The Seasons go 'round and 'round

Christmas time is here by golly, disapproval would be folly!

Our Christmas collection is on our virtual shelves. We have a vast variety of stock-stuffer sized goodies to choose from: from new window clings to Clay Critters, from a leather pouch to our newest item - brooches!

Snake Brooch

Mooncat and the Phoenix are now available as prints. Originally created in acrylic and watercolor, these two paintings are the first of many up-coming prints! The original paintings are pictured below.

Phoenix Original - Not for sale. Prints available in our store!

Phoenix is the symbol of rebirth and power, as well as a bird of fire. A perfect gift for the New Year or any celebration involving creating a new life (weddings, births, etc).

Tree Original - Prints available for sale!

 Have an impressionist lover in the family? This painting is a perfect gift for them! An abstract painting created by Crow. She has dubbed it 'Tree'. Please email us for prints at the moment.

Mooncat Original - prints available in the store!

Mooncat is the first in a series of three. This black cat is set on a waning moon. Crow plans on creating a full moon and a waxing moon complete with cats to accompany their ebony sister.

Our Fall Collection

Thanksgiving is just over the horizon. Are you ready? What is your centerpiece going to look like? I have a suggestion.

Presenting our newest item! A tradition that dates back to at least the fifth century, Keras amaltheias is the ancient Greek term for the Horn of Plenty: “Horn of Amalthea.” This name directly relates to the Greeks' tale on how this tradition of gratitude came to be.

Cornucopias!

The cornucopia was originally made from the horn of a goat, thus the shape and name, today cornucopias are made from woven baskets, wood or (in this case) clay.

These gorgeous Cornucopia create the feeling of gratitude for all that we have. You will find apples, carrots, corn, eggplant, grapes, pea pods, potatoes, red bell peppers and a myriad of other foodstuffs (some not shown) in these horns. Last Sunday Crow, my mom and I had a good time working on Crow's latest commission. My mom and I worked on the base forms of a lot of smaller pieces while Crow worked on the horns.

A red leaf of fall and some tasty grapes.

Other interesting facts about the cornucopia: 

• The "waffle cone" was named the St. Louis World's Fair's Cornucopia back in 1904 for its conical/horn-like shape.
• There is a mushroom named for its "Horn of Plenty" shape called Craterellus Cornucopiodes, otherwise known as the Black Trumpet. 
• The cornucopia is used today as a symbol on the Peru, Wisconsin and Idaho flags.
• "Cornu" means horn in Latin and "Copia" plenty.

Check out the kernels on the corn!

The details on these horns are some of the best Crow has created to-date.  We've done our best to use foods that are "in-season" or would be traditional in a Grecian cornucopia.

Carrots: My mom made these.

A potato!

For those who are interested in knowing more about the cornucopia, I recommend this site or this one.  If you <insert your favorite search engine here> 'cornucopia' or 'horn of plenty' you will find an over-whelming number of sites with information about this tradition. However, these are the two websites I used for my research.

Keep checking back to see fall / Thanksgiving themed window clings, magnets, clay creations and much more!

The Lemon Bird

The Lemon Tree

My 93-year-old maternal grandpa has a lemon tree in his backyard. I have no idea how old the tree is, however it is probably close to fifty years, if not more. Every Christmas when we visit him for the holidays, we pick lemons off the tree.

Earlier this year my mom visited, and came back with two lemons from his tree. They were withered and dried beyond recognition as lemons. However, as Grandpa observed, one of them looked like a bird. Upon seeing this lemon, I decided to give the lemon back to Grandpa for his birthday. With some modifications of course. Presenting - Lemon Bird!

As it is created from a dried lemon, this bird can probably be considered food art too. The attached eyes are the only modification to the actual lemon.

The Bird.

Lemon Bird close up.

The nest is shaped with a foam cup, strengthened with leather, strips of bark and woven grass. The foliage in and around the nest is both real and artificial. This is a true family project as my mom gathered several of the pieces. The base is cork, scraps from our coasters.

Bird and Nest side-by-side.

Nest Close up

Nest from Above

Neither the actual nest lining nor the bird are glued. I did this to create a further sense of realism, as birds' nests are generally strong structures whose lining is added after the structure is built. And, of course, birds can leave their nests. In theory a non-lemon bird could move in! For now, the Lemon Bird lives there. 

The Naming Contest - Part II!!

The polls were inadvertently open for a month longer than originally planned; however now is the time. The time has come to vote on Penguin's name! 

We have three names entered - the entry with the most votes wins. The person who entered the winning name gets a prize and Penguin gets a name! Vote for your favorite between now and the end of 2013!  Vote here or on Facebook. You can vote anonymously by sending an email to info@coyotesblessings.com .

The Final List of Names:
Benjamin
Buddy
Hoppah

For reference about the Naming Contest check out this blog post. 

Time Flies

Time Flies when you're having fun.

Also, when you are busy. These past few weeks we have been very busy. Coyote's Blessings has been very popular. Our annual All Hallows' Eve party was last night. The decorations are always so elaborate, we call the week before Hell Week. Theater reference anyone? Between events and commissions, and Nightmare Through Memory Lane, and the party, Crow and I dubbed it 'Apocalypse Week'. Now that it's over, we can regroup and get back on schedule.

Check out the updates for the Season in our store! A more detailed update is forth coming, with more pictures.  From window clings to Knoblings, we have a variety. Some are spooky and some fun. Check them out: Seasonal.

A better update with pictures is forth-coming. Crow has posted a lot of updates on Facebook too.

Mountain View General Store

Tina decorated the Mountain View General Store for the season - creating a home for our skeleton Bones.  He traveled to the store on my back and is currently residing on Dana Street in the Immigrant House, a perfect fit for the old man.

When Bones arrived, his lodgings were not ready, so he waited until Tina set up the interior and exterior of his abode.

Nothing better to pass the time than reading up on local news.

 Tina added lights to the store's exterior, and decorated the inside of the Immigrant House to be more appealing to the ghostly crowd (and skeletons too of course). When the light of the sun dims, the General Store's "front yard" is a riot of gleaming lights.

Front door of the the Immigrant House.

Back door of the Immigrant House lit up for the Halloween season.

The wooden corner in the foreground is our current display for Clay Critters.

Can you see the moon? She was full the night these were taken.

This display will up until November at least, though the addition of the lights surrounding the store's outdoor area may be a permanent addition.

'Nuff said.

(Unfamiliar with MVGS? Check out Tina's website: Mountain View General Store)

Halloween is here!

This season is my favorite, followed closely by Christmas. Or perhaps they are tied?

We have Halloween goods!
Clay Critters: From the upside-down Bach the Bat, to the small pumpkins perfect for Halloween or Thanksgiving decorations, there are a half dozen exciting new friends. (Crow made a Ghost and Gravestone matched Salt and Pepper shaker!)


Knoblings: Three knoblings join the ranks - Boo the Ghost, who glows in the dark, the Great Pumpkin sitting in his pumpkin patch and my personal favorite Ungoliath - the Queen of Spiders.

Boo - Hovering in its graveyard, ready to spook the unwary. Boo glows in the dark!

The Great Pumpkin - Who Linus faithfully waits for every Halloween.

Ungoliath - Named after Tolkien's Queen of Spiders, she is the ancestor of Shelob.

Chalk Festival

One of the first to set up!

The Luna Park Chalk Festival was a lot of fun. Getting up before sunrise was not fun. Crow and I wound up being the first vendors to check in at registration (at least I think so).

Our first booth!

Russell (Guest Artist on our site) came to help us set up, but had to hurry to the city for a coffee date.

Ready for business.

My mom stopped by too with donuts, coffee and hot chocolate.









We walked around together to admire the art. I saw some great pieces; however did not take many photos of the illustrations as I, in retrospect, should have. I meant to wait until they were finished. For some that was never to be.

Greek myth comes to life...

As Medusa takes Cerberus for a walk???

Dralion

Picture the Alien

A lovely fairy

The first two hours the park was crowded with lots of potential for sales as a multitude of people came to browse the artwork and poke through the numerous stalls. The performance stage rotated through two bands and a good time was had by all. After the second hour - just around noon - the weather shifted dramatically. Little Owl (Guest Artist) stopped by briefly to admire the stall. Her husband spirited her away shortly after the rain started. Of course most of the vendors packed up as soon as it began to rain and all but one of the chalk artists were washed away.

And then the rain came....

The vendors and chalk art washed away...

It rained buckets, near "monsoon weather" as Crow put it. It is a good thing we bought two tarps to cover our canopy's frame! When the rain started, we set the shop up differently to keep the rain off the merchandise as much as possible (not that it worked, everything was soaked or splattered  by the end). With a make-shift 'back room' in place, we were ready for business again.

Everyone packed up.

Coyote's Blessings - one of the last vendors standing.

 The rain caused some interesting patterns in the chalk art, and some unintended beauties.

Reflection

This shot was not posed.

The rain wound up being a boon for us. When the weather started getting rough, would be patrons and passerbys took shelter under our tarp. While they waited for the rain storm to pass, they browsed and so we made more sales after the rains started than before.

Stall set up part III.

 Crow and I stuck it out until the end and were one of two vendors standing. We wound up being the last stall to close up.

Everyone's gone! The only other vendor is on the other side of the tennis courts (you can see the courts' edge on the right side of the picture).

Thanks goes to Tina for the use of her magnet boards, key chain stand and window! Thanks to my mom for loaning us TV trays to create one of our tables. And of course, thanks goes to the Luna Park Art Foundation for hosting the festival! We are looking forward to next year.

Getting Ready

Due to the fact we have such little time to prepare for the festival, we have to basically triple our stock. We anticipate great sales! And of course the holiday season is coming up. Here's a sneak peek at our up-coming Halloween stock:

A spooky spectacular in the oven, ready to be baked.