Echelon Gran Fondo - Hood River Bike Ride

Yesterday, a group of friends and coworkers participated in an organized bike ride to raise money for the Livestrong Foundation and cancer research, called the Echelon Gran Fondo.

Six of us rode the various distances: 30, 60, and 100 miles. The ride began and ended in Hood River, Oregon.

This is a photo of Janice and I at one of the Columbia River Gorge viewpoints. The Gorge is absolutely beautiful. You can see Washington on the far side of the river.

Halloween Queen's Giveaway

You all should hop on over to the Artistic Halloween Queen's blog and check out the giveaway. The drawings will start on October 1 and run through October 31 ~ a prize giveaway for each day. Just click on the badge or the link below it.

http://artisticthalloweenqueens.blogspot.com/2010/09/queen-for-day-giveaway.html

A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day. We took advantage of a day off work to take the boat out for a fun sail. The wind was just right, and the river flat. There were two or three other sailboats out on the river, very little ship traffic, and quite a few small fishing boats to avoid. I saw the occasional seal and a few pelicans.

While I'm dying to finish the doll I've been working on, I'm committed to finish painting the living room and returning to some semblance of normalcy in that space. It's a large room, which apparently becomes even larger as I paint.

Three to Go

Remember a few years back when it was all the rage to be classifed as spring, summer, winter or fall people? And clothing and makeup were selected based on our seasons? Well I sort of do the same thing with dolls. Using natural light as much as possible, I pull fabrics and place them next to the stuffed doll. In most cases, you can tell right away which colors your doll needs to avoid and which are flattering. So I've lined up some fabrics to go with the remaining three Averill dolls I'll be working on.

I think this will be the next Averill doll I finish. I've always been fond of autumn colors (and wear them myself much of the time). The top fabric with the leaves and swirls will be the skirt. The bottom fabric is a very dark brown, and will probably be arms and legs. Her eyes will be green.
I chose these fabrics because they complemented her skin tone, and I wanted to use colors I don't usually select. I think her skirt will be the red print (second from the left), and her sleeves will be the cream print next to it. She will probably have blue eyes.
This selection of fabrics is a work in progress. The skirt (and possibly the sleeves), will be from the middle fabric. I'm not sure what color her eyes will be.

I haven't even thought about hair yet, but it will all work out in the end.

One of Four Done

Today I finished one of the four Averill dolls I started last week. Naturally, I took the photos before realizing I forgot to poof up her sleeves a little. Oh, well.

While I dislike the sheen of the craft velour, the camel color is nice. This doll is the third from the left in my previous post.

I used some velvet I had on hand for her slippers (only because it went with her coloring), and I'll never use it for this purpose again! In the past I've used a thin stretch panne velvet which has worked really well. This stuff had no stretch at all, was very hard to keep aligned (even with lots of pins and basting), and took much longer to sew.

Itchin' to make some dolls

My day-to-day schedule is still just as hectic as ever, but since coming home from ODACA Day I've been so wanting to work on dolls. I decided to start by making a set of Averill dolls, using my new and improved mold. I thought it might be interesting to use a variety of skin colors to hone my paint blending skills, though I really don't care for the sheen that the craft velours have.

The baked polymer clay faces have been covered with knit fabric and are ready for gesso. I've also gone through my fabric stash and picked out fabrics that complement each skin tone.

Now all the faces have been gessoed, and the first one has been painted to match one of the bodies (hopefully, the paint always dries just a bit darker).

Primitive Americana Patriotic Challenge Doll ~ Revealed

Now that the voting is over, I can post my Primitive Americana Patriotic Challenge doll. I called him "Freddie, waiting for the parade." He's clay over cloth with a cloth-over (t-shirt knit), then painted with gesso and acrylics. His clothing is removable.




The propeller on his cap is a little big, but I couldn't think how to fabricate one with the deadline looming. So I bought a balsa airplane from the toy store.

All the challenge entries were wonderful and all so different from each other considering we all used the same pattern by Sherrie Nordgren.

I took Freddie to Chicago with me, and sold him. It made me sad to see him go, but I had to sell dolls to pay for the trip. I know he's in a good home.

Architectural Tour, Chicago

Today we walked to Merchandise Mart, which shouldn't have been difficult on a normal day. I meant to mention earlier that there's a movie being filmed right near our hotel - Transformers 3. It's been really interesting, but has closed off sections of street, cross walk, and river walk - requiring circuitous detours to get anywhere (and thereby adding what feels like miles to our trek).

After visiting the Merch Mart, we took an architectural boat tour which was really interesting. The talk our tour guide gave during the cruise was incredibly detailed, with lots of information - which he had MEMORIZED. I was impressed.

Navy Pier, Chicago

Today we walked for miles, taking the "scenic route" to Navy Pier. We saw "Inception" at the IMAX theater, then rode the big ferris wheel. I wasn't aware that my husband doesn't care that much for heights. I'm still trying to talk him into going to the top of the Sears (Willis) tower. I'm not getting very far on that front. The photo below was taken from the ferris wheel.

Art Institute Chicago & Transformers 3

My first real site-seeing excursion here in Chicago was today. We immediately noticed that something was going on right outside our hotel. There were crowds of people and streets were blocked off. Then we heard a movie was being filmed (we found out later it was "Transformers 3").
I saw a car hanging off an open bridge and men with automatic weapons running up and down the stairs on the opposite side of the Chicago River, with lots of smoke and fire. Then I heard someone yell "30 seconds!" Thirty seconds to what!?

A helicopter hovered overhead, and men jumped out with parachutes...right over the river and between the skyscrapers. They landed on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the river. That had to take some skill! I have no idea if these were the "good guys" or the "bad guys."

I was able to take a photo from the hotel, of the city block that was barricaded. It's amazing how they made it look like a war zone, with rubble and burned out vehicles.

After all that excitement we made our way to the Art Institute, which was walking distance from our hotel. They currently have a really wonderful Impressionist exhibit. There was so much to see, and I know we missed some of it. Below is one of my favorites.