Xmas Trees I LOVE

These are some of my favorites...

mine - 2008


mine -2007


Susa's 2008


But this one below wins my prize-
by Jane Shouten of All the Luck in the World


and this Christmas kitty wins a prize too -TWA

Playful Art

It's been far too long since my last post on this blog!
I will tend to it much more in 2009...

A b s tr ACT i ON




l





The abstract paintings that you see above evolved through the course of about a month at paperscissorsOranges, which is the children's Art studio that I teach at a few days each week. What appears to be something that could hang on my living room wall is actually the side of a house construction made from boxes. The kids paint it over + over each day, each week until the sides buckle in and then we make a new one. Below you can get an idea of what it looks like in the class room.










and this below is a group effort mural which I would like for my wall too!
These murals are also a regular site to feast your eyes on in the studio.

Re-cycling for Art Show at Hudson Opera House

For the past month at the Opera House in Hudson, NY there was a wonderful class that was given by Artist, Bruno Pasquier-Desvignes -FREE! - 3 days each week. All the Art was created from recycled stuff.


Lots of corrugated cardboard boxes, plastic containers, bags and caps, lids, tubes, wires + fabrics along with paints +hot glue. Mystical animals, people from other realms, wild creations formed from the imagination's of children and adults together taking the classes.

This class is intended to unite the various ages and cultures in our community, while playing as children do when making Art. Playing is often a neccessary part in the creation of Art. I know that is what happens when I do it and with wild childlike abandon, I created a Night Owl wall hanging- seen above.






This "gorilla" show was superimposed on another great show of work by Artist, Jack Millard. The two shows blended well. The animal menagerie of sculptures was up for only a coupla days over the weekend and it's being dismantled quickly as the Artists are coming by to pick up their works piece by piece.



Bruno is here every summer creating in the Opera House spaces with the community according to what I heard. I will surely be back next year to partake again - it was one of the best classes I have ever attended. Thanks Bruno!

A.L Stickley - Variety Store, Rhinebeck, NY

Where and when is the last time you saw a Variety Store or a General Store or Five + Dime store?
Well, there is one in Rhinebeck, NY and it's been in biz for 62 years. My Mom and I went there yesterday to get some stuff.
Stuff like:
A drip coffee pot for Mom and a pink elephant watering can for me!
What fun, as you can I was having -----and I spent under $5.
Here's a peek inside:


Isles + isles that harken back to my childhood wandering through my local Woolworth's and Newberry's in downtown Ossining, NY.

MEXICAN JUMPING BEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ELEPHANT WATERING CANS in FLAMINGO PINK + SILVER
And all that girlie-stuff that you never know where to find anymore....


Garters! and corset hook + eyes. Ribbons for your hair by the yard
Bobby pins + Hair nets! this is where they have been hiding all these years.


shoe laces, string


Tickets, pranks + gags, party favors
AND LOTS MORE.
Mom + I had a blast shopping for all our needs in there. I guess today, we have Dollar Stores- what an eyesore those places are. I never go in them. Then there's the mega-big-box store names, which actually started from small mom + pop businesses named Walton's and Kresge's.


Say, "good bye" Mom.....
.....we're off for an ice-cream cone next door.

What I love about my garden (and not)

THE BOUNTY



Sunflowers are the Happy faces of my garden. I can't help but think that they are smiling and saying to me "Have a great day, Gretchen!" when I look at them in awe of how they grow by reseeding themselves every year.


The haul for lunch.... Mmmm - what I love to eat.




MARBLES are what I love to find each year when I dig up the garden. They magically appear whenever I am digging in the earth... I wonder if that happens to anyone else?


SLUGS!- I abhoar! YUK!