Halloween Funnies

My bellydance sister Marcy sent these yesterday. Enjoy!! This one is SO me!!



:)



This would be me, too...



For my math teachers...



Yep!



Moms...



Sort of a Friday the 13th moment...



Just plain silly



Batty!



Last, but not least...

U.P.-Big-Boy-2

U.P.-Big-Boy-2
Originally uploaded by mdb2.

This is a BIG locomative!! I was surfing through the "train" pool on flickr and found this...I'll see if I can find out more about it...

Hedgehogs

Hand-bound Book
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I finished my first Hedgie last week. It's a hand-made book the size of a pocket Moleskine with all the same features. The pages are 90# watercolor paper and the cover is some fabric I used for my husband and son's costumes. It opens flat, has a pocket in the back, a ribbon bookmark and an elastic band closure tea-dyed to compliment the cover fabric. I did a few things different than Leslie has on her .pdf: I made the cover from two pieces of cardboard with a paper strip on the spine for flexibility. The fabric glued to the cover should give the spine some strength; and I made the hedgie the same size as a moleskine, not quarter-letter size. I'm rather proud of the job I did; it's much better than the other books I've made. I look forward to making more and experimenting with papers and covers! Click on the photo to see other photos of the binding process.

Moleskinerie Group

Hedgehogs Forever

Leslie's illustrated binding tutorial

20 Random Things About Me

Me
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Yesterday, Nita tagged me in the game, so here it is:

1. I'm a Scorpio.
2. I was born on Halloween.
3. I can make darn near anything.
4. I can fix darn near anything.
5. I play recorder, a medieval flute-like instrument, and have gone to Early Music festivals and done demonstrations for Music Appreciation classes. One year, my friends and I played at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival.
6. I also played piano.
7. I have a full darkroom packed in storage waiting for a house to set up in.
8. In photography class, I entered a contest and was a finalist in the Best of College Photography 1999.
9. I collect dragon figurines and had some of them in Crown Center's "Tons More Things People Collect" show last summer.
10. I know how to SCUBA dive and have my own gear.
11. I love anything miniature; model trains, Zip zap RC cars, dragons, origami, books, doll house stuff, you name it!
12. I take Middle Eastern dance classes and love tribla-style and fusion dancing.
13. I live in a 2-bedroom apartment but can only use one because the other's packed with craft supplies.
14. I used to own a car body shop.
15. My favorite classes in High School were metal shop, foundry and sewing.
16. I love animals and have had snakes, marine and fresh-water fish, dogs, cats, mice, rats, a duck, a madagascar hissing roach, a tarantula and snails.
17. I also love plants and had over 200 African Violets at one time (and will again!).
18. I was a free-lance photographer for the Wednesday magazine with several cover photos.
19. I once worked in a haunted house.
20. I'm Pagan.

There, now you know too much and I'll have to disappear from the face of the Earth! I'm supposed to tag some more people, so here goes:

kiyotei
Ruud Janssen
Jim Bumgarner
Big Harry Hindmarsh
Kathleen Marie

Qpidoremix

My First Studio Session

I've never used studio lights for portrait photography before so Amara let me use her as a guinea pig-er-model. She's one of my dance teachers, if you couldn't guess from the costume, and needed some new photos of herself also. I learned a lot and so did she. And got some nice photos from it!

Nita's Screenshot

Here's the screenshot of Nita's blog, I meant to send it but hit the wrong button!!

InkTracks

InkTracks is Nita from New Hampshire's blog. She's a member of the Everyday Matters group and does a lot of her work in a Moleskine (!). There's been some discussion about it and it's discovered that a bit of soap on the brush helps break up the sizing on the sketchbook's pages to make it more receptive to watercolor. Nita also uses gouache in her book to good effect. Another talented artist!

There's a game of blog tag going around. Someone tag me, Please!!!!!!!

EDM #36 - Draw in Public

10-9-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The Main Street bridge over Brush creek on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO. Drawn in pencil in my trusty Moleskine yesterday from the children's section of the Kansas City Public Library, Plaza branch. It's also my entry for the Everyday Matters Challenge this week, #36, Draw in Public.

Esmerelda and Rianna

Esmerelda and Rianna
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

We went to the Kansas City Renaissance Festival last weekend with some of the gals from the Maya Zahira School of Bellydance. It was a little chilly in the morning but it was perfect for wearing costumes! Rianna got all dolled up in hers and Daddy wore his (after much cajoling and threatening from me). The cub was hopeless, I just didn't bother. Mine had a dye mishap and I found about 15 other reasons not to wear it. I had pockets and my backpack and could take care of the rest of the troupe just fine and enjoyed the day immensely. Rianna jumped on the bungee thing like in St Louis but they made her go too high and she got scared. Then I found her a garland for her hair and she was happy again. Go to my Flickr site (click on the badge over there --->) to find lots more photos from the day!

Toy Train Blind Contour

toytrainbc
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Blind Contour of one of my son's toy locomotives in my moleskine with a Pigma Micron pen while the kids jumped on the bed next to me! Last weekend was the Greater Kansas City Model Railroad Expo and the opening of the KC Rail Experience at Union Station. Check my Flickr page for lots of photos!
http://www.flickr.com/mweltephoto/

Laurelines

If you haven't been to Laura's blog, Laurelines, then drop in RIGHT NOW! She draws in color families and brushes in ink and is living Everyday. She looks at the things in front of her, cooking, at the market, in the garden and finds what her sketchbooks are filled with. Drawing every day is so essential to progressing as an artist, just as photographing every day is and we can look to Laura as an example of how not to be afraid of your materials and experiment and experience.

EDM #14 - First Thing I See in the Morning

firstthing
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

A tousle-headed boy! Pigma Micron in my Moleskine.

EDM #29 - Architectural

Ron's Buildings
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

Draw something architectural. These buildings, at 2 East Emanuel Cleaver II Parkway, were the first ones my husband drew on AutoCAD and the first buildings from Black and Veatch to be done on AutoCAD. He did the structural and architectural drawings for them.

EDM #30 Chair

Chair
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I was given this dining set and some other furniture by a good friend who moved to New York a few years ago. The four chairs each have a different fabric on the cushion from her life.

I got an email today. A publisher is going to use two of my morgueFile photos for a book jacket of a Ukranian translation of "Changing Our School" by Louise Stoll and Dean Fink. I also got another email asking for the spelling of my name for credit for photos used in St Louis Women On The Move magazine! Nice!
 

Blind Contour (shaking out the rust)

8-24-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

My coin scarf for belly dance. I did most of it blind, just looking enough to fill in some of the beads and color it in with PITT pens. The sepia lines on the page are courtesy my bear cub. He decorated my moleskine for me a couple weeks ago!

I've had a bit of a drawing drought, made myself too busy with other things, etc. So I just did it.

Dahlal Internationale

Wow! I just saw this tonight! I'm going there next weekend while we're in St Louis to buy things and I'd love to get at least the hip scarf. Assuit is a material made in Egypt on the Upper Nile in a small town by little old ladies. It is a cotton net fabric with German silver threads woven into a pattern and beaten flat. I want to take a seminar on a form of folkloric dance called Raqs al Assaya, a cane dance, in Lawrence in August and the scarf would be a nice compliment to it. I'll be picking up a couple of other things while I'm there, too; a set of cymbals and something else nice.

EDM #24 - Fruit

Fruit
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The kids woke up just as I finished the fruit and wanted it for breakfast! I had sketched the plate and shading on it but couldn't get the right colors easily, it's a celadon blue, so I did the plate and background in PITT pens. The peach and bananas are watercolor.

Karma

Karma
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

For Illustration Fridays: Karma. Watercolor and ink in Moleskine. Who says you can't watercolor in them?

"The great spiral of life weaves its way from birth the source of all sacredinward as life quickens toward the first breath of life at birth and spins itself back out along its path learning what is there in this lifetime to death and rejoining the Great Wheel"

My Foot, Again

7-17-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

A more refined ink drawing. Pigment liner on moleskine. Will paint later...

EDM #23 - My Foot

7-16-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

A blind contour drawing of my foot for Everyday Matters Challenge #23. I was trying to steal time to draw all weekend and this is what I squeaked out last night between putting the kids to bed and my heading there, too.

EDM #12 - Draw What You Ate for Dinner

7-5-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I ate chicken planks, hush puppies and fries with root beer and lots of malt vinegar at Long John Silver's.
Not one of my better efforts, I've been working on this small painting for about a week and a half and decided it was getting worse and stopped. The chicken was getting to be a muddy mess and the fries disappeared. If we don't make mistakes, we don't learn. So, I'm sharing my mistake.

Home Show

Driving down Ward Parkway, there are some homes that are just my favorites. This one was built by Boss Tom Pendergast, one of the first in the area, for his wife after their trip to Europe. They were especially impressed by the architecture of Provence.



This is supposedly the home of Len Dawson, former Chiefs quarterback and TV sports anchor. It was built in the last 5-6 years.



The Country Club Christian Church is a lovely compliment to the homes in the area.



The Meyer Circle fountain, known as the Seahorse fountain, was damaged by vandals several years ago, the top and upper bowl were shipped to Italy for repairs and returned to grace our city once again.



My favorite is a Japanese style home with shoji windows



that I didn't get in one shot.



A few days later, I saw this pooch cruising Shawnee Mission Parkway. Notice the owner's posture.

White Tigers and Bagpipes

We (the kids and I) went to get Aunt Sarah and took her to lunch at Applebee's. She wanted to go to the zoo to see the white tiger. Strenuous enough for an able-bodied mom with two little ones...Sarah's 70 something. So, I get on the cell to see if I can get Ron to talk us out of it with something. He says "It's hot," and "do you have enough money?" I have $40 to pay for our lunch. Sarah wants to pay. So I have $40 to pay for the zoo. So much for that. She needs to stop at the store for some personal things for the trip. We circle the lot in the car, and circle, and circle...time to launch the rescue party. She's got the object of her trip in the cart with several more items, none essential, including a small watermelon, a pound of butter and an aromatherapy kit. I remind her we're on our way to the zoo. "Will this stuff be ok?" No. (butter?) We can take it by your place on the way. I'll run in and put the cold stuff away. I do. And find out she has a UTI. We have two liter bottles of water, suggest she drink when we do (often). And her medicine will be there when we get back. She later told me she had had the infection for 10 days. (!!!! Ladies, you know what I mean) So, we're on the road to the zoo. We get in and see an IMAX show, "Mystery of the Nile." Magnificent! This planet we spin around on has some of the most beautiful, and dangerous, places on it!! Go see this expedition from the birthplace of the Blue Nile to the Mediterranean. Well done! Now, out into the zoo itself after a potty stop (all but Sarah). The goal of the day is to see the special white tiger on loan from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. We make the trek on foot (Sarah, the pillar of politness she is, asks a woman at the grocery store who has asked if we're waiting for the handicap space she is in if she looks like she needs a handicap space. No power chair for her.) the entire way to the Great Cat Walk, some 50-75 yards from the theater.



We see the white tiger, "Silver," walk across her enclosure and lie down for a nap.



We then proceed to breeze our way, at Sarah's painstaking pace, through the rest of the Cat Walk to the train station. Geordan is ecstatic, this is what he's waited all day for, the train ride!! He's all about trains right now.



Clickity clack, down the track.



We get to the car and take Sarah home. The kids are tired and happy and each have a souvenir. Geordan's asleep in his seat. Rianna is happily playing with her new animals. Sarah is trying to talk me into taking her to Theater in the Park tomorrow night (she won't fit in the car with us, we'd have to leave someone behind). Apologies. She's lonely. We love her. And take her home. On the way back up State Line, we see a 51 bus at it's waypoint. As I pull to the stoplight, I see the driver. It's the bagpipe player. He's sort of an institution. There was an article in the Star one year about him. He uses his time on his stopovers to practice his skirling. Lovely. We pull into the Ward Parkway parking lot to listen, Rianna climbing into the front seat with me. He's very good, I think he plays with the bunch from St Andrew's. They give free lessons. Someday... Anyway, we listened til he finished his "set" with "Scotland the Brave," stopped, received our applause with a wave, and got back on his bus. What a nice day.

Purple

Ok, I get to order my choli top tomorrow! This is what they look like, I'm getting purple. I usually like blue, but my princess wants her costume to be purple so...purple, it is.



I've decided to wait until after our St Louis trip to buy the top. I enrolled in the next session of classes instead.

My Costume

My Costume
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

The costume I want to put together. I already have a fuschia and silver coin hip scarf and hope to buy the purple choli top soon, then I'll make the skirt to match it, a three-panel one.

Deb Tyndall at Ragged Edge Publishing has put another poem with one of my photos from morgueFile! Splendid marriage of word and image! Thank you, indeed, Deb! 

A Middle Eastern Dance Photographer on flickr

img_4162.jpg
Originally uploaded by Woodrow.

I found Woodrow's photos in flickr by searching for "bellydance." He has thousands of photos! Click on the photo to go to his space!

EDM #10 - My Hand

7-2-05
Originally uploaded by SideShowMom.

I've recently started Bellydance classes and these are my first set of finger cymbals. I'm really not supposed to start with them yet, I jumped the gun and got a really cheap set with the thought of entertaining my kids. My next set will be Saroyan zills, the best. I liked drawing my hand, I think my hands are very graceful and I am able to do a great many things well with them--almost anything I put my mind to. One of the things my husband likes about me is that I can fix lots of things, and if I can't, I almost always know what's wrong with them. This week, I got my very dusty stereo out and cleaned all the components out, dusting, and cleaning switches and slides. It went from scratchy, static in the volume and CD player to a nice, clean sound. I have a nice stereo. I put the components together when I was working at Radio Shack in the late '80s, carefully matching the components, dual tape deck, receiver matched to Minimus 7 speakers and a 6-disc CD changer, DVD player and VCR hooked in to the system. No surround, it wasn't available then, just barely. I'll do that when I get into a house. And HD. And a new computer. And my darkroom.