Painted Silk Scarf Class

Savannah Rose and I attended a painted silk scarf class this afternoon at The County Shoppe in Fort Benton, Montana.

I had made a resolution that I wanted to explore working with paints this year to add to my hobbies and crafting. Well, we are into our 4th month of the year and I have finally picked up a brush.



As anticipated, my having "control" does not apply to using paint. I am please with how my scarf turned out, but it is not like the sample one I was looking at that the instructor showed us. Now I wish I had taken a picture of hers! Also, the iris is not something I was totally happy with, but others say it is pretty.




One thing was noticed whether a child or adult, this is a craft for all ages. You just don't have to mind getting your fingers colored (guess gloves could even be worn). Mine are still a purple tint. We all laughed and complimented each other on how everyone's scarf looked much different the the others. The same materials were used by all.




Hope you enjoy the pictures. Now I just have to set the colors permanently with a hot steam iron and maybe a turn or two in the dryer.

Covering Graffiti

The Great Falls Tribune wrote a piece recently on some very eye pleasing artwork now seen on Central Avenue.



I couldn't help but pull out my digital camera and take a walk with my youngest son to capture some of the colorful views. It was very interesting to get up close and see how pictures and poetry had been included in 10 different artists work.



Avery (11 years old) was a good sport and poised in a way to look like the fish was about to eat him. He is funny as he would do this for me very willingly, but when going to the local ball game, he will not stand by the mascot for a picture. I have even told him that I will stand on one side and he on the other, but no sale.



My favorite artwork was being worked on while we were snapping pictures. I love the swirly characters this lady has created.

One can only hope the artwork will not be tampered with by some unsightly graffiti that was on the temporary walls of this burned construction area.

Buffalo Nickel Statue Great Falls MT

A clever interpretation of art or a play on of words as I have heard the phrase stated many times over the years is what I can write about this buffalo statue found in Great Falls, MT.

And no more appropriate is it to find the location right in front of a bank on 10th Avenue South, one of the most traveled roads in Montana.

My husband and son, Wynston, say this is their favorite of all the buffalo we have found around this town so far.



I am not positive, but this may be the last one to photograph, but then again more may roam into town any day now.

Hope you enjoy these pictures. Wynston was the photographer in this blog. Pretty good for a 13 year old!

Morning Star Buffalo Great Falls MT

The family was all out together the other day after picking my husband up from the airport when one of my kids pointed out. "Hey mom, there is another one of your buffalos!" I had the digital camera on hand and into the bank parking lot we stopped. Not too much traffic was going on around the building so I took my time and some detail shots of this beautiful work of art.



I also loved the detail of the "quilt" over the back of the buffalo. Truly each artist that produced these had their own creative thought in how to paint and dress this symbol.



Hope I am not driving you nuts with the town of Great Falls, Montana and the buffalo, but I like the idea someone came up with placing them around here.



Another blog is coming right after this of another buffalo. My husband and son, Wynston, say the next one is their favorite.

Creative Expressions

I started snapping photos at the Farmer's Market and it got me to thinking. There are so many different ways to express one's self creatively. I am always picking up craft books and thinking of things I want to explore creatively and even include my kids in the projects. The next big project on my list is paper mache with finishing them by painting designs or possibly some mosaics. I have been saving up newspapers and have a pretty big stack to get started.

Back to Wonderland

I stumbled upon some brilliant artwork on flickr.com of Kenneth Rougeau.

He did not mention selling any of his pieces but I decided to do a check on Etsy to see if I could locate some postcard size copies of his Alice in Wonderland work. This has led to some corresponding and him adding just what I am looking for to his store.


I have also told him to think about submitting some of his stuff to Lost At E Minor to get him more attention and help with sales.

Not related to Alice in Wonderland, but equally intriguing to me is his The Green Man: Walt Whitman (have seen plaster wall art similiar to this in Design Toscano in the past) and



his Mozart in Mirrowshades (they give the composer/artist a modern style).

It's Been Snowing -- Quilling Ornaments Again

We experienced a couple days of really cold and snowy weather this past week which caused the kids and I to do some creative art projects as well as me making some more quilling ornaments.

I decided to make up a supply of initial shapes and then decide on what shape or pattern to form from them afterward.

I ended up making 10 new creations and trying a few different accents. This has caused me to want to stock up on more shapes/colors to see what else I can image.

One bit of disappointment to me this week was my big beautiful victorian art framed piece arrived with the glass broken. Shopgoodwill.com has been notified and a claim form to UPS is in the works. Thank goodness the print itself was not badly scratched. Off to a frame shop I go to find out how much the glass replacement will set me back!

"What the Hay!"

Thought I would share an activity my whole family took part in this past Sunday. We took a pretty long drive to Utica & Hobson, Montana for the "What the Hay" hale bale art contest.


The scenery around us were the Belt Mountains, wheat fields a plenty, and hay bales everywhere. Also, there were horses and livestock to be seen. My husband said he even spotted some elk in the fields. Wynston kept pointing out the many bee houses in the fields also to keep his younger brother excited (scared is a better word).



There's no shortage of creativity in the 20-year-old annual What the Hay contest. Entries from recent years include, Yosemit-Hay Sam, Osc-hay-r the Grouch, St-hay-te Rivals, En-Hay-Gizer Bunny and Grizzly B-hay-R. (TRIBUNE FILE PHOTOS)

This being our first time to participate in the drive through of this art exhibition, we noticed a lot of political opinions were expressed. Also, as shown here some reality t.v. was the inspiration for some hay bale art entries.



I wished I had been able to get some other pictures, but the traffic was pretty busy and the paper reports that some people stopped counting cars after 1000 early in the day. That is quite a turnout for these two small towns of probably a little over 1000 people total in them.

Visit with Nature

Yesterday, the boys and I had the privilege of going on a fishing outing to Lewis & Clark State Park and Fish Hatchery with a group from Eagle Mount.



Eagle Mount Great Falls provides new adventures for very special individuals. Infants, youth, adults and seniors with disabilities can explore recreation based on their abilities. Their smiles are priceless as they realize dreams do come true.






It was a pleasant day and there were many smiles to go around. My youngest, Avery, tried his hand at fishing for a while and then wanted to explore or just "hang out". I left Wynston (soon to be 12) with the Eagle Mount crew and he had fun learning about fishing and is now talking about going again and working with the staff person from Eagle Mount to learn more to help volunteer on fishing trips.




Avery was thrilled to feed the fish at the fish hatchery from a 5 cent feeding machine. He kept telling me that "you are the best mom ever" for bringing him to this place.

I kept wishing I had better photography equipment to capture the birds on the water, but I think I didn't do too bad with my digital camera as I am providing this picture of what I was enamoured with: