Linda Kelly of Sweet Water Bronze

We met some great artists at the Cowboy Festival last weekend -- the local talent in this part of Canada is phenomenal.  One artist I want to share with you today is Linda Kelly from Kelowna, British Columbia and her art just about totally blew us away.  She creates bronze sculptures and does all her own wax chasing from her original pieces which is a very complex process.

Linda was working on her sculptures during the show and I managed to sneak in some time to talk with her.  She gave me permission to take a few photos and share them with you but if you click here you will see more of her work on the Evans Fischer Gallery website.

This piece titled "Catastrophe" really grabbed my attention and the photo below shows one side ...

And this is the opposite ....

This one is titled "size matters not"

I feel so blessed to have met Linda and have so much appreciation for her talent as well as her beautiful personality which shines through her work as well.

Howdy!

Howdy Partners!  We spent today unpacking all of our items from the weekend at the Cowboy Festival and reflecting on the fantastic time we had!  It was so much fun we are already looking forward to next year.  Me met so many interesting and fun-loving people and enjoyed visiting with the other vendors, guests and entertainers that our voices were almost hoarse by the end of the three days.

We were so busy the whole time but Dave would kick me out and make me take a break now and then so I would use the time for a few photo opportunities.

These two are from the historic town of Barkerville which was a bustling town in the gold rush days.  If you click on the link you can read more about this great place.   Don't you love their costumes?  We first heard of Barkerville when a theater group from there came to our town for a musical production which was one of the best performances we ever attended. 

There was plenty of entertainment the whole weekend and the Kamloops Cowboy Festival is a major stopping point for the Cowboy Poet circuit for North America. 

There was also plenty of good music which included a country music Rising Star showcase competition at the trade show where we were set up.  

There were also workshops to attend for cowboy poetry writing and yodeling.  

This lady is one of the can-can dancers all in costume for the dinner theater each evening.

Here is a vendor with some of his handcrafted leather saddles and western wear and accessories.

There was also an incredible artist I met there that I will tell you about tomorrow. 

Cowboy Festival & New Website

We now have two days of the Cowboy Festival under our belts with one more to go.  I planned to do a blog post yesterday but we both arrived home totally exhausted.  We are pretty tired tonight as well so I thought I would show you a photo of our booth and then share more with you about everything later.

This is the map of where our space is located.  There is a talent show running most of the time so we are entertained with some talented country western musicians.

I should also mention that we have now launched our new website in time for this big event which you can see here.  It is still in the early stages of setting up but the basics are all there.

Time now for some shut eye as we have another busy day tomorrow.

Mid Week Blog Debris

I came across this cool aptitude test based on the Dewey Color System.   The results will tell you what type of career you are best suited for.   You can take the test here.

Dave and I both took the test and were surprised with how accurate the results were.

Bargello Bead Necklaces

I finally have some new Bargello bead necklaces that are finished to show you.  The beads and necklaces are Dave's designs and I love how they turned out.

Granma's Bed

Well I spent the last few days reducing all of our feather canes and shaping them into beads for necklaces, boot jewelry and earrings.

Here are the canes that I started with.

  You will see what color recipes I used here.

We now have plenty of sanding and finishing to do over the next few days as well as working on a fresh new look for our displays at the Cowboy Festival which starts a week from today - March 11.  It is going to be an exciting event with plenty of food, fun and entertainment!

New Bargello Colors

We're extremely busy these days getting ready for the Cowboy Festival which is one of our larger shows of the year.  Since I don't have too many finished pieces to share yet I thought I would give you a sneak peek at some of our latest Bargello we are working on.  This one is in the color combos of Grape (color recipe # 10-4), Blueberry (color recipe # 9-3) and Lagoon (color recipe # 8-3).  The color recipes are provided in my Clay Color System Tutorial.

The beads have just been baked and haven't even been sanded or buffed yet.  I will show you how the finished pieces will look later on when they are done.  Now I have to get back to work (play) ....