Artful Adventures

A Belated Happy Mother's Day!

Another of the necklaces from last week, carved jade, onyx, turquoise, freshwater pearls & a skeleton key-it's a little chunkier than what I've been doing, but fun, and green just like it's looking outside!

I was planning on blogging about the ArtBeet meeting held last night at Clay on Steele in Algoma, where Mark Fraire from the WI Arts Board came to speak to our group about grant writing.  But due to a swollen up knee, thought it would be in my best interest to stay home, feet up, and rest it before it got worse, turned out to be the right thing to do.  This morning Amanda and I met to have coffee & be inspired & work on some art together.  We've been getting together once every week or 2, just to keep each other on track, bounce ideas back & forth while we work, that kind of thing.  It was hard (not hard, just felt strange) for me at first-not sure if it's because I'm not coordinated enough to work & talk at the same time, or if I'm just so used to working alone, but it's working out well and has been fun.  This has been something I've been wanting to do for years, find a like minded person to be able to share the process of making art & work together on a regular basis so we could both grow, and it's finally happening.  So go grab yourself an art buddy & give it a try!                   

Now lets back up to toMother's Day.  This young couple, Ali, Jason, and their baby(the horns from the assemblage behind her are quite the addition!), Penelope (don't you just love that name?) spent the previous week end with us.  Ali is a co-worker of Jeremy's & they were all in town for an annual Autism conference in Green Bay, so stuck around and spent the night here.  On Mother's Day, I couldn't help thinking of Ali and how she might feel on this first Mother's Day as a parent.  Do you remember your first Mother's Day?  I do-it was scary and grand, all at the same time.  All the thoughts that still roll around in my head on that day, thinking of when I became a Mother, having a Mother & what kind of relationship that was/is, hoping I've done an adequate job of being a Mother but also knowing that all I could have done was what I did-the best that I could do at the time.  Naturally I think we all wish there were some things we had done differently, or is it just me?  

In the meantime, Gary & I spent the day together (Kids will come another day) with him treating me like a Queen for the day, starting off with this gorgeous vase of flowers the day before, and then presented me with these goblets that I've been eyeing up since last fall-aren't they cool?  We drove up to Sturgeon Bay to The Artists Guild to pick up some more large canvases, always nice to stop in there & chat and see what's new-they've really expanded their product line and seem to have a little of everything. From there we had brunch at Scaturo's-it was delicious!  Stopped at a greenhouse & got a few plants to start container planting, stopped at the gallery for coffee & bought a tree while we were there:) 

For years, every Mother's Day I got a tree, but somehow that tradition stopped.  This year though, it changed again and we got a birch tree ( Betula pendula 'youngii') that has a wonderfully contorted trunk-it's gorgeous!  I've always wanted birch trees here anyway, now I'll have one!  Even though I'm a couple of days late, my wish is that all my friends had a great Mother's Day-doesn't matter if you have kids or not, you've all mothered something or someone, somewhere along the line! Some pink flowers, Bonnie:)

Looking around & a new necklace. too!

With Mother's Day almost upon us, it seemed fitting to share another of the necklaces that I finished up this past week, since it has mother of pearl nuggets and vintage mother of pearl buttons in it, along with some lovely creamy/peachy colored pearls.  Remember yesterday when I was saying how nice the pearls were at Mother Bead ?  See, I wasn't kidding!

It can be worn as a long necklace, as shown in the first photo, or unhooked and worn as a shorter necklace and a bracelet.  This is also for sale at The Flying Pig, along with a couple more that I'll post in a day or so.  While dropping them off the other day, Gary took the camera and was walking around the grounds there, in and around the greenspace, which is quickly turning into a fabulous summer oasis of trees, flowers, and garden art, tis the season!  I'll share a couple of the photos he took that day.

How cool is this?  Our very own local version of Easter Island!

Check out that panel with peeling paint and the bird on it-love it!  While I'm sharing photos, here's a few from around the yard last week.                                                                                    

   

I'd love it if you'd all go outside (or inside, doesn't matter) and find some beauty in something that you've never paid that close of attention to before and share your photos so we all can see.  Really, it's all around us, we just need to take the time to actually see it!   

Can't pass up a sale!

Here's one of several necklaces that I recently finished, those new acquisitions from Rings & Things was driving me crazy, I was wanting to just dig in and make something!  Coral, lava stone, and stick pearls, along with all hand wired, twisted, yelled at (sometimes) sterling silver make up this one-I even made the chain!  This and more of my jewelry, is all for sale at The Flying Pig. 

More new stones in this one, begging to be wired!  There's Chinese Charoite, lemon quartz, and pearls, all wired up with a key.  Having never heard of or seen the Chinese Charoite before, curiosity got the better of me and I had to look it up.  If you ever "need to know" you'll find it all over at Rings & Things, they have a wealth of information there, just click here for anything you ever wanted to know about a gemstone and odds are that you'll find what you're looking for.  You'd think that I'd  be all done bead shopping for awhile, but sure enough, our local bead shop, Mother Bead is running a sale right now, until May 15.  Buy 3 strands, get the 4th free , and you can mix & match the strands.  As if that wasn't enticing enough, if you have a Bead Junkie card (buy one & it gives you a percentage off all of your purchases), you could use that AND still get the free strand, or strands:)  The pearls there are to die for, they're big, smooth, round, and yummy, so I knew I'd "need" some of those.  But then Tara pulled out the most gorgeous Labradorite that I've ever seen!  After searching for what seemed like forever when I needed that particular stone for a commisioned necklace a while back, I knew better than to pass them up.  Needless to say, I'll be frantically making more jewelry soon, with all the bead shopping I've done lately-and I'm thikning about going back for more pearls-someone stop me!!

First Oriole of the year spotted the other day, and the first hummingbird today-spring is officially here, with summer coming soon-we hope!  More jewelry, stories, and photos to share, but dinner is smelling too good right now to pass up!  I'll be back tomorrow:)

Never a dull moment!

This morning, while Gary took the dogs for their little morning walk, he spotted a Great Horned Owl sitting in the ditch, smelling like a skunk, and being tormented by a bunch of crows.  Obviously something was horribly wrong.  After a quick phone call to the Wildlife Sanctuary, we were told to try & catch it & put it into a box to bring to them to care for it.  He recruited the help of the neighbors from across the street to help, so after a few photos, they got him into the box without too much of an uproar.  The girls across the street are being home schooled, so it was a great experience for them to see & participate in this rescue, as their mom, Trina said, you don't get this kind of an education in school-have to agree with that one!  Trina quick ran the bird into town to the sanctuary and got to watch him getting checked out.  There were no outward injuries, but he seemed stunned, so they thought he was possibly hit by a car.  If he survives (time to send good healing thoughts to the bird, folks!) he'll be released back out here, creating a happy ending to this story.  Oh, and the skunk smell-turns out that they all smell like a skunk as that's their main diet-who knew.  And the crows, well, they'll just have to go eat something else instead of trying to dine on owl!

Beads, beads & more beads!

A couple of days ago, a friend of mine, Amanda Davie, invited me to go with her to a bead show put on by Rings & Things.  This was the first time that I've attended such an event, and was not prepared for what I waked into-tons and I do mean tons, of beads.  I damn near started salivating at that first glimpse!  First let me tell you that if you ever have the chance to go to a show put on these folks-go!  It was well organized and the staff was great, friendly and with smiles on their faces at all times.  Now on to the beads, there was such a good, varied selection, some that I was familiar with but a lot that I hadn't seen in person before, and most of them screaming to go home with me!  We had trays, about the size of a greenhouse flat, so my shopping strategy (after realizing that no way could I buy all that I wanted) was when the flat was full, it was time to stop.  You know how much one of those trays can hold?  Lots!!  My arm was actually sore & shaking from toting it around for a couple of hours-that's bad-lol! When I got home and started putting all those strands onto the table for a photo, Gary was got this panicky look on his face and told me he was feeling faint, assuring him that I saved a lot of money by shopping like this didn't seem to help him much:)  I was well warned by Tammy about bead shows, too much temptation, she was right.  But I'll still go the next time around!  So thanks to Amanda for taking me with, it was so much fun!  Oh, and she just started blogging, so take a minute and stop by her new blog and welcome her into bloglandia, I'm sure she'll appreciate it. 

Make some stencils-it's fun!

Michelle Ward has once again come up with a fun & useful technique to try over at her other blog for the GPP Street Team .  Last month it was about carving stamps, this month Crusade 19-Cut it Out is about cutting your own stencils.  Both of these crusades give us the knowledge (and the tutorials to make sure we get it) to make our own tools to use in our artwork, which gives us even more choices to make our art, our own!  You won't see the stamps you carved or the stencils that you cut in anyone else's artwork, making it truly unique.  Cool, right?  This was my first attempt, even though it's been something that I've wanted to try for a very long time.  I used a close up photo of a bee balm bloom (try saying that 3 times fast-lol) from our garden last summer, turned it into black & white, and cut it out with a stencil burner, using a little artistic license in the process.  Forgetting to make a "bridge", it didn't turn out quite right, but will work just fine anyway.  On the right page, I used what is really more of a mask, sprayed it, shifted it a bit & sprayed again with another color.  On the left page, I used the 2 end pieces (which should have been 1 piece and be the stencil) placed one piece on the top of the page, the other on the bottom of the page, and did the same as the right page-sprayed-shifted-sprayed again.  Fun & quick!  Last summer I played with spray paints for the first time, using foliage and fodder from the yard as masks.  You can see the results of that first spray painting here , which I followed up with a step by step of how I did it, you can click here for tutorial on this, if you'd like.  Since Michelle has extended the challenge until May 7, there's plenty of time to try some more tricks with this and join in the fun!  This all looked like so much fun that Gary joined in again this month.  He used the same technique that I did, except he drew his own design, you can see it all at the end of this post.  Can you believe that he even drew his own design?  I may have to set him up with his own blog pretty soon!  If you haven't already, give this a try, you won't regret it, and you'll be making your art even more unique than it already is! 

The Girls

Here she is, Miz Bobbie, the third and final in this series of 3 paintings.  As I was working on these, a story kept building in my mind, as always happens whenever I'm working on something new.  The 3 girls are sisters, with the first being Betty, you can

click here to see Betty.  She's the shy one of the crowd and basically stays at home rather than face the world, being more comfortable with familar well worn surroundings, where she doesn't have to go out and take a chance on showing the world any of what she perceives as her faults.  She blushes easily and no matter how hard she tries, she can't get her make up on right, so she stays home a lot, but always peering out the wndow wondering if she should take that chance.  The second sister, Barbara (say her name with attitude, shoulders straight, and head held high!) you

can click here to see Barbara if you'd like.  She has an attitude, and wants so bad to get out of the house and see the world, has her head in the clouds dreaming of dancing & singing, being well read, and playing in high society.  But she's torn between that, and the reality of keeping up a house and all that it entails, running errands, arranging home repairs, etc, but she'll never stop dreaming and trying to be something that she's not, making it difficult to ever be truly happy.  This brings us to Miz Bobbie, who has made her first public appearance today on my blog:)  She's the sister that would much rather be outside than cooped up in the house, she loves exploring the world around her, taking great pleasure in something so simple as a leaf fluttering on a branch.  She's not afraid to take a chance, is her own person and very comfortable in her own skin.  She's the kind of person that people want to be around, always a smile on her face and something positive to say, but most importantly, never afraid to take a chance.  She's at peace with herself & the world around her.  But is this the real story of Betty, Barbara & Bobbie?  Or do each of them, when put together, make a whole person?  Don't we all have things in our life that we fear and would sometimes take the easy way out & stay home rather than take a chance, much like Betty, we could call her our inner critic.  Barbara could easily personify "the grass is greener on the other side" feeling, we all want things at one time or another that we simply can't have, but we must keep dreaming and have goals, striving to always do better.  And then there's Miz Bobbie, could she be the part of us that represents our own comfort zone and the importance of keeping that inner child in us alive & well?  I don't know yet which story is true about the girls, what do you think?

Around the Yard

Just a few photos from around the yard today, with not a lot to say.  We had a few absolutely perfectly beautiful days last week, and then it turned stormy, gray, and colder.  Colder as in freezing tonight and possibly snow, welcome to WI! 

Playing with the new camera a little the other day, I shot these birds that were up high and far enough away that the other camera wouldn't have gotten them at all.  I didn't even know what kind of bird I was shooting until they were uploaded onto the computer and saw that there was a robin.  Either the camera is better or I need new glasses-or maybe both:)  Don't let these unassuming looking flowers fool you, they bloom first and then turn into gigantic leaves, I mean HUGE!!  It's a crazy plant, invasive, likes it wet & shady, but the leaf size is so impressive we couldn't resist.  The advantage of having enough property to play around with the oddball stuff.   

Pussywillow past it's prime.  It's one of the first plants I bought when we moved here 20 years ago.  We've never trimmed it back, so it's now a huge tree/shrub/mass!  Live & learn:)    

Despite the weather, a sure sign that spring is still here, just taking a slight break for a day or so, is the bud of a lilac bush.  These were here when we bought the house, I've always wondered how old they are.  They're really too big for a lilac bush, but again, don't really have the heart to trim them back, we'll just call it a little history of the house.  Last photo for today, the first tulips of the year.  The gardens are greening out nicely, and buds popping everywhere, so more to come soon:)  Will have art to show tomorrow if all goes well.  Almost done with the 3rd lady of the series, but a case of some kind of "ick" got me a few days ago, so I've been keeping a low profile, being too dizzy to do much art or it would've been done by now-irritiating delay!                        

Of art & birds--

Who says bigger isn't better?  For the last few years, robins have been adding onto these nests, rather than build new ones.  That's something I'll have to google to see if that's normal behavior or not, seems weird to me.  They were under an overhang and built so high that they couldn't in the big one anymore, so finally abandoned them last year.  Not quite sure what I'll do with them, but they are pretty cool-a true robin high rise! 

Remember me posting last week about my oh so beautiful new walking stick, If not, just click here and you can see it.  (ok Bonnie & Tammy, I changed the verbiage as suggested and it does sound much better than "cane"!)  Today we were lucky enough to meet the artist and his wife, Gary & Kathy Ferron, while we were at The Flying Pig today for our weekend outing/coffee break.  This wasn't planned, just turned out that we walked in shortly after they did, how cool!  They're both wonderful people with a beautiful take on life, making it a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon.  Seriously, I keep telling you all, good things happen while at "The Pig"-come join us for coffee sometime:)                                                                         

On the way home, we opted for a quick lunch and ran into Subway for a (healthy version) sub which we took to the beach in Algoma and ate on a picnic table there.  After following the Four F's food plan for a couple of months or so, this was a real treat!  The wind was fierce coming off the lake, but neither of us minded a bit, as long as it was finally warm enough to actually do this-it was an absolutely gorgeous day today.  The kind of day that we WI folks wait all winter for, and don't waste a minute of it!  For the last few days, I've been working on 2 large canvases at the same time, as well as some other things.  As usual, there are many layers on each, so I've been trying to balance time-time to lay on a coat of something-time to let it dry-enough time to do something else-then time to let that dry-you get the picture.  In the meantime, I'm running out of space here to have multiple projects going at once, there are only so many horizontal surface in this house, and I already have too many of them covered in "stuff".  So I've also been plugging away at putting things where they belong, you know when your studio (or house) gets to the point that you can't even find anything anymore and you have to spend more time searching than arting?  There's barely a dent made in that project, it was a productive (for me) week, but frustrating.  I want to keep working, and working faster, but the pain level for most of the week was hellacious, so moving at all was a challenge, let alone faster.  So I keep plugging away, reminding myself that this is how it is and not get frustrated by it, which just adds more aggravation-another vicious circle.  Tonight things are drying, and tomorrow I can start all over again, with the first thing being to draw another face, fun!  But I digress, on the way home this afternoon, we finally stopped and got a picture of these goofy geese that live in someone's front yard all year long.  We know now to slow down, because if they're in the road, they'll move when they damn well feel like it, and not a moment sooner.  What a life, they do look like happy little campers, don't they?  On that note, I hope everyone has a happy productive week ahead of them!     Now why does all this text look like  a link?  Another mystery!                                            

Arte Y Pico Award & a Tag, too!

Isn't this just the most beautiful flower?  First flower in for the season, it apparently wasn't a happy camper all winter, but it's blooming again now.

Recently I was given the Arte Y Pico  award by the lovely Tricia Anders.  It was a more than pleasant award to recieve, especially since I've been slacking on blogging lately, but am working on changing that right now!  Thanks Tricia for thinking of me, I'm honored!  There are 5 rules attached to this award and they are :
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.
4. The Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte Y Pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5. To show these rules.   

The problem I always have with these awards are almost everyone on my link list should be listed, so consider yourselves all winners, but I'll still list 5 that I think everyone should go visit!  So here goes, some make you think, some make you smile, but all are great places to go visit! Elizabeth Bunsen, always has the most fantastic photos and lives such a full life and is quick to share it.  Bonnie has a blog full of color, Tourist Tuesday, and a way of writing that just makes you smile. Tammy Vitale, I've mentioned her before and I'll keep mentioning her until you all go read her blog!  Amazing art and her thoughts for the day are always on target-not sure how she does that:) This next one is The Flying Pig Blog, interesting to see art & artists through the eyes of a gallery owner.  And last but not least, is  Kim Boehm, having met her in person I can honestly say she's always got a smile on her face, a fellow dog lover, and she just simply enjoys life & everything in it!  Over the last couple of months, I've been tagged several times, and I promise to get to them all, but for tonight I'm doing the one that Caren tagged me with, a book tag that I've seen floating around for awhile.   Here are the rules of the book tag:
Pick up a book of at least 123 pages
Open the book to page 123
Find the fifth sentence
Post the next three sentences
Tag five people to do the same  I always have a stack of 3 or 4 books sitting around waiting to be read.  Moat are technique books that I page through more than read through, and always at least a  couple of books that do need the traditional start to end kind of reading.  So I'm choosing one that I have the best intentions of reading, despite the fact that it's an Oprah book club book, and of the few of them that I've purchased, I haven't liked one yet-lol.  Hell of an endorsement, isn't it:)  But this one sounded good-we'll see!  It's A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle.  The passage required for this tag is : "Cooperation is alien to the ego, except when there is a secondary motive.  The ego doesn't know that the more you include others, the more smoothly things flow and the more easily things come to you.  When you give little or no help to others or put obstacles in their path, the universe-in the form of people and circumstances-gives little or no help to you because you have cut yourself off from the whole."  Hmmm, quess I'll start this one from the beginning soon!  I'm not going to tag anyone for this one, but if you so desire, I'd love for you to tell me what good book you've read lately, something that will give me an excuse to run right over to Amazon.com & place an order:) 

         

To wrap it up for tonight, here's our very own "Sassy Cat", and she's earned the name, she bites me every chance she gets!!  I haven't shared many photos of her, so here she is, in all her glory!   

New Art

Who would have thought I'd have as much fun as I am working on these larger canvases, another 2'x3', but I really am!  This one will be varnished and framed in a simple black wooden frame, same as the first one.  Just a quickie post for now, will be back later with more, but for now I'm heading on back into the studio and start #3:)

I'm a lucky gal!

There's not a lot of positive things that come to mind about living with

RSD, but having a reason to own & use a cane like this is the best I can think of.  Yesterday morning, when I woke up & came downstairs, I found this beauty parked near where I sit for my morning coffee.   Jeremy had come home the night before for a 3 day Ju Jitsu seminar, and brought this home after Friday night's training, but I was already out cold for the night.  He had one of the guys that he trains with, Gary Ferron, make it for me.  Gary (dh Gary) had let it slip a while ago that a cane was being made for me, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect this, it's so perfectly perfect and besides that, it's beautiful!  Jeremy had told him that since he was an artist, to just look at my blog and/or website, to get a feel for what I like and then make whatever he wanted.  Apparently, he thought of Alice in Wonderland and of the flamingos used for croquet-and then he went to work, carving this out of birds eye maple.  I honestly could not have told him to make a cane that would have been more perfect than this one-he nailed it!  It's back being cut down to the right size for me, then I get to go out & show it off.  A while back I asked if anyone was interested in arting up a wooden cane for me, I haven't forgotten, just keep forgetting to pick them up while in town.  There was a part of me that was hoping I wouldn't have to keep using it, but that doesn't seem to be the case, so I'll get them soon & send them out if anyone is still interested.  This cane has me excited at just how cool they can be!  Thank you Gary for your incredible talent, and to Jeremy for getting it for me, I'm speechless and that doesn't happen often:)         

Good news!!

You know the saying "there's a first time for everything"?  Well here goes another "first" for me-drawing and painting a face on the biggest canvas that I've ever worked on (that's 2 "firsts"-lol), it's a 2'x3' canvas, so she's huge!  Just have to varnish her & put her into a very simple, black wooden frame which just sets her off & finishes it off nicely.  I have to say that I learned a lot through this process, and realize just how much I still have to learn.  But it was fun, I enjoyed the process, and I'll do it again. 

Today's mail brought the best surprise of all!  A while back I applied for a scholarship for a class at Peninsula Art School funded by the Broad Salon Scholarship Fund—In 2006, the women of the Broad Salon, a local women’s arts group, published a calendar with the proceeds from the sales funding a scholarship program at Peninsula Art School. The Broad Salon Scholarship Fund covers 100% of the tuition expenses for any Art School workshop. Participation in the program is limited to female full-time residents of Door and Kewaunee counties, Wisconsin.  And I got one of the scholarships, is that great or what?  So in July, I'll be heading up there for 5 days of Silver Jewelry for the New Metalsmith taught by Sylvia Youell!  It's something I've been wanting to learn more about and now I'll get my chance, it's still hard to believe:)  The class runs M-F from 9-noon, and then the studio is open to work in until 5pm each day.  The school also offers a series called Art History & Appreciation.  For now, I'm signed up for a lecture/demo of "USING GOLDEN ACRYLIC MEDIUMS, GELS AND PAINTS", which includes information packets and free samples.  It's being done by Bonnie Cutts, who is one of the artists that make up Golden's Working Artist Program.  She's also teaching a Mixed media in Painting & Collage class which is very tempting!  Oh, who am I kidding, all of the classes are tempting:)   So check out the class schedule-anyone want to join me? 

2 days in a row, do you believe it?

As most of you know, every month
Michelle Ward has a crusade, with last month being Crusade #18-carving stamps.  Something I've never tried before & need to work on, my attempt was pretty dismal.  But Gary decided to try it & promptly sat down and carved 3 stamps, he did the one inked in green, the red one, and a key which is on the backside of one of them.  Mine is there, too-the blah looking one-lol!  If I can't get the hang of it, maybe I can just get him to do it for me!

With the camera being "down" I didn't get it posted in time, but we're getting a jump start on the next challenge for April so shouldn't have that problem again.                                                                                       

Crusade #19 for April is to cut your own stencils, and MIchelle has a really great tutorial posted on it.  As luck would have it, we stopped at Michael's the other night and they had spray paint on sale for $1.99/can!  Perfect time to stock up & get ready for spray painting season (it's getting there!) and use the new stencils we'll make.                            

As mentioned yesterday, getting back into the studio was a priority.  As always, to accomplish anything, it always seems like there's prep work to do.  If I put it off, nothing gets made-does an excuse come any more lame than that one?  So, besides making art I drilled pearls, and can now proudly say that I can use any color or kind of pearl now that I own:)  It was one of those things that felt good to get done, busywork, keeping my hands busy & my wheels turning, good stuff can come from that:)  

It's that time of year-things are growing in WI!  It's like they know their time is limited and can't get out of the ground quick enough.  Seems early for some of the little guys that are appearing, but I quess it really isn't.  Brace yourselves, as anything pops up in the yard, it'll be popping up on here, too:)  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you--- Jeanette Janson is having a moving sale over at her Etsy Shop , with 25% off everything she has listed.  Now's your chance if you've been drooling over anything in her shop! 

Ok, it's been too long again!

Is that cool or what, the way the camera caught the water falling over the edge?  It's just a little place near here, called Wequiock Falls, small but always awesome looking.  And why did we get such a good picture?  New camera!  Our old faithful is sick, poor thing, so we bought a new one (same as the old one, just the newer version) and will send the old one in for repair.  Since Gary's so good at snapping those pictures, he needed a better camera anyway, and he really needs a hobby:)

It's been a busy couple of weeks here, seems like we're either running around for something, and if not, I've actually been in the studio.  My copy of this book arrived last week, written by Alyson Stanfield.  There's something magical about it, seems to work by osmosis!  Seriously, just having it in the house, makes me feel accountable for some strange reason.  I won't lie & tell you that I've read it all the way through, because I haven't.  But what I have done, is to keep it handy, pick it up a dozen times a day, page through, read a little here & there, and trot (ok, hobble) back into the studio.  But----I'm being productive, I'm enjoying what I'm doing, I feel like there's a purpose and a need to do what I do.  Some new habits are being established, like making sure that I'm showered & dressed & ready to rock 'n roll by a certain time each morning, making sure that I'm doing something everyday, no matter how small.  The book is about marketing, but in my case I had to get into the studio first to be able to market, and I'm doing it!  So click on over & order this book-you won't regret it!           

I've been all over the place with my art lately, jewelry, painting, collage, bookmaking, and I've got the messes all over the house to prove it:)  When I do this, it seems like nothing gets done because so much is "in progress", and them all of a sudden there's a bunch done, love it when that happens!  The labradorite necklace was my first commissioned piece of jewelry, after all my fretting & worrying about it, she loved it-whew.  Photos are just never the same as seeing the real thing, so until someone actually has the art in their hands, I hold my breath a little.  There was no need to worry (see, there's that why waste a worry thing again!) so I just have to learn to trust in myself. 

And here's another one with stick pearls, citrine,  ivory coin pearls and some white pearls-another one possibly for the gallery.  Tomorrow I start making resin filled bezels and see if any of them will work with a new bunch of necklaces I'm starting-another mess, I'm running out of horizontal surfaces!

This may not look very imressive, but that little white ridge you see in the background, is the ice breaking up on the bay and starting to pile up on itself.  When that happens it can make these huge piles of ice that can come ashore, they're really much larger than you'd think.   The good thing is, it's a sure sign of spring!  Last week end, we hit over 50 degrees, according to the news, it was the first 50 degree day since sometime in November, 130 some days ago, which came out to something like 39% of the year.  Those are some facts I could have lived without ever knowing, talk about a long winter! 

Still love those sunsets!  This was taken across the road from our house, watching the sun set over the bay, it's always so beautiful to watch, something I never get tired of seeing.  Before I go, I have to share this photo of more socks:)  Just happened that Robyn & Susan and I were together at the same time, all wearing mismatched socks, and all with different pairs on.  So here ya' go-more socks!  

Why waste a Worry?

The other day I was talking to an aunt on the phone, and she made the comment "why waste a worry?".  I'd never heard it before, but after thinking about it, she's so right!  I'm a first class worrier, about anything & everything, whether it makes sense or not, I worry about it.  I worry so much, that when the kids were home & little, I figured I did enough worrying for all of us, so everytime they started to fret over something, I told them in any given situation they had 2 choices-deal with it, or change it--but don't waste your energy worrying about it.  Now why didn't I take my own advice?  Good question!  Which in a convuluted sort of way, leads to "The Socks":)  Which by the way, are the coolest things I've seen in a long time, let alone bought for myself!  Socks used to be my thing when I was single-the more wierd, the better.  Somewhere along the line (probably when I had kids & started worrying!) I got practical and wore practical socks-and I've still been wearing the damn things-until now!  LIfe's too short, and it's certainly too short to wear matching socks, which happens to be the logo on the socks:)  So no more boring socks for me, I'm on a mission for different socks, stripes & polka dots, matching or mismatched, I don't care, but no more white ones!  These are Tulip, and I also got 2 more pair, Crocus & Daffodil-are these fun or what??  And where did I find them? The Flying Pig of course, who also just got a shipment of art from Jen Worden!  If you think you like her art online, you should see it in person, what a treat! 

Speaking of a treat, Sunday morning when I sat down to drink my coffee (after I'd already dumped a glass of water on a laptop) I found a piece of paper laying on hte table with the above sticky note attached.  Curiosty got the best of me (about 5 seconds!) and I flipped it over to find a picture drawn of Gary & I-with no signature.  When Jeremy got up, I asked him about it, and after awhile he finally fessed up to having done the drawing-this coming from the kid who swears he can't draw a stickman!  He did say that I almost ended up with no teeth, and he was surprised there was paper left where Gary's eyes are drawn.  And that he didn't know how to draw gray hair, but figured that I wouldn't mind:)  But he did manage to shave years & pounds off of me, so it's all good!  Seriously, I'm thrilled at how well he did and hopes that he continues.  Now Jess, I know you're reading this, and I know you can draw-so draw something and I'll post it here, too.  When the kids were little I hung their art on the fridge, now I can hang it here:)  So keep it coming!  Pretty damn good, especially for a first attempt!

Happy Sunday!

That's as close to an Easter bonnet as we'll eve