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.

re - refried mexican voodoo

i love making these bad boys, they are absolutely my favorite bead thing to whip-up.

i use up all my stray beads from sets, experiments and other wonky weirdos.

they're also good for recycling bits of junk jewelry. this one has a banged up virgin mary medal hanging from the bottom.

and this one a wee sterling cross and a tumbled onyx heart.

i sell these 'mexican voodoo' pendants for the ridiculously cheap price of $13. that way i can make lots and lots of them and not be buried up to my armpits in them. they always get a lot of comments, not all of them complimentary. when going for the full effect i wear a trio of my favorite ones to parties.

where did the name come from? mexican radio by wall of voodoo.

ginko studies

three more little paintings from the depths of my flat files.

ginko leaves and ginko berries

each one is only 4 1/2" wide.

acrylics on black rag paper. i love painting on black paper, it must be the velvet elvis in me.

mother's nest

new jewelry.

i found the top 'mother' piece of this brooch yesterday at an estate sale and knew almost immediately what i was going to make with it.

the winged heart bead was one i had made ages ago that was just waiting in a drawer.
the little nest is something i made a month ago. i saw a similar one in the blog 'ornamental' written by the amazing nina bagley and i want to credit her with the idea. her's are constructed rather differently from this one, they are much more orderly.

i have painted & drawn nests, sculpted them out of glass and collected real ones by the dozen - i just had to make a little silver one.

using bits of snipped off headpins, lots of 28 gauge dead soft wire and some broken fine silver chain that was in my scrap box, i just started winding and twisting around the tip of my pinkie finger then weaving in and out until i had a nest. i colored the inside with a dab of golden umber oil paint to give it some extra depth and added the little fresh water pearl eggs. yes, it took a whole afternoon to figure it out and finish it.

my boxes and boxes of beads all over the table at my studio. what a disaster.

artist's row & cortlands

studies for a painting of cortland apples (my favorite variety - densely crisp and nicely tart)

acrylic paints on rag paper, each one is about 5" x5"

these four little paintings will be for sale on sunday.

each year at this time i clean out the top drawer of my flatfile. all the little drawings and paintings (studies and toss offs) get shink wrapped and taken to be sold at the artist's row show.

the event is this sunday, september 23rd, 10 -4 at the public market here in rochester. it's just like the clothesline, except smaller, better and admission is free.

i will be set up in booth #65.

the weather is supposed to be gorgeous and i have almost 50 new pairs of earrings made.

night gardening

perhaps taking photos of flowers at night has something to do with my insomnia?

cosmos.
the plan for tomorrow is to the assemble earrings for a show this weekend - so there should be good bead pics soon.

cloudscapes

cel tower with marshmallow.



from the parking lot of more fire glass - looking up at 490w











another from the parking lot of more fire glass - looking up at the 490w exit for winton road.

autumn bracelet

remember tiger balls?
today i finally finshed that bracelet i was rambling on about.

starting with a small sterling round link charm bracelet,

i clipped it in the middle and added one of my glass beads to make it long enough to have a nice tail and fit any size wrist.

then i started wiring on all the tiger ball sculpey beads.
i went thru my bead stash and pulled out all kinds of brown stuff - wood, seed pods, amber, aventurine balls, bone dice, scarabs, agates, african glass beads and glass seed beads for the tips.
adding and adding and adding one headpin stacked with beads after another. the larger beads towards the center and the smallest at the sides, with one dangle on the end.

it makes a fun clunking jangling sound when it's on.

chandelier show - over the top

over the top - rewired
the second annual chandelier show at more fire glass is this friday night.
september 14th, 6-9 pm - 80 rockwood place, rochester, ny

magnolias by elizabeth lyons - 60 hand sculpted flowers on a steel structure

i know a decorator who always says that "lighting is the jewelry of a room."

this show has artists from far and wide hanging their chandeliers at more fire, i got a sneak peak yesterday and there are some amazing light sculptures hanging from the rafters.

so, if you can make it, don't miss it. it's always a great party.

p/s - more fire glass is where i make my glass beads. so, if you're a beader, or dreaming of flames, come see what the flameworking studio looks like.