Art House Co-Op 4x6 exchange

I recently decided to participate in the Art House Co-Op 4x6 exchange. You create a piece of art that is 4x6 inches, mail it in with a SASE and receive another artist's work in exchange. I'm not sure if it's a direct swap - person A receives my work and I receive person A's work. Anyhow, I decided to make a piece that includes 4 individual photos of clouds. I printed the pictures on my little Canon Selphy printer (great little printer but won't work on Lion so I can only use it with my laptop, which will only run Snow Leopard - oh technology, how you vex me!), which prints on 4x6 paper.

Here is the piece I'm sending in:

Collection of Clouds - Edgewood, WA 2010-2011

It's a fun idea to create a piece of art that you'll send off into the ether to be claimed by a random, unknown person. Reminds me when I would occasionally get mail art. I miss mail.

Safety first

As I said in my last couple posts, we've been doing construction around the homestead. It's extremely important to keep yourself and others safe in a work zone. With that in mind, we have posted a Danger - Keep Out sign.

Even better than posting a warning sign is hiring a security guard to be on the premises at all times. Fortunately, we have two!

 Thanks for being there, Gumby and Pokey! Tirelessly working to keep the kids safe.

Was a closet, now's a gallery

We used to have three closets in our house. One in the master bedroom. One in my office. One at the front door. The house now has only one closet in the master bedroom. First, we removed the closet doors and pieces from my office and put my Anthro computer table in the remaining recess. The remaining closet by the front door was revised to be a recessed art gallery space.

The rotating front door gallery

Currently, on display is a photo I took in Northport, WA, a Japanese woodblock print by Yoshitoshi that I purchased through Cullom Gallery in Seattle,

One of "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon" by Yoshitoshi

and two model kits - one to make Alfred E. Newman and the other to make an Extra Terrestrial.

The ET model kit purchase was inspired by an ET figure we found in Isafjordur in Iceland by an artist (? we're not sure if he's an artist - we just found his sculptures sitting around on a concrete pad) going by the initials KVT.

Visiting the ET by KVT

Construction - again??!!

It only seems like we were doing rehab on the house just a few months ago. But no...it's been a couple years. This time we've ripped out the fireplace and the chimney in anticipation of a gas or woodburning stove, or possibly a built-in stereo cabinet/bookshelf/art display area. Here's what's left of the chimney:

The cylinders are pretty cool looking. I wonder if we could incorporate them into the yard somehow.

Additionally, we're having a new railing built for the deck. The old rails were ripped out today - it's very strange to actually have an unobstructed view of all the trees. I kind of like it but railings are rather necessary to avoid nasty falls.

View of the valley without the railings

What the deck looks like from the driveway

There's a ton of work to do, but it'll be great when it's finished. I just keep saying that to myself to try to keep my stress level to a minimum. "It'll be great when it's finished. It'll be great when it's finished." That's what they say about New York.

My entry in PhotoSPIVA 2012

I recently entered a number of photos into a contest sponsored by George A. Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri. Even though the judge only picked one of my entries, I'm pleased with his choice. I didn't like my chances at all; the judge is Andrew L. Moore, who does mainly large-scale landscapes. I sent nothing but small portraits.

He picked this one, which is a shot I took with my Lubitel, square-format film camera:

Young couple in a hammock

I took this picture at Smoke Farm, which is near Arlington, during one of the Treehouse building camps. They were really sweet together. I love her all pink outfit - down to the flip flops.

I can't go to the opening since it's so far away and it opens on a Friday. If you happen to be in Joplin from March 9 - May 6, check it out. There will be a total of 88 photos (chosen out of 800+) on display. This is the first time in many years that I've had a piece in a gallery, so I'm pretty excited.