What Did You Do for National Honey Bee Day?

There is a day for that you ask? Yes and it was formerly called National Honey Bee Awareness Day. Beekeepers in the U.S. started National Honey Bee Day to bring awareness and appreciation to the bee industry. The theme for this year was "Ban ignorance, not honey bees". The goal of the day is to "educate the public about beekeeping, while helping the overall public understand the importance and contributions that honey bees provide."


This year there was some confusion as both August 15 and 22 appeared on different resources as the day of observance. I observed National Honey Bee Day this past Saturday by creating two new photographic art images of bees going about their all important job of pollinating flowers. You are getting a sneak peek of a portion of each piece of art in this post. Hopefully this will be a piece in the puzzle for starting a conversation about the importance of bees and what we can do to help support them. (Such as, what is your favorite vegetable or fruit and does it require a pollinator such as a bee to set the fruit? Hint: most fruits and vegetables require a pollinator to do so.)(What can you do to support honey bees? Reduce or eliminate the use of pesticides that likely lead to CCD (colony collapse disorder). The Omni Hotel in Dallas, TX has a great plan as seen in this article.)

Eclectic Design Choices at Art in the Garden

Art in the Garden is a fundraiser for the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. It is held around the FWADA's Fall Gallery Night each year. According to the Botanic Gardens' website you will find "over 60 different artists displaying oils, watercolors, sculpture, photography and jewelry." This year Art in the Garden will be Friday, September 11 from noon to 7 pm, Saturday, September 12 from 9 am to 8 pm and Sunday, September 13 from noon to 4 pm, with a wine and cheese reception during Fall Gallery Night, on Saturday, September 12. Artwork will be displayed in the halls of the Garden Center.

I'm pleased to report that I will be one of the 60 or so artists whose work will be on display this year. Two of my gallery wrapped photographic art prints were accepted. All displayed works are for sale and a portion of each sale will help fund the Botanic Gardens. If you have a chance to check out Art in the Garden you will have the opportunity to see some wonderful works of art and if one of them speaks to you enough to purchase it, you will be helping out a good cause.

If you visit Art in the Garden on Fall Gallery Night you will be close to several other venues with great artwork to view. Adjacent to the shared parking lot with the Botanic Gardens is BRIT (Botanical Research Institute of Texas) with the Best of Texas Clay Exhibit plus a pop-up gallery by the Fort Worth Art Collective for Gallery Night. Other participating venues can be found in the FWADA's Fall Gallery Night catalog.

Update 9/14/15:

I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the Art in the Garden reception. My Bald Mountain Series "Rock Ridge - Color received a second place ribbon in the photography category.

Design This - World Series Umpire Pin

This year my husband was invited to help umpire the Little League Intermediate World Series Tournament. Teams from regions in the U.S. compete for top U.S. honors and teams from regions around the globe compete for top international honors. Then those two teams go head to head for the World Series championship title. This is a big deal and an honor for the volunteer umpires that put in countless hours at their home leagues. When umpires are chosen for district, sectionals and state they enjoy getting to know fellow umpires from other areas. When invited to regionals, part of the commaraderie often includes a small gift for the other umpires from one's home area. For a world series invite, an umpire usually also has pins made up that represent himself/herself or his/her home area to share with fellow umpires and trade with other people during the tournament.

My husband had an idea of what he wanted his personal pin to look like and made a rough sketch of it. There are companies that make specialized metal and enamel pins that include artwork preparation. I made a very rough graphic of the pin that my husband wanted to order as a way to translate his idea into input for the company's artists. It became clear that for his idea to turn out like he envisioned it, I needed to come up with a more finished graphic. I worked with the company's representative to learn the guidelines needed to create the design to their production specs. The hand on the pin actually started out as a photo I took of my husband making the fair call that the phrase "point loudly" refers to. The outer ring changes from a metallic gunmetal gray to black depending on the light angle. The pin company added the graphics for the Little League logo and the baseball where I had left room for them in the design. These had to be pad printed for the fine details to be reproduced. I was very happy to be able to assist in transforming my husband's mental image into a design that he would be proud of.

Thanks for the Treasuries - July 2015

Three Etsy shop owners and one Etsy buyer let me know they had featured one or more of my items in treasuries during July. Three July Etsy treasuries, that treasury makers let me know about, included one of my creations and one included an item from each of my shops. You can see a collage below of my items from EDCCollective and EclecticSkeptic that were featured during July. (Click on the collage to see a larger view.)

I really appreciate being featured by the treasury makers. To thank them, I have listed below a link to the Etsy sellers that let me know they had featured one or more of my items, as well as an item from their shop that I like.

Enjoy window shopping and please click on the links of anything that catches your eye.

FediyS
Lovely embroidered handbags, purses and more can be found in this shop.

GirlieGals
Girlie Gals offers you sparkle and shine at affordable prices. "It's a Bling Thing!"

TheYellowRoses
In this shop you will find rag dolls, stuffed animals, small quilts, mosaics, and coasters.