Valentine's Day goodies

Heart Mug By Gary Rith

Little "love magnets" by ME!
I am still putting together an assortment of interesting little gift items for Valentine's Day.
These will be for sale at Bun Appetit Bakery at 215 Main St. in Groton.
There are some really nice gifts and cards-all reasonably priced- check it out! Not to mention, the Bakery has YUMMY TREATS! It is a really cute little shop.

Another Bowl

I have been enjoying my time painting my recycled wooden bowls. I have been working on this one all week. These take a long time- many coats of paint on each color. This piece is pretty large- about 12'' in diameter. There is still much to do on it, but I love the way it is coming out.
The colors are actually much brighter in person.

A few days later...

What a difference a few days can make in your mood. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with what to do with my business. I REALLY want to keep it going, and I want to move the location to Main St. The problem is CASH to do it! I also keep thinking maybe I should just concentrate on my own artwork which has suffered a bit in the last couple of years. I do have a great following at the Ithaca Farmers' Market, and maybe it is time to concentrate on that. If I had a bundle of money, I would know what to do, but....

I NEED AN ANSWER- SHOW ME A SIGN!!!

Happy Morning!

For some reason I have greeted the world in a super good mood! I have a lot to do today- so that should make it a bit easier!
I am still setting up my little satellite gallery at Bun Appetite Bakery, and I need to pick up some items for that. I also have to get a card rack ready- cards are always a good seller, and with the focus on Valentine's Day, it's a must-have. I have also been working on an ad for the Bakery- keep a look out in the Shopper (the main advertising source for most businesses in this area). I think my graphics look pretty good! Hopefully Jody will like it.

Much to do yet...

The T'art gallery has started. There is still much to do and more items to stock- after I started I realized there is more room than I thought. Today I will try to put more items on the walls and make things look a bit less "stark". I am REALLY thankful to Jody, the owner of Bun Appetite, for letting me do this- hopefully it will work for both of us. Times are tuff, and we little businesses need to help each other out when we can. It doesn't look like much in these photos yet, but it will!

My little satellite shop...

Today I am setting up a small satellite art shop in a bakery called Bun Appetite on Main St. in Groton. Jody, the women that owns the bakery, has a small room with a few tables for seating that needs some "jazzing up". I have just the merchandise to do it! It will be some lower priced gift items from my vast array of local artisans. I will have pottery from Gary Rith, bookmarks from Werner sun, prints and cards from Dee Sprague, journals from Jennifer Marshall, hand knit mittens from Joyce Kantor, soap from Tammie Whitson, and more great stuff. There will also be a card rack with many local artists featured. Hopefully this will help bring people into Thou Art Gallery, and carve out a little niche for me on Main St. I will have pictures later.

SHORT HAIR!

pencil
Warhol
comic book
That's right, last week I cut off my hair- all of it! I guess I was sick of the old look. I did however, keep my "trade mark" red. I love messing around with my Mac Photo Booth- you can get rid of all the ugly in anyone!

A couple of bowls

I usually paint on glass or pottery. Sometimes I like to change it up a bit. These pieces are painted on recycled wooden salad bowls. The bowls are old- probably from 50's or 60's. I collect them from garage sales and thrift stores. I sand, and gesso, and then put my mark on them.

This is what most of these look like befor I work on them- they usually have some sort of decoration that is chipping and peeling off. My Grandmother still has a set of these in her cupboard. I don't think she used them much because hers don't look as worn as these. I can usually get them pretty cheap and turn them into something fabulous! I do enjoy painting on wood, but it is a bit more time consuming because I need to do several coats of paint to get the colors nice and opaque. The finished product is worth it.

Truck Race!

Wilson LOVES to make videos- here is one of my favorites. I love the way you can here him breathing and grunting as the race takes place.

Another thing Wilson has discovered are boxer shorts! He has had an aversion to underwear for quite some time. Instead of his regular briefs he would rather wear what he calls his "invisible underwear"! I have discovered him going without too many times! We got him some boxer shorts for Christmas- he loves them so much he is even wearing them to bed! There is nothing cuter than a little guy in boxer shorts.

Time to start painting!

The Christmas tree has been taken down and moved outside waiting for the village wood chipper. When we go to the playground our tree along with many others will be the new ground cover under the swings, jungle gyms and slides. The tree always looks so sad and lonely sitting by the road waiting to be made into mulch. My house however, always looks huge and empty when the tree is no longer taking up half my living room! Today I am going to start up my
painting again- I have had enough vacation from it- I NEED TO PAINT!!!

A quiet home!

The gallery will be open by appointment for the month of January- so be sure to call 607-898-4063 if you would like to visit.

It is Quiet in the house for the first time since December 19th! I have to say it is always sad to see the holidays over, but it is also nice to have everyone back in their routine again- and out of my hair! I am excited about the new year- and what it will bring for my business and my personal life as well.

My parents gave me an interesting gift for my birthday- a power miter saw! I LOVE power tools, although, I usually have to figure out how to do it without the added "power". My dowel and spindle Santas were so much fun to do, I wanted to try to "up the inventory" for next year. My problem with making more was I sawing everything by hand- one arm is actually bigger from doing this. Now I can zip these guys off like crazy! Wilson gave me wood (another birthday gift) for my projects so I am all set to go.

Maybe I will enjoy the "quiet" of my power saw cutting through some spindles and dowels.

Keeping busy...

I have been trying to take a vacation from painting for 10 days. I tend to be a bit compulsive about painting, and I do it all the time, any spare minute I have! So every year after Christmas, I make myself go on "vacation". So I needed a creative outlet this morning so I got out my beads and made an "old lady glasses" necklace! Okay, so I am kind of a "funky" old lady, but I am REALLY showing my age wearing this thing around my neck!

The resolution- again!

Every year I make the same resolution. I pull out all my Weight Watcher cookbooks and the Cooking Light cookbooks. I plow through them making note of recipes that sound good. "This year I will do it- I will loose that 30 pounds!" I will walk everyday, and I will stick to my plan!
So anyway, that is it- I'll see how long I can stick it out this year!