Today we "hung " the Box Show. This is the eighth year The Artists Gallery has had a box show as the yearly fund raiser. Each of the 24 members and invited guest artists are given an 8 inch wooden cube to do with what they will. In the past some have completely destroyed the box and then reassembled it as a new form or burned it to assist a raku firing in a ceramic kiln. Most are painted. Some are decorated to resemble anything but a box with all matter of objects attached. I love visual puns or puns of any sort so this year I made a "box turtle". Or is it a "painted" turtle? Or a painted box turtle ? Either way he's on a tortoise shell skate board. My original thought was to have a snail riding the back of the turtle and title the piece "Wheeee" . I may still add the snail. The skate board came about when I was trying different bases and this seemed to fit best and evolved into a skate board. There were only two colors used on the whole piece, quinacridone gold and permanent violet, two of my favorites. Together they made for some really rich browns. Saturday is the opening reception and the silent bidding starts, ending the final Saturday this month. I'll post some photos of the opening. It's always a blast. A very special "Thank you" to Nicholas Simmons for consenting to be my guest artist this year. He turned out a wonderful piece (are we surprised ? ) and I send along apologies for backing him into a "corner" with this project ! But Nick, you won the "boxing match " .