Not Yo' Mama or Yo' Papa ever painted like this

(for week #14 Blog Tour Give Away, click here.)

Yep, Katherine and I are at it again. While I was at Valley Ridge last weekend, we managed to conjure up an idea for a Painted Papers Party. Actually, I think Katherine already had the idea and I (being the brazen paint and paper girl that I am) somehow weaseled my way in. Ahem. 

So here's the deal:

2-1/2 days

Paste Painted Paper a la Mary Beth

Batik Paper a la Katherine

Music - yes, I will dance while I work

Paint

+

Paper

Really, need I say more?

Registration has only been open for a couple hours and the class is half filled.

So CLICK HERE for details. 

You know you want to join us.....

And......in other news, click here for details on this week's Blog Book Tour Give Away. It's a good one!!

Blog Book Tour Week #14

Thanks so much for entering - we have our winner, chosen by Random number generator.......

congrats to Jennifer Higgens, who has won Beth's lovely print shown below. Come back on Wed when we have the final week of the Blog Book Tour.

We skipped week #13, did anyone notice that? We are like an elevator here. And actually, we (or to be more precise I am like an elevator, up and down and up and up and......well, you get the idea.
So this week, the Book is visiting a friend of mine, Beth. She sends me emails with the subject line "Just Beth" which I think is kinda cute.
I first started doing Art Fairs, back in 2004 or 2005? Can't even remember, I am certain I've intentionally blocked it out as that is one friggin' hard life. Anyhoo, I digress.
I met Beth when I was doing the Laumeier Art Fair, here in St. Louis. It is held in a sculpture park, really a lovely show. Beth and her hubby John (he is oh-so-sweet and they are a perfect couple) were at the show and happened to buy some of my work. She was vivacious and fun and asked if she could call me. Of course I said yes, I mean she had just bought some of my work, right? This happens all the time and no one ever calls but she really did! Seriously.
And then she and John started showing up at all my shows. Not just shows in St. Louis. I would be standing in my booth in another city and *poof* there they were! I began calling them stalkers. Once I was even at the Kane County Flea Market (that being a funny story you can read HERE if you want) and turned around to find Beth and John there. I kid you not.
And then they moved to another city and I was bummed cause we were just starting to hang out.
Beth used to do Mixed Media stuff but she is a photographer now and has definitely found her calling.  I want her to take my picture some day if we can ever land in the same city long enough. I love those pictures she takes of people standing out of doors in the most amazing locations. Or the ones of people jumping, those are great fun.
She has agreed to give away this picture in honor of my book:

Isn't it beautiful? Of course, like last week's apron, I want this one too. What a baby I am becoming.
To enter, you need to leave me a comment here on my blog. Beth is giving away one of my books over on her blog, so click HERE to enter for the book. We will draw names on Monday, May 23rd. so be sure to get your entries in. Enter often, Beth said that's ok.

Blog Book Tour Week #12

Our Apron Winner is Jessica!!!!!
And the Book/Stencil Winner is Roberta!!!
 as chosen via the random number generator

Who on earth has their editor actually participate in their book?? Ummmm, that would be me......ahem. But listen, I just had to, I mean Tonia Davenport is not only the best editor around, she is the consummate foodie and was so into my book idea I just wanted her to actually be in the book too. Thank goodness she agreed and made a wonderful plexi project, plexi being her thing, after all, so now plexi is one of my things too because I like it an awful lot.


Another one of Tonia's talents is hand sewing. Her attention to detail (editor trait I believe) is amazing thus her hand work is quite nice. You will not believe what she has made for our give away this week!??! Check out this apron - made with one of my stencils, how entirely cute is this?!?!

Is it for cooking? Is it for Art-making?? 

Who knows, but WHO CARES, it is so friggin' cute. I am bummed that I can't enter the contest myself. Very very bummed. But yes, you can. You can enter to win #1 The Apron or #2 The Book and Stencil (that Tonia used) so you can make an apron for yourself. 

So be sure and leave me a comment below to enter this week's contest. Tell me whether you will make food or art while wearing this apron. Because I am curious and, well, curious minds need to know.  I will draw a winner when I get back from Valley Ridge on May 16th.

And also click on over to the Create Mixed Media site where Tonia posted another hand sewing project, this one for patches on jeans. I want to do this. God only knows I have tons of paint stained clothing, I may as well do something cute!!

Gimme an Eight

I have been working on some new paintings for an upcoming show. I found these stick-on letters at a recycle shop and I am obsessed with taking the background part and sticking them on my substrate for awhile. I paint over them and then, when they lose their sticky (ha, I think that happens to me from time to time) I discard them. I mainly like the shapes, the numbers themselves don't hold a specific meaning for me.

Mixed media collage on panel. Texture achieved with Wood Icing and Stencils. Size is 9x12

 And I am still playing with grids as you can see. This was the basis for many of my compositions at Artfest this year. Everybody loves a grid, me included.

Mixed media collage on panel. Texture achieved with Wood Icing and Stencils. Size is 9x12

And napkins, ones with cool designs. I went through a phase with napkins a long time ago and it appears they are back - in my world, at least. I tear apart the layers and gently glue the sheerest one to my substrate using gel medium.

 

I am hoping to get some wax time this weekend, oh, me loves my wax. Can't wait for Encausticamp this summer. And.....in late breaking news......I have added a wax component to my class at Squam, at the request of the ever-so-persuasive Elizabeth. If you are interested, click here to register.

 

And guess what? We have new stencils at Stencil Girl. Some Trish Seggebruch designs - can you say BUBBLES! STRING! HONEYCOMB! Sorry I'm shouting, I just love 'em. 

Coming soon are designs by Judy Wise, Pam Carriker & Jill Berry. The designs are so super cool I can't help talking about them and teasing you along. They will be coming in over the next 2-4 weeks, so you don't have long too wait......

The Conclusion of the Fabulous Purse Contest

When I left you, dear reader, you were begging among yourselves for a chance to win  Deb Trotter's gorgeous purse. Well, I have to say this was quite the contest, an event elevated by world class begging among several avid candidates. You may want to go read some of the begging comments as they are clever and hilarious. Needless to say, Deb and I really got a kick out of this. So much fun!

To continue the spirit of fun and to also ensure neutral decision making, I enlisted the help of two trusted aids - my grandsons, Aidan and Ian.

After seeing all the entries, the boys talked about the situation briefly and quickly developed a plan as to how they would perform their role as judges.

Aidan's Spreadsheet of Beggers & Begs

Aidan, age 8, the extremely meticulous one (son of 2 engineers), decided that a chart was needed. As we spread all the entries on the floor, he started his chart. Each Begger was assigned a code that was written horizontally across the bottom of the page. As I read the Begs out loud, the boys ranked them up vertically, giving an 'x' for a poor beg and an 'o' for a good beg. As the Begger did additional Begging, the rankings continued to build and we could quickly see a real competition developing among several people. 

The boys discussing the merits of Begs

Once all the Begs had been assessed and rated, Aidan counted them up and we were all stunned to see there was a TIE between Kath and Jill Berry. Oh my gosh, we couldn't believe it! The boys decided to flip a coin. But it wasn't as simple as you might have guessed. They assigned 'heads' to Jill and 'tails' to Kath and determined that to win, a person had to get two of three. The first toss was heads. The second toss was heads. Oh my. The third toss was heads.  That is when I asked to check the coin and indeed, it was proper, no shenanigans, this was a fair fight.

So.......without further ado, the winner......Jill Berry. Woo hoo!!