HappyDayArt!

A MEME, some current work and a funny photo at the end.

I got tagged by my dear friend Marie Otero, while she was far away in Australia, to participate in her MEME.  So to stay on her good side I though I would.  I am going to go visit her in New York next week and leaving late Sunday night on a red eye flight.  Here goes:

I'm thinking...

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What is your current obsession?
 

altering my photos with the apps on my ipod touch  

Which item from your closet are you wearing most lately?
 

Some soft brown knit pants with hook and eye closure front 

What’s for dinner?
 

sushi  

What was the last thing you bought?
 

a paper mache cupcake box and 5 pairs of earrings in styles I don't make  

What are you listening to right now?
 

my son's alarm beeping, and beeping, and beeping

Favorite vacation spots?
 

London (really!)  New York (Yippee!) and Hawaii (at Christmas when the weather is perfect!) 

What are you reading right now?
 

Theo Ellsworth's book "Capacity" and a book I found at a white elephant sale called "The Spoken Word Revolution" (poetry). 

What four words would you use to describe yourself?
 

open minded and opinionated 

What is your current guilty pleasure?
 

being completely alone for a couple of hours a day 

What would you do if the internet was irreparably damaged and you had to find another way to connect? 

I'd get on the phone I guess. 

Where are you planning to travel next?
 

To New York on Sunday night, arriving bright and early Monday morning. 

What was the best thing you ate or drank recently?
 

Vueve Clicquot champagne  

What flower are you most anxious to see bloom this spring?
 

hmmm, I want to see Marie's peonies 

What are you most happy doing?
 

playing my new favorite song over and over and singing to it  

Care to share some wisdom?
 

If you are in a bad mood, tense or nervous, go towards something good. 

Rules of the meme: Respond and rework. Answer the questions on your own blog; replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention; add one more question of your own.  I am tagging Dneese, Lynn, Beth, Julie.

A new birdhouse necklace for another dear friend:

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Detail

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Calling on Springtime - the words "JOY" and "SUN are carved on the back of this pendant below.

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A mixture of silver and bronze:

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I went to the Northern California Bead Society show last weekend and met up with old friends and found some new ones.  Here is a beautiful pin I found made of ceramic and raku fired.  It was made by Gail Splaver who works mostly in ceramic and is also a bookmaker and print artist and teaches over at the SF Center for the Book.  Isn't it perfect?!

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She also made this face bead I just had to have.  I drew the picture around it because I was inspired.  Gail approves.

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Here is something I found that sounds nice. 

"Look as long as you can at the friend you love, no matter whether that friend is moving away from you or coming back toward you."  - rumi

Where am I? What happened and what's next?

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This year's Artfest bag.  It is one of my favorites ever!

Here is what it looked like outside my bedroom window.  The colors!

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Same window, other direction.

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First day I taught a class called "Frameworks" and we made small picture frame pendants with silver precious metal clay.  Here are some of the students' unfired work in progress.

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Sorry, when I took the photos, the people who made them weren't standing next to them and with 18 students in each class, I was not prepared to keep track.  But these pieces were made by mostly beginners in this medium and I was so pleased, impressed and moved by their understanding and ability.  

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Mary Kirkou-Cameron (below)

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and this is what the previous photo's pieces looked like stacked on a chain in two layers.  Gorgeous!

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Here is Amy Hanna's frame ready to fire.

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Vicki Lum's frame is so pretty!

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What the kiln looked like when the firing was done and before we took the little ceramic disk out.  See the red glow?  It's HOT!

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Below, this frame on the left was Pam Garrison's.  Just wait till you see all of these frames finished!  No fair peeking...

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Fired but there's still work to do on it.

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Picture frames - FRONT

Click on the photo below to see the larger view.  These are amazing!  I'll tell you when I was starting out, I made nothing like this.  I call those "the primitive years" but that's another story...

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BACK (mostly)

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Day 2 - WOW!  "Precious PMC Collage"

I had 18 students again and everyone was so excited to work.  Some people got extra clay and we had so many pieces that we filled the warming tray twice.  Ooops!  I thought this was going to be the easy day!  We did manage to fire everything, BUT

... someone turned up two of the ultralite beehive kilns on the third firing of each kiln.  I know it wasn't me because I wouldn't do that.  The bottom layer on each disk melted to the disk and we lost those pieces.   

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Oh, the kiln, the fire alarm, the fireman, and the rest!  I wish that person wouldn't have done that, and luckily we were almost done and that is all we lost.  I understand maybe someone thought "higher temp... faster firing", but it wasn't so.  Because of the fiber blanket and the many layers, the heat went so high on that lower layer that the pieces melted.  I don't blame you for not admitting you did it.  That is a hard lesson to learn but I'll bet if any of those people get one of those kilns they won't make that mistake... and next time I won't let so many pieces get fired.  I was in class for an extra hour and I had to really hustle to set up my vendor table.  Still I had so much fun with my students.  It was a fast paced class and we got so much done!

Vendor Night

I shared a table with my dear friend Ruth Rae.  (Go here for photos.  SHE took lots of photos)  OF COURSE she got there before me. She did do a really nice job of fixing it up though. Thanks Ruth.  

I had made these earrings for Jean Wade because she bought one of my birdhouses last year (just in case she might need them). She did need them!   

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Here is another pair I made with hummingbirds.  I sculpted a hummingbird and had it cast in sterling silver.  I am going to put these in my etsy shop later today.  I am trying to get caught up, but it is slow going.

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Leslie Hale.  Shhhh, don't tell Pam ("that I got a monkey pendant too!).  I met Leslie at "Play" a couple of months ago and she is really cute AND fun!

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The next day I took a class from Ruth Rae and I got to sit next to my friend Martha. What a fun day!  I didn't finish my project in class.  There were so many things to learn and people to talk to.  So when I got home I finished it and it looks pretty good even if I do say it myself.

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And no Artfest is complete for me without Frendl, who jumped up into my lap while I was sitting on the bench outside the commons.  I think she likes me.

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Whew!  And it was over just like that.

So I planned a night over in Seattle so I could pack up my things and ship them home on Monday.  Sunday night I took a walk and saw this.  

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I love taking pictures of graffiti, ever since I took that class with Lisa Engelbrecht a few years ago at Artfest.

Here is something I saw in a cool clothing store window downtown the next day and I took about 30 pictures of all the glass gems hanging in that window from all angles. It was about 7 am and I had to pay my parking fee because Sunday, when you can park for free, was over.  Only a few people saw me snapping away.

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When I got home, all the things I had put off and ignored were still there for me to take care of, not to mention a husband, 2 teenage kids and 3 dogs.  Oh dear!  Luckily it was 10:30 PM and I could go get in bed and not have to do anything that night.

Oh, one of my plants died.  I forgot to tell them to water it.  The house was quite messy.  Dust and fur was all around.  I am half unpacked but there is more to go.

But what was waiting for me was this:

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It is the latest and greatest book out on the subject!  

My page!

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I always, ALWAYS, ever since I can remember, after I started getting good at this metalclay medium wanted to be on THE PAGE with all these other artists.  Hmmm, I wonder what else I can come up with that is that specific to want.  I am sure to get it if I can imagine it.

What do you want?

What do you think?

Questions worth asking yourself and then seeing if you can come up with the energy to go and get them.

More bronze clay madness!

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All these pieces have been touched by a torch for the colorful patina that I like.  The last piece in this photo is Martha's copper heart cutout from Ruth's class.  We traded cutouts and I stamped mine with the word "HARMONY."

and more bronze clay pieces (click for larger view):

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The first one (above) was just polished with a fiber wheel and my flexshaft, the second one was also tumbled in steel shot and the rest were polished with the wheel and then I added the torch patina and polished off the high spots with a little fine grit sandpaper.

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A bronze clay rose and leaf pendant.  I just strung it this way to show you the way it looks.  I don't know that I will leave it this way.  Aren't the colors pretty?

And last, a tribute to my friend Lora Hart who has made some earrings similar to this, my version with half circles in bronze with sterling wire.  I love them!

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Me, tired but happy and satisfied with life.

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The stencil stamp version:

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Ooooh, oooh!  What else can I think of?  Plenty.  I am going to go do some of it now.

I'm off in 10 minutes!

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I'll be back from ARTFEST on Tuesday.  If you need anything, I'll get back to you on the 8th.