and then you wonder why I can't get anything done...

the land of the living dinosaurs - aka the view from my dining room window today.

Darlingtonia californica

Well, we just got back from a little R&R - I like to refer to it as "the tour" since we drove from Seattle to San Francisco and back. It's amazing what a different experience a road trip is now that I'm - shall we say - more mature... It was actually alot of fun and we saw some pretty cool things - like deer, elk, quail, surfers, redwood trees, and of course Darlingtonia californica. Now you ask yourself, what?

Darlingtonia californica is the only carnivorous plant that grows anywhere near Washington state. It is also known as the Cobra Lily. It's a pitcher plant, so the insects fall into the "pitcher" where they are phisically trapped from getting out (there are small hairs inside the pitcher that point down and therefore are too slippery to climb up). Also, the lid of this particular pitcher has little thin "windows" in it allowing light in, but the bug can't get out through them. There are some enzymes secreted by the plant into the pitcher to digest the bugs that are trapped. The other thing that amazes is me, is that in the 21st century (167 years after it was discovered), we still do not know what pollinates the flowers...hmm, can you say PhD thesis? And fyi, the pitchers in the photo are about 2 1/2 - 3 feet tall and growing in a bog.

The Darlingtonia Wayside on the Oregon coast (near Florence) is a great place to stop and see these plants in "action". Ok, there actually isn't any action to be seen, unless you are really patient and hang around long enough to see some unfortunate fly get trapped, but you get my drift. Next time you are driving down 101, check it out!

I just realized that I have both a photograph and a graphite drawing (that I did way back in 2003 of my favorite orchid - Paphiopedlum Duncan York. I drew it from the orginal flower - the photo was taken in 2001. Yes, we still have him and he still blooms every year!

Good Morning Fushia!

Fuschias are definitely a favorite of mine - especially the hardy ones! This one comes back in my garden every year, even if we have a heavy frost over the winter. It seems to me if I was a hummingbird, this would be the ideal place to stop for a snack, but I've never seen a hummingbird near it. I wonder if the nectar has been bred out of it to make room for color or resistance (hate it when that happens to plants, especially roses - whose main goal in life should be to smell pretty, but few do these days).

IF: Enough

A girl can never have enough ... retail therapy!

A great end to a long weekend...

We stopped for Chinese food on the way home from the Mill Creek Festival - and this was my fortune. I am choosing to believe that this means great things for Norm, since I don't really know what it means.

Captain's Log: Day 1

P1040124, originally uploaded by artbynorm.

All is well at the Mill Creek Festival at noon with a high of 87° according to Steve Pool (more like 187° according to Norm). We had a great day at the fair and drank LOTS of water. We'll see what tomorrow brings...

Good Morning - Poppy!

So it's a sunny weekend and I am off at the Mill Creek festival - I just wanted to share with you the pink poppies that are blooming in my garden. For those of you who have visited my garden in the summer, this is probably nothing new. For everyone else, let's just say for 2 months out of the year I have a garden that would make the Wicked Witch of the West proud - poppies have taken over despite my efforts to remove seed pods and pull out plants. I have 2 different varieties of red annual poppies, 2 different varieties of Oriental poppies (those are the perennial type), these pink ones and of course some California poppies. If anyone wants poppy seeds, let me know...

IF: Fog

This is from a new series that I am working on for a solo show coming up in January 2009 at Muse Coffee on Queen Anne in Seattle. The whole series (as I see it right now) is going to be shades of grey with just a bit of red.

The series reminds me a lot of FOG - you never know what's really out there, it could be good, it could be bad, and it could be great. The point is it's out there, no matter what it is.

etsyRAIN.com at Mill Creek Festival

Here's a peek at some of my friends that will be at the festival with me, my new tent, my new credit card machine, my new Greeting Cards (woohoo - professionally printed), and other new stuff like magnets, soldered microscope slide ornaments, and...

Totes2Go: totally cool re-usable fabric shopping bags that fold up into a nice neat little pouch when not in use.

World of Whimm: totally cool kids costumes!

NueToMe: recycled childrens clothing (like little girls t-shirt dresses)

RozsSaxSeattle: very cute handmade fashion accessories

Woven Chains: fantastic chain maille jewelry (you've gotta see her keychains, betcha won't be able to put it down!)

Made@Home: Homemade play dough with the coolest colors

FloatingPalace: very cute linoluem block print cards

Oh yea, park at the park and ride and ride the shuttle in - saves the hassle of trying to find non-existent parking at the fair.

Norm at the Mill Creek Festival and Street Fair

this post will stay at the top until July 11th - all new posts appear below.

Casting Hands

So, a few lessons learned, and more experience gained - that's my way of saying the glass is half full instead of ... well you get my drift. I think it is time for me to do a whole tutorial on making these hands since this is the 5th time making hands/feet and I've discovered yet more problems that I hadn't encountered before. I am planning on typing up the instructions and taking step-by-step photos. It's really not that hard, but it does take a lot of patience, especially when you are working with kids. The photo above is of an 8 year old, 5 year old, Grandma and Grandpa.

Stay tuned, or post a comment if you want me to let you know when I get the instructions posted.

Tante Heidi's Art School

As part of Camp Oma every year, Tante Heidi teaches a day of Art School. This year we set up the easels in the back yard, broke out the acrylic paints and got to paint on REAL canvas. The kids each chose a subject to paint - a Princess, a Knight, and of course Norm. Do you think my niece was trying to get on the teacher's good side? Or is she a real Norm fan? I happen to know that she is one of my biggest fans - she even has Norm buttons on her bookbag for school.

And, as a bonus this year, we will have Tante Heidi's Art School part deux this year. Today we are going to cast our hands, similar to this: I will post photos when the hands are

done.

Figs!

It looks like I will have a good fig crop this year - THREE whole figs if I play my cards right (and don't forget to water). That's a 300% increase from last year :)

Here's you chance to get a little Norm ACEO along with other Sampler goodies - all for free, all you have to do is leave a comment!

Indie Crafts Gossip is doing the giveaway of a Sampler from The Home of the Sampler

what's up with the weather?

So those of you who live in the Seattle area have to be asking yourself the same question. First, for the past I-don't-know-how-many days we've been having some real heat - like upper 8o's-lower 90's. This alone is unheard of in Seattle, since historically we only get a week of real heat in August. My flower garden is screaming for water - and my house is like a dry sauna!

And then, last night, there was HAIL at 2:30 am - and lots of it - hard hail - the kind that wakes you up from a deep sleep at 2:30am! I don't even want to question what that did to my flower garden. AND, because that surely is not enough to kvetch about, there have been thunder storms since about 2:25am and still going strong at 6am. Obviously I don't know if they continued through the hail storm, because the hail hitting the roof was way to loud, but I'm guessing there was thunder somewhere in the Seattle area, which we would've heard if the hail wasn't crashing down since we are on a hill and we hear everything for miles around.

And of course, I heard and continue to hear all this because I have to sleep with the windows open because it is a sauna in the house...