art

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Awesome Art Show Weekend

The weekend sadly came to an end.   It was filled with great sales, lots of laughs, chats with other artists and spending time with friends.  I could not ask for much more.
This was the opening night.  My jewelry table is behind me.
Now I need to figure out how to stay motivated and inspired!  I was on quite a roll producing new ideas and I would like to keep that up.
I joined a new flickr group called “Create – a project a day – february 2011”.  Maybe this will help me stay motivated.
Of course I will be blogging about this adventure so stay tuned!
I never got to show you the chair that I did for this auction, in addition to the bar stool.
A very exciting bidding war went on over this chair, and it got the highest bid out of all the chairs.
Pretty neat to watch people react to your work like that!
There were a couple chairs that did not find homes that night and I got elected to paint them so they can be sold for the Bahamas National Trust.  I have all sorts of neat ideas and cannot wait to get started.
At my dining room table I have 8 different chairs which are painted eight different colors…..it is my other fetish besides for the plates!  I am still planning that blog post about my plate collection, so I will include the chairs in that post.
Have a great week and I will see you tomorrow with a new creation for february 1st!
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kiln is FINALLY done!!

The absolute worst part of pottery is the waiting time….waiting for the greenware to dry so you can fire it….waiting for the kiln….waiting for the paint to dry so you can glaze, waiting for another firing!
This morning I was finally able to pull out the platters I put in yesterday morning!
“Morning Song”  This one matches the table, a pillow and some artwork that I have made.
They were worth the wait.  I love all the colors!
“Owl and Friend”
So then I loaded the kiln back up with some greenware that need to be turned into bisque, and needed something to occupy my time  so I made some journal covers for the show this weekend.
These are a few of my favorites.
There are a  few more small projects to finish for the show, price everything, pack up my show supplies and then enjoy the weekend selling and talking to artists and customers.
Hope you are all having a great week!

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I Kinda Fell Off the Face of the Earth

It is kind of embarrassing how long it has been since I posted.  Thank you for the emails asking where I was and if I am okay.  It makes me happy that there are people out there that like to read my ramblings! Life has been like a roller coaster.  My 10 year golden retriever, Maya, has been sick the last two weeks and needing a lot of my attention, then on Sunday my 17 year old cat passed away.
“Snorkel”
I adopted him when I moved to Abaco, and he was by my side through a lot.  It was kind of sudden even though he was 17!
In the midst of all of this I have deadlines looming, and it is not easy for an artist to work when they have emotional and mental stress.
I thought I would post a few projects that I had finished, just so you know I am still around.
“Love Birds”

“Fish Kiss”

“Whimsical Seating”

“Bahama Pottery”

I have more items to show you that I need to photograph and download.  Hopefully I won’t be gone so long in between posts this time.
Thanks again to all of you that checked on me.

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Summertime Creations

Summertime is a favorite season for so many people.  It is when beaching and boating are most popular, and everyone works on their summer tans.
This month at Artbeads.com their theme is “Summertime”.  I am now a design partner with Artbeads.com so I was able to choose some items from the Charms, Glass Beads or Pendants categories to work with, review and blog about.
Being a lamp worker I was very happy to pick from the glass beads category.  I picked the 14mm Crystal Fish Bead in the Silver Shade; some Czech Glass Nautical Shells; a Picasso Square Bead Strand in cobalt, white and purple; and TOHO Round Seed Beads 8/0 in Lined Aqua Opal, Lined Dark Aqua and Lined Cobalt.  Glass has the right amount of sparkle and shine,  I was not disappointed in any of these products, and would like to order more for my *stash*!!
For a pendant I chose a Plated Pewter Elongated Heart Picture Pendant.
Then finally, I chose a few Sterling Silver Mermaid Charms to complete my summer pieces.
Here is the first piece I made…..
I filled the heart pendant with sea glass and shells, then sealed it all in with resin.  I also hung one of the mermaid charms in the front of this pendant.
I used 3 strands of the TOHO seed beads and mixed the Crystal Fish Beads with them.  I then continued the necklace with the Picasso Square Beads and the Glass Nautilus Shells beads.
On the other side I did some sterling silver wire work along with some of my lamp worked beads and a glass disc and sterling silver hook for a clasp.
I absolutely loved the nautilus shell beads and the square glass beads and will be ordering more of these.  The heart bezel pendant will also be in my next order.  I was making these myself from sterling silver, but these are so easy to work with and can keep my costs down.
Here is a close-up of the pendant…..
And another picture of the entire necklace…..
I also think the Crystal Fish Beads work so well with the seed beads and add just the right amount of sparkle.  Who doesn’t like *sparkle*!?
Of course no necklace is complete without a matching pair of earrings, so here is what I made using the seed beads and Sterling Silver Mermaid Charms. These mermaid charms are the perfect size for earrings.
From another angle…..
Still having beads left over from Artbeads.com and ideas popping into my head I came up with this abstract, art quilt which I am calling “Bahama Bubbles”.
After piecing and quilting this art quilt, I hand stitched the seed beads on to look like bubbles and then stitched on the Nautilus Shell Glass Beads, as if they were on the ocean floor.  Both the lined seed beads and the glass shell beads add just the right amount of quirky-ness to this piece which measures about 7″ x 11″.  Here is another picture of the quilt before I added the blue nautilus shell beads, and when the sun was out…….

So even if you are a quilter, or mixed media artist, remember to try out other objects on your artwork.  Even items that are normally considered for jewelry artists!  Think outside the box!
I hope these items inspire you to make something summery and get ready for the summer season!


The Artbeads.com products in this post were provided as a promotional gift by Artbeads.com, as part of their Design Partner & Blogging program.  I have been asked to review these products and give my honest opinion – good or bad.  My comments and opinions about these products are my honest, personal opinion and I have not been paid for any endorsement.


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in His Grace: Favorites Party

in His Grace: Favorites Party

Go check out this cool blog by a great mosaic artist.  She is having a Favorite Friday post and you can see faves from lots of other bloggers!
Here are a *few* of my favorite things:

My Rescued Turtles.
Some of these guys (and gals) are bought at pet stores as small little creatures, and people don’t realize they can grow to 14 inches long.  So i take them and put them in my ponds.
My dogs and my quilts are top of this list for sure!!!
Trooper wanted to be in the photo shoot also!
Great food with friends and family!
Actually, I love food so much that it is a fave even if I am alone! 🙂
My collection of Blythe Dolls.  So now some of you are pretty surprised!
Agility with my heart dog “Sailor”
Crochet, which at times is not a fave because it is a challenge for me 🙂  but keep on hooking!
How could i forget my cats?!?!! Especially the ones that are really impressed with their picture being taken, like Doodle below!
My garden (minus the million frogs that live in it!!)
And……my new adventures in jewelry creation, silversmithing and flame working!
Hope you enjoyed that!
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A Fellow Jewelry Artist

This morning I wanted to tell you about a jewelry artist who’s work I am totally in love with.
I met this artist thru the blogging, flickr and facebook, and we are thinking about doing a collaborative piece of jewelry together.
Here is one of Lorelei’s pieces that is in my *small* collection!
She is having a giveaway on her blog today, so head over there and check it out.
She is great at taking components from many different artists and putting them together to make one piece of jewelry.  Each piece is such a work of art.
She also makes some of her own components, and has started to do some resin pieces with her own artwork in the bezels.
Above is another piece that belongs to me!
Go check out her blog, enter the giveaway, and you may win some awesome pendants that she made.
From her blog you can go to her flickr and her etsy shop and see even more wonderful pieces of jewelry.
I promise you wont be disappointed!!!
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Donations :)

This week has been busy so far…..wrapping up work that I am donating to various fundraisers.
The “early bird” quilt above, “mermaid garden” and “bird watcher”, below are going to an art show in Nassau (the big city of the Bahamas), called “Art for Haiti”
A group of artists have come together to have this show, and each artist is donating a portion of their sales to help Haiti after the devastating earthquakes.

“bird watcher”

“mermaid garden”
I also had to paint two buoys for Friends of the Environment’s upcoming “Reef Ball” which takes place this coming Saturday.  Check out their website…..they do great things for our beautiful island of Abaco.
On Saturday night when a guest makes a donation they will be able to pick from a variety of buoys that have been painted, or decorated, by local artists.
A little “thank you” from Friends of the Environment!
The first one I did was with a mermaid that wrapped right around the buoy, and a saying on it “if fishes were wishes, all dreams would come true”
It’s hard to see the whole buoy in pictures, unless I posted about 5 pictures!
I originally wanted to mosaic one of the buoys, but this was taking longer than I anticipated, so I will have to finish that later on and share it in another post.
These buoys wash up on the beaches here, in the Bahamas, so this is recycled art.
Plus I love to collect them, so my husband was very happy that two would finally be leaving!
Of course I had to do one with owls 🙂
Both sides have an owl on it….this is my favorite.
Then there was the fundraiser for “Pathfinders” which is a local scholarship charity here in Abaco.  
This is a mixed media, framed quilt.  The artwork started out as a traditional quilt, then i embellished it with paint, and framed it in a driftwood frame which is embellished with smaller driftwood pieces and sea glass.

And I said in a previous post that I would post a picture of my completed journal cover.  I finally got the binding on it, with a button for the closure.
I had alot of fun doing this and I am sure there will be more of these in my sewing future.
Will be sharing lots of new work with you over the next few weeks.
My imagination is in high gear and I am producing new goodies everyday.
Happy creating….until the next post!
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An Owl of a Journal

I told you a few posts back how I have been sooooo inspired by birds and I thought it was time to let you see a project.
This is a journal cover I started a few weeks ago.
Had it all fused and ready to quilt and then lost my inspiration for that particular project, but found it today and got it all quilted.
The above picture is the back……sometimes I love the back more than the front.  It looks like a doodle.  Actually this will be the inside of the journal, not the back.
Took a picture to remember it since, when I put the sleeves in it, to hold the book in place, this doodle will be covered.


Here it is over the cover of the journal.  The book I am using for a journal is actually a very nice datebook that was given to me by my insurance company.
Since I already had a cool Kelly Rae Roberts datebook, and I couldn’t stand to throw away a book full of paper, I decided to make a journal or a notebook out of it.
Tonight or tomorrow I will add the sleeves to hold the book inside and the binding.  I will post a picture to show it to you as well as some photos of some more things birdy 🙂
I would like to stitch a catchy, maybe even corny, “owl” saying onto the front of this also…..anyone got any ideas?

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Sneak Peak at New Ideas

Yesterday was a busy day….painting, sewing, flameworking, beading…..scattered, but busy.  I had to find something to do while paint dried!  Eventually the puzzle pieces in the picture will become a piece of fun and funky artwork to hang in my booth for the Art for the Parks Show.
Are there other artists like me?……when you should be concentrating on a show there are other creative things calling your name, begging for you to work on them, when they have nothing to do with the upcoming show or order.
One of my new years resolutions was to learn how to knit.  I knew how to cast on, knit and pearl, so on Sunday my Mom showed me and a friend how to do the cable stitch.  It takes quite a bit of concentration, but I am pleased with my results.  Guess what?…..its going to be a scarf 🙂
I hope to post more snippets as they are created.
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Silver, Butterflies and Flowers for Christmas.

SO……one of my New Year’s resolutions is to post more to my blog…..really!!!
As usual, over the last month or so I have kept really busy.  One thing I have been doing is learning about metalsmithing, bezelling and jewelry.  Here is a picture of my second piece.  I am practising combining the silver with my flameworking to create some usual jewelry pieces in 2010.

I thought I would post my latest creation that a customer ordered as a Christmas gift for her niece.  I can only show a small part of it since it is a gift for Christmas and I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

Above is the palette of fabrics that I used , and below is the thread palette.
And here is a picture of a little piece of the quilt to let you see what it is all about.
The quilt has a light pink, pieced background with butterflies, ladybugs and fun flowers appliqued on.
I really hope they like it as much as I do!  I love it when my drawing and the final quilt turn out like the picture in my head.
Merry Christmas!!!!