Jacksons Gingerbread House

Jackson won Third Place in his age category (7 and under) at the Dorthy Page Museums Christmas Gingerbread contest. The first place was a turtle very cool except that I took excepetion, the prospectus said it needed to be a structure. Somethings smelley in Demnark or is it just rotten eggs? We had so much fun making it together he is so good with his hands and has a marvelous mechanical mind.
Tis the season
Grandma

Contemporary Alaskan Art "Raven and Salmon"

Title: Raven and Salmon
Artist: Judy Vars
Medium: Encaustic Wax
Dimensions: L 30.5 x W 16
Date of Creation: 3/2007

I'm submiting this to the local Palmer Museum Art Accusition grant from the Rasumson Foundation they want current contemporary art. The definition according to Google an interesting thread is thread is;
Contenmporary means current, as in up to date with the times. Not meaning made today, but utilizing current/new/advanced ideas. Not only ideas pertaining to art itself: specific mediums or techiniques (although those certainly apply), but the poitical, social, philisophical, world at large, climate.

This is what the Rasmuson Foundation find "contemporary" look at the art on display on their home page, the selections are very, very, very very good.

I think mine is very good also and worthy of consideration.

Since Thanksgiving I have been on the run I worked two long days at the Girdwood Center for the visual arts they had their annual fund raiser silent art auction. The turn out was poor not as planned but the Girdwoodites always come out for support regardless on weather conditions. The rain all weekend was like a monsoon just unbelievable. Alyeska's ski slopes did not open for their first big snow weekend the rain melted the snow, there were avalanches, and even the back of the gallery flooded. The Anchorage Folks just didn't take the drive. Who can blame them? You'd have to be nuts to go out on the Turnigan Arm in such weather conditions (don't believe me read http://fiveacrehouse.blogspot.com/

My "Salmon in the Shadows" went for just 85.00 to a couple visiting from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, they even bid on the telephone before the bidding closed. Connie sounded so happy to get it and told me they loved it! That made it worthwhile for me. OMG I' forgot to pick up my son from basket ball! SHIT I'M OUTTA HERE.........

Cabin Fever in the Bear Cave

It's winter time in Alaska sort of, only today the Chinook winds have been blowing melting all the snow the high temperature is in the 40s. I moved here from SLC in 1995. Never before had I experienced air so cold that my nose hairs froze burrrrr. Not that I'm complaining but in the past few years our winter temps seem to be warmer than some places in the lower 48 (that's what we call the states below). And with Sunrise: 9:21am and Sunset: 4:09pm it was dark when I went to work and dark when I came home. I rush around doing shopping and chores while there is daylight. I have 100 things to d0 so instead I put on my pJs and took a nap it's so dark and damp. Pushing Daises is on TV and Perfect Strangers is in the DVD player. Tomorrow and the day after is soon enough. Like a bear it's a good time to hibernate tomorrow is the great American turkey day when we will all be drugged with triytophane. I'm feeling lazy today and tomorrow I'll be feeling crazy with a house full of family and friends. Yes, I'm grateful to be here it's just cabin fever and bears get a little grumpy if the can't sleep all day and night.

The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world. ~Author Unknown

St Nicholas

9 1/2 x 6 1/2

Mary

9 1/2 x 6 1/2

Crying Angel

6 1/2 x 5 1/4

Gabriel

6 1/2 x 5 1/4

These cards are almost ready for Girdwood Center for the Visual Arts, I will be staying in Girdwood this weekend and helping with their fundraiser and working the gallery.

I will be selling these for 5.00 each or a pack of 4 for 20.00. If you are interested in purchasing these cards please contact me through my e-mail on this blog and I'll get them to you.

I plan to put them for sale on e-bay also.

WIRE HANGARS, I HATE WIRE HANGARS

I'm a being of the Violet Fire, I'm the purity God Desires

Ok, sooo yea today I was at an Alaninnie meeting and I asked a lady who's bi-polar if she still had the shrine "Violet Fire" that she bought from me at one of my art shows. She said "I'm embarrassed to say that I broke it in a rage". What! I can't believe my ears she broke one of my babies.

I told her my little trick to control my tantrums. I break Christmas tree bulbs. This is what I do: I'll get a box of ornaments and take them out to the garage or somewhere with a concrete floor and throw them at the ground. They make a very satisfying pop and shatter sound. Whenever I am in the Salvation Army I'll get a box for cheap. It better than throwing a glass or a plate onto my tile kitchen floor, scaring the husband, kids and grand kids and someone cutting their feet on the glass or picking it out of their food.

I am embarrassed to say I used to have an evil temper sometimes acting like Joan Crawford in Mommie Darest screaming WIRE HANGARS, I HATE WIRE HANGARS. Once my daughter got me a Mothers Day card it was a picture of a girl sitting in a chair with a gag in her mouth and a birthday cake on the table. A mother resembling Joan Crawford is saying "now darling blow out the candles." How subtle is that.

In my defence I come by my temper righteously my mom could out swear any sailor she was famous far and wide for her foul mouth, like: "he's ringier than a sack of assholes" or "I'll shove that fridge up your ass sideways" or "You are so stupid you couldn't tell shit from Shinola or you dumb stupid bastard." No one was just a son of a bitch, they were more: a stupid son of a bitch, a dumb son of a bitch, a fat son of a bitch, a lazy son of a bitch. The neighbor kids were so scared of my mom they would cross to the other side of the street rather than risk being yelled at. You have no idea the embarrassment and shame she caused me growing up. Once she thought my tom cat Sam was coming home from a night cattin around and she yelled, "where have you been you little ass hole? Out all night whoring around, I'll bet you want some breakfast don't you, you little bastard" it was some young innocent man just coming to read the gas meter. He looked so frightened it was quite comical. My friends and boyfriends were either scared to death of her or thought she was halarious.

But please don't worry about me I'm much better now. My mom taught me that the folks who shout the loudest are the ones who are the softest inside or their there just plain assholes.

If I Were an Angel I Could Fly

Life was getting overwhelming and I needed to give myself a mini vacation. I wanted to be alone in the desert. I come from Utah and wanted to go home. Moab, UT was crowded with bikers for some marathon race. I tried to get a room but they were all booked, one guy said he could get me a cot and I could sleep in the laundry room, No Thank You! I was resigned to stay in my SUV then I decided to try one more place. There was no room there either, so the clerk called a bed and breakfast for me. Moments later an angel disguised as an older woman bid me to follow her white Cadillac. Her home was a big cozy home packed with nick knacks and photographs, loving mementos from a lifetime with family and friends.
My bedroom was a haven of pink, pink carpet, pink bedspread, pink pillows, It felt like a cloud, the bathroom was even pinker! I couldn't resist a soak in the tub with pink Dove Soap. I drifted on my pink cloud into a heavenly sleep. In the morning Mrs "Angel" and I talked awhile, I told her some of my woes, she suggested I bend my knees, and we said farewell.

I wanted to get an early start the frost was still on the grass making my steps crunch; first stop the Delicate Arch. On the way up the trail I began talkin to God, asking to be a better woman, a more loving mom and wife, I asked him take some of my bad habits and give me some graces.
I thought to myself that when I reached the Delicate Arch I would pass through as a symbolic gesture of changing my life.

When to what to my wondering eyes should appear the gigantic monolith in the shape of an arch. I approached this massive structure it perched majestically on the edge of a canyon so deep it looked like the abyss. It occurred to me if I was an angel I could fly through that arch. Instead I fell onto my belly and crawled on my elbows and peered over the edge scared to death.

Thank you creator for showing me your wonders and teaching me some humility.
Amen and Amen
Judy

The Fine Art of Photographing Your Artwork

I just got home from a meeting of the Valley Fine Arts Association, I went because there was a demonstration on how to take good pictures of your artwork. What I found out was that my camera Olympus 7.1 Mega pixels is not a wonderful camera. I cannot manually adjust the aperture, I cannot add big lenses, I cannot take a picture in a raw format. My camera makes all these decisions for me. If I want to take a photograph at night I just dial it to scene and select night time scene and the camera does all the thinking for all other photos I just set it on automatic, it's is a camera for dummies and very good camera for me.

Usually I take my art outside when it's cloudy or overcast (like most days in Alaska) or early morning, hang it on the nail against my house set up the tripod, get everything as straight as I can, set the timer for 10 seconds and stand back. Then in Photo Shop I add pixels and then re size and crop the photo. I know enough photoshop to do some adjustments if needed, It works for me. But I have a major problem with photographing my encaustic art; because the depth and texture are difficult to adequately show, there is usually a shine on the photograph because of the luminosity of the medium (notice this painting). LaMar tells me there is a polarizing filter for this situation and it can be adapted to my camera.
Well that is about all I wish to learn about the subject of photographing my art. I've been doing a pretty good job in spite of my camera.

Some come to the fountain of knowledge to drink, I prefer to just sip.

St Nicholas Kicks Off the Holiday Season

It's just a start, I've been thinking about painting St Nicholas for a long time. After a trip to the Library to research the real Santa Clause, there I discover Saint Nicholas born in Turkey around 280 AD. Nicholas parents died of the plague and he inherited great wealth, so he vowed to help people in need. St Nick is a fascinating saint and is venerated still; his legend has morphed into the modern day Santa Claus. This icon is becoming a cross between the olden day saint with the big head and fastidious beard and our modern day Santa with the white beard and the twinkling eyes. He is standing in a niche surrounded with holly representing Christ’s thorny crown and the holly berries symbolizing his blood, with ivy twining around the holly representing female divinity. Christmas time and our holiday traditions are also entwined with the pagans and early Christianity the birth of Christ and the coming of winter. Our beliefs, traditions symbolic of who we are and how we define ourselves, they help us connect with our history and each other. So we have our tinsel, mistletoe, wassail, trees, exchange gifts and even if we don't know why we do these things it still makes sense somewhere in our collective psyches.

While writing this some religious fanatical Christian sect is on my television; picketing funerals, and other disasters with HATE signs saying “God Hates You” and singing “God Hates America” telling us we are sinners; we caused 911 and the detestation in New Orleans, because we are unrepentant sinners we are going to burn in Hell. Oh MY GOD! Will someone please tell me how this is different from a Muslim terrorist who blows himself up for his go at paradise with 19 virgins??? OK, the terrorists are murders, but you get my point. My God loves me in spite of my imperfections and I believe God loves the world and the people in the world. Does that make me a blasphemer? I hope.

Please dear earth family let’s enter this holiday season with love and acceptance of our brothers and sisters a prayer for peace, a generous heart and a belief that miracles are still possible this insane world.

St Nicholas loved the Beatitudes so I will read them before bed tonight and try to get those nasty hateful people out of my thoughts.
Goodnight cruel er dear world
Let it be so and amen