Tucson - The Journey Begins!

It is very early morning in my household and everyone is still asleep. I tried to get Regina, my faithful dog, to come out into the dining room with me while I blogged on the internet but she got up, walked out here, gave me the evil furry eye and went back to her bed! Such companionship!

I am as always, anxious to get my trip underway. I wish this truly were the Star Trek generation and I could " transport " myself there without needing a plane flight or storing away my car in Seattle. The weather seems pretty mild now in Tucson and the night time temps are reading colder than PT. That means I can sleep with the windows open and have the room be naturally chilly!

In just a bit I will get together my knitting, reading materials and sketching supplies for my stay. I spend more time choosing these things than packing my clothes! I don't always have time to work on things but it is really nice to have them all with me for those few moments when I can. It all helps de- stress me!

I may not get much of a chance to blog from Tucson but I will take lotsof pictures to post on my arrival home. I don't travel with my ancient laptop as it is sweet, bitter sweet, to be away from it; to concentrate on the show and my inner life ( ! ) in my free time. Wish me luck and I will see you all in 2 weeks! xo, Lois

p.s. Here are 2 awesome pictures of Tucson. I do love that place, the dessert, the colors in the air, the pop of light and the change, a really BIG change in scenery.

Almost Done by Default

This is a little pen and ink drawing I did nearly 2o years ago ( no, can it really be that long ago? ) that I used for a gallery opening I had. It is a self portrait of Lois and corn. I love drawing corn and this was supposed to be MY corn; grown by me but of course, here in the pacific northwest you can't grow corn! I like having this little reminder of a younger me on my website, which is where you will find the picture and in my office, where the original is located. One of these days I will draw a new me. I wonder how she will appear and what might be in her new basket!
The time is coming quickly, way too quickly, for me to leave for Tucson. Soon there will be no more time to make that one more piece of jewelry, design one more charm, make one more sign or banner. It is always a little sad when it comes time to leave the comfort of my home and creativity of my studio and hit the road. And did I mention the clothes packing? I hate choosing clothes and packing them for a trip. I look at my closet and say, fine, I will take these 6 shirts but then maybe I will want this one, and maybe it will be cold enough to wear that one and maybe this one will be comfortable on a busy day and maybe this one... and the list is endless and soon I need a moving truck to take everything with me. Not to mention that I need to choose which knitting projects to take, hoping that it will be waaay too busy to knit and sketchbooks and drawing materials. No, I can't take the entire studio so what to take? Hmmmm... anyhow all small dilemmas and I will be on my way to warmer, sunnier climates!

It snowed all day in Seattle today. There was a " skiff " of snow here on the ground in PT when we left but with the weather man saying it was going to warm up to 40 ish I was truly surprised and delighted to see the snow in the city. It was quite beautiful and as we ate lunch at Ivar's on the pier in downtown Seattle ( I love Ivar's; it was the first restaurant I ever ate in Seattle. ) we watched the giant flock of seagulls around the dock of the restaurant. They are great fun to watch and with the snow coming down and sticking to their backs; it was like watching snow gulls instead of snow men. I only had one regret; I didn't bring my camera. I swear I will get better at keeping it with me!

It is so cold and white outside this morning that all I can think is snow! I love snow but I want the universe to understand that I do NOT want it to happen now before I leave for Tucson! I need to be able to get to the airport without ice and snow! So with the hope of warmer days, no snow and a child's eye view of the world; I leave you with a picture Jacob painted in first grade. I love the artwork of children. So happy and simple and wonderful! How can you not smile? Off to the shop!

This is a new mixed water media painting that I am working on. Of course, it has sunflowers as a theme because like that gorgeous full faced flower I am always reaching for the sun. Not the heat, mind you, just the light!

My Studio Mates

My two loyal and faithful studio companions while away the day on the wool carpet in the warmth of my work space. They aren't much for commenting on designs but they do love to share lunch!
I have been working like a mad woman, as you all know, on getting things ready for Tucson. From early in the morning to late in the evening; I am making jewelry, sorting charms, printing signs and above all else, thinking of the show. How will the show be? Will I make money, sell charms, receive a good response to new designs, see old friends and customers? Make new frIends and new customers? Will I remember to have a good time, that life is short and today is what I have? We will see.

Off to the shop right now because even though I am swamped with show work, the shop is my number one priority and I truly enjoy myself while there! Have a wonderful day!

God bless this man and give him the strength and wisdom to lead this country and help us find peace, health and prosperity. There is so much work to be done by every US citizen!

This is a tree in the garden outside my front studio window with a lovely wintering bird in it. This is a funny tree. It looks all normal now and will be so pretty in the early spring and then it looses its' oompf and looks like an autumn tree, slightly discolored, shriveled and dying back by mid summer.
This is a picture of my oldest son, Michael on his Christmas morning so far from here. Isn't he handsome? I have been thinking of him a lot and when he had chicken pox. It was just he and I and he was so very sick! I kept the fire going in the woodstove around the clock because he was so cold.It seemed like he had those spots forever but it could not have been more than 2 weeks.Now I am reliving that experience all these years later with Jacob.
At last! Some sun actually appeared in the sky today! I think it is the first time we have had sunshine in weeks around here. We opened the front door on the building and breathed deeply the fresh air streaming through the lobby. It was wonderful and it seemed as if everyone's spirits lifted.

There is so much to do before leaving for Tucson that I can quickly become stymied and then I just do nothing. Or rather my take on doing nothing which is actaully quite a bit of something. I need to work tomorrow at the shop and then next week it is nose to the grindstone and work, work, work! I sure hope we see more sun tomorrow but for right this moment; I am content to see the stars in the ink black sky.

It was a swell kind of day today with a bunch of terrific customers in the shop, a tasty lunch with Marlene and a nice dinner at home. A day where off and on I worried about Jacob and his chicken pox and ran about visiting with other shops and enjoying the company I was with and the work I was getting done. Now it is rapdily approaching my drowsy time of the evening and I am winding down the day and contemplating reading a good book in bed.


I get up every morning determined both
 to change the world and have one hell of
 a good time. Sometimes, this makes
 planning the day difficult.
E.B. White

   I like this quote quite a bit as I found it while jumping around on the internet tonight. I love the twinkle and humor in it. It also goes a long way to explaining why I HAVE to eat some chocolate everyday.

Oh drat! It seems as if Jacob has the chicken pox! Poor itchy baby! This is probably just another passage of childhood but I was hoping he had escaped them and Phil thought he already had a chicken pox shot. No long blogging for me tonight - I think I will lay down with Jake and watch Wild Hogs. That crow flying into John Travolta on the motorcycle always makes me laugh!! Jacob is totally into slapstick,potty humor too.

This is a photo of a drawing that I did my first year in college that I had given my mother. It is all done in graphite stick and was for a family portrait assignment. It features me, my friend Sharon, my cat FeFe and the skeletal hand offering support was my mother. I think she got a charge out of the picture and it is with bittersweetness that I note she kept it all these years in her home. It is also with a mix of pride and pleasure on my part, that my son, Michael asked me if he could keep it. He wanted it! That is ever so wonderful to me! And then again, I wonder what went through my 17 year old head as I created this piece. What kind of artist did I think I would become? Was I pretentious, fearless, imaginative? All I knew then and still really know now is that I wanted to make my living with my art, my creative self. I am and have been doing that. A wonderful blessing to be sure!

Good Sunday Morning

On a normal day ( what's that ? ) in my normal life ( seriously, what IS that ? ) I do not post a lot of the cute pictures that come my way but these two made me laugh, giggle and snort my yogurt through my nose! I hope they make you do the same thing except maybe the snorting! Love, Lois

These are two pieces that my friend Justin made. An angel and a patchwork cross. I love all the symbols of religion; the angels, crosses, churches and little signs of faith that surround us in our daily lives. Wherever I am, I build little altars with the symbols and images of the figures of faith like Christ, the Buddha and Ganesh, to name a few. Anyhow, Justin makes images in the colorful folk traditions of Mexico and they are joyful and colorful and remind me always to keep faith. Good night now.

Up to my aching elbows in lucite beads!

Once again I have been dying vinatge lucite for the Tucson show. This time I did the flowers and other shapes. I have managed to make the kitchen a mess and given the stove top a case of purple mottled metal. Or at least I THOUGHT that part of the stove was metal! It's actually plastic and now the purple mottled color is permanent. Jacob is in love with the big pinkest of pink flowers. He marveled at how I was able to acheive such an awesome color. He is one of my biggest fans and really likes seeing my end results. I think this does the dying duty for awhile. Now comes the stringing. I think all of this will make a beautiful stash of beads to sell at Tucson!

As I was waiting for Andrea to pick me up to begin our luncheon day together; I ran around and took a bunch pf photos around the house. This one painting, long since sold, of my very festive crow made it into a poster for a solo gallery exhibit I was doing.

The second painting titled, " when the yellow brick road leads to a house with no doors " is one that Phil bought from another gallery show I did. He said it was the first original artwork he ever purchased and I secretly think he bought it to impress me. I usually do not hang my own artwork in the house. If I look at it too much, I never feel it is done and I always want to tweak it!

These are on a funny angle because I could not face them straight on in my hallway and I was just too lazy to move them into a more open area.

By the way, our day was great fun and we had a wonderful lunch, delicious ice cream and it was so good being with Andrea and Christine again! I would love to have a sister relationship like theirs! Maybe the next lifetime! xo, Lois

Ahhh...the weather!

How can I describe it? As much as I love the snow, or at least the little girl inside me loves the snow; I am welcoming back the rain, rain, fog, mist and tempertures in the upper 40's! Yippeee - I am leaving town today with out fear of snow and ice! I am going to pick up a friend at the Bainbridge ferry terminal and have lunch. A girl's day to just fool around! Yes! I NEEDS IT!

New CAMERA!

These are the first two pictures taken with my new camera that I received for my birthday. They were taken from the porch as the sun rose on a snowy morning. So early that I , the camera owner, was still sound asleep! Jacob got up early and said the sunrise was so beautiful he took the pictures and then woke me up to tell me that a. the sunrise was pretty and b. he used my new camera without asking and c. I needed to look at the sunrise myself in person, out of bed, through the living room and onto the porch. Well, I am very glad that he is so appreciative of sunrises! I hope he will always be that way.

It is snowing yet again tonight but we still had a wondeful dinner at my friend, Honey's home.

This is part of what I accomplished today; dying all the vintage leaves for the Tucson show. I mixed colors using all sorts of dyes from yarn coloring to fabric dye. I was aiming for a spring to fall color pallette. I also managed to semi trash the kitchen but then I made a most excellent beef noodle soup from scratch for dinner. I think I redeemed myself and the kitchen. I also did three ( count 'em, 3! ) solid hours of paperwork! Way to go, Lois! Tomorrow we dye flowers! Good night for now, Lois

New Year - New Book - THE GREAT BOOK of JEWELS

This is the last image in the book and features the Crown of saint Wenceslas, which became the piece for the national coronation of the kings of Bohemia. It was most likely inspired by french crowns but is a fine example of medieval metal and stone work. Look at the gems; rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls. A total of 91 gems in a fleur de lis pattern. Incredibly fine! Sometimes the old is just the inspiration we need for the new!
This is a rosary from the 15th century that features opening agate beads with tiny enameled images inside that show in relief, the life of Christ. I am enchanted with this piece and struck by the quality of the workmanship from such a long, long time ago. Amazing what could be done with such primitive tools,too.
This is an image from the book and you can see how well done the color plates are. Much detail has been captured in the photos.
This is a book that Kathy gave me today from her family. It was written in 1974 by Ernst and Jean Heiniger and is a treasure trove of historical and contemporary ( to 1974 ) jewlery pictures. It even has pieces designed by Picasso, Calder and Dali. I think I will find it inspirational for a very long time and I need to say Thanks! and I love this book!Inside the cover is a book plate placed by Marchine Dexter, the book's original owner, that says, " Nurture the tree of knowledge to regain the Kingdom. " I like this thought.

HAPPYH NEW YEAR!!!
May this year bring us all peace, love, prosperity and a better understanding of each other and compassion towards all our fellow women and men.

I am looking forward to the chnage in our leadership and viewing all of this change with optimisim and hope. Being alive and a citizen of this soon to be great country again is wonderful! We have a chance for actual leadership! I am praying for guidance for this country and its' politicians that we do not again get bogged down in politics as usual!

As for me, I ask for health and the opportunity to remain creative in all my endeavors, prosperity so that I may stay in business making and selling " stuff " and so that I can keep my wonderful staff employed and patience so that I do not get bogged down in the day to day litlle things that can make life irritate. I love my life!

On a happy note, at five o'clock lasr night at the fountain here in PT; I attended a friend's wedding - very impromptu - they are a long time couple. It was just 8 of us including the judge. A cold, clear night saying their vows in front of our community Christmas tree! Very special and romantic. Congratulations Marie and Mark!!!!

Again, Happy New Year! xo, Lois