Fields Series Solo Show

Spring

Summer No. 1 and No. 2

My "Fields" series was accepted by the staff at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, in Prairie City, IA, to hang from October 1 through the end of November. I cannot wait to see all 22 pieces hanging again!!!

Peter Irniq Installing Inuksuk

City Employees drilling holes into the stones so that large screws and rods can be inserted into the stones.

The Artist

Peter Irniq Installing Inuksuk at Brookside Park, Ames, Iowa.  Peter will be giving a talk tonight at the Ames Public Library. You can read more about the project here.

Let there be Paint!

Painting Update 092411

Scraped and being primed.

And now some paint.  The scaffolding and ladder stages will have to be moved so that he can get the edges of the bump out section.

Bug Eyed!

Praying Mantis at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

Hello There!

Porch Progress 092111

From this to:

This! 

Now to finish stripping and painting the porch soffit.  I've sanded and primed the hand rails, they will recieve their first coat of black paint tomorrow!  John has the trim to finish on two columns to the right, and then it's the big project taking the railings off of the porch, dismantel them, scrape, sand, prime, and paint the parts, put them back together and re-install.  Somewhere in this I will be winterizing my gardens.

Cleaning up the Trim

Or let there be heat guns, John is using a heat gun and a custom made paint scraper to remove old paint from the trim under the soffit.

West Side Update 092111

The look, what are you doing?  And what do you mean you want me to wash the windows while I'm up here???

Small area to be scraped, sanded, primed, and then painted.  Then I think he said he was going to repaint the entire west side since the rest of the painted area is now going on 10-11 years old.

Porch Update 092111

I hear the scaffolding is coming down later today, so I'll be able to start taking the railings off of the porch and work on them, and clean then paint the column bottoms.

Column Update 091911

Now taped off and getting all striped up!

Now with the tape removed!!! 

Getting closer.

Ghost Garden

John says it looks like I'm getting ready for Halloween, NOT, I'm just trying to keep my cukes from freezing.

Tomato garden, under cover to protect my maters of course.

Under the fabric, gobs of green maters!!!

Column Update 091611

Getting closer to completion with the columns, the cold weather has slowed us down and big time.  John has this coming week off from work so we're hoping to finish the entire soffit and also finish painting the west side of the house.  Looks like winter is coming early this year.

One more color, the sorjourner blue, needs to be applied and then second coats, touch ups, and we're done.

Everyone keeps asking me if we're going to paint the trims at the bottoms of the columns. Of course, the color patterning will be the inverse of the top, with everything sitting atop a ruby red base.

Angel Toes

Porch Redux Update 091111

Detail of the column trim. The larger beaded band closest to the ruby red will be painted the medium green color you see on the soffit next to the column. The little bit of trim under the larger beaded band will be light blue. The smaller beaded trim, beneath the copper band will be a light sage green with a light blue band just underneath it. Should be done by next weekend.  The blue I mentioned will be the same blue as the porch ceiling.

All five columns have paint on them now, the trims need to be finished.

Now to scrape the porch ceiling and get it painted!  The color I have is called Sorjourn Blue, it's kind of a robins egg blue.

Porch Update - 091011

Closer and yet so far away, the new section of soffit is painted, the first coats have been applied to it and three of the porch columns.

The porch rail is my next project, well after I finish painting the south wall of the porch and the window trims.

I have the trims to paint on the tops and the bottoms of the columns, and then it'll be time for paint coat number two.  The roundish trims are a pain to paint around, two shades of the sagey greens and a copperpot stripe in between the rounded trims.

Sheltie Heaven

The master bed is way better than a patch of polar fleece any day of the week!

yes she really does sleep like this, she's rather rigid looking isn't she!

Crows

Crows, they were going after the Cooper's Hawk that had been sitting atop the light pole a few minutes earlier.

Female Coopers Hawk

Sheltie Gate

Temporary sheltie gate, otherwise known as a skirting table, but it works!

Mark Making with Nature DVD Set Special

$39.00 + $4.95 Shipping

Normally $49.00

Now through Sunday, September 11th.

MMWN DVD Special

$39.00 + $4.95 Shipping

Now through Sunday September 11th.

 

Oak Cloth Part 2

Oak Cloth Part 1

Finally!!!

Finally we have tomatoes, just in time to NOT ripen due to a temperature drop.

Spent

Thistle

In my garden.

Inspiration

On my table, antlers from JB Knacker.

Small Heart Shape

Detail from Oak Leaf Cloth

Oak Leaf Experiment

Posted updates plus video over at the Natural Surface Network in the Compost Dyeing Group!  You have to be a member of the network to view the group, membership is free.