Work at Suffolk Museum

Here are pictures of my work at the museum. I didn't win any awards, but I am stoked that I was picked to in the show! Sadly, there was an artisan's sale during the closing reception, that is what that woman is in the picture for...

SO OVER IT!

cold kitty

We were told our boiler and AC unit were on their way out. In order to be proactive, we decided to replace them now before they break and have to fix a problem. We signed a contract with RS Andrews, and this is what happened...(this is me documenting each stage in case have a bigger issue on our hands)

Jan. 13-Called to say, the day of, that they could not come, AC unit was stuck because of snowstorm. Templeton took day off of work, was not told until around 9am. Will come in a week, Thursday the 20th around 8:30-9am.

Jan. 20-Templeton took Jan. 20 & 21 off, had to call office at 9:30 looking for RS Andrews, office said guys were in meeting, will show up around 11am. Guys arrive around 11am apologizing saying they were sent to a different place. Templeton says he was told they were in a meeting, they quickly changed their story. Templeton was told to have oil picked up Friday because heat will be on in the morning or latest afternoon. That was arranged.
5:00pm Neighbor came to house stating there was a Carrier box full of parts at the end of our street. We called RS Andrews and they stated it was impossible it was theirs.

Jan. 21-Guys arrive. Templeton mentions box at end of street, guys say it was their trash guys, and they got it.  2:00pm oil is picked up. 4:00pm, guys tell Templeton there is not a circuit area to install new circuit, electrician should be out later. Hadn't heard anything, we are told electrician will be out in morning. Left now with no heat. Original thermostat is now missing.

Jan. 22-Guys arrive, say electrician is coming, waiting to hear from office. Electrician never shows up. Left with note saying electrician will come in morning of SUNDAY. Electrician calls, asks if we still need his assistance, if we someone else was assigned to us, and says he's been out of town.
Evening, no hot water-at all.

Jan. 23-Electricians arrive at 9am. They tell us they told RS Andrews they could not arrive until Sunday, they were out of town, but we were told to wait for them Friday and Saturday...unable to celebrate a special occasion as a result. They told us our electrical panel is really not prepared for all of electrical needs. Our electricians figured out the water to the hot water was turned off by RS Andrews yesterday. Electricians hooked up electric, and heat was not coming on. Called Reggie, now we have to wait for service tech to come out. Now All day Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday dedicated to waiting for techs for our house.
 Update: Techs never came, Temp called 2 hours later. They give simple instructions on how to activate the heat, and finally we have it. The temperature of the house when the thermostat was hooked up was 47 degrees

boys sitting in sunbeam by fire trying to warm-up while heat unit is being installed

Spring break plans

So Temp and I spent some time today trying to plan our Spring Break adventure. Every other year we got out of the country, so this year is in the US. We have been wanting to go to Portland because we loved Seattle so much. The only thing, is that we get bored after a couple of days, so we are thinking road trip! Fly into Portland, stay a couple of days, drive to Redwood National Forest, stay the night, go to San Francisco, then to Yosemite for night, then probably drive back to San Fran and fly home.
This is getting me excited! I love traveling!

I had a kit on my back!

I was taking dishes out of the dishwasher, and Crawford and Jasper were on the counter watching me. Jasper kept giving me kisses as I bent over. At one point, as I was taking plates out, Jasper crawled on to my back. I started laughing. He was so comfortable. Not fighting, not scratching, just chillin'! I wanted a picture so bad and Templeton wasn't home. I managed to walk to the other room, hunched over with him on my back to grab my camera. This is him. Obviously it was really hard to take the picture, but we got a little something!

ipod speaker at target=$.50...seriously

My students really inspire me

My Drawing and Painting students have really stepped it up this year. Their assignment: follow the Chuck Close style of using a grid to enlarge a photo, and how he takes a picture of his subject similar to a mugshot. Then they were allowed to use any medium besides acrylic paint to color it. Here are some of the results (the pictures seem a little distorted, somehow going into blogger it did this, but you get the point):

He asked me if I could print his picture looking like a heat sensor--awesome.

 Oil Pastels

He wanted an old feel-Watercolor and gouche

I asked "why do you want to change the colors?" she said "I want to be different" enough said-watercolor

I have a dark side, and a light side...I am from Trinidad, I tapped into that-pencil

this is 16"x24"...the picture doesn't do it justice-chalk pastel

also 16"x24"-marker dots--this girl has patience!

A not so good morning

For my birthday, Templeton wanted to take me to some stables near Williamsburg, VA and go on a trail on some horses. We both had never been and I was really excited. Sadly the snowstorm hit and they had to cancel or lesson. (Sadly, our Christmas plans, my birthday plans, and New Year's Eve plans all got canceled this year =o/)Templeton rescheduled for today.  We drove out past Williamsburg to Toano for our 11:30am lesson/trail ride. It was pouring rain. The receptionist also did not book our reschedule, but they were going to accomodate us anyway. We had to wait for the rain to stop before we could ride, so we walked around the stables and watched the rain from where Templeton is standing in the picture.

Two horses were in that pen across the puddle and started getting a little hyper. Chasing each other around in circles. All of a sudden, 1 big horse runs toward that gate and jumps over it. I am in shock, not knowing what to do. He came CHARGING towards us! Temp and were right next to a wall and stood still up against it while he came running at us. Do you stay still or run??? Both of our instincts were to stay still---not to frighten him anymore than he was. The horse came right near us than swerved off down the stable corridor. I ran to our car, and Temp followed. We stayed in the car until we calmed down, then Temp went and told them we were going to have to reschedule---again. They were very apologetic and offered a big discount. Luckily no one was hurt.
So we are bummed on our way home, and the car is acting sketchy. Making weird noises. I beg Templeton to pull over, and we have a busted tire. Temp gets out the spare from his trunk, and it was flat. We went to 7-11 on the busted tire to fill the flat with air, drove around for awhile looking for an open tire place to no avail, then just decided to go home. Temp will get new tires tomorrow. Here is a picture in the tunnel I took.
We are rescheduling horseback riding for the spring, this weather in the winter is too unpredictable.

I was frustrated so I screen printed.

This image is actually something I designed for a friend's baby shower, but I kinda liked it and wanted it on some of my stuff. Dylan and I can be twins!

My 2011 planner and a sweatshirt with my owl design.

Oh, and I was frustrated, so I said, "I'm going to make art". It made me feel better.

Our first meal, on the first day of the year on our deck!

Kinda weird there is snow everywhere, but it was really warm enough to sit outside!

Homemade Christmas Gifts

This year, Templeton and I had the idea of making a lot of our Christmas gifts for our family. If you have been following my blog at all, screen printing has been a hobby of mine lately. So I decided to screen print some gifts. Other gifts not shown are a photo book of photos from Thanksgiving for my grandmother and parents. A watercolor portrait of my newest nephew for my brother. And a favorite photo I took of my niece and nephew printed on a large canvas for Temp's sister. Maybe you will get some ideas!

Custom stationary. I designed the art for our mom's. Temp did most of the screen printing.

A close up. Floral pattern inspired by the Art Nouveau movement and their initial in an oval. Designed in Photoshop

Custom totes. My parents love their Great Pyrenees, and mom mentioned needing some bags to carry little things. The canvas material didn't take to the ink as much as I had hoped, but it worked.

The letter "o" for O'Connor

My dad adores his dog, so I designed and printed 2 t-shirts for him.

Birthday Present

 Templeton got me a Canon Powershot, I needed a camera to fit into my pocket or pocketbook for those "on the go" shots! We each had a Pentax, but actually wore them out! Templeton also planned for us to go on a horseback riding tour by Williamsburg, but it was canceled due to the weather.
 Anyway, here are the first pictures I took:

Snowstorm Dec. 2010

On my birthday eve, we get a crazy snowstorm...Templeton and I bundled up to go play in it. Saw some cars swerving on Granby Street, one pick-up truck get stuck in the snow. We went to a church playground and went down the slides which was SO much fun. Went to another playground and did the same thing. For artsy pictures, go to flickr

We came home and went to the backyard and discovered one of our favorite cedar trees that had a beautiful canopy above the corner of our deck snapped. We just have bad luck with trees...so we are going to try to let it fall naturally (the branches), in the meantime, we knocked the loose snow off the branches to take off weight of branches that didn't snap.

Temp climbed the tree to even get snow off...

broken tree branches

Deck!! Deck!!!

So the decking is all on! We are so happy! All that is really needed in the spring time is staining of some of the wood (non composite), put in the built-in bench and planter. It looks so beautiful, weeks of hard work!

steps off of porch, side of house

full shot

we're happy!

Temp taking it all in!

fine craftsmanship by Templeton

art not war

My National Art Honor Society kids came up with a new design for the school year for their t-shirts. We have a contest for best design, then burn screens, and spend an afternoon screen printing our t-shirts, hoodies, totes, whatever they want to bring in.
The goal this year is to also sell the shirts to their classmates. I really like this design, simple, direct but a good statement.

 This idea of making t-shirts has gone so well, 2 other clubs in the school want us to do theirs as well! Why pay businesses when we can do them ourselves!?

jasper helping unload tree decorations

Our first fire

Templeton found a fireplace setting (screen and tools) craiglist for $75. We needed one, and we were excited because it was Pottery Barn too! We drove out to VA Beach yesterday, and Temp ended up getting it for $60, it's in great condition and matches our decor!
We got our first fire going, it was very nice. It made us feel like adults, and the kitties really enjoyed it too!

Week 6 of Deck Building

from the backyard

This weekend was all about getting the stringers up (the structural member in a stairway that supports the treads and risers). We had to make sure our post holes were in the right places, and big enough. Cut all of the stringers, cut the posts, attach them to each other, then put in the bottom baseboards of the steps. It may seem easy, but everything has be properly measured and fastened. Plus, since our corners are 45 degrees, that makes things a bit more complicated.

During the week, we will put cement in the post holes and put on hurricane straps. Inspection, then decking.

this is on the side of the house, so we access there as well

Getting my "herb" on

So years ago when I had a foot injury, my orthopedic recommended this natural gel called "Arnica". I have had it for 3 years and it works wonders! Anytime I have muscle pain, I rub it in, and it makes the pain go away!
Sadly, I ran out. There is an Herbal "Farmacy" on Granby Street I have always been curious about (but Subway and Mi Hogar), and wanted to see if it was there. Temp and I ran over there and it was...uhhh...different. A couple of rooms that looked like run down offices, and a pharmacy counter. Rows of shelves of giant canisters of herbs, and then more shelves of random asian herbs.
I asked them if they had Arnica, he said no, but he said something that would work for pain. He put together a concoction of peppermint, lavender, and I don't know what else. Said to rub it on the pain, and listed off all kinds of places where I could put it, "on your arm, on your head, on your leg, on your ear, etc". He offered me a sample size for $3.50, I said why not! I really am becoming a fan of more natural healing stuff.
So I get an unmarked bottle and he says, "for your headaches, rub it on your temples, wipe it off your pinky, and put your pink up your nose and rub it around, but don't inhale it!" That made me laugh!
Fortunately I am just putting it on my arm because of a strain from working on the deck.
I will let you know how it works, I am about to use it now!

Update: 6:53
It feels like IcyHot. It's strong. It's opening up my sinuses, feeling tingly, but I think it's working. I don't know if the IcyHot feeling is just masking the pain though....

Update: 7:46
Not impressed really. It feels like IcyHot, but I still feel pain. It could be me, my paint could be a pinched nerve or something where I don't think this remedy would help. I will try again on a definite sore muscle, but in the meantime, I am going back to the Health Food Store to get more Arnica!

Lots of deck progress

This weekend Temp's parents came into town and helped us work on the framing of our deck. It takes a lot of careful planning, measuring, and things are looking good!

Next is the framing of the steps, inspection, then putting on the decking! Almost there!