Dining, Wallace and Wolves

On one of our off days from biking we headed up to Coeur d' laine. When we are traveling some times we like to find a triple D restaurant.  One of the ones that were featured on the Food Networks  show Diners Drive Ins and Dives. We knew there was one here so we checked it out.

It was called Jimmy's Down the Street and the food was great.

I had the chicken and dumplings which was amazingly good. Dave had the John Wayne, can you see the size of that sandwich. It was a heartburn special, fried chicken, fried bacon, fried onion rings, fried pickles and all the trimmings. He said it was good but it did give him heartburn so he paid the price.

On one of the days we drove to Wallace, its an old mining town where the movie Dante's Peak was filmed. This building held a small train museum.

Inside the old ticket window was still intact but alas there was no one to sell me a ticket.

The old routes were still visible ont those clipboards and a replica of the town was on the table.

Wallace even has its own space ship, so we had to check that out too.

























I am a big SciFi and fantasy fan so I couldn't resist the opportunity to climb aboard.

The last place we went was in Cocolalla Idaho, to a place called Wolf People. Its a wolf educational facility where they raise Timber and Arctic Wolves. They had pups and adults and a wonderful tour that we took. I think the pictures will tell you how much I enjoyed this experience.

I This is Mike the wolf handler who conducted our tour.  I have a ton of more wolf pics but I think I will just put them on flickr. Check back in a couple days, this will be the link

On to Montana and Idaho

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Our first destination was Missoula Montana which is a 5 hour drive. We like to stop in Dell along the way.  They have this great old restaurant that has excellent food.

We were greeted to a new sign inside, what a great version of the keep calm signs you see everywhere.  I'll second that advice.

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In Missoula we stopped at the Import Market to get some more of these. We wanted some more small bowls and lunch plates.  The Import store has the largest selection of open stock Fiesta Ware in the area.

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The new color Marigold is really gorgeous. I had to add this one to the colors I already have.

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We had to get a pizza at MacKenzie River Pizza Co, one of our favorite places to eat.

Then I had to stop at a craft store to get these. Just a few papers, a stamp, carving rubber and some stamped twill tape.


On to Northern Idaho














We headed to Northern Idaho to bike on the Trail of the Coeur d'Laines. It is a 73 mile bike trail that was created on an old rail road bed.  There are numerous places where you can get on the trail.  We camped near Harrison, Idaho so we got on the trail there.  It is the most scenic part of the trail,  right along several lakes. The first day we biked 22 miles which is the longest I have ever gone. The other days we did shorter distances and it was a lot of fun.

We stopped for a break and had some lunch, with my favorite kind of bagel and yogurt.

These osprey's were nesting out in the middle of the lake near one of the stopping points.

I saw several sailboats that looked so inviting.

Sometimes the trail went through the woods.

The scenery was often breathtaking.

I saw this purple martin bird house in the town of Harrison.  I thought it looked so neat.

With all these lakes there were bound to be lots of boats. This houseboat was tethered right near the trail. I really wished I could have gone out in it.

Travel adventures continue tomorrow.

Collage and portraits part deux

Here are some more of the collages I did last week.

In this one I used a spray painted background and I added a new supply that I just love.  On the right is some tape made by Tim Holtz. Its called tissue paper tape.  The cool thing is that it looks different depending an the paper or paint you use underneath it. It comes in a two roll package with two different designs.

I got the idea of doing a zentangle border and it turned out it was fun to do. I think I may have to do this again. I have had this picture of dogs for a long time.  I always wonder what it is they are thinking.

I did a few portraits too.  This one is done in graphite.

This one I drew with Inktense Pencils and then added water and the colors came about a bit bright.  This style is a little different for me but it was fun.

I drew this lady and then painted her with water colors.  Then I added her to a background I made earlier.

In my next post I will talk a little bit about my trip and share a few highlights.

I made a few collages

I got back from my trip on Tuesday but I have really been swamped. This is the first chance I have had to do a blog post. On most evenings I worked a little in an art journal. I found it so relaxing after a long day of biking or sightseeing. I'll have lots to share from my trip in the coming week.

Whenever I go on a trip I take some art supplies with me. I have a Ziploc bag full of collage materials that I bring. After this trip I realized I need to add some new things to it. I had very few focal images but a lot of scrap to make backgrounds. These are all in a moleskine wc journal. I never really liked the paper so with collage I just cover it all up. Here is the first installment.

These last two are just backgrounds, I really did not have anything to put on top so I left them for later. Tomorrow I will share some more.

We Finally Had an Art Date

My friend Jolene and I have not managed to get together for an art date in over a year. Sure we tried but several times those dates had to be cancelled for one reason or another. We finally did it though, we met on Wednesday night and I forgot to take any pictures.

We exchanged books and magazines so we now both have something new to read. She showed me how to make transfers. Every time I have tried before its been less than satisfactory but this time got perfect results. I am so excited about finally being able to do this. I showed her how to make stamps with craft foam and she had fun with that. She worked on a journal page and so did I.

Here is mine along with a found art portrait, even the castles came from the background. I like how that happens.

Tomorrow we are headed out on a small vacation to northern Idaho. I'll have my computer but am not sure if I will run into any internet access. So blogging will be sparse or non-existent. I probably won't get 30 portraits done this month since I am now going on a vacation but I will still continue to do them when I can.

B.F.'s Daughter

I finished up the altered book journal that I have been working in.  These are the last pages.

I kept the title page so you could see this was called B.F.'s Daughter by John Marquand. I did another doodle over a wash of watercolor. I am really enjoying playing in this way.

This portrait was done on old book pages with pastels. The background is acrylic paint.

The borders on the page were paint chips cut up and then painted over. I like how they add dimension to the page.

This was started long ago, it is found art and by that I mean the woman was pulled from the background. At the time I figured she was giving birth to a baby or a new idea.

This self-portrait I did completely with white gel pen.  I used an old photograph of myself as the model. I was feeling particularly blue at the time so it seemed fitting.

This one is another self-portrait from an even older photo that I found lying around. I thought I would try a face in watercolor.

This is the last page in the book, so I can happily say that this journal is complete.  Ah now I can start a new one.