Heart's Desire wins first place for the 3D division in the Arts on the riverwalk competition!

I was sure excited to find out yesterday that my gourd 'Heart's Desire", won 1st place for the 3D category at the Arts on the Riverwalk competition in New Castle.!! It will be there until August 26th at the Confluence in New Castle! My other gourd "Calypso" is also in the show!

I had a busy day yesterday, first going to the artist reception at Campbell Pottery and then to the reception at the Confluence! It was a fun time looking at all the beautiful artwork by so many talented artists!! The show at Campbell Pottery is beautiful and full of color and life!!

Sometimes it is nice to forget about all the tragedy in the world and simply wonder at the beauty and creativity that can be found in the arts!!

After a long day of traveling and having my poor dog locked inside, I took her for a walk at Lake Wilhelm and stopped at the ice cream shop!!!

Great way to end the beautiful day!!

Campbell Pottery " In the Garden" show

I am happy to announce that my gourd " Garden Wonder" has been accepted into the Campbell Pottery 'In the Garden" juried art show. This show has changed from Lilyfest, to allow more variation in the artwork. Hope to see some familiar faces at the reception on July 9th from 1 to 3 PM.

I also completed this gourd titled" Calypso" and entered it into the art competition in New Castle for Arts on the Riverwalk. I also entered my "Heart's Desire" gourd. That show starts July 9th to August 26th at the Confluence in New Castle. The reception for that is also July 9th from 4 to 6. I will be busy driving on that day to get to both receptions!!

I would like to tell everyone that I now have a facebook page for this business. It is Jody Neugebauer Gourds and Dream Quest studio!! Check it out and give me a "LIKE".

I wanted to share this photo I took recently at Lake Wilhelm of a beautiful young Eagle, I think. He kept flapping his wings and jumping around like he was trying out his ability to fly.??

Mom and Dad seemed to be watching from the next tree over!! Beautiful!!

Gourds for Texas

I wanted to show a couple of the gourds I finished, and sent off to Texas for the gourd show! The blue one is called" Swallowtail sky". I came up with a new way to use slices of gourds which I think turned out pretty nice.

This is the way the next gourd started, with apoxy sculpt applied to make a face on a banana gourd.

Here is the finished project! She is titled " Gifts from the sea". Her hair made from horse hair (Thank You, Galina!!!) was very hard to get attached without showing the glue!

Next, I wanted to continue with the steps required to make a fine art gourd! Here is a gourd cut open, and you can see all the seeds and fibers inside. All this stuff has to be cleaned out which requires a few different tools.

I use this scraper to get the loose stuff out.

But a drill, with this handy sanding ball on the end helps enormously to get the inside clean and smooth! I used a small jigsaw to cut the gourd into the shape you see. I usually paint the inside next with either spray paint or with acrylics and a brush! Then the more fun journey begins to make the gourd beautiful!!

I am thinking about having a beginning gourd art class this summer, here at the farm. If anyone is interested, please email me or comment on this post.

On another note, I am so happy to see my summer bird friends back, including the rose breasted grosbeaks, hummingbirds, and orioles!! YAY!!!

Exciting News!!

I am so excited to announce that my gourd " Culture Clash" has been accepted into the Erie Art Museum's Spring Show!!

I feel like this is not only a wonderful accomplishment for me, but also for gourd art in general in this area. Although gourds are quite popular out west, they seem to be viewed as a less valued form of art in this area. So much time and work goes into each one, and so many varied art mediums and skills can be used on them, I am completely in love with them!! The show runs from April 17th to July 17th.

I also have work at Campbell Pottery for their Nature Art Show! It starts today and goes until May 8th.

I am also working on gourds for the Kerr Arts and Cultural Centers Fine Art Gourd show in Texas.

This is one of the most wonderful gourd shows in the country. My gourd, Heart's Desire won best newcomer last year!

How to prepare a gourd!!

We have had one of the most wonderful winters this year! Short spurts of cold and snow are followed by unusually warm and pleasant days. I could deal with winter a lot better if they were all like this one. I hope it keeps going until the end!

I wanted to take some time, and explain to those not familiar with gourds, all the work that goes into making a fine art gourd. When I grow or buy my gourds, they have already been drying for 6 months or more. They will be covered in dried mold and dirt, which has to be scrubbed off. Above you see the gourds soaking in a wheelbarrow of warm water with some soap and a little bleach added.

Then I use a metal pot scrubber to scrub the entire outside of the gourd to remove the mold and dirt. Sometimes this takes quite a bit of muscle to accomplish. When I am happy with the results, I spray off the gourd and set it in the sun to dry.

Here is one that is all done and drying off. All this happens before the artist can even plan on what the gourd will become. Next time I will go into the next steps.

I have been working on an acrylic painting lately. I took a great reference photo last summer in Virginia of a heron near the ocean.

I loved the colors of the overturned boat and the basket full of nets.

I also got a new camera lens from my husband, around Christmas so I have taken some wonderful pictures of the birds around my feeders!!

I have been accepted into the Kerr arts and Cultural Center fine art gourd show in Texas again so I have to get busy on some new gourds. Also Campbell Pottery will be having a wildlife and landscape theme show this spring! I need to get busy!!!

Super Weather!!

The weather this fall has been amazing!! I have been able to go kayaking 4 times in the last few weeks which feels wonderful!! Even though we have gone from trees ablaze with color to trees devoid of leaves , the warm weather allows the beauty of both to shine through!!

 

This view of my favorite creek shows the beauty of Pennsylvania!

I have encountered quite a few eagles on my kayak adventures , like this one watching as I paddled underneath!

I also came upon this bird which I think is a juvenile black crowned night heron. Anyone know for sure?

I have had time to start and finish one gourd. This one I call Winter White. It has a metallic white and sponged on white finish with random spots of gold leaf. The pine needle coiling is accented with gold beads and pine cones! I really like how the colors complement the natural beauty of the gourd and the pine needles! This gourd is available and would make a nice part of a display for

Christmas.

Recycle Show and the rest of the trip to Maine.

Here I am next to my African sculpture at the Campbell Pottery recycle show! The reception was very nice and I loved to see all the creative ways artists used everyday articles and dare I say trash, to make beautiful art! Thank you very much to the new owner of the sculpture!!

I also talked to a very nice art teacher that has started a blog. She is covering a lot of local art events for her blog and included me for this show! The link to her blog is www.artwithmsaudrey.com   

Now to continue with our trip to Maine... Here is the view from a state park near our daughters house!! Beautiful!

 

All too soon it was time to start back home, and wave goodbye to riley in front of her house! We took the long way home and drove across Maine to New Hampshire and stopped to check out Mount Washington. We were too late to drive up so we had to settle for pictures from the bottom!

We passed this beautiful resort with a rainbow nearby! Then we continued across Vermont and the next day took the ferry across Lake Champlain.

We traveled to Lake Placid New York and went up the ski jump! I don't know how those athletes jump off those things!!

Our last stop was at Letchworth State Park in New York. It is very beautiful there with wonderful waterfalls!

 

Our trip was a lot of fun , but it is always nice to get home and see the dog, cat, and horses!

Here is my favorite fall tree in my yard! Such a beautiful sight !