Bouffant Blonde

My last show of 2008 will be December 6-7 at the newMontgomery Convention Center at the Renaissance Hotel and Spa. Show hours are Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $2 per person. This is show is organized by the Society of Arts and Crafts of Montgomery and Central Alabama (SACS). It will be filled with wonderful handmade and holiday gifts at affordable prices. I will have several Miz Bea Blonde cabinets, one child's table and chair set and plenty of art. I also will have Chistmas trees (the wood variety), recipe holders, candy containers. pins, red hat ornaments and many other gifts for young and old, male and female. Stop by and say hello. Mention you read this blog and receive a free gift.

My next show is scheduled Sept. 13, 2008, on the campus of Troy University in Troy, Alabama. It's a fundraiser put on by the alumni association. The arts and crafts event will be at the Troy University Alumni House at the corner of George Wallace Drive and Highland Ave. This is across the street from the football stadium. The show hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. I will have many new items available for sale, including affordable Christmas gifts. I'll also be taking furniture orders for Christmas delivery. These include children's furniture and novelty cabinets. Hope to see you there!

Don't all little girls twirl around and dream at some point of being a dancer? Dancing Girl reminds me of all those dreams. Fantasies really. Very few girls ever have the talent and staying power to realize that dream. Dancing Girl is an original dimensional piece that is approximately 24 x 48". Her body is made of super-thin plywood. Her skirt is lace, with a pink ribbon for the waistband. Her fingernails are painted to match her outfit. Of course.

This cabinet was my contribution to the Funky Furniture Auction held at Landmark Park recently. The event was to raise money for a scholarship fun. The original cabinet was stained a dark brown. It came with hearts cut into the doors and chicken wire behind them. It didn't have a back. I was told it had been chicken wire. It was definitely country -- which I'm not. I took the old doors off and put new doors on. It cut some har, a couple of eyes, put on nose knobs and some bright lips and Miz Bea was almost ready. I added her shoes and hat and she was set. This piece of functional art is whimsical and unique. And it was all for a good cause.

This table and chair set is one of my favorites. It's bright and colorful. Just happy. Kids seem to really love it. Parents like the alphabet that's around the table edges. It turns the table into an educational tool. Mr. Fish is so happy and delighted to see the kids that gather around him. It's like he's talking to them. I never intended to build children's furniture. Sometimes at auctions I would happen onto furniture that needed redoing. I'd buy it, paint fun characters on it, and sell it. People wanted more and more. Hence the building. I've evolved over the years in my attempts to make tables and chairs that are sturdy enough to withstand the children who climb on them and write on them and spill juice on them. Of course, anything is destructible. But I think my sets are pretty solid. The downside of this became the children's furniture artist label. This is a really small part of what I do, but it's what people remember the most. That can be f...

This piece of art was a different avenue for me. I'm accustomed to bright colors. The idea seemed to come from nowhere and wouldn't let go until I created the piece. Each piece of dimensional art takes a great deal of time. I think people sometimes confuse it's simplicity with quick and easy. It's neither. Obviously, the idea came first. Then I drew the face. It took several tries to get exactly what I wanted. Then I traced that onto thin plywood and cut out two exactly alike. I used a jigsaw for that. I added the frame to a 24 x 48 inch (approx.) piece of plywood. I painted each side. Then I painted and inserted the two faces. Each face has an eye and an eyeball cut out on the band saw and layered for the final piece. I think what I love most about this piece is the truth it speaks. Black and white and whatever color out there looks at the world from their view. It is truly a rare person who considers someone else, someone different from them. Yet, we're all see...

This g iraffe is one of my favorite art pieces ever. It was just so much fun to do. And doesn't he look happy? He now lives in the nursery of a precious little girl. As always I started with an idea. I'd never done a giraffe before and wanted to give it a try. I started by drawing a pattern. It took a while to get that exactly right. Next I selected a thin piece of wood for the backing. It's approximately 24 inches by 48 inches. I selected another thin piece of wood and transferred the pattern I'd drawn onto it. I cut it out with a jigsaw. The "frame" is made from thin slices of wood that I painted and then glued around the edges. The giraffe tail is made from toothpicks. Each of the "spots" were cut on a bandsaw, as were the eyes and hooves. I layered it all together and Mr. Happy Giraffe was born. Creating dimensional folk art is fun but it also takes a great deal of time, effort and imagination. Things that might work well on a canvas won't ...