A Day in My Studio

aspen drying

peeling bark 

designing a figure

rough forms cut out on the band saw

sweeping up

Before it Gets Really Hot...

Last week I decided to dive in and complete a task I've been um...putting off... building a new website. Happily I can now scratch that project off the list of things to do before our  desert summer begins. When the temperature rises over 107 my little grey cells slow way, way (and did I say way?) down! To build the new site I used an online company that caters to artists, designers, and photographers. They have some basic templates to work from, handle the hosting and will even acquire a domain name for you  if you don't have one. They have reasonable prices and good tech support too. If anyone out there has been thinking of making a website have a look at  www.bigblackbag.com  Take a peek at my new website too!

It was so nice to get back to my work table this week! Just finished these two angels yesterday.

Lost and Found Angel with Green Vine Crown

Lost and Found Angel with Cloud Crown

Next on my list are two summer art festivals. La Jolla Festival of the Arts, June 23-24 and Bellevue Arts Museum Art Fair, July 27-29. It will be nice to escape to cooler climates over the summer. Maybe the ocean air will re-activate some of my poky little grey cells!

My Accidental Garden

Its a glorious spring here in the desert. The bees are rolling round in the cactus flowers gathering pollen. They look thoroughly intoxicated. The backyard garden has finished with early lupine and poppy blooms and we're on to firewheels, hollyhocks and a few iris. I like to call it an accidental garden but there is some planting and tending involved. A lot depends on the timing and quantity of fall and winter rains. I planted some seeds gathered from last season's plants and some re-seeded on their own.

Every morning I go outside first thing to see whats newly bloomed and watch the birds and insects do their dance. Sometimes the antics of all the life in my garden makes me laugh out loud. It seems there are epic stories, goofy soap operas and complex relationships taking place under the soil and between the flowers. What are those ants doing underground anyway? They seem so organized!

Whatever is happening each morning in the garden provides me with fodder for my day in the studio. Every evening I come home and check to see if something new has bloomed.

The Blossom Sisters

Secret Garden Talisman #4

Pasos Benditos ~ Blessed Steps

Pasos Benditos/Blessed Steps

The title for this piece, Pasos Benditos in Spanish or Blessed Steps in English, is taken from the practice in many spiritual traditions of doing a walk as an offering or a form of spiritual renewal. It may be a contemplative walk through a garden or a dedicated pilgrimage that lasts for days. Sometimes it is a walk through a labyrinth. The experience of walking becomes a meditation and each step is a tiny prayer.

Persephone's Tale

Persephone's Tale

Persephone's Tale is from a series called The Secret Garden. In ancient Greek mythology Persephone was the Greek goddess of spring. Hades the god of the underworld fell in love with her and lured her to the underworld to be his wife. Her mother the goddess Demeter (mother of the Earth) missed her so much that she stopped tending to the plants and animals and the earth began to die. As the story goes each year Persephone returns from the underworld to visit her mother and bring us spring but because Hades tricked her into eating pomegranate seeds, a food of the underworld, she must return to him each year after the autumn harvest. The found objects I use in the Secret Garden Series are old, worn and maybe a little rusty on the outside. They've seen some wear, have a few chips and dings. With a little love and attention something wild and wonderful grows out from their ruins! 

This piece is made with a vintage broken clock part purchased from the fabulous Etsy shop Anela and El Diablo  The rest of the piece is made with carved aspen that is delicately painted with acrylic and metal leaf

Size: 9"L x 3.5"w x 2.5"d

Persephone's Tale

On the table this week...

Bunny Sprout

Bunny Sprout

When the bunnies come out the flowers will bloom!