mom

dirty laundry........


------------------------------------------photo by Elaine Russell

and no -- I'm not talking about the song by Don Henley. Real laundry... the stuff of everyday life. It's piling up.
I have been so busy with the art gallery I belong to; that I have been neglecting some of my regular chores and such around the house. Oh.. and I can't even remember when I worked on an art piece. Not complaining.. just saying. Sometimes I tend to get so involved in something that I work on it to the exclusion of alot of other things in my life.

So-- If I were to make a New Year's resolution ( and I usually don't )... it would be to have more balance in my life. I know -- seems simple huh... but is it ?!

it's late

------------------------------------photo by Elaine Russell

Sometimes I have a hard time sleeping at night. I think it probably has to do with the fact that I worked night shift as a nurse for 17yrs. But, even as a kid I wanted to be up at night and sleep til noon. Course, that never happened. But still.

It's funny how there is this whole other culture that lives at night. It's something that I have contemplated on before.. but it becomes so much more noticeable when you live in a city of any real size because there are actually places open for people like us.

As an example. The town I grew up in has a total population of about 2000 people. And we are the biggest place in the whole county. Yes, one of those sleepy little towns that have lights that go to flashing yellow at 6pm. So.. for a person like me; the best I could do as a night owl was to hang out at the local gas station and drink bad coffee. Now that I live in Albuquerque, there is really quite alot to do at night. So --- here's to the night-owls of the world... and to the cool lights at the nearby McD's.

have I mentioned the windows ?




-----------------------------------------------------photos by Kristin and Elaine Russell

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Things were a little crazy. Any time you are part of a group of people you are bound to run into personality conflicts and a little drama. Yesterday was one of those days.
If you belong to any group.. you know what I mean. Now personally, I would not say a group of artists would not be any different; but there are some who would sigh and disagree. More drama than usual... some would say.
At any rate.. things are starting to quiet down.. and perhaps things can go "as usual" for a few days.
Now -- don't misunderstand. I absolutely love being part of an artist community.. and wouldn't trade it for anything. One of the perks of being in this group is the energy and excitement you get when talking with artists about the creative process. For the past couple of days I have had the opportunity to work a bit with the creative souls that do our window displays. They are fantastic. Where they come up with some of the ideas.. I don't know.
Our grand opening window was a colorful mix of a selected art piece from each of our founding members. Imagine 20 -some pieces of art in one huge window. Black backdrop and red accents. Coolness.
The Day of the Dead theme show window was amazing. We had life size sculptural renderings of a skeleton wedding party. Accented with Dia de Las Muertos papercut flags and flowers.
The "What's in the Box" theme for December was carried out with elaborate styrofoam snowflakes, faux snow, a winter goddess cloaked in her winter finery and these really cool boxes with pictures in them that glowed from within. Hard to explain.. but I will try to upload photos.

So-- here we are for the Chinese New Year theme...and it is coming along nicely. There is an antique costume cloaked mannequin with a vintage paper umbrella, as well as lanterns and RAIN. Yes, faux rain.
WOW.

Chinese New Year Show at the Wooden Cow

-----------------------------------------------photo by Elaine Russell

So-- today I was down at the gallery helping out with displays, etc.

The Wooden Cow Gallery has only been open since September, but we are already getting a favorable reputation because we are having monthly theme shows and we have the BEST window displays ever. I know.. a little biased here probably...

That said.. our show for January is based on the theme of the Chinese New Year. The whole front part of the gallery is bursting with Chinese themed art.. and the window display is gonna kick it !

It is so inspiring to me because I get to see all this wonderful art on a regular basis. It's amazing to me to see how many different artists can come up with such a variety of work.. but all on the same theme. Astounding !
The photo above is one I took a couple months ago of an octopus that I purchased at the local Tal Lin market. I call it "Grounded."




Cowapalooza and The Wooden Cow Gallery and Art Space




---------------------------------------------photos by Elaine Russell

So -- anyone who knows me knows that I have been busy with a project called the Wooden Cow Gallery. It started as an idea by a few local artists, and my daughter and I joined the herd in April. After months of fundraisers and scouting out places, we plunked down money to rent a space at the Mossman Center in ABQ.

We had our soft opening in September, and our Grand Opening in October. November we had a Dia De las Muertos Show that was a huge hit ( and I was one of the featured artists ); as was our December show "What's in the Box" featuring Regina Portscheller.
We also have a Bizarre Bazaar SALE in the back through the end of this month.

Last night we had our first official benefit concert (Cowapalooza)... which featured the musical stylings of Miss Chrissy, as well as the jammin' beat of The BluFunk All Stars. ( see photos ). It was graciously hosted by 1Kind Studios on 11th and Coal. (you guys ROCK !)

So -- we're mmooooooving along. Please see the links for the Wooden Cow Gallery, our website and our blog. We also have pics posted on Flickr and Webshots.



So-- the day after ...


It’s been an interesting holiday season.
The dishwasher died.
The furnace in our house coughed, sputtered and died.
My son wrecked the NEW car.. eash
Fortunatley, no one has been hurt in all of this. It’s just money problems.. which I know everyone has… especially at this time of year. It’s just frustrating ya know ?
So — we ended up having a SMALL christmas. We got a tiny little 2 foot tall tree. It is in a pot; and we will be able to plant it in the spring. We each got one gift. We stayed home; I made dinner; and we had a fire in the fireplace. We watched old movies. It was awesome. I am thinking this is going to be our new TRADITION. Keep it simple; keep it nice.
And I got to watch the Rockettes on TV. I remember when I was very little; my mom would insist on watching any special shows that featured the Rockettes. When we finally got to go to NYC in 1973; it was a priority on her TO DO list. It was worth it. They are amazing.