Crystals in the woods......

I went to the Gift Show with my daughters and while swept away with inspiration, I ordered many long crystal garlands.....
not having any idea what I would do with them, and at the time, it didn't seem to matter.

Well, they finally arrived....and I questioned why in the world I had ordered these.... and I put them off in a corner for days.
And then it hit me!
They would be perfect hanging from the oak tree branches, down the hill behind our cottage!

And perfect they are!
Particularly as the late afternoon sun dances and plays around the crystal dangles.
This has been a great reminder to me to trust my inspirations....and allow them to lead me where they may.

Pig Turd Alley.....

Come walk with me in Maggie's garden......
string beans and tomatoes so warm from the sun...oh, so yummy!
Zinnias, nastursians, sunflowers, and chickens demand to be shared with you.....Enjoy!

Kenley Novelle and her sisters....

The energy is building......

The energy is beginning to build for my online class on Pandora and the Seven Sins.

I love this part....the anticipation....the gathering of supplies...the free flying of vision and inspiration before the creating begins.

We have a great forum set up, online, where participants post photos and/or ask questions and I...or anyone in the class...can respond.  

So far there's been a discussion between New Zealand, California and England.  

Isn't that just amazing!.....it's like we have entered a magical world where one gains access through one's fingertips, on the transportation of the internet....a world where time and space have lost their meaning.    A world where we are friends and neighbors, even though we are physically so far apart.  We are connected by the love of creating and a vision that moves us.

And I've just packed up Pandora and her Seven Sins to ship her off to the magazine, Art Doll Quarterly to photograph for an article on the creating of her, and what online teaching is like.

So this is a special class that will also be written up in a great magazine.

The class begins on September 20th, so there's still plenty of time to sign up if you are interested.   The more, the merrier.....as the saying goes!

Little hands, the art of possibility and the Democratic Convention

Bella and Presley love to get their fingers into clay......

Don't you love the little chubby hands of children ?  

Contained in the shape of their fingers is the experience of innocence, trust, wonderment, softness, sweetness, discovery, and oh, yes....most of all...there is the innate energy of possibility. 

So I looked up the definition of possibility...

The power of happening, being, or existing.

Oh, I love that!  Nothing is more powerful than the possibility of being, of existing.

The power of a seed...the possibility of the tiny acorn becoming a giant oak tree. 

Within possibility lies inspiration.... hope and belief in the future.

Tonite the Democratic Convention begins....

A grandmother's indulgence.....

Please forgive a grandmother's indulgence.
I just had to share the beauty of these ladies.
It was a full week, with no time for art, except for children's projects. The two grandchildren who live in southern Calif. came up north for their week's summer stay with us, and to see their new cousin, Kenley.
May I introduce you to...Kenley 8 days old, Presley 4 yr., Aidan 14 yr., Blaize 10 yr., Kobain 7 yr.,
Bella 6 yr. and little Ava, 5 yr. old. Aren't they all just amazing works of art!

Wired Whimsies.....

I've been working more on my wired whimsey pieces.....These two are now complete and are now dancing on ribbons, blowing in the breeze. 

I've embellished with bits of antique lace and trim and touches of gold paint. 

I'm thinking of selling these on etsy.....

hmmm, do you think there is someone who would like one dancing in their own breeze?

creating a wire figure.......

I've been playing with some wire and paper and paverpol......making some hanging dancing figures.
Here are some first steps. Bending the wire, gluing the paper ( pages and pictures for the faces ripped from an old French dictionary and some old sheet music....) and then covering the paper with paverpol.
Tomorrow I will apply a crackle glaze and some paint and see where else this piece leads me.
I love the lightness of these pieces and the way they blow in the wind as if dancing.
I hung them on the morning glory vine to dry.

#7 A master creation....

On August 15th at 2:13 PM, we welcomed Kenley Novelle into our world, into our family and into our arms.
She is our 7th granddaughter. Ahhhh.....life is good.
I loved the photo of the universe on the day that she was born....I think of her as a shooting star, falling into our arms.

Ahhh.....Hope!

Ahhh...Hope...
As I made more and more of the Sins, I found myself thinking more and more about Hope.
Wondering why Hope was left inside...and deciding that it must mean that Hope was always within us.
I started to think about what my little Hope piece would look like, and I decided that it would be the same little Hoonie figure...
with a kind smile...and maybe some wings.
Well....I started sculpting Hope and it just wouldn't flow like the other ones had done. The eyes wouldn't work right...I kept messing up 
what I sculpted...I got more tense and frustrated.  I kept going and finally got the beginning stages photographed and got the piece into the oven for the first bake.  And then I stopped and took a deep breath and realized that Hope wasn't just another Hoonie character with wings.  
It wasn't working for a reason....this piece was not to be another of the same characters.
No...Hope, to me, was a tiny newborn baby. That little bundle of innocence with a whole future to live out.
Hope was going to be what we all started as....innocence.
That felt just right to me, particularly because our 7th grandbaby...our 7th granddaughter is due to be born in just a days.
She is Hope to me. She is my inspiration for Hope and she will be the final sweet touch to "Pandora and the Seven Sins"
And as it worked out, without my planning for it, Hope fits perfectly into Pandora's hands. :)
I love when special things like this happens!
If you might be interested in making this piece in my class, please find more information at: http://www.thatcreativeplace.com