Open House: Nov. 19 - 21

The snow is slowly melting, cookies and other goodies are being rounded up, and our booth area upstairs in American Gothic Antiques (236 S. Main St., Stillwater, MN) is being readied for our Open House. Fri- Sat: 10 - 5; Sun: 11-5.
We have found some vintage bear goodies including one-of-a-kind hand-drawn cards starting from 1998, oil pastels from when I wasn't brave enough to pick up the soft pastels, and pen-and-ink drawings of bears pre-Larry and Bob. We will have older sketchbooks on view, hard as they are to see, and Pearl the Bear will make an appearance - if we can replace her lower jaw....

Fresh gingerbread bears will be there for the munching. Their friends, the sugar-cookie bears, have almost all been eaten already. Not on purpose - really. Just to check for flavor and texture. Crunch... flavor - yum.... texture....excellent.

Friday and Sunday you can me at find the shop. Saturday, you can walk among the Stillwater bears Sue-free as I'll be vending at the CPC Craft Boutique - Christ Presbyterian Church - located at 70th St. & Hwy 100 in Edina, MN. It will be our first time attending this event but we have that it's a fun way to spend the day. Hours are 9 - 4.

Time to get back to the work-a-day stuff of being an artist. Tara and I are heading for coffee!

Packers play the Vikings in Minnesota on Sunday.......... Go PACK!!!

Fare-thee-well,
Sue

Open House for us at American Gothic

Winter is on it's way and there's no avoiding it. But "Hudson" here and lots more of the bruin crew want to help us ease our way into the grey days ahead with a bit of furry fun -

November 19, 20, and 21 will find lots of bears hanging out where the first one was created. We will host an Open House at American Gothic Antiques, 236 S. Main Street, Stillwater, MN and see what happens.

The little brown desk is still there, though Marshall's magazine rack is long gone. Hard to believe that since the first furry guys came out of the pencil how many have shown up - and, knock wood cross fingers, and no end in sight.

We will have old bears and new bears, bad, better, and excellent bears. Bear-shaped cookies (thanks to the cutter found down the block at the great shop, The Chef's Gallery), paw-print cookies (thanks to a recent yard-sale find), and other edible goodies. We may display a few of our sketchbooks and piles of idea stacks to show folks some of the stuff that seldom sees light of day. And maybe even rip of a pile - that's hard and fun at the same time!

If you need/want a bear card, magnet, tee-shirt, book, painting, or print come to American Gothic Antiques and climb up the stairs. If you need/want a cookie help yourself. Explore Stillwater, remember where you parked, and enjoy the day - grey or sunny.

On to THIS gorgeous day - it's back to playing with the pastels again. Bears - come!

Fare-thee-well,
Sue and crew

After Thanksgiving

Now through the Holiday Season we will have a great gang of our bears downtown Stillwater, Minnesota upstairs in American Gothic Antiques,the shop where they all began.

There are also some piles of older pieces downstairs here at home waiting to be sorted through. Most are smaller 8 by 10 things - some will probably be stripped of frame and mat and spoken to kindly with the usual sad yet truthful, "Sorry, old pal, but you didn't make the cut....,"and, sigh, ripped in the ritual four quarters and tossed gently in to the waste basket. Some will be rescued, and some will hang around to inspire further pieces. A few will graduate to be new cards and magnets - if not offered as Art.

We bought some baked goodies for this weekend's Open House at the shop, but also got out the recipe cards and whipped up brownies and dream bars from scratch. it's been a while since eggs, flour and sugar have been beaten in our kitchen. the new oven is much more the pal than our last one. I can trust this beast to do what it says it's going to do - sigh,

So, on to the wonders of black Friday (I'm not venturing out till daylight) and the coming weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all-
- Sue