overly decorative earrings

remember these?

more earrings.

the dangles are yellow rice pearls with glass long tube seed beads & sterling silver.

of montreal - wraith pinned to the mist and other games

back to beads...

sorry i wandered aways from beads for so long - this is afterall - belvedere beads.

remember these little blue beads?

they're back with some added pearls, blue austrian crystals, aventurine beads & sterling silver.

i have some new spring earrings.

bryan ferry - just like tom thumb's blues

weirdsville

this is some of the best outsider art we have ever found.

they came from an estate sale this morning - the artist's name was carl spezio.
all of these were done in the late 60's thru 70's.

these 'masterpieces' are oil paint on cheap-o canvas boards.

and sadly, none of them are titled.
wouldn't you love to know what he called them?

kiki p. oodle gets into the picture.

we think this one is about the barbarians song "are you a boy or are you a girl?"

the barbarians 'hey little bird' 1964

(sorry, i couldn't find a clip of are you a boy or are you a girl?)

napoleon p. oodle doing his best impression of robert hughes.

creative lull

sometimes, just before a burst of new work, i have a lull.

i'm thinking about what will be new in my paintings, and jewelry, this spring.
and while i'm pondering i just putter with other things.

like making cupcakes

and messing with my macro lens.

dandelion day

what could be more sunny & beautiful than a dandelion?
i will never understand why my neighbors think they should be obliterated.

right now my lawn is full of them and white violets and some sort of little blue flowers.

In german it's called a pusteblume, translated as "blow flower."

a new party dress bead - red ruffle - red, white filigrana, pea green filigrana

fiddle dee dee

fiddle heads in my jurassic yard.

fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee,
the fly has married the bumblebee.
said the fly, said he,
"will you marry me,
and live with me sweet bumble bee?"
fiddle dee dee, fiddle dee dee,
the fly has married the bumblebee.

oh no, yesterday was the gem show, and my wallet was wide open.

right about in the center (above) - look - carved soapstone fly beads.

my favorite thing - the tumbled onyx hearts - they look like wave worn beach stones.

my mom, who thinks our yard full of 4' emperor ferns is weird, is the one who christened it "the jurassic yard." happy mother's day.

new earrings

new overly decorative earrings.

venetian bells - flameworked glass beads, tigers eye, hematite, glass seed beads, agate & sterling silver

yellow moss - flameworked glass beads, carved soapstone scarabs, glass seed beads, carved bone & sterling

deep sea - flameworked glass beads, glass seed beads, mother of pearl & sterling

the tiger lillies - crack of doom

garage sale report

last friday & saturday was the first big, warm weekend here for garage sales.
we rode around in the sunshine van with the windows down and our heads hanging out like a couple of dogs.

here's the loot i found to take apart and make new jewelry with.

stoneware, rose quartz, ebony, coral, coconut shell, mother of pearl, agates & nuts & more.

feist - mushaboom

evil blossom

a poisonous looking blossom

a core of cim's meringue rolled in a homemade mixed green frit, then a wrapping of pea green filigrana and a red ruffle.

who's that sleeping in my bed?

it's the wee wolf - napoleon p. oodle.

watermelon blossom

another floral bead.

straw yellow base rolled in homemade blend of green frit with a ruffle of rubino oro.

ullabenulla

look! i'm on ullabenulla.

it's a beautiful stylish blog, without it i would never have thought to paint that crusty old dress form. her writing & imagery is always very inspiring and engaging. and her jewelry is pure loot.

i also read a fascinating site called japonisme.

this visually enlightening blog is all about the japanese influence on 19th century western art. without her visual treats the dress form would absolutely not look quite the way it looks. graphically it is very pared down from my usual way of painting. it's all about the silhouettes...

thanks ulla & lily.

take a moment today to thank the people who inspire you.

blossoms

new beads - finally got them off their mandrels, soaked & reamed.

lots of fun with pea green commercial filigrana rods and messy gelly's sty pink.

this one is cim's rose quartz rolled in aventurine frit and encased with pale periwinkle transparent.

here's a page from my sketchbook of blossom ideas.

more of them tomorrow - tonight i am pooped. why so tired? it's the height of spring junking season - we filled the car today with all kinds of magnificent loot. i am not interested in things that are new, give me something that was someone else's.

there is no need for anything new. i love what others waste, what they don't want, what they have forgotton and left behind - what they sell me for small change. i make my living from it and live luxuriously hip deep in it.

devandra banhart - a ribbon

when in doubt - etch

whenever i have a really ugly bead - i etch it.

these two were hideous examples of dichroic gone wrong - and look at them now. they have this eerie inner glow that is quite marvelous.

this is what you use. most of the time you can turn that ugly duckling into a swan, and sometimes you will create an even uglier bead. which is always good for a laugh.