Tessandore Creative

Courage

Today while I was waiting for my daughter to finish up her volunteer work at the animal shelter, I looked up to see this cutie looking back at me.  I though maybe it had gotten loose from the shelter.  My daughter was coming out right then, so I had her run back in to see if someone was missing a pet.  Turns out it was one of many wild rabbits that live right around the building.  With so many dogs coming in and out every day, I thought it was a bold choice of homes for a bunny!  Plus, as I sat down on the grass it hopped right over to me and put it's nose on my hand to check me out.  Fearless.

Maybe she was brave because she had a friend not far from her side...
Always good to have support.  :)

I've been thinking about courage a lot lately.  In fact, you might notice a new little box on the right side of my blog that says "This is my Courageous Year".  I signed up last night for an e-course with Kate Swoboda that will start in January 2010 and I'm so excited about it.  There are a few changes I've been wanting to make in my life and now is the time.  No more waiting.  I already have support from my good friends and family.  I decided that Kate's e-course would be just the thing to shore me up if I start to falter.  The first 10 weeks will focus, among other things, on Self Care and Balance.  Certainly something I'll need to be reminded of as I move in a new direction!  We can't be successful by any standard if we're not taking care of ourselves, right?

Taking a deep breath now and moving boldly toward what I love instead of just away from what I fear.  Feels better that way, don't you think? 

Sorry to be so enigmatic.  I'm realizing that I didn't really tell you what my new direction is.  But for now, I'm keeping it under my hat.  I've noticed that sometimes talking about what I want to do takes the energy right out of actually doing it.

♥

Fall Display

I got a little carried away with buying pumpkins this year!  Of course that was before I remembered that fall tends to bring more visits from...

Moose.  :)   They consider any produce left on the front porch to be dinner.
This group was actually pretty unusual.  It's not uncommon to see a Momma & baby...a little less so to see a cow with 2 babies.  But this seemed to be a family of 4...
A bull was following close behind the other three.  Wonder if it was the Dad?  In 30 years of living in Alaska I've never seen a group all together like that.  It was pretty cool. 

♥

Chicken Update

This is Camilla, striking a pose mid-scratch.  Quite the looker, isn't she?  She's a character too.  I had no idea birds could be so funny.  I'm thinking of posting a chicken video so you can see how busy they are when they're out in their run. 

♥

Garden of the Gods

Here we are (me & my friend Meg) at the visitors center of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.  And the view without us in the middle of it...  
Inside the visitors center we found these SO cute felt ornaments...
Aren't they sweet? 

Before we headed back into Denver, we made one last stop at Meg's uncle's farm to meet...
Noodles the Cow!  Awwww.

Thanks for inviting me along, Meg!  The trip was just what I needed.  ♥

Range Gallery

This gorgeous print (titled: Afternoon at El Tapatio) is the only souvenir I brought back from Colorado.  While we were exploring Manitou Springs, we stopped in this great little gallery & met the proprietor, Kathleen McFadden.  I'm always so happy to see a woman earning her living in a creative field!  Her work is really beautiful and she was so nice to talk with.  She felt like 'one of my tribe' if you know what I mean.  I couldn't put my finger on it exactly but, from my perspective at least, we spoke a common language.  Isn't it nice when you meet someone like that?

Check out a few of my other favorite images from her gallery...

• Rhonda's Trailer
• Clearing Storm
• Western Twist

♥

Manitou Springs

The Peeps!  That's the name of this public art display by Liz Szabo in the cute town of Manitou Springs, Colorado.  Probably since I'm a new chicken-owner I seemed to be spying hens everywhere.  :)

The whole downtown area was sprinkled with artistic touches.  Loved these store fronts...
The basket on this pink bike says, "See the World".  It was sitting in front of Black Cat Books & Wine.  Books & wine?!  How great is that?  :)  
It was a perfect walk-around kind of town.  We left with some locally made chocolate and a photo purchased from Range Gallery.  More on that tomorrow!  We packed so much into this vacation, but I didn't want to put it all into one mile-long post about the mile-high city.  ♥

Extended Summer

I'm back home from Colorado and what a great trip!  We had blue skies every day.  Good food, good company, beautiful scenery.  I couldn't have had a better time. 

Such a different landscape from Alaska...

Some teensy wildlife from our hike...
And some unexpected color as we made our way downtown...

More to come as I settle back in and sort through all the photos.  Tomorrow:  a lovely small town called Manitou Springs. 

♥

Denver

So, I had meant to finish my little witch to show you a couple days ago but...I had a great opportunity come up at the last minute for a visit to Denver, Colorado.  So here I am!  This is the house we're staying in.  We've got the whole third floor apartment for $100 bucks a night.  So much better than a hotel, right?  If you look up in the darkened windows at the top, you'll see the gargoyle that's roosting on our balcony ledge.

Peeking out over his shoulder you can see the blue VW bug we're tooling around in.   Pretty darn fun!

More to come, but I thought I should mention why I had dropped out mid-project.  :)

♥

Fall Colors

"Winter is an etching, spring is a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all." ~ Stanley Horowitz

♥

Termination Dust

The official end of summer.  Snow on the mountains!  It had been raining for a couple days, and when the clouds lifted ~ snow caps ~ signaling the "termination" of summer.  I wonder if that's just an Alaska thing?  Do they call it termination dust when the the first snow lands on the mountains in Montana?

I'm kind of looking forward to nesting in for the winter.  :)

♥

The Art Hermit & a Curious Chicken

Love Coffee and love this artist!  Micki Wilde a.k.a The Art Hermit is the talent behind this wonderful original painting.  I found it on her Etsy shop and had to snap it right up.  Looking at this cute girl with her cup o' java just makes me happy.  I thought I was going to hang the painting in my office, but I kind of also want it at home in my kitchen.  So while I decide, I've been carrying it around with me all day!  Luckily, it's painted on a wooden box so it's pretty sturdy. 

I know you're going to get tired of looking at the hens, but I'm so in love with them right now!  Luckily for you, the amount of photos may just be regulated by their tolerance for being photographed.  Every time I brought the camera out tonight, this is what Henrietta did...
She even pecked the lens!  Silly girl.

♥

A fair day...

Ok, do you know what kind of critter that is?  When I saw it from 10 or 15 feet away, I thought it was a bunny.  It's a chicken!  A Silkie Bantam to be exact.  We visited the state fair today and the first stop we made was the chicken exhibit.  Who knew there were so many kinds?  I can't wait to get my own ~ next week!

After spending some time on my chicken education, we moved on to the rest of the barn.
This little piggy was a-snoozin'.  Totally oblivious to the kids running around & the general bustle of the crowd.

The animals are always my favorite part of the fair.  But today, I also had another mission in mind.  Did my dolly win a ribbon?
She did!  Very exciting indeed.

♥
~ Thanks to my daughter for portrait she took of me in my "fair attire".  I think I'll use that as my blog photo for awhile to remind me of our day.  :) 

Fair Weather

Overcast & kind of drizzly?  Must be almost time for the State Fair!  I love walking the fairgrounds before the official opening ~ the rides aren't quite together & there are no crowds. 

Found the Ferris wheel seats waiting to be hoisted up...
A bit of trivia ~ do you know where the name Ferris wheel comes from?  George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. {quite a mouthful!} designed the original for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago.  Who knew?

It was fun to see all the vivid colors contrasting with the dramatic sky. Everything will kick off in about 10 days.  I'm pretty excited about it this year because I entered my doll for judging & am crossing my fingers for a ribbon.  :)  How fun would that be?  I was about 10 years old last time I entered something in the fair.   It was a framed, embroidered bluebird ~ and I got a blue ribbon that time!  ♥

Weekend Adventure

This weekend my daughter was invited to go along on a glacier flight-seeing tour.  What you're looking at is part of Knik Glacier about 50 miles outside of Anchorage.  Isn't it beautiful?  I've never gone to see a glacier up close, but perhaps I should take better advantage of where I'm living and do so.  According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there are an estimated 100,000 glaciers in Alaska.  A hundred thousand!  Some more impressive (and accessible) than others I'm sure, but it's almost a wonder I haven't tripped over one accidentally.

For a sense of the scale, here's a photo showing the wing of the 6 passenger float plane in which they were sitting:
I'm fascinated by the gorgeous blue color of the glacier and the texture too.  Here are a few of the 200+ photos she took!  :)
It's apparently over 5 miles wide & about 25 miles long. The pilot told them that the grey areas are volcanic ash from the eruption we had a couple months ago.  I wasn't aware that the ash had drifted that far North....or North-East I guess.  We had such a light dusting here, I forget that other communities & areas were a little more buried. Here's that same view looking down into the crevasses, but with the plane float showing.
Pretty neat, huh?

While she was up flying around, I was home practicing my embroidery.  Which was fun too, but maybe in a more small-scale way.  I'll have a photos of that to show you soon.  ♥

Berries & Bugs

The backyard is full of these beauties!  Well, not the whole backyard.  But I decided awhile ago to let them grow down along part of the fence.  With the warm weather we had in June they started getting ripe much earlier than usual.  The best part is that I'm not contending with Orb Weavers (that come out later in the summer) hiding under the Raspberry leaves.  If you're not familiar with that particular spider, and would like to scroll down carefully & look through your fingers, I'll show you a picture of one.  Ready?
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aaaaahhh!  I can't believe I put that photo on my blog.  I might have to replace it eventually with something more benign ~ like a crayon drawing of a bug or something.  Bleah!  As you might be able to imagine now, when you reach under a leaf to grab a berry and realize one of those fat spiders is sitting there (as is their wont) it's a shriek-worthy moment. 

Ok, back to happier images...
All this bounty means we'll have Raspberry jam this winter.  :o)

Happy August to you!  ♥

Camping ~ Homer, Alaska

Not much can beat a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly day of camping.  We had a great spot right on the beach...

Had to keep the fire going pretty much the whole time to stay warm.

I'm happy to say I was able to cook a little breakfast between the raindrops.  The pancakes turned out better than they do at home!
(Yes, that pancake is square.  It was tasty though!)

We came in off the beach to get away from the wind for awhile & thought of hiking the trail behind the Pratt Museum, but...

We didn't feel like meeting a bear!  :o)  So we headed back to the campsite...

Amazing the ways you can find to entertain yourself.
I think we had a pretty good time despite the weather.  Plus, now I can cross #16 & #21 off my list! 

On the way out of town we spotted this funny sign...
I could have bought my chickens there!  I was voted down though, since they would have had to ride 5 hours back home on my daughter's lap.  ♥

Chicken University

Tonight I drove out to Palmer, Alaska {about an hour outside of Anchorage} to attend a chicken class!  Palmer is farm country and it's just beautiful out there.  If I had to pick my favorite town in Alaska, Seward & Palmer would probably tie.  Kodiak & Homer would be in the mix too...they just take longer to get to from where I live. 

Driving out to Palmer, you pass this house on the left.  I always like to do the "what if I lived there" game in my head.  Looking out the front windows of this cute place, you'd have a view of the mountains seen in the photo above.  And I would definitely have horses.

Even from the highway on the road back in, the scenery is beautiful...

Looking to the right from that spot on the road, this is what you see off the bridge...
That's the Knik River.  I drove down beside the water to enjoy the view for a minute or two & would have stayed longer, but it was pretty windy and I wasn't really dressed for it...
I had a great evening learning about chickens and enjoying a wonderful drive.  Got home at about 10:30 and we still had time to barbeque burgers!  ♥

Perks of summer in Alaska

Took a drive down the inlet last night and was able to pull over just in time to catch a photo of the train.  The really cool thing is that this was taken at about 11:15 p.m.  A bit overcast along the mountains, but still light!  I love the summers here.   ♥

Eklutna

Another beautiful day in Alaska!  Sunday around here is usually the day for laundry, cleaning house, grocery shopping...getting ready for the coming week.  Not today!  :)  Our summers are so short, and the day was so pretty ~ we blew off the chores and drove out to Eklutna Lake.  The temperature was in the low 70's & there was a nice breeze that kept the mosquitoes away.  What a great afternoon.  ♥

awww...a Bunny!

This cutie has taken up residence in our neighborhood ~ specifically in the flowers, as you can see.  :)  His coloring makes him look like a wild bunny, but when he showed up so did a little grey & white Lop.  We think somebody must have turned their pets loose. 

My neighbor (a veterinarian) managed to lure the other bunny in & her husband built a hutch so they can keep it.  This rabbit is more skittish (or "street smart" as my daughter says), but hasn't gone far from his captured companion in the last week.  A couple days ago we came home to find him lounging in our neighbors' front yard about 10 feet away from where she was sitting.  "Ooo...this bunny makes me so mad!"  She was smiling when she said it, but clearly getting a bit peeved.  He had run into the bunny trap she set, grabbed a slice of apple, and run back out to eat it in front of her! 

Bunny = 1, Animal Expert = 0.  

♥

Good to Remember

Even though others may not support you,
Even though the world doubts you,
Even though you feel like you haven’t made much progress,
Even though that person over there seems to be running down her path with total ease,
Even though it seems no one sees you,
Even though you are unsure,

You just keep on...
Follow that map imprinted on your soul....

These wise words resonated for me this week.  I found them on Jen Gray's blog.  She has so many insightful & encouraging thoughts + beautiful photography ~ both well edited, which makes them all the more powerful.  I feel like I must be the last person to catch on to her blog, but if by chance you haven't seen it I hope you'll enjoy the discovery as much as I did.

Keep on your path!  ♥ 
xo ~ karen

Rivers & Tides

Do you know the artist, Andy Goldsworthy?  My daughter and I really love his beautiful work and recently re-watched the documentary on him called Rivers & Tides.  He creates such amazing arrangements with natural objects...rocks, sticks, flowers.  Hard to explain really how exactly right his work feels.  The arrangements are so precise, the scale, the choice of material ~ it all works together to sometimes astonishing effect.

Anyway, we had his work fresh on our minds when we went out for a bike ride.  Stopping off at a little creek, we found this scattering of white rocks.
They just seemed to need arranging!  :)
After 20 minutes or so of half-falling in the creek to reach the stones & being eaten by mosquitoes, we called it quits.  It gave us a great appreciation for the patience involved in Andy Goldsworthy's work.  I don't think we'll be creating anything on his scale, but it was fun to dabble.  Plus, it will be an interesting surprise for the next folks that wander up by the creek.  ♥

A little adventure!

This morning my wonderful boyfriend took me flying!  His plane has been stored for the winter, so I was super excited when spring came around.  He's been putting up with my "when can we go? now? how about now?"  for weeks.  :o)

These photos were taken just a few minutes outside of Anchorage and I wish they did any justice to how spectacular the view really was!  We ended up flying right through that valley {above}.  Along the way we spotted a bunch of Dall Sheep picking their way along the mountain sides and even a Black Bear.  Cool!  Such a great way to start the day.
This is heading up Turnagain Arm.  Just at the lower left of the photo you can see the Seward Highway which runs all the way along the Arm.  It's one of my favorite drives ~ the road is carved right in at the base of the mountains where they rise out of the water.  I can get clear out to Beluga Point on my lunch hour where, as the name suggests, you can do some Beluga Whale watching.  No whales to be seen this morning though ~ tide was out.

Anyway, the flight was such a treat.  Thanks, Joe!  ♥♥♥

Fair Times

Ok, honestly...there's not been a lot of crafting going on over here in the last couple days.  I'm a bit under the weather, so although I have a million ideas swirling as always - I've mostly been early to bed & late to rise.  So - how about I share some of images from last summer?  :o)

The photos above are from the Alaska State Fair.  A friend recently suggested I enter my cloth & clay doll in the fair this year & I think that's a fun idea!  While looking back through the photos from last year's produce entries, I found this image:

Which made me think:  It's amazing what gets into a person's subconscious...
I keep drawing that very angle of a mushroom!  :)

After the fair, we went driving around the small town of Palmer (where the fair grounds are) and spied this yard art.  It's a bicycle fence!
Nice re"cycling" idea, isn't it?
♥

Critter Visit

We spent a really great afternoon at the Alaska Zoo today.  I just love these cute goats!
Munch, munch, munch... This Alpaca made me laugh too...he's obviously had a roll in the hay!
The Snowy Owl was so pretty...
I'm always torn when it comes to my feelings about zoos.  I love to see the animals, but it can be sad to see them cooped up.  The saving grace of the Alaska Zoo is that so many of the animals (most maybe?) are ones that would never have made it in the wild.  The Bald Eagles, Polar Bears, Seals & Otters, Wolves...all have ended up here because of being injured or orphaned.  So we get the privilege of seeing such beautiful creatures up close. 

The bears were huge & amazing.  I was unable to get a good photo of them without the bars of their enclosure in the way so I won't post them here, but...take a look at these claws:
Yikes!  Those are about 4" long.  Makes you realize how they can break into cabins right through the wall like they do.   This guy was sound asleep & kept flexing his claws ~ maybe he was dreaming of catching salmon.

Ok, folks...it's back to the craft table for me.  I've got my doll & another big project in the works, but I'm trying to hold off on showing them until they're done.   Hope you're enjoying your Easter weekend!  ♥

Chit-Chat at the Golden West

Last night I was lucky enough to get together with Jane & her husband Thomas.  It was so good to see Jane again after our Art Nest experience!  They took me to the Golden West Cafe {above} in the Hampden area of Baltimore.  Wonderful food - I had a burger topped with Granny Smith apple slices & brie cheese.  Yum!  And the ambiance was kitchy & perfect.  During dinner they offered up a wealth of information on the business of art, which is one of my favorite subjects. 

Oh, and I thought it was funny to come all the way from Alaska, only to be dinning with a Moose here!
After dinner, they drove me all over the city and gave me a wealth of information on the history of Baltimore.  I couldn't have wished for more gracious hosts!
Thanks, Wynn's!  ♥

St. Patty's in Charm City

We went out and explored the surrounding neighborhoods on foot this evening.  So fun!  I loved all the little rows of brick houses & we found this festive display {above} in someone's window.  If I knew how to upload a video, I'd show you the bagpipe serenade we were treated to during dinner at the pub.  Gotta love a guy in a kilt.  :)

I'm also enjoying the hints of spring popping up here...

Pretty aren't they?  We're still a quite awhile from seeing these at home.

The time difference, plus the couple miles of strolling around tonight have me really tuckered out so I'm headed up to my room now.  Wish me luck on sleeping through 'till morning.  I woke up at about 2 a.m. last night & being unable to get back to sleep ~ I painted a second mushroom!
If sleep eludes me again, at least I may have new art to show.  It's better than counting sheep, right?  ♥  

Greetings from ArtNest!

I'm nestled in the hills of Utah with 29 wonderful, warm, artsy, lovely women.  This is the view we'll be enjoying as we dive into our first class today with Kelly Rae Roberts.  Can't wait! 

I'm off to find the coffee now, but just had to post this photo of the little friends that have been keeping us company.
Since we have wireless here...more to come soon!   ♥

5x5" canvas - 1 down, 9 to go...

Yay ~ cute!  I knew this size would be fun to work on and I'm so happy with how this first one came out.

I woke up at 3 a.m. the other night with a whole camping theme in my head.  Luckily, there's usually a notebook handy.  I was able to scribble down some ideas before crashing out again, which is where "toasty" came from:

I also wanted to share this photo of our lovely jack-frosty trees: 

Pretty, aren't they?  ♥

-20 and holding + some new art supplies

I spoke too soon a couple days ago when I was whining about the -10 temps.  It keeps getting colder! 

But with this weather comes some beautiful sights.  Every branch of every tree, all the phone & electric lines, the light posts, mailboxes - pretty much every thing standing still - is covered with tiny ice crystals.  Here's what my yard looks like when I pull up & the headlights hit the snow:
 Isn't that something?

Despite the chill, I went on a hunt tonight for 5x5" canvases.  I've been wanting to do a tiny painting series for awhile, but am always daunted by the cost of the little stretched canvases.  If I spend too much on art supplies I feel like I can't really "play" because I don't want to ruin the materials.  So while I'm in experimental mode, I prefer to keep it on the cheap.  Problem solved!  Check out the tiny canvases I found at Michaels ~ for a dollar each!
 They come pre-printed with little coloring book style art.  But - 2 coats of gesso and they're ready for anything!  For a dollar!  Sweet!  Although I might actually have to paint inside the lines on this one:

'Cause I ♥ law enforcement.  I can add it to my collection of Police Car photos that I try to take whenever I travel to a new city:

Ok, time for some hot chocolate and painting.  G'night!  ♥

I tell ya...

I've had about enough of this:
That's the warmest it's been in the last 6 days!  Could be worse though ~ in the interior of the state it's been an average of -50.   Ch-ch-chilly!

Stay warm.  ♥