More Silly Willes!

Silly Willes

For a while now I have been threatening to really keep up with my blog. As usual, I've kind of let it slide because I can never think of anything I find interesting about my life to blog about. My husband keeps telling me to just blog about some of your artist friends, show examples of their work and it will just evolve from there. So here goes...This is one of my artist friends with two of her (well, technically their) latest works, Emerson and Charlotte Wille. Emerson is with Shannon and Charlotte is with Brian. They stopped by to see us at the Virginia Highlands Summerfest and as you can see both girls were completely nonplussed by the whole art festival affair. Before Emerson and Charlotte came along, Shannon created beautiful, brightly painted pottery. She's taking a little break from pottery and concentrating on these two bright, beautiful little works in progress...

Summerfest!

Here's animal artist extraordinaire Anita Edwards at the Virginia Highlands Summerfest this past weekend. Anita makes these wonderful metal pieces that capture all our furry feathered and finned friends just perfectly!

Tater Tot

 

This is Tater lying in his chicken wing position as he waits for his dinner. Doesn't really have much to do with anything, I just think it's kind of a funny picture...

Compare and Contrast

 

Here's a dog done in the glossy glaze. I like it as well. I guess I'll just continue to do both. Such a dilemma!

Dog!

 
We (well, Paul) had lots of time this weekend to photograph every fish, dog, sheep and chicken that we had with us at the show. Just thought I'd take a little time and share the fruits of his labor. Here's a cute little dog in a matte glaze. I can't decide which I like better, matte or glossy. Any opinions?

Fish!

 

And how about this guy? On the tail it says, "if you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room".

Sheep!

 
Look at this face. How can anyone resist it?

Where's the guy with the pretty hair?

 

Well, here he is!

Maddi's

 
This past Saturday and Sunday was spent at one of our favorite outdoor art festivals, Maddi's Folk Art Fest. This is always one of our favorites because it's in Charlotte, N.C. and we stay with Paul's sister Theresa and her husband Bob. Bob's a great cook and always makes one or two of his signiture dishes that keeps us happy and satisfied after a long day of selling art. Maddi's is also a nice little festival with live music, great art and great food. Diane and Maddis are great hosts and make everyone feel welcome and appreciated. This year was especially nice because Paul's stepmother and her husband Paul Comer and their friend Marilyn came down to see us. The weather wasn't great (Sunday was very chilly) but I think a good time was had by all. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Dog Blog

 

I will be the first to admit that I'm a cat person. I like dogs, we always had dogs in our family growing up, but I was always more about the cats. I'm still that way, we have two crazy cats that inspire me daily. Recently, however, I have been making these funny, fat dogs and I have to say, I'm really enjoying seeing all their individual personalities emerge as I finish each one. I've made some cats as well, but they're just not quite as cute in my opinon... With the dogs, I've got a couple of different breeds that I've been working on this week, but I think I'll probably end up trying not to be too specific and stick with these fat, generic beagle-esque pups. They're just so happy!

Magical Magic City

Here's a nice photo of my friend Jeanne Jeannie Flint at The Magic City Art Connection this past weekend. Jeanne makes really great, creative, original jewelry that often involves one of my favorite themes, birds (that and doll hands)! She also is quite the original herself and a very warm, funny individual. It's always fun to see my art friends at shows. All in all, I have to say the Magic City Art Connection had beautiful weather, the crowds were decent and the food was excellent. What more could you ask for in an art show? Hopefully, we'll be seeing you next year Birmingham.

Off to Magic City

We're headed to Birmingham this morning for the Magic City Art Festival, https://www.magiccityart.com/index.html. The weather looks good, the art looks good and there's lots of interesting food to be had. All the ingredients for a successful weekend! More on this as things develop...

It's that time of year again...

And I don't mean Spring, because in Georgia Spring comes way earlier than April. No, it's outdoor art show time of year. Next weekend is my first official outdoor art show of the season. (I'm not counting Peachtree Road farmer's market even though it is outdoors and there is art there and really, really good food which is exactly what there isn't a lot of at actual art festivals unless of course you really like kettle corn, corn dogs or overpriced gyros, but I digress...) I'll be in Alpharetta next weekend for their Alpharetta Arts Streetfest. This will be my third year there since we moved to Georgia and I'm excited not just because it's a very well organized show but also because I get to see some of my art friends that I don't see all winter. One of my favorite art friends is Penny Dobson. Penny's bright, sunny paintings really reflect her happy personality. Penny also teaches high school art and it's always fun to see what new techniques she's using in her latest works. This beautiful painting of irises is done on little pieces of collaged paper. Penny's husband Johnnie is an artist as well and builds her frames from salvaged materials. They make a good team! (More about Johnnie Dobson to come at a later date). Check out some more of Penny's work at her website http://www.pennydobson.com/ or if you really want a visual treat, come on out to Alpharetta this weekend and check it out in person. Seeing Penny's work in person is by far the best way to experience it!

Last Saturday was the kickoff of The Peachtree Road Farmer's market. This is a very nice market with lots of local produce, artisanal cheese, gourmet pastas, coffee, baked goods, artwork, and just all around good stuff. The market is going into its third year and is the brainchild of Atlanta chef Linton Hopkins and is run superbly by Julie Bartholomew and Kimberlee Riccio, pictured here in front of fellow artist Tracy Hartley's paintings. Tracy makes some really cool folk art furniture and paintings. You can find his work here http://www.tracyhartley.net/. Check out Tracy's blog, he writes about one of my favorite subjects food. Our neighbors last Saturday were Dave and Leslie Lennox and their daughter Hope. They are the proprietors of Hope's Garden and they make a most delicious pesto. Here's their website. http://www.hopesgardens.com/. Their daughter Hope is also a very talented artist and makes very cute miniatures in polymer clay. Another one of our favorites, that makes it oh- so- worth- it to get up that early on Saturday morning, is H&F Bakery. Their scones, croissants, breads, cinnamon twists, you name it, are delicious! And the beauty of all of their baked goods is that they're calorie free and totally non-fattening! (I wish...) They go down well with a cup of Dancing Goats coffee that's always hot on those cold market mornings. The market runs Saturday mornings from eight until noon, April through December. It's located in the parking lot of St. Phillip's Cathedral in Buckhead. Check it out, you'll be glad you did, especially if H&F has their date and ginger scones or their almond croissants or the cranberry walnut bread or their...well, you get the picture.

Some real, live fishies

My friend Dolly was down for a visit from Michigan last week. Her one request (besides requesting to eat outside) was to make a return visit to the Georgia Aquarium. It was fun to go back with our cameras this time. Many of the exhibits don't allow the use of flash so we ended up with some interesting available light photos. I really like this one of the shark. Maybe next time Dolly comes down it will be warm enough to fulfill her other request, this time around it was just too cold to eat outside even for a native Michigander!

I just completed a series of twelve 6x6 ceramic tiles for a woman out in Washington. They're all cats doing different silly things like the one pictured here. She's going to use them on her stair risers. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished.

Welcome to the Web Bob!

One of my fellow TAG (Tucker Arts Guild, yes, Tucker really does have an arts guild...) members has just launched his new website and I'll tell you what, it looks GREAT! It's hard to believe that Bob McOsker is mostly self taught and has only been painting for a relatively short period of time. His sense of color and attention to detail belies the fact that he is new to painting. Below is an example of his work, that you will find on his website at http://www.bobmcoskerart.com/. Best of luck in all your artistic endeavors, Bob!

Spring has Sprung

 

We returned from the beach to a winter wonderland, well, a winter wonderland by Georgia standards...Glad to see the daffodils, crocus and forsythia are no worse for the wear from our big snow.

Ying Yang

While perusing my photo library for pictures to post here I came across this old photo of our cats Gnat and Norge. Norge and Gnat always enjoyed sharing a sleeping space. I wish I could say the same about Gnat and our new cat Tater. Unfortunately, this is how Gnat and Tater share a space...