Woodlands Waterfall

By the way, this pic that I'm using as my header temporarily, Woodlands Waterfall, looks pretty terrible online.  The colors are really, really off and I'm pretty sure I'm going to leave it up only for a couple days.  Believe me when I say that it IS really pretty in person.  I did it with colored inks on YUPO.  YUPO is a polyurethane paper (basically plastic) that is absolutely non-absorbant.  I added a lot of pearlescents into the water, so it fairly glows.

 If you view this in person, it looks so much better. I kept the brushstrokes big and loose to give it a painterly feeling and did a lot of direct painting on the 'paper' to let the colors mix there instead of in my pallet.  There are a lot of rich neutrals in the rocks and shadows that just don't come out in a photograph.  Close to our home there's a waterfall over by The Woodlands Waterway that we enjoy climbing around.  We had kids climbing all over the rocks and I took a bunch of shots only with my phone, but that was all I needed to spark the idea.  I'd actually like to do an entire series of Woodlands waterfalls as we've got a bunch of 'em.  Time, time, time!

Metal Embossing

I brought home three cherished peonies from the store the other day, an extravagant purchase, but I NEEDED them!  In each state we have lived in, I planted a row of peonies, and have left a peony trail behind me.  Here in Texas the climate is too warm for them, so I can't grow them anymore. Lucky people in a number of states are benefiting from my labors!  Peonies are my favorite flowers and have an unbeatable, heady fragrance.  So, because I had these lovelies, I just had to draw them.  Decided to try it on metal.
Here it is with my etching finished - as you can see, it's pretty thin and floppy.

This shows a close up of a little section so you can see the detail a little better.  Because the metal is so reflective (and because I'm not great with cameras) it's kind of hard to show what I want, but you get the idea.  Peonies are so multi-petaled, that I wanted it to be complex, and metals really beg to be heavily etched to show off their reflective qualities.

My next step was to gesso it to a board because the metal needs support.  I used a LOT of gesso and laid it thickly on both board and metal, filling in all the indentations to preserve the etching.  It'll probably take three years to dry.

Here it is sitting on my workspace drying.  I haven't measured it but it's probably 11x14 or so.

My next step will be to paint it; I think I'm going to paint it in some pastel tones.  I'll take some pics of that and post it very soon.

Let me know what you think of it so far, and if you've had any experiences with metals.  I do these every year (on a smaller scale) with my art students.  The younger the student, the smaller the piece.  They invariable LOVE it!

A Thankful Nod

Tomorrow morning we're going to go down to the Veteran's Memorial Cemetery.  It will be my second funeral in two weeks and my third funeral at that cemetery in the past couple years.  My love and prayers to the families of those two very special young men who gave their lives for us all.  May we live well as thanks to them.

Slip to Eternity

This weekend one of my friends died.  He was a very special man who played trombone in our church orchestra.  He was always there.  For the past few years, his playing wasn't all that great, but that didn't matter.  What mattered was that he was there - right where he belonged, completing our orchestra.  He was fun, kind and generous, steadfast, honorable, quick-witted and dependable.  He was Sydney.  I loved him and I miss him.
I had another friend die some time ago and wrote this poem for him.  It seems a fitting tribute to Sydney as well.  It's called 'Slip to Eternity.'

Can't sleep tonight.

Hot tears noiselessly flood my eyes,

    and cascade to my pillow,

as I, lost in thought,

    silently mourn another death.

The comfort of sleep eludes,

and he who lies beside me

    is also silent -

    but not from slumber -

'tis the silence of deep reflection.

We think of our lives -

    half over if we live long;

of my parents,

    of his mom -

and his dad, gone a year now.

I remember a young friend

    and her son, seven summers old

taken from us.

Sleep still far from our eyes,

    we talk.

He speaks of a place far better.

No more pain, or night, or tears;

    a glorious Hope for those who believe.

Far better off,

    it is there they await us.

But we are left here to mourn

    our loss (but their gain!)

So shall we?

To think on death

    makes me feel more alive; I realize the gift!

And what shall I do,

    but live it!  Live!

To proclaim my God! To serve Him!

To love, to feel, to enjoy,

    to share, to laugh, to cry.

To show the face of Jesus.

To touch, and make a difference.

We tread these mortal paths but a short time -

    we must press on

    before our slip to eternity.

We talk, we cry.

    We pray, we sleep.

Not restless, not hopeless,

    but the deep slumber of God's promised rest.

A Skeleton in My Closet

This is the story of an unwelcome skeleton who just keeps popping up unexpectedly.  Here I am with him in the backstage workroom as we prepare for our show.  We've got him wired to the bridge which will be used in the romantic Music Man scene.  I made a barbershop quartet moustache and Jim stuck it on - someone else put a red light - a beating heart, inside his ribs.

We named him Horatio, and he's made it now to each one of our shows since his debut in Peter Pan.
Peter Pan was my first show. I'll never forget the huge rock we did of papier mache in my driveway.  Good grief - it probably took 15 gallons of papier mache and attracted flies from all of the continental U.S. and Central America!  If you DIDN'T have flies at that time, you can thank me!

This was Marooner's Rock, to which the evil Captain Hook chained his victims.  It seemed fitting that a skeleton be manacled and hanging there.

I arranged it and then left town for some reason, missing that particular show and his debut.  When I came back for the next show, everyone was in an uproar wondering who put the skeleton there!  (hoo, boy!)  To my surprise, I found out that the director did NOT want a skeleton in a children's show and he was summarily removed. Sorry!

So, we put him away, and kept him in a box in our workroom.  I made sure to keep him hidden, because a skeleton is just too tempting.

Ever since, he's just had to come out for each ensuing production.  We get him out for tech week only, so that he's not in a show that guests would see.  If I remember correctly, he did make it into Annie, laying on one of the orphan's beds, and unseen from the audience's point of view.  Quite a surprise to the actors. :)

Here's Horatio at Music Man tech week. At one point, Rachel lovingly stroked his skull while she was delivering lines - it was hilarious! We were honored to put him out with a friend's hat who was back from Afghanistan.  Thanks, Jeff, may God be with you every day that you are away from us.

The lanterns were a lucky nab - October is not the time of year you want to be looking for garden lanterns!  You may note the starry backdrop?  That's our 'starry night' curtain - made out of many panels of black loose-weave cloth, with many, MANY strings of little white Christmas lights safety-pinned onto them.  This was largely a project of a handful of CYT students - way to go, guys!
And just so you know, Horatio is safely tucked into his box, awaiting the next big show!  People, if you have any memories of Horatio popping up, give me a comment.  Some of them have been pretty funny.

Music Man Library Sets

Well, I previously posted what it took to paint the library shelves (check out my right margin going down), so thought you might like to see what they looked like during Music Man.  Here are a couple shots:

This one's a close-up.  I had my kids put any titles they wanted on the books, as long as the titles didn't offend my moral sensibilities :)  We got some crazy ones, too.  I put down a bunch of my favorite book titles, and also included "Cindy Johnson's Awesome Sets Class," as one.  Everyone's favorite was the Pokemon Authority, complete with picture logo, right next to The Holy Bible.  The logo was pretty easy to see. I'm SURE that the Pokemon book wasn't around during that era!  We pretty much counted on the audience NOT being able to read the book names!  We did find that the cast got a kick out of them while they were onstage acting.

This shot is from one of the dance scenes, which turned out to be awesome.  We built the tables and benches  EXTREMELY STURDY knowing that there would be a lot of dancing on them (heavy to move). You can see one of the two pillars here, which helped give the scene some height.

Here's a good shot of our very solid and beautiful desk which got built twice.  The man who built it had it delivered, but we never found it!  Weird.  The only thing we can think of is that someone drove by and liked it, and helped themselves!  Time grew short and it never turned up - so... he built another one!  THANKS, STEVE - twice!

Nice shot.  A lot of painting went into our two tables.  We built the two, and left one naked because we lent it out to someone before our show.  I taught my kids how to do a nice wood texture on the other one.
Step 1 - All-over base coat
Step 2 - Dry brush (using one of my customized, scissor-cut goofy old brushes) on a darker brown for the wood grain
Step 3 - Black antiquing lowlights either with a plastic Walmart bag or another dry brush.
Okay, here's the embarrassing part - I set aside enough paint to do the lent-out table once it came back, which would be a couple days before the first show.  Somehow, one of my students, or maybe myself (couldn't be!) ended up using it for something else!  So... since I'm too cheap to actually buy more paint - we had to paint that one twice, so that both tables would match!  I like to think I'm an organized person... I'm sure no one else has THAT problem!

Statues of Liberty

We just got back from New York City.  We took a night harbor tour and went out to see our Lady.  She was very beautiful.  Made of copper, she now glows that beautiful verdigris, lit up at night.  I couldn't resist pulling up a couple of Andy Warhols.

He used this camouflage pattern over many differing prints in the late '80s.  This one went to a French exhibition of his works.  Remember, the French gave us the Statue of Liberty, so this was fitting.  Note also the French and American flags down in the corner.

Walking down the streets of New York City at about midnight, and noting that the streets were still flooded with people, we realized that, yes, indeed,  NYC is 'The City that Never Sleeps.'  We walked out of Rockefeller Center and I looked across the street to see Christie's auction house!

Too late - too late.  This Warhol just sold on November 12 for a cool $2,210,500.00.  Beautiful, isn't she?  With a measurement of 72"x72", I'm thinking I could probably make a copy of her in acrylic in about 30 hours.  I'd sell my Johnson Liberty for a bit less.  Pocket change, anyone?

 Couldn't resist adding this one.  Peter Max, who else?  Peter Max did probably hundreds of Statues of Liberty - beginning at the Bicentennial. He did one then, two the next Fourth of July, three the third year, and so on.  In 1989 he did 89!  With his bright, bold colors, he is a much-loved Pop culture icon. In the 1960s, his artwork was everywhere, especially in poster form on students' dormitory walls.  His art is still very popular today.

His oversized book is awesome; I recently picked it up at one of my favorite stores - Half Price Books!

He's got a really nice art book bursting with his bright artwork.  Check it out!

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=the+art+of+peter+max&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=4031380571&ref=pd_sl_4y4fr3a8l6_b