Last market day....

This past Thursday was the last day for Victory Farms market stand at the Farmers' Market downtown. It was so chilly in the shade under our stand. We had less produce but still it was very beautiful. Lots of greens, potatoes, radishes, cukes, and we practically sold out everything. We were sad that this was over, as we said so long to our buddies at the market, but Gina and Charlie will continue to bring veggies to the market in Oregon Hill and at Forest Hill Park. I, meanwhile, will be exploring markets in other places. To see more produce from our last day, check out my other blog.
These photos are of a couple of the veggie critters that showed up during the season. A cuke duck and an eggplant birdsnake. Doesn't Gina look cute holding the parsley?

Art in a Box

I created this set of collages, which fit into a box made from another of my collages, for a show at Art 6 gallery in Richmond, VA, usa. I've included a touch of my Robert Motherwell inspiration in each of the pieces. Once the collages are in the box, I'll seal it with an old postage stamp. The title of the piece is "Do Not Break Seal." Only the purchaser will be able to do that. I'm going to send along a plexi vitrine for the display. I won't be here to see the show or get the reaction from viewers, but that's okay. I had a great time creating these and making the box. Oh yes, size of collages: approximately 2.5" x 3.5" (6.5cm x 9cm) If you're in the area, check out the show, which opens the first Friday in December.

Fairy lights, twinkly yard

I had a kind of rough day emotionally, spending time dealing with a friend's needs. When I got home, I parked the car in the garage and came out the side door into the yard and there was such a nice surprise for me. The neighbors yard all lit up. It made me feel so happy. Like I'd walked into a fairyland. I went inside and started dinner and told hubby that we would be eating dinner outside so bundle up for the chilly night air. He turned on our lights, too. It was sooo pretty.

Farmers' Market

We're winding down at the Farmers' Market with only two more market days. However, you'd never know it by the quantity of produce that my farmer brings to market. It looked prettier than ever this past Thursday. I've posted a recipe using beets here.

My new collages

I was inspired by a collage by Robert Motherwell that I came across in a book. I put it up in my studio and kept looking at it and loving it. I just had to create some pieces with COLOR! After all, I do teach a color class, though rarely use much color in my work. In fact, I haven't used this much color since I gave up painting on canvas a looong time ago. I am so happy with the results of these pieces. They're small, roughly 4" X 4" (10cm x 10cm) and have been mounted and framed as a single piece. Chuck's idea and he did the framing for me. They'll be in the 1708 Gallery small works show to which I was invited. I'll be interested in the public reaction to them. Oh wait, I won't be there for the show. I'll be at the Cite again. So what do you think? Colorful, eh?

Art exhibits

A week ago Friday, we went to the exhibit of Change for a Ten, the Art180 fundraiser. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of ten dollar bill sized pieces of work that had been donated along with a $10 bill. It was very exciting to see all of them displayed on panels. What a great idea and everyone attending seemed to be having a good time. This past Friday, we went up to DC to the fundraiser for the WPA (Washington Project for the Arts) where Mica had interned way back when she was a student. Chuck had been invited to put 4 of his framed glass pieces int he show. Here you see them on the wall of the office of one of the principles in the architecture firm, where the exhibit was located. It was a VERY lively evening, and though this image doesn't show it, the place was so crowded and noisy! There were 4 floors in the building, Art on every floor, along with fancy finger food and beverages. Two very different events, two very good causes, and I hope they both made their monetary goals. In this economic climate, art non-profits will really have to work harder. Ditto for everyone!

Blog Action Day

The day is here, the day I had to decide what I'd post on my blog related to this year's theme: poverty. As I mentioned earlier, I'd been pondering this. I use the word ponder, rather than the word think, to give you some idea about the seriousness I felt about this subject. Well, today's newspaper gave me my focus. In the world news section, here was one headline "Financial crisis likely to hit world's poor hardest," dateline Geneva. "The world's poorest people will be hungrier...." I sell produce for my organic farmer friends during the growing season and like to cook, as you've seen from my photos and recipes. I love taking photos of the vegetables I sell.
When I read that there are people who don't have and won't have food, it's very disturbing to say the least. Okay, so that was national, but here's what was on the front page of my newspaper, "Demand for food assistance up 325%." The local foodbank can't keep up with the rise in recipients. Here are some numbers of recipients that give you the picture very clearly: 2007 - 12,359 children were recipients, in 2008 - 35,677 and an even bigger jump is in the elderly population were in 2007 4,764 elderly received food and in 2008 - 28,440. This is terrible. In America, not a faraway third world country, in America, in my community. This is more than terrible, this is appalling. America, the land of plenty! What can we do to help? This might be easier than some of the other problems with poverty....check out your local community needs for food. You can donate non-perishables. If you have the money to buy groceries and can buy an extra can of beans or bag of rice, do it and donate it, or, you can donate some money, even a small amount can buy a lot since foodbanks can sometimes get a truckload of free food but need money for fuel to get the delivery, or you can volunteer to bag groceries or deliver meals to the elderly. We can make a difference with this. Check your local needs, act locally, that's what I'm going to do.
photos by Mim Golub

Richmond Folk Festival

This past weekend, Richmond had it's first time at running the Folk Festival after three years as the site of the National. It was great! We only got to attend one evening but the turn out was really good. We got to dance to Michael Doucette and Beausoleil, what fun! Here he is on the fiddle. We saw Taiko drummers and heard Howard Tate sing R & B. The weather was perfect. Brown's Island was all lit up and we had great views of downtown buildings and the lovely white building, which is some corporate headquarters. We missed the group from Mexico that did the Mayan ritual, "flying" down from a tall pole, which we heard was spectacular. A fun night in the city!

Elflog update

The shelf is filled with stones that I wrote on. No one has taken one home but people have added natural objects, the black walnut shell, the stick and today a small magnolia seed pod. On Friday night, I met a friend at the Folk Life Festival who introduced me to a neighbor who is an ELF! An "elf" is a person who adds to the shelf anonymously, of course. She had added a long, glass bead. It's on a nail above the shelf, not seen in this photo. I was so happy to meet another elf.

Spencerian calligraphy

My tattoo is based on the Spencerian calligraphy by Michael Sull that my friend Amy found for me in a book about calligraphy. I simplified it from the original as you can see. About a month ago, a friend sent us a catalog that she thought I'd like to use for collage, but instead, we found this glass plate for sale and Chuck got it for me as a treat. How cool is this? No attribution to the image on the plate so we don't know if it's a Michael Sull or an old Spencerian design. In any case, I love having it.

Blog action coming up....

This year's theme! I've been thinking about this ever since I registered to take part in this action. What to write about. Poverty...what a huge issue, so much to it. I'm still pondering. On the 15th you'll read what I come up with. Stay tuned.....

A very small collage

http://draxler.blogspot.com/2008/02/black-chambers.html

Here's one of my small collages that I create in my "Artist in Cellophane" persona. The work sells in Art-o-mats and above is a link to the blog of a man who bought one of my pieces out of the machine in Minneapolis' Chambers Hotel. He uses one word that someone might find offensive, but not a really, really bad word. ha ha ha Just a heads up. I created 51 of these small collages while in Paris last year. Whew! I'm already planning my art project for this year's residency. More to come.

More OBX

The Outer Banks are a long sandy strip that follows along the coast of North Carolina. It's where the Wright brothers got their plane off the ground and started this whole flying business. It's also known for having lots of kitsch Pirate stuff, lots and lots of it, and salt water taffy. We couldn't leave with out stopping at a Forbes shop for our souvenir taffy. Eating some of it in the dark on the drive home, we couldn't tell one flavor from another...just very soft and sweet. The OBX marathon (which takes place next weekend) art competition was held at the Dare County Arts Council. This image shows last year's winner and on the wall, which doesn't show up well, is this year's winner (we were the judges.) The image will be on a tee shirt, the phone book, and a lot of other things for the 2009 OBX marathon. It was fun to do. We were happily surprised to see this Art-o-mat at the council though it was out of order at the moment. We were thinking about how many nice vacations we had on the OBX and how we need to remember that it's only a 3 1/2 hour drive from our house and we could go more often. Hmmm, a resolution for the new year.

OBX

Our trip to the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina was brief (an over night) but lovely. The weather was perfect and we got to walk on the beach twice, looking for sea glass and shells, enjoying the breeze and the sound of the waves. The sky was so blue with puffy little clouds. More photos on my other blog, if you need more sea and sand. We went to an old haunt of ours, where we'd get fudge and walk in and out of shops. It's now an antique "mall" with lots of little antique shops, a children's dance studio, a hair cutting place, some offices. Ah, memories. And of course, the birds. Here's a little fellow by him/herself. In Manteo, where we judge the OBX marathon art competition, we ate lunch at Full Moon Cafe, which we recommend. Really tasty food and lovely umbrellas!

Artist Trading Card workshop

Here are a few of the ATCs that I've made over the years. This selection is from 2004 to 2007. I'm posting them to promote my Artist Trading Card workshop which will be held on 7 February 2009 at the VMFA studio school. It'll be held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The last hour will be a trading session and I'd love to have anyone in this area, who makes cards, come by and join my class for the trading session.. Mark your calendars. Okay, so I'm assuming that I'll have at least 10 people interested in signing up for the class. Hint, hint, hint. If you aren't familiar with this form of art making and sharing, check out the site of the founder. Some of you, my long time readers, will remember that I met him, M. Vanci Stirnemann, in 2006. You can see the picture of me with him in my archives (Sept. 2006.) I was grinning like crazy! Over the years, I've exchanged with people in person and via mail. I've taught a workshop to students at University and high school level, and tried to spread the word about how much fun this is, plus it's a real boost to any blocked creativity. You don't have to be an artist do make the cards, just a desire to participate and learn. Once the Studio School get it's catalog out, I'll post a link.