CHARMS BY LOIS

2012-01-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the day that I am leaving for what will hopefully be warm and sunny Tucson. The house sitter is here, the laundry all done and Jacob is anxiously waiting for me to leave so that he can " party ". I think that means to him that he can turn his music up LOUD and I will not complain. Poor house sitter - they are in for it!
I have managed to pack four knitting projects, my new journal of handmade paper and a bead embroidery project in my suitcase. Plus the Oprah book club novel I have been meaning to read for years. You see I am planning some quiet time in soft, sunny spots to read and craft and draw. Sounds enchanting to me. My trusty laptop is staying home so I will be at the mercy of a hotel computer but I am thinking that not being on my computer will give me more time to create. I won't really be posting pictures until I get home either. Maybe no one will look over my shoulder as I sit in some isolated corner spot and knit while daydreaming. Slow down Lois on this trip and enjoy everything. Life is short and sweet with that lesson hammered home today. Love to all, goodnight.

A painted red heart on raw canvas. Not quite finished
but bursting with red.

Some things new...

2012-01-23T21:34:00.000-08:00

I am running on empty right now and ready to just sit and mindlessly watch something on television while sewing the buttons back on my gray corduroy jacket. Amazingly, ever since the snow fell last week, I have been in the mood to sew and mend things. Jacob is calling to me to mend the cut on his finger and I think I will either have to sew it ( yuck ) or he is going to need a stitch. Jacob's solution to all aches and pains is to " run it under cold water " so we will see what needs to be done. I just don't think that tonight's mending should extend to his finger!

Anyhow, here are some pictures of new charm designs just cast in bronze that I will be taking to Tucson.

I am of course, in love with the bird!

The seasons in the circle pendant are cool too.

A flower, I love drawing them.

I also visited with Regina at her new shop space uptown. I think this home for THE PERFECT SEASON will be a great location for her. It was also fun to hang out with Juliette today and laugh over the stories we shared with each other. I love this town for the people I run into and the people I can share moments of my day with. What better friends and times these?

This picture I like best of Regina.

Just before dinner I also painted red hearts on some raw painter's canvas so that tomorrow I can put Valentine's Day decorations in my display windows. I love painting on un-gessoed canvas and it was hard to stop at just the hearts and not continue on with layer upon layer of color! Sigh - next time. For now, I'll say goodnight.

Ready, Set.....

2012-01-22T21:59:00.000-08:00

Things are packed and in boxes. The last of the new charm designs arrived yesterday and I spent this evening pricing them for Tucson. There are so many new designs on my table this year I feel as if I am a new artist showing my work for the first time. I am bringing some of my sterling silver charms and some of the other silver jewelry I have made, even some of my cuffs and bangles. I am going to miss my buddies from previous years' shows as they have moved on to another Tucson venue. Other friends have decided not to return at all after last years' slower sales. This makes me a teensy bit sad but it also feels as if doors are opening and change is in the air. I am looking forward to seeing my brother, Bob and his wife Barb. I love my east coast friends coming in to do the shows both as shoppers and vendors. Janet is coming just to hang out. Fun! I am going to work in my journals and sketchbooks while I am there and finish a knitting project or two. A drive to Bisbee where we are going to look at commercial properties for sale should be fun, too. Who knows what tomorrow holds? All I know for certain, is we did get a fabulous deal on airfare, hotel and car rental. My best friend, aka my husband and I will be having some fun in the sun!

This is a real bird with real blue feet. How cool!

Tribal pearls.

Toggles in bronzes.

Affirmation charm.

Little House

2012-01-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite house links used in a necklace by Lorelai Eurto. I love how the piece was used and the mix of other findings and charms is very nice. See her blog here: http://lorelei1141.blogspot.com/

Peaceful Day

2012-01-18T12:20:00.000-08:00

Wednesday afternoon. Winter is here and white, clean snow is all about. The entire area sleeps under this blanket. Schools are all closed, businesses too. City Halls are not open region wide. We are resting, waiting to get back to the busyness of life in a day, maybe two. Walking to the studio, just behind the house is dangerous as ice coats the sidewalk beneath the snow. Getting down the five big steps to the warehouse is even more difficult. I might as well be descending Mount Rainier. Still, no complaints will issue from these lips. I have needed a day of rest, I bet most people have. Once again, the universe has answered and we in the Pacific Northwest have taken the advice of our overly excited newscasters and stayed home. Hot tea and freshly made cookies. An afternoon to curl up with a now sleeping dog or two.

Snow Day

2012-01-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

Finally, after wishing for and hoping for and feeling a starving need for snow - it is here and we are in the midst of a small snow squall. I don't know how long it will last but I am thoroughly enjoying it while it is here. I am going to slowly walk my way out to the studio and begin my Tucson work but in the meantime, here are a few photos. xo

Crazxy Busy

2012-01-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

The days are flying by at an ever more quickening pace as I get ready for my big show in Tucson. Things will be shipping soon, in just a couple of days, and I do not feel the least bit ready. If I sit down to work, I am easily distracted by making things for the store or finishing a drawing or housework or playing with Daisy or making dinner or..... endless. Life inspires me and conspires to slow me down in what must be accomplished. Will I see you in Tucson? More than any amount of business I will do down there, I want to see friends, meet old and new customers and feel an inclusion in the incredibly magical world of beads!

Desk view, assembling my toggles.

Toggles in yellow & white bronzes.

Believe. An inspiring word for me as a toggle in white bronze.

Astonishingly

2012-01-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

We are having warm days with sunny afternoons generously sprinkled about this winter season. I can not believe that I could be outside without a coat, play with Daisy and pull weeds and feel like it is a spring day. What is it with this weather? No matter, I am enjoying it and so are these flowers in a clay pot at the edge of my porch.

A Story for You

2012-01-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

Solid copper caps.

Several years ago an older gentleman walked into my shop to sell me glass feathers he had made. He was dressed in a carhart overalls and was quiet spoken. I said I did not need the feathers and that they were not something that I felt I could sell. He said what would you like and I replied, what can you make? After a few more moments we agreed that he would make deer antler buttons for my yarn shop. He returned a couple of weeks later with lots of carefully crafted buttons and explained that he had never made them before. I bought a nice sack full. Soon he returned with more buttons and again, I bought his buttons. The next few times he returned, I did not need buttons as my little drawers were full so he brought in deer antlers for me to display with. The following weekend he came, looked around my shop and said he would return with more things he would make that he thought I could use and would like. Each time he stopped in, I was told a bit more of his story.
Turns out that he lives about 40 minutes from here, is retired and has cancer. He has been making and selling things to help pay for his chemotherapy and his trips to Seattle for treatment. He says he could not do any of this without the love of his wife. I like to think that being in my shop opened a window of creativity for him as all through his illness, the loss of his hair, the tiredness etched in his face, he kept making things for me and I kept buying them.
Just before Christmas he asked what I would like to have made and I said shapes in copper. He had made a few things last year - I made jewelry from them and took several loose pieces to sell in Tucson. Customers loved his work. I asked him to make a bunch more and I would buy them to sell again at the gem shows. He confided in me that his cancer had returned and he had elected not to undergo anymore torturous treatments. I am saddened by this but he kept his word and made a bunch of things for me. Copper and brass buttons, copper caps, earring shapes, drilled wheat pennies and pendants. I bought nearly everything when we sat in the yarn shop to look at his work. It was the most I had ever seen him make. At the end of our business deal, as I realized his hearing was not working and his energy seemed depleted, he reached out to hug me and wish me a Merry Christmas. I like to think that he will be around for a long time in his little work space, crafting things in copper and brass, bone and other found materials and that he will still stop in to sell me his work from time to time but I know that soon this will all stop. I like to think I have helped him and I know that I have learned lessons from him about finding a passion and keeping busy in the face of illness. Odd how at times like this, with found friendships like ours, that I remember how much we can mean to one another.

Pictures from out of Time.

2012-01-05T22:22:00.000-08:00

Nothing much to post this evening and nothing really much to say except that the energy around people and places seems very intense. I don't mean to be all new age like on you but so much seems to be going on in the world and with people that I feel as if I am in a time warp and things are moving ahead and around me as I stand still and say, " whaaaat? ". Weird. The clouds are different. The weather is different. I am not. I feel a change coming and I am almost sensing the direction it is coming from but I have not fully turned in its' direction. My path is seeming clearer as to what I want to do with the creative energy that flows through me. There is a direction I want to take but that first step is awesomely scary. Do you feel it too?

Resin hearts, an experiment with UV curing resin.

Handmade charms in patina free copper.

The pepper for our salad with seeds forming a perfect heart.

Our pretty dinner salad.

The New Year

2012-01-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

So begins another chapter, a fresh start, a clean slate, a journey that begins without completion in sight. Happy New Year all. I have not made any firm resolutions. In the abstract sense, I am still thinking of what I would like to accomplish. I have much to be grateful for and many things that I feel are blessings in my life. I am not going to list them here but trust me, this next year promises some exploration into uncharted territory on my part and a nesting with family as we approach a few milestones in 2012.

"I hope you will have a wonderful year, that you'll dream dangerously and outrageously, that you'll make something that didn't exist before you made it, that you will be loved and that you will be liked, and that you will have people to love and to like in return. And, most importantly (because I think there should be more kindness and more wisdom in the world right now), that you will, when you need to be, be wise, and that you will always be kind."
Neil Gaiman

Jake and his energy drink in a fancy glass.

Thinking of all of you and wishing for you all that you dream and hope for in the coming year! xo

Stringing Beads

2011-12-27T17:58:00.000-08:00

Multi strand necklace with my hand finished cones.

Today I spent the morning in the studio making a few things for the shop, trying to fill up spaces emptied by holiday shoppers. Before I leave for the Tucson shows, I am trying to get the shop all readied and filled in. No empty spaces when I leave town!

After all the Christmas gifts were opened....

2011-12-25T21:44:00.000-08:00

..... Jacob had me cover my eyes and Phil brought in my final package from the garage work bench. He and Jacob had made a shadow box with pictures of my beloved Regina dog along with her collar, tags and leash. As they placed it in my hands and I opened my eyes, I could not help but crying. I loved that girl so much! Honestly, with all the love they placed in the making of it and the box containing pictures of Regina so close in my heart, it was the best Christmas gift ever. I do not think the two of them have ever made anything for me before. I feel so loved and embraced by my family.

Jesse spent the morning with us watching us open gifts and sharing breakfast. She is so old now and even as I cried over Regina's shadow box, I know that Jesse will probably not make it to next Christmas. That knowledge made the day even more bittersweet.

With some of the highest tides of the year today and with the wind blowing in a westerly direction, we thought a drive to the beach would be fun. All of us love the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and hearing the wind in the trees. North Beach is Phil's favorite beach and Jake was especially excited because I let him wear his new pajama pants into town.

Clowning around early in the day in the living room, I took photos of Jacob to send to Michael so that he could see just how tall his little brother has become. Before we know it, he will be driving, then off to college.

As for me, I spent part of the day nursing my bruised foot. Jacob in all his excitement to present me with Regina's shadowbox, stomped on my foot and left a sizable bruise if not a broken bone. Here it is just beginning its' color change. I could not get upset though, he was that excited and that full of love!

Finally, I will leave for the evening and close with a picture of the Olympic Mountains and how they looked this morning around 8:30, partially clear with thick clouds hovering in the valleys and foothills.

I am truly grateful for everything tonight. For my friends and family, for my shops and for work that lets me do what I love. I feel blessed to be loved and to give love. As December wraps up for a close, and 2011 is nearing an end, I say thank you, thank you, thank you and may you enjoy all the blessings of the season and look forward to a spectacular new year.

2011-12-25T14:17:00.000-08:00

I tried to add snow to this blog with a widget but somewhere; like much of the snow not happening in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, it is lost. I want snow. I miss snow. I love feeling snuggled into the house as snow falls all around. I work on projects in the studio and a strong desire to bake and make soup comes over me. Maybe before winter is over, I will figure out the snow on this blog but in the meantime, I am just going to dream of all that white stuff!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve is all around me. The stockings are hung, the tree decorated, gifts have mysteriously shown up on the tree skirt in the last few days and I am relaxing in the living room. The shopping is done both for my family and customers, as we closed up shop today around three. I am astounded by how comfortable everything feels right now and how very contented I am. In a few days things will change and once again I will be busy making things and getting ready for the big Tucson show. But for this moment, this space in time, this quiet Christmas Eve, I just want to say how much everyone has come to mean to me and how blessed I feel in your friendship, my family, my community, my career, my shop. May this season of peace bring you a season of love and comfort. Much love.

Christmas Eve Sky.

The tree. Mmm, the house smells great!

Daisy and tree.

Jake and dad in a quiet moment of companionship

Solstice!

2011-12-21T22:52:00.000-08:00

Today is the winter solstice and we celebrated with a little party at my home. Did I manage to take any pictures? Of course not. I was having too much fun! Laughing, talking, telling stories and eating. Sometimes it is just nice to gather and have time to sit and talk. Thank you Yvonne for the sparkling wine, even though you were not here and thank you Phil, for my favorite white zin. What great company everyone was. I am grateful for the light we brought into the solstice evening.

A customer walked into the shop the other Saturday evening carrying this little silver tree and I almost jumped on her; I loved it at first sight. She had just purchased it down the street in a consignment shop and offered to trade it to me for beads. That sounded like a great idea to me so now the little tree rests in my living room all ready for the holiday! When Michelle came into the house this evening the first thing she said was how she always wanted a silver tree. Great minds think alike.

I also spent some time working for Gina in her candy shop this week, too. A nice but dangerous change of pace from the bead store. Dangerous, you say? Yes, I say because candy and chocolate are my downfall. I am powerless in its wake. I surrender to it constantly even when I shouldn't. But it IS the holidays I tell myself. So while I wait for Christmas to arrive on this solstice evening, I will look at my little sparkly silver tree and think of chocolate kisses.

This Time

2011-12-18T22:32:00.000-08:00

This time of the year, I give myself free time. The few days before Christmas and the week after, I do not rush around the studio making things or writing orders or doing paperwork. I let myself have time to linger with customers at the shop, having conversations and remarking about holiday plans. I also take the time to finish up little things that during the normal course of days, I do not have the time to do. So today, I worked on Christmas cards and finished them!

Christmas greetings.

Then, after the red and green note writing in the cards, I worked on my journals. I have been keeping a combination of journal- scrapbooks since high school. Too many years and books to count. So today I collected up everything I had saved to put in them, clippings of obituaries, birthday cards, horoscopes, pretty postcards and pasted them all in the journals along with little comments and memories. I don't think I have allowed myself the sheer luxury of doing this since at least March. My fist posting was the sympathy card Marlene sent me when my beloved Regina dog died. It is amazing to me the things I have saved since then that documented my days and therefore my life.

Journals on my desk top.

Now, this evening I feel accomplished and contented that this things are done. The holiday cards written and mailed, the journals all up to date. Next we will see about finishing some of the things I began in the last few months that are fun. No other purpose than just for me because it was and is fun.

2011-12-17T21:56:00.000-08:00

I have a " thing " for birds. I love to watch them. Feed them. Like the young seagull I fed my lunch crackers to this morning in the parking lot downtown by the drycleaners. He waits there every morning for his ( or her ) usual round of people that come by offering treats. He is so big, that I think of him as a beach turkey. He is so easily pleased and as I walk away I smile to myself over this secret tryst we have had so early in the day.

Anyhow, I think of birds like they are little beads that decorate the beach. Live beads. Pretty, moving beads. At the big chain pet stores, I watch the birds in the cages and wonder if they are happy. It seems like they are well cared for but do they dream of their days flying high in jungle trees, jungle skies? What are their eyes saying? What do their hearts long for?

These are pictures I took this week in that big, cold, impersonal pet store where this little guy called to me as he stood in the colors of his make believe world.

New Artwork

2011-12-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

Loving the texture of the canvas paper.

It isn't always easy to find the time to pursue my passion of painting. These are little square paintings that I began this past summer and am finally moving towards finishing now. The months have flown by as these paintings sat on my ancient wooden drawing table. Working on small is not easy. They must have all the elements of a successful painting like composition, color, pattern, perspective in a very contained area. I get frustrated and feel like my arms are shortened and can not reach out and spread into my painting. I have to content myself with thinking that someday - someday - I will make the paintings BIG. Six foot square paintings on canvas, I will need a step stool to reach all their edges, I will stretch my arms out and layer color upon color, texture upon texture until even the painting absorbs my body, my person, my soul.

2011-12-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

Things change so fast. Children grow, pets come and go, life passes on by and friendships change. This time of the year always gives me pause for reflection. I look at where I have been, what I have accomplished, how my family is and where I stand in my community, my life and my career. I mentally begin the list for the coming year of the changes I want to make and see in my life. I alter my mind set and tell myself to embrace change, that it is good and will make me a stronger, happier, better person. As I have grown up and become the woman I am today, I have to say that I like me. I am not perfect but I am honest and loving, caring and devoted, generous and kind. These things I do not want to change. My life is an open book, a journal that I write in daily and share with others willingly. I have always felt that knowing people and speaking with them, broadens my horizons and allows me an inner peace as I strive for growth in my relationships. Friend deserve 100% of my devotion for they are an extension of my family, the chocolate sprinkles on the ice cream of my day. I like to think that family extends to everyone I regularly spend time with.

2011-12-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Today found me running around like a disheveled mad woman as I raced to make appointments, pick up Jake from school, run errands, do the housework and laundry and finish up the day with a nice dinner. All of it was accomplished and I am looking forward to the next hour or so of sitting in front of the television and turning off my mind and settling into the " zone ".

The Christmas tree.

What a beauty, tree and dog.

She is trying so hard to sit still for this picture.

The holidays add so much to my to do list and although I love the lights and trees, gifts and gatherings, I am feeling sorely pressed for quality me time. My studio calls to me to create and organize. Daisy nuzzles under my elbow as I work at my bench all the while she is saying, " come play with me, throw that ball, rub my belly... ". Jake says I am out of touch and as I stare off into space simply because there is too much in my head, I think of warm, sunny days lying on the beach near a grass shack as the ocean waves play along the edges of the shore. Fantasy and daydreaming becomes my refuge! How about you?

Yvonne's Book Signing

2011-12-04T22:04:00.000-08:00

Last night during Gallery Walk at my shop ( Wynwoods Gallery ) my friend, Yvonne came and signed copies of her new book, A Suitcase Filled with Nails. It was a fun evening with Yvonne in the shop and my paintings on display upstairs in the classroom. I loved all the activity happening in the building and all the bustle that came into Port Townsend with the arrival of Santa and the tree lighting. Whew! Christmas is under way. Here are some pictures taken of Yvonne, she is very photogenic and I loved shouting to her, " work it baby, work it! "

Arabic writing is read right to left.

Showing off the necklace I made that has even been worn while standing next to Jane Fonda!

2011-12-02T22:14:00.001-08:00

I just turned this laptop on and suddenly, fifteen minutes are gone. Being on line is like a time activating sucking machine. Slurp! and hours are gone. I can not even say where I have been while time passes me by. I wander from this site to that and still accomplish very little and then, in a daze, I glance at the clock on the wall and I realize that other activities are calling my name and my lover, my cold, slick, can't be without you lover of a computer is still holding me captivated to it's icy heart. Must break free...think I am getting sleepy so ..... I'll post a few pictures from around my shop and call it a night at the end of a long day.

Jades

Brass pieces.

Dichroic glass daggers.

Divine Protection

2011-11-27T22:32:00.000-08:00

At work, which is what I call my shops, is a little altar that I have created. It is mounted against the wall behind the counter I stand at and wait on my customers. I build these little altars wherever I am because I need the reminder all the little figurines offer me.

Mother Mary, Buddha and Ganesh along with a fine feathered chicken.

The reminder that I have divine protection and to keep the faith. Times are difficult, no make that hard for so many right now and every day my heart breaks a little more when I hear of the troubles people are having. Children living in cars, people homeless and foreclosed on, pets being abandoned, jobs lost, hopes trampled on.

Somehow, in midst of all this chaos my little altar reminds me of the divine in my life, the divine in other people and to never forget to pray for hope and peace, love and healing.

Wherever we get our sense of religion, however it may be presented to us, it serves to remind me that there is a higher purpose in all that I do.

Buddhas, Confucius, Guadalupe and another chicken. *

The altar also starts so many conversations with customers and friends. People ask to see the figurines, hold them, turn them over in their hands and often remark on what a piece means to them or how they should begin their own altar. Almost everyone has a piece they have collected through the years and I hear the stories of what their figurines mean to them. Conversations that allow me to form a deeper relationship with a person and the divine light that lives within them.

And somehow, this has all become an extension of the beads. It is the beads that brought to me joy and prayer in my daily life and it is the beads that bring people in.

There you have it, the divine side of life according to the charms of Lois.

p.s. Someday, I will tell you the stories of my chickens and why they also are on my altar.

Just a Drop By Note....

2011-11-25T22:15:00.000-08:00

This little mixer was given to me as a wedding gift in 1976. I still use it every time a mixer is called for. Phil has his big Kitchen Aid mixer ( is that what it is called ? ) and he drags that huge thing out when he needs to mix away but I like this little two speed mixer. This Thanksgiving weekend, I am celebrating my old friend here, my faithful mixer. All appliances should last so long and perform so well. It even outlasted that marriage!

This is the end of Thanksgiving day tired cook all collapsed and dozing in his arm chair last night. What a fine job he did, too. Two pumpkin pies and a turkey dinner plus for the two days previously, he helped me with the shops' Christmas window displays. He deserves his nap and I need to get to bed tonight!

2011-11-21T22:20:00.000-08:00

We are in the midst of a big windstorm tonight blowing in a week's worth of rainy days. There are strange, squeaky noises coming from the sliding glass door in the living room and flashlights stand at the ready in case the power goes out. We are blowing steadily at 35 mph and are expecting gusts to nearly 70! Blustery is such a humorous word to describe this evenings' blow. From all my years of living on the beach in this area where I worried continually about the house blowing away or the bulkhead washing out, the wind still unnerves me and I am agitated and pacing most of the night.

Somedays success is a figment of my imagination and I end up feeling like I could chase it for a 100 years and never attain it. Today feels like one of those days. In my head, even though I might be physically making jewelry, I am painting. Big, colorful pictures in clear crisp layered paints. I am lusting for paint. I feel like I will not be breathing until the brush is in my hand and paint is smeared on a palette
ready to be splashed across a canvas or paper. Inspiration is in my every waking thought and soon, I will need to put medium to paper and paint or fairly explode with the want of it. I guess that is the setting on fire I need.

Must close out on this night and snuggle for a while deep into the covers of my bed because soon the wind will be taking the power with it.

DZI and Delight

2011-11-18T22:33:00.000-08:00

Two wonderful things happened today. First of all I had my birthday lunch with Marlene, a fellow November girl. We had a fabulous Parisian style lunch at Sweet Laurette's in uptown Port Townsend. We enjoyed a late morning breakfast followed by a dessert that was a torte for two called " chocolate
oblivion ". Rich, small and dark, the torte was heaven on a fork. I say again, " Damn you, Marlene! "
" Damn you for introducing me to such sin! "

Marlene and what is left of our dessert.

The second wonderful thing that happened today needs a background story. I have a customer that has been using beads from her lifetime collection and making necklaces. She has been donating the necklaces and brings them to me for advice, pricing help and the names of the beads. Last week she showed me a necklace made of beads that she purchased in Asia in 1970. I told her that I thought she had some real D'ZI beads from Tibet. These are precious beads and can be hundreds of years old. They are inscribed with special markings that have spiritual meanings to Tibetans. I have never been lucky enough to see a real one let alone hold one. I referred my customer to Robert Liu of Ornament magazine, who referred her on to a dealer in Bellevue who viewed her beads and said they were worth
$ 2000.00 each! When my customer came in this afternoon to tell me this, I was so excited for her! I also felt special just to have been able to identify the beads for her and then be correct about them. Is that a bead story come true or what?
All in all as I sit here in my comfy living room leather chair on this snowy, rainy and hailing evening; I can reflect back on the day and say it was good. It was fun. It was companionship and history and chocolate all rolled into one birthday celebration day.
pronounced Zee) is a Tibetan
AAl in allword to describe a patterned agate bead of mainly cylindrical or tabular shape called "Heaven's Bead" in Chinese. Such beads were etched black-and-white or brown-and-white, with symbols comprised of circles, ovals, square, waves stripes, lines and various other symbolic patterns. To the Tibetans, each of these symbols represents a specific meaning. They are precious possession to the Tibetan, with so many fascinating stories of its mystical power attributed to it.

2011-11-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

It is the stormy evening before my 55th birthday. Time has gone by so fast and even now, with the days being shorter and shorter, time seems to rush by even faster. I still am marveling at the age I have attained. My mother in law was right ( do you hear that mom Morello ? ), my body says 55 and my mind says 20. Every waking day feels new to me, not new as in here is a new day but new as in this life is so dang fun! Seriously, fun. I am full of a tickling energy that is just delighted to be turning 55, to be gathering experiences and wisdom to warm me in my later years. I am filling a basket with memories to treasure on cold dark winter nights. I am lighting a bright fire inside to cheer me on rain soaked evenings like this one. Summer is not so far off that I can not wish for more winter. I love the winter holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. I love that I have a husband and children. I love my friends and the loving loyalty they give to me in return for the loving loyalty I give them. I particularly treasure the customers from my shop that have become friends over the 19 years that I have had Wynwoods. Blessings on this, my near 55th year, blessings to me, to you and yours and as always I am so grateful for this life.

Port Townsend in the Wind

2011-11-11T17:22:00.000-08:00

Just soak in the beauty! We are so blessed to be living in this awesome place. Wind and rain forecast tonight for this Veteran's Day evening. I am feeling grateful for friends, family and all the people in my life who have honorably served their country.

11.11.11

2011-11-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

So is this a lucky day? Would you get married with numbers like this? Buy a lotto ticket? I have been told that we humans look for patterns in things and that makes us feel like we have some control over the future or our lives. I have always been rather attached to the number eleven and it shows up in my life in numerous ways, from my birth month to the hour I was born to the second half of my birthweight. I look for the number eleven in every thing that I do. I don't NEED the number 11 to be there, I just feel comforted if it IS there. When I head out ( of the fog my brain is in from painkillers and too much sleep yesterday ) to the studio, I am going to look for the 11s in my work. Eleven beads, findings, crystals, charms. Whatever. I won't need the number 11 but I will see if I can heed it. Whatever that means on this wacky 11.11.11 !

2011-11-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

It's my Blogoversary! Another year has passed in the mere blink of an eye. I am older, the blog is older and I am still in love with the things I do. I was at a downtown merchant meeting the other day and the subject being discussed was passion. Do you still have a passion for your business and what you do? Was it a passion that first got you involved in your business? I said out loud with total self confidence at this meeting that I still love what I do, that I opened my shop because I like to make things and sell the things I make, that every single day, I am happy to get up and go to work. My heart still flutters a beat when someone purchases a piece that I have made and says that they like it. Like it enough to own it, wear it. I have never tired of hearing someone say how much they like my work, my shop, my creativity.

And yesterday, sweet yesterday, a customer told me how much she enjoys reading my blog and seeing the pictures I post and oh, by the way, she likes my drawings. I am thrilled! I am delighted! I could have celebrated all afternoon long.

So as this blogoversary commences, I say THANK YOU! To all who have read or are reading this blog, thank you, from the bottom of my painter's heart to the tips of my bejeweled fingers. A journey of the creative spirit that I am happy, ever so happy to have company on.

Secrets

2011-11-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

There is a secret world that lives in my garden. My poor, much neglected garden. Summer was first too wet and cold and then quickly turned to a heated oven and things passed away, faded from life. I had all but given up on my front flower beds. Jacob and his friend Ben did some aggressive weeding and pulled even plants that I liked that they saw no purpose for. Jacob figures, much like my father who he never met or knew, that if you can not eat it; it shouldn't grow. Out went color and ornamental grasses. Tossed to the compost pile were purple vinca, pink heathers, iris bulbs, and carnations. I am left with what I thought was a dead waste land of what once was.

I have made mental plans for next years' garden. The shame of being an artist without a pretty garden is too much to bear but on one recent rainy afternoon, hidden amongst the remains of a few plants, I found this -

a secret world all nestled safely within. I think there could be fairies or little people living under here. Don't you?

2011-10-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

White bronze.

Yellow bronze.

As silver prices rocketed to the stratosphere these last few years ( and really with no end in sight ) I found myself making charm designs bigger and bigger. I wasn't sure where that journey was taking me but I continued on creating large pieces. Finally, I have decided the time has come to cast them in alternative metals and I am making these pieces available for the first time! I am casting them in bronzes, red, yellow or white and I really like the results. They look almost like silver in the white yet at the same time have the patina of much older pieces. Now I can see that maybe the large pieces were not such a bad idea.

Saturday Evening

2011-10-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Last evening my friend, David came over and had dinner with us. He has been a friend and best buddy since the mid 1970's. I can always count on him to make me laugh. He doesn't even know what triggers my laugh but he gives me this little sideways look and a twinkle appears in his eyes and I know he is there for me now and in the future. I gave him last year's Christmas present finally, after dinner, too. I am a terrible person who just can not manage to celebrate a holiday or birthday on the date that is given to that celebration. I gave David one of his favorite stories, The Wind in the Willows. So quietly, with a sort of family reverence we gathered around as David began to read. We were mesmerized and reveling in the simple joy of an evenings' story read. David is also an artist and soon, I will post some of his paintings. He is my gentle, misunderstood friend that I can offer shelter, friendship and a good meal to warm all our hearts.

Even Jacob put down his ever present cell phone to listen to the story.

I love being read to.

How is it...

2011-10-18T10:19:00.002-07:00

.... that I have not written here in so long? I can blame it on many things: I am busy, the days are short and the evenings shorter, I work more in the shop now but really, the older I get, the more time just flies by. It must happen to all of us. I hear customers and friends alike repeat the same thing over and over to each other. I want to lasso the days and keep them here. I want them to slow down so that I can embrace the goodness and renewal that comes with each sunrise. I am hungering for connection with my days and in that connection I want to, no, need to find time to be creative.

Creativity is something that I can not turn on with a light switch. It happens when it happens, a frenzy of work and color and jewels and silver. It sneaks up on me in the ways I arrange a display case. It pops up its little fireworks show of " making things " in the early morning or late evening or after a multi hour bout of watching TV. You see, I am never just watching TV. In my mind, the wheels are spinning and I am using my mental hands to craft or paint incredible things that may or may not come to fruition in no time.

This one piece, now in its second incarnation as britanium or pewter, is the result of one afternoon of free time when absolutely nothing had to be created. The image could have been in my head from days ago when something I saw sparked a memory of the texture that would later appear on this piece. It is a journey in the studio, in the shop, from thought processes and memories in the head to creation by the hands. A blessing to be able to make something with one's hands and heart and soul.

This Weekend

2011-10-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I made some decisions. Every year fall seems to fly by in a flurry of activity after I had promised myself, all through the summer that I would linger in the season. I would spend time admiring the trees changing color, I would stroll on drizzly afternoons through the neighborhood, I would pick the apples from my over loaded tree and I would rest from the wickedly busy days of summer. And every year October would slide into November and then quickly become December and I would have missed the very season that I love best! Not this time, baby. This year, I decided to forgo my annual shop birthday sales and give myself more studio time and more time to just be in the store without a thousand page to do list. This fall I am slowing and enjoying my days. I am walking in the mornings, taking time for lunch everyday, stopping and photographing the bursting fireworks that trees become as the color changes in their leaves. Nuh uh, I am NOT going to allow this fall to get away any faster than need be. No way! I am going to enjoy every single

breathable, do-able minute. So with all this in mind, and since the television is broken and I think I will leave it that way; I am going to just be this fall. I will just be fine. Look in on me and I will be in the shop or studio or kitchen or classroom making things. Look at me walking the neighbor hood, giving each moment the time it deserves! The time I deserve.

2011-09-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

This morning was beautiful! Our walk took us by plants that were in their beginning stages of turning color for fall. Roses were a papery watercolor version of their summer selves. Crows searched the soccer field in a grid of crime scene investigation and I was on hand to see it all. I feel energized in the fall, full of creative energy and bountiful hopes for the coming months of serious studio work. Now, I am finishing the last of my dreaded office work before heading into the shop to begin a day of socializing; speaking with customers and fellow merchants, gabbing with friends, primping the classroom slash work room for tomorrow night's gallery walk; just the usual bustle of daily happenings in the world of Lois. Have a great day, my friends!

Today, a hot & blustery first day of fall............................

2011-09-23T22:13:00.000-07:00

Days are flying by just like the seagull feathers that float down from the roof tops all over the downtown streets and into the building lobbies. I sleep at night, rise in the morning, head to work and in a moment as quick as the intake of a breath, the day is gone. I am loving spending more time in my shop. Talking with customers, fussing with displays, creating new arrangements of treasured beads and bringing to life the fantasies I had of owning a shop from the time I was a little girl playing store in my parent's garage.

I have made so many new charms and religious pieces of late. With the mailman bringing a whole package of my new castings today; I am tempted to burn the midnight oil and make things. I will get pictures up soon. Right now I am planning on Sunday being a studio day so perhaps I will begin the challenge of photographing silver charms along with making new jewelry from the freshest charm designs. Hot from the casting process!

Today, I helped a friend set up a blog and in the process I totally challenged this old brain of mine. Too bad brain exercise does not wear off calories. In any event, here is a picture of her upcoming book. I can hardly wait to read it and I feel lucky to have such a well traveled, smart and talented friend!

Fifteen Years

2011-09-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

Please mom, it's early, stop taking pictures!

Fifteen years ago today my youngest son ( of two ) arrived. It was a long day of labor and barfing and being overwhelmed by all the attention from the doctor ( who I adored ), nurses and a few friends. Phil never once left my side and my friend Yvonne, I think the whole thing scared the bejesus out of her, ran errands for Phil to get him food and O'Douls. I never had a moment to be alone with my husband, a moment to think, catch my breath, take in all that was happening. I did have the good hospital room though, everyone told me so. It has a view clear to downtown, over soft still brown hills and grass all the way to the marina and the waters beyond. Jacob came into the world amongst comments from my attendees of how long his fingers were in mid afternoon, on a Saturday. Didn't he know that I am in retail and ALWAYS work Saturdays? He changed my life, Phil's life, the lives of all of us and for me, he made everything just that much more sweeter. Now, let's see if I survive the teenage years! Love to my Jake, the rake.

Gallery Walk

2011-09-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday found me doing the local monthly Gallery Walk in Port Townsend. It has been a long time since I was actually part of the " circuit " but just like riding a bicycle, the walk came right back to me. Katya came over and we chatted between viewers and by the end of the night Frank, Marlene and I were rolling in the aisles with laughter talking about age, senior housing and the obstacles of being older. I think it is the first time I laughed so long and hard that tears rolled down my cheeks and I felt like I had had a spa vacation! I would do Gallery walk every month just to have that kind of interaction and those deep, hearty laughs.
Here are a few of my paintings that have been undercover for some time in my work space above the shop. Uncovering them and placing them around the room was like having a party with old, dear friends. I wanted to run around the room and hug all the paintings! Until October - see you then in the walk!

Chairs as easels.

Foxgloves - a flower.

An over shot of part of my work room above the shops.

This Weekend

2011-08-31T23:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend, the very first of September, marks my return to the gallery walk circuit here in Port Townsend. It has been several years since I have officially shown my paintings and fiber work. Not since we closed Franklin House Gallery, have I regularly shown new work. My paintings, the most recent ones, will be on display in my classroom space upstairs from the bead shop. This little room is also my workroom -slash - sewing room where I create my felt banners and woolen paintings. This week it is all cleaned up but I expect that in future gallery walks, you will see my mess and the works in progress. I am a little trepidatious about this as I have no idea whether people will find me, or respond to my work which lays bare my soul, or as in the most recent past, even remember that I am a painter. Take a breath, dear self, get a grip and display your work. All along I have made new paintings and drawings but not having a gallery, they have not been displayed or framed. I have been away so long from the scene! I have to make " art speak ". I need to look arty. I need to open my head and heart to studio visitors! Oh, scary, scary!

Thought for Today

2011-08-27T09:32:00.001-07:00

‎"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own and you know what you know. And you are the guy who will decide where to go." Dr. Seuss

2011-08-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Sometimes things happen and you can think to yourself, " Whew! Glad that is not me! " and then other times things happen that make you stand back and say, lesson learned, life appreciated! Such was the lesson yesterday.

My doctor, friend and confidant had an emergency brain bleed, ( when are they ever not an emergency ? ) and is in the intensive care wing of a regional hospital. No one knows what the outcome will be for certain and no one knows at what functioning level she will return to. Of course, I am saddened, shocked. Of course, I am sending prayers and healing thoughts her way, writing in her on line journal. I am also once again reminded of the preciousness of life, how fleeting it can be and how suddenly things can turn on a dime. Wow, just wow.

Hold close those you love and care about, hold tight to the memories you make now and hold even tighter to the love you find. I love you all.

Community Bowl Project

2011-08-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

One of the things I promised myself this year was that if I had the chance to volunteer here and there, I would make the time, even a wee bit of time, and do it. Yesterday found Jacob and me at the annual Uptown Street Fair ( which I started more than 20 years ago ) working at the Community Bowl Project. Local potters donate thrown porcelain bowls, glazes and their time to make the little dishes that the community members paint at local fairs and then sell for $ 10 each at a later event. The full $10 goes to the food bank. It's a great way for the community itself to participate creatively in making food bank donations.

Porcelain bowls for sale all signed by the artists!
Many painted by the community's children.

It felt great to be outside on the warmest Saturday of the year, speaking with my fellow residents and painting a bowl with my friend Marlene's delightful twin grandchildren ( 11 months ). Henry and Tommy are budding artists.

In my heart, I am so happy and feel so much more enriched to be donating my time. Really it is more valuable than anything else I can give. xo, Lois

Painting supplies & glazes.

Other craft vendor booths.

More crafty people & booths early in the day.

And the band played on!

A Love Story

2011-08-17T23:40:00.000-07:00

My friend Alan came to Port Townsend from New York to show new trims and ribbons for my shop. He often comes twice a year and we are able to sit, look at new wonderful sometimes shiny merchandise and have political discussions. We have been doing this for years, ever since I walked into his showroom in Manhattan 11 years ago. At the time neither of us imagined that our friendship would grow or that we would find common ground and look forward to our visits. He being a conservative traditionalist, even a republican and me being an ultra liberal arty sort.
Today, Alan told me a story. A story of how he views relationships of married friends. He said that marriage is like a river and a rock. One person is the river and the other the rock. The rock is solid, stands its ground and can't be moved while the playful river winds its way over, around and along the rock. He said two rocks together don't work because they crash upon each other and neither moves. Two rivers won't work because they just keep flowing and moving their own way. But a river and a rock, they work together. He said Phil was my rock, someone I could lean on and return to, who would stand his ground and let me be the river, moving around him, journeying onto other places yet always returning to the rock. An intimate love story that is without end. Timeless. I was so touched by his story, this analogy of a marriage, that I could have cried.

Now, you know I am not telling the story of the river and the rock as well as Alan but I think the idea is clear. I will look at my marriage this way forever after. I am free and yet grounded by my rock. Safe, returning, ever moving, ever exploring and still protected. What an insight with beauty and sensitivity in his words.

Still the Heart of August

2011-08-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

I am slow moving this morning and at the shop, they are probably wondering if I can ever show up on time. I was sucked into the facebook tunnel of entertainment this morning. First watching one video, then another, then greetings to the birthday people, general comments and hellos and now, it is 9:28 and I have to be at work ( or rather should be ) in the next hour at most.

Last night we went to the Jefferson County Fair here in Port Townsend and although it is one of the tiniest I have ever attended, I LOVE it. It lasts three days and Friday night it is tradition to go and see all your friends, neighbors and customers, and eat your way through the fair. Local teens spend the whole day and evening there, strolling from end to the other, being cool, hanging out, eating junk and buying cheap belts and trinkets with a slightly " rebel " edge. ( marijuana leaves on vinyl belts ) There are chickens and goats, dogs and cats, cows and horses, llamas and pigs with piglets. What more could you want on a summer evening? As the darkness comes upon us, the moon hangs nearly full in the sky and the soft sounds of local rock and roll fill the air, we say goodnight to all that is the fair.

Sunset from the Jefferson County Fair

2011-08-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

It is ever so quiet in the house at this moment in lazy Sunday time. The sun is out, a breeze is blowing and I can hear the occasional soft drone of the airplane flying over head from the airport below me. Jake is at a friend's place down the street and at any moment I expect he and Ben to come flying in to play video games or be on the computer or to eat and eat and eat until the cupboards and fridge echo with emptiness. I do not think I have ever been around a teenager that eats as much as Jake and he seems to grow taller by the hour. Even a close friend, visiting from Panama said, " geez, Jake I haven't seen you since Tuesday and you look two inches taller already! " Amazing this teenage growth. At once I love him to pieces and don't want him to change or leave or move away from me physically or mentally and the next, go, young man, go. Since he was first born, I always thought he was adult who could not wait to get out of his stuck little baby body. I will lose him a bit more this fall when he starts the 9th grade in a public school. Oh, how I wish I had Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility so I could follow him throughout his day and watch him. Be protective, save him from the roughness of the adolescent world. I suppose all moms feel this way and it is part of the needed separation from teenager to adult. Still, my heart just aches at the tenderness and sadness of our little partings now and the big parting down the road a few years from now.

Jacob and Lisa working on Lisa's new Mac. How hard is Lisa working with
that bottle of beer in one hand, I wonder.

Anyhow I have a much needed day off, out of the shop to catch up on jewelry making. I have been fortunate to be selling many of the pieces I have made over the past winter. My new things are well received and I am very happy. However, this business of working e-v-e-r-y single day this summer is exhausting, mentally and physically. Even on this day " off " my mind is still in the shop working and I can not seem to unwind or relax. I have a goal of making 30 pairs of furnace glass earrings for an empty rack and then I want to cut out a nice thick cross for casting. It should all keep me busy today when all I really want to do is watch a good movie and veg out; still my hands, still my mind, breathe deeply and maybe even doze off! On that zzz note, I will close for now and be back when something other than a sleepy Lois is ready to show you some real WORK! xo

One old Jesse dog trying to sleep in the studio.

The Weekend Past

2011-07-31T23:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend just flew pass in a blur of activity that has hit its mark and made me tired! My friend, Lisa of ZizzyZaZa Beads came over and we put on our much planned Port Townsend Bead Market. The weather was gorgeous, the crowds good and everyone that stopped by my display was in a great mood! Really, I could not wish for more. Lunch time came and I was able to get away and have hot dogs at the stand across the street. I tell you it was bliss to sit in the sun and eat hotdogs!

Setting up a show and co ordinating all the jobs that go with it is challenging. Plus, when you are a vendor, you are also getting your products ready to sell. Entertaining in the evening is a must, so we filled up on pizza, (Waterfront, of course ) and beer, laughed ourselves silly and let conversation flow wherever it wanted to go.

I am free from shows now until September and I am so looking forward to working in the shop and maybe catching up on a little journaling and painting.

Happy August!

Nothing Much to Say

2011-07-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

This is summer in the northwest for me. I am reading this book three pages at a time in the evenings just before I fall asleep. Written several decades ago during a time I actually entertained the idea of going to Alaska with my then boyfriend and working on the pipeline; I am hypnotized by lifestyles and places contained with in.

Isn't it an interesting journey, this life of ours. We could have done this and been there but instead we are here after having done that. What would life be like if you or I had made different choices? I left home within two years of graduating high school and have not looked back. Somewhere in my thoughts, the family I left behind is still exactly in the same places, living the same lives as when I left. No one has died or changed or left. I am comforted by that as I move forward into my own days. I am not hurt anymore by their words or actions and the distance from them with the memories I have both good and bad exist in their own place so far away in miles and years. Still in sometimes late night dreams, I am among them again and moving in a different life. Maybe a life in Alaska in the late 70's.

Summertime Means ....

2011-07-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

...production work for me or at least what I refer to as production work. Over the slower winter months, I design jewelry that I can make and sell in the shop on a regular basis. I can produce it without a whole lot of new technique or thought going into it and fill the displays. This does not mean that the work is substandard. It just means that in 15 minutes here, an hour there, I can make new things for sale. The new thoughts into new work for the next year, comes in the late fall and early winter when I prepare for the upcoming new shows. The work then morphs into shop work. Anyhow, all of this means that while my hands are producing this years' work, my mind is racing ahead to new things, new designs, new configurations, new metals to explore. Painting waits until the fall too when I can have an entire afternoon all languidly stretched out before me ( Jake in school ) to think and play and work. The noise in my life stops then for a precious few hours.

Bead table view.

New beaded earrings and heart shape pendants.

Today, on a warm summer afternoon, will also find me in the studio producing " production " work with maybe a hot tub or walk thrown in. What are your plans?

Who I Am

2011-07-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

“There comes a time when you have to stand up and say:This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel. Take me, or leave me. Accept me, or walk away! Don't try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don’t fit your idea of who I should be and don’t try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.” ~ Stacey Charter

Nearly 10

2011-07-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

It is nearly 10 pm on a July Friday night. A very wet and chilly Friday night. Truthfully, I love the rain and the gray. I love a cool, wet summer and the explosion of green that happens when the sun does warm things up a bit. I have been saying that my yard looks like the Amazon jungle and that all the deep, dark holes that Daisy has dug look like Afghanistan. I think in all seriousness, it may be next summer before I can plant anything and not have Daisy dig it up or eat it!

This is my darling Daisy on her way into the studio. She gets a bacon treat and then sleeps on the carpet behind the chair I work in. Really though, she only half sleeps as the minute I make a move to get up, she is ready to go. If I ignore her too long, I hear the familiar noise of a bead rolling around her teeth and in her mouth. That never fails to get my attention. She looks tail-less in this picture but she is not. Her tail is long and lovely and full.

Finally this evening, look at these lovely and colorful lampworked beads that I intend to make into earrings soon. They will be a lovely addition to my display cases and the earrings will be a perfect summer into fall fashion forward look. I think they kind of look like byzantine openings or windows. They were available in so many delicious colors, it was heard to settle on these! Rich greens and oranges stir an unbridled bead lust in me.

I am hearing the siren call of the studio and the bedroom. One for working one for snoozing. Which will win out as the late evening progresses? The rain makes me think sleep is the stronger call and hearing the sound of the water falling on the roof will make for a good night's sleep.

Peaceful dreams all.

This Weekend Past in Tacoma

2011-07-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

I am just now home from the Puget Sound Bead Festival in Tacoma. The car is unpacked, a load of laundry is tumbling in the dryer, my feet are up and I am slowly getting more sleepy by the minute.
The show this weekend was considerably smaller in size and scope than years past but was filled with an excellent variety of bead things and of course, filled with my friends that I only get to see " on the road ". I can't decide whether I should work a show or just flit from person to person and booth to booth and visit, hug and chat! I take many long bathroom breaks and make sure I walk a different way to them - past friends so I can stop and talk. Bead shows are a little soap opera from time to time and this show was no exception. Intrigue and mystery, rumor and gossip were abundant! I loved it! The stories customers relate to me also make me want to write a book. Someone, somewhere should be recording these tales I hear from people I barely know. I would have to say I like getting to know people and treasure every minute of conversation we have.

I was a terrible picture taker too this weekend! I just was more interested in talking than picturing so I leave you this fine evening with half a full moon hanging in the inky black night outside my sliding glass door with a few pictures from the weekend.

THe view from the top floor of the convention center where the show was being held. See the mountain?
Mount Rainier, that is!

Another downtown shot featuring the Tacoma Dome and the Washington State history museum.

A random show picture showing the setting up of Pam's booth.

July 4th

2011-07-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

Today there is an abundance of sun and warmth as the fourth opens here in a blast of summertime glory. A light breeze blows across the yard, birds are singing and the lavender plants are wafting their delicate scent past the plastic lawn chairs sitting on the side deck. I have been up since 5:30 working away in the studio, making inventory for the shop; heart pendants, crystal earrings and inexpensive dangly charms. I have always referred to this work as " regular ". It is not the exploration and play of materials I am doing when I do my favorite studio work. I am not really being creative as this is all work I have done in the past and continue to do on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong, it is all original work, my work, my designs, my creativity but it is the production part of me and not nearly as rewarding as making something from scratch.

I am on the verge of something in my life and I can not quite figure out what it is. Maybe a change is coming, a journey could be on the horizon, maybe I need romance and mystery and to reinstate in myself a lust for life!

I am meandering this morning and I need to get on with the day not to mention my morning walk so I will leave you with some pictures of jewelry I took in Utah with the beautiful desert rocks as a back drop. Happy - boom boom - fourth!!

Easiest to Post

2011-07-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is what I called the Judy Jetson flower. Space age-y modern.

This blue violet color was gorgeous!

Pinks make me happy and calm me.

It is easy to post when the house is empty and still. I either have to wait until everyone is asleep or company is gone or I am alone with myself. My mind can then compose, talk, wander and center on writing. Finally, I am going to post a few pictures from my Utah trip. What I enjoyed the most were the flowers. I did not take nearly enough photos but the ones I did take, I imagine will show up in my work for awhile. I was refreshed when I had time to work on my projects and happy when family just loved me for who I am. More to come later!

Utah!

2011-06-23T08:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am trying this again. I don't usually travel with my laptop and since this is an actual, honest to goodness vacation, I had promised myself not to use a computer for 7 days. Obviously, that thought has flown out the window!

Anyhow, I am in Orem, Utah visiting family and doing things that I do not normally do. Like riding the ski lift up 1000 feet at Sundance. I once read that you should do one thing that scares you everyday and yesterday, on that ski lift I was scared enough that it should cover a month's worth of doing a daily scary thing!

Ah, but the view of the snow capped mountains, the rushing streams and the singing birds was exquisite. It was about 64 degrees with a soft wafting wind and beads were the furthest thing from my mind until... high in th trees, just below my dangiling feet, were strings of mardi gras beads draped in the aspen branches. The sun caught their sparkle and you could not miss them! I had to laugh and smile to myself with the thought that the universe always confirms to me to " trust the beads "! What a joy!

More pictures to follow including photos of the grandkids ( how can I be this old? )

Utah

2011-06-23T08:42:00.001-07:00

B&B Exhibition !

2011-06-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

Here is some of the work that was on display at the B&B show in Milwaukee. These flowers, all handmade silks are covered with Swarovski crystals. The work exhibited at the show was inspiring and awesome both in its' technical abilities and original designs. The originality was overwhelming. I am always a bit astounded and humbled how people, creative, unique people take the same techniques but expand upon it in such original ways that it is never once thought of as like another.

Although this picture is not at the top of my photographic skills, these are all individual bead worked circles, kind of like an old fashioned yo yo quilt, that were joined on this mannequin that became part of the beaded sculpture.

This beaded, embellished doll took my breath away! It was like she was draped in crystal ice and glass. She was beaded and worked on every surface and just encrusted with seed beads, crystals and a bit of silver. Plus wings!!

I think this piece was from the Ukraine and features cabachons, seed beads, itty bitty gem stones and shaped glass beads. What a piece to wear! The drape was so elegant and the palette of blues, grays and ivory was very inviting to the eye.

More pieces that astounded and inspired me. What a great collection of stitch work!

This piece was so layered in a leaf like shape that it was airy, delicate and tremendously textured. From a tube of glass beads comes such artistry! Are you inspired yet? More pictures to come tomorrow and then I will have to show more of my found and purchased treasures.

Don't let anyone intimidate your artistic vision. Create, play, wonder, enjoy!

Tantalizing & Tempting

2011-06-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Our Bead & Button booth just after set up.

Everything all neat and tidy and the first customer.

Down the aisle nearest us.

The giant importer display kitty corner in front of us.

Hurrah! Shoppers!

More heaps of imported beads.

Here are a few shots of our booth and the show itself at B&B. I spent most of my picture taking time shooting the exhibits of finished work which this year was exceptional. I will post those pics tomorrow. Why I did not take more photos of friends and fellow exhibitors, I will never know! I guess it is the beads that get me most and my camera just seems to navigate to them. Like the old James Bond movie, For My Eyes Only -BEADS!

HOME!

2011-06-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

We are home from the Bead & Button show in Milwaukee! It feels so good to be on the water and smell the heavy laden salted air. My lungs feel free again and the moisture from the ferry boat spray feels refreshing and rejuvenating on my skin.
The show was great fun, seeing old friends, making new friends and selling my work to rave reviews. My new charms and designs were so well received that I came home with very little of them. Thanks to all who stopped by the booth and confirmed that the direction I am heading in is a good one. The doors of creativity have sprung wide open and I am heading through them with tons of new ideas!

I bought some lampwork beads and have new thoughts on how to combine them with silver to make interesting charms and focal pieces. I feel so incredibly inspired by all that I saw and by the day I spent at the art museum. Believe me, I took plenty of pictures ( 149 ! ) and will be posting some of them in the coming days.

My special treat while in Milwaukee? deep fried macaroni and cheese. Never heard of it so of course I had to give it a try. Pretty tasty stuff but you could feel the old arteries clogging as you ate it! What a memory - a FOOD memory! HaHa!

I have missed being in my shop so I am heading into town now for the afternoon. Come by and see me! Until later, Lois

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2011-06-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

I am packed! The clothes are all wrinkly rolled in their suitcase, the jewelry I will wear at the show weighs more than my make up, the knitting is nestled in its zippered pouch and I am feeling at once excited and sad that I am leaving. The house sitter, a long time friend is here and I know that Jake, the kitties and the dogs will be well taken care of. The merchandise is shipped.
Seeing friends, laughing together and getting new ideas for jewelry are the side benefits of attending B&B. I will take tons of photos but I will not be on line until my return. I don't travel with a laptop and I am IPad free and my phone, is a simple one. There will be so much to share when I get home! I have exhibited at the Bead and Button show since it began in Portland, Oregon. It is Bead Mecca, I tell everyone. If there is one show you should save your pennies and attend, it is B&B! This year there is an exhibit of beadwork form the Ukraine. I saw a glimpse of it on line and it was amazing in its intricacy and detail. Inspiring - that's what this event is. Oh, a full of hugs and kisses as we all greet each other, many of us seeing one another for the first time since last year. Thank goodness for things like FB and blogs so I can keep in touch! I love them for the ability to bring long distance friends into my living room!

A piece of bead embroidery I am working on to display some of the new Czech shaped beads I am selling.
Of course, I could not resist adding sequins, too! I am only sorry that the colors appear a bit faded here.

A close up of some of the embroidery with a couched piece of trim that I also will be selling.

New Port Townsend charms I made, front and back images.

Have a great week and I will see you beady soon with lots of jaw dropping inspiring, idea triggering, awesome photos! xox, Lois

Daisy

2011-06-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

She exasperates me and pulls my plants from their flower pots. She takes four foot long pieces of landscaping timbers and drags them all over the yard. She ate the beak off the wood crow on my porch and chewed the steeple from my church birdhouse. She walks all over my toes when I am wearing sandals and leaves bruises. She wants to eat anything and everything at all times.....

And then she goes and does the sweetest things! She lays next to the cats and lets them rub against her. She lays at my feet and gently snores while I make jewelry. She leaps to her feet if she thinks I am threatened. Approach the house and she will eat you.

And then to finish off the day, she brings me her new favorite toy, one of the seven dwarfs! What can you do but love a dog like that? So I won't plant any flowerpots until she grows up some more. I will pick up the timbers and put them back. I will rub my sore toes and throw my arms around this dog's neck and give and get kisses until we are both basking in each other's love!

In The Studio

2011-05-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

This is my messy bead work bench this morning. I am determined to use up a bunch of odds and ends plus my charms in various metals to make interesting and industrial looking charm bracelets. I am going to take them to the Bead & Button show. I think that my desk must look like what the inside of my head looks like. Bits and pieces in a whirl of creative thought! Oh, and the television that I like to have on for background noise is kaput at least until a satellite technician shows up on Friday. Sigh --- no Kathy Lee and Hoda!

Multi dangle earrings with sterling, copper and brass for the upcoming show. This is two days of work done between customers in the shop. I had a bunch of my cast circles and felt like making some swingy summer earrings. Of course, I will display them a lot better at B&B!!

Finally, here is the first bracelet that has been assembled from the chaos on my desk today. I used brass, copper, gunmetal, glass, celluloid dice, handmade glass beads and my own charms. I even tucked in one of my Space Needle charms! After all, this summer is the 50th anniversary of our beloved Needle!

New Pieces for B&B

2011-05-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

This is what my newest crosses look like after they leave the bowl of liver of sulphur. They are dark and rich looking, a nice flat gray-black. I hoped to catch more of the detail believing that when I show detail they will not look like PMC, because they are not. I am amazed that people look at my silver and think it is PMC ( precious metal clay ) rather than the traditional work that it is. Hours spent with a jeweler's saw cutting out tiny pieces to be soldered onto a surface. My brain leaping from design to design as everything constantly evolves as I work on it.

These are the finished pieces all hand polished and slightly satin in their surface. These are maybe around 2 inches tall. To be truthful, I did not mean to cast them. The last package from my caster of restocks for the B&B show came and inside were these pieces all cast in sterling. Neither Phil or I remember sending the master. They were made awhile back and hung on the wall in the office in the " to be cast someday " pile. I think it was divine influence that had them cast. Divine influence that had them sent to the caster and I like that. I love knowing that sometimes life is greater than its parts and that the DIVINE plays a role when it is least expected. Blessings to you on this day and may the divine protect the country form any more tragic tornadoes!

Evidence of Pollen

2011-05-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

My backyard is a carpet of lush low growing daisies. They are small, densely petaled and have fuschia tips around a sunny yellow center. Technically, I think they are classified as weeds and I should probably be like my neighbors and want to rip them out to achieve a lawn that could be featured in Sunset magazine. Instead, I am delighted with them! They are romantic and graceful, only opening their faces to full sun. If I were a tiny fairy living in my lawn, I would make my home among them. If I were to marry again, ever, I would want to walk down the aisle upon them in bare feet, of course.

Everything looks prettier surrounded by these daisies, even Daisy the dog. Just look at how pretty everything in this photo appear!

A closeup view.

Rain is in the forecast for the next week so I may not get to see the flowers for awhile again. On the next day that the sun is out in force, the flowers will once again open their faces to the light and my little carpet of daisies will cheer my soul and I will be able to see how far they have expanded!

Back to the studio, for an evening of sun catcher making.

2011-05-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

It is always a surprise to me to look at a picture of myself and see my mother! When did this happen? How is it that I have always tried to not be her and then find that virtually overnight I have become her in a physical sense? Is that a bad thing? She was an interesting woman, I know she loved me but she did make growing up a challenge and that's all I will say on this tender subject.

I have been getting used to seeing myself in pictures though and this from a woman who would run and hide when a camera came out! It is probably a sign that I am maturing ( nicely, thank you ) and that no longer do I need to not acknowledge myself. Yes, I am not 18 and my chin is no longer alone on my neck and my eyes might be lost on my face and the gray hairs outnumber the brown but it is just simply me. And I am not so bad.

Presents

2011-05-18T18:26:00.000-07:00

My sweet hubby commissioned my favorite local sculptor to make this little collection of song birds for my mother's day gift. Gunther Remintz delivered them yesterday and now I have four fine feathered friends keeping me company in my studio. I have many pieces from Gunther, his crows, roosters, owls are scattered every where around our home. But songbirds hold a special place in my heart. Not just their music but their little jeweled bodies remind me of beads against the blue of the sky. Sometimes, in the early spring, even earlier in the morning while darkness still cloaks the neighborhood, a bird will burst into song for a brief moment reminding me the world is right and good for a bit longer.

This gift from my husband is perfect. Just perfect!

Studio Updates

2011-05-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

Instead of doing all the things I should be doing to get ready for the Bead & Button show, I am fooling around rearranging the studio and finishing a painting. Not that I would ever call painting a waste of time! Sometimes, rearranging things makes order in my mind and I can get work done that should be done. All the rain we have been having just makes me want to go into hibernation mode, sleep and dream.

Painting has been my savior. I love painting and often think I am working on my interior life when I paint. The images in my head, the colors that surround my thoughts, the music that only I hear while i paint. This piece is just rhythmic. The imagery bounces up and down between bird and song house and sun. It is mixed media and colored pencil on gessoed canvas paper.

I had this vintage vinyl, wonderful yellow drop leaf table in the classroom above my shop in town. When i bought it, I had no use for it but I took the leap, made the purchase and figured I would find a use. The color makes me happy! It is all chrome, old chrome and it is on wheels. Awesome, I can move it around, too! The little table in front is an old telephone table from the 1940's, refinished and painted a purple orchid color. Love those rounded corners! How smart is that? No knocked shins!

Loads of colored pencils and a water jar!

Something beginning to replace the finished piece. Can you tell I have a thing for stripes and barred patterns?

the early evening is calling to me to make a decision about what to do with the rest of my day: paint, bead, silversmith, sleep - better decide and get about it!

Bleck!

2011-05-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

My Mother's Day gift from Jake. A handmade card and roses made from Hershey Kisses!
Although, it was the sickest, most miserable Mom day I think I have ever had!
Sweet gift though! I loved it!

I have had a flu like stomach thing for the last few days and I am just now feeling that there is light at the end of my misery tunnel. I am so irritated with the flu shot that I took for the first time in my life this past winter. In the last two months, I have had two colds and a flu! More than normal although some people are blaming all of it on the weather seeing as sun has been missing from our daily lives. Along with that missing sun, there is also no warmth. I feel it is around the corner. It being spring and I have heard the forecast and that by this afternoon, the sun is to make an appearance along with temps into the high 50's. It will be welcomed by all! The dogs will play, the cats bask about in it, the birds flit, the swallows build nests and catch the elusive bugs and me? I will sit in a warm sunny spot outside for however long the light lasts. I am not a heat lover. I just want a little sun and warmth. Bless those poor people along the mighty Mississippi! Here I am whining and they are losing everything! Need to send them prayers and a donation. Lots of prayer!

Sun?! What Sun?

2011-05-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

It has been raining now for days and if I did not know that today was May 7th, I would swear it was a November day. Rain has been coming down all day, not big Missouri drops as Phil says but the kind of rain that just soaks everything hour after hour at the same rate. I love rain and gray days. It is good for business but I am longing for some sun! I do not want hot weather just some sun! I want to feel my cheeks redden in the light, feel the warmth through the blackness of my leggings, turn my whole body like a flowering plant to the sun.

Zip. Guess it is not happening anytime soon but I did take some pictures of a day not too long ago when the sun made an appearance and the day basked in its glory!

The new Maritime Center.

So for tonight feel the sun, love the sun, wish for it and enjoy PT in the sun through these pictures. Can you feel it? I want it!

p.s. We last saw the sun around lunch time on Tuesday! This is the Port Hudson Marina in town, five blocks from my shop.

I am in LOVE

2011-05-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

For just the first time with a pair of shoes. Red, shiny patent leather, peep toe bow in front 5 inch heel shoes! I have never found anything that fit my big long feet so prettily and made me feel, birkenstock Lois feel, pretty! Like a girl! In girly shoes! How crazy could that be?

The Muse

2011-05-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Bottle cap work.

Resin work.

Sketch in the book kept by the TV.

I think that maybe my muse has returned in the form of the ten zillion projects I have going in the studio. I am working like mad on things for June's Bead and Button show but I really feel like painting, knitting and embroidering. The sunshine we have had on and off ( mostly off ) since Friday has given me a burst of energy! Thank heavens, I was seriously getting worried about myself! Creativity is all around me and if I do not partake of it, I feel dry like a desert, lost like old hubcaps along a roadway. So, even though a regular person might look at my mess and think I can not get order out of it, I see the potential of things being finished! I am having fun! I think I was missing the sun. Me, who lives for gray and rainy days and lusts for long, cold, dark nights - was missing the light of the sun. Amazing!

p.s. I can never figure out how to add my pictures in where I want them unless I write the blog backwards and my brain just can not fathom that concept! So please excuse the order and if you have a hint for me - please let me know!

2011-05-02T18:24:00.001-07:00

‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

New Work!

2011-04-27T16:50:00.000-07:00

Sacred Heart and reverse side, Madonna & Christ child.

Our Lady of the Highway and Saint Christopher.
This is perfect to hang around your rear view mirror for a safe journey.

A close up of Saint Christopher showing lots of detail !

These are a few pieces recently cast in Britanium for the upcoming Bead & Button show. I have so many new things cast in new metals for that show! Whooooeeee!

Sunday, Sunday - Taking Part in Nature

2011-04-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter Sunday taking a few hours off to do something outdoors. Rain had headed into Port Townsend but up here in Brinnon, the sky was sunny and spring scents definitely filled the air with promises of more sunny days to come. These are falls that are hidden in behind the water service on the outskirts of Brinnon. They were enormous due to all the rain from this winter and the air was filled with water droplets. Gorgeous. exciting. Wild.

Then there is the moss to talk about! I could not stop feeling it with first my hands, then my face. Thick

and luxurious, you could imagine napping in it as a warm breeze wafts over you in an early summer afternoon.

Moss grew everywhere letting you know that this is a wet area. So romantic and inviting. You can imagine fairies living in the forest, elves hidden just behind the trees.

I love to hug trees. To feel them in my hands, against the skin of my face. I imagine the stories they can tell, the life that runs through them. The quiet strength they give to me standing together in nature. Silent prayers are always offered by me that they live long, healthy and strong protected from the businesses and individuals that would tear them down for profit.

Finally, a Rhododendron in the softest pink, our state flower that did not waste a moment f Sunday's rare sun and bloomed in utter joy and abandon.

I have to say, taking these few hours off and discovering the falls that Jacob found over the summer was the ticket for me. I needed a mental holiday, time away from the shop and studio. I am renewed and invigorated. Blessed to live in an area so beautiful.

Happy Almost Easter!

2011-04-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here it is almost Easter and it is my favorite almost holiday in the year. When I was growing up, Easter was a bigger holiday than Christmas or Thanksgiving. The whole family gathered at my grandparents for the beginning of spring dinners featuring potato salad, deviled eggs, sweet gherkin pickles and ham. The kids ate in the Sunday school rooms of my grandfather's house and the adults ate in the huge kitchen/ dining room. There was no dishwasher so everyone had a hand in cleaning up. We were all dressed up in brand new Easter clothes and shoes. Mom took us to the hairdressers usually the Saturday before the big day and we had stylish new 'dos. The morning began with a basket of candy from the bunny and then off to church. We all went except my dad who usually did some " guy " thing and then joined us at mid afternoon Easter lunch at grandmom and grandpop's. Those were enchanting afternoons. I loved all my cousins, the flowering plant we received in Sunday school, the special lunch that marked that beginning of summer eating and the time spent with the grown ups. There was a piano in every room and we spent hours running around playing on them and pretending we were musicians. The older cousins wanted nothing to do with us - the dreaded younger cousins. The weather was usually good so after lunch we ran outside to play with admonishments of staying clean. It was hard to play in my new shiny mary janes! Times were innocent for me and I miss them. I hope, as a parent, I gave good memories to my own boys. I know I kept some of my family's traditions. Easter lily on the table, potato salad and deviled eggs, a basket of candy. All this marks the beginning of spring and today as I left for work, I felt like spring! The weather even co operated! Happy Easter! Happy Spring! Happy life!

2011-04-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money. Cree proverb

So this is Earth Day 2011. I remember my first Earth Day in the 1970's when I was in Unami Junior High in Pennsylvania. I still have my original Earth day button given to us at the afternoon assembly in the auditorium. I remember being sad then when I thought of the pollution and destruction we had heaped upon our lovely mother earth. Would things change as I grew up? Would there even be a place for me in the world that was not polluted and ruined? I think I was in 7th grade and even now, all these years later, when things have been cleaned up some with a long way to go, I wonder if the same questions remain to be answered?

What will the future hold for our children, your grandchildren, the earth itself? God bless and keep us from destroying our home, our mother.

Around a Sunny Town

2011-04-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Point Hudson Marina

I thought that for an entry today on my blog, while carrots and onions are steaming for dinner, I would add pictures I took around Port Townsend on this sunny day. We, who live in this beautiful place grow accustomed to seeing the scenery everyday and almost become immune to it. I never get tired of looking and seeing all that makes this place so special. A discovery has been made by me too, although I love the gray and rain ( and my, we have had a LOT this winter ) a sunny day infuses me with energy and creativity! I never thought that I needed sun, some sun at least before!

Cormorants drying their wings on a WWII sub " catcher ".

Restored dock at Point Hudson.

Tsunami warning system. If this baby sounds, run like hell!

Dock and beach at the new Maritime Center in downtown.

Bluffs at Fort Worden State Park.

Wind swept trees right by the beach. They take the brunt of our wind storms.

Rhododendrons or rhodies, our state flower.

This color on this Rhody is yelling " spring! "

2011-04-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

These were ducks we found in a parking space early in the morning in a spot of sun. If it had been warmer, I might have joined them.

Is this what they mean when they say " your ducks are all in a row? "

2011-04-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have removed the Feedit gadget from my blog. I had been thinking about doing that for awhile and now that it is done, I am glad to see it go. I am grateful and delighted that anyone reads my blog. You can read it anonymously or sign up as a follower. Anything is fine with me. I just like knowing that words I am writing, the life I am living and the things I am creating are reaching someone. With gratitude and blessings always, Lois

2011-04-10T21:38:00.000-07:00

A storm is raging outside tonight and the winds are gale force as we wait for the drenching rains that are forecast. The lights kept blinking in the studio and since it can be very dark out there if the power goes out, I came inside. Inside where Phil and Jake for the umpteenth time are watching the same movie. I like this movie too, Big Trouble, but after the 83rd time, the humor is old. I know it by heart and just can't laugh at it anymore!

The studio work table tonight.

I did get home from work early this afternoon and after a veg break, watching TV and having lunch, I was able to get some much needed jewelry made for the shop. These pieces are all for the spring display window that will be in the front of the building.

Multi dangle earrings out of glass and antiqued brass.

With a little bit of luck, I may even be able to work in the studio tomorrow and create some resin souvenir for visitors to take home from Port Townsend. I have had that idea for quite some time in my head. Time to put resin to mould and get the job done!

Earring closeup.

Any moment I expect to be in the dark here so I had better end this posting. Have a great day tomorrow.

Have You Ever Wondered...

2011-04-10T00:54:00.000-07:00

...why crows gather together? Maybe they are like people seeking friendships among themselves. Maybe it is to end up like the fellow in the bottom of this image, all tucked in close to the ground, feet up with everyone looking at him.

Tonight finds me in a strange mood as I wait for the owners of Jessie and Daisy to come home. I think I will be up late tonight or rather this morning, waiting for them to head home to bed. When their
" parents " are gone, they are here. I call them my Monday through Friday dogs. I wonder what they must think of having two families love them so much. They will never lack for companionship, love, food or doggie kisses.

I need to end this missive and get ready for dreamland myself. Tomorrow sends me into the shop to play amongst the ArtFest attendees. Creativity is in the air!

A Quick, Super Quick Check in!

2011-04-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Wall flowers all wild and gorgeous blooming in the sun yesterday on the bluff into downtown.

I want to fly like an eagle.

Art Fest friends in town for dinner and the great art event!

My Michael in his kindergarten picture. He turns 29 today and I am blessed because he is my son!
My lovely, lovely son!

Days Are Missing

2011-03-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

How can it be 10 days, TEN DAYS! , since I posted on this blog?! I have had the most miserable cold, all misery in the form of coughing, coughing, earaches and sore throats. Everyone in PT seems to have it and now I hear it lasts for at least three weeks and then has turned into pneumonia in some and bronchitis in others. Sigh - I am such a whiner but in my defense, I did not expect this bout of cold when I had my first ever flu shot!

Anyhow, we briefly had about three hours of sunlight last Wednesday or Thursday so I summoned all my cold weakened energy, dashed outside and snapped these pictures of spring in PT.

The Olympic Mountains as seen from my deck.

In the front garden, heather and miniature daffodils in bloom.

Giving Up a Piece of Self

2011-03-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

Owning and working my shop is simply the best part of my life. The life I imagined I would have from the time I was a little girl creating a store in my parent's garage. Everything I did and learned all through life prepared me for the moment when my work became my life and my life became my own. Like training wheels being removed from my first bike, I took off and became what I had imagined. I love it.

Nearly nineteen years later, I realize that along with my chosen path has been the giving up of myself. I have missed events, lost friendships, ignored family and became consumed with working which, you must understand to me was never work but play. People have not always understood. Everyone thought, if you owned your own business you were free to take as much time as possible off from work, you could come and go as you pleased. That is simply not true of course, but in my case, I also make a large part of what I sell so the time factor has slipped away from me and become not my own. Creativity is a big part of everyday for me and something I can not imagine a life without.

No, what I have given up is the time to create my own work. Work that springs from a deep, deep place inside me and is not made with selling in mind. A from the gut work that speaks only to me. Work that allows me to expand my abilities in such a way that I feel fulfilled, satisfied and wanting another drink from that well every day, all day.

My work is the other man in my life. It supersedes every relationship I have or have had and becomes a living breathing entity that needs nurture and care. This is what I am missing. This is the piece of myself that I have given up. This is the sorrow I sometimes feel.

I am grateful that I do what I love and call it my living. I am grateful I have understanding from some. I am grateful that I support my family and others on this work. I am grateful for the spark of creativity I have been given.

Now, if I can just find more time.............

Moon-ing About

2011-03-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

This piece of bead embroidery is almost done. I will be making myself a brooch and with eyes wide open, I will wear it as a talisman. I lust after bead embroidery and find it hard to stop working on a piece. I just want to let it grow and grow/ This piece is done in some of my favorite colors, amethyst or purples and tourmaline greens. It is not often that I take the time to work on something just for myself and this piece I will wear with a sense of accomplishment. I will be back with the finished pics one of these days. Until then, I am going to nurse my cold and watch junk television and send prayers up for Japan.

2011-03-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

She has gone. Carried into the vets office, laid on a soft, colorful blanket. Stroked. kissed and hugged goodbye, she ever so slowly closed her eyes, breathed one last deep breath and with a gentle sigh, slipped her earthly bonds and went home. My best and most devoted friend has left me and I am ever so sad. I look at her bed, her dish and miss her. At 5:30, time to feed her and I wonder of she is okay, warm, happy. Again, I am crying. This grief is going to take awhile to pass and I will hold her memory and love in my heart forever. As my Baba would say, " Not goodbye , just say so long. "

This Is What Happens....

2011-03-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

... when you are so in love with the shape and everything about your cut Christmas tree - you fake plant it in your yard to look at its' beauty everyday! Have a great day my fellow bloggers!

From a Friend's Blog

2011-03-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Deep Peace
of the running wave to you

Deep Peace
of the flowing air to you

Deep Peace
of the quiet earth to you

Deep Peace
of the shining stars to you

Deep Peace
of the gentle night to you,
moon and stars
pour their healing light on you

Deep Peace to you

-a Gaelic Blessing

I am reading this as I think of my sweet loving furry Regina and her end days. I am sad.

Sunday Mornings

2011-03-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

...Are my favorite time of the week. I like to lounge in bed and read the newspapers ( gasp - TWO of them ), watch the CBS Sunday morning show and have breakfast served on paper plates all while laying about. This Sunday is not one of those Sundays!! I am leaping about to attend to tenant issues in the apartment building I am not supposed to be managing but am, dealing with the dogs and cats and cleaning the house for Phil's return. Lounging will just have to wait!

The sun is out every now and then, lifting my mood and inspiring me with sun infused energy. For that reason alone, I am grateful. The air is clean, rarefied after the rain the last few days, crocuses are up and ready to pop and I am still scheming and planning a vacation to Panama. Will it really happen? Who knows?

Laying a heart

all things PT ( colored pencil )
shells, water, victorian houses, flowers, greens

For today, I will leave you with some recent sketchbook doodles. Have a great sunshiny, singing in the heart kind of day!

As Evening Strolled in

2011-03-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

Once in awhile I write some poetry. I am not the best poet in the world but I think that drafting a poem is like painting a picture with words. I like the way words lay next to each other and how their companionship feels as the sound of them leaves your lips. I struggle to find words in a combination that depict how I am feeling at that moment and then beyond. I want the words to linger in my thought processes and help me remember the moment just gone by. Just like this evening, in the early darkening of dusk, when I don't want to do anything but at the same time do not want the day to leave without noting it, I can preserve the moment, the day, the feeling in a brief written poem.

2011-03-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

Suddenly, in the matter of just a few days, my Regina has become very old. She has a palsy and tremor in her legs, is ever so slow to rise from the floor and is having potty issues. I am very sad. I know that pets age and that they love us dearly but are only with us such a seemingly short span of years. Now, I watch her decline and must nurse and care for her as she has done with me these last 12 or so years. I do not even have any idea how old she is but I remember the day she came to stay with us, bounding in the front door wearing a silly, bright scarf, bringing a favorite toy from her foster home. She is deaf now but I still talk to her as if she hears me. She just stares into my eyes and watches me speak. When my lips stop moving, she just goes about her day. She is always ready to be with me to be my companion, to just lay near me as I work, to hover nearby in the house in case I call to her, a voice she no longer hears. She understands me, my shortcomings, my personality that is at once expansive and loving and still, quiet, ignoring everything and everyone. She has been my friend, my companion who finds absolutely no fault in me, my accepting and true friend. I love this old dog.

Just Stuff Today

2011-02-27T22:26:00.000-08:00

Bead box of luscious vintage lucite beads before they become bracelets.

Studio color pencil stash.
In my " old age " I am finding that working with colored
pencils is so much easier and neater than
working in paint. I am becoming a lazy
artist, maybe?

This is in tonight's sketchbook. I was remembering a mannequin that used to be in a carnival, a coin operated fortune teller. Place the coin in the slot, lights turn on and she tells your future. I met her at a sweltering flea market in Virginia.

Today I spent four hours sorting through merchandise and arranging it so that it can be displayed at the Sew Expo show in Puyallup this weekend. It is a long task to get everything just so and sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be easier to just heap everything on my sales tables and say" here you go - have a look. "Before I know it, I am getting into the job and I am making little decorative signs, stringing beads, making jewelry samples. It all becomes a big exercise in outside my brain creativity.

Watched the Oscars this evening and enjoyed the parade of colors and flounce that were the dresses of the actresses. I get into all the pageantry of the show and picture myself there on that red carpet in a bohemian ensemble of glitter and beads. " No really, the movie was not that much effort. I put my whole self into the role but the physicality of it was on the low side. It was delightful, you know to kiss my costar. He was so striking and strong and clever in the film. "

See, I can not only see myself there at the grand event but also have full conversations in my head. I should be a writer!

Snow Days and Shoulder Days

2011-02-25T22:54:00.000-08:00

The Olympic Mountains from my front porch.

We had snow here in Port Townsend. Lots of snow,maybe 7 or more inches fell over the course of Thursday. A beautiful, quiet event that blanketed us in the most lovely shade of winter.

The playhouse the day after the storm. Bright as the sun itself.

I could not get outside to play or knit or do much of anything because I injured my shoulder. The pain was that white hot blinding going to barf kind of pain. All I could stand to do was marvel at the snow and watch television. Anything, even the barest of movement hurt.

One big yellow leaf sun.

I could draw though. Doodle, make marks on a paper, feel somewhat creative. After all, the shoulder pain was in the left and the drawing required the right. So in between eating comfort foods, I drew. A world of imagination emanated from my colored pencils and let me tell you, no shoulder pain lives in that world.

Birthday houses.

Time Has Flown by

2011-02-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

currently in my sketchbook

The days have just flown by of late and I am at a loss to explain how the hours slip away. I have been engulfed with a crazy wave of laziness since I returned from Tucson. I don't want to do anything. The well has run dry and I do not even want to write on the internet. Facebook has been missing my face and this blog logs around without me. I come in from the shop and just want to sit in front of the television until sleep drapes its veil around me and I can rustle myself off to bed. Yawn, I am boring myself even with this blog entry! Snow is in the forecast so I think I will be a bear and go and hibernate in my den.

Graffiti

2011-02-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

We were in a restaurant in Tucson that used to be a favorite of ours, years ago when it was in an isolated, funky area of Tucson near the Rialito river. The restaurant was a riot of color and imagery. From country side weird to big city chic. It was fun to load up on chips and salsa and talk the night away while eating un-by americanized mexican cuisine. The place has since moved to an up and coming, newly developing area of Tucson and has definitely suburbanized itself but it still has an amazing collection of airbrushed graffiti. I am always fascinated by and have collected pictures of regional graffiti wherever I go. It is the new american folk art, accessible to all, easily done, supplies readily available and loads of surfaces that cry out for adornment. Just don't run out and paint up your neighborhood! I personally think american cities should provide places that you could legally graffiti-ize!

We could all be artists in our own right! We just need the space to create! But don't deface property that is not yours!

Home

2011-02-13T16:33:00.000-08:00

My jewelry display wall.

The sun felt delightful on my face, the desert wind especially charmed me and even the coldest temperatures in Tucson since 1899, were wonderful as I experienced them. I am sorry to see the days go. To be out of my routine from time to time is so refreshing. I could not work in the studio or shop or office so I was forced, I say, to enjoy myself and concentrate only on the moments at hand. To see friends again was absolute heaven! I also had a new neighbor next to my booth at The Whole Bead Show and he was nice to work with! I am looking forward to seeing him next year in the same spot and to doing some jewelry design work for him in the coming year.

Silver work and new designs.

Trays of sterling charms and bronze toggles.

These are the first of my Tucson pictures I will post here. My booth, as it is called in Tucson, is 8 feet by 4 feet so I manage to carefully fit in a ton of my silver work. I featured my sterling charms, jewelry, new designs, new metals and classic standbys: the brass I bring in from India, my favorite resins and many cords twisted in an array of color and texture.

My new metals, bronzes and britanium, were well received and I am thoroughly encouraged to keep heading in that direction. My new silver work excited many customers and the jewelry was loved and purchased by many. Thank you!

The odd part of the whole trip is I worked so hard to get ready for the show that now that I am home, I just want to snuggle under a down comforter and watch recorded TV shows. I need space, time to unwind from all the work and travel. I will give myself some of that time in the evening when the house is still and we each retreat to our own separate spaces. I will rest in my leather recliner and take in the small world that is on the television and use it for a vacation from the day. More pictures coming soon. I had so many adventures, I want to share them all!

Last Full Tucson Day

2011-02-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

It is incredibly difficult to believe that this is my last full day to spend in Tucson as tomorrow I fly home. I should continue shopping today but instead I am going to help a friend pack out her booth and then spend a little time out in the desert sun, soaking up the warmth and atmosphere, desert sounds and sights. I am going to give myself a day to breathe and simply be. Every year that I am down here I fall in love again with the open spaces that the Tucson countryside shows me and I get a determination to move down here and begin again an art studio. Wouldn't it feel like heaven on earth to spend months holed up in the quiet and solitude, creating my jewelry and paintings, venturing out once or twice a year to sell them? Make enough money to return to my lair and creat some more? What artist would not really like this?

I am a person that believes if it is meant to be then it will. I am sending this thought out into the universe and we shall see where it lands! Much love - Lois

Tucson Time

2011-01-31T19:48:00.000-08:00

It has been an exhausting few days so far here in Tucson. The shows for 2011 have begun and I have done a lot of shopping. The stones are big, bigger, biggest and the chinese crystal market has exploded in a riot of colors, I could not resist. Looking for just plain round, small stones is a fruitless ( stoneless? ) search as everything is definitely geared for large profile jewelry with chain being the go to item for this year.

With silver and gold prices being so high, there is not much of either about at the shows. I see the usual fake silver and there are many new names for " silver " none of which is actually silver let alone sterling. I am really enjoying all the fondling, of gemstones that is!

I am also having a great time visiting friends, eating too much GOOD mexican food and enjoying the desert colors and textures. evening finds me totally wiped out and ready for a good snooze.

This year's Whole Bead Show, at which I am exhibiting, promises new excitement as I have new neighbors beside my show table for the first time in 17 years. I am looking forward to meeting them.

I will be reagling you with pictures as soon as I am home! Goodnight for now! xo

The Final Tucson Pieces

2011-01-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hand finished sterling silver charms and contemporary Czech glass.

More satin finished sterling charms and vintage lucite pieces.

Now this is a fun riot of color and pattern mixed with my satin finished sterling
silver charms.

I have finally allowed my self to have some fun, use some new materials, create new finishes and finish up new designs for the Tucson show. I love these jangles of color, pattern and noise! They are also light weight and comfortable to wear. I am so excited to show them off! Anyhow, this has to be brief so that I can gather my knitting and throw some clothes into a suitcase! Looking for the sun in the next couple of weeks.