Melissa D. Tereck, papier-mache extraordinaire

March 1st....

today is St. David's Day...the daffodil is the national symbol of the holiday in Wales...here in the U.S. it is not as well know a holiday as St. Patrick's day...there are no parades..no mayor of any city will lead a parade...no one will announce that today we are all Welsh...but there is a lot of American history that was impacted by the Welsh..for instance the Declaration of Independence...and so much more...but this is not a history lesson..this is just to wish one and all a Happy St. Davids Day..in Wales today there will be much singing and time spent in Church...and if you are lucky Welsh Cakes made like Momz makes them...

the national costume of Wales...I have always thought this was a partial inspiration for Mother Goose's image..to say nothing of the typical Halloween Witch...and my Grandmother may have been the inspiration for that...no just kidding...the Halloween Witch was around long before her..and she never did dress in nation costume...

so Happy St. Davids everyone..even if you don't know that is what today is...now for those Welsh Cakes..which if I do say so myself I can make a mean batch of too...YUM!...bring on the currents!...oh and in case you care about any of this the Welsh have never been that crazy about the English giving them a "Prince of Wales"...and the dud they have right now is typical of what the Welsh have had from the English for centuries...but then the English are so good at giving..just ask the Irish...or the Scott's...on that thought I leave....

more WIP...

yes it's me again...and yes I've been busy...and here they are the very latest W.I.P....

Toadstool houses..yes I'm still on a house kick!....could not make up my mind to the size of the house so ended up making 2...that's me all over!...

this one it the taller of the 2....and the door it still rough but it will be open a bit...

and this one is shorter and wider...not saying a thing here!...it's just the way they work out...and again door is rough and will be open a bit...

a little peek into the back side of the houses...andboy they really do have a long way to go before they are done....

and what the heck you may ask is this???

ah now that's a very good question???...and in the coming weeks you will see...and that's all I'm going to say for now...that and I'm going to have to finish all of these up and list them for sale...our house is running out of room for more houses..and yet I still have so many ideas...the curse of Art...although maybe in my next life I'll make things that can lay flat for storage!...a new medium.."flat art" for those with little space..or too many ideas!...enjoy...

 

just for a change...."fill-er-up" by: Robert E. Tereck..

I've been having fun making all sorts of houses from my dream world...but just for a change I thought I would share some of my Brother's Art...he is really a very fine Artist in his own right...and these are among some of the best of what he does...years ago he showed them to a store owner who said " they aren't bad but you really should build to scale"...to me she was just blind if that's all she could see...because work like this is not about some scale...it's about.."ART"...and he is GOOD!...first they are made using his own technique...and I might add some of Momz and my thread...ahem he borrowed it....OK..anyway it will live on much longer here than it would have as sewing material..and then there is TP and so many other know only to him ingredients..in the end it's his Art..I'm saying all this now as I want to just post the photos of the 2 stations I have and let you enjoy them in all their detail...some of the little bits he bought to put on here but most of them he made...he still amazes me!..so now the photos...








I add this last photo just so you can see how small and fine his details are...to heck with "scale"...one last thing..Robert never thinks his work is that great so a few years ago I entered these 2 stations in a Gallery show..he didn't know..and when I walked in the door to deliver them for the show I wish you could have seen the people come running to look at them with their mouths agape..really!..and he one first prize as well...being a nice brother he not only did not get made at me for doing something behind his back he also paid me back the entry fees....and truth be told as wonderful as these stations are he has done some that are even greater!..yes true!...he is one really Great Artist and he just doesn't know it...scale sh-male is what I say!...you are a Damn good Artist Robert!...oh and one last bit here...he made cars as well to go with the even smaller stations he built...yup smaller!..he's good..really good!...

sunny sunday...and the work goes on...

here is a quick look at the sweet-heart houses...they are still a WIP but soon they will be ready for paint...

thlis is what I'm calling "the sweet-heart bungalow"...looks a bit rough here...

this one is the larger of the two...

that means there is more room for company to come and stay..yup that would be a thrill...right? in a Valentines house!...as I said before I'm not a huge Valentines person but these have been rather fun to build...and hey it's good to challenge yourself to do something outside of the norm...

and last but not least are two more houses I'm working on...

right now they are very rough and I'm not sure if they will be toadstool or mushroom...either way they are fun...and I seem to be becoming a house builder..again!...but this time there is less danger to my fingers from the hammer...but I have to watch that knife blade!...

and meanwhile the car sits resting til later in the week when it will again be called on for some "road" time...

I really should wash it..but I think the dirt is all that keeps it together!...enjoy the week folks.....

"W.I.P"....

first I am trying to be better about keeping up the blog this year...it was my New Years resolution...getting more exercise and losing 10lbs are not on my list..I work too hard almost all the time to worry about that...no gym here..just a household and yard that can fill a day..and then there is the art...which when I am really going full tilt I don't want to stop and eat...so the one thing I really need to do is keep up the blog for those who read it..and yes believe it or not I have a following who let me know when I fall behind on the blog...that's a good thing as sometimes it's just not on the top of the list...

all that being said here are my latest "WIP
"...yes I who seldom do anything for Valentines well I had this wild idea for a couple of more houses with a Valentines theme...this are very rough right now as I am only a few days into working on them....but as they get closer ot done I will post new photos..

I have the=is crazy idea to build a whole subdivision of oddball houses this year..maybe that's my project for the coming year?....who knows...I guess most of the time I take my art as it comes...I don't believe you can "force" art....

and now for this stack of "what the heck"???...

this is pure gold for another tree house that has been ordered...it might seem odd but sometimes the basic building materials can be hard to find...I was lucky the other day so now I can start on the next tree house...some of you may begin to get tired of seeing tree houses...but I kind of enjoy the challenge of building them...on with the work!...maybe if I build enough "houses" I can become the next Asher & Allen?...or something in that..wait for it..."neighborhood"...ahhh hahaha!..yup bad joke..time to go back to work..well really the sunshine is calling to me saying I could just squeeze in a quick pavement pounding and then to work...sunshine is going to win!....

 

Happy New Year....

spent saturday saying a last goodbye to the Christmas season at the McHenry Museum...this is such a delightful place and this time the holiday show was an amazing collection of Snow-babies from the person who should know the most about them Mary Morrison...she really has written the book on them..."Mary Morrison's Big Little Book of Snow"

it was fun to set up and sad to see it end...and in all of this there was the Home Tour..which is a rare chance to view some pretty amazing private collections...best of all is the time spent catching up with friends old and new....and the dinner afterwords is again grand fun....and now...Tammy and the gang will have a little time to rest and start planning for the Museum's next adventure!...

and me...well I have had laryngitis so just talking above a whisper might be a thrill...but meanwhile the car and I are back home safe and sound til the road calls us again...but first it demands an oil change and some small services...cars!..go figure...

back to the garage rover!....happy new year all...and I promise this year I will do a better job of keeping poor bloggee up to date as my adventures on the road arise...hey looking at this thing just getting it out on the road would be an adventure!....

Merry Chris Mouse one and all....

it's been a very busy couple of weeks and I'm afraid poor bloggy has been abandon during that time....

I have been busy though...and during all this busy little Chris Mouse took up residence in the tea pot I started this past spring...he asked that I find him a Christmas tree and said not worry as he would take care of the ornaments...as you can see here he is doing so...
I thought the tea pot was just a little unfinished but Chris felt it would make a better winter home than he usual summer cottage...there is still no paint on the walls and he really does need some sort of covering for the floor...but you can't argue with a mouse...so for now he is living in a tea pot....

and from his tea pot home he and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas....

time....

yes it's that time again...ready to load up and hit the road again...the last time this year...I'm not sure what the car will say when I tell it this is the last "road-e
-o" of the year...not even sure what I will say???...anyway here we go again...time for the road tunes and this time mostly Christmas to listen to...but I can't swear that some serious Rock won't slip in there too keep me awake on the road home....

aside from all the very nice people I meet at shows this is a chance to catch up with some good friends and find out what they have been up to as well as seeing thier very latest creations...see you soon Kerry Howard Schmidt and all the other good people...."on the road again..just can't wait to be on the?"....

on the road...

well I was supposed to be anyway..but then a cold caught me!...so instead of being up and gone on my way to Chico to be part of Frolic I have put the car back up on blocks and will spend some time mooching around here till I feel well enough to go back into my work zone..and get ready for the next road trip!....and I really don't like being sick!...too much to do this time of year!....but hey the upside is the car enjoys the rest!...
me, I hate sitting around rusting!...too much to do..too little time!..AND SO MANY ROADS TO TRAVEL!....

time on the road....

these days I seem to spend a great deal of time on the road...who would think that art would also become the art of driving?....and there are some roads that I have history with...perhaps it's the time alone that sets your mind to thinking of all sorts of silly things...I think a lot about my Dad cause if ever there was a "driver" it was him!...he could get lost driving across Walnut Creek...but send him on the road to some far off PG&E local down whatever dusty road and he was as sure about how to get there as any wild country guide....I say this because this past weekend I was again on the old Lakeville Highway...the 116...and I can not even begin to count the number of times I have traveled this road!...I can remember it as a small child riding along half asleep in the back of the car, with Popz at the wheel, taking my Momz and one of my brothers along with him as he worked and we spent the day wondering around whatever city..but the Lakeville Rd was one of his shortcuts...and I remember snoozing in the backseat late one night as we came back from visiting old family friends in Santa Rosa just before they moved to Oregon...and working for a company with offices in San Rafel...that was a lucky time because my dad and I could share a little bit of a commute together...he was working in Vallejo at the time so I would drop him off and pick him up after my drive...then I just drove past the Lakeville turn off...and now I am back again driving the old road and thinking of how life takes you round and round to the same places....last weekend it was another show in Petaluma and thus the Lakeville Highway...