Tammy made individual poppies for each of the fallen soldiers from WWI for the ground beneath the donkey's feet.
Tammy Bradford (Museum Manager Extraordinaire), Lynne Mizera and me (missing from the photo is my John, who was taking it - he did all the research for the project, as well as some stapling to boot!)
Donkey Bombing complete
And on another note, I was fondling ribbons in my ribbon stash this past week, and was inspired to create this video using a particularly lovely patterned ribbon, brayer, gel plate and some paints.
As always, when I get going with the gel plate it's really hard to stop. And you know I have a very large stash of ribbons, right? This could get crazy!!!
And if I've got a large stash of ribbons right now, what's going to happen when I start looking/shopping for patterned ones? Heaven help us!
...and the things that can be created when everyone pulls together.
This amazing banner will be wrapped around a donkey (burro?) sculpture that lives in downtown Creston on Sunday. Brainchild of Tammy Bradford, the manager extraordinaire at the Creston Museum, it commemorates the 235 men who fought in WWI, all from the Creston Valley.
Emmie of ArtFoamies fame generously donated two sizes of poppies for stamping, along with some Stamp Buddies. Lynne Mizera brought along several styles of her own poppy stamps and a whack of paint and stamp pads.
Tammy Bradford and Lynne Mizera
Here Tammy is testing stamps and Sharpies on the back of the canvas panel (30 foot long by 2 foot wide) that she created from a hardware paint drop sheet - a lengthy job on its own.
Lynne and I stamped poppies like madwomen, while Tammy wrote the names of all 235 soldiers - TWICE! That way each of the names appear on both ends of the banner.
By the end of the war, there were 47 men from the valley who did not come home. They are now memorialised on the banner with a black poppy each.
I'll make sure to get some photos of the installation on Sunday. As Tammy says, "Who has a better job in the world, when I get to Donkey Bomb as part of my day?" Given that I can go along for the ride, I'm feeling the same way.
This week has been full of studio guests, and one of my students stopped in for a morning session. Shelly and I had a blast testing colour after colour and some great techniques.
I love these one-on-one sessions - such a great way to really get into the creative juices, learn about the student's passion, and create deeper layers of meaningful artwork.
And somewhere in the conversation was a prompt that led to this week's video. It's all about string -
It's a favourite technique and a whack of fun to do. Why not try it? If you do, send a photo to me and when I have enough of them, I'll share them in a post.
That's it for me, the soon-to-be-Donkey-Bomber, this week. See you in the comments, my friends!
