Shadows in Santa Fe

The first picture is outside the Bill Worrell gallery.  We've always loved his work and bought a piece when we were there two year ago.  I couldn't help noticing the shadow it was casting.  The sunlight was just right.

The next picture is from Santa Cafe.  We had a wonderful meal there and the piece over the mantel and it's shadow was amazing.

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Back from Santa Fe....

I had a great time in Santa Fe.  I came back a little run down...well maybe a lot run down.  I had a cold but that didn't stop me from going...but I felt the effects when I got home.  I went to work for three days then stayed home on Friday and slept.  And I slept alot today too.  I'm finally getting rid of the cold I've had for 2 weeks. 

Besides having fun with the girls and eating fabulous food.....I bought lots of beads to go with the bronze.

 Lapis

  Etched Agate

Carnelian

 Onyx

  Turquoise

 Bauxite and shell

  Clay beads from Mali

And no bead shopping trip is complete without something from Gary Wilson.  I think Cris was the first one to say...."I wish I could quit you Gary Wilson".  Except for the trilobite...these are all beads or pendants.

 Trilobite

 Petrified Palmwood

 Fossilized Turtle Shell...I love the texture on this.  I'm going to roll out a sheet of polymer clay and impress this into it for a texture sheet. 

 Petrified starfish and fossilized tree fern

 Pima Canyon conglomerate, petrified wood, and more tree fern

Fossilized sea urchin and more tree fern



 A few artifacts... a small brass bead from Ghanna and a double chameleon from Burkina Faso

And a few of my most favorite things.......

Viking beads from Karen Elmquist.  She hide these in my coat pocket and I didn't find them until I got the airport.  What a great surprise!!  These beads go great with the bronze.

Twisted bronze bracelets from Cris Leonard.  I'm into bracelets right now.  I love stacking multiple bracelets.  These are so cool!!  She slipped these on my wirst and I didn't even notice :))  LOL.

And a new messenger bag from Susan Dilger and Taos Edge.  This is so cool.  The dragonflly has a skull head and the latin reads..."The unknow is maginificent".  I was able to put everything in this bag for the flight home. 



Here in Santa Fe

I'm here in Santa Fe having fun with Cris and Karen!!! Talk to you when I get back....if I come back :)

Tuesdsay Ramblings

I feel like I've been in a fog...since...well...for a long time.  I can't seem to get organized and moving.  I get one task done and 5 others crop up.  I get one room cleaned up and the others all go to hell.  HA...and it's not going to get better any time soon.

Next Tuesday I'm heading to Santa Fe for Beadfest.  My favorite town...having fun with my girlfriends...fantastic New Mexican food.  I won't get anything done or get more organized but I will recharge my batteries and laugh non-stop.  I thought about exhibiting but didn't really have enough pieces put together and I guess I didn't want to put myself through the stress of doing an out-of-state show that I can't drive to.

I am going to take two classes and I don't have to bring a single tool.  YAY!!  One is a photography class.  I don't think I can ever take too many photography classes.  Every little tip helps.  The other class is Art Glass Clay with Paula Radke.  I want to use it to make flat disc beads to go with the bronze.

I picked up a book this week.  Folk Designs from India.  The only unfortunate thing is that I had to find it from a used book vendor.  I found someone in Canada that had it.  It's full of line drawings of various folk designs.  Great as a jumping off point to make new texture plates.



I also found a new iPad app that I like....Zinio.  It's an on-line newstand.  You can buy on-line subscriptions or just single issues of various magazines.  They also have free articles from select magazines.  This is another great app to have when you are traveling and don't want to weight yourself down with magazines.  I'm getting the digital version of Art Jewelry this way.  I've also been able to find Marie Claire Idees which is a French craft magazine.  I picked up one a couple years ago when we were in Paris.  Finding it in the US wasn't easy.  Borders used to carry it but the issue would be at least 2 months old.  Now I can get it hot off the press...virtual press. I can't understand a word of it but the pictures are wonderful.  I need to get a really good french-english dictionary and work my way through it.  Maybe I could learn more French that way. 

Goodies from the kiln

Just a few fired pieces...

I like this one.  The texture is so deep that the color remained on the inset areas even after polishing.   I am going to mold the fired piece so I can make smaller versions. 

This is a Tibetan Calendar Pendant.  A calendar on one side and smooth on the other.  I've read that the smooth side is rubbed in a circular motion on a baby's belly when they are fussy to sooth them.

 I haven't polished this one up yet.  The colors are amazing.  It goes from green to purple to red to orange. 

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