Sooke Fine Arts Show 2013

What fun it was to go to the Artists Reception at the Sooke Fine Arts Show last night and discover my piece on display amongst all the other beautiful pieces of art in the show.   When I go to an art show in which a piece of mine is showing, I am rather like Nancy Drew on a mission (grin) wondering in which niche I will find it on display.  What a thrill it is to turn a corner and voila... there it is!  Last night was no exception.

My hip operation was cancelled at the last minute (it is re-scheduled towards the end of August) so I was able to attend the show.  It was made even more special knowing that my  piece had already sold.  

That was the message on the answering machine that greeted me when hubby and I got home from a last minute trip to Seattle to see the Chihuly Gardens of Glass which I have been wanting to see for quite some time now and still get back in time for the show.  

Preview night (the night before the art show officially opens) attracts gallery owners and art lovers who pay a premium to get into the show beforehand to browse and purchase art they are attracted to.  It's quite a thrill to have a piece sell on preview night.

As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is a photo of the polymer clay shoe I entered.  The name of the piece is "Malona Flanick" and yes, it's a pun on a rather famous Spanish shoe designers name... the shoe designer reputed to have created "toe cleavage" in the women's fashion shoe industry.  If you ever watched "Sex in the City" when it was on T.V.... you'll have a good little chuckle as you make the connection!

When you first see the fruit on the "flan" part of the shoe, it looks very real... almost good enough to just pick one of the mouth watering berries off and pop it in your mouth!  What fun I had making that shoe.  Having it turn out exactly the way I had envisioned it right down to the colour of the "custard" on the "crust" and the "blue-black" of the blueberries and blackberries was a real bonus.

Thanks for stopping by for peek.  If you live in the Victoria area, make a point of going to this year's show... it's on until August 5th.  This year's show is even better than last year's... and I thought that one was hard to beat!

Have an arty week...

Cheers,
Sharon

A Cause for Celebration...

It's been a couple weeks of pleasant surprises...

I was thrilled and excited to find out last week that my entry into the Sooke Fine Arts Festival at the end of July was accepted!!  I do promise to post a photo of my entry once the show starts.  Hint, hint, it's another whimsical piece that will generate a few smiles along the way.

Creating whimsy just seems to work for me.  Over the years I have come to realize  that when I am having an absolute blast creating something that just delights me to pieces and makes me laugh during the process, it will likely make the cut if I enter it into a show.  It's a handy barometer that saves me a lot of entry fees that's for sure!!

Unfortunately I am probably not going to be able to go to the show itself because...

My name came up on the surgery list about two months earlier than expected and I will be going in the hospital at mid month for hip replacement surgery.  Can't come soon enough for me!!  Once they fixed my foot a couple of years ago and I learnt how to walk properly again, I started having major problems with the hip on that side.  The last six months have been pure *hell* trying to walk so a "new hip" can't come soon enough for me.  This is a good thing!

But that's not all...my art room mascot, Susie Q, told me there were some more pleasant surprises in store for me.  So who is Susie Q?  Well allow me to introduce you to her.

She is a paper doll that I drew (modeling it after a 1930's cartoon character) and she wears polymer clay runners on her feet so she can stand alone and hop about when the mood strikes her!  She likes to hang out in my art room watching me work but enjoys a wander through the "teapot garden" in the little side garden next to our house on a sunny day too.

You see, recently I sold one of my domain names that I had had for a number of years.  It was interesting looking at the stats before it sold.  Susie Q hinted over tea one day that perhaps it would be interesting for me to find out what kind of traffic this blog has had over the time it has been hanging out in cyberspace too. 

Personally, I don't really pay very much attention to that side of blogging... I just do it...and let people know when I have a new post.  So imagine how far my jaw dropped when I discovered that well over 150,000 folks have stopped by for a visit since I started the blog.  This post, once published,  will be number 191!! WOW!  I was blown away. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine statistics like that when I started down this "blog" path.

So allow me to say thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and your continued support of this blog over the years.  I am truly grateful for all the lovely emails and comments I have received from you and the "friends" I have made through blogging.  I truly appreciate each and every one of you.

Now It's been awhile since I have put together a give-a-way as a thank you.  I hope you understand that right now I just have too much to do getting me, the house and hubby ready to get through the operation and the next couple months of healing.  However, I promise I will do something special once I am back on my feet again (literally... LOL).  Will give me something to think about while I am recuperating! 

So until we meet again in cyberspace, I wish you a wonderful couple of "artful" weeks over the summer,

Sharon