It's Christmas Time

Christmas is upon us...the time of year to reflect on family and friends and how dear they all are to us.  Sometimes we can get caught up in all the gift giving and trying to make sure we get around to seeing everyone and sometimes the season can be stressful, but we should not forget to take some time and remember the real purpose of Christmas...the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is because of Him that we have the blessings in our lives. No matter what may be going on in your life, good or not, He is there to love you and comfort you always. 

Rabbit and I want to wish all our family and friends a joyous blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!

I would like to end the year sharing an art piece with you that I made several years ago of Santa. 

Ho, Ho, Ho - Prince Albert can body, pocket watch head,
shoe buckle belt, button arms, insulator legs, game letters
in wooden box.

In All Things, Give Thanks

At this moment there are so many things that we are thankful for...way too many to list.  These are the important ones...God, family, friends, health and our love for each other.  Another big one is the continued healing of Bunny's dad.  The cancer is 75% reduced since his initial diagnosis in May.  He takes it one day at a time and thanks the Lord for His love and support during this trial.  Put On The Full Armor Of God - "...so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground..." Ephesians 6:13
Dad you are a great inspiration to us all.

Make it a habit to tell people thank you.

To express your appreciation,

sincerely and without the expectation of anything in return.

Truly appreciate those around you,

and you'll soon find many others around you.

Truly appreciate life, and you'll find that you have more of it.

Ralph Marston

 
We are also thankful for these two guys.  They keep us young and in stiches at their antics.  They have their own little personalities and never cease to keep us entertained.

Dakston "Dak"

Cooper

Here is Bunny's rendition of what these guys would look like if they were human.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

James Comes Marching Home

Rabbit here....
Its been a long 6 months, but our Lt. James Wende is returning from Afghanistan tomorrow!  We are so proud of him and wish we could be there when he gets back.
I'm sure Brittany will want him all to herslef so the rabbits will stand down.  This is James' second tour helping defend liberty and freedom across the world.  Not an easy or popular job but he's all about serving those who are not as fortunate as we are. 

On their wedding day...they are such a beautiful couple.

Of course a party is in order.  The rabbits are sponsoring an "UGLY SWEATER" backyard party and BBQ for James and his bud's.  I'm sure the brisket and beer (Shiner of course) will be consumed in mass quantities!  A large back yard deck and fire pit will be the scene of crazy Marine madness and many funny pix! 

Leaving you with a piece Bunny was inspired to create from earlier deck party shots.

Acrylic and colored pencil on 5"x5" boxes

set in handmade frame.

It's Fall Y'all....Bunny posting

The feel of the wind is crisp, the smell of wood burning fireplaces that catch your senses and bring back memories of camping as a kid and sitting around a fire being told ghost stories, and then there is the yearning to hibernate in the hole on these chilly mornings.  I Love Fall!!!!  It is my favorite of all the seasons.

A little late posting this since Halloween was last weekend...but thought you would like to take a look-see anyway.
It's a wreath I made for Halloween to put on our front door.  I bought a deep fryer wire basket at Warrenton to be my base.  I then purchased some sweaters from the thrift store for next to nothing.  I cut them up into strips and then tied them through the basket.  Here are some pics...sorry I didn't take any in mid-process..dang it!

And I will leave you with a piece I painted last year. Reminds me of the year Rabbit dressed up as Charlie Chaplin for Halloween...wish I knew where those pic where.

 

Antique City, Texas -- Rabbit posting

...that would be Warrenton, Texas! Home of the largest junk-tique festival in the Southwest.  Twice a year antique-a-haulics gather to buy and sell everything you can imagine and things...you can't.  Was a good show this fall with many dealers filling all the fields from La Bahia all the way down to Oldenburg.  What a menagerie of gee gaws, stuff and deals.

We spent 7 days hopping through the fields...searching, pilfering and finding some great deals with Rabbit's oldest offspring, Brittany Wende, marine wife of Lieutenant, James Wende, who is serving in Afghanistan.

Saw some pretty cool stuff that was outragiously priced and then some deals that could not be passed up...like this

A Stella guitar for $5...another project guitar to turn

into art. We have three others in the garage already! yikes!

Bunny findings.

Ball jars to store stuff in, a cute metal hanging cabinet,

some metal claw feet, spice cans and some nice clean

french grain sacks. (click on pic for a close up look)

...some ART!

Rabbit searched for his favorite item...books! Much looking yielded a few gems to add to my collection of books on mysticisum, astrology and of course...Sermons By the Devil!

Of course I had to purchase some "rabbitry" for our collection...

"A good Texas mascot always keeps his horns high..."

Take a look at Brittany's blog BWSilver to read her posting about the antique venture.

Neither Rain, nor Sleet, nor Snow

...will keep us Rabbits from hopping to an estate sale or antique market. Raining here for three days and boy do we need it. Saturday morning we got up early and stood in line in the rain outside a large home in Highland Park for an estate sale. They would only let ten people in at a time every 10 minutes. Good thing we got there early, and we did happen to have an umbrella in the car. Here are some pics of the treasures we got away with.

Some nice linens and bandanas.

A really nice American Flag and
can you guess what the other item is?
Not sure what the official name is but
it's a traveling cane / stool. The seat part
folds up and you can use it as a cane.
Something that might come in handy for
Round Top Antique Fair at the end of
this month.

The greatest treasure of all...
something Rabbit has been wanting for years.
An English Arts & Crafts style revolving bookcase.
It is so cool!

Today is another wet day, perfect for a large bowl of Rabbit's spaghetti. So I leave you with this piece I did for my friend TJ, "the Pasta Queen". Sorry the pics are a little blurry.

"Dinner Tonight - Pasta & Wine" --
Antique wooden tray, wine corkers, corks
game letters, vintage pasta images, and
antique curtain rod topper...I think.

Bone Dry

Rabbit here;

A trip to the Texas Hill Country over the holiday weekend found much of the land and lakes parched! Lake Travis is down more than 37 ft. and you can walk across much of the bottom of the lake. Wish we had time to hop around all that exposed bottom, no telling what we would have found. Judging by all the grass growing in the picture it will be time to bail the bottom soon. Makes you wonder when you see the billboards advertising "water front lots"...

Rabbit Find...

Der Daschunt!

Bunny remembers her grand rabbits having a weiner dog foot scraper just like this. It dissapeared over the years and she has been looking for one to adopt. Well at the City Wide Garage Sale in Austin she discovered this heavy hound weighing in at just under 30 lbs..and at about 1/10th of the going market value!

A most excellent find... rating 24 carrots. But dang it's heavy to haul around! Glad we parked close!

Researched this exact one on the internet
prices range from $185 for $235...
we got it for a mere $25

Gone a lot

Bunny here....

Sorry there have been no posts for the last two weeks. We've been kinda busy with Bunny's big sis coming for a weekend visit on August 14th. Had a great time hoppin' round North Texas with her. Drug her to an estate sale in Gainesville (picked up a plant stand for the guest bedroom) and Antique shopping at the closed Nocona Boot factory in Nocona, Texas (bought a double horse head gate topper). Also took her to the very large Antique Mall in Fort Worth that took us four hours to go through...and we didn't even finish. Rabbit bought a ton of old war history books at all the places we went...such a book hare he is.

Last weekend we took a trip to see Bunny's Dad and P...stayed in the "Tree Monkeys Bed and Breakfast". It's a small place but dang they make the best fried chicken in the state...thanks P. Also went to visit my little sis and my new baby neice...she is growing so much and is the cutest thing with all that hair!

This weekend we are headed back down to Houston for a visit with some good friends. Can't wait to see them!

Labor Day weekend we are headed to Austin to visit with Rabbit's mum and his little sis and her gaggle of kiddos...well there's only three, but that is a gaggle in my book.

So as you see we are pretty busy and on the road a lot so I will leave you with a piece I created for a friend (DB) that retired to the Texas Hill Country.

"Happy Trails" - Wooden cigar box, horseshoe,
Ford Mustang hood ornament, checkers,
and game letters.

Ribbon Ceremony

Excited Bunny here -

Last night was the Ribbon Ceremony for the OMOT Art Show. Here are my entries for this year.

"Angel Bunny" - Color photograph of graffiti stencil
taken in the historic downtown of Wilmington, N. C.

"Bless" - Digital collage: Madonna statue photograph
and vintage blue bird image

"Thunderbird Passage" - Found object assemblage on
vintage cabinet door representing the passage
where the thunderbird transcends between
the worlds of fact and fiction.
This piece won First Place in the Mixed Media category.

-----

"Horse Feathers" - I integrated my core illustration skills
with digital technology. The Pegasus was digitally drawn
in Illustrator and Photoshop to create a photo realistic
appearance and then was added over the enhanced
sunset photograph.
This piece won First Place for Computer Art and
Best of Show...woo hoo!

"Horse Feathers" will be on display at the NTBCA "On My Own Time" Art Show at North Park Mall beginning September 20, 2009. Make time to hop on over to the mall and take a look at all the North Texas talent.

With this kind of exposure, makes the dream of becoming a true professinal artist just that much closer to reality. A little scary, but wow, something that has always been in my heart. Thank you to all who enjoy the art I create.

On My Own Time

It's Bunny...

The North Texas Business for Culture and the Arts puts on the "On My Own Time" Artshow each year to acknowledge and promote the talents of people who work for North Texas businesses. The NTBCA is a non-profit organization founded on 1988 to expand business support for and involvement in local arts and cultural organizations. You can visit the NTBCA website for more information.

Well it's that time of year again, the corporate in-house shows begin this week. I have entered four items this year. I'll be posting those at the conclusion of the exhibit.

Last year I entered three items in the 2008 "On My Own Time" Artshow. Two where entered in the Mixed Media category, "Faith" - a found object assemblage birdcage, and "Gilbert Lockheart" - a found object assemblage gentleman. I also entered "Sherry Time at 7" in the jewelry category.

Both "Gilbert Lockheart" and "Sherry Time at 7" won First Place ribbons in their categories at my workplace exhibit. "Gilbert" went on to be displayed at the city-wide exhibit at North Park Mall in Dallas.

"Faith - had she only known the key to freedom lay at her feet"

"Gilbert Lockheart" - the dashing young man that never

let the girls inside to break his heart

Sherry Time at 7 - Rosary beads, antique ladies watch,
antique buttons, Sherry decanter tag

Rabbit Rescues - Junk in da trunk

Rabbit here...with our most recent rescue. Found only a few blocks from our warren, this 1880s steamer trunk was bound for the rubbish pile (aka - the landfill). An emergency stop and 30 seconds of rabbits rushing around the brush and viola...it's ours! Nice hardware, cast iron rollers and a very intact inside lining were some of its virtues. The label and most of the outer leather strap are still there and as you can see it came with a pirates treasure inside!

Rabbits rate this a 14 carrot find.

De Niece, Not De Nephew

Last Christmas Bunny did several mixed media photo renderings for family members. This one was for her older sis. It is of her gorgeous daughter, my oldest niece. The image was from a wedding photo. The image was brought into Photoshop and rendered using a filter. This image was used as a guide for the mixed media drawing. Her face was created using colored pencils and the black background was painted with acrylic paint. Rabbit cut and glued the frame pieces that were originally from the trim off a door we picked up in New Orleans at an architectural salvage place. And from our collection of game letters the word "daughter" was glued to the bottom.

Daughter - Mixed media painting

(click on image for an up-close look)

Monkey Business

The Monkey Business started about six years ago. A running joke between Rabbit and Bunny's dad. Monkey cards are always given on holidays and birthdays. Monkeys are dressed up with bunny ears for Easter, Monkey Nutcrackers are presents at Christmas, and below is the Oscar winning "Lonesome Chimp" that Rabbit made for Dad a couple of Christmas' ago. One of Dad's favorite books and movies is "Lonesome Dove," so when we came across the cowboy sock monkey we knew we had a winner.
Dad this post is in honor of you...keep up the monkey business! We love you so much!

Lonesome Chimp - Small wood drawer, cowboy sock monkey,

horseshoe, barbed wire swizel sticks, western charms, bottle caps.

Duck, Duck, Not a Goose

After waiting 37 years, Bunny's little sis has finally become a mother. Last month she gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl. Her baby room is all decorated in pink and brown...sis should be a professional decorator. So as not to clash with anything in the wee one's eye sight, I created this pink and brown pull toy to sit on her shelf. Not intended for children under three...so she will just have to admire it until she gets older.

Duck, Duck - Decoy head, wooden shoeform, dominoes, metal furniture parts