The Monthly Bloom in the Volunteer State

From August:

I'm wishing I had documented my growing belly more so I could post some of those photos on this "monthly bloom." Maybe that can be for next month's installment :) We've had lots going on this summer, mostly working on the house to get ready for our BABY coming in November! Before we got pregnant, Laurence and I had an agreement that we could get chickens as soon as our house was finished, i.e. ready to be a home for a baby. Now we've got another good motivator, baby is coming soon, ready or not, chickens or not. Chickens are still a great incentive, but the house "to-do" list is... OVERWHELMING. And all I want to do is work in the yard. It's a mess, which is why I don't have any photos from it for you this month.

However, at some point we managed to get a few peppers, tomatoes, okra, and basil planted for our summer vegetable crop. It's not much compared to the last few years, but we've been pleasantly surprised by all the "volunteer" tomatoes and squash that we've found spread out among the weeds. Two nice butternut squash "volunteered" as well as lots of little grape tomatoes, which are surprisingly tasty. So, since it's football season and all, and since we celebrate any fireworks we hear during the home games, and since we live in the Volunteer State, in East TN, even though I really say WAR EAGLE, I guess a GO VOLS seems appropriate now.

Hurray for volunteer squash, football season, baby coming, and a three and a half year work-in-progress, well, still a work-in-progress. And, WAR EAGLE!!!

summer o' chalk

The chalkboards I've been working on this summer are finished and hanging at the Aubrey's in Cleveland, TN! The represented food vendors each sponsored a board, but other than including their name I pretty much had complete creative freedom.

Here's a photo a friend took of the boards hanging in the restaurant: http://www.facebook.com/photo

This was such a fun project for me to take on this summer. It's certainly different than my work with cut paper, which seems tiny compared to these. There was some getting use to using the chalk pastels on the boards, as well as some experimenting with a varnish I wish had never happened, but overall I greatly enjoyed this project.

Because of the size of these boards I also had to get used to working in a public space, and let me tell you there is no shortage of entertaining characters working in and doing business with the hardwood company in East, TN whose salesroom I set up in. I had several people inquire about commissioning some art- one wants a huge mural of Neyland Stadium above his mantel, and another has an old milk crate he'd like a farm scene painted on. I had someone try to sell me life insurance, one instance of vandalism, a few sales lunches I was forced to participate in, and an email with photos of me working taken by someone I didn't even realize was there.

The best however was getting to see so many varied responses to my work. Everyone had a different "favorite" and I was always surprise by who liked what. I guess there's even more variety in the tastes of the Aubrey's diners who will be viewing these boards. I'd love to be able to poll all the people that enter the restaurant, but my next best option is to ask your opinion. There are eight total, the four posted above, and the first four from a previous post. Which one is your favorite???