Christmas was WONDERFUL! Now back to NORMAL! (whatever that is....)

   Christmas spanned three days here at Rowanwood, with family coming and going. So much going on!
   After all the planning, making presents, wrapping, hiding and suspense, it's time to settle back in to a routine. Or as close to a routine as we ever come!
   The website is functional, I think. I found a few more issues that have been dealt with and more products will be added in the days to come. Everyone here needs to get back to work creating! We gave away a lot of crafty items for Christmas. But boy did we end up with new ideas! Dark Steel's knives were a HUGE hit, with everyone suggesting new design ideas and several orders!
   I had done a pencil drawing of my daughter that I gave her for Christmas. She seemed to like it! I was pleased, but of course, it helps that the subject was so beautiful to begin with.

  Check the website often in the weeks to come. I hope to make lots of new additions.

   MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING PEACE AND PROSPERITY TO ALL!

FINALLY!....... A Website!

    After many false starts,  and much hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth , we finally have a website! rowanwoodart.com is up and running. Not all of our items for sale are listed there yet, there is more work to do. More items can be seen in our etsy store and we have tons of vintage stuff listed on Ebay.
But I will keep working away at it until we have a complete catalog on our very own website!
    Christmas is upon us! We made about 40 items to give as gifts to family and friends an then of course our gifts for each other ( I can't wait to see....). It has been a busy workshop this year. I have to admit I went a little commercial. Too many great gift ideas on Ebay to pass up! So the kiddies of Rowanwood will have many surprises this year from us, Santa and the Rowanwood Elf!
    Merry Christmas to all! And for those of you who celebrate other holidays this time of year, may your festivities be blessed and may we all prosper in the New Year!

Growing Pains

    Since we really kicked things off around here, we have been busy, busy, busy! The learning curve is pretty big!
    We started out with a simple Etsy Shop. Then a few items on Ebay. Invited some artist to join in. Pinterest. Twitter. Facebook.
     We wanted our own website so we took the "easy" route and started a site through Etsy. That wasn't the right fit for us so I changed web Hosts.  Oh! You can't move a domain registration for 60 days after creating it. So we had to wait. (Etsy's system doesn't allow modifications....it's a long story).
    The day finally came! We got our authorization to move our domain and finally publish our website! Oh. We have to wait for it to all go through.
    So, someday soon we will have a website again!
    We have had a few artists come out and look around. The feedback has been great! We have a nice place to work and we have made a lot of new friends!
    We have made it out to several local estate auctions, on the hunt for cool vintage items or materials that we can re-purpose. I have to say that is waaaaay fun. We have so many cool new projects to work on!
     So, as we muddle our way through, we are getting a clearer vision of the goal. Which is: Establish a fun and convenient work environment for our selves and other local artists. Create Art pieces from recycled materials and pass on great vintage items that we find along thew way. Improve our skills and learn as much as we can and share that knowledge with others who want to learn! And most of all, have fun doing it!

Bikes, Blues and BBQ, Fayetteville AR - 2016

Bikes, Blues and BBQ is a MC Rally held every fall in beautiful Fayetteville, AR. This year right before the rally we were lucky to get an offer for a space to set up and sell some of our artsy and craftsy items!
We had very little time to prepare but we did what we could and we sold a few things and had a lot of fun!

As we sat at our booth I found time and inspiration to paint this little ditty.  I call it "Dickson Street" (not real imaginative). I painted it on Friday and sold it on Saturday. I kind of miss it!

The Story Continues...

So, I mentioned the Castle.... Let me tell you a little more.
Currently our castle stars (in order of appearance) :
The Shop (Circa 1955 with many upgrades)
The Main Cabin (1994)
Harveson House (2012)
The Library (2014)
The School (2015)
The Clubhouse (2016)
To Be Announced (Fall 2016)
Confused? You won't be after the next episode....
Ok, I'll fill in a few blanks now.
The Shop started out as a small Blacksmith Shop back in the 50's, just a lean-to, really. Over the years it has undergone many remodels and additions. Currently the main shop area - The Power House- serves as a place to maintain the equipment and work on small projects.  The covered area in front of the Power House is home to the Rowanwood Smith Shop,where Dark Steel forges one of a kind blades and metal smiths can work on various art projects. Hmmm, Kind of how it started out way back when..
The Main Cabin is a cozy little log home with a fun retro look and a great kitchen to cook the great meals for family and friends.

Harveson House was added in 2012 when the population began to grow. In keeping with our low to no investment theme, we started with a modular home and expanded from there.

The Library became a necessity when our love for books outgrew our space to keep them. A 10'x16' lofted storage barn soon became a cozy library/study space with loft storage.
The Schoolhouse is a place for our little nippers to learn and a place for community classes and meetings.
This year we were lucky to get The Clubhouse, a place to relax and watch a movie or play a game or work on a project. This year we also aquired a new building thats purpose has yet to be revealed. You will have to check in later to hear more about that.

Everything is arranged around a central Courtyard ( you can see Library and School in this pic) So we have a quiet place to study, read, create.....

The Castle grows as we grow. And so the Story Continues...

The Beginning

Welcome to Rowanwood!

Over the past few years we have been working on the old family farm; cleaning, landscaping and generally sprucing up. With a large extended family it has become necessary to add on space for us all to peacefully co-exist. We aren't wealthy people but we do have a fair amount of creativity so we have built our space in a fairly unconventional way.

Our "Castle" may not fit the mold of the fairy tale castle. More like the castle fortressses of old, our building style arises out of need and available materials. Within our fortress we strive to provide the things that our subjects need to learn, create and thrive!

Follow our story, I'll try to keep it interesting!