Artful Adventures

Rings & Things Strikes Again!

For months now, our calendar has had the innocent enough looking words "bead tour" written on yesterday's date.  But let me tell you, everytime I saw those words, my heart raced a bit, a little smile crept over my face, and then I'd count the days.  This event, put on by Rings & Things, hits Green Bay in September & then again in the spring.  Gary & I met Amanda & her Mom there, and we had a friend, Julie meet us there.  Julie & Amanda's Mom were BSV's (bird show virgins), a little term I just made up-they're the ones with the biggest smiles and normally you hear the word "overwhelming" coming from them, all good things!  This event runs so smoothly, that I'm always amazed.  After working retail my entire life, I know all too well that it's not always easy to be calm, cool, and collected in a room full of women all shopping with enthusiasm.  In fact, last year when we checked out, it just happened that the lines were particularly long at that time, and yet, the gentleman that checked us out actually chased us down out in the parking lot to make sure that we had gotten our coupon for free shipping on our next order. THAT'S service!  Now the fun begins, pricing & putting the beads to bed (almost done), where they'll patiently wait for me to create something with them.  But they won't wait long-tomorrow morning it begins:)  Oh one more thing, after we got in the car to leave, Gary mentioned the tray of beads that he was carrying around, which I just assumd he wanted since he's played around a little with making jewelry and wants to do more.  Turns out, he claims they were beads he thought I might like and I was supposed to go through them and choose what I wanted, not just buy them-whoops:)  Personally, I think he really wanted them all along, he's not THAT easy when it comes to spending money!  If you hear of a Rings & Things show coming your way-go!  If not, you can always shop their website, you won't be disappointed either way.

More Show Report

Several of you have asked for more of what's become known as "the Show Report", so here goes:)  The show runs until Aug. 22, at Off the Wheel Pottery in Egg Harbor, up in Door County.  The gallery itself is one end of an old barn that's been converted for gallery use, but not in the traditional sense of the word.  There's this one white wall that's been installed to section off the gallery space from the rest of the barn.  The other walls are still the old barn boards, complete with the open spaces between the barnboards that let the natural light come streaming in.  I was in such a panic getting ready, that I remembered that wall being endless, and was worried I'd never have enough to fill it, and actually ended up bringing too much!  Bet that'll never happen again:) 

When you walk in the door to the gallery, "The Girls" are straight ahead, front & center!  Those are each 2'x3' , just to give you an idea of the size of the walls, and they're hung quite high  with displays of Renee's pottery beneath them-worked out perfectly. 

It's hard to see on here, but Gary built a jewelry display case that's hanging just to the left of the door.  He made it out of an old window that he hinged for the front and built a box type structure on the back to attach it to.  Not the best description, but you get the idea.  There's more jewelry in Renee's studio, and if you happen to get up there, make sure to go into her studio to see her work-you'll fall in love with it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Besides wall art & jewelry (now why is this text all underlined?) I brought along some journals that I made out of the pages of nature prints that I did last year after reading LK Ludwig's book, Mixed Media Nature Journals.  If you don't already own this book, treat yourself and get a copy, it's a great one!  No blank white pages in these books-these 6"x12" books are loaded with color & various leaf prints from foliage around the yard.  Time consuming, but well worth it!  Try it, you'll be hooked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to the opening (and apparently the underling is here to stay also!) it went just fine!  A steady flow of people that were all so nice, and I was a nervous wreck for no reason! I knew I had done work that I felt good about, so it was all fine, really.  Funny part though, I had ordered some clothes to wear from Oh My Guaze, wanting something to wear that was a little funkier.  I waited til the last minute to order, and as a result I got them at the last minute-just a few hours before we left for the show!  Someone was looking over me on that one-they fit, were comfortable, and was just the look that I wanted-whew!  There's actually more to this story about the show and how it all came about, but that'll be for another day.  Starting tomorrow there's another blog event you won't want to miss out on!  Seth Apter of The Altered Page is hosting an event that he's calling Buried Treasure.  All participants are asked to repost at least one of their favorite posts from their blogs, a way for bloggers to get to know each other better, and read something special in the process.  Something you won't want to miss!  Since I'll be participating, I'll see you all tomorrow!

Necklace, anyone?

 

 

If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Amanda before, now's your chance!  She's having her first blog giveaway right now and if I were you, I'd be running over there to sign up for it (I did!)-she's giving away one of gorgeous (and I do mean GORGEOUS!) necklaces!  And while you're over there, she had a birthday last week, you could flood her with belated birthday wishes, too!  Amanda is a good friend of mine, and I'm fortunate enough to live close enough to her that if weather permits, we can get together occasionally and "art" the day away.  Now that spring's officially here, we can start doing that again, although spring in WI translates into you never really know what the weather will be like.  For example, they're talking 7"-8" of snow starting tomorrow sometime.  The good news is that it doesn't stick around long now.  The giant allium is already up a few inches, and I noticed the bleeding hearts poking through in spots, too.  So soon, very soon, spring will be here to stay!  Will try to get some studio pictures up tomorrow, at least that's the goal, so see you then!

Treasures!

 

This past week, the mail was good to me, but so were my friends:)  For Christmas, a friend of mine, Tammy Vitale, got the equipment needed to make her own beads.  In just over 2 months look what she's making already-a goddess bead!!!  She was generous enough to send it here to live with my growing collection of special little things, all things that were gifts to me that one of these days will be turned into a necklace of my own.  Thanks Tammy, she went to a good home!  And while we're talking about Tammy, be sure to click here to read an interview that Tammy did as a guest artist for the MMCA Marketplace blog.  It's a great interview, you'll enjoy it!   

An old friend of mine was cleaning out her closets and decided to get rid of broken and/or jewelry that she wasn't going to wear anymore, so she boxed it all up & sent it my way.  It's funny how a pile of someone else's cast offs can look & feel like such a treasure, but it really is a treasure to me.  Something I can rummage around in, and pull a piece from here & one from there, and put something together that's wearable-now that's fun!  It's funny though, I don't think I've ever owned that much jewelry in my life, let alone have that much laying around to get rid of.  As good of friends as we've been for well over 30 years, she was always a girly girl with tgeh perfect clothes, make up, jewelry and wore about a size zero.  Then there was me, just about the complete opposite, but we did have fun!  In the box with the jewelry, she also sent along an old photo album with every page filled with her family pictures of her ancestors.  That's here for a visit, long enough for me to photocopy or scan the pictures and then it's out of here!  A generous act on her part to trust me with this, but it makes me nervous to be responsible for someone else's treasure, and it really is a treasure.  Another project for me to get done relatively soon and then send it back to it's home.  Even though I have a ton of old pictures, having some "new" ones to play with is always a treat, isn't it? 

New Jewels

 

After what seems like forever, there's finally some new art to share.  Six new necklaces to be exact, that are listed over in my shop at the MMCA Marketplace online shop.  I was going to wait for my new DVD from Sharilyn Miller to see if I could quick learn some new techniques to incorporate into these, but it got hung up somewhere in Minnesota, most likely due to a snowstorm.  But it was fine, I used a few new to me techniques from this DVD instead, and now I can concentrate on learning more for the next round.  But first I need to get away from the jewelry for a little while and get back in the studio & sling more paint.  I hadn't worked in that room for a week or so, and when I walked in there the other day, it actually felt welcoming, I'm hoping this is a sign of good things coming! 

 

These past couple of months I've had such a hard time concentrating on making art, at first because I was worried about this blood clot, but I can't control it, so I'm trying hard to not think about it, whatever happens, happens.  But being blasted non stop by the media about this recession makes it difficult to think about anything else.  Yes, there's the option of turning off the TV, not watching the news or reading a paper, but it's not enough.  A good friend of mine is losing her business, and foreclosure proceedings have started against both her business property & her home.  Another friend's husband lost his job before Christmas and neither one of them has been able to find full time jobs.  And we just sit & watch our hard earned 401k shrink at an alarming rate.  And I'm sure that you all have similar stories & experiences, and it breaks my heart to see these bad things happening to good people.  So what do we do?  I say we try our best to keep a positive attitude, hope & pray that this starts to turn around and keep people in their homes.  The good news is that most of us have such a stash of art supplies, that we can keep working, creating beauty if for no other reason than hoping it'll bring a smile to someone's face.  We can keep working to get better at what we do, move forward, and someday soon look back & say we did it-we survived!  So lets have some fun, create, share, learn, and hang on for dear life. 

A little of this, a little of that----

 

Now THIS is the way to a girl's heart to open a box that arrived in the mail to make ordering tools fun!  This was the first time I'd ordered from Wired Up, and it won't be the last!  Whenever I've ordered tools, they all come the same way, brown box filled with normal packing material and tools in some sort of packaging.  But I've never had them come in pretty organza bags before, plus they threw in a free gift just for ordering.  That's the kind of customer service that'll keep me coming back for more and will gladly spread the word.  I recently ordered Sharilyn Miller's DVD, Ethnic Style Jewelry Workshop and was once again totally wowed by the information given and will be spending hours with it, just like I did (and still am) with the first DVD I purchased from her, Tribal Treasures Bracelet Workshop.  So much so that I just ordered, and am patiently waiting for Bohemian Bangles Bracelet Workshop.  The great thing about her DVDs and her book, Bead on a Wire, is that the techniques shown can be used in a variety of ways and on many different jewelry pieces, information that you can take and make it your own, something that's very important to me.  After I finish up the necklaces I have started now, watch for some subtle (or maybe not so subtle) changes, it's time that I get adventurous, spread my wings and fly a bit.   

Speaking of flying, even though they seldom fly, we have never seen so many turkeys around as this year, they're everywhere.  These happened to be in the field that adjoins the clinic where I'm going to get blood drawn way too often.  You know you're going to the doctor's too often when they recognise the car turning into the parking lot, and have the paperwork ready when I walk in the door so that Sarah, the lab tech, can quick draw blood & send me on my way.  Last time I went the clotting factor was right on the money, now if it would only stay there.  It's been all over the place, way too high, then way too low, always managing to miss the mark.  Which means I have to still keep a low profile, continuing to follow their don't get excited, stay calm, don't go anywhere, don't raise your heart rate or blood pressure instructions, until they get it right.  It's so boring that my mojo took a hike and took every creative bone in my body with it!  But the good news is, my mojo is sneaking back in, and I can't tell you how relieved I am about that!  Listen closely, you'll hear a giant sigh of relief:)  To help get back into the swing of things, my friend Tammy gave me some good advice about sketching, which I'll share some of in the near future.  You can always count on Tammy for good, sound, no nonsense advice.  And if you're not reading her blog, you should be!  And speaking of blogs, head on over to the MMCA Marketplace blog and read the newest in a series of guest interviews, this one by Linda McCloskey, you won't want to miss it!  Here's a little tidbit from the interview that should get you running over there right now, seriously, right now!.  Linda says: "Never give up - never trust that inner self when it tells you that you don’t have talent - TALENT COMES FROM PRACTICE.   If you love art and involve art in your everyday life - talent will come" .  Those are some words to live by, and I just may write them on my studio wall!   There's still lots to tell, so for today that's it, stay tuned tomorrow for more, I'll get caught up here on my blogging yet, it just may take awhile!  In the meantime, it's still winter and the birds are still posing nicely for us outside our window-hope you're not sick of bird photos because there are plenty more where these came from:) 

MMCA Marketplace Gallery Exhibit at Arts on Union

 

 

MMCA Marketplace Artists are scattered throughout the nation. In February, their work is under one roof for the first time and it is happening in Central Pennsylvania.
Middletown, PA - Not only have most of the members never met in person, the MMCA Marketplace Artists have never shown their work in a gallery as a group. This month, Arts on Union Gallery and Studio, 203 N. Union St., Middletown, exhibits their art. An opening reception will take place Saturday, Feb. 7 from noon to 5 p.m. There will be free refreshments and artists will be on hand to talk about their work.
MMCA Marketplace Artists opened for business in mid-2008, as the Dow was plunging downward. Its charter members were already online acquaintances through the MMCA, a larger network of artists who share tips and news and offer critiques on the work of other members. National and regional online and print publications have featured the work of the group.
The MMCA Marketplace artists exhibiting at Arts on Union have successful exhibition, publication and teaching credits. Despite the economic downturn and the frenetic pace of life, they continue to live and work as professional artists. Among the group are two Middletown artists, Elaine Brady-Smith and Christine Goldbeck. In addition to mixed-media paintings and collage on canvas and paper, the Arts on Union exhibit includes jewelry, note cards and three-dimensional work.
“It felt like Christmas all over again when the art for this exhibit started arriving from Wisconsin, California, Florida and other places. I am so glad to be able to show the work of this group and I am in awe of the talent and skill each has. The necklaces one artist sent are amazing. She hand drills each pearl, for example. The craftsmanship in these pieces is incredible,” Goldbeck, who owns Arts on Union, said.
Arts on Union opened in February 2008. Visit Christine Goldbeck for more information about the February exhibit and workshops. Mixed media collage and mixed-media painting workshops are on February’s studio calendar to coincide with the exhibit.

The above photo and press release, were provided courtesy of Christine Goldbeck, who was also kind enough to host this first time exhibit featuring artists from the MMCA Marketplace, an online marketing venue owned by Debbie Overton, that I'm very pleased to be a part of.  Now if I could only find a way to get to PA in time for the opening reception this Saturday:)  So if you live anywhere near Middletown, PA, please stop in and take a peek!

And the rest of the jewelry--

 

More trade beads, a few pearls, and a couple of vintage bead connectors added onto this old brass perfume bottle are all that this one needed.  The beads that look slime green are really yellow though, again having color issues in taking pictures.  With each one of these necklaces that I make, I learn something, even if it's a mistake  (cussing the whole time at the cost of silver that I just cut off & tossed to fix it) it's one less issue to deal with in the future-I hope!  Those that claim to have this, or anything as far as that goes, all figured out & can do it perfectly everytime, they make me nervous.  As soon as we stop learning, or stop stretching ourselves to make something work or stick to the tried & true all the time, have stopped growing-not only as an artist, but as a person.  Hmmmm, wonder where that came from and why.  I honestly don't know, so we'll chalk it up to being tired. 

 

I'm having fun with these little lampwork bird beads, and I love the stones in this necklace-and can't find one of them anymore!  Will have to do some digging around, because I really do like using it.   

This is the second necklace that I've made using a salt shaker, and there's a funny story behind it.  When I met the wonderful Annie Lockhart a couple of years ago, it was at a Nina class held at Valley Ridge.  Apparently Annie was wearing a similar necklace during class, which I didn't notice, but obviously did subconsciously.  Right after I made that first one, I saw Annie's for sale & was horrified that I had "copied" her, we each had our own spin on it, but still I felt bad.  So I called her, told her about it, and in typical Annie fashion, she just laughed.  See, we share the same birthday and the same wierd sense of humor, and maybe, just maybe had a similar idea in this case-we'll never know for sure.  Right after that, I saw a salt shaker necklace on Etsy (no, I don't remember who it was) that was a direct knock off of the one that Annie did, right down to even giving it the same name!  And the person that bought it was another gal from the class that Annie & I were in, the one where she wore the necklace.  See what a small little circle this art world can be?  At that same class, Nina liked Annie's idea so much, that she asked if she could borrow it, of course Annie said yes, and then folks accused Annie of copying Nina's idea.  Still with me?  My point in a round about way is to give credit where it's due, as Nina did for Annie, and I did for Annie, and round & round we go.  My wire wrapping was taught to me by Nina (thank you, thank you!!), the salt shaker idea apparently from Annie, and some other wire work from the publications of Sharilyn Miller, which by the way, are worth every penny & then some.  The rest of what I do---who knows where it comes from?  Sometimes I even wonder myself!  And once again tonight, I don't know where this all came from!  So to end this one a good note-enjoy this shot from our garden-and don't forget to contact the Flying Pig if you're interested in these necklaces, almost forgot to say that part-I really am tired!

New jewelry & a little summer

 

Remember when I recently posted about going to the Rings & Things bead show?  Well, I dug right in and got some work done, including this necklace made entirely from African Trade beads and found the perfect piece of vintage jewelry in my stash for the pendant.  It measures about 32" long, not including the pendant.  I've got 6 new pieces made, all of whioch are now for sale at The Flying Pig, but will post maybe half of them today & the rest in a day or so, too many photos for 1 post otherwise! 

For some reason, we're (by we, I mean Gary-lol) still finding photographing jewelry difficult, although it gets better each time.  Today it seems I can't get the colors right, not sure if it's my eyes because I didn't sleep much last night, or if it's the monitor, whatever the case may be, please bear with me.   

I think you'll just have to make a road trip to Algoma to see waht these really look like:)  This one is labradorite, trade beads, coin pearls & some of the prettiest freshwater pearls that I''ve ever owned.  They're really a darkish kind of blue/purple, but seem to change a bit in the light.   

There, finally!  This color is more what it really looks like.  The focal is a gorgeous lampwork bead, from a series of tree of life beads, this being one of the nightime versions showing the moon behind the branches.  I love this bead!  This one measures about 24", not including the drop.   

Last one for today, I feel like an infomercial:)  This one is about 28" long with the drop of stick pearls being about 2 and1/2" long.  Finally got smart & wired those little puppies together, they always want to spin aruond in different directions otherwise, drove me crazy!  Besides stones from the lake that we picked, there's sunstone with the faintest gold glint to it, coin & regular freshwater pearls.  So there you have it, that's what I've been doing lately!  Still want to tear down some large sheets of watercolor paper today, so I can get some walnut ink stained & others nature printed.  Here in WI, fall is happening quickly and we'll be stuck in the house before we know it.  If not stuck in here, it'll be too cold to do that kind of thing outside at least.   

Not sure why, but we didn't spend as much time by the beach in Algoma this summer.  Actually, I honestly don't know what happened to summer this year.  All I do know is poof-it's almost gone! 

This old lighthouse is a favorite sight of mine.  Nothing fancy, but if I look at a picture of it any time of the year, I can hear the waves & feel the warmth of the sun.  Lighthouse paintings are a favorite thing it seems, in Door County.  You see them everywhere, and I do mean everywhere.  It's ok, I suppose, and if I could paint one I'm sure I'd think it was fabulous:)  ok, I'm rambling, so lets move on----- 

There's a cool boardwalk that's lit & has benches along the way, lining the beach in Algoma.  For such a small town, it's a nice touch.  It's not a huge beach, or a fancy beach, but still---it's a beach!  And I'm always surprised at how few people go there.  It's rare that you can't grab a picnic table.  I keep a bag of books, pens, sketch pad, etc in the car so if we decide to stop there, I can go sit at a table & read or art while looking & listening to the water-one of my favorite things to do.  Well, looks like I ended up with a bunch of pictures after all!  ONe more & then I'll stop-promise!  Our passion flower has been putting on quite a show for the last few weeks, putting out a new flower almost everyday, which is about how long they last-one day!  But oh so worth it!

Gary's Art-yep, you read that right!

 

Remember the post I recently made about the Rings & Things show, and near the end of the post I showed the little handful of beads that Gary bought?  And remember wondering what he was planning on doing with them?  Well, here it is!  Do you believe it?  When we came back from Katie's class at Valley Ridge on Monday afternoon, we were greeted by Gary showing us this necklace that he'd made while we were gone.  See, this is what happens when you leave books & supplies alone in the house for a few days:)   

We won't even go there as far as how long it took me to be able to do anything worth showing anybody when it came to making jewelry.  And he claims oh it was nothing, and he even made his own chain for crying out loud!  I have to admit, I'm impressed-damned impressed as a matter of fact!  So he may not have touched his list of things that needed to be done, but who could complain when he accomplished this?  This could be good, if we can learn to work together, be aware of & willing to admit to what part/parts of jewelry construction we need to be stronger at, and then hope those are the things that the other is better at already, we could be a team:)  Some collaborations could be happenings, some brainstorming, just being able to bounce ideas off each other would be good.  Keep a look out over here, you just never now what will haooen next!   

Look at this!  No way could I have just looked at a few articles & books, then sit down & figure out how to make a closure, a chain & wrap the beach glass.  Unreal!