Queen of Arts Revisited Show

 What a beautiful day for an art show!! It was so nice to see everyone, though I am sure I missed a lot of people. I never made it out of my hidey hole to venture much farther than the kitchen to grab taquitos! I am pleased with the turn out and feel it will be even better next year! Too bad we cannot reserve the great weather.

I have posted most of my work to Etsy so go check it out if you missed any of the shows.  I just re-started work on my paper mache work. Here are some birds I have just gesso-ed. I am still not sure how I want to paint them. Come back for updates.

Well...vacation is over and it is back to the 9-5 job tomorrow. Sigh.

Screen Mural is Done!!!

 Finally finished the screen mural I have been working on for ever! All it needed was the trees and cows finished and just those last details took months to get to to finish. All I deed to do is seal it and touch up the red on the back. Always makes me want to keep painting and painting!!! Wish I had the free time and inspiration at the same time all the time :)

It was my sister's birthday last Friday, and I wanted to make her something super special! This is a pendant with the constellation Scorpio. Awesome coincidence that she was having something done with the same stars! I am so glad she liked it. I sure miss her!

A Bit of Art Therapy

 November 12th was a Sketch Day and we sketched the blue windmill.

 There was only a couple of us this time, but it was real nice. It was even kind of warm after cold and rain had been predicted. I was not super thrilled with my sketches, but what artist ever is ;)   It was sure a nice change after all the stress from the art show.

 Went to the Zoo the next day and actually found time for more sketching. The weather there was also very nice and I love the light effects from the ever changing sky. I got a quick picture of some birds bathing in that light. It was the elephants that I was able to sketch. I just happened to have my Noodler Flex fountain pen with me which lends very nice to their wrinkly skin.

 I only wish I could turn this photo of the sketch.

 Madison did some artistic re-designing of my necklaces. She is such a helper.

Queen of Arts Show Number One is Over

 Here are a few highlights of some of the new necklaces I made for the holidays. This is a large set turquoise stone with faceted garnets on the necklace. I really enjoyed matching up all the colors. Now I am working on photographing them to add to my Etsy shop. So far I added 2, but I am not happy with the lighting. I really need to take the shots during the day. Maybe I will work on that tomorrow.

Here is our next show for any of you who missed out! Sure hope to see you there!

 Here are some blurry photos of my spot I had at the Queen of Arts show at the Elverhoj Museum last weekend. I think my camera is dying. Maybe I will be getting myself a new Christmas gift: a new camera.

I sure had fun at the show! I only wish I had more time to mingle a bit. It was fun to have my daughter by my side though. Hope to see everyone soon! Oh, and I am hoping to get my mural screen finished so you must all come and oogle it!

Still Nothing Done

 Decisions decisions. So many different combinations. Hard to predict what will look best with what.

I started some stacking rings. Not sure if those will be done in time. I have so many pieces so close to done, but nothing IS done. This is causing me so much anxiety. All my bezels need to be trimmed down, wires bent for bracelets, a ton of sanding and finishing, then there is assembling it all...ugh!

  I am really liking some of these color combinations. About 10 necklaces, 6 bracelets and a dozen or so earrings are pretty close to assembly time, but the rings and some other necklaces are boarder line as far as if I will be able to finish.

Any feed back would be a big help. I am fried and off to bed. Crossing fingers for some nice progress this weekend.

Another Jammed Packed Weekend

 I got my 4 hours in the Jewelry studio! Yay me! So far I only have a couple noticeable mistakes ( I am sure I will find more in the finishing process). I think I am liking the new designs. I am not sure many people can see through their roughness, but these are sterling silver. This is what silver looks like when you torch it till it almost melts. Always happy to see I have not lost my touch.


 

 Here they are all chemically cleaned then I dipped them all in Black Max liver of sulphur to make them totally black. I will next adjust the bezel height to match the stone height then bring back the silver color and therefore give them a very rustic look. I now nee to choose the necklace designs. I need to decide what stone,if any will be on the chain and what clasp works best etc...All that fine tuning and final design decisions. Still SSSssssoooooo much to do!!

Baby had a great weekend, I think ;) We played in Solvang and went to Boo at the Zoo. She is such a pretty princess!

What a beautiful and full day! Started my day with the Valley Sketchers at Summerset Farms in Santa Ynez. Such a great feeling there. The birds were singing, there was a small breeze and the heat wave had finally let up a bit.

 The warm Fall colors were everywhere! A very inspiring spot! Pumpkins make great subject matter. The farm is great. There is just enough shade to be very comfortable. It was great to see all the sketchers there and some very nice work! I had some left over bristol paper from making some ATCs for Halloween, so I cut up the paper and did one of my sketches on them. It is a close up done with my Noodler flex pen (I still love the pen). I think I want to add color with some caron d'ache, but I am out of time right now.

 The Summerset Farm is so warm and inviting. I would recomend it for a great place to sketch or pick some berries.The people there are so nice! I love all the rustic touches and old farm equipment. My Dad would have had some fun.

 I did this sketch last in my moleskine. I did a quick sketch at the farm with my brown pitt pen, then colored it with Copic markers at home.

The strawberries we picked were small, but beautiful. It is so fun to be out there with my daughter and Joe, walking along picking wild lookeing berries right off the bush and eating them. It was a super special fantabulous day!!

Stuff!

 I actually was able to work in the jewelry studio (AKA my parent's garage) for 4 solid hour on Sat. Wow!! Thank you Mom, Dad and Joe for making baby so happy while I toiled away. It felt very good to get so much done. I will need to do that one or more times before the show Nov 4th. AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

 It had been a real long time since I had picked up the old torch, so I was very pleased when all the bezels seemed to come together so well and so fast.

 Got all my pieces stamped and flat. Now I need to sand down and trim the bezels, make all the balls of silver and balled up wire, and make some decisions on final designs.

This one will be for me! Gotta give me some new sparklies too. Its blue Laradorite. Love the color! I have so much to do at home and at work...I am so stressed!

 It did not help my stress any to have a big utility truck cut me off and take my side mirror with him. I was very shook up, but so glad that it was just the mirror. The rest of the car is spotless. I am now in a rental. I got a little SUV Santa Fe thing. I think I am upgrading it to a BMW tomorrow. I will get pics if that is the case.

The rain has cleared and the drive home has been gorgeous. Time to take some deep breaths and recheck my to do lists to make sure I do not leave myself short when it comes to finishing these pieces of jewelry. It would be super lame if I have done all this work only to be unfinished by the deadline....ugh!! Stress stress stress!