Chihuly Venetians at the Alamance Arts Center

I was in North Carolina visiting family and we took a trip to Graham to see the Chihuly Venetians on display at the Alamance Arts Center.

These were mainly smaller works. Here are some photos from the show.

He did have quite a few pieces with cherubs on them, which seemed very Italian to me, but not really my taste. It seems like making glass cherubs would be very difficult.

 There were two larger pieces, this one hung from the ceiling.

And this free-standing piece.

They had a nice video about making the glass which was shown on the open porch.

This was a nice show as you could get really close to the pieces and see all the detail. The art center used to be a house, so it is an intimate setting for the work to be shown.  The show closes on October 15th.

Cruise Night Car show and a trip to lavender fields

Saturday morning I enjoyed a trip with my friend Annette to a Lavender Farm/Shop in Elwood, NE that was having an event. We did not attend any of the talks, but enjoyed seeing the lavender growing and visiting their shop. I may have bought a few things. Since Annette was driving, I took some pictures of the scenery along the way.

Last weekend was also "Cruise Night" in Kearney. There are numerous events over the weekend, and I went to look at the classic cars down "on the bricks" in the downtown shopping district on Saturday afternoon.

Photographing the Denver skyline

A few weeks ago, I got into Denver on a Friday afternoon, had Day One of a two day art fair on Saturday, and Saturday night participated in a photography group that was taking pictures of the Denver skyline at night. My friend is a wonderful photographer and a member of this group, so I tagged along.  It had been a long hot day at the art fair, and my feet were tired, but by the end of the night I was so happy with my photos - it was totally worth it! 

I typically just use my camera on the standard setting so it was fun to try out some of the manual settings and it really did provide better and more interesting photographs. I did use a tripod for most of the night shots.

The group went to three spots. The first spot was at Sloan's Lake. I didn't know what I was doing with the manual settings and my camera does not have much of a zoom, it's 18-55mm.  So all my photos from Sloan's Lake are pretty much black.

Our next stop was on Zuni, near one of the I-25 entrance ramps. We were here for quite some time so I was able to play with my camera settings.

 
You can see how the car lights became long streaks due to changing the settings.

Then we moved to a bridge that goes across I-25, there was wire fencing that often got in the way of taking photos. Most of mine had parts of the fencing showing, but here are a couple that turned out great. I loved this location and hope to go back next time I am in Denver.

I really didn't want to leave, but it started raining. I had three people holding umbrellas over me so I could take a few more shots.

I want to do an art piece of the Denver skyline so I kept taking pictures throughout the week. On Monday night, we were headed to the Tivoli to have a beer at their new bar. A giant rainbow showed up as we were parking, but by the time we got to the top of the parking garage for an unobstructed view, it was gone (no tripod for these).

  

 

Here's a photo from the Tivoli, just using my "hand-held twilight" setting on my camera, since I didn't have my tripod. It takes three photos very quickly, then merges them into one. I like how the lights outline the trees at the bottom of the buildings.

 This one is from the Denver Art Museum later in the week.

I probably have enough photos for my project, but that won't stop me from being snap-happy.

If you want to see photos that my friend takes of urban Denver, you can find her on instagram at denverstreetphotog.

Flower Garden

I was at the Grand Island Art in the Park last weekend, and took a few moments to walk through the flower garden at Stolley Park.  I took quite a few flower photos, which reminded me of my mom, as she loves to take flower photos and probably takes some every day.

My mom has been doing a Photo-a-day challenge with her iPhone, and has a blog for her photos here.

I thought I would share some of my flower pictures on my blog today (taken with my iPhone).

The funny thing is I took these photos on Sunday the 19th, and my mom posted this same type orange lily on her blog the same day here. 

Nebraska Junk Jaunt

This past weekend was the Nebraska Junk Jaunt, which is a loop on some scenic byways with lots of garage sales, antique shops, and community sales over a three day weekend.

I went to a couple towns on Saturday afternoon, and another on Sunday.

I love junk. I love refinishing/painting furniture. I love using rusty things, old toys, old tools, and vintage-y things in my art.  I often have a booth at a modernism show and I am always on the hunt for mid-century items. That said, I didn't find much of interest. I was looking for some small furniture pieces and didn't find any of what I was looking for (nightstands, and a small round breakfast table). I didn't even find much good small arty junk, although I do already own a lot of junk and passed on stuff I already had or have had.

I did buy some embroidered linens and doilies: (I love the bucking bronco)

Some old toys:

 A frame (which was free):

And also, a portable clothes rack to use at future weekend fairs I may do, for hanging my dyed T-shirts. (No picture, it's already stored in the garage, and it was only $5).

Then I bought this small box. I want to paint and collage on it, and use it to store art supplies I use often.  Sorry, the Michael Jackson stickers will have to go. The box is cardboard, so it's nice a light, which is nice. 

Visit to MONA, Museum of Nebraska Art

I signed up for a life drawing class today at MONA (Museum of Nebraska Art) that starts tomorrow.  It is always enjoyable to do life drawing from models, but it's been a while, so I am sure that I am a bit rusty.  It will also be nice to meet some more local artists.

When I went to sign up at the museum, I had time to walk through their current exhibits.  They seem to rotate their art often, so there were quite a few new pieces up that I hadn't seen. 

They currently have an exhibit: Pté Oyate From the Heritage Center at Red Cloud Indian School, Pine Ridge, SD. I thought that all the pieces were very good and had a voice. (This is something I often consider when looking at art, is it "speaking" to me? Does it have something to say?  It can be a painting of a field of flowers, but does it grab me and make me want to spend time looking at it?)

Keith Braveheart

I really liked these constructed buffalo sculptures quite a bit.

Michael James Two Bulls

They have quite a few pieces of Myra Biggerstaff's.  I really enjoyed this painting of birds, which had an abstract rectilinear feel.

Myra Biggerstaff

I thought this was encaustic when I was standing across the room.  It has that depth and warmth that encaustics can have, but it is actually oil on vellum, which was then wrapped over a mirror.  It really was wonderful and I felt the somber winteriness of it.

Maggie Tobin

An art quilt! I rarely see these unless it's specifically a quilt or fiber show. Up close it was really interesting. It included photos printed on fabric.

Michael James

Close up

 This was an enjoyable way to spend some time in downtown Kearney.

Nebraska State Fair

Allen and I spent a lovely day at the Nebraska State Fair on Labor Day.  We walked around looking at the animals, listening to a band, and eating corn dogs and funnel cake. They had all kinds of rides, freak shows (really?), and deep fried foods.