Another Antique Show

So another antique show is complete and a part of history now.  OMG!  It was horrible.

Whom would have ever thought that the Seattle Seahawks could make it to the Superbowl - and on the weekend of the show!!!!!  What if they held a show and virtually no one came?  That was the reality of the show however.  Sigh ...

So lots of free time for people watching!

Across the last several years of helping my mother at these shows, I have come to know several of the regulars.  I know I have commented at least once about the broken young woman whom comes and always rushes away whenever sees me.  I can read her and either she or what drives her knows it.  Last year if I spoke to her she would freeze up, avert eyes, stiffen arms - how my heart bleeds for her.  I saw her Friday night as I was helping mother set up, same as always - suddenly freeze, avert eyes, arms lock and then she would stumble at first away and then run.  Saturday morning I went to go buy some scones at the snack shop and found out that the young woman works there with her aunt.  When I approached, she totally shut down again, her aunt had to serve me.  Saturday night I returned to buy more scones figuring she would be gone.  Nope still there!

But haltingly, as though a child speaking its first words, she served me!  I was wowed, she had overcome something internally which allowed her address this scary old man!  And since I first learned to understand her problem in 2011, I have been in prayer for her.  I was elated she could be normal around me.  Sunday morning, she went out of her way to actually talk with me, calmly, looked me in the eyes, went way beyond the normal.  So cool!  Something changed, I would not pretend to know what, but if I see her again at the next show in two weeks - I will try to be gentle.  If you want to join me prayer, I am sorry I do not even know her name (nor expect to, ever).

Even since November, which was the last of this show cycle, the dealers are getting older and fading awaty.  One of my favorites is now in a rest home and a friend of his is now liquidating his collections.  How sad.  Others are obviously not going to be making it into next year, if even into this fall.  The cycle of life: you live it, you become an antique dealer, you die.  LOL,  but not so far from the truth, considering.

And I have noticed how things are simply just not out there anywhere.  A few years ago Mission Style furniture was everywhere - now you are lucky to see one piece a year!  Where did it go, why is it not being recycled?  Weird!  Same is true for Tiffany anything, or anything from the Art Nouveau era.  Art Deco anything is now also disappearing, as has almost all real depression glass.  Like I said, weird.

My knife making friend came with me for two of the days and he put out some collectable antique knives at great prices - absolutely no interest, but then almost no one came!

As for me, I did some shopping: American Indian blankets, baskets, pots - all being dumped; German steins and mugs - all being dumped; antique picture frames, old automotive tools, etc - all being dumped for pennies on the dollar - if not just flat out being thrown away!  Weird.

So, no idea what this all means other than vanishing supply, vanishing dealers and demand seems to not be much either.  Maybe the world is truly being ruled by computer games and like hobbies and crafts - antiquities are now a thing of the past...

I had a great laugh as well.  My mother's dog was sitting behind me and two women are walking towards me.  The see the dog and one of them says, "Well hello cutie!"

I responded, "And, hello to you ..." in as deep a voice as I could muster.  She was instantly embarrassed and trying to explain she was talking to the dog, but it only got worse and her friend is in there making it worse for her.  I was howling with laughter as I said, "Hey at my age you take what you can get!"

Across the isle from me is an old man from Oregon and he then was telling other dealers about this for hours!  It seemed to get better the way he told it though.  LOL

As for the show in two weeks, God still changes hearts and I almost hope to see that young woman again - if it will lead to her freedom.  But, conversely, I still lick my wounds of betrayal and rare is the female I trust anymore (okay, only one).  So ti will be a God thing or not at all.

Birthday Bucks

I spent quite a bit of time this past weekend spending my birthday money.  It is not usual for my friends and family to give cash, and yet, they did this year!  Well, I am not going to complain, I think my tastes are so eclectic that everyone has given up one!  And yet, I think I am quite easy to shop for!

My sister sent me money to buy new art brushes with, well my brushes are fine but there is a thing called a shader used in pastels that I use and managed to lose somehow!  The stinking little brush handled nibs of soft rubber are expensive and I have been using Q-Tips and toothpicks dipped in maskit to keep areas of my watercolor paintings white.  So, I picked up a set with that money.

My last remaining step-mother's gift I used for buying some cotton water color paper.  I sure wish I had stocked up three years ago when I read about the Egyptian cotton failure!  Seems everyone now is having crop failures and the price of cotton has tripled - and paper being a secondary market has become almost untouchable!  But, now I have 36 sheets, so that will last me quite a while!

Dutchman gave me what turned into two instructions books.  One is how to evaluate something you have painted in order to make it a better painting on your next attempt.  At first I snorted when I saw the title but then as I leafed through the book I realized that their advice was quite valid.  The other is something which is nothing but examples on how to do more realistic painting.

My mother's gift was spent at a woodworking store.  I am very pleased with some cheap wood I managed to scarf up as it was on sale!  Sweet!  I love sales!

And even Gaelic Girl gave some money with which I picked up the Art of the West from the Cody Museum, in Cody, Wyoming.  I had gone to this museum back in 1992, taking my American "nephew" to see Yellowstone and the museum was next door to the hotel.  The heck with the park!  I fell in love with the museum!  So everyday we did the free movie showing, wandered the incredible exhibits and somehow still fit all of Yellowstone in!  Very happy to find the book!

I even bought myself a book as well, since the birthday money ran dry, an exercise book.  Yuck!  But, when I leafed through it I saw all of my old back exercises in there as well as knee exercises.  Plus it had a section of what to set you goals on.  Sure someone, somewhere can do 10 minutes of jumping jacks but I think I will start with 30 seconds and work my way up from there!  Gotta do something if I am to survive the Bigfoot Hunt this August with my cousins and friends!  (Though I am betting I will be the only one to actually do it and be forced to work out of a campground.  But, I will be in better shape and still have fun all on my lonesome.)

Completion!

So, I managed to complete my painting for this year's Christmas card!

So here it is .

For some reason when I use my camera and then adjust the colors with photoshop, they come out great on my screen and then completely wash out when printed.  Also the camera tends to "look through" the watercolor  - well, watercolor is translucent, but black ought to be black!  Black is black in person on the painting, but not in photographs.

Just goes with my frustrations of the day in wrestling with this creation!

As a side note, the printer now refuses to print on card stock!  I have no clue what is going on!  I have changed cartridges, cleaned the heads and still there are little lines every half inch through the  pictures!.  I think I am being driven mad by technology!

So, off to the store to buy some Christmas cards to get into the mail today!

I Am My Grandmother

So, I finally did it.  After three years of doing antique shows with my mother, I have rented space in an antique mall and now am now a certifiable antique dealer for real.  Oh God!  I am my grandmother now.....

My grandmother was an antique dealer for 60 years, my grand-aunt for 20 years, my mother for the past 30 - I am discounting the first two years where she sold everything which was mine because I was away at college - sigh.  And last but not least is my sister, now a dealer for 15 years back in the mid-west.

Not knowing what to put in a case, yet wanting to make it mostly guy stuff, it only has a few items from the household.  Most of it are things I collected back in the 1970's and very early 1980's.  We will see if I get what I paid for the stuff back - Bush the first really whacked the collectables market with the first Gulf War and Obama has not done anyone any favors in that regard either!

I think I did okay selecting the eclectic, rare and stuff I never have used - yet has sat around for decades.  Sure be nice if it all went away and I could reload next week with all new stuff from the attic!  (LOL! Like that is going happen!)

And no, those are NOT arrowheads, they are Neanderthal tools!  ARGH! Everyone always says the same thing!

LOL!

Metal Detecting

Well after a many year absence, Kris is back to metal detecting again.

Originally, I had stopped due to the winter of 2011.  Then busted my left foot and right ankle, and let us not forget my heart ailment!  So 2012 was lost.  Then busted my knee in January of this year, so I expected no hunting this year either.  However, one of the men in the church has been wanting to so badly, I finally invited him over and showed him how to use a detector in my yard.  We both did okay!  :)

So, every Tuesday since, we have been out hunting.  I can not walk for long periods of time so must constantly rest.  But we are having fun!

Just by the numbers, bottle caps, pop tops and pull tabs rule.  Followed by aluminum cans, nails and tent stakes!  Somewhere, far to the end of the list of stuff we find has been coins.  I think we are up to about $20 combined now.  Three more dollars and we can afford new batteries!  Yeah.

Now to find my pro-pointer somewhere in this house!  I really need my little detector for locating metal inside of a hole I have dug.  The big machine are great for showing you where to dig and useless for telling where in a hole the item is.  So, must fine!

Well, just back from my first beach hunt ever, and I found a nickel!  Yeah, big deal  you think, but nickels are the hardest to find metals, so very excited that only did I find one but I did so in a 100% salt environment!

Such Fun!

Just in from a hard days hunt of metal detecting!

With a friend I have been hunting a 1904 home site, a park from the 1920's and a park from the 1960's.  Of course, it was between bouts of rain but very fun!

I have a loose 6mm YAG (yttrium-aluminum garnet) stone, and a sterling silver mounted white sapphire about 7mm in size.

The sapphire, much more beautiful in life, I could not get to sit at the right angle as the loose stone was!  So, it came out rather grey!  Neither are diamonds but my first jewelry finds and on the first hunt in several years!

I think my cousin is going to be jealous ..... again.  :)

Very happy day for a painfully heavy heart ...

Swimming in Cash

Well at least until all of the checks clear I wrote!

Yeah, silver went so high I decided to divest myself of it!  Good bye lifetime coin collection, I knew you well.  Sniff.

Actually, I am feeling pretty good about it!  Not that there is anything wrong with having a coin collection, it is just that it is a blessing to know that something that was just for fun, for the breadth of my life, actually could help me right now meet my bills!  So I am happy, happy, happy!

Before Gaelic Girl left, we had to have yet another "discussion" over finances.  Her perspective has really changed over the three years she has been in Texas.  I wonder if it is the water or something in the air.....  Anyways, she has become a whole lot less trusting of God to provide and a whole lot more focused on gathering what she can.  Very much unlike her.  So loggerheads!

Why did we cross swords?  I wanted to take her out on a date and she felt I did not have enough to do so.  Well, ya know, if I didn't have enough, I wouldn't have asked.  Oh well, what could have been a relaxing evening came crashing down.  Kris' general luck it seems.

Anyways, I am now playing with my non-silver coins and getting many of them ready to go to auction.  I put up three yesterday: a third century Roman counterfeiting die found in Egypt, a banknote from the First French Republic and a little US three cent piece.  No idea if they will go or not, but be fun to find out!  If they sell, PTL! If not, CraigsList, then eBay I guess.

Now, what to do with a box full of German 1920's Notgeld...........?

Pretentious

My art group/co-op is updating their biographies and I am supposed to answer a whole bunch of questions for them!  So thought it might be fun to sort of pre-publish them here and see what they look like in print…..

Describe Your Studio:

A north facing studio of glass attached to my home.

What About The Surroundings?

Wooded area near a lake.

What Kinds Of Things Do You Keep In Your Studio?

Paintings by my Grandmother, various art books and piles of paper.

Do You Have Art Work By Other Artists?

Watercolors, oils and colored pencils by my Grandmother.  copper art from a Great-Grandmother, paintings by my two aunts, sketches by an uncle.

What Attracts You To Your Subject Matter?

Mystery or history.

What Music Do You Play In The Studio?

Never, I am just as likely to be wearing hearing protectors for absolute silence.

Where Do You Find Models For Your Figurative Pieces?

My family, extended family and friends.

What Impresses You About Other Artist's Works?

Expression of themselves while leaving you wanting to know more about the scene presented.

What Artists Inspire You?

19th Century English painters, neanderthals.

What Is Your Pet Peeve?

Art Nazi's whom think they "know" what art is and yet have no talent.

If Your Studio Was On Fire, What Is The One Thing You Would Save?

My Grandmother's paintings.

Describe Yourself In One Word:

Conflicted.

What's Your Best Advice You Have Ever Received?

"You can be anything you set your mind, but you must know yourself first....."


People Would Be Surprised To Learn That.....

I am not the person they might have known before I became a Christian.....


What Is The Biggest Misconception About the Artist's Life?

That you can produce on command and yet that is what is expected.


What Is One Place People Will Never Find You?

Where a whole lot of humanity is.  Truly a one on one kind of person.


What Are You Working On Right Now?

A series of paintings concerning mining history, for a book.


When You Are Not Painting, What Do You Enjoy Doing?

Being with my children and grandchildren.  Cooking for friends and family.


When People Come To Visit, Where Do You Take Them?
To see what I have completed, then to the kitchen to help make a meal!

Yummers