The Other Dog Race

For those of you who prefer motor sports to the 4 legged kind of snow sports, Alaska also has the Iron Dog. The grueling race begins with 28 teams of two. The Iron Dog course distance is over 2,000 miles, starting in Big Lake with a halfway stop in Nome and finishing in Fairbanks, making it the World’s longest snowmobile race. Participants cover some of Alaska’s most remote and rugged terrain while confronting some the harshest winter conditions. Survival skills are essential, making it the World’s toughest snowmobile race. All teams in race classes are a team of two persons and two snowmobiles for safety. This year major snowmobile manufacturers had their best performance engineers here to observe and learn what some of the harshest winter conditions can do to their sleds! Mechanical failures can end the race for a team that has thousands of dollars and years of effort committed and this year was no different. Combined with mechanical challenges, extreme weather conditions and Alaska's harsh terrain, teams were again tested throughout the course. And with back to back victories the winners of the 2011 this weekend (and 2010!) Iron Dog are Tyler Huntington and Chris Olds winning $50,000! Here is a link to KTUU NBC Sports on the 2011 Iron Dog Race. Congratulations Tyler & Chris and team Polaris!

Alaska Hearts Dogs!

On Friday downtown Anchorage was preparing for the annual Anchorage Fur Rondy festival which includes the World Championship Dog Sled Races. I dropped off my entry at the Quilted Raven Quilt Challenge which is located near 4^th & G street downtown. Luckily I found a parking meter and only had to walk a few blocks but it gave me a chance to watch the mushers set up for the Rondy races. I’ve included a picture of the "Mush-On" Art Quilts above that had been entered so far and a picture of my friend Ann’s entry at left, “Boning Up!” Isn’t it cute? It’s a dog checking the race route for the Iditarod dog sled mushers racing to Nome on March 5. Here are some pictures of the sprint racers and dog sled teams getting ready for the race through downtown Anchorage this weekend.

Couldn't We All Use A Little Kickstart?

“Help a sister out” asks Lizzy House. Lizzy is a fan and supporter of KickStarter which is a new way to “Fund & Follow Creativity.” KickStarter says it’s “the largest funding platform for creative projects in the WORLD” and Lizzy wants us all to help Jennifer… I first heard about KickStarter last year when a local artist, Sheila Wyne, was seeking funding for the building and installation of her sculpture “Spore.” Her project coordinator sent out an e-mail requesting people to become “backers” to help fund Sheila’s project, travel expenses etc. of $15,000. After checking out Jennifer’s needs I checked to see how Sheila’s project did and read that “Spore” was fully funded to the tune of 146 Backers that raised $15,308 of a $15,000 goal last year. 3 of those “backers” pledged $1,000 or more and another 3 pledged $500 or more and 4 pledged $250 or more, the stats read.

Sorry, but this just totally blows my mind.

Jennifer's needs are a bit more modest…she is making dolls and only needs $8,000. This is her request in part: “Recently, I got an order request from a MAJOR NATIONAL department store chain. This would be such a great opportunity to take my business from handmade to the real deal! BUT...I am afraid to commit without the proper funding, factory line-up, insurance & most important, costly CPSIA (safety/lead testing). I have 6 dolls designed to launch & am working with a US factory. Funding would help: 
Sample dolls at a US manufacturer 
Properly test dolls to meet the CPSIA requirements (lead, flammability, small parts, etc) 
Liability Insurance 
Cost of materials - fabric printing, etc 
Finally, doll production for this large order!” My feeling is Jennifer should be afraid to commit without proper funding, it just makes good business sense! What’s wrong with securing a line of credit or obtaining a business loan, putting together a business plan and thinking through the entire project from concept, design to sales & delivery and accounting? If all the numbers work, then her business plan and sales projections should work –right?

What’s been causing me conflict this afternoon is I've been thinking about Linda’s Blog post “Spare Change” and reading about the out of work, mother of 3 begging for spare change. This is in direct contrast to reading about art projects securing thousands of dollars of funding through the internet on KickStart. I feel like I want to set up a KickStart page for that out of work mother of 3 and all the other struggling people out there. I'm all for artists receiving funding and helping fellow artists out, or anyone who is in need for that matter. I'm just not sure I have what it takes to put a project up on KickStart or be a KickStart "backer." What are YOUR thoughts on KickStart? Have you used KickStart or plan to in the future?

One thing leads to another, which leads to another, which leads...

8:00 am Anchorage Park Strip. This was the view on my morning "walkies" with Nimbus. The temperature was a cool 8 degrees but there was DAYLIGHT!

It started with winning silent auction bids. To support Gus’ middle school we bid on several silent auction items during school conferences and among several items we won for $30 (!deal!) a gently used third generation iPod Nano that a parent had donated. Included in our winnings also were a couple of large gift baskets filled with items any boy would love. Gus lately has been hooked on Daddy-O’s iPod that has a ga-gillion mega bites and an incredibly extensive music library –though Gus’ favorite parts are the games and Johnny Cash… To get the “new” iPod up and running I needed to get a new cable and had Derek load up a new music library for him. At the MacStore where I bought the cable, they threw in a very cool

rubber tire style frog skin cover out of the FREE bin because our style of Nano is “old” -cool I’ll take it! After getting the baskets home and sorting through all of the things we won, I ended up donating some of the items starting a thrift store bag. To make room to store the large empty baskets, I needed to organize and clean out the storage area under the stairs. While cleaning out under the stairs, I started cleaning out my studio… I can’t even call it Spring Cleaning because it was only 4 below yesterday morning! But a good Spring Cleaning it was, all followed by buying that little iPod. While cleaning the studio, I got rid of several outdated pieces of office equipment, including a vintage fax machine and a copier. I was able to take those to Total Reclaim which provides recycling (for only 35 cents a pound) and management services for Computer and Electronics Recycling, EcoLights Lamp Recycling, Refrigerant Services, Appliance/HVAC Recycling and who are “committed to protecting the environment and preserving the natural

beauty of the state for all Alaskans.” While buying the new cable for Gus’ “new” iPod, I broke down and also bought a JBL dock for Daddy-O’s iPod so we can all enjoy his music. Our vintage stereo system has long been collecting dust after we rid ourselves of the gigantic speakers that we use to use as end tables. I’m not kidding, our old speakers were the size of college dorm room mini-fridges! We kept saying we’ll buy some of those new hi-tech mini speakers to hook up to the stereo and CD shuffler but took so long that the entire system became obsolete. So along with a now growing bag of donation items to the thrift store I also carted out of the house our old stereo system. That thing weighed a TON!! Holy Cow, thank goodness I didn’t have to pay by the pound to donate the stereo like I did the obsolete office equipment!! Now filling the house with great sound, the footprint of our temporary music system is the size of a dinner plate and the studio and house are about 500 pounds lighter, thanks to our winning auction bids!

Meet Oscar! His owner is holding the leash for me while I take a picture of Nimbus and Oscar a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, our informal "walkies" buddy!

Uncle!

It’s only February and there’s still more Winter ahead for us Alaskans, but I’m ready for Summer or at least Spring! Happily, the added daylight is starting to finally make a difference each day and after all, what am I complaining about, poor Kristen has been reporting temps of -30 and -40 below up in Fairbanks! A snowstorm blew into town yesterday complete with weather advisory's leaving snowfall anywhere from a mere 4” to over 10” in Girdwood! Yippee for us skiers –if you’re not a

wiener like me and have been waiting for killer snow AND warmer temps. The thermometer says 12 degrees this morning… brrrr!

There’s an octopus

at Katie’s Gallery now –one of my favorite subjects to make. Maybe it’s because I’ve been dreaming about tropical bodies of water, to warm my old bones –mmm, a girl can only dream. It’s a larger seascape sculpture about 6’ long, plasma cut and welded steel with enamel painted finish. I embellished the sculpture with Czech glass beads strung on reclaimed copper wire. Even though these larger sculptures have not been selling as fast, I still like to have a few at the Gallery for sale. I mainly delivered a half dozen smaller metal sculptures

under $165 to Katie’s last week that seem to be selling very well.

My entry “Lead Dog” for the Quilted Raven’s “Mush-On” Quilt Challenge is finished. The deadline is next Friday and I ended up making a whole other entry because the first Dog I looked rabid! I wasn’t happy with his eyes or the finishing stitching I was doing on the first one –arrrgh. I’ll have stiff competition, my friend Ann C. shared her entry with me yesterday –WOW is it cute!! I'll take pictures of the entries and post next week. After forwarding the entry information to the Alaska SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Assoc.) group and they posted the challenge on their Blog. Hopefully, there will be lots of entries, the more the merrier to brighten up this LOVELY & long, cold winter.

Art of the Sale

This week my skin is needing to be a bit thicker. I’m sales girl. I used to think that accounting was my least favorite part of my art business but I think it’s really sales I find most uncomfortable. Sales is fine outside in the summer sun at the Spenard Farmers Market where customers bring me a piece of garden art they really want to buy and I take their money, say thank you and I’m happy that they are happy –money in hand, done. There are always a few comments like “my husband could make that,” or “did your husband make this stuff and you’re just selling it for him?” or “keep going, it's just a bunch of rusted old metal” –comments that I take in stride. But the one thing that can send me in a raving bad mood is to get hung up on the telephone, which happened a couple weeks ago following up on an Art Quilt Pattern solicitation –even though I was ASKED to call the store back. Arrrgh. Following up on pattern orders, inquiries and doing my weekly sales calls takes sales finesse. Sales is necessary but sometimes I feel out of practice for that part of my job. I’m sure there are tried and true techniques, sales “manners” or witty comebacks (I’m thinking Dale Carnegie here) seal-the-deal types of verbiage for the art of the sale, but I don’t possess those skills, nor do I really want to. 90% of my sales calls, commissions and customer service are happy and smooth but a hang-up can hurt my feelings. I know, I know, “toughen-up buttercup!” I’m also still exploring options on my wireless credit card situation for sales. My friend Elise, did send me information on Intuit GoPayment that another artist friend of ours is currently using on her iPhone. I put it out on FB and found couple of other artists are also happily using their iPhones for credit card sales. One person also bought the Bluetooth wireless printer but hasn’t set it up yet. The rates seem reasonable especially if you are already using an Android, Blackberry, or iPhone and you can figure a way out to print receipts, the system seems doable.

Even though the temps are still barely above zero and snow is blanketing the ground for the next couple of months, the Spenard Farmers Market is firing up. We’ve had several work sessions and my volunteer job as the vendor coordinator has me selling the Market to new farmers and vendors this year. That’s been an easy sell so far! If you know anybody that would like to participate in the 2011 Season have them download a

vendor application here.

Next Friday is the deadline for the Quilted Raven’s Iditarod Quilt challenge. I hope to set the sales calls aside today for both the Market and my art business and finish up my husky dog entry. If I can figure out how best to sew them on, he’ll have 3-D ears. It’s not too late here is a link to enter the Challenge. Oh, and here is a picture of one of the felted sheep I made this last weekend. Baaaaa!

Thrifty

We should go skiing today but it’s only 9 degrees... Of course, Daddy-O is on the Mountain (he’s tough) instead, Gus, Nimbus, Tauzer and I decided to have an art day (with Ding Dongs!). I know, isn’t EVERY DAY art day?! I found this cool wooden case of art supplies at my favorite Thrift Store a few months ago (for $5!) and stowed it on the art supply shelves in the studio. I’d forgotten about the find until yesterday when Gus was asking to do some acrylic painting.

He was inspired by my friend Katie Sevigny’s paintings at the Gallery and one of her Sunflower paintings we have at the cabin. I’m going to do a little felting of some sheep because I found a new source locally, for large quantities of wool batting from Pamela at Far North Fibers. I also picked up these two new handy dandy felting tools that are essential for felting larger surfaces or when you need more punches per second! Quilt Tree had these two tools for at least $4 cheaper than JoAnn’s. Speaking of Quilt Tree, they now sell my Art Quilt Patterns! Yaaay!

And speaking of Art Quilt Patterns, I finally finished up my latest pattern “Happy Husky Howl.” This one took a bit longer than I expected to get all three dogs just right. My first sketches either had the dogs looking rabid, goofy or cross-eyed! I added the swirls of “howling breath” coming from the second dog during my free-motion quilting process on a whim. It seemed he was just calling for it. I’ll wrap up the technical instructions tomorrow and send it off to my friend and pro-quilter Ann C. to proof, edit and test quilt it. The dogs were inspired for Anchorage’s upcoming Fur Rendezvous and the Iditarod Dog Sled Race. The Quilted Raven is having the Iditarod Quilt Challenge and entries are due Friday, February 25. I’m editing one of the dogs for the 10” x 12” requirements and adding a bandana to him. Should be fun -MUSH!

Now That's Style!

Many of you have seen the Stylish Blogger Award being passed around and Julia has nominated me/my Blog for the mention. Many of you have already awarded fellow Bloggers I regularly read and are my top 10 favorites. Thank you Julia for the opportunity to share a bit MORE about myself with the best part being able to share other Blogs to share. One of the cool things about these various Blog awards is that the recognition provides an opportunity to click outside our routine internet surfing and check out some other great sites you might not have otherwise stumbled upon. The world is so full of talented people and cool places I’m sometimes overwhelmed. My to-do, want-to-learn, need-to-meet and must-go-see lists are overflowing! My friend Julia is living the life that many of us can only dream about. They raise their own food. Do you know how hard that would be? Well, Julia and her family are doing it and you can read of their not so easy adventures on her Blog, Henhouse Pottery. I enjoy reading Julia’s Blog because not only is it always well written but I can be a e-voyeur-farmer while having my morning tea!

So, as I’m sure you have read on other Blogs that were nominated there are 4 requests:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award, by providing a link to their site.

2) Share 7 things about yourself, that other bloggers might not know.

3) Give the Award to 15 newly discovered or interesting bloggers (I had even more).

4) Notify each of those bloggers to present the Award (I’ll try).

7 things about myself that you might not know and are not too offensive:

- I’m a voracious reader –I read a book (novels of all genres) about every 10 days.

- I go to the thrift store every week (where I buy my books for about 35 cents).

- I’m just over 6’ tall.

- I cried when Mr. Rogers died.

- I am afraid of the dark.

- I love dark and white chocolate but I don’t like milk chocolate.

- I’m a terrible baker.

And in no particular order I’d like to introduce you to 15 other Blogs I enjoy reading and hope you’ll find at least one new link from these, or a link from one of their links!

Melanie Testa

Dahlhaus –Heather Dahl

Patricia Griffin Studio

Little Flower Designs –Linda Johnson

Geninne’s Art Blog

Whitney Smith -This Artist’s Life

Kesler Woodward –Painting in the North

Artists Who Blog

Connie Norman

Cowgirl Goods

Fibermania

Twisted Sister: Artwork by Jamie Fingal

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Lilla Rogers Artist Rep

Studio Art Quilt Association –Alaska

Judy Coates Perez -Painted Threads

Moose, Ravens, Dogs and Tae Kwon Do, Oh My!

On the way to meet my friend Pat F. for coffee this morning a young moose was running north along Arctic Blvd. as I had the green light. Fortunately I saw him in time –as did the other cars and he ran safely by my drivers side of the car! He ran down the street and darted off into the woods –whew! I was excited to meet Pat (a long time family friend who used to baby sit my sister and I when we were little) for coffee because she had a surprise for me. A couple of years ago we “traded” artwork, I made her some steel ravens and she was going to make me one of her famous soft sculpture art dolls. Happily for me time has gone by for our trade and since then Pat has taken up felting RAVENS!!

Look what I got –a huge, beautifully felted Raven! While we were having coffee and her latest flock was on the table, several people wanted to buy the felted sculptures. She is working on having enough to sell and will be with me at the upcoming Spenard Farmers Market which will open May 21 this season. It will be fun to have her company and her work with me at my booth.

We spent all day yesterday at the Champ Tae Kwon Do Tournament at the UAA Sports Complex. How exciting it was to see all of the talented kids and instructors from various parts of the world. Gus was on a special Tiger Demo team and did well in his forms and board breaking. The sparring was a bit tough on him but he still came home with two medals and a GIANT 4 foot tall trophy! The experience and opportunity (and the trophy!) did a lot for the boy’s self esteem. The video is of a demonstration by the Anchorage Police K9 Unit to bring awareness to the Dollars for Dogs Program and was very i

mpressive. Champ Tae Kwon Do gave a portion of the Tournament proceeds to Dollars for Dogs. Both men in the video are APD K-9 Officers and the program is funded entirely by donations. The dog’s name is “Erl” and he is a Dutch Shepherd, his handler is

Officer Frank Stanfield. An upcoming fundraising event for Dollars For Dogs will be February 19 from 11:00 – 3:00 at the ConocoPhillips Alaska Atrium, 700 G Street. A very worthy (and necessary) organization to support.

Yes, I'm blogging during the Superbowl XLV...almost sounds un-American doesn't it?! Don't worry, I pre-viewed the best commercials, I've got the chips, guac & slasa set out, the TV is on, I shoveled snow off of the deck and the BBQ is warming up for Daddy-O's favorite marinated Kalbi Ribs from New Sagya City Market. Ahhhh, another day in the frozen North!