Artful Adventures

How's Summer Treating You?

How's the summer treating you?  Are you enjoying it, looking around you to see what might be hanging around for just these few months?  If you're not, you'll never know what you may be missing that could be right in front of your eyes.  Here in WI, the summers are short and can go by as fast as a blink of the eye.  And all too often, myself included, I've seen folks so very busy, focused on a task, worrying, working too hard-----insert any word or phrase that fits, and then stop & think-----is that you?  Or me?  Or those you love?  Slow down then-just long enough to look around, drink in what nature's offered up for us, breathe in-then out-then in again-do you feel better?  Don't get me wrong, I know we all have responsibilities and can't ignore them for months on end, but we do all deserve a break now & then, a well deserved break, the kind that you don't feel quilty for having taken.  Life's just too short!

For instance, even though I'm terrified of spiders, here's something I've never seen before-a ball about the size of a ping pong ball that was a mass of baby spiders, probably hundreds of them, but I wasn't about to get close enough to count:)  They were hanging on a fern frond, and would travel around to different fronds, but stayed in a group and always ended back up in that ball shape. 

And look at what this peony looks like, up close & personal.  The parts are so intricate and grow so quickly, but the entire flower is spent & gone before you know it.  Even though the flower as a whole is beautiful, look closely next time at your flowers, they're really pretty incredible!

A butterfly that stopped for a rest just long enough to snap this picture, I think most of us are used to carrying a camera around, but if you're not, try it-you won't regret it.  Having been limited this summer as to where and when I could venture outside this summer because of my surgery, has renewed my appreciation and passion for nature.  Funny how when something is taken away from you, it becomes something that you want more than ever.  For me this year, I spent the beginning of the summer in my studio, non stop, getting ready for my show,(still time to get there, it's at Off the Wheel Pottery until Aug.22) and then had surgery 4 days later.  With this all planned months in advance, everything for the remainder of the summer was planned around all of this, including choosing classes at Valley Ridge Art Studio forgoing early classes for late summer/early fall classes, making sure I'd be able to travel.  But the one thing I hadn't factored in, was just how much that wonderful little slice of heaven has become an integral part of my summer-like I said before, take it away & you want it even more.  It just feels "wrong" to not have been there yet!  But the wait will be worth it, my first class will be Nature Inspired, taught by Tracie Lyn Huskamp, and I can hardly wait!  Not only is Tracie a sweetie, but she's combining her class with the debut of her first book, Nature Inspired: Mixed-Media Techniques for Gathering, Sketching, Painting, Journaling, and Assemblage , and she'll be throwing a party!  So come join us, Gary's taking the class along with me me (he's not missing out on this one!) and help Tracie celebrate her book release, and help me celebrate finally getting down to Valley Ridge!  I know that money's tight, but some things are just so worth it, and a
Valley Ridge experience is one those things, something that I truly wish you all get to experience at some time.  Another thing we haven't been able to do enough of this summer is get over to The Flying Pig for a dose of inspiration and some good company.  But now that it's getting much easier to get in & out of the car, and I don't need the walker anymore & am back using a cane, it's easier to get around, making me feel like now I can start my summer.  Watching the sunset at Red River Park, sitting around a bonfire, watching fireflys, listening to the night sounds, watching the landscape change as flowers come & go-some more of the things that define summer for me.  What's yours?  I'd love to hear what your favorite summer things are, favorite summer memory, favorite summer anything-if we'd all share something, we may end up finding a new & favorite thing to do.  Are you game to share?  I'll bet you are!  One last picture, 3 families of geese down at Red River Park one night with all of their young ones-that sight made a favorite summer memory.  See how easy this could be:)

A little randomness-is that a real word?

There's so much to talk about & share, but instead of cramming it all into one large post, I'll be breaking it up a bit.  For today, for no particular reason, I have a few photos to show & tell.  Right now I'd say there'll be few words, but you know me, things don't always work out that way:)  That first picture is one that Gary shot through a portion of a wind chime.  He's getting really good at looking at the things we've looked at everyday forever, and finding the interesting in them.  And he's enjoying himself doing it.  Working at that paper mill for 30 years, seemed to have squashed/squished his creative side, now he's leting it loose & constantly amazes me!

I spotted this little guy sitting on the window ledge by one of the window boxes-and he's one of my favorite colors-slime green!  There must have bee a major increase in the frog population around here, judging by how noisy they are at night, but it's a good noise, one that I look forward to each & every night. 

Aren't these baby shoes the sweetest things?  When I went to Valley Ridge a couple of weeks ago for Misty's class, we had an extra day to goof off, so we went into Dodgeville & found an antique store that was closing it's doors forever at the end of the month.  Somehow I managed to control myself, but couldn't pass up a few things, including theses shoes.  

And here's another treasure from that store-a comic dictionary.  Having never seen (or heard of) anything like this, it got my attention.  When I started going through the pages, I was crackiing up, it's like a book of one liners for a comic, crazy!

It has a 1943 copyright, so there are some things that may have been funny then, that wouldn't be tolerated today, but overall it good for a chuckle:)  It's getting to be that time of year when I get tired of watering my container plantings & consider letting them die now, but I can never make myself do that.  Besdies, I plan on picking leaves from them (something that I wouldn't have done earlier in the summer) to dry, and a bunch to use in nature prints.  Will have to get on that soon, but it's too hot to be standing around outside today, this is a stay in the house with the AC on kind of day.ONe more photo for today, and I'll be back later.  The other day, I found this little guy sitting in one of my containers, much better than the mice I normally find nesting in them!

One more quick question-how on earth did it get to be Sept. already????

The Valley Ridge Road Trip

Ever since I've had this blog, I've written about the classes I've taken at Valley Ridge Art Studio, and I still will, but this time around I'm going to be showing you some of the things we saw on the roads to get there, surrounding the studio.  There's too many pictures, so this post will be about the sights and the next one will be about Misty's class.  Sound like a deal?  I thought so:)

Amanda went with me, and at the last minute we decided to go a day early and do a little exploring.  Everytime I go, I want to take pictures on the road to the studio, but am always too excited to get to class to stop, and on the way back I'm so busy thinking about the class that I forget to stop for the photos.  So this time, we took a ride up that road the day before just to get some pictures.  Just past the studio, we saw these cows.  Now I see cows everyday around here, but these crazy things were walking way up on trails on top of a rock bluff that edged the road-they were acting like goats instead of cows!  No need for a fence, they seemed to know that one wrong step and they'd be goners-crazy!

A little further down and we found a big old pine snake sunning itself in the middle of the road, haven't seen one of those since I was a kid.  I still remember in the 3rd grade, in a 1 room schoolhouse, at the end of the day when we were all let loose, there was a huge pine snake laying at the bottom of the steps so none of us would leave the building.  Then my Dad showed up & got rid of the snake for us-he was a hero that day:) 

I'm always amazed at how Andrew stops & takes notice of all of the textures surrounding us everyday, so following his lead of paying attention, I got a close up of the snakeskin-with a zoom, no way did I get THAT close!!  Andrew would have taken it a step or 2 further with some digital manipulation, but I'm still no good at that-someday.

Once again-cows!  There are a lot of creeks or streams running through the farmland there, so we kept seeing cows in the water-not something we see around here.  It was nice to see them have the freedom to do a little rock climbing or take a quick dip, compared to around here in dairy land where they seem to live most of their lives in fields that seem too small or hooked up to a stantion. 

Becasue I always stay in Fenimore when I go for class, I come in to the studio on a back road, Hwy Q-very windy, hilly, and scenic.  Off and on, the sides of the roads were banked with these rock bluffs on either side, something we also see on Hwy 18 on the way down.  Always amazes me to see plant life thriving on these rocks, not quite sure how they do it.

Well, this photo isn't nearly as cool as it really looks.  This dead tree is really quite tall, with wood vine wound tightly all the way up the trunk, with a hint of red in the leaves here & there-a sure sign that fall is closing in on us. 

Each day we got to see these horses grazing in the field, sometimes with the company of cows, sometimes not.  The little foal never seemed to stray far from it's mama, keeping right toght behind her at all times.  I love watching horses, especially out in a field, but have a nice healthy respect for any critter that size and keep my distance.  Well, that's not entirely true, there was the time I was petting bear through their cages-but that's another story for another day:)

Speaking of another story, tomorrow I'll post about the class and tell you how this mess happened-another one of my shining moments!  In the meantime, if you want to know even more about me than you already do, head on over to the MMCA Marketplace blog and read my answers to a little Q & A.  And I'll see you all tomorrow!

Look what I just found-a give away!

Go check this out, Karine Ardault is doing a blog giveaway!  And while you're there, make sure yuo look at her photos of a safari.  If you like critters like I like critters, you're going to love this blog!  And the art is wonderful, something else for you all to drool over:)  Karine is also an artist in the MMCA Marketplace along with about a dozen of us.  The marketplace has been getting a ton of traffic and sales are starting, so it''s all good-and exciting!  Enjoy Karine's blog, I know I sure did!

Alpacas & Architecture

So what did you do exciting for the holiday week end?  We didn't go far, but did take in the everyday sights of the area, visited some friends, and just chilled out.  Had Gary not retired last year, this would have been his week end to work, so he was thoroughly enjoying being able to just go & do whatever he wanted.  It was kind of funny, a little like a kid on Christmas morning:)  We drove through the little town of Kewaunee yesterday, and went down Dodge Street, which has some of the coolest old homes, all renovated, painted up in fun colors, some are Bed & Breakfasts, a few single family homes, but all fun.  So thought we'd share a few of the house in that few blocks.  Hope you enjoy! 

Too bad there wasn't a little sun shining, but you should still be able to see all the trim work, they paid attention to detail! 

Still trying to get used to the new format here on typepad, need to get my sizing figured out!  It's funny how each of these house are painted a different color, I always wondered if they held a meeting or something to make sure they were all painted different colors. You can't tell by the picture, but this one is painted a shade of pink.  I remember when they started it, thinking it was an odd color, but they did it up right!  If you look close at the shingles near the peak on the front, the different colors form flowers.  And the gardens are spectacular here!  All done up in pink, a wonderful arbor to walk under, with a matching martin house behind it in the yard.  it's called Hollyhock House and is a bed & breakfast-it would be tempting to stay there, I have a feeling that the inside is spectacular!  Blue is my least favorite color for a house, but once again they paid attention to detail & pulled it off!  These homes are huge, maybe they give tours at Christmas or something-----something to watch for! A pair of gargoyles flank each side of the driveway of the first house in the picture, a perfect fit for the house.  Are you still with me on this little tour?  I'm really hoping you enjoy seeing these homes as much as we did!  From here, we went on up Hwy 42 to go to a little antique shop that we both like.  It's run by the nicest man, and his big old black dog named "Bear", I always breath a little sigh of relief each spring when I see that the dog is still there, he's old now & has a snow white muzzle, and the man obviously adores him.  He is pretty cute-the dog, that is:)  We picked up a bunch of old books there, one is an old dictionary that had several dried flowers and a 4 leaf clover pressed between the pages.  Makes me wonder who did it, what was the significance, there had to be a story behind it!  From there we stopped in at Amanda's to drop off some extra plants we dug up, dropped off a couple of chairs to see if her husband could spot weld them to fix them, and have a cup of coffee-nice visit!  From there, we went abut a mile up the road to Kele Alpacas to get a picture of the new baby Alpaca that was born during the week, and were treated to getting to watch them shear one of the older ones.  A lot of work goes into this process to make those wonderful soft fibers that you fiber artists love to use!  A specially made table keeps the animals safe, as well as those shearing, so it's a relatively stress free situation for all.  Kieth & LeAnna were so calm, had a system worked out, that they didn't even really have to talk-they all knew just what had to be done and when.  They're a couple of the nicest people we've had the pleasure to meet out here, so it's always a treat to pop in, see the critters, & chat for a bit.  Here's "Gabby" with her new haircut:)  There's not much left to them after you remove all the "fluff" is there?  Such sweet animals-when I was grooming my dogs for show, they weren't nearly as well behaved! And here's the baby (they're called a crea" with her mama.  We took so many photos of her, it was hard to choose, but this one will do:)  Gary walked right into the field with them to take the pictures, and the baby was curious enough to walk right up close to him.  They have the longest, blackest eyelashes that you've ever seen!  No visit to Kele would be complete without a pictuer of Ajax!  He's 16 years old, and a great ambassador for the breed, always curious, friendly, and willing to pose for a picture:)  When I met him, is when I fell in love with alpacas, how could you not??  Now I want to follow this shearing thing through with LeAnna, watch how she turns the fibers into roving, uses the spinning wheel, all that fun stuff!  One of these days, I'd love to try the spinning wheel out-not sure if I'd be any good at it, but it looks like fun and would have the potential to be calming-maybe not in the learning phase, though-lol!  Today was beautiful-80 degrees & sunny-finally!  It was warm enough to actually be able to sit on the lake for awhile, first time this year, and it felt good.  When we got home I picked up a book to read that I had barely started the day before, but more about that tomorrow.  Fair warning though, you're going to want the book-it's a great one!!

Never a dull moment!

This morning, while Gary took the dogs for their little morning walk, he spotted a Great Horned Owl sitting in the ditch, smelling like a skunk, and being tormented by a bunch of crows.  Obviously something was horribly wrong.  After a quick phone call to the Wildlife Sanctuary, we were told to try & catch it & put it into a box to bring to them to care for it.  He recruited the help of the neighbors from across the street to help, so after a few photos, they got him into the box without too much of an uproar.  The girls across the street are being home schooled, so it was a great experience for them to see & participate in this rescue, as their mom, Trina said, you don't get this kind of an education in school-have to agree with that one!  Trina quick ran the bird into town to the sanctuary and got to watch him getting checked out.  There were no outward injuries, but he seemed stunned, so they thought he was possibly hit by a car.  If he survives (time to send good healing thoughts to the bird, folks!) he'll be released back out here, creating a happy ending to this story.  Oh, and the skunk smell-turns out that they all smell like a skunk as that's their main diet-who knew.  And the crows, well, they'll just have to go eat something else instead of trying to dine on owl!

Want a Claudine Hellmuth original?

Claudine Hellmuth has generously donated an original 16x20 framed piece of artwork, you can

see it here , and 5 signed copies of her book, also!  There's also a lot of other goodies, just keep clicking to see the

whole list of other artist's donations!  The reason why, you ask?  It's to get as many folks as possible to make a minimum $10 tax deductable donation to

Bernie Berlin's no kill animal rescue, which I just posted about recently, you

can read my post here if you didn't see it earlier.  To keep this short & sweet, the

America's Giving Challenge Parade ends tomorrow, Jan. 31, at 3 pm est, with the top 4 charities each winning $50,000.  But we have to act quickly, there's less than 24 hours to go!! Just click on the orange donate button on the badge that's to the left on my blog, or on the right on Bernie's blog-if you can help, please, please, do so!  The animals need a voice like Bernie's to speak for them, and help save their lives!