Christmas Anticipation!

Ziggy hoping looking cute will work to get a present. No little kids in the family so it is a Dog Christmas!

Rufus and Ziggy waiting to open Christmas gifts...oh that one is for Simon.

Valentine and Ziggy puppysitting Gertie's puppies while she is at work with Brook.

Dog Christmas Pictures

Here are some more pictures of my daughter's dogs. Gertie and her puppies all dressed up for their Christmas pictures. The puppies are taking advantage of Mom's pose with a quick drink.

Gertie, the puppies and Gunther (not the puppies biological dad ... we haven't told him yet :)

Rose (Rose's sister Flossy who visits often) and kneefye in front.

Casey's Graduation

On Saturday, December 13, 2008 my youngest son Casey graduated from UW-Stout with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. He studied Industrial Design. Mark and I are both very proud of him! I'll post his senior project in the near future. If you know of anyone who is looking for an extremely talented person to add to their Industrial Design team let us know.

Casey's grandparents Sue and George attended the graduation. Thank you for your support!

FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed

I found FEEDJIT Live Traffic Feed on my friend Jill Shulse's blog and have added it to mine. Now I can see who is visiting me :) Welcome!

Geraldine, Olive, Laverne and Gertie

Time to post another picture of the puppies. Aren't they adorable? Geraldine, Olive and Laverne are now 5 1/2 weeks old. Gertie is just about done nursing them as their teeth are coming in. I am amazed at how much they have grown if I don't see them for a day or two. Gertie weighs about 13 lbs to give you an idea of their size.

Workshops

I will be teaching at Whispering Woodlands March 28 & 29, 2009. Whispering Woodlands is located in Verona near Madison, Wisconsin. The picture above showcases one of four Interactive Art Book workshops that I offer as a teacher. The interactive techniques that will be taught are based on my new book. Click on picture to see a larger view. I hope to see you there!

Good Mailbox Week!

Above is the beautiful gift that I received from Catherine Anderson. What a good mailbox week! The book is filled with inspiring quotes and photography. Thank you Catherine! Catherine is one of the contributing artists for my book Interactive Art Workshop: Set Your Mixed Media in Motion.

Contributing Artist Gift

A couple of days ago my art was returned, it will be featured in a upcoming book by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston Art Quilts at Play. Along with my art I received a gift of quilted postcards, one from each artist/author. What a wonderful surprise, thank you Jane & Elin for the beautiful postcards!

A place to Bark Dog Rescue - Art Auction

Below is a post by my Dear friend Bernie Berlin. So far our family has two rescue dogs from her. Simon a pomeranian (my Mom's dog) and Rufus a Boston Terrier. Rescue dogs come with their own set of challenges but we love them! There is a picture of Rufus in a previous post.

This is a collaged jewelry hanger with three bird pins similiar to the one featured in the Sept/ Oct 2005 Somerset Studio.


"We are having our holiday auctions for "A Place To Bark", now thru December 25th and have a fabulous published piece of her art. It is up for the next 4 days. This link takes you to the auction:

http://tinyurl.com/6fq29h

Right now we also have 2 Beautiful hand painted purses by Jill Marie Shulse & an original piece by Claudine Hellmuth that was in her original Collage Discovery book. I have a blog post will all the different ways people can help us, help the animals this holiday season, even without any money:) More art to listed later this week..Please check it out and help spread the word!! Blessing & Light to you all, Bernie Berlin"

Artwork for Interactive Art Workshop

Today I mailed the art back to the contributing artists. I am happy to have this task done. This is a picture of the sorting process. As you can see from the picture there is a lot of art that was included in the book.

Geraldine, Olive and Laverne 3 Weeks Old

Geraldine's first time playing dress up. It's very tiring!

Geraldine, Olive and Laverne at 3 weeks old. Notice how the blaze on top of their heads is almost gone.

Laverne

Geraldine

Olive


Geraldine, Olive, and Laverne 1 week old. They have doubled their weight since birth. I have been working on my art at Brook's house and dog sitting while she goes to work as a graphic artist for Sailing Magazine. Gertie wanted to go to work with Brook, which is what she did - before puppies.

Gertie's Puppies

On Saturday Brook's dog Gertie gave birth to three little girl puppies. They weigh 5 - 6 ounces each. We have had a lot of pets and animal babies in our family but this is the first litter of puppies for us. I am going over to her house later so Brook can take a nap. This is Gertie's first litter and she had them Cesarean so she needs help.


For now their names are Geraldine, Olive and Laverne. I think they are adorable!

RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat 2008 ...continued

These are my treasures from the charm swap and trades at the retreat. Aren't they wonderful! Some of them came with names and personal contact information, which is great for remembering who they came from. I had made copper bird nests with fresh water pearls for eggs. I swapped them all so I want to make a couple more.


Finds from vendor night. Nick Naglor made the beautiful icon. The copper, wood, and turquoise journal plus charm was made by Jill K. Berry. Vintage papers from Joan Lawrence and fabric samples from Erin Mueller and Mary Welch of Pursue Your Art.


The Chunky Book hosted by Kathy Beringer is filled with beautiful art by the retreat Attendees. As you can see from the picture it is quite chunky! Another keepsake!

Kathy even had all the books bagged - what a great presentation!

RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat 2008

After a couple of years planning, RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat flew by this past weekend. I would like to thank my family, the Cedarburg Cultural Center, Washington House Inn, Stagecoach Inn, the instructors, the Alex Wilson Band and attendees who together made this a wonderful memorable event for all. Pictured above is my mom Joan Hollnagel and daughter Brook Berth who helped me throughout the event. My mom volunteers often at the Cedarburg Cultural Center so she was an invaluable resource for using the facility when the regular staff was not there. My daughter Brook is a graphic artist and responsible for the beautiful hip colors and helping me design the website for the retreat.

The Cedarburg Cultural Center provided us a beautiful place to host our venue. The staff was so supportive of my new-to-the-area idea, from suggestions on how I could best use their facility to setting up and taking down tables (several times) for different aspects of the venue. I would have never been able to host this retreat without their help. The Cedarburg Cultural Center offers events featuring performing artists and a variety of art classes for all ages and abilities.

Several of the retreat attendees stayed at the Washington House Inn, which was one of our host Inns. The Washington House Inn is a lovely Historic Bed and Breakfast. They also provided classroom space for us to use.

The Stagecoach Inn was our other host inn. Wednesday night Bernie Berlin, Jill Berry, Judy Wise and I visited together in one of their cozy rooms partially listening to the Presidential debates, sipping wine and eating chocolate.

Thursday night there was a live ATC swap organized by Sue Young. This years theme was Gothic Arch Vintage Halloween.

Thursday night featured the Alex Wilson Band. I have a great admiration for people with musical talent. Alex is currently playing with his brother Matt and uncle Marc and they are awesome. I predict in the near future they will be popular nationwide.

Bernie says "Spread your wings and learn to fly"! :)

Bernie Berlin's Friday Evening Resist This class at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


Laurie Mika's Friday Evening Ancient Amulets class at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


Michael deMeng's Friday Evening Matchbook Reliquaries class at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


Judy Wise's Friday Evening class Making Art a Business was cozy and informative in the Gathering Room of the Washington House Inn.


Jill Berry's Friday Evening class Copper Piano Hinge Book in the meeting room of the Washington House Inn.


Liz Brown enjoying Michael deMeng's Morpheus Box class. She is the innkeeper of the Stagecoach Inn along with her husband Brook. As a side note Brook Brown was my history teacher in High School. Isn't it wonderful how our lives are all interconnected. Who could have predicted my High School History Teacher's wife taking a class named Morpheus Box: A Transformation Chamber at a retreat that I had organized :)


Saturday was Vendor's night at the Cedarburg Cultural Center.


We are looking forward to seeing you at RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat 2009!

Rufus' Insomnia

Awhile back I said I would post a picture of my third boston terrier. This is Rufus. I don't usually like to post our family tribulations on my blog but here goes...For some reason Rufus has Insomnia along with anxiety at bedtime. He can't sleep, he is so worried he gives himself digestive problems, which leaves him requesting multiple outside trips. Rufus isn't allowed to sleep with Mark & I. Ziggy & Valentine know the rules. If both Mark & I are in bed, they must sleep in their beds next to ours in our room. We often wake up with Rufus sleeping between both of us shoulder level. Putting him in a crate makes things worse. Last night Rufus could sleep with me but Mark was gone so he was worried about that. Poor Rufus is tired this morning, and so am I :)

Author Copy Arrived

I arrived home late on Friday, September 26, after spending another fun and inspiring day with my friend Jill Shulse in her studio. On the counter was a package which I assumed were some books that I had ordered from Amazon. Then I noticed F & W Publishing on the address label. I told Mark it must be the my book! He said "don't open it until I get my camera". It was my book Interactive Art Workshop: Set Your Mixed Media in Motion. Northlight did a wonderful job of designing and putting together this book. How exciting!!!! It won't be available in stores for another month. You can order an advance copy by clicking on the book on the side bar from Amazon. I have been a How-To-Book fan for years. Now I have authored one myself she said smiling :) There are also 24 other contributing artists to my book so there is a wonderful variety of styles included. If they have a website or a blog there is a link for them on the side bar under the title Amazing Artists.

Chunky Book Pages

I spent the day at my good friend Jill Shulse's studio. She has a beautiful studio with a window and patio door overlooking the Onion River. Our goal for the day was to work on our pages for the chunky book that Kathy Beringer is hosting for RAEvN's Nest Art Retreat. Jill cut out 43 pairs of wings. I thought it was going to be a lot of work when she showed me the idea but I didn't want to discourage her because the design was awesome.

I drew one of my soulful birds over a photo of myself as a starting point for my pictures. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't finish them in time. So much to do to get ready for the retreat yet.

I am looking forward to the next time I can work with Jill in her studio. I seem to get more done, the time passes quickly, and it is wonderful to be able to bounce ideas off one another. Plus she is well stocked so I don't have to worry too much if I forget to pack a supply.

Garage Sale Treasures

I found these two boxes at a garage sale. They were used as a teaching aid for different fasteners. What an exciting find. I have some assemblage ideas in mind. I hope to post finished projects in the near future

Banner

I finally made a banner for this blog today. I used an oil painting of mine for the base. I painted it in 2005. We hit a record number of overcast days that Winter. In December 2005 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee set a record for the area with 17 consecutive days with cloudy skies and no sun. I depend on the sun for happy rays.

The raven has found a treasure - TIME - a recurring theme in my art. The year I painted it is represented by the hands on the watch. I'm not sure it's what I want for my banner or if it needs more work. At least it is more interesting than just the blog name.

Yearbook Photos

I have so much work to do ... but I found this fun site. It lets you upload your photo to add to different yearbook pictures from different years. I found several new hip, groovy, happening and awesome hairdo's. I think that they look hysterical. Below is the link so you can have fun too. Actually I had some similiar hairdo's in my lifetime. http://www.yearbookyourself.com/