Girling Up

I've mostly been busy "girling up" my new house since my husband is only coming home from Eastern Montana/North Dakota every six weeks or so.  I haven't been out buying new things, but trying to work with the relics of my past life, if you will.  I'm dragging old things out of boxes and bins and scattering them, fluffing them (not always an easy task with a smashed pillow), pinning them up on my blank white renter's walls.  I'm remembering the me I used to be in all this mess, and mixing the new me in.  A sprinkle and a dash at a time...it feels good. Somehow all this old, suddenly feels new.  I guess they call that HOPE.  Hello, Hope.  Nice to see you again.

Sweet Little History

I hope Valentine's Day was SWEET for you 
Nya and I made our first ever batch of cookies together, in honor of lOvE, of course! I absolutely love super-soft iced sugar cookies, especially heart shaped ones with just the right amount of flower and heart shaped sprinkles on top! Nya has decided she loves them even more than I do! Ah, to be 2 years old and tasting your first cookie! Valentine's day bliss of another kind!



Up a little hill

I wanted to drop in and give you a peek at what I'm working on this week. I am starting on some pieces that are a bit bigger(still only 6"w x 4"h on this little dragonfly number)than my most recent work. I am at the point with this particular canvas that I seem to reach with every piece I make. I have been on a fast and furious creative roll, with ideas coming in as quickly as I can apply them, and then, all of a sudden...urrrrch! The breaks are slammed, and I just keep staring, trying things, taking them off...staring, trying things, taking them off...you get the idea! So, I thought this would be the perfect time to check in and say, "Hello!" to you.


Maybe you have some creative insight that can push me over this little hill? "Weeeeeeeeeeee!" I'd love to hear from you.


Sometimes you just need a rest...
I usually take this time to leave my work alone for awhile and check out other things. A fresh perspective is like good, rich garden soil. Great ideas won't grow without it. 


Gustav
So, maybe I'll check out the new e-book my husband suggested I get myself for Valentine's Day...lol! He heard about it on NPR. It's called The Lady in Gold and is about Vienna, Austria's greatest painter, (also, my favorite one)Gustav Klimt, and the subject of what many consider his masterpiece, the very famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, an extra-ordinary member of Vienna's late 1800's early 1900's Jewish elite. So far, it is a captivating, history-filled read with lots of wonderful old photographs. My great Grandmother, Therese, was Austrian, so it feels very nostalgic and magical to me...Thanks for the perfect Valentine's Day gift, Jason! Red roses and gooey chocolates just aren't for me.


I'll let you know what I come up with on my painting.  I almost forgot to mention, this is the part where the mAgIC happens...Be well, thanks for reading, and God bless you.

Welcome to My Life!

My 2-year-old daughter, Nya's, favorite
brand of toy-let paper is VERY
squeezed Charmin.

Hello, and welcome to Little Tinderbox! My name is Glory Wogsland and I am a wife, mother, and mixed-media artist, often-times not in that order, much to my husband's chagrin. Sorry babe.

Here is Tucker's 2nd half
streaking into position,
hence, the blur.

We live in a tiny red house in our beautiful little city, Missoula, Montana. Here, I spend my winter days chasing my hilariously bright 2-year old daughter, Nya Ruby, back and forth through the land mine (lego, plastic pixie doll, miniature kitchen utensil) strewn house, while trying to jump over our psychic Jack Russell/Doberman-cross, Tucker. He always knows exactly where I am trying to go in our cramped little house, and gets there just in time for me to trip over him! Bless his little tail-wagging two-tone heart. Tucker two-tone, our black and brown "Jackerman", as Nya and I call him, really is a great little dude.




When I am not chasing the daughter, getting tripped up by the dog or the 18 pound cat (alas, Allister is also skilled as a psychic), I sit in my dining room-turned-art-mecca, and paint, paste, twist, draw, tear, ink, tie, cut, wrap, file, drip, wax, scratch, stamp, bend, melt, squeeze, pound...you get the drift! I manipulate a wide array of found objects, both free and purchased, and amazing top quality art supplies into lovely and interesting little art pieces. Here is one of my more traditional pieces just in time for Valentine's Day:

Valentine's Day lovely lovey love-inspired mixed media
original, titled,  For Always.

I opened my first retail art venture for my 37th birthday back in November of 2011 on Etsy.com. It was the happiest birthday present I could have ever given myself! I sold my 6th item just tonight!!! Hurray! My shop is called Tinderbox Studios and, aside from my family, it is my pride and joy! I have been blessed with a husband who wants his child to be raised by her mother, so I get to stay home and live both of my dreams!