Good Happy Monday Morning!!! I am sitting here feeling like I have been hit by a Mack truck..which is how I normally feel on Monday morning. But, as I was having coffee in the studio, I did manage to piddle around and paint this little 4 x 4 painting on wood.

Yesterday at the Chattanooga Market was ok. Not as financially as good as normal--but it was fun. They had a Dog Day, and everyone brought there dogs. It was cool, and I got a lot of puppy love while I was there. My daughter came and visited, and brought her dog Lucy. It was wonderful to see my daughter. I miss her. Her little pug is adorable, and very well behaved.

A woman was walking this little puppy on a leash, and he was not a happy camper!! He would do this jump and roll, and jump and roll, and she was having a time not choking him to death. It was SO FUNNY. I laughed until I nearly had tears in my eyes. I SO wanted to bring him home with me...(he was up for adoption), but Nature Boy and Petey would not LET me have another dog. We didn't take Petey because of his anti-socialism...heheheh.

All in all it was a pretty uneventful, hot day. But, since I only sold about 4-5 pieces, I should be able to play a little "catch up" this week, and have a fantastic selection for next week, and possibly get to work on the huge commission pieces that I have in the works (3 x 4 FEET each), and MAYBE, just MAYBE be able to do some larger pieces for the FOLK FEST. I am sooooooooo excited about that. ...I can't wait.

Well, I need more coffee, and possibly a nap...so you all have a wonderful, happy day!! ~~Suzan~~

WORLD'S LARGEST FOLK ART FESTIVAL -- THIS WEEK'S WORK-- COMPUTER MELTDOWN!!! IT HAS ALL HAPPENED THIS WEEK!! LOADS OF PICS!!

Happy Afternoon!!! I have so much to tell you, it's been a very exciting week for me, and on top of it--a bunch of computer problems...but, let's start at the beginning.

Last week at the Chattanooga Market was VERY, VERY good!! We had a blast as usual, and all went well. Then on Monday morning, the lady that runs the gallery that is showing my work called, and asked if I would like to be the gallery's featured artist at this festival:

Slotin Folk Fest 2009
The world’s largest folk art show & sale hosting 100 galleries & dealers from around the nation specializing in Self-taught Art, Outsider Art, Folk Art and Southern Folk Pottery & Anonymous Antique Folk Art.

Place:
North Atlanta Trade Center
1700 Jeurgens Court
Norcross, Georgia 30093
I-85 and Indian Trail Rd., Exit 101

Dates:
August 14-16, 2009
Friday, August 14 • 5pm-10pm • $15 (includes and readmission)
Meet-The-Artists Party & Show Opening
Saturday, August 15 • 10am-7pm • $7
Sunday, August 16 • 10am-5pm • $7
Children 16 and under are FREE

I am VERY EXCITED about this!! It's a MAJOR SHOW!!!:::HAPPY DANCING ALL WEEK LONG!!:::::: I immediately said yes, and this week, Nature Boy and I decided that if it's ok with the woman who invited me, I am going to ask a friend to join me, and Nature Boy is going to stay at home, and babysit Petey..heheeheh..

We also had a computer MELTDOWN this weekend, and because of a very, very stupid thing that I did, I had to rush the computer to a clinic, and have all of my art files extracted from a messed up hard drive. FORTUNATELY, the guy was able to salvage all of my art files, but I lost a million links, and all of my text stuff. Geesh...How bad could it get. On top of that--our back-up computer only runs with dial up, and doing ANYTHING on it was a major pain!!! But, now that is a thing of the past..and all the stress that came with it is over...But, I will be more diligent in BACKING UP my files!!!

This is Nature Boy's and my stuff that we've done this week...Nature Boy is REALLY surprising me!! He just keeps putting out cool stuff!!!

This one is 8 x 12, acrylics on wood.

This one is 12 x 12 on particle board. Tomorrow is Dog Days at the Chattanooga Market, and everyone can bring their dogs, so I did a couple of dog paintings.
This was inspired by a rubber stamp that I saw on Teesha Moore's site. It is 12 x 12, acrylics on wood.

This one is a "re-work"..12 x 12 on wood.

Nature Boy made an actual working cigar box guitar this week--It's AWESOME!!! It has REAL guitar strings and tuners on it, and Nature Boy's brother was actually able to play it. It is beautiful!!

These are all of the assemblages that my husband did this week. He's fast like me..hehehe

We collaborated on this one--

another doggie painting...

3 little paintings...

another dog...

and another (my favorite of all of them)..

Well..that's all..I have to get busy, and make some more stuff...am working on assemblage dolls and angels for tomorrow!

Live Artfully!! ~~Suzan~~

3 more paintings

STAMPINGTON'S 2010 ART JOURNALING CALENDAR

WOOHOOOOO...I am published in the calendar. You can order/see the preview HERE.

ACCEPTANCE INTO MY FIRST GALLERY, HOWARD FINSTER FOLK ART, AND NEW PAINTING!!! (LONG POST!)

Good Morning!! WOW..the past two days have been a blur. This is my newest painting.
Let me start with Sunday at the Chattanooga Market. We arrived, and set up, and the day went pretty well. Nature Boy and I ate too much sugary goodies, and both of our heads were swimming...but the day went ok. Not one of the better days that we had there, but thanks to Nature Boy's robots--we had an ok day of sales.

Late in the day, this woman walked up to us, and was going nuts over our art...and asked if we had ever heard of Howard Finster..well, we HAD!! Years ago, when we were heavy into buying antiques and collectibles, we would go to a Flea Market on Tuesday mornings in Summerville, Georgia. We ran across someone that started talking to us about folk art, and outsider art, and they mentioned Howard Finster. We came home, and looked him up on the computer, and read everything about him. We made plans to visit his home, gallery and museum one day...well..time went on, and we never did get around to making that visit. But, this discovery did start us in our love of primitive folk art.

Fast forward to the Market on Sunday (about 5 years after first hearing of Mr. Finster), and this woman was asking us to put our art in the Howard Finster Paradise Gardens Gallery!! I took my art to her on Monday, not really knowing what to expect, and being a little more than nervous, and she choose 10 of my pieces, and 3 of Nature Boys!!! He's been doing art about what?? 4 months MAYBE, and he's in a gallery!!! I LOVE IT! So, here's the gallery. It's a wonderous place with many, many different things to see. Please go HERE, and read about Mr. Finster. He has an interesting story. He was a preacher, and he combined his love of God with art. He used his art to talk about the Lord, and he held his church services on the same grounds. The Paradise Gardens are under renovation, and are being restored right now. I hope you find the following pictures as interesting and wonderful as I did.

This is the outside of the garage, the first thing you see when you drive into the parking spots.

Then the gallery. This use to be the Finster's house where they lived.

There is art EVERYWHERE. It's amazing!!!

Here's Nature Boy!!! He followed my directions when I said "MAKE A GOOFY FACE!"..LOL..(he really doesn't look like Howdy Doody on steriods most of the time...LOL.

The Mission Statement of the gallery.

A painting on the outside wall. All pictures are outside, none are allowed inside the gallery, because it houses Mr. Finster's original works..(he did over 46,000 signed pieces in his life)....

An old car. This is behind the house.

The chapel that Finster built. They are currently restoring it.

The following pictures were taken while Nature Boy walked around the gardens. I was inside with Whitney, the gallery owner, and we were writing up an inventory sheet.

They have a mosaic garden back there..everything is done in mosaic..So COOL!!

It was such an honor (to me) to be asked to be part of this gallery. I am very excited. It's a wonderful, magical place. I felt like I was sending my children off into the world. Wish me luck!!

Live Artfully!!

~~Suzan~~

NEWEST WORK IN PROGRESS!!

It's a Kohlrabi..a form of a turnip..still in progress...she'll have a root body..hehehehe.

NATURE BOY AND MINE'S NEWEST COLLABORATION!!

Nature Boy built the box, and added the embellishments--I did the top piece.

WORK FINISHED!

HAPPY HAPPY HUMP DAY!!

Whew!! Hello!! I have been a bit busy this week, and finally got out of my "couch potato" mode..This is some of what I have done..there are more--but, several of the pictures did not turn out. This first one is about 8 x 10 on wood.

This is a cut-out of a fish that Nature Boy cut out for me.

This painting is on that glued together kind of board..I don't know what they call it, but I like the texture that it produced. It's about 11 x 11.

This is done on a 12 x 12 piece of birch. It's very bright in real, and has a lot of depth. I used a ton of plaster on this, painted the different layers, and then sanded it off for the effect. Then I coated it with a glossy varnish. It's really cool up close.

This is a cut-out..with doll arms attached. She was fun to do!!

This one is a house shape piece about 10 x 10.

And THIS is my WORK IN PROGRESS!! I am loving this piece! It's titled " EAT YOUR VEGGIES BEFORE THEY EAT YOU."

I think that I have 4 others, but I will show them later. I have been wonderfully productive this week, and it's only Wednesday!!!WHOOHHOOOOO..

Now..onto more stuff. I am sorry if the story about killing the rattlesnake bothered anyone. Someone emailed me, and said that they were no longer following my art, because I needlessly killed a rattlesnake. Well, for ONE...my husband killed it, not me. TWO... it was on our street, where we have many small children that play regularly outside, and Third..IT WAS A RATTLESNAKE FOR GOD'S SAKE! It wasn't like the innocent black snake that we smooshed with a bathroom plunger two years ago..LOL LOL LOL (LAUGHING OUT LOUD)..Anyway...

On with the work..back to the art room...I made clay heads this morning, so I can do some assemblage dolls. Hugs..and Live Artfully.

Suzan--wife of the evil rattlesnake slayer.