The Morning After

I did ongoing updates on facebook about progress with the fair exhibits we were preparing, but not so much blogging.  Quick hits matched my work methods.  But here we are on Sunday morning/afternoon giving final touches to "Who Cares for the Caregiver?", my 30" x 40" collage.

"Who Cares for the Caregiver?"

I read over the directions in each category three or four times.  Only in the last reading, however, did I suspect that in the collage category even gallery wrapped canvases had to be framed.  It was four-ish on Saturday afternoon at the time, so ingenuity was required.  In keeping with the theme, I told Michael I wanted to use the cases in which bullets travel for the frame. (I'd been having him bring them home from the shooting range all through the spring).  I had styrofoam glue,which, I learned yesterday from a trustworthy source, must be applied in a very thin coat.  Anyhow, here's Michael working on the frame while I'm filling out the hangtags for our photography exhibits.

Still life with fixatives and the two eggs I drenched in Mod Podge but didn't get painted for the fair once I realized I'd accidentally signed up for Egg Ornaments rather than Egg to Be Sent to the White House in 2011.

I should add that we wheeled up to the building seven minutes ahead of the deadline; and with a minimum of panic got all of the photographs inside and the collage inside.  While I was getting the photos approved (the rules are specific about how entries must be prepared; and I saw several people leaving with their matted photos in hand; anything not 16 x 20 was disallowed), Michael returned to the Jeep and single-handedly carried in the approximately 5' tall, 2' deep, 6' wide altar that was my contribution to the Upcycled Art exhibit.  Only two things fell off on the trip inside, one being a Fisher Price dog from the '50s that small children would pull around by a string with half of his nose chewed off.  I'd used super strength glue, which goes to show why fixatives are the key to great art. I had scissors in my pocket and strapping tape in the Jeep, but no glue, so I took one of the half dozen necklaces off one of the two temple guards, tied it around the dog's neck, and anchored it to the guard. 

  We got home. I walked Laramie.  Laramie and I lay down across the bed and I slept 18 hours straight, with an hour-long interruption at midnight for a pimento cheese sandwich and a chat with Michael about our genius.