Moving On

Wow, it has been forever since I have posted on here.  I hope you have all been well, productive and creative!  For me life has been a tilt-o-whirl the past 2 years but it seems things are FINALLY calming down.  That being said I am going to close this blog down.  I have become quite disenchanted with Etsy so have decided to combine my Etsy store and blog into one new site.  Of course the custom domain of  www.artbysurebets.com isn't working, there is a definite blogger glitch going on.  But not to worry, you can find me at http:// artbysurebets.blogspot.com
So when you get a chance come check out the new site and say hi.
Aloha!!!

The Joys Of Dumpster Diving

Nothing makes me happier, or sparks my creativity more, than the discovery of discarded furniture on the side of the road. I am fortunate to live in a neighborhood where the residents can't be bothered going to the dump and everything they don't want ends up on the curb. Imagine my delight when I found this wheelchair by the garbage dumpster this morning!

It is definitely unusual, I have never seen a chair quite like it, it has a bit of a "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" vibe to it. It is quite narrow compared to modern wheelchairs and has a very high back, I can't wait to alter it, I think It will be my new work desk chair. The foot rest slides way out and as you can see it holds one cat perfectly.

The back of the chair has this interesting bar to make pushing it easy.

I think the most difficult part of working on this chair is going to be keeping this one off of it. She loves it and has already claimed it for herself.

Tsunami Art

When tsunami sirens start blaring at 6:00 in the morning and you find you have an unexpected day off from work what do you do? I really wanted to go back to bed but by the time I realized I was going to be in for the day I had finished off a pot of coffee making the possibility of sleep slim. I could either head to the roof with a case of beer, like many of my neighbors, or I could stay in and work on something. Since it was still what I consider early morning hours beer didn't seem like the appropriate choice so I stayed in and did this piece. The beer came later.......

Christmas In February

I am probably known for my lateness in gift giving. Despite my best efforts
I never seem to get the package in the mail on time. And as much as I love Christmas, I find I am usually not in the mood to celebrate it until mid January, when the frenzy of the season has subsided. I guess I have always followed a different calendar than everyone else. So when a friend says they are going to be late sending a gift it makes me giddy with anticipation, I just love extending a celebration! That being said I was beyond happy when Erin sent my Christmas present last week. I think this piece she made was well worth the wait! And not only did she make this for me she sent flying monkeys and plush scum! I have said it before and I will say it again, my friends are just the best.
Merry Christmas!

(This is made of wood and glass with fabric applique on the outside, it is amazing).

King David, The Birthday Boy

I forgot to photograph the crown I made so I thought I would share this photo one of my coworkers sent me. This is my boss on his birthday. Unfortunately you can't see the green bicyclist that started all of this!

Does This Happen To You?

It started out simply enough. It always does right?

I decided to make a crown for my boss. It is his birthday this week and he seems very excited about it. He is an adorable 70 + year old man, with a fabulous sense of humor and a fascinating history behind him. He deserves a crown! I decided to keep it relatively simple with a few references to his passions (rebuilding tossed out chairs and biking). As I recalled I had the perfect adornment for one area of the crown, a small green bicyclist, I knew it would be perfect. And that is where the trouble began.

Try as I might I just can't seem to organize my art supplies. They are oozing out of every corner in my small apartment. I have them housed in clear boxes, cardboard boxes, shoe boxes, cigar boxes, large tins, large plastic jars, plastic bags, it goes on and on. And yet amid all of that stash I knew I had a small green bicyclist.

I was sure it was somewhere on my work desk, in a bag, or maybe it was in a box. I went through everything I could easily access, no luck. I went through the boxes on the shelves to the right of the desk, again no luck. I went through the massive drum size tins under my desk, dumping the contents and sifting through them. I found troll dolls, plastic squid, centipedes, rubber finger puppets, plastic babies, dog house charms, army soldiers, bowlers, and hula dancers, but no green bicyclist! By that point I had worked myself into a frenzy, I was obsessed, nothing else would work on that spot of the crown but that specific plastic green bicyclist!!! I moved more boxes and went through the broken jewelry, the containers of beads and feathers, still no luck. Maybe I had used it in something, or perhaps I tossed it out during one of my feeble attempts to clean up.

I don't take defeat easily but after almost 2 hours of searching I decided I was going to have to rethink that portion of the crown and find something else. If I still had the bicyclist I would probably find it 6 months from now while looking for something else. I had met defeat. Then, out of the corner of my eye I saw a shoebox I missed, it was wedged under another box. Was it worth pulling out and going through? Probably not, but why not. So I pulled the box out started going through the contents-Styrofoam balls, toothpicks, tubes of glitter, scarabs, monopoly money, and there in the corner I saw it, a lone green bicyclist!

So now I am sneezing like a fool from all the dust I stirred up but my work area is a bit cleaner and most importantly my boss has a small green bicyclist on his crown!

Happy Birthday David.

At Last....

Now that I have successfully remembered my password I can re-engage myself on here! I hope the holidays were full of good times for everyone and 2010 proves to be the year we all want it to be.

Here is a bit of what I have been up to (I apologize for the goofy layout, I can't seem to master the posting of photos on here)..........

This is an encaustic piece I made as a house warming for Erin. Another apology, I photographed it at night and the flash bounced off the mirrors and wax no matter what I did, hence the bad glare. That is pretty much true of all these photos, sorry.

Close up detail......

These are Christmas gifts I made for some of my favorite people.

I made this for Erin, my creative muse.

(back view)

This one was for Miss Kim, who definitely lives life la vida loca!

This was for Marek'a, Mistress of the cosmic universe.