i have changed things up a bit....instead of blogging i have turned to using a newsletter style that i send out with any news or photos of new limited edition game boards... please just drop me a note to sign-up and i'm happy to add you to my mailing... dianeallison@charter.net Or to contact me directly you can use this link from my website: http://dallison.squarespace.com/sign-up-for-updates/ so this is what i'm doing now, but as things change, you never know i might just be blogging again... enjoy past posts if you would like - especially stories of those winter months in these appalachian mountains...

20 year celebration

she's been doing it for 20 years?

it is hard to believe that in just a couple of months i will have been creating game boards for 20 years.  i picked up my first piece of wood and began creating game boards only for the reason that i thought they were really neat and i wanted a group of them on my wall... but as i began making them i just didn't want to stop for i began to dream of a day where i could make them for your homes.

when i began i had a tiny area on my porch where i had set everything up....i learned to not only paint, but to saw, hammer and sand. i learned so much about layout and design.  my only background was pretty much my belief in that if i wanted to do it then i could....(thanks mom and dad for self esteem and confidence, the two greatest gifts you gave us kids, much needed for cliff diving in life.)

when you have a small art business, so to speak, you are the wearer of many hats...not only do you design and create you also are the resident painter, mathematician and woodworker.  you are the task manager; accountant, web designer, blogger, research department, shipping department, purchasing department and cleaning service.  you are the doer of all, the dancer of building your own life...

many of you have been with me for all of these twenty years; you've been with me for my move from texas to these appalachian mountains, that i knew i would love and that is now finally called 'home', and from what was the back porch to a studio more than big enough to be somewhat organized....we have laughed with each others stories, and shared our fears and sadness....we've watched each others kids grow...and many of you are now enjoying your 'retirement years', which is so much fun for me to witness...

and sometimes we were lucky enough to have been able to meet face to face - already feeling like old friends...

i thank all of you for this....for wishes do come true...

to visit my site; which really you did help to create, here's the link:

www.dallison.squarespace.com

below:  "big top, bullseye and gypsy"

http://dallison.squarespace.com/round-game-boards/

take me to the circus....

i have begun a new series that is very sentimental to me... "take me to the circus"

when i was a very little girl living in iowa my parents gathered all of us little girls into our car and took us to the ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus....45 years later i still can remember the day...

as we began to pull our car up into the open field my eyes danced with my very first view of the 'big top' standing high; calling us to walk into a different life.  this life of mystery; smells of sawdust, wild animals and food.   colors; of tents, wild lions in their cages and the sparkling costumes worn by what i thought had to be the most beautiful people in the world pulled me in many directions...

a rapid heartbeat caused by the fear of watching the high wire acts, and the awe of seeing lions, tigers and elephants for the first time in my young life is instilled in my memory... 

i was hooked; mystery and color, the perfect combination for my little girl eyes...

years later we moved to sarasota florida....home of the ringling brothers circus...imagine my curiosity,  for still a young child, we drove through areas that the performers were known to live during the winter time.  

as i became a young teen i found that my geography teacher was from the famous flying wallenda family, i was surrounded by circus and a much simpler time in sarasota...

my parents still took us to 'the biggest show on earth', and as i became older i watched and pondered my escape to run off with the circus, for i knew, i always knew, that i should be in the circus...

this first piece in the series is entitled 'the big top', for after all this was my first view, and inside that tent comes all the mastery of all your emotions...

this piece is, as you can imagine, color with the underlying hint of all the organized chaos that one might find under 'the big top'..

it is 'loosely' based on an american antique game wheel dated 1930 that originally had a spinner attached.  the original piece was priced at $1,800.00.  i state 'loosely' primarily for the reason that my piece does not have a spinner attached

limited edition of 10 pieces,  then retired  (9 available at this time)
19" x 19"
baltic birch from russia and poplar from the appalachians

$245.00

i hope you will like the journey that we are taking....if you would like to order this piece, just drop me an email at:  dianeallison@charter.net or give me a call at 828-265-0977...

you can also browse my website if you had another piece in mind:

www.dallison.squarespace.com

happy birthday, happy birthday and more happy birthdays...

september is the month of birthdays in my family, a delicious celebration just about every week is scattered throughout the month..a mountain full of cakes and cupcakes and a heart full of love...

happy birthday to all of you...my life could never be as wonderful if it weren't for each of you....i love you all so much...

"linda quilts"....

i have this friend in texas.....i met her in our quilting group....and her name is linda.....

over the many many years we quilted together i noticed something that i was reminded of when i saw this antique game board, that linda never wore out when she got to making her borders...

her borders were grand, they were intricate, they were breathtaking.....a beautiful frame to her art....not like my quilts, barely a border was to be found, and certainly nothing that was as beautiful as the inner quilt itself.  it's almost like her borders danced and celebrated, the grand finale if you will...we are 'over the top borders' they sang out....and that they were....

so when i saw this game board, i thought of her immediately and there came the name whispered out loud....

this is a Christmas piece, however i'm sure you will find a place for it all year round too....

the original piece was dated 1934 and signed on the back 'Happy Birthday 1934'....there is a story to this piece with that information and i designed many scenarios in my own mind while i was painting the checker board....who's to say one of them isn't close to the truth?  it's a sentimental piece to me for that reason...

the price of the original is $2,100 and is painted on an early laminated board.

limited edition of 10 pieces
19" x 19"
$220.00 (shipping included for this piece)
the colors are a soft yellow, red, black and forest green

if you would like to look at other pieces available, here's my link:  

dallison.squarespace.com

in the process...

every year when i see my mom it seems she always say's, 'you should make a Christmas board', and every year i ponder and ponder... but i had never come across an antique piece, until now...

as you know from my last post, i have so much more studio time on my hands, which is clearly filling up with new pieces and i don't know how i'm ever going to get all the boards i've researched done before i'm dead!  but then i'm sure you are saying that about using all your fabrics too....

but lo and behold, i found an antique checker board that dates back to 1930-1940 to study....the original piece was actually painted on laminated board, and you can see from the picture that certainly it was created by a quilter, no doubt in my mind.  the back of the board says 'Happy Birthday 1934'.  I sit and think did a mother make this for her daughter, did she make it for her son, or a fellow quilter?  or did he make it for his wife from one of his or her favorite quilts?  there is such a story here, that we will never know the answer to.

so this is the first Christmas piece i am introducing into my line of reproductions - for i know that time of year i just love to pull out my Christmas quilt to lay over my couch, hang my advent calendar that my mom made for me, and will now have a board to finish off the room....i love the warmth of the season, the scents of the pine, the baking of the apples and the unexpected turn in a room where my eyes can see artists celebration of the season...

here's a sneak peek of the original piece which i will introduce over the next week or two....- and yes, it's august, but the leaves are changing already (very very early), the air is crisp and i'm already thinking of november since i work many months in advance...and i wanted to make the pieces in early fall so that you can set them out in november....for i know so many of my friends  decorate before the thanksgiving holiday....

this will be a limited piece - number unknown at this time, but her name is 'linda'....and of course she doesn't have to be put away after the holidays either, you will probably find the perfect spot for her for the rest of the year too...later i will tell you why i chose the name that i did for the piece too....(yes, having to do with a quilter that i know)

the colors are green, bright red and soft yellow....

if you would like to see other designs, here's my link:

dallison.squarespace.com

blogging.....again....

finally....and i say finally for the reason that i haven't been able to blog 'comfortably' for some time.  apparently the issue seems to be that my computer is very very 'old', and has not been able to adapt 'comfortably' to the new google system...

well....some days i feel very very old and have a hard time adapting, so you won't find me running out to purchase a new computer with more memory and zippity zap speed....no, i will hang on until it just decides that it's time here is done....

i do, simply put, become quite attached to 'material things' in my life, and will actually have human emotions for inanimate objects....  i'm sure there is some sort of 'mental' description of this most abnormal behavior, left over from childhood i'm sure, for i remember crying when my teeny snow man melted when i was just five....

so what is one to do?  well time seems to take care of things in many instances....so i gave my computer a good long rest, some updating that it was fighting me on and here we are, back to blogging....the issue was that i couldn't click photos, type style, etc. on my blog for the windows wouldn't allow it...but here we are, after a much needed 'mechanical' rest she is simply going along with my agenda today....

as far as what is going on in the rest of my life?  school is in full swing and so is eli's football....i will have to admit that i'm going through the same feelings of 'displacement' as i did when my oldest was hardly around, but i've adapted to his very lengthy days at practice and feel sure that in no time i will say to myself it's already 6:00?!  (bold faced lie)....how can that be, i still have so much more to do before dinner....

so since his schedule changes, mine does too.....i will be in the studio for almost twice the amount of time now, throwing myself into work as i adjust to 'his lack of need of me'......so far so good....

i'm currently finishing up all of your orders of the 'wheel of fortune', and hopefully this will bring us all an extra amount of good luck....i will also be creating new designs over the next couple of months and am rolling around in my mind another web sale in the fall....that was fun last spring, so i'm keeping that in mind....i have events to attend and pieces to make for gallery showings off the mountain this winter, and as you know that is stepping out of the box for me, since I NEVER GO DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!  but hey, why not, it's for the arts, and after all the arts have been pretty darn good to me...

i will keep busy, do what it takes to begin this new chapter in my life.....of not being needed....boo hoooo

if you are in need of some fall color, christmas ideas or color for your home,  please browse my site, it will help me feel 'needed', here's my link:

dallisongameboards.com

new board update....

just wanted to give you an update of the new piece i introduced....i had an idea that this piece would go very quickly because of the bold graphic design...there are only 10 still available before i introduce wheel of fortune to my website...

one of my clients asked how it would look with her chinese checker board so i thought i'd post another picture of 'clarence chinese checker, wheel of fortune and the arrow parcheesi' for you to view...i know so many of you have many pieces in your homes to mix this piece with....

one of the things i really like about this piece is it calms a very busy area....if you have a 'messy' or busy area (books) this piece draws the eye away from the chaos and makes you focus on something that is simply graphic.....which pretty much is anywhere in my own home....(should do something about that), but until then i will just hang art....

scroll down to the next post for information on the new piece....

a new design...come with me to the fair...

one of the best times it seems for me to start thinking of new designs is often while i'm painting another design....i start lulling around in my mind the colors that i'm using, or colors that i haven't pulled out for some time....sometimes i will pull out bottles and bottles of shades and move them around on my paint table to discover all new combinations that thrill me and jot them in my notepad for later use...


last week i had a day where i blocked on my calendar 'create'....well sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't....sometimes i'm in a totally different mind frame, accounting, cleaning or busy paperwork....so if that's the case i switch it to another day for i know from experience you either have the creative spirit that day or you don't....and those 'don't' days always mean something will not come to fruition....and i won't like the finished piece.


i decided on making a gee's bend piece (the final piece in the collection)....in blues and creams and began researching the original quilt maker on the internet...it is a heartfelt piece because of her life, the story of her life, her spirit.  it was moving....and i felt i wanted to hang on to it a bit longer in my head, swirling colors with patterns and her spirit...i wasn't ready to create it and then come to its end....i wanted to savor each piece awhile longer....


so....i decided to research antique game boards....and when i found this piece i was tickled...an entire different feeling of creating - a 'i must have one because it's fun' feeling, and i know exactly where i will hang it when i'm done...




most of my reproduction pieces are from the 1800's but every now and then i will find one from the 1900's that i must attempt to figure out, to blend those colors just so and see if i'm anywhere near what is before my eyes and in my mind...

my newest piece is titled "wheel of fortune" for my heart is that of a child of the fair and the circus....if i could rewrite my life i would've been in the traveling circus; raised by performing parents and therefore learning how to walk the trapeze at a young age or swing from up high....i love the tents, the colors, the sparkly gowns along with the scents of food and animals - i love the little girl thoughts of an exciting traveling life...as an adult i know otherwise as we all do now; but sometimes i can escape back to the innocence of a child and her dreams before i knew the realities...now i was telling my sister about my new design and how i love the fair and the circus (which she doesn't) and she said she loved the game show 'wheel of fortune' and it reminded her of that; so i guess that's another way to look at it!


the piece was dated 1937 and signed by G. Yeager....that is all that i know about the piece other than the lines through the center were to "look like wires", the appraiser thought....and it was sold for $4,500.


this is a limited edition of 15 pieces and then it will be retired permanently.


19"x19"
$220.00
gold, off white, red and black

if you would like to browse other game board designs just click on the link to my site:

www.dallison.squarespace.com

my child will need therapy...

a day in the life, to put it simply...

but first, some proper background music from the movie, "little miss sunshine"...

last week was the 'next to the last week' of school for eli....i myself begin to get that pumped up feeling of it's almost over, goodbye sixth grade, goodbye carpool, goodbye alarm clock...


so as always, i began the week off with; next to the last monday proceeding to announce the 'next to the last' each and every day...


testing was what all last week was about at school, stress levels are up, school stresses good nights rest and nourishing breakfast....so as it goes we were asked to provide breakfast for 88 children on one of the days...well this isn't a big deal in a way because hubby has a restaurant where he works and he's the boss, so you know what that means....chef will lovingly make a wonderful breakfast for 88 kids and hubby will deliver it...easy street!


the night before hubby realized that chef was out of town....he said o.k., no problem, he would grab the mixes that we needed from the restaurant and we could make the egg casseroles...now i do not have a full size oven; yes, i hadn't heard of it before....but i figured this out when i tried to shove a turkey in the oven years ago.  i pointed this out to him and asked him to measure the pans....he gasped, oh my....but being that this was just going to work out one way or the other, i asked my dear neighbor if she would mind if i cooked these in her oven since she was out of town...and she being the best neighbor in the whole world, said of course!


so hubby called me on the way home and said he was in over his head, the restaurant was out of their egg mix....we figured out what he would need to buy at the store, beginning with 9 dozen eggs...as he arrived home and i began to see what it takes to feed 88 people, i whipped out my 'no problem' hat and began mixing eggs, egg whites, egg beaters and cream.  fried up the sausage and pre-measured amounts per pan...then we hauled soup pots full of yummy stuff over to the neighbors house late that night; for at 5:30 a.m. i am to head over to preheat the oven...


ok, as the teenager goes; 'what, chef isn't doing it?, what YOU are doing it?, oh it's going to be horrible',  i just love this age don't you?  well it all turned out just fine, the only mistake i made was not to allow extra time since it wasn't a commercial oven, so we were late on our end, but perfectly timed to arrive at school for breakfast...and the kids loved it, however ours didn't....and of course he was horrified that his dad was serving...oh well, signs of normal


then on friday, you know, 'next to the last friday', i was assigned to bring in 300 paper plates for an after school party...eli and i found the greatest colorful plates at big lots, they screamed PARTY...honestly, i felt like i should get the mother of the week award; breakfast and now PARTY plates....my arm was sore from patting myself on the back...


when i picked up eli friday after the party, i said last friday!!!  one more week to go!!!!  yippeeee!!!!  he looked at me stone faced and said, 'no mom, we have two more weeks of school, it's on the calendar in the hall, not one week mom, but two weeks of school; and by the way it cost $3 to get into the party and one canned good, i borrowed the money from mary's mom....


poor child...
will need therapy....


so today when i dropped him off at school i said 'next to the last tuesday, this is the next to the last tuesday', he looked over at me trying not to grin and got out of the car....and i'm glad i can't read his thoughts...


poor child...
will need therapy....




happy mothers day....


for game board therapy, here's my link:  dallison.squarespace.com

almost sold out....

if you are signed up for my email updates then you already know that the baseball dart board is celebrating the season with a $25.00 discount....






for any of you who do not get my updates with special prices or the introduction of new limited pieces; you may want to go ahead and sign up....just drop me an email and i will do the rest!

dianeallison@charter.net

there are only a few pieces of 'the game' left to be made before it is retired....so if it is a piece that you love, please let me know and i'm happy to make one for you....







and feel free to browse if you'd like:

http://dallison.squarespace.com/

a day with God...

it was just about a year ago when eli, then 11, said that he wanted to get baptised and confirmed at the boone united methodist church, for classes were just about to start...






hubby and i looked at each other and inwardly sighed....for if you knew what we have gone through trying to "pick" a religion or a church, so to speak, you yourself would sigh right along with us...



this is a family of many religions meshed together, this family of ours are steadfast in their beliefs, this family is always thinking that we do need to be at church every week, but which one, which faith....it's been a merry go round involving religion and which church we felt worked for the both of us and our different beliefs...and of course we've taught eli along the way, all these different cases that we plead for 'our' religion, but he wanted more, he wanted the whole enchildada, he wanted to belong somewhere...





well as kids sometimes do, eli tired of the back and forth of his confused parents, and he went on ahead of us...








parents out there all know that it takes a village to raise a child, and part of that village is a church too....









eli chose his church....eli chose his path....and we followed him....(click photo below for baptism)








after nearly a year of studies and words that can't even begin to describe his journey, his leaders, his friends, his work, play and questions; he was finally baptised this past weekend....









we are very proud parents of this young man; a young man who is strong enough to break away from his very confused parents, find his own road and lead us for awhile...

studio shuffle....

sometimes you just wonder, you really wonder, what the universe has in store for you... for after all, my life in or out of the studio has been a constant shuffle... it seems to me that the universe must have a different plan for me, or it's just messing with me. either way i'm standing firm and saying enough is enough...

it all began january 1st, now this was a very good day. and i figured whatever we did on the first day of the year would certainly be a prediction of the days to follow...so we headed down the mountain for the day to gather with friends and go to an NCU basketball game. well i will admit that i've never been a fan of basketball, really any sports at all except good old baseball, but i'm really trying since eli is such a jock. mom's have to do what they have to do right? so we had the best of times, well then...the next day it all began...

hubby went to hospital, and yes he's fine, but a scare nonetheless...
the same week my sweet little belle the beagle died...i don't think i've ever been so unhappy or sad, my best friend, my shadow gone from my home and studio... heartbroken is understated
i was sick
eli was sick

eli at hospital for x-rays
i was sick again
eli was sick again
we battled just about every illness that we've ever heard of...and just days ago my oldest son, davey, called saying he had the flu...

so that's what this year has brought....scares, illnesses and sadness

well as i think back to the basketball game, all the running, jumping, bodies hitting the floor, leaps of faith, jumps of triumph, cheers against wrong doings and celebrations and disappointments all mixed into one hour...i see i am receiving just that....every facet of life pumping into a short amount of time...

what have i learned? well of course the obvious, be careful what you do on January 1st, but also to accept, and accept some more and then some more...that whatever i'm given, do it all with love, feel every moment, don't rush through life, everyday is really a gift to do what you can for those you love, to stand strong, to sit and be moved by the birds coming back to their home...to wake up with the window open and to a symphony of birdsong...yes, life is good.

i can't tell you how happy i am to see spring has arrived...for there is that bit of hope in me that thinks maybe this was just a winter thing? no, i know better, it's life in all its greatness...

painting away in the studio and pondering new designs in my head....doors are open to the soft breeze...it can't be better than this...

if you need some color, here's my link: dallison.squarespace.com

the luck of the ole' irish....

(this is my dad at one of his favorite places to play golf, st. andrews golf course in scotland, of course, on his way to ireland!), one good looking irishmen...and as the story goes....

but first, 'proper' irish music for you to enjoy while you read....

from the time i opened my wee little eyes, my father announced to me that i am irish, and he has never stopped. this 'fact' has been bred into me for half a century now, i'm sure to the dismay of my mother. after all, she is a fine mix of scottish, german and other bloodlines. but we don't include this, oh no, i'm 100% irish, and what a fine thing to be.





and as the folklore continues on, i too, have convinced my children that they are irish, and apparently that leaves no room for anything else. and that's just the way it always has been, and always will be until i am gone myself. i have told them that there is an entire county named after them in ireland, that they once had a castle in their family and great great great (something or other) was beheaded (boys love this part), and the castle stolen from our family....the stories go on and on and on.. and that someday they should reclaim their family castle (they love this part too).









I have taught them that 'their' people had to leave their own beloved country due to hunger, slavery and religion, and how they were mistreated by others when they arrived to america...










for them to be proud of their heritage and honor the irish' past....their blood is green, they are irish...and that's that...







and today i live in a mountainous area that the irish came and settled, the view reminding them of their own country....i guess it is a blood 'thing', after all i was drawn here, for no reason, just drawn...

so today i honour the bloodline that i have been blessed with, the fight of the irish fight that i now live; to be treated equal and fairly and to live the religion of my choosing...





just a footnote: it's that time of year when one of my kids announce that they HAVE to wear green so they don't get pinched....i give them my best serious mom look and state clearly - "you are irish, your blood is green." and i know my eyebrows are raised, indicating that there is so much more that i want to say, as i'm biting my tongue....for what i want to say is: You are Irish, Act Like It, If Anyone, and i Mean ANYONE pinches you, take them down...you are a fighter, don't forget it....


support your local irish artists:

www.dallison.squarespace.com/