A Play House for Laurel

     Being a grand mother to a little girl is so cool. I adore inventing "girlie" project to share with her and my newest venture was to make a play house which is like sewing a huge pillow case that will fit over a card table. As always, I under estimated the time and sewing challenges.

Completed Play House.

     I would like to present the newest house on the block, Laurel's Cottage. As the builder of this fine abode I would like to point out it's special features:

     There are three windows with curtains and a mirror hung on the wall for our 18 month old princess to check on her beauty. The exterior of the house boasts of a mail box, porch light and house numbers. I even made fabric letters addressed to the home owner. The ruffles under each window are imaginary flower boxes and along the bottom of the cottage is a garden of roses planted up against the house. The next time I go to the flea market I will  search for a mini kitchen set to go with the mini pots and pans I bought.

     Now you may be wondering where I got the blueprint for such a lovely English Cottage. I purchased a card table and faked it, sewing myself out of one situation after another. Patterns seem to stifle my right brain so I don't use them.

     Oh, I almost forgot the stars and mini mirrors glued to the under side of the card table so Laurel can gaze at the heavens as she plays in her cottage.

     This will be a Christmas present for my darling grand daughter and she is worth all the hours of sewing and figuring out how to make this project work.             

Another Ta da moment.

Summer in Sunny Florida!

     All my beloved activities cease for the summer and boredom, hot  humid boredom sets in. Well this summer I am fighting back. I took on a local community project, signed up for an acrylic workshop and a day of Mixed Media Paste Paper Collage class. A little travel, a little gardening and I am good to go until September. Add to that list a sewing project for my grand daughter  and I am content. My mind is planning a card table play tent with all the charm of an English cottage.
     The results will be posted as they are completed. Wishing you all a great summer.

Original Art Koser: I Have Gone to Windmill Painting Power

www.verobeachartclub.org: I Have Gone to Windmill Painting Power

I Have Gone to Windmill Painting Power

Windmill rotating arms.

All of the easels I have used over the last 30 years were cheap or free,wobbly, hard to use and generally unsatisfactory. I have know about a windmill easel for a few years but never had the nerve or the money to purchase one. After the demise of my four year open air tent art show career, I took the earnings and the advise of my artist friends and splurged on this:

Rotating mechanism.

Sturdy base on casters.

Hydraulic damper.

This easel suits my style of painting because I like to use the drip technique so turning the canvas or paper at different angles aids in getting  the paint to flow in any direction. I can easily set the easel at any angle (upright for acrylics and 45 or so for watercolors) and even lower it to a horizontal position for mixed media work. The windmill arms turn 360 in both directions.  I may not be the best artist in the world but this new invention makes painting my creations  more comfortable and enjoyable.
   

Value Added Exhibit

AFTER

AFTER

 All dressed up and    Nowhere to go!

My little Russian  Dolls were just sitting around but I have found a place to show them.

     Art Mundo had a call to artists to take an ordinary object and alter it creatively, thus making it  "value added".
     I think an ordinary gourd fits the bill, so please wish me luck.

BEFORE

                                         

Art in Public Places

     You are invited to see my entry into the Vero Beach Art Club Member Exhibit held at the Indian River Courthouse, Vero Beach, Florida.  Art in Public Places is supponsored by the Cultural Council of Indian River County and begins April 15  ending July 14, 2011.

     This year I am going big (25" x 31") or going home.

     Bodacious was an experiment with the color field genre. Some of the materials are iridescent and glitter as light hits them from different angles. It represents a modern geometric abstract using bold colors.
    
    

Original Art Koser: New Paintings.

Original Art Koser: New Paintings.: "Majestic Mountains Finally the 'zone' returns after many months of ; 'I can not think of a thing I want to paint'..."

New Paintings.

Majestic Mountains

     Finally the "zone" returns after many months of ; "I can not think of a thing I want to paint". I usually divert myself with something crafty but this time I went to an open studio and painted with friends. Tucked away in a corner I had time to just paint without any distractions.

     I seem to be going more and more toward the abstraction of a subject and the older I get the more I crave color, pure jewel tone color!






During a recent workshop I started a chef themed painting. I got the background and middle ground with little effort but the foreground flummoxed me for months. Somewhere in my subconscious I solved the problem and here is Chef Braden which named after my son.

Chef Braden

     I finished three paintings in a few days and it feels so good to be home!

New Address....Please Note the Change.

X marks the spot! My new spot is:

www.verobeachartclub.org
Artists Gallery

Please join me for the blog party!

Thanks.

Mary Ellen

A Big, Really Big Gourd!

All but a few of my painted coconuts were sold at my last tent art show. My absolute high spot was the fact that three different sportsmen wanted to buy my "Football" coconut!

I decided to keep my favorite, Double Chocolate Mocha Cupcake, for myself.

I then graduated from coconuts to huge gourds. My motto is if you bring it home to me I will paint it and I did.

     Let me introduce Russian Peasant Doll.

She is 20" tall and 19"wide.

.







                                                                      














What I have been doing lately.

 FYI:

This Saturday is the Vero Beach Art Club's Art Trail tour. I have co- chaired the Art Trail committee with two friends in the club. We arranged for 10 artist to open up their home/studio to the public to purchase tickets and tour art studios within Vero Beach. The goal is to raise money for our scholarship fund for a deserving college bound art student, to promote local artists exposure and hopefully help them sell their art work. In addition we want amateur artists to see you can have a studio in a sun room, small bed room or a big closet. Just get out there and create.

Kudos to Volunteers:
This has been my first experience with committee chairing and I have gained respect for all the work and time that goes into such a venture. Hats off to all the volunteers of our community! There are countless hours, meetings and leg work that go into organizing individual people into a public event. Needless to say my art experiments have been in a holding pattern, but after Saturday watch for my next project.

What are your doing art wise?

Change is in the Wind.

Hi all,
     A lot of paths have been altered since last I dazzled you with my inane but fun projects.


Former web site grab button.



     I closed down two on line web sites due to lack of sales response. I have decided to end my career in the open air tent art show venue for the same reason and I'm searching for a new path to explore. Just because something did not work out I do not consider it a failure. I learned a lot more about computers, photographing my art work for on line presentation, blogging. search engines and so forth. There have been great conversations with people at the art shows and even some repeat customers for my painted coconuts.

     I have taken two wonderful workshops; one was acrylic and the other gold leaf abstract painting. Here is one of the paintings from workshop days well spent behind a paint brush.

                    

Golden Glow 1