This is a piece I made last year that I reworked for a mixed media show that is opening Thursday in Magdalena, NM

Adela Sherman was born in Albuquerque on November 12, 1889 to William E. Sherman and Sofia Inez Garcia. Like many people in New Mexico she had a blended heritage. Her great-grandmother was a Barela (very important family in Albuquerque – there is a neighborhood named after them). On her dad’s side there isn’t much info – he was from Ohio. She married twice and had seven children – of which six survived into adulthood. She died in 1962 in El Paso. I made contact with someone who has been working on this family tree – hopefully they are a direct descendant – and maybe they will have the original photograph.

EDIT: July 24 – Received word back from one of the people I contacted yesterday. His children are descended from her sister Minnie. Apparently Adela was called “Della” by her family. I’ll be sending him a pic and he will be sending me a pic of Minnie. Hoping to hear more about their lives here in Albuquerque.

Image is from The Neighborhood Market today! Love that guitar!
What a week it’s been! Today I sold at a local artist market – I made no money as I bought too much from other vendors and musicians – but that’s ok – I had a fabulous time! We had another ATC workshop there also and they had a constant stream of people there making cards. I am really happy with how the workshops there have turned out – so much fun and so much art!! I was also did a photoshoot for work (I was the photographee – not the photographer). I actually had to put on make-up, figure out something cool to do with my hair, etc. It was on the roof of our shop so I also had to climb a ladder 20 feet into the air. Not planning on doing that anytime soon! It was a really fun time though – we have a really good group of people at work and we all goofed around and it was very relaxed.
It was also my birthday on Thursday, Chris and I went and saw Harry Potter and Friday I went out with my girlfriends (plus a few husbands) and ate at Standard Diner – my fave place in Albuquerque! And I got very cool prezzies – including great jewelry, a shopping spree up in Santa Fe last weekend, gift cards to Artisans (local art supply shop). And so many heartfelt cards – I have an amazingly talented, totally crazy, truly giving circle of friends!
And I made some great art – will have to take pics tomorrow. All the pieces I made this week are for a gallery show in August. It’s a mixed media show and I have two encaustics with collage, one resin piece with fiber and wire, and one fabric piece. All include my own photography and some major photoshopping as well.

My very cool friend Regina has just joined the blogosphere – she is an amazing artist who works with polymer clay, jewelry, and mosaic collages! Posting a pic of one of her latest creations.

So I was sifting through my angel images and realized I don’t have as many as I thought I did. Tons of cemetery imagery – but lots more madonnas than angels. Anyway – this is my favorite angel image

For Terry:

I made this images using one of the glass negatives. I gave it to my neighbor – who bikes to work. As soon as I saw it I thought of him. My neighbors, friends, and family are always getting random art from me.
I also really like giving presents. My fatal flaw is that I’ll see something and think “this would be great for so-and-so’s birthday” so I buy it – but then I NEED to give it to them right away because I’m so excited about it. Or I hide it from myself so I will definitely wait until their special day – and hide it so well I totally forget about it. Either way – when their actual birthday comes around I still have to go shopping for them. I’m such a dork!

So this month my ATC group’s theme is “Self Portraits”. I hardly ever follow the themes – feels too much like homework. But I LOVE self portraits. The only person I like taking my picture is me! Because of the evil artist block I hadn’t been able to come up with anything – and the trade is Saturday. Today inspiration finally hit!
Let me start off by saying I hate multiples – at least producing them. Feels too much like homework (hmm – there’s seems to be a “homework” theme to this post). So I decided to use the same main pic and then use different smaller pics. I made up nine cards and then decided I really wanted to give everyone all of these images. This is where the vanity comes in – do I really think people want that many pics of me? Anywaaaay, I decided to make little books. Once that decision was made I, of course, needed to make a cover for the book. So, little ole me who hates production (measuring, cutting, aligning things – feels too much like homework) ended up making nine 10-page books! And then I went ahead and designed a whole separate card since we usually have at least a dozen people at trade. Made six of the single cards. I posted all the images on my Flickr site.

Have I mentioned that I’ve been artistically blocked recently? Well I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I was doing some backups on my computer today and while doing that I actually made a little art. It only exists in the digital world currently but will be printed out soon.