Blog Entries

Embellished giclee print on canvas stolen

peter@togel.com — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 01:00:00 +0100

It happened at the Craftsmen's Classic Art & Crafts Festival at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA.

On March 29, 2009, "somebody" took "Quest For Freedom" - a 20" x 10", hand embellished and signed giclee print on canvas from the walls of our booth and disappeared.

At this time, we are still looking at our surveillance videos.

As this one was the first gallery wrapped print we released, there is no second giclee [...]

It Happened!

conni@charisma-art.com — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Our nation finally managed to break away from pre-set notions of who gets to be president and who gets to represent the people in our country in the Whitehouse - and we all got to watch history happen...Quite exciting, really, and touching and inspiring, all at once. Too bad my sheep don't care too much about watching TV, or I would have plopped them on the couch with me to watch the events happen - they would have been thrilled to see all that happen.

The best part of the el [...]

Someone stole the beach!

conni@charisma-art.com — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Normally I try to avoid reading too much in the way of current event hype, but this story about the stolen beach in Jamaica was just too funny to pass by.

Why (well, other than the usual obvious "for money" answer) would someone drive a truck to one beach on an island, and cart it away - especially to another spot on that same island. And how did they accomplish this, without being noticed?

On the other hand - Lake Hartwell, which is right next door to our house has a s [...]

Kentucky Lucky

conni@charisma-art.com — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

After the stormy Neptune Festival in VA Beach, we dashed home for a quick reload of material, and headed to Louisville, KY for the St. James Court Art Fair - one of the two best art shows in the nation.

Even though many had warned us of chaotic setups, etc., all went just perfect - setup was a breeze, the organizers and volunteers were outstanding, the weather absolutely maaahvelous, and the visitors seemed quite happy to have us there.

Even though we were in the "inner cou [...]

And after the storm...

conni@charisma-art.com — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

As promised, here are some pix of the "during the storm" and "after the storm" phases in Virginia Beach at this year's Neptune Festival.

This was the sight when we first arrived - set-up time. Our booth space is the one immediately to the left of the blue sign by the railing.

Fortunat [...]

Weathering the Storm

conni@charisma-art.com — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Storm season? Oh yes, that...

Yesterday we were all geared up to leave for Virginia Beach to participate in the Neptune Festival on the boardwalk. Since Neptune IS the guy for the occasion, he chose this occasion to throw some excitement into everybody's schedule.

With the storm moving in, setup for the show has been postponed, so we left early this morning instead. Getting here was a trip that took forever in my mind - but I spent most of the time snoozing or just thinking wi [...]

Headed towards Baaathlehem

conni@charisma-art.com — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Right, summer isn't even really over yet - but, in light of the fact that I'll be on the road from now until December, I want to get a headstart on whatever paintings I can finish before the christmas season is here.

From what I see on the easel at the moment, the sheep are right there with me - they've already packed up their gifts and are marching towards the little town of Baaathlehem, to see if they can find a little someone to bestow their benevolence upon. I'm sur [...]

Where'd she go?

conni@charisma-art.com — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

well, it seems this blogging stuff is just something I can do on the sidelines of the insanity here - nonetheless, for right now, I'm back, so here's a short update inbetween the pages of mayhem:

• the kitchen:

with the help of Uli & Tassilo (some german friends that are visiting here this summer), we managed to remove the upper cabinets of our kitchen, move some waterpipes, and paint the kitchen in anticipation of the arrival of our new cabinets.

For now, w [...]

Living Life

conni@charisma-art.com — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Ha - you probably thought that was the end of my summer...but ooooh no, there is more...

but I'll spare you most of the details, just a short list of what I've been doing:

• cleaned and re-organized my studio space (ashes to ashes, dust to dust - for sure, somebody dead was there....I've never seen a place that dusty, except for the woodworking place I used to work at).

Before:

In the studio...

conni@charisma-art.com — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Finally there is a break in our show schedule, which means I now have time to catch up with some long overdue work in the studio. First on my agenda was a commissioned piece based on "Love at First Sight". Though commissions are not what I do, this was a special case where it was neccessary. And, the new piece turned out pretty good as well - here, have a look:

[...]

Gatlinburg Fine Art Festival tomorrow

conni@charisma-art.com — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

We made it up the mountains to Gatlinburg today, just in time for a maaaahvelous VIP dinner hosted by various organisations here in town.

Meeting other artists of shows gone by is always the highlight of any art show for me, so this evening was very pleasant. We also made the aquaintance of some gentlemen from Dresden, Germany at our table - who happen to be aquainted with one of our best friends' father. Small, small world... (betcha you just started humming "it's a small [...]

Turtle update

conni@charisma-art.com — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Just a short update on "Bentley, the turtle" - after the kids got to say good-bye to him before school this morning, he must have decided it's time to move on...when I got up around 8, he had vanished from the fenced area we had put him in.

We have a large yard (about an acre, 80% fenced) surrounded by fields/meadow (about 4.5 acres worth). The fence is one he can't possibly fit through, the only exit it the one down by the road, and we don't have much vegetation i [...]

A Pratchett moment in time...

conni@charisma-art.com — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Have you ever had a moment that just made you go "hmmmm - that was plainly weird..."?

Today my parents stopped by the house on their way to a local Alpaca farm (Lucky Acres Alpacas - here is their website: http://www.luckyacresfarm.com ) to buy some Alpaca yarn for Peter's mom (she's an avid knitting nut), some honey for my dad (he's an avid honey nut) and to introduce my dad to the alpacas there.

The owners Gloria and Joe are sweet, sweet people, and s [...]

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2008

conni@charisma-art.com — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Boy, what a weekend!

After a few weeks of feverish preparations getting ready for one of the largest Fiber and Sheep Festivals in the USA, we made the long - and I mean loooooong - journey up to Maryland. Long not neccessarily because of the distance alone, but anybody traveling that distance in a car with three kids armed with Nintendo DS machines and without headphones must be slightly insane - I think I'm a perfect match for that...

Anyway - we did not quite know what to ex [...]