It's Been so Long

I have been so remiss with my blogging lately, and I deeply apologize. It’s not that I have not been doing anything worthy to blog about, just that I have not had the time to actually sit and write about it. I open my blog every night when I get home from work, and quickly check to see all the updates on the blogs that I follow. By the time I have read through all your updates, it’s time to get other things done.
I have had a few wonderful wintry runs around Ogden City and the Christmas Lights. This year has seemed to be particularly hard for me to enjoy my running. We started off colder then usual and I don’t remember having so much difficulty with slipping as I have this year. Maybe as I’m getting older it’s more the fear of falling that I don’t remember having so much.
I have also been enjoying my new sewing machine. Even though I have always loved to go into fabric stores and look and all the color and texture combinations, it has become even more exciting with all the added project ideas that seem to be swimming in my head. Now to find more time to get it all accomplished.
My sculpting has hit a point of frustration!! I really need to sit and bust through this mental block that I'm having with it. It's not good for me when I feel like this.
I'm looking forward to the long Christmas shutdown that my work has every year, and hope to put the time to good use.

The Nutcracker

This past Saturday my sisters, mother, brother, sister-in-law, nieces, and my daughters, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, all went to see the Nutcracker. We have been going to the Julie Moffit ballet schools performance. The only down fall of the day was that I was a bit late due to parking issues. Besides that it was a beautiful performance, and lots of fun for me to be with my lovely daughters, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. I hope we can continue this tradition for many years.

Wonderful Fall Run

Yesterday I had a wonderful run down by the 21 street pond. I love running in the fall, the leaves have changed and the temperatures are perfect!

This is a picture of the path around the pond. I feel blessed to be able to live is such a beautiful place and to be able to run and enjoy it. I have to take full advantage of this before the snow flies.

Just another view of the pond before I headed back to my car.

Sweet Little Halloween Witch

Well here is the little witch that I have been working on. She is stylized very different from my normal work. I needed to mix things up.

I was surfing the web a while back and came across two artists that I loved the style of their paintings. Jasmine Becket-Griffith and Mark Ryden. So I thought it would be fun to experiment a bit with a different style of look to my dolls. I don't think this will be something I do all the time, but it was crazy fun to change things up a bit.

So let me know what you think... she will be posted on ebay this week...Wish me luck :)

Fall is in the Air!

I love this time of year. I love the food that is associated with this time of year. I love the colors... the feel in the air... EVERYTHING! So I'm I bit early in changing my blog background... but Halloween is just around the corner and soon it will be here! I love Halloween so I have to get started early!
I have been so bad about posting and I do apologize, but I have been busy. First I have a little Gothic doll getting dressed at my sisters. I will post pictures of her as soon as she is dressed. I didn't post pictures before because she is a departure for me and I'm still not certain if I will like her.
Then we were out of town for a few days. It was very nice to get away. We were in Vegas, and had an incredible time!
Last... I'm working on another doll but I can't post any pictures or even say too much about her, because she is for my oldest sister... and I know that she will reads my blog and I don't want her to see her til her birthday :)
I will try to post more often.

Baby Steps

So yesterday I took a baby step without even realizing it until later in the day… Let me go back so that I hope I can tell this so it will make sense. I have blogged before about always making some sort of excuse for my art. I have blogged about not being able to call my doll room a studio, because studios were for professional artists and I’m just a hobbyist. And most of the time when people find out about my doll sculpting I always preface it with “It’s just a hobby” or “I just do it for fun” Both are true statements, but they also seemed to undermine my talent. It’s true that I’m not comfortable thinking I have talent, or to say out loud that I’m artistic. I don’t know why, maybe it sounds pompous to me, but I’m just not comfortable getting compliments or making statements about myself.

Another side not to the story (boy I hope this all makes sense when I’m done) a year or so ago I helped out on a team building activity at work. One of the things we had to do was draw on an apron, things that were important to us personally. Across the bottom I drew my family… then on the top mountains, I really love the mountains here in Utah. In the middle I drew three things… me running… a bike… and an artist’s pallet. I don’t paint, but a lump of clay would have looked weird.

So, back to my original point, I had to wear that apron at work yesterday to help serve up root beer floats for a fund raiser. When I was back to my desk a co-worker asked about my apron, I told him they were drawings of things that were about me. He pointed to the artist’s pallet and asked if I was an artist. I said yes but I’m a sculptor, and explained that I didn’t want to draw a lump of clay my apron. And there you have it!! I said “I’m a sculptor” no excuses or explanations. I was able to just let it be and be happy with the statement. Who knows maybe soon I will be able to say “I’m an artist”! Or “I’m talented” Whoa… hold on there… just baby steps.

She Finally Has Wings!

Here are some updates of the fairy... she finally has her wings! For the most part I like the way they turned out.

Her sexy rear view :) The wings cover a bit, but that is OK... you don't really want it all hanging out.

The sun was coming through the window a bit, even though the picture looks a bit too yellow I liked the way it made her wings look.

Birthday Run with Sue

Yesterday was mine and Sue's annual birthday run. We both have July birthdays and we started this tradition about 7 years ago when we met and became running friends. Last year Sue had running injuries and so we were not able to do it. It made this year all the sweeter! This top picture is of us at The Oaks restaurant in the Ogden canyon, it's part of our tradition to have breakfast here after our run. You can just see a tiny bit of the river behind us. It's a fun place to eat.

This is a picture of The Oaks restaurant, where we have breakfast. It's lovely to sit outside by the river enjoying breakfast with a wonderful friend.

Look how dirty our legs were after we ran!! 11.43 miles round trip! We ran from the top of wheeler canyon to Ogden outlook. I wish I could run with the camera so I could have a picture of the view from the outlook.

Here we are after our run... sweaty and smiling that we have accomplished this run again!! It was so fantastic!

The view from the parking lot/dirt lot at the top of wheeler canyon, looking off to the west, this was the direction we ran. I think the far peeks are where we ran to.

Bear Lake 2009

This past weekend was my families annual Bear Lake camping trip. This trip consists of 4 generations of my family camping out together. Thanks to my dear daughter-in-law Emily, I took these pictures off from her facebook. Thanks Em! This first picture is my oldest son and his son Lincoln. It was Linc's first camping trip, he was a trooper and seemed to have a great time. I love this picture!

Here is sweet Lincoln again sitting in the froggy pool early in the morning.

Silly Kaitlyn playing cards with Connor... I'm sure there were a few other people playing cards but I don't remember who it was... and you can't see them in the picture.

This is my oldest daughter's darling daughter September. You can't tell by this picture but she is a sweet little redhead girl. She was pretty good at keeping the hat on her head to protect her from sunburn. She pretty shy too, so I wonder if she was purposely hiding.

My oldest daughter family had already left when we took this picture. But this is the rest of us... plus my Mom and my cousin's son Connor. We were all happy to have him stay with us for the weekend.
Most of the trip consists of relaxing in and by the water. We also usually have some art/craft project to do. This year we brought colored t-shirts and bleach and had a fun time making unique shirts. You can see in the picture that Mom, Nickolas and Connor are wearing theirs.

More Fairy Updates

Here are some updates to the latest fairy that I have been working on. Seems like I have been working on her FOREVER! I'm ready to be done with her. After much fussing I think I finally got her hair styled OK... I always knew that I wanted her to be brunette, and I was always thinking of a shorter style, but it ended up being pigtails.

Here you can see her top. I was tempted to leave her bare breasted, because I worked hard on them and I thought she had a rather nice pair. But in the end I just could not do it. In fact I still think she needs a bit more to her costume, I just don't know what it is.

Rear view... yep baby has some junk in her trunk. Again I worked hard to give her a nice round fanny... I had a hard time covering it up :)

Another view that shows her body art, and different angle of her face.

Last pic is a full front view. I have drilled the holes in her back and I"m working on her wings. They are almost finished. So my questions are... Does she need more? More what? Hmmm this is where you can take it too far and ruin the piece or not take it far enough and leave it with an unfinished feeling. I think I will leave the base just black like it is. Her head is a bit big for her body so I'm leary to add anything more to her there. But maybe something else. All suggestions are appreciated.

Our Gidget

Yesterday was a sad day when I had to say good-bye to our family dog, Gidget. She had been a part of the Metcalf clan for about 13 years, I don't think my youngest daughter remembers life without her. Our oldest daughter had "found" her on the way home from school and begged to be able to keep her. She was so small she could not even get up the stairs of our house. For me it was not love at first sight. I knew she would get big and having a dog was a big deal for our small home. I wish I had more pictures of her when she was that small... but that was before we owned digital camera's so all I have are the hard copies. Maybe one day I will scan them into the computer.

My children quickly fell in love with Gidget, and she and her ever shedding fur became a permanent fixture in our home. She was the best running partner when I ran the trails of the mountains close to our home. Never venturing too far from me... keeping a good pace.
She was a smart dog... many times I would find big bags of dog bones in the back yard, I'd ask my husband why he left the entire bag in the yard after he bought them. He would say... he never purchased them. One day our neighbor came over to explain that Gidget had been escaping our back yard... going into his garage when it was open and stealing the bag of dog bones! What a crazy dog!

Kaitlyn and Gidget

I was hoping that she could make it through the summer, but it became painfully clear that this was not going to happen. It was evident the last few weeks we had her that her ability to move was fading. The stairs to get to the yard were too much for her. I feared she would fall when we were not around and be hurt. Gidget always seemed happier in the winter. She would roll in the snow and chase it when we snow blowed... summer was not her season, too hot with her big black coat.
Bill and I drove her to the vets... he had us lay her under a tree by the office. He didn't want her scared, and Bill and I agreed. She laid her head on my lap and slowly feel to sleep. After she was gone, we covered her with a blanket. I will miss her so much.
We had fireworks last night in the neighborhood, our city's founders day. Gidget hated fireworks. It was weird to not have her barking and whining, I'm sure at the next thunderstorm I will feel the same, she hated them too.

She will be missed

Let the Craziness Begin

I few weeks ago a friend of mine asked me to join his Wasatch Back Relay team. For those if you that are not familiar with this race here is a link that will explain what it's all about. Anyway my friend had a team member drop out due to injuries and needed a replacement.
After my last years experience I had thought to myself that this race would be just a once in a life time thing. But like so many times in my life the clouds of forgetfulness fog my brain and I agreed to join their team. Let alone, there have been a few co-workers talk to me about joining a 2010 team! We runners need to plan our torture well in advance. And I have surprisingly agreed to join them yet again. I have been contemplating what chemical I'm missing in my brain that makes me think this will be something I will want to do another time?
So I will venture out this Friday and Saturday with this team and hope I can run my parts without slowing the team too much. I'm glad they are not competitive, I don't think I could do it with them if they were. But you still don't want to be the weak link.
I will try to take some pictures and if I survive I will post my 09 report of how things went. But until then... pray for me that I will come through without too much more damage to myself.

Fairy Updates

So here are some updated picture of the fairy that I have been working on. She is painted and partially clothed. The bottoms are the color her outfit will be. I just tied the top across her chest for modesty :).

Here you can see the back of the boots I sculpted and the back of her bikini bottom, not much too it but I thought her bottom was so nice I had a hard time covering it.

On other angel of the front of her. You can see her body details and the front of her bikini bottom.

Here you can see the fronts of the boots. They have swarovski crystals in the front. So let me know what you think of her so far. I really need to get myself busy and finish her up. My mind has already started to think of the new things I want to create, so I know it's time to be done with her. Wish me luck that I can complete her soon :)

Love

I found this quote somewhere I can't remember now; and had saved it to post. I forgot about it, then found it again, so I'm posting it now. I have been married for almost 29 years, my oldest daughter has been married for 10, and now my oldest son will be celebrating his first year of marriage this weekend. So to all of you I dedicate this quote.... Love you all!

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

- Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

"Love is the beauty of the soul." --St. Augustine

Updates of Fairy

So it has been a while since I have posted updated pictures of the fairy that I have been working on for my brother-in-law. I have had a few set backs for have now triumphed and so I'm here to
show you what I have accomplished:)

Cemitry is somthing that I have been really trying to work on, by the looks of these photos I still need alot of work at it. I don't know how other artist feel... but I have a love/hate relationship with my sculpts. It usually starts out as love... but as I progress and see my mistakes it slowly turns into hate. Or just dislike I should say, and that is where I am with this sculpt. I have a good dose of dislike. But I hope as I paint and dress her I will feel better about her.

Ogden Marathon 2009

So I finished my seventh marathon yesterday. 4 hours 5 minutes and 7 seconds. It was a beautiful day, I could not have asked for better weather conditions. Cool at the beginning, I wore my sweat shirt until about mile marker 3, then nice til about 4 miles from the finish, then got a bit warm but not too bad. I was really hoping for a better finish time. To qualify to run the Boston Marathon I need to complete a marathon in 4 hours. I know it seems crazy to many non running people, I get asked why it's such a big deal to run Boston. It's hard to explain... maybe it's because you have to qualify to run it that makes it seem so important, maybe just the history to it. Anyway it's a goal that I have thought about after the first time I ran a marathon.
So what do I do with it now?... Goals are something that at one time you hope to accomplish... right? When do you give up and say this maybe something I will never accomplish. It's difficult to think about, I hope I have not got to that point just yet. I have goals with my running... goals with my sculpting... goals with just my life general. Maybe it's just that I need to rework some of these goals. I defiantly have plenty to think about for the next little while.

Long Runs

So the past few Saturday I have been running my longest runs in preparation for the Ogden Marathon. This is something that I always struggle with, and I don’t know if I will ever really get comfortable with long runs. I will be running seventh marathon and I’m still surprised that I can run that far. I didn’t start running until I was in my 30’s, I was always an active person, but never sports minded. Running has slowing become as much a part of my life as eating and sleeping. I have formed friendships that will last my lifetime, and garnered experiences I will never forget.
When it comes to preparing for a marathon, long runs are vital. Slowly building up your miles so that you body and mind can get used to running for more then three to four hours. Really… as I’m typing it does sound insane! Why would someone do this to themselves? It’s something that I really don’t have words to express. Most people would consider it torture. But I think it’s that internal drive to see what we can accomplish. Whether it’s running, school, art, we all have a need to accomplish things we can be proud of. That somehow sets us apart in a small way.
I feel privileged to belong to this small group of people that can call themselves marathoners not everyone can or will do it in their lifetime. I know that I will never stand on the winner’s podium and have my name announced. But I’m still out there every day adding up those miles on my legs.

New Baby Updates

So here are some pictures of the baby that I made for a contest. Unfortunately she did not win so my loss will be someone's gain. I will probably post her on Ebay within a week or two. I think she turned out to be pretty cute. This is the first time I had hand painted eyes on a baby. It was fun but I think I will need more practice with it. It's funny how I go through a love/hate relationship with the dolls that I create. I have to get to a place with them that I'm willing to let go and sell them.

I will need to take some better pictures, the lighting was not optimal, but I still thought she looked cute. I hope that someone on Ebay will love her as much as I loved making her.

Sister Date

I have three of the best sister anyone could ask for! We have a great time when we get together. This year we have made a commitment that we will have sister dates as much as our schedules can do. I didn't get any good pictures from our first sister date... we made scarves with different textiles and sovly (I water soluble product) you stitch the fibers between the solvy, then wash it out... lots of fun! I will try to be better so that I can post all the projects that we do. So we had a great time doing this altered art project... I think most of us have added some other bits and pieces to our projects after this picture, but this picture was taken after a few hours of working on them.

Moab 1/2 Marathon

So I spent this weekend in Moab, Utah running the half marathon with a couple of girl friends. Moab is one of the most scenic places you could ever visit, and the canyon that you run down is spectacular! I really do love this race. I post my miles and times on Fast Running Blog and trust me there are some fast runners posting their times and miles on this blog. Of all the bloggers that participated in the Moab 1/2 I was the slowest... so humiliateing :( I'm probably an embarrasment to the blog. I really don't know what has been up with me lately, if it's age, or that I'm not training effectivly. But I seem to be slowing down considerable and it's making me a bit sad. Also when I participate in running events, I have a hard time pushing myself I think the way others do. Don't get me wrong, I run hard, but not usually until I know that I will make it to the finish line. I don't trust my body, my training, or something. The thoughts of running til I puke don't make me want to run, so I usully hold back until the last few miles before I pick up my pace a bit. I was able to pass quite a few people at the end, but still ended about 5 minutes slower then last year.

New Fairy

My brother-in-law is one of my biggest fans :) The fairy that is in my profile picture was made for him and his wife. They have been asking for another one for a while...so I figured I should get myself busy and do it. I really like 1940 style pin-up art, and thought I would like to try something along that style. She is kind-of a cross between action hero body and pin-up body. Will have to see how she evolves. Sorry for the picture quality... I will try to get some better shots of her as I go. But I would like to know what you think of her so far :)

Baby in a Contest.... Please Vote for her :)

So I have this baby in a sculpting contest. Here is the link www.rebornbaby.com The baby's name is Ellie! I know she looks rather weird...but they could not be painted, and they said just pictures of the head and limbs, some of the pictures they had them dressed... guess I should have done that. But Please!! Please vote for her it would be awesome to win.
Thanks.....Lori

Valentine Baby

So here are some picture of a mini baby that is up for sale on ebay. She is dressed in her Valentines best! Wish me well for my auction, and hope you like her!