pumpkin topiary

a halloween snapshot from my kitchen.

my kitchen has muted curry orange painted walls and the blueish gray green pumpkin on the bottom looks fantastic with color.
i think i may have finally found the color for the sink countertop.
does marble, or granite, come in this color?

sorry for the long absence - just in a funk. the month long lack of a studio left me more off kilter than i expected...

but blues be gone, tonight i am breaking out my clown shoes.
yes, i have real antique clown shoes, i found them at an estate sale years ago, one of my greatest junking moments ever. pictures tomorrow.

orchestral diversions

the vegetable orchestra


the ukelele orchestra of great britian - the good the bad & the ugly


tokyo ska paradise orchestra - skaravan

plein air

yesterday was freakishly warm here for late october,
so here's where we went -
mendon ponds park in mendon, new york.

phyllis and i have been painting together since college.
where do we like to have our plein air adventures?
somewhere with picnic tables, bathrooms and nearby parking.

what a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

the finished painted sketch -
9" x 12" - acrylic on board

a close up.

when men craft

dick & jeff mancrafting.
the buddies took jalapeno peppers and handily stuffed them with cheese, then they sewed them together with toothpicks and bacon.

the stuffed peppers were smoked on the grill in a special armadillo shaped vertical rack. i wish i had a picture of them cooked, but they got eaten very, very quickly.

bacon is a particularly prized mancrafting material, it's like the pmc of mancrafting...

pumpkin chipotele

mmm...

big poppa at the end of the driveway, ready to load them into the back of the van.

individual pumpkin chipotele cakes with mexican chocolate frosting and cider glaze.

oh yeah, they were good.

dreamland faces

i am not getting anything done -
only some planning for paintings and beads.

i don't even have my bead sketchbooks with me.
just noodling on scraps of paper and stray notepads.

a new bead shape - a kind of pod with a twisted top knot.
i will try starting with a round bead (#1)
then add ridges (lobes) of a different color glass (#2)
and finally spot heating the top and giving a little twist pulling up slightly (#3)

a while ago i made this completely weird necklace with the theme of mickey and minnie mouse.
it's not really working yet - i may go all out and try making some weird sculpey mickie heads for it.

i miss dreamland faces - they used to live here and play every saturday morning at java's public market cafe. sigh.

dreamland faces

across the universe

this is the best film.

give your soul a tune-up by going to see it immediately.

red delicious

it's time for the apple harvest here on the north coast.

the orchards have such a lovely smell - all wet grass and applesauce.

look at that gracefully arched branch -
amazing how many apples are weighing it into that curve.

the sunlight may be bright this time of year - but it is alway low and slanting.
reminding you that is no longer summer and that winter is coming, soon.

beauty and abundance.

what's the story morning glory?

taking photos while waiting for a rummage sale to start.

there was a huge gray chain link fence covered in morning glories.
a lesson that anything ugly can be made beautiful when nature is urged to run amok.

a blue painting, that would be something new for me. generally i am not attracted to the color.

i love the morning glory's ornate spiral buds.

it turned out to be the best rummage sale ever.
why?
because i found an older, but in excellent working condition, paragon kiln for $50.

pmc beware.

earth swirls are easy

as promised - a new set of beads.

earth swirls

avocado, dark ivory, sage green, medium sized dark ivory frit, fine silver wire and silver foil.

i really like this reactive combination of glass and the bead's easy organic shapes.

these were fairly simple to make.
1. lay all three colors of glass (dark ivory, avocado & sage) on in layers side by side.
2. melt together and dab on a bit of dark ivory frit here and there.
3. add some wee pieces of silver foil and some fine silver wire.
4. spot heat and twist the spirals into the glass using a commercial dark ivory stringer.
5. reheat the whole bead evenly and flatten/mash into a lozenge.
6. reheat out the stress marks and flame anneal.
7. into the kiln...

now, all i have to do is clean them.

beads today

after a frustrating spell away from the torch i got to make beads today!
ahh, that felt good.

pics of new beads tomorrow.
but for now...

a gratuitous snapshot of one of the dogs - kiki in motion.

magnolia study

this wee little painting has great luminosity, it is all done on top of metallic gold underpainting.
something i plan on trying with my next big canvas. i believe that 'golden' makes gold gesso.

magnolia study - acrylic on paper - 4" x 3"

i am a bit behind with my painting because i have someone staying in my studio.

it is wonderful to have a place to shelter friends thru weird times or a place for families to stay when there are big events like weddings. but, when people are living there i like to try and stay out of their hair.

right now i have a stressed out 56 year old white male encamped there, bunkered down on my sofa watching the baseball playoffs. he seems a bit bewildered by the place but says he loves it. next week i have got to get back to painting... that should be interesting for both of us.

bracelet idea & sketch

who doesn't love a flat rusty bottle cap?

j'adore street trash bottle caps.

i have trained my whole family to pick them up for me.
before she left for college miss mango was always emptying them outta her pockets for me after school.

today i sketched out a quick idea for a bottle cap bracelet, something just for me.
no one else would want it... it's anti loot.

a big showy rusty charm bracelet with caps and pearls.

these are a pair of bottle caps i riveted awhile ago and have been wondering what to do with them next. all they each need is another riveted hole at the bottom to hold a festive colored freshwater pearl dangle.

a bracelet will take about a 30 of them - clatter, clatter, clatter.

detail of the top rivet.

q: "honey, what are you wearing?"
a: "sterling silver, street trash and pearls."


the new york dolls - trash

beach plums

i think these are called beach plums...

someone please correct me if i am wrong.

in any case, these snapshots are going to be oil pastel drawings on black paper.

these 'night gardening' photos are all simply taken with the 'night' setting on my cannon elph camera - trust me, i am not a skilled photographer. it's point and shoot or nothing at all.
the curve of the branches and the honey yelloworange fruits will be fun to render.

i caught a ridiculous cough on the plane - hack, hack, hack.

salt water bliss

i am back from the ocean.

at the edge of the ocean is where i belong - i have known this since a childhood vacation in nag's head, north carolina.

warm soft, thick air.

working hard everyday - i never did make it for the sunset, but one night we were there at dusk.

the rosy shimmering water was hypnotic to watch.

the gulf of mexico's water was so seductively warm.

i had one long walk to pick up beach debris. my favorite shells are the very eroded ones with holes. also, the old center spirals at the heart of a conch.

in my still packed suitcase there are two plastic baggies of shell bits for a bracelet.

big man, big water.

my oldest, most worn & comfortable birks on the sand.