More on Gorillas

National Geographic has a special on tomorrow night (Tue) regarding their research into the Mountain Gorilla killings last year (2007). If you recall from some of my previous blogs, 2007 was a bad year for Mountain Gorillas.

For more information see Nat Geo's website:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/3817/Overview?email=ctw_20080630

And for a video preview of the show tomorrow:

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/player.html?title=05503_00?email=ctw_20080630

I'm glad that the folks at National Geographic have started this investigation. I hope that with publicity and increased awareness, this tragedy will not be repeated.

Cool Art-Related Links

I did some surfing today and thought I'd share w/ everyone some of the cool art-related links I found!


First up is Michele Beschen's site- I love watching her show B. Original on DIY network.


http://www.couragetocreate.com/


Next up is a gorgeous gathering place of amazing artists:


http://creativesouls.ning.com/


Did you know that there was a website from which you could rent arts/crafts how-to dvds? Well there is!


http://craftzine.smartflix.com/


Now on to some awesome Recycled Art links!


Ever want to do something wild and crazy with plastic bags?


http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2007/08/plastic_bag_crafts.html


http://hellejorgensen.typepad.com/gooseflesh/2007/02/plastic_bag_yar.html


http://etsylabs.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-overdue-fusing-plastic-bag.html


http://blog.betzwhite.com/2007/07/bag-this.html


http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2007/06/make_a_messenger_bag_out_1.html


http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=187283.0


Wanna play with soda cans? My friend Julie forwarded these links to me:


http://www.ebsqart.com/PFZine.asp?CMD=RenderArticle&ArticleID=595


http://crushedcanart.blogspot.com/


http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/recycled-soda-can-jewelry-mombulu-fair-trade-workshop


http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_natural_homemade/article/0,,diy_13767_5069804,00.html

http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/canstincoffeecanschipcansartscraftsideaskids.html


http://www.modernartcandy.com/modernart/recycled-soda-can-jewelry-mombulu-fair-trade-workshop/


http://www.toontoonz.com/canart/canartmain.html


And of course you can't forget the ubiquitous bottle caps:

http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGIH_enUS225US225&q=bottle+cap+art&um=1

http://art.johntunger.com/bottle_cap_mosaics/index.html

http://www.interestingideas.com/out/cap.htm

http://www.sonyastyle.com/sections/Decorate/Bottlecap_Art


http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/bottlecapsartscraftstideasprojects.html


http://www.kempa.com/blog/archives/000124.html


http://www.weenerware.com/retro.shtml


http://www.zuzu.org/skelly.html


http://www.rubberroadadventures.com/1104ElizabethBottleCapBracelet.htm


http://www.layersuponlayers.com/bottle-cap-art-by-dee-henderson/

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_jewelry/article/0,,DIY_13762_4420630,00.html

http://www.laurabeamer.com/bottle_caps/

http://www.papaverjewelry.com/papaverjewelry.com/2008%20bottlecap%20page.html

http://blog.craftygoat.com/2008/05/make_matching_card_earrings_fo.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRh56cH3uYA

http://www.pinupsodapop.com/necklaces.html

http://www.casacorazon.com/jewelry_bottlecap2.html

http://www.secondhandsaints.com/RCBracelets.htm#pirategirl

And just plain cool:

http://www.folkartisans.com/pages/memory.html


http://www.bags2riches.co.uk/index.htm

Latest Art

Some recent projects:
These are UnderGarment Fairies I created for a fatbook. I had to create a Fairy beginning with the letter U. Naturally, I gravitated towards 40s-50s fashion. :) I would have preferred to leave the name of the fairy off the front of the page but had to add it on at the last minute to adhere to the rules of the swap.

The background was designed by me using acrylics, ink spray (ala walnut ink), and gold spray paint on watercolor paper. I was really pleased with how the backgrounds turned out.

I was also in a swap where we had to create 2D houses. I wanted to use some of my own photographs so I ended up creating the Mission below, using some of my photos from San Antonio (as well as some vintage images of women). The same hand-designed paper I used above is also used in this piece.

A little tiny bit o' self-promo!

I am not very good at the self-promotion thing, especially for my art which I still think of just as a hobby. But I must admit that I'm really excited at the prospect of getting some of my art published.

The first book I have had art published in is:

http://stampington.com/html/artist_trading_cards.html

And the second book has yet to be released but you can see the cover here:

http://tinyurl.com/52jfd6

I have no idea which piece(s) of mine will be in it, but I'm excited. I was actually asked to participate in this one from the very beginning.

Disco Dog

Disco Dog is the most important being in the life of my dh and I, so its a bit odd that I haven't written a blog about her yet. Its not as if I don't have literally thousands of pictures of her that I could post!! I guess its because I feel like I can't do her justice. I can't explain what she means to Tony and I in mere words.

So for now, I won't. I'll just let her pictures speak for themselves. Here we are on her 15th birthday (which happens to be Tony's birthday too- April 15th, 2008), going for a day at the beach! (One of her favorite past-times).

Is this going to be another boring day at home?

Nope- we're off to the Beach!

Thanks for a great time Mom and Dad!

Tuckered out from a long hard day.

San Antonio: A Study in Sepia

For some reason, San Antonia just calls to me in shades of sepia! I took these photos a couple of years ago.

Study in Rust

Here are some photographs I took at Fort Worden in Pt. Townsend WA. I am thinking of making some prints of these or perhaps putting them into a blurb book!