While the Cat's Away. . .

Being ONE member of the TWO-person team that is Cart Before the Horse has it's perks. My very favorite of which is that I never have to handle the packing and shipping part of having an art business. Unless, perchance, the other half of this team is out of town.
With the Mr off roaming about, his duties fall to me. He has got this packing thing down to a science. I never hear him cussing as he bangs himself in the forehead with a wayward box corner. Twice. I never find him so encased in tangled tape that he temporarily looses all use of his hands. And I know that even when presented with three (3!) buyers all named Barbara, he never mixes up the art only to figure it out later and have to re-pack it.
I am so not him. So it is with no small effort that I have accomplished this daunting task (which he manages to handle gracefully every week, I might add).

Tah-dah!

OK, so there may have been a rather exorbitant amount of tape used. And copious notes checked and re-checked. And bad words muttered.

But overall, I'd call my packing challenge a success.

I'm sure getting all these boxes to the post office

will present it's own unique brand of comedy.

The Last of The Menagerie

It seems my cyber quilt is complete.

I did want to add some more masked munchkins to the collection, but (as usual) time has run out faster than my ideas. The Mister (and his scroll saw abilities) is off gallivanting, so any more masks will have to wait for another season. Maybe somebody will want to dress up as a gingerbread man?

Anyway, this trio are this season's last.
If you want one to come live with you, better move quick.
They'll be gone by this evening.

Here                  Here                       Here

Speaking of going, going, gone. . .

Only 4 more days.

If you haven't entered yet, there's still time to throw your name in the hat.
(OK, so they're not exactly hats,
but they'll still do the trick.)

I'm honored by the amount of entries I've received.
And I've discovered so many wonderful new blogs too.
Thank you all for playing!

Saturday's Table. . . All done!

On Saturday, two weeks worth of creations come together briefly

before last week's goodies fly away to their new homes.

They get to spend the next 24 hours frolicking, cavorting,

and causing their own unique brand of mayhem.

I don't want to give away too many details (you'll just have to go look at the auctions to see them all up close), but here's a little sneak peek at this latest batch all done-

They'll be up for auction tomorrow evening.

Then the next batch will start to come to life.

I won't get Dylan's input on this next batch,
as he'll be far far away looking at far far away colleges with our eldest.

While I love having him around to pester (I make the cutest of the creations fly around kissing him), his "input" usually consists of the following:

Me:   What color should I paint this?

Him:  Purple.

Me:   You always say purple.

sigh.

I'll miss him anyway.

Don't be surprised if I ask you all what color to paint

something or other over the course of this coming week.

And, please, don't say purple.

☺

Friday's Table

My week is coming to an end.

This batch of beasties will be done tomorrow

(unless the world has other plans).

It's 8:30pm here in Oregon, and my day's shenanigans are still in full swing.

I don't have to get up early tomorrow, so I'll work as late as I want.

In my pajamas even. I'm a rebel.

Everybody's features have been drawn and now I'm starting to paint with my teeny tiny brushes.

I go through a tiny brush every couple of weeks. I hate it when they start to fray. Luckily, there's a little store here in town that keeps them in stock for me. It's my daughter's favorite store too, because they have her beloved pens and markers. She just spent $20 (a huge extravagance for my uber-frugal teen) on some new ones, and doesn't let them out of her sight.

Here's her latest doodle-

Isn't she crazy talented?

Just imagine how good she'll be when she gets to take a real live art class.

She has never had one. Her high school doesn't even have one art teacher. I can't imagine that I would have gotten through school at all if not for the art classes.

Speaking of school,
her and Daddy are headed off into the wild blue yonder tomorrow to look at colleges. We're all hoping that not only will they let her in, but that they'll throw lots of money at her. I personally think that any college would be super lucky to get her

(not that I'm biased or anything).

Cross your fingers for us.

Thursday's Table

Sanded and stained,

limbs are attached, buttons sewn, stitches stitched.

 Everybody's dressed and ready for their penciled-in faces. . .

. . .except for a decapitated pumpkin-head

who needs quite a bit more attention.

This is a very odd phase of the work week.

 Thursday's list is complete.

Well, one list is done;

there's always another.

Wednesday's Table

Halfway through the week.

Everybody's got their base paint on, a big pieced skirt has been sewn, and a pointy hat is coming along nicely. Now it's time to stain and sculpt. I've got an armature well underway, waiting till after dinner to get it's face.

My list is written in pencil,

a subtle reminder that plans can be changed easily enough.

I set myself a little challenge for the week to do a post
everyday, showing day-to-day progress
(or lack thereof, as the case may be).

So far so good.

☺

This is just plain silly fun.

Go here to make your own.

Happy Wednesday!

Hope your challenges are being met,

and your obligations are written in pencil.

Tuesday's Table

I finished preparing the printer's tray that I started yesterday.

It's all ready now to provide a home for tiny bits and bobs.

I cut many many rectangles out of paper, fabric, magazines, and various ephemera,

then glued them in. (I couldn't resist including one of our business cards.) It was fun moving the bits around, like laying out a tiny quilt.

I've already gathered a handful of my favorite tiny objects.

They'll be moving into their new digs shortly.

Adding to my Little Things collection over the next few weeks/months will keep me amused on my days off.

Also on the table,

yesterday blanks have become today's ready-to-paints.

Identities have been assigned, pencil lines drawn,

and they've officially been added to The List.

 

Now they await paint.

Distracting me from the task at hand are the perpetual Trick-or-Treaters.

They even got sweet Alice in on their game.

Give a doll a mask and all of a sudden they think it's your job to provide them with an endless supply of candy corn, fun-size chocolates, and Bit-O-Honeys. And if there are no more treats to dole out, the tricks are sure to come. Luckily, the pranks are pretty lame. They did manage (by standing on one another's shoulder's) to reach my bed, but they had no rubber snake to put in it and instead left a wayward piece of black embroidery floss. Needless to say, I was less than frightened. They were mildly successful in TP'ing the studio, but their attention spans are as short as they are. There was only a tiny bit of paper left on the roll they found, and they didn't look very hard for more. The overall effect was unimpressive.

Monday's Table

What's on the table today?

A mess.

I got this very cool printer's drawer many years ago and have been lugging it around ever since, waiting for inspiration to strike. Yesterday, it struck. I dug it out of it's dusty garage-abandoned home, and washed it off. And washed. And washed. It was gross. I wish I had taken real Before pictures, but the abundance of dead spiders might have scared you all away. So I'll have to content myself with a During picture. Here the drawer sits, in all its compartmentalized glory, scrubbed and sanded. I've started filling the little boxes with pretty paper, preparing it for its new life as a holder-of-tiny-things. Making and gathering the aforementioned Tiny Things is my idea of great fun.

The worktable also holds the Bucket-O-Blanks,

wherein next week's dollies await their fate.

Later today I'll assign them an identity, draw on them,

and add them to The List.

Last week's mayhem. . .

. . .turned into this week's menagerie-

Something I read somewhere which has always stuck with me-

"Chaos often breeds life, when order breeds habit."

I like that.

I think that when a balance is managed

between Chaos, Order, and Habit,

then Creative Productivity is achieved.

Balance is always the tricky part,

don't you think?

The Wandering Witch

She is not here, I fear.

So wander on, my dears.

Go here to play.

All done!

Pointy Hats and Other Things

Pointy hat-

Pretty pointy-hatted youngster holds. . .

. . .punkin-headed playmates who'd wear pointy hats if they could-

Playing-pretend punkinhead with a pointy hat-

Not wanting to be left out of the Halloweeny fun,

this sweet little fungus has donned more appropriate colors-

Even the flamingo has shed its prerequisite pink-

Having neither a pumpkin nor a pointy hat, Celia is comforted by the fact that she has magnificent horns.

It's the Little Things

Dylan (the man-of-The-Cart) drinks buckets of tea. Straight, unsweetened, cold tea. He always buys the store brand, being a very un-picky man, but yesterday the store was out of its variety so Dylan got the brand on sale, Red Rose. And guess what? This cute little scarecrow (seen here making friends with Duck and Skunky) was tucked inside, just waiting to make my day brighter. Yay!

I admit it, I'm a sucker for little unexpected surprises.
What can I say? I may be a grown woman, but my heart is still a girl.
So naturally, being presented with such a lovely little gift, I pranced happily about, looking for the perfect home for him.

He is now surrounded by other delightful little things.
(That beautiful baby is my sweet daughter, long before she could roll her eyes in melodramatic exasperation.)
Dylan is just happy that I'm so easily amused.

What are the little things

that brightened your day today?

Well, Thursday, what do you have to show for yourself?

Monday's lists and blank dollies have turned into an autumnal-colored pile of silliness.

What is this? An ice cream cone?

Nope. It's a witch.

Well, it will be.

It's a beautiful day here on the Oregon Coast.

Too pretty to be terribly productive, I'm afriad.

Must. . .resist. . .nature. . .

Monday!

Happy Monday!

Monday is my very favorite day.

It's all about list-making and infinite possibilities.

(Two of my favorite things.)

Monday is the day I plan out what I hope to make in the next 6 days. It's a day of dreaming up new characters, taking inventory of supplies, and preparing for productivity. My workspace is usually neat and tidy on

Monday, having fully recovered from last week's chaotic creative endeavors. Monday morning barely sees the weekly deadline looming in the distant future.

Monday is a clean slate.

Hooray for Monday!

☺

My masked menagerie virtual quilt continues to grow.

I added 6 new faces this morning.

My first attempts at making a masked spider were less than successful. But, you know what they say about not succeeding the first time around. So I gave it another go. 

Ten eyes, six arms, and 2 legs later. . .
I'm so pleased with my adorable arachnid!

The eyes have it.

She's not much on the web-spinning front, preferring to knit.
You can see more of her here.

. . .

There is still plenty of time to participate in the giveaway
(if you haven't done so already). I've been throwing names in the hat (actually, there are two hats-- one for Dolly, one for Patterns) as they've come in, and I think I need a bigger hat.

Happy Monday,

all you beautiful people!

Mobile Bones

Sometimes, Bone Daddy's descendants aren't content

with just standing around. They have places to go.

Although, those two fellows in the boat

aren't likely to go anywhere fast without a paddle.

Oh well, they look happy enough, drifting along.

You can see more of them here and here.

Where are YOU going today?

Or maybe you're just happily drifting along.

Masks-- Real and Imagined

Three more little masked munchkins joined the menagerie this week.

They once again prove that looks can be deceiving.

For instance,

Kitty Kat, who is wearing a particularly wide cat-who-ate-the-canary grin, is actually a vegetarian.

Banjo, despite her uninvited musical accompaniment,

prefers Jazz to Bluegrass.

And Bonita actually has a very healthy appetite. Masks fool people.
And we all wear them, literally or figuratively.

(I prefer the literal ones, don't you.)

Bone Daddy

Inspired by Guatemalan folk art figures celebrating Day of the Dead, like this one. . . . . .the very first Bone Daddy was born. I painted this funny fellow 6 years ago while working in a very unvisited gallery, in an effort to keep myself from falling asleep at my desk, and he stole my heart. (Don't worry, he gave it back.)

We've revisited Ole Bone Daddy many many times over the years-- in paintings, quilts, ornaments, and figures. He has become a member of the The Cart, and I'm always happy to bring him to life in yet another incarnation.

This week he's is perched atop the moon. . .

. . .his little cousins are being carried by a winged guardian. . .

. . . and he's seeing triple.

This last trio are quite the crooners,

singing in three-part harmony.

I was enjoying their a'cappella rendition of Monster Mash, and even their fully-choreographed version of Super Freak, but when I wasn't looking someone taught them It's a Small World, and now they've got to go!