She likes it!

I made this necklace for my pal Kim Nickens. As you can see it's a bit odd,and peculiar too, for that matter.You can't tell from the photo but the bezel is a shotgun shell, and behind the laborodite stone is text from an old book. I wasn't sure how she'd feel about it. But as it turns out she digs it! It was one of those pieces that makes itself and it wanted to look just like it does. You just shouldn't get in the way of the process when it goes like that.
Tonight is art show night and promises to be good at least in the snack department. So stay tuned for the next review.

another art show review

This week the gallery show night had to be brief as my art show partner had another engagement at 6PM, so we had to have laser like precision in our choices. First we zipped back to the Gold leaf to actually see the art. It was so crowded at the opening no one actually viewed the pieces.It was fun, including a little chat it up with one of the artists about her pieces. Of course her name got lost in the bowels of my sieve like mind. I was rather whiny that night.... I really wanted to see big expressive paintings, lots of color and emotion. This (photo above) was in the paper, and it looked like it might fit the bill. So off to the Vantana Fine Art gallery. This painting and several like it by John Axton were there, but to my surprise and disappointment these were about 5" X 7"!! sheesh. Nice enough, but they would have been way more fun on a huge canvas. Margaret theorizes that it's because people aren't parting with big canvas cash these days. The art in general was again nice enough, but nothing that really grabbed me. Tucked around a corner they were serving refreshments. Holy Buckets! Pay Dirt!!! Shrimp and coctail sauce, crustini with artichoke spread, procutto wrapped cheese, skewers of fresh veggies, plus wine and fizzy water. Now the art is looking much better to me...
Smartly I decided to deal with the refreshments in 2 stages. Food first, then go back for a drink. That way I have one hand free! Oh so clever... however, stupidly, I brought in my large but incredibly attractive purse. While standing and popping a large shrimp into my mouth, my purse goes swinging off my shoulder. Somehow just in the nick of time I saved myself from being the lifetime achievement winner of the BAD MARIE award for destruction in a retail establishment. My purse was headed straight for an expensive sculpture!!
I've now decided that the more attractive the purse, the more difficult it is to control. No more purse on friday night....

finally

I finally got something in the etsy shop! (see the button on the right side of the blog and it will take you there). It was a huge deal for me to figure out, sheesh. My reputation as the world's worst photographer is not in jeopardy by any stretch of the imagination. Too bad too, since these earrings are really cool. In real life they twist and turn in the light and are so summery and fun.
anyhoo...
In my day job work a day life, I had the annual employee performance review meeting with the assistant manager of rehab services at the hospital. I have to admit my mind wasn't there. I was drifting in and out of consciousness throughout the thing. We got to the usual question which is "what are your goals this year?" I was instantly thinking about the various art and jewelry projects I wanted to get done, the look of my blog and etsy shop,and on and on along those lines. I must have looked confused because he then said "you know, your career objectives, continuing professional enhancement course work..." Oh yeah, my job....frankly I'm so over it.... the big reward in my job is given by management to the people who fill forms out correctly and completely, not the one who helps patients get better. (ok I've said it and I'm glad...)I did come up with some sort of an answer....
anyway, I hope you visit the shop, and I hope I can keep making stuff.


I made the copper "bead" out of a penny

why does art have to be so heavy?

A little warning here.... This is what my mind has been like since returning from Seattle. Sheesh, I don't know what's going on, although I'm blaming allergies and/or menopause. The scrub pines here are putting out clouds of caustic yellow pollen that is permeating the atmosphere. Since the wind is blowing a constant gale it can't help but clog the synapses. Anyhoo...

This is some of the stuff I packed home from my trip...No wonder that suitcase was so heavy, not to mention smelly.
I went to a GREAT art opening Friday night. Here's the deal on it. In this town whenever money needs to be raised, fund raisers go to the art community and ask for donations, and hold an auction. This has been a very successful way to gather funds for worthy causes. The artist gets no dough, but of course a little free publicity and glam. With the economy like it is right now the artists are not exactly raking it in. When people cut back, paintings and sculpture go to a lower place on the priority list. The artists here have become the needy cause!So, the Goldleaf gallery is having a show of about 40 artists and ALL the proceeds go directly to the artist.(the gallery is not taking a cut.) It's like a benefit for the artists! There are some real art stars represented here, so to have them all together in one place makes for a stupendous show. (Sam Scott, Paul Shapiro, Carol Mothner, Geraldine Fiskus, and the list goes on) The party was packed with people parked blocks away and standing room only as it were. Any locals reading this, the show hangs for a month, so get over there and see the work. It's worth the effort and the parking will be a snap now. Sorry you missed the scene, it was really fun!

actual art from artfest

I made this necklace in my Nina Bagley class. It has some issues in the structural stability dept, but as I look at it I think I know how to fix it. I'll show you how that turns out. Nina gives a dang good demo I have to say. The idea of the class was to make a necklace out of spare bits and things we found during the time at artfest. Some people brought a lot of stuff from home, but I chose to take the class description seriously and used stuff I found on the beach and some odd bits of chain. I think it turned out kind of cool, don't you?

More tales of Artfest week

On our way up to Artfest, we stopped into a little antique store in Pulsbo. While looking at all the delicate (and breakable) chochskis Vanessa lost control of her quite uncharacteristically attractive purse (She has been known for carrying the ugliest abomination of a pocketbook in the past) and a glass trophy of some sort came crashing to the ground....The shopkeeper came over and carefully gathered up all the shards in a little dust pan, and began to wrap them up as you know... you break it you buy it. Luckily it was only about $5. It was not 5 minutes later that somehow, and we're not even sure what exactly happened here, but Judy knocked over the rat ugliest pair of bookends you've ever in your life seen. Again here comes the shopkeeper with her little dust pan... She wrapped both of these broken items up like they were treasures to carefully pack in our carry on luggage. As those two were coughing up their cash she asked casually "Do you ladies shop together often?"Thankfully no" we replied. Anyhoo, the above photo is an assemblage of the two broken treasures henceforth known as "the Bad Marie Award". It has a slight resemblance to my cat, Bad Marie. It is given to the most blunderheaded of the bunch, which as it turns out is a tough decision.

I showed the actual Bad Marie the photo of the award. She was not amused.

back from artfest

As usual Artfest was so fun. I laughed non-stop. One of my friends here at home noted that the people I know from artfest only know the part of me that makes art, not the work a day home health care worker... I'd never thought of it like that, and it makes me think, maybe that's why I'm so comfortable there. anyhoo, I'm short on logic and coherent thought right now. I think it may be due to breakfast withdrawl....
Every day there was a perky young guy handing me a plate with suasage, eggs, potatoes, and bacon. A person gets rather used to this.... Hopefully my mind will come back tomorrow and I'll tell more...