These are new resin collages in my latest frames. They are all in white bronze rather than sterling which will keep the cost down significantly. I can really see this whole technique growing and becoming a miniature and wearable art form. I love doing the collage part and if the resin cures; they will make a B&B appearance. All my frames have spirals and my painter marks on the backs.

A sweet picture of my granddaughter, Maia Rose and her grandpa, my ex, Lew. Isn't she just the cutest child? She is 6 now and lives so very far away in Tennessee.I think of her all the time. Well off to the shop with me. One more day to " settle " things in there and then off to the Bead & Button show! Have a wonderful day! n

Pictures from My Herb Beds

Another view of the frames.
Heart pendants in white bronze for a metal content.
A close up of some more of my resin frames and the little collages in them. The lighting is a bit weird but one of these days I will figure all the technical aspects of photographing out.

I have added more art to the back hall art wall and I still have room for more. After the Bead & Button show I am going to get some new work framed and hang it back there. The project after that will be to add some lighting. I may even try to have it " open" for a gallery walk or two this summer. I am at the stage in this new body of work that I can use some public input. I am also very anxious and desirous of painting on a much larger scale again. I may have to rearrange my studio to have space to do this but I think the effort will benefit my work.

Off for a pedicure now to prepare my tootsies for the hours of standing at the B&B show. Plus my toes are in need of an outrageous color or 5 ! Have fun until later......

Two Good Things About Today

Keith is here from Panama and we had dinner together at my house tonight. Phil fixed great dinner of baked yukon gold potatoes, turkey roll and salad. nice conversation and company. Keith got right down with Regina to pet her which she enjoyed and I think he misses his dog back at home.
A wonderful Sunday! Beautiful weather and the lovely sunshiney day made it even bearable to begin the long process of packing for the Bead & Button show. This little frog on my crow on the front porch has returned for the first time this season. Isn't he cute? He lives in my ivy plants by the front door! I am always happy to see him and this year, Jacob saw hime first.

I toured this building today with some friends and potential business partners. We were thinking that perhaps it is time I own a building and it could be a an evolving place in my life and career. Maybe a home, shop, studio, apartments, boarding house, restaurant. I can dream. It's a beautiful place with elaborate woodwork, lots of natural light, high ceilings, and right on the water. With a deck up high on the second floor in the back; it is like you could see forever. A very unique and inspirational future. I don't think it is in my cards though as the price is prohibitive and it would involve so many, many changes in everything I do and live.

New Resin Frames

These are the ad samples that Bead & Button magazine sent me. I had to make a choice between the red or pink color as a background. I went red. In respect to red for prosperity ( I hope ) and red for good chi and feng shui, it could only be the red. Wonderful, vibrant, red.

I can hear Jacob softly snoring ( snoftly ? ) through the office monitor and I am afraid it is time for me to do the same. I am posting this picture of the view outside Phil's sister's kitchen window of her new home in Australia. I love palm trees and particularly like drawing them so perhaps this will jump start me and I will paint a picture of them. Maybe even one day fly there!

Saw the new Star Trek movie tonight - awesome! And I am not even a trekkie!

The Little Nest

I know, I know. I should have been working in the studio but I took a break and worked in the little flower bed by my studio with Phil. It was a peaceful few moments with Regina and Jessie laying by us and the sun out, a breeze blowing. I was alternately weeding and playing with the kitties in their little house when Phil said he had found a nest in the garden. It was made right on the ground in the dense jungle of wall flowers, day lilies, butterfly bush and weeds. It is so sweet and little and very carefully has moss woven in around the dry grass. It is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It just touches my heart.

Today would have been my mother's 80th birthday. Yesterday was my dad's birthday and he would have been in his 90's. So Phil baked a lemon and chocolate cake and we had cake and ice cream in honor of their birthdays. Funny as I was growing up I just never pictured myself this age or my parents being gone. My mom is in my thoughts every day and I am happy with the time we had together. Birthdays bring out the nostalgia and the hope for tomorrow in me. So happy B-day mom and dad. I hope you are celebrating together somewhere in the heavens.

It is always a challenge to mix beads, yarn, charms and jewelry together into my booth display. It all needs to flow into a rhythm of creativity. Samples must be displayed with their parts and it must be inspiring to the viewer and pleasing to me as well. I never know exactly how a booth setup will turn out and often I am not aware that I even LIKE the display until I am home and looking at the pictures I have taken.

Now it is busy time, whirling here and there in a flurry of activity getting ready for the Bead & Button show. You will find me all this week in the studio!

Home for Now

Whew, I am home from Portland where the weather warmed up to the mid 80's and the show was fun but slow and it feels good to be here. My dog Regina is ever so happy to see me as she does her happy whine dance around my feet, the cats are delighted to have someone in their house that will twirl feathers for them and even Jacob, who is too mature now for shows of affection, leaned his head against my cheek and just stayed there for a bit. I like my time at home, sometimes too much and I picture myself on a deserted island, adrift in a sea of aloneness and creativity. Endless days of making stuff! Ah, but then I need the public to view my work and have input so out into the world I go to shows, the shop and more. I am pretty tired tonight but I will leave you with a few shots from the show. I was so pleased and delighted to meet someone who reads my blog! If I could add glitter to this sentence and little pink hearts; I would! Thank you! Maybe more to come tomorrow before I throw myself into all the work that must be done for Bead and Button. Gulp! I leave VERY soon! Too soon!

Knit and Crochet Show, here I come! I think I have all the yarn and beads and samples packed that I need. I hope it is a busy, busy show. I know that I am excited to look at more yarn. I mean, a girl can never have enough! I leave you with a picture of ancient Shelby, peeking through his outdoor recreation area and saying, : so long! ". My BABA always said never say, goodbye, just say so long.

Diva Time!

It is time to put on my DIVA hat and head off tomorrow for a yarn show in Portland. I'll be selling and displaying my yarn wares along with some beads. It will be great to put out the charms and buttons ( lots of buttons ) I have made for fiber enthusiasts and actually have someone appreciate them. Better still, know what to do with them! Anyhow, I have been working on many things for the show, beaded felt beads, embellishing a felt bowl, making knit theme charm bracelets but I have most enjoyed making a banner for my booth. I have made lots of Wynwoods banners but now I needed a DIVA banner. I have added more than what is in this picture so I will take photos in my booth of it and I plan to embellish it much more. Some embroidery, beaded fringe maybe miniature balls of yarn. I gotta start making something with all this felt besides banners! Maybe one more post before I leave. I just never travel with my laptop, it is kind of fun to be computer free!

Happy Mother's Day!

My most recently a baby child and the gift he made me for mother's day. It was a school project, I think his teacher is awfully clever, and is a painted flower pot with an alyssum planted in it. I LOVE it! Alyssum is one of my favorite, blooms all summer here little plants. I am thrilled that over my lifetime that I got to be the mother of such fine boys. A nice long phone call with Michael, my oldest also capped off the morning. It struck me how he IS an adult and I am treasuring our talks. I only wish he lived closer. Mothers ... where would we be without them! :)

FLOWERS for Mother's Day!

Flowers! From Paula, Nathan and the kids! Waiting for me at the shop on Friday! What a lucky girl I am to have such wonderful family thinking of me on Mother's Day! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

This was on a friend's facebook page and I thought it was funny and a good thought to leave a Saturday with. Sometimes, I feel exactly this way!

A Horoscope thought leading to an Epiphany

In today's paper my horoscope said, " ....honesty sometimes hurts but it is the only way you can stay true to yourself and eliminate the negative people from your life. " This has happened recently to me. This elimination of negative people or in this case, person. My best friend from childhood has become so negative, mournful of his life, unsympathetic to anyone around him; not willing to listen to any voice but his own; that I stopped calling him, stopped writing, stopped sending him things. He could not see or refused to see the depth of pain I felt over my mother's death and in passing over me in conversations, told me over and over the same stories of his own traumas that I have heard from forever ago. I love him dearly but we had to take a break. I had to eliminate the negative. I never wanted to to tell him this so in the end it became " his " idea and we have stopped communicating. I am still figuring out how to proceed. He is the only person who truly knows me from the child I was. Sad. Sad. For both of us.

Well, if it were not so gray and wet today and COLD!, the dandelions would be open in the yard and the entire area would be a lovely sunny color. Cooler temperatures are fine by me but this wet, gray day is not inspiring me to get much done. I would really like to just curl up and read, sleep, knot or watch an obscenely juvenile movie! Jacob will be home soon from school and I can tease him.

New Painting

I do not get nearly as much time to paint and draw as I would like but I had some free time in my Seattle hotel on Thursday evening so I painted. I had brought along with me a few paints and markers plus what I call my underpainting. It is the basic outline of a painting filled in with " paint marks." It is what I like to think of as the bones of a piece. Phil fell asleep so I was able to stay up and in the solitude of a strange room, air conditioner humming in the background, couch as stiff as bedrock; I painted and found my muse.

Home from Seattle, Part 1

Yeah! I have charms included in Interweave's new Beads 2009 magazine! See my charms on page 17. I have Normal is Boring, A Sacred Hand and a new Sunflower featured. Also on page 70 and 71 is a terrific necklace designed by Marlene Blessing using some of my charms! thanks to Marlene! Check me out and then order some charms!