Our Very Own Belle

In the spirit of Fall, I created some new, approx. 30" x 30" “Pond Leaves” wall sculptures for The Artful Home for consideration in their upcoming catalogs. One of the benefits of being a Guild/Artful Home Artist is their  Artist Services support, National representation and ability to upload original works for sale to their web site. I'm still getting the hang of doing business this way, but am appreciative of all the support I've received from them. I especially like the results of the muted leaves (the sculpture with no burgundy leaves) on the rusted patina round stock. I welded some 

additional embellishments 

on the surface of the round stock, creating some twig/bark like texture and set it out in the rain to weather and patina naturally. Next, I hand rubbed some yellow, amber and orange enamel paint to the leaves to give the leaves a more muted look. I wanted the patina surface to not be lost under the paint. I really like the effect. The brighter leaves were also hand painted enamel with layering various fall colors. Because I use One Shot Professional Sign 

Painter’s Enamel paints for the finish, these pigments have proven to work indoors as well as outdoors. We have had such a mild Fall that I used the leaves in my garden as my inspiration for the color palette to work from.

The 12^th annual UAF Farthest North Forest Sports Festival is an annual fall event that celebrates the centuries-old traditions of lum

ber-jacking and provides students, staff, faculty, and the general public an opportunity to test their woods

men skills, learn about the boreal forest and the discipline of forestry, and simply enjoy a fall day as a spectator. The festival is sponsored by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Resource Management Society.  Events include the Pulp toss, Axe throw (Kristen smoked last year's competition in the Axe throw), 1-person crosscut, 2-person cross-cut, Jack & Jill crosscut, Fire building, Birling and Log rolling, –which this year was a balmy 40 degrees and no lake ice had to be broken to hold the event! After winning 3 Medals, Kristen, our oldest offspring, and ironically is doing her Graduate work in Chemical Oceanography, was named the 2009 Belle of the Woods! Now that's an Alaskan Grown, Alaska Woman!

Kristen’s Team PAXSON -Overall team winners of the 2009 Forest Sports Festival! From Left, John Hogue, Patrick Pritchett, Amy Rath, Josh Good, Kyle Schuman, Kristen Shake, Amy Tippery, Paxson the Wonder Dog, and Jaiden Rath

Lumberman Jaime & Kristen win the Gold with 14 seconds in the “Jack & Jill!”