Seed Money

Psst - I started listing some new bird paintings in my etsy shop.

Sweetness & Light

I went to a christening last night.

It was at my favorite BBQ joint - outside and upstairs on the deck, under the stars. It lifted me out of my funk, restored my hope and reminded me how wonderful it is to belong to a tribe.

Jagger cried himself silly while his family beamed. The Catholic priest who performed the ceremony seemed happy with the venue and did not get so much as a drop of cherry bomb sauce on his white robes. A fine time was had by all.

Falling

Falling off the face of the earth - falling leaves -
I have been in one ugly mood this week so i just stepped back and kept my bloggy mouth shut.

Dark skies in her eyes.

Despite my petulant mood this week I made a lot of stuff - including these beads.

The start of a necklace of autumn leaves and berries.

The base glass for the leaves is Cims Commando and Effetre Butternut. On top of that I layered on some avocado and raku frits and then wrapped them with too many fine threads of Cim's tuxedo black glass. Next batch - less black - despite the fact that Cim's tuxedo is my new favorite black glass.

The berries are coral with mixed coral frit.

When I make the next batch of beads for the necklace I think I am going to make some dark gray branch segments to go along with the leaves and berries.

The inspiration for the beads.

Artists Row 2009

Wrap it up and put a bow on it -
it was my most successful show, ever.

A huge thank you to everyone that came out to the Rochester Public Market on this perfect fall day!

This is a snapshot of the pile of earrings that I made for Artists Row. I will show some of the individual pairs later this week but right now I'm toast.
Good grief, good night.

More Feathers

Everything I know about botany I learned from Dr. Seuss.

5" x 9" acrylic on black cotton paper
based on "Audubon's Birds of North America" - plate #239 - Black & White Warbler


10" x 7" acrylic on rag paper
based on "Audubon's Birds of North America" - plate #212 - Raven

Warblers

9" x 9" acrylic on black cotton paper
based on "Audubon's Birds of North America" - plate #238 - Warbling Vireo


9" x 9" acrylic on black cotton paper
based on "Audubon's Birds of North America" - plate #250 - Connecticut Warbler

Both of these paintings will be available at the Artist's Row show this Sunday.

Unruffled Feathers

I feel like everything is right with my world - no small feat.

A bunch of paintings, on paper, that I have been pooping around with finally finished themselves yesterday. They're all really small - the smallest only about 2" square.

I love working on black paper - someday I really ought to try my hand at a black velvet painting.

Last night was the official kick-off to fall here - the first meeting of the knitting guild after their summer recess. Knit, knit, knit, yak, yak, yak, drink some tea, knit, knit, knit. A perfect evening.

And today? I made beads, reached 99 sales in my Curious Old Things etsy shop, and got a present of an old cement baby skunk from my husband. Contented sigh.

Everything always feels right when I have the time to create.

Baby Birds

I have a show this weekend.

While I was away I convinced myself that I had two weeks to get ready when I got back - but it was a little lie I was telling myself.

Yesterday my paints came out and a started working on some small paintings of birds. They're loosely based on bits and pieces of the book "Audubon's Birds of North America."

This is an ongoing series that I never seem to get bored with.

I am in full freak-out mode and need to get back to my painting table. There are paintings to finish, earrings to put together, signage and tags to make, oh - and packing.

The show is called Artist's Row - more on that later.

Faux Labradorite

Finally, some new beads to share.

I actually made these two weeks ago before my trip - but only pulled them off their mandrels and cleaned them last night.

These hand faceted glass beads were made to mimic labradorite.

To make these start by swirling a thin wispy layer of Double Helix's aurae over transparent light aqua and pale blues glass core beads. Next spot heat and hand shape the facets, I used a stainless steel cheese knife to push the glass into shape. The last step is to lightly reduce each bead before annealing.

They came out better than I had expected and I can't wait to make more.

Who doesn't love Labradorite?

Another Farmer's Market Saturday

Ooh, sigh, Setptember. It is my favorite month of the year.

And Saturdays are the best day of the week because they are market day.
The local harvest is in, tomatoes, corn, peaches, eggplant, sweet peppers and grapes.

The air is so crisp and the light has that slightly slanted way of flattering everything. You know it means that winter is right around the corner - but you don't give a fig because it's so perfectly right, right now.

End of Summer Clearance

I went into my Curious Old Things etsy shoppe this morning and marked everything down.
There's bakelite, belt buckles, loose beads, owls and all sorts of treasures to be had.

Home.

This is Snowy the cat.

The first morning I woke up in Florida it was still dark outside - my parents were talking, toast was toasting and the tv clicked on to the weather channel. The clock said 5:15.

I shambled out into the living room and asked "why are we up so early?"

"This is when we get up" chirped my mom.

"But why" I protested.

"Because that's when the cat gets up" my dad replied.

Florida

Hello. I did not expect be blogging at all while I was away - but unexpectedly they have computers here in the hospital's waiting room. How thoughtful and wonderfully distracting.

Being here in Florida is like being in upsidedownland.

I drove my mom on a special trip to the grocery store just to get the cat some cold cuts. Ponder that for awhile.