Tuesday and Frida is ready to grout.

I finished cutting and attaching the pineneedles to Frida's background yesterday. Today I will grout either her face and neck in a terra cotta color or else her dress in white. I am so excited to see her grouted!

Monday with Frida

I am so close to being done with this Frida! It has been so fun to work on her and I spend my time thinking about my friend Maggie who recently died. Frida meant so much to her. Seems like a great memorial to Maggie.

I will use at least three colors to grout. A white for Frida's dress, terra cotta for her face and neck, and dark grey for her hair and the pines.

A beautiful Sunday with Frida

Yesterday I was able to focus on the right side of Frida's background. As usual, I noticed things once I see the photo that I wasn't able to see before. My plan is to be able to grout this week, perhaps as soon as Thur or Friday. I am planning to use at least three colors of grout. Probably a terra cotta color for Frida's face and neck, perhaps white for her dress and then black for the back ground.

Tuesday

The vase grouted. Just needs to be clean and "polished" and it will be ready to give to Dana as a memorial to her father. I wanted her to remember her father as the Sun shining on Lake Superior.

Monday

Today I will be able to work on Frida again.

The whole weekend was involved with starting and completing a vase to give to a woman, Dana, who works with Heather, as her father died last week. I decided to make this vase resemble the lake at sunrise, (or sunset). So I chose hot colors for the sun and the sky. This was a fun project and the whole time I thought of Dana and her dad. He lived a good long life and Dana loved him so much.

I have been trying to photograph and place on my Etsy site the rest of the pendants. These are such fun accessories! I have given three away to my two favorite Aunts and to a kind nieghbor. All loved them.

And this funky butterfly will go into the mail today - purchased from my Etsy site.

Sunday

American Gothic in the Garden, a Tribute to my Father has sold! To a good friend who lives in Minneapolis near Lake Harriet. She grew up in Iowa close to the house in the background of the painting (and the mosaic).

Happy Happy Dance for me!

Friday and Frida

I reworked Frida's neck yesterday. I had to fight the compulsion to make the whole rest of the neck one color. I thought, "Well, it doesn't HAVE to be realistic!" Once I got over this and just let myself play, I decided I liked the result. Ofcourse, it is just like me to keep second guessing what I have already "glued" down.

I also needed to pry up some pieces of dark brown glass that I had attached, thinking I would put the trunks of pines in between the pine boughs. However, after looking through a Frida book, I decided that it was more in keeping with what she painted to have the whole background be covered with the pine boughs. (She had self-protraits where the background is full of tropical leaves = pine boughs.)

Thurs

I think I have finially figured out Frida's neck! At any rate today, I will glue down some assorted stained glass that I think looks better than the sand tan stuff I had just placed there before. I also have some of a peach colored plate that looks good.

I began a new pine bough on the right hand side of Frida's shoulder. Just above the two sweet birds and the brass lizard.

Pine boughs are HARD.

Wednesday

I was able to work on Frida some more yesterday in spite of the heat in my sun porch. (today is much cooler - thank goodness!) The pine needles take a while to do as I first need to cut the green glass in the narrowest of strips, then carefully arrange the pieces and finially glue the small pieces in place. I have also included pieces of the vintage china amonst the needles to make it look as if Frida is stepping amongst our pines.

PINENEEDLES!!!

I have painted the background of Frida white so that the colored glass I will be using for the pine needles will be reflected back. Pineneedles are a bit problematic to make realistic.

Monday and it is a day of rest (and perhaps a bit of mosaic time as well . . . )

We are back from Grand Marais. I was so excited to go up there and be an art fair star, but this didn't happen. I only sold four items!

I did manage to work on Frida quite a bit. People seemed to like seeing me do this. I had decided (based on the fact that she often painted herself wearing Mexican clothing), to use cut up china as her dress.  I completed two "yokes" on her dress and decided to imitate the Mexican folk weaving on the bottom portion of this dress. Today I will probably start on the pine trees which will make up the vertical borders of the mosiac. The title of this will be "Frida in the Forest, a Memorial for Maggie", as my dear friend Maggie so loved Mexico.

Friday and I am as set as I can be for the Art Colony Art's Festival in Grand Marais this weekend.

Time is SUCH an odd concept! Yesterday the time just flew by as I scurried about trying to do as much as I could. I was able to grout these two Vases / Candle Holders. The large square one is in wonderful colors of reds, oranges and just a hint of turquoise and a rather unusually shade of yellow green. I love this one! The other is an impression of the Lake after the Flood. The Lake stayed the same unusual shade of murkey almost purple red brown for weeks after wards. Now it is almost back to it's amazing blues.

I am frantic on this Thursday trying to get ready for Grand Marais.

Tomorrow around noon we leave for Grand Marais. I am having the usual panic of "I don't have enough to show!" I probably do have enough to show, but this is so normal for me to have this panic that I am used to this. As used to it as I can be, at any rate.

This is the vase that I began on Monday and completed on Tuesday. Hopefully, today I will have time to grout this. I decided that I needed to brightened up my vases with a spark of reds and oranges. I had bought this red orange glass several years ago and decided to use it on the top of this vase.

And here is Frida with her wonderful lace on the collar of her dress. I have decided to piece together her dress out of fragments of old dishes. I hope this will look as wonderful as it looks in my head.

Monday and I have another very busy week ahead of me.

This week, again, I will be incredibly busy as next Friday we leave for Grand Marais for the Artist's Colony Art Show. I am excited to be going as this year I will be sharing my tent with my friend Shelley  who does wonderful hand cut linoleum prints of birds.

This weekend I was at the Two Harbors Heritage Days Earthwood Inn Festival. I worked on my Frida for almost the whole time - I almost gave myself a blister cutting the Mexican smalti to fit. I decided that  I had made Frida's face too peach colored so I ended up prying off a few pieces to replace with a darker tan. I think this change will make a good transition from her ears to her (hopefully tan) cheeks to the brownish tip of her nose. Thanks, Helen for bringing in your painting of American Gothic and for the pleasant chat about Grant Woods.

THANKS to everyone who stopped by and visited and purchased from me. I had a good time learning about what everyone is up too.