pumpkin, pumpkin, where's the pumpkin?

 start with a lot of white glue and wait until dry.

 color in between the lines with chalk pastel -

a good quality one works better.

 it always amazes me how the same directions

result in so many different kiddo visions...

just a sampling above.

house beautiful and picture show

as I have said before,

House Beautiful is my favorite home decor magazine...

I love the vignettes in this month's issue

and I am a tad smitten with

the Picture Show app

on my iphone.

and if you put the two together - poof- instant magic.

thanks to Jill for hooking me up with it.

just feel like I am in a dream with these photos

and I could so cook here

and wander out into the big dream-like world through these doors.
on a side note -
It's my birthday today and I am so looking forward to dinner with my boys.

autumn glory on my table

crinkle, crackle, flutter, boo...
happy halloween to you!

artists you should know

Successful people are dreamers who found the dream too exciting,

too important to remain in the realm of fantasy.

Day by day, hour by hour

they toil in the service of their dream until they can see it with their eyes

and touch it with their hands.

Earl Nightingale

With that being said

(and might I state that it really is an apt description

of what we artists try to do),

let me introduce you to some of my favorite artists

who toil away trying to turn their dream into a seeable, touchable object

for others to enjoy. 

The Bellevue Art Fair happens every summer and here you will find...

encaustics by
Sue Cretarolo
that look yummy enough to eat.

and these exquisite collages made of collected papers
by Danielle Desplan

and the wonderful
Cori Dantini

and vibrant textures and color 
by Jacquline Hurlbert

and collage and paintings 
by Ann Munson
(I have no pictures -sorry)

and more by Susan K Miller 
(found her in a West Seattle gallery)

and dynamic landscapes 
by Shea Guevara
(his parents must have had a sense of humor)

and a local artist

Diane Culhane

and Mario Cespedes 
who unfortunately has no website

and Chris Giffin
who can be contacted at
giffin@peak.org.
I just love seeing into the dreams of other artists.
Do you have any artists we can come visit?
Just list them in comments so we can see their dreams turned into reality.
thanks...

the big wave updated with surfers and glitter

what's better than a project with glitter?

we started looking at 

the Great Wave 

by Hokusai

and 

the Sea off Satta 

by Hiroshige

 and we gave our big wave
our own mixed media touches

by painting the basic wave, bay and mountains,
then adding stamps for texture

and lots of bubbling sea foam 

with sponges and pencil erasers

and trees and crows and

surfers

and boats

and windsurfers

and foamy bays

and fish

and did I mention glitter?

Cowabunga dude!
Warning - these took several classes to complete
and I heard several aughs
as it turned into the never ending wave...
I thought I was being so clever 
by letting them make surfers and boats and fish and...
well by letting each one put his/her own mark on the big wave.
I thought they would love it,
but some lost interest...
Oh well you never know right?
I hope they learned perseverance and patience - 
two important 'p' words.