Minnesota State Fair Fine Art Show preview

I gotta go to bed, but first a preview of the Fine Art show.  Here's my favorite that I voted for (there's a people's choice favorite that gets bragging rights all year when the fair is over).  It's called "Rusty on the Sound" and the artist is Kat Corrigan from Minneapolis.  I love the colors, and the fat brush strokes that seem to go along with the subject matter--a big dog--and it's also neat how when you walk back away from the painting, the reflection really pops.  It's about 3 feet tall, so it really makes a statement.

Minnesota State Fair Crop Art!

One of my favorite parts of the State Fair is the crop art gallery.  It's art done with seeds, and these are a few of my favorites this year.  I thought this one was clever and really nice looking.  And it has a dog.  So that always makes it good.  He's a fun dog, kind of reminds me of Mr. Peabody.

And here we have a Barbie.  Funny.  I think she's got some melanoma on her legs, though.  Better get that checked out, hon.

And I LOVE this one.  See, some of these pieces are silly, and some are very amateurish.  And then you have some like this, that had to take weeks, even months to make.  It's really a nice piece of art.  I would put it on my wall.  Way to go, Darlene.  And she got a blue ribbon!

And here's another amazing piece.  This one also got a blue ribbon.  And it uses about 30 different kinds of seeds. 

Crocheting Fool

I've been crocheting a lot lately.  Here's a square I recently finished.  The colors are a little washed out in this shot, but you can still see the structure.  I've made several of these in this pattern with different colors. 

Day of the Dead carved stamp

I carved a new stamp!  I love carving stamps.  I'm doing a Day of the Dead shrine and also a fat book, so I wanted something new to use, a new image.  I looked through my book of images I've saved for inspiration, and found this page from a book about the holiday.  That's the small image on the right.  I added a scarf and left off the moon and stars on his nightshirt, and here's what I came up with. You can see both my stamp and the image it makes when I use it.  Isn't it cool?  I love it!