Christmas time in Bluefield!

I love it when it snows in Bluefield! It is so beautiful! The snow kept falling for several hours and I don't know how much we got, but it sure was a lot! And it was the good kind too! :)

This is the "pizza-oven" kiln, hehe, I call it that because it looks like a pizza oven! :) It takes a lot of pots to fill this bad boy up!

Professor Walter Shroyer and I worked together on some firings.

After filling up the big "pizza-oven" on Saturday we came back on Sunday, after Church, to do a raku firing! The little pots are so small! Oh dear! I'm always afraid of them breaking...:/

After we fire them in the lil'raku oven we put them in trash-cans filled with sawdust and paper to burn over night.


Oh, and this is inside of the lil'guy! Hehe!!! :)

Well that's it for now! I'll show you all more in the morning when I get up! Time for bed!

Sleep, sleep, I got to go to sleep!

The LATEST!!!

So what's new with the Chocolate Box Painting? A lot! As my husband walked in the door tonight the first thing he noticed was how the candy with the bite in it looks like it is popping out from the surface. Whew! That's a good sign! Here's a close up of it and you can see the close ups of the different textures!



Just as with the baseball player and all of my paintings I'm using the blow up photo for scale, the smaller photograph for reference and the actual object for greater accuracy.

And of course! The Guinea Pig Pattie is with me! LOL! However the only advice she has for me: "get me a carrot"! LOL!

As soon as I can get all of these pieces 'lifted up' in a three dimensional look then I'll add in the black background and the contrast will make these pieces just pop-OUT!!! :)!

Heading into the LAST WEEK OF CLASSES!!! AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So it's the last week of classes coming up and you can bet that we'll be in the art building for a very long period of time each day!

Before you ask, no we DO NOT awake at 4AM! That's the time we got home from the art building two nights ago! LOL!


Here are some of my new Ceramic pieces:

Carousel Box that when put together will go around in a circular shape!!!! :)

SEE!!! :)

And of course, we don't just work at the art building we eat, sleep and practically live there!

Late nights

Lately, we have had a lot of late nights - or all nights -- at the art building. Creating art takes hours and hours of work. Here, you can see Jerry catching a few winks before doing more work.

More Steps

The latest work on my painting.

Good Enough To Eat

One of the things that we did this week was to deliver my painting, Good Enough To Eat, to the cafe that displays some of our work -- along with the work of other artists.

Ornaments

This week, we finished making Christmas ornaments that the school had ordered for the college staff. Professor Shroyer, his wife Linda, and I have been working on this project for months. I really like how the ornaments turned out!!! It was a fun project!

Working Away!

Sunday evening! I've been working all week on this painting, and it's coming along. Color matching is a careful process that can be a chore at times, because brown is a very difficult color to duplicate. Unfortunately, the photo does not show you the variations of white.
Also, during the week, I made this little bar that rests above my painting about 1/2 inch. Now, my hand won't be resting on the painting itself! Whew! Let's get back to work!

Jerry's Show

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Jerry's show, Iraq War: An Artist's Journey, opened on Wednesday.








Here he is at the show. He is talking to WVVA Channel 6. You can see some of our friends in the background.


























The show was a great success!!!! 80 to 100 of our good friends and fellow artists came by.



























Friends from school and Art Club.












Kerry Hatton












Gary Bowling and his wife, Debbie, with Jody Queen.

















Our art teacher, Walter Shroyer, talking with Patch Whisky.












Town Councilman and Mentor, Pete Sternloff.









Jody Queen and his wife, Vicky, sponsored the show and brought delicious food!

This is one of the paintings that started it all. It was inspired by our last, "Goodbye," before Jerry left for Iraq.

It was an inspiring night!

New pots

These pots came out of the kiln this week. You can see how small they are by the quarter that is next to them. I shaped them on the pottery wheel by forming them around my finger.














Here they are with one of my bowls. As you can see, some of these pots were formed from the blue clay that I make. The clay becomes dark blue while it is in the kiln for the second time.
Of course, the bowl is one of the pots that I made a pattern on carving with a carving tool.

My Art Study Group

This is my Art Appreciation Study group, we meet once or twice a week. Since we were studying for a test, I figured that we would all remember details about Van Gogh's painting better if we painted one of his paintings for fun. We also played cards with information about artworks and did a color wheel exercise. I really believe that people learn better from play!

One of the things we did this week.

Lidia is writing a news paper article about us.

Progress

After four days in Kansas, we got up Sunday morning at 4:00 and flew to Georgia, then, from Georgie to Virginia. What did I do as soon as I got home? I painted: art is our life.

Jerry playing with the guinea pig

Here is Jerry showing Patty her reflection in the car window.

A show is coming up

This week, Jerry and I picked up my painting from Dr. Bascom’s house. When she bought the painting from me, she offered to allow us to borrow it if a show came up. We will be dropping the painting off at a show on Monday.

We’ll store the painting with my other paintings until Monday.

The latest work on my chocolate painting

Here is the latest work on my chocolate box painting. The chocolates are really starting to look like chocolates. Yummm!

This is the inside of my freezer. I store my pallets (disposable plates) in here when I am not painting. This will make my paint last longer. As I make a painting, my freezer slowly fills with pallets and various containers that contain paint which has been mixed into all different colors.

Scholarship Winners

I wan a special scholarship!

Here I am with other students who wan various scholarships.

We were sent to Forrum College, on Oct 20th, for a special dinner and congratulations.