Give-away Winners

Hello, my turkey-stuffed friends! I apologize for not posting sooner, but between the holiday festivities and the sad death :(  of my camera, this is my first chance to take a photo, which had to be done during daylight hours due to the fact that the camera I borrowed doesn't have a working flash.

So without further delay, the winners chosen by Scout the Wonderdog are:

Angie of Hopemore Studios blog, who has won the book "Wabi Sabi: The Art of Everyday Life" by Diane Durston, along with her vintage and decorative papers,

and Lynne with an 'e' of Ragzedge Arts, who will receive "Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You about Being an Artist" by Austin Kleon, as well as the packet of papers.


Congratulations, Angie and Lynne!  Please email me your snail-mail addresses at sharmon.davidson@gmail.com, and I will put your winnings in the mail.  Thanks to everyone who entered, and to all my readers.

Things I Forgot

If this title seems a bit scary to you, just imagine how I feel.  If I actually included everything I forgot, this post would go on forever... Luckily, though, I don't remember most of it - ha!  Every year since I started blogging, I have always shared photos of my flower gardens, which have been a source of much pleasure, work, and therapy for me.

The front corner flower bed with antique seeder, orange honeysuckle vine, echinacea, Turk's cap lilies, Russian sage, black-eyed Susans, and liriope.

I tried a little photoshop-ery with some of these, just for fun. 

I really like the negative space in the two compositions above.

The shady flower bed by the side porch, with hostas, impatiens, ferns, and more echinacea (of course).

Two hosta flower close-ups, complete with bee in the second one.

Nicotainia in the front flower bed.  I like the weird 'floaty' quality in this photo.

This teeny-tiny moth was smaller than a dime; I probably wouldn't have noticed him without the telephoto lens. 



And while I'm playing catch-up, I just realized that I completely forgot to share any photos from my vacation this summer. So here is a quick look at my trip to Cumberland Falls, Big South Fork (of the Cumberland River) and the wildly beautiful Rockcastle River, all of them in Kentucky.

CUMBERLAND FALLS


 Cumberland Falls, complete with mist.


 
 We took a lovely hike down the Cumberland River below the falls,

 
  surrounded by high rock walls..

 
  ... the rushing river...


 
 ... rhododendron forests and trickling rivulets...


 
 ... that carve out huge rock shelters, given a few million years or so.



BIG SOUTH FORK

 The Big South Fork was muddy and swollen from recent storms...
 
 
 ... and looked like a river of cafe au lait...

   This the coal tipple at Blue Heron Mine, a now defunct mine which has been restored as a historical site.

 
 The bridge from the tipple to the other side of the river.


ROCKCASTLE RIVER

 
 The Rockcastle River is certainly deserving of its name...

 
 ... lots of rocks, for sure, but also sparkling, crystal-clear water...



 ... little sandy beaches...


 

... and some of the most gorgeous views ever, even in the rain.



Wishing you all a great weekend and a wonderful Thanksgiving next week!  Don't forget to enter my give-away; just leave a comment on my last post.  One of my dogs will choose 2 winners on Thanksgiving Day.

Something to Share, and a Give-away

I have a few pieces of good news and some other things to share with you.  First of all, I don't think I mentioned that one of my entries was accepted into the National Collage Society's

There were over 500 entries, so I was pretty excited that mine was chosen.  This year's exhibit is truly one of the best collections of collages I've seen in a very long time, even if I do say so myself, so please check it out.  A couple of examples to whet your appetite:

 Jan Filarski, The Dots Ran Away

Mike Church, Overtime

Dick Allowatt, Orbit

 As if that wasn't enough good fortune, I was recently notified that my work will be featured in ArtBuzz, the 2014 Collection - a hard cover book of work by the winners of their annual juried fine art search, in which I was awarded 2nd place for mixed media.

 Needless to say, I was thrilled (and surprised)!  You can pre-order a copy of it at the artist's discount price here.

Also, I'm very happy to announce that I have three pieces in a curated traveling show which will be opening in Louisville, Kentucky on December 7th.  If you're in the area, I hope you'll be able to come by for the opening reception.

Time has been shooting by at a very high rate of speed, and here it is, November already! It seems an appropriate time, with the holidays approaching, for the give-away I've been meaning to have for ages now, but never got around to. And since it's been so long, I've decided to double the fun and pick two winners this time.  Winners will receive:

 A generous selection of pages from my huge collection of antique and vintage books, including old textbook pages, dictionary pages (both English and Japanese), and maps (not the one pictured below).

The winners will also get several pieces of decorative papers, and to top it all off, each will receive one of the following books:

Wabi Sabi: The Art of Everyday Life, by Diane Durston

-or-

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative

All you have to do to be entered in the drawing is to leave a comment on this post.  You don't have to be a follower, but if you are, your name will be put in twice.  On Thanksgiving day, one of my dogs will choose the winners, and I'll post the names by the next day.  I thought Thanksgiving was an appropriate time for this, because I am truly so grateful to all my readers and followers for being the awesome people, advice-givers, cheerleaders and inspirations you are.  Good luck!