, has put together a fabulous show!

i was invited to participate in an upcoming gallery show with the theme “los muertos con leche”.  it’s a tongue in check parody-coffee with creme, eggs and bacon-you get the idea- FUN!!!!!! i’m still working on the 3rd and final of the series-no crying over spilt milk.

i just replaced a binding on Lace resurrected,  a piece i did a couple of years ago.  i wasn’t satisfied with how it turned out-so-after some “redos”-i happy to say i like it much better.

i love working with antique and vintage lace-the pattern and texture just pop when dyed or painted.

as you can see-while i was working-some of us were resting.

the lazy days of summer are at their pinnacle here-so hard to concentrate on “what should be done”. having fun with many projects-am trying to zero in on all my dia de los muertos art-as it is right around the corner! pictured is the newest addition to my los muertos series -food for thought.

we have a firm “no dogs on the furniture policy” – but that is not to say we don’t make  exceptions. oreo-the new girl- came from a home where she was allowed on the furniture-as a matter of fact- she had her own full sized bed! so even though she has several pillows-both inside and out-as do the other 2 girls-it’s been a bit of an adjustment for her.

several weeks ago around 3 in the morning, my husband and i woke to a very large thud and crash in our bedroom. not unusual-through the years with animals and kids-one gets used to these things. i turned on the light and saw oreo looking very chagrined- a table was overturned next to the chaise lounge. not hard to figure out-she was sleeping on it and fell off. she slunk away-very embarrassed-retreating to her pillow.  the new nightly scenario is-she starts on her pillow with the other girls- and about  20 min after i’m in bed i hear her try and quietly (virtually impossible at 150 lbs) creep up on the chaise. when betty comes in to wake me up at 5:30am-i pretend not to see oreo and she gets down-works for everyone! betty has her own chair in the den-again-i turn a blind eye. it is a chair i usually sit in-a smaller sized armchair. when i first saw her sleeping on it i couldn’t believe it. betty is a big girl-she isn’t as tall as oreo, but very muscular, she outweighs oreo by a few pounds (she will have to diet later in life.) she was curled up so tightly-that when when she saw me and tried to get down- whe was so wedged in it took her a couple of minutes to extricate herself. never a dull moment!

the Barbie Event is only 2 days away-so exciting!

A few of the guest artists featured on our back patio show are Samara Brenda Winfield  and jewlery Artists Erica Koesler and Renee Capizzi. If you live in the area come by !

you can view more  altered barbies at patricias blog http://www.patriciaanders.com/

i have to admit-i do have a problem with ants. they are always present-but in summer it seems we live on an anthill-they are EVERYWHERE!!! i use all the standard non poison methods-hot water, chili powder, chalk, ect.  i have to admit-i do sometimes fleetingly consider getting the property sprayed-but only for a moment. 

with all the media coverage about the decline of bees- i’m happy to say that quite a few are living happily here. we have abundant wildlife-insect’s as well as birds, furry creatures, and things that crawl and slither.  speaking of -the doves in the aviary are now brought in at night. sadly last year my finches disappeared-with no trace except a few feathers. all i could come up with was a snake-not my favorite, but hopefully they are keeping the tree rat population down. 

in short-we all can get along!

we had my daughters 30th b day luau last sat-i’m happy to say that it was a huge success! between parties, summer and commitments-it’s a wonder i get anything done. i am behind on projects-but i am ok with that-as i have decided that this is the year of “if it’s meant to be created or finished-it will-if not-so be it”.

 i should be updating my web site-instead-(since i had so much fun with my bottlecap chair) i did a mirror.

the wonderful image is from one of my favorite artists, outi harma. as soon as i saw it-i had to have it! it is titled “i don’t care about your yellow dress”.  you can see more of outi’s work at www.outiart.com