In tune ...

..........trying to get a lot done today and insisted to myself I would blog. The morning is half over and I'm off to get Rocket's nails trimmed. The rest of the day is studio time. I'm doing some pendants for the Casa auction, my older grandaughter's school and just designing new pieces. I will be up there for the next 8 hours no matter the time.

Picture of my baby grandchild. 8 months. She is funny and quite a character.

Well, Keith Olbermann is gone from MSNBC. I now have no one really interesting to watch and am very dismayed. I will watch some of O'Donnell and Maddow, but it will not be the same.

I am leaving Sunday for a week of intensive bronze, copper and silver work in Mexico with a wonderful artist, Hadar Jacobson. She is from Berkeley and is phenomenal. I am anxious...travel does that to me sometimes...but thrilled for this chance to learn something from someone so good.

I will miss my grandgirlies...a lot. They truly are the lights of my entire life.

Snowed in for days!

It has been a funny funny week. All white and bright out with streets as slick as northern neighborhood ponds. You would think that after 5 days it would be melted in Georgia, it always has been in the past but here we are walking to everything and being very friendly

with all who live close.

I would think that all of the things I really need to work on, like my dollhouse blog (didn't know about that one, did you? http://onetoonetennyson.blogspot.com/ ) my Sketchbook Project sketchbook, which MUST be in the mail in two days, and then, properly preparing for the workshop I'm taking in Mexico in 10 days, would have been perfect to fill these days. No, not quite, because for some reason I am learning to knit. Now, I did not look for this new art, my granddaughter, Josie, taught me to knit 2 weeks ago and I just happened to have 5 sets of knitting needles that were stashed away for the last 10 years or so and some yarn. You would not believe the amount of instruction you can find online AND it is so easy to order those darn books....gorgeous knitting books, most by Nicky Epstein, from Amazon. They show up in the mail sometimes the next day(except when you're snowed in). Anyway I now have this(check out my knitting photo!)....and I am so happy.

January ...Epiphany

Today would have been my mother's 92nd birthday. reading about January 6th today and the Epiphany and all it used to stand for made me think perhaps my mother's short time on earth was like that of an angel. An angel with some problems but here to leave the importance of tiny things in the minds of her children. Every bird, every plant, every little animal, all I know about them I can attribute to her.......and the way pansies smell...all these things. Happy Birthday Mom...I miss you so.

I did finish a small piece. Just an idea of what may come. These polymer pieces are made by Terri Stone at TLSClay Design on Etsy. They are beautiful and I hope to use them more and more in mixed media necklaces. In this one I did misjudge the frame and to my chagrin had to shave down the polymer but I think the next one will be right. It is still beautiful, even with only the center showing. The frame and bail are fine silver, hand carved and finished.

Happy New Year to all. I hope this is a good one.

another month....December already

It has been a long time. I can't seem to get my joy back up enough to blog. My mind is overoccupied and I'm learning new things about life and myself so bear with me. I have been working some and painting and glass work are in my head also. I think I have too much going on and I want to do so much in the years I have left on this earth. There is never enough time.

A new piece that I really like, front and back.

Making sweaters for my pup and wanting to learn to felt! I cannot fit it all in....depressing....but exhilarating!

Christmas is coming too.

migraine...

is it the heat or is it because I ate sugar today? I feel blurry all over.

having determination.......

Reading Kathleen Dustin's blog this morning and coming away with renewed hope that if I keep working at all the various things I do they will all come together and actually be something that I am completely happy with. Of course her talent is bigger than life and what she does so innovative and daring in ways that amaze over and over again. Her work is stunning. here is one of her purses. All in polymer.

..... Working today but I continue to want my new grandchild here so I can just sit and stare at her. She is so cute...and already funny!

hmmm.... and Happy Birthday honey!

No healthy breakfast drink today...just had many cups of green tea instead. Tomorrow maybe.

Got to babysit a little today ...Vivi slept the entire time! Now upstair to my studio...and start packing a box to go to Colorado....leaving Tuesday.

Today is my husband's birthday...I wish him everything he most desires and many more years. Our days are full and happy!

This is a sweet photo of him.

out of kale...

Almost 11 at night and I'm thinking it's time to get back to the green drink in the morning. I have no kale but maybe celery and basil , blueberries and protein powder in some coconut water. Now, that is an interesting thing....the coconut water. It is really coconut milk, is very very good for you and since I have eliminated all dairy milk from my house, a nice alternative to almond milk. I have a few other things and will post a picture of my drink tomorrow.

My lunch these days consists of fresh wonderful tomatoes with turmeric and ground pepper and some salt. Delicious! I feel very very healthy...and weigh what I did 20 years ago. Also Barleans omega swirl fish oil is so full of lemon flavor that you actually want to take it every day.

recovering...

Always hard to recover from the weekend.

Today is a studio day and if I ever get it just a little neater and more organized I will be able to go in there and work without fear! Lately I am spending more time going through things and cleaning out than working...that is not good.

Full moon last night and while looking at the sky I remembered the way the sunsets looked when I lived in a high rise. Many people don't realize how beautiful the sky is at dusk in Atlanta..I think you have to be up high or on a lake to see it.

saturday am...

Saturday morning ..farmer's market... ..reading on the front porch with rocket sitting in the grass and iced green tea....quick nap on the couch...three cups of espresso.......all befor 11 am.

This neighborhood feels like a vacation all the time. I feel so lucky every time I drive onto my street. This summer has been very hot but especially full of birds and little critters. I can't think of a more perfect place to have grandchildren be a part of. A short walk to Phipps Plaza, Starbucks, movies, and so much else. Thank you to the powers that be.

Corners...

In a desire to remember to take photographs on a daily basis and to get myself to make a new contraption for ttvs I walked out my front door to just take some quick shots in the confines of 30 seconds from my door. These are neighborhood little corners..

Trying to make myself notice more...the way we did when we were 7.

movies....

I forgot to mention that Tuesday was our anniversary and rather than let the day slide by I requested going to see I am Love with Tilda Swinton. It was somewhat like an opera and very very beautiful. A big change though from the last movie I saw, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which I loved almost as much as the book. All three books are way up there on my list of favorites and I managed to get the transparency movie poster on eBay from England also. These Larson books speak volumes about how strong women have to be. Lizbeth Salander is not a simple character and the author did a superb job of letting us inside her mind without letting us know every single thing. I'm a little obsessed by these. Isn't the poster great!? It's 40 by 30, i think...too lazy to go downstairs and measure.

One of my bird cottage necklaces......

Ships and sails and flowers....

Discovered Ann Wood this week and her gift to everyone of a tutorial on making one of her ships. They are quite spectacular and I am in awe of every single one. Someday I will have one. In the meantime it has given me an idea about my back porch in Colorado where I usually hang a huge basket of lobelia or petunias for the summer. I'm not there this year and looking at the translucency of her ships and sails I thought that for the two weeks that I am out there I will hang a sail. I have actually started working on one. My fabric swatches will have a wonderful use and if it doesn't look great I can make a strip of frayed banners instead. There will be no hanging baskets available in August...it'll almost be fall there!

This is how it usually looks. I think lovely banners or a sail type piece of fabric will do, and maybe inspire!

A year later...and no time to waste.

It has been almost a year, perhaps not the most productive year of my life but changes in my family and good feelings abound. I can't quite get my head around my age but I'm working on that and I kind of feel like this picture of Josie looks."queenly".

i have been making simple structures and have been happy with them. That is very good.

Ridgway Colorado......

I am here in Colorado for the next 2 1/2 months. It is a blessing to have this special place and as much as I know that, I still have trouble being away from my girls. Two daughters and one grandchild....each amazing in their own way.

I try to take this time to work and it always takes me a couple weeks to settle in. Now that my kiln seems to be working I will get going. I wish I had brought my polymer things with me since my oven always works! I could have fit a few other things in since we drove. I wonder why I brought the Tupelo honey???? .... there is wonderful honey here. Things like that make me shake my head in disbelief at myself.

just plain annoyed at myself ........

Under the best of circumstances kilns are the workhorse of my kind of creativity. When things go wrong, all you can do is start over and think of all the work you did as practice.

With 4 sculpted and refined silver clay pieces ready to go, I made the mistake of not test firing after traveling with my kiln. We cannot actually figure out what happened...perhaps a wire came loose, but it seems fine now. Of course the 4 pieces are blobs of CZ's and vermiculite and fine silver. Paragon and Laura Miller, one of their gurus, and Arnold, himself, were immediately helpful. They had me test and open and check. Thanks to them, I still have confidence in my SC2. I don't believe I would have received this kind of attention from ANYONE other than Don Mckinney, who personally, by hand, made my bead kiln. Thank you!

It was very strange because I had a brief feeling to only fire one piece....and I even thought to do a test fire....but I did not follow my instincts. That is very unwise.

This is what one piece would have been similar to. Too bad for me! Plus everything else was new and different. Practice. Another big thank you to Paragon!

preparation .....

I like this theme so far. In fact I love this theme. Smooth untextured areas with something added. I used no patina on this, and have not decided whether to keep it or not ..and the way to keep it is an entirely different story. Several choices there. Size is 1 3/4 x 3/4 inch.

The world is still in an uproar and it feels a little strange. Perhaps I need to get out a little more. Of course, I say that and tomorrow I will be out all day and all evening so I will be so ready for my studio on Thursday. Girls night...going to Stevie Wonder...and dinner. I am actually going to a painting group tomorrow morning also so ... new things! Taking my pastels instead of watercolor.

Differences.....

Trying to work and keep abreast of the news.

Very sad that so many people seem to believe the Iranians are not like us. Only some of us have empathy in this situation. I feel so frightened for the people who have spirit enough to fight for their rights.

Even my dreams are restless and full of frustration.

working ...

I am taking a break to jot a few things down and show what I made for my friend Jeannie's  birthday. Our birthdays are the same and I am lucky it makes it easy to remember. Actually, I'm just very lucky she is such a close friend. You know, a special person. 

I did get this idea from a project in a book and although I feel very iffy about constructing other's ideas I also know that until I put my own spin on this I would not sell them and I always say they are Sherri Haab's design. The artichoke is special to us because I am not only set back in time to my family making the most incredible Italian style artichokes but I was privileged to be included when Jeannie's  father in law made the most delicious ones many years ago, at a very special get together that was so much fun. I wish for everyone that they have a friend that is always there and makes them laugh. We laugh when we hear each other's voice on the phone. How great is that!   I think she will be thrilled by this little gift. 

I am constantly ordering more metal clay so I finally ordered two large packages and hope it lasts for a while. I love this process still and I am making beads again and incorporating them into my work so I am busy and happy.