New Online Sculpture Gallery
I’m back from my short vacation, and this morning I took all new photos of my recent work so I could create a new online sculpture gallery. Please check it out and tell me what you think – all comments, as usual, are welcome.
Now that my visiting is done and the long-awaited gallery page is finished, I can start on my how-to book. Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions.
Last Thursday I took a Greyhound bus to Spokane, where my daughter and her family are living. Then on Friday we all rode together to Issaquah, where my brother and his wife live. The plan was to ride up to Bellingham on Saturday to visit my father and his wife Dianne, but that idea got squashed when Dianne came down with the flu. However, my brother and I did meet my dad at the casino in Bow, where we had a nice lunch. (I lost 47 cents, my brother won $30, and my dad put way too many quarters in the machines while he waited for us).
My dad’s the one who does all those concrete benches and concrete leaves, so I quizzed him about how to bend rebar and connect it with little wire thingies, like he does when he’s reinforcing his bench tops. He bought me a wire tool (you can see it here on his bench website – second and third photos) and showed me the which propane torch to buy. Of course, this means that my sculptures will start getting even bigger next spring, when I can work outside again. Jessie suggested a pair of walruses…
Speaking of Jessie, she created a painting of George, Washington and already has it up on her blog. We drove through that area on the way back to Spokane on Monday. I’ve always loved the colors around Vantage and all the scablands of Eastern Washington.
On Sunday my sister-in-law, Becky, let me help her paint a backdrop for a school play. I only painted a bit of blue on the wardrobe, (for the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), but it was exciting to get even a small part in a project that big. Becky painted a canvas backdrop that must have been 30′ x 60′. Art teachers get to have all the fun. (Although I think there are days when Becky would disagree with that statement).
Now for my rant – on Tuesday I arrived at the Spokane bus depot an hour early, as they suggest. When the bus was scheduled to leave the bus driver told us that a lug nut was loose on one of the wheels, and we needed to wait for a mechanic to come tighten it. One hour and 45 minutes later a guy drives up, spends 35 seconds with his wrench, and drives away. This delay caused us to miss our transfer in a town called Stanfield, in Oregon, and I ended up riding the bus all the way to Portland, then back to La Grande.
The 5 hour trip took 18 hours! A Pakistani family with a 3-year old child had to spend an extra 12 hours on the bus, as if a trip all the way to Omaha isn’t torture enough, even when the buses run on time.
They’re not usually late, the bus driver said, when I told him the bus was 8 hours late the last time I rode Greyhound. He was young, and obviously not comfortable getting the evil eye from a grandmotherly (I’m not willing to say “elderly”) woman. When we reached Portland he hung around looking apologetic much longer than he needed to – he didn’t cause the problem, after all.
Greyhound has no competition. Monopolies suck. If they had any competition at all, they would hire somebody to stand around in the bus depot with a wrench. Or they’d contract with a mechanic who actually values their business, so he wouldn’t take almost two hours to drive a few miles when they call him. It’s the lack of respect that made me angriest – the lack of respect for their customers, certainly, but also lack of respect for the drivers who have to deal face to face with those customers when the management’s decisions adversely affect their riders.
And the worst of it? The snow that was forecast to fall on the Blue Mountains on Tuesday waited until Wednesday. I could have driven to Spokane myself, without driving on even one snowflake. Sigh…
OK, rant’s over. Now I have to get started on that book.
- My favorite online bookstore.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Your sculpture gallery is an excellent addition to your website! Super decision on your part! Also, I’m still so in love with your Ghost Cat!
Dear Madam,
Paper mache is awesome. Someties I cannot sleep just thinking about how great paper mache is, for it is a truly awe inspiring art form. It often makes me want to elephant the monkey clock. You should start a facebook group, you could document your acheivements and speak to a younger audience, hopefully inspiring to the passion we both share for paper mache.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs.Thorp.
Peace Out
“elephant the monkey clock”?? I would LOVE to know what that means, Mrs. Thorp!
I’m just ogling your bobcat over on the gallery page. So nice!
Hello everyone!
I am new to this site and still trying to figure how to upload pics so if anyone can tell me please let me know.
The paper mache’s on this site are awesome!
I am doing alot of it and doing very well sales wise. I do alot of different mediums such as wall murals, light-weight custom clocks,etc…. I am also a very proud childrens book author that is sold not only nationwide but internationally as well. My book is one that others will follow using the same characters. The title is:
RISKI RAT “THE WANNABE PIRATES” I created RISKI RAT when i was just 16 while living on the streets so the book is a fiction/non-fiction story.. you can check out my work on Facebook under the name RISKI RAT. If you have any questions whatsoever please feel free to contact me! ~DICKY
Hi Dicky. We would love to see your work, and learn more about your art projects. We now have two ways to add your images to this site – I’ll explain the hard way first:
To add an image to a comment on the blog, you must host your photos on another website. If you don’t have a website of your own, you can get a free account on a photo sharing site, like Flickr. Once you have the image on a website, you can add the image to a comment by clicking on the link below the comment text box that say “You can add images to your comment by clicking here.” When the little box comes up it will want the URL to the image, not the page the image is hosted on. The file will end with .gif or.jpg.
OK – I know that isn’t easy. That’s one of the reasons that I started the new Paper Mache Forum. The discussion board script allows you to directly upload an image from your computer. I put up a post that shows you how to upload photos to your forum posts. I encourage everyone to share their creations. If you feel like showing people how you made them, that would be great, too.
Sounds like the bus ride from hell lol. Reminds me of my hellish bus ride with 2 under 2 from Louisiana to New York. 52 hours on a bus with 2 toddlers. I was the living dead by the time I got to where I was going.
Oh yes – the pleasure of babies on a bus. Wouldn’t that make a good title for a movie?
Hi, am Praveen a proprietor of Anjanadri Creations at Bangalore INDIA. saw your web & impressed of the way which u have used the waste ingredients into fine finish product. All the best keep doing. Please do post of your works, will see & enjoy.