Window Shopping in Santa Fe

Lots of pictures tonight.  Two of the greatest things about Santa Fe is window shopping and gallery hopping.  I've always described roaming around the town as a mix between a great shopping trip and a visit to the art museum.

You can see everything there...from traditional Christmas windows to the truely bizzare. 

 Nutcrackers....

 Santas....

 Beautiful beaded necklaces....

 Fantastical mermaids...at The Chalk Farm.  If you get to Santa Fe you have to visit The Chalk Farm.  The specialize in visionary and surrealistic art.  Michael Parkes has always been a favorite but I'm in love with Vladamir Kush.  Amazing work...

 And a visit to the back lot at Seret and Sons to look at the architechtural pieces.  There are signs to not take pictures.  But I can't help myself...

 Ah....could it be....a strap and rivets holding two pieces of a door together

 Why....there is a whole door of them...hmmmm... 

 Moose...Mooses....

 Horses.....

 Cool sculptures by Chris Turri.  He makes these large outside sculptures and a whole series of wall hangings...

 Olive Oil in a casket at the Pop Gallery....

 Junker Jane dolls.  I loved these.  Lou thought they were ugly.  That's the point!!...

 African Tribal art.....these scare me...

 Rabbit creche scenes at the Davis Mather Fok Art Gallery...

 Something a little more risque...

 Tribal Art.....

 Space ships.....

 A purrrfect Star Liana York sculpture...

 Jewelry from Ortega's...my favorite jewelry store...

and let's not forget the Christmas lizard!!!
.

Pictures of Santa Fe

Back from a long weekend in Santa Fe. We thought we might escape the snow but a storm came through as we arrived.  I think we brought the snow with us.  The drive from Albuquerque to Santa Fe was an adventure in itself.  About 15 minutes out of ABQ, it started to snow and only got worse the further north we went.  Our average speed was 25.  It took about 2 hours to make a drive that normally takes about 45 minutes.  We were glad to get to the hotel. 

We dropped our luggage off and ran out to play in the snow.  Santa Fe is beautiful in the snow and it snowed all night. 

 The main square

 Columns wrapped with pine roping and covered with snow

 The gazebo in the square

A Bill Worrell Deer Shaman.  That big white orb is not the moon.  Its a snow flake...a very cool snow flake. 

We both love Worrell's work and stop in to look at his new pieces every year.  This year we did more than look.  We bought the one above.  He usually does bucks.  This one is a doe...a shamaness.  I can't wait to get her.  She is engraved on the back with a poem he wrote about her and the date and time she was complete.

Of course no trip to Santa Fe would be complete without dinner at The Shed.  This was our first dinner in Santa Fe.  I had been thinking about this meal for weeks.....guacamole and chips, cheese enchiladas, tacos, pinto beads, posole...oh...posole, and red and green chile.  All topped off with a hot fudge sundae...with homemade fudge sauce. 

I'm hungry!!! 

.

Boy Boots....

I'm not a girly-girl....I'm sure some of you are snorting right now....STOP IT!!

I've always seen myself as a tom boy.  I don't wait for a man to do things for me that I can do myself.  In fact I've been know to push men out of the way if I think I can do something better.  I don't like girly parties...like baby or wedding showers...although I do go to them when I must.  I'd rather be home hammering on a piece of metal.

I would rather wear a faded pair of jeans and a henley than a dress.  I'll wear a skirt... if... I can wear a pair of cowboy boots with it.  My colors are more in the earthtones than pastels.  You will never see me in pink...I don't even look good in it.  Florals are not an option...except in a skirt...with a pair of cowboy boots.  A floral top...not going to happen.

So I have been drooling over a pair of Frye boots.  Frye's were the thing in the 70s and I always wanted a pair but somehow never got around to buying them...ever....until now.  I rewarded myself for the weight loss (30 lbs so far) and bought a pair of Engineer boots. 

 

I am in love.  They look great and I've worn them for a week straight with no sore feet or blisters.  I do kinda clomp along with them but that is even more reason for me to love them.  Reminds me of when I was a little girl and would walk around in my Dad's work boots.  Plus there is an air of gravity when you walk around it these....you can't help it....they are heavy :))

So there you have it....I'm a card carrying tom boy wearing my first ever pair of Frye boots.
.

My first soldered ring...

In October/November I took a class with Brandon Holschuh at the Valley Arts Center.  Brandon is the author of  The Jeweler's Studio Handbook: Traditional and Contemporary Techniques for Working with Metal and Mixed Media Materials

I never really blogged about it because it was a really busy time.  If you ever get a chance to take a class with Brandon, I recommend it.  He is a kick for sure.  Full of energy and ready to share what he knows.  The class was even more fun since Brenda, Deb, Katie, Carmen, and Ann were also taking it.

 I had played with soldering only a couple times but never really made anything.  So the goal of this class for me was to make a ring.  I used one of the cabs I have from Gary Wilson and made the ring below.

It's not perfect. It's big for a pinky ring.  It was suppose to be for my ring finger but I cut the band too small.  The bezel was a challege to smooth down and I still need to work on it.  But it's OK...I'll take it for my first try.

This class did hook me on soldering.  With the price of silver so high I decided to turn in my silver scrap and use the credit to get a mini torch.
.

More Spam.....on crack

This was left as a comment to one of my posts....

I give birth to infer from a few of the articles on your website at this very moment, and I extremely like your style of blogging. I added it to my favorites trap period muster and will be checking back soon. Divert repress into public notice my put as well and fail me be acquainted with what you think. Thanks.
  
All I can say to that is.... I will eggplant pencil lightbulb you soon.
.

I don't feel so bad....

Paris has gridlock too.... and they don't have snow plows.

.

Somedays....you have to have stones to live in Cleveland

You know...stones, cajones, balls.  I refer to mine as virtual balls since I'm a girl.  But I do have them.  The weather today is all the news....at least on the East Side.  I drove through white out conditions today to get to work and then watched all day as it continued to snow....and snow....and snow.  My boss, being a nice guy, let us go early today.  They area where I work is notorius for getting gridlocked.  There are over 13,000 employees on campus during the day and when it snows like this you need to get on the road before 4pm or you might be stuck until 8pm just trying to get out of the parking garages.  It is ridiculous.

This is a picture of the streets close to where I work....now imagine it jammed packed with cars....going nowhere.  The problem is the people who insist on pulling into the intersection even though there is no place for them to go.  The light is green but traffic isn't moving (usually because someone has pulled into the intersection one light up).  But they charge into the intersection and when the light turns red they are blocking the traffic from moving in the other direction.  This happened at every light I stopped at today....and NO...it wasn't me doing it.  If these stupid asses would wait their turn...traffic would continue to move.  But at some point there is a critical mass of cars in the intersections and all traffic in the area comes to a stop. 

I made it out in time today and am curled up with the cats waiting on Lou.  He just called to say he moved 2 blocks in 20 minutes.

And the really funny part about all this is that once you get to around W. 65th, there is barely any snow on the ground and the freeway is moving at 80 mph.  Cleveland is like that.  We have a snow belt.  The east and southeast sides of Cleveland get slammed with snow.

So I'm sitting here waiting for Lou so we can go out to dinner.  I think I'll be waiting for awhile.
.

Paris is always a good idea...

Today was the day from hell at work.  We had a grant deadline and worked down to the wire.  We were $1.2 million dollars overbudget so we started the day out in a meeting to cut the budget down.  That done I had to finalize the budget in 2 computer systems and write/upload a budget justification.  This took all day and the stress of trying to make the deadline...at one point had me shaking. 

So I was looking forward to going out to dinner with Lou and some of his work freinds.  They decided on the Cheesecake Factory.  There are two in Cleveland...one very close to us and the other on the east side of town.  Dinner was at 6 pm and Lou is always late so I strolled around the book store up at Crocker Park waiting for him to show.  I gave him a call to find out when he would show....just to find out that we were on opposite sides of town.  I was at the restaurant close to home and he was just arriving at the restaurant on the east side of town.  Needless to say I didn't end up having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory tonight.....but I did tell Lou he had better bring me home dessert. 

So as I sit here surfing the web, waiting for my desert to show up...I decided to take a look at the holiday pics from our trip to Paris last year. 

I miss Paris.....it's a constant state and a common condition.  There is a line in the 1995 remake of Sabrina when she tells Linus Larrabee that..."Paris is always a good idea".  For right now I'll just have to enjoy the pictures.

This is my lap......

The cats make it really hard to get anything done this time of year.  It's cold out and they want to be next to either a warm body or the furnace registers.  I'm not the type to scoot them away.  I just try towork around them. 

I finally had a weekend that I had absolutely nothing to do and I ended up on the couch most of the time trying to get rid of a cold.  But that's not so bad...the on the couch part.  I curled up and watched movies and took naps with the cats.  They're so cuddly.

I have made a little progress on the Etsy site.  It's time consuming to take pics, clean them up, and post.  

 

But there are a few things up and there is LOTS more to come.  I guess I need to make it a goal to do a few a day until they are done. 

Antiquities.....

It's no secret that I am obsessed with ancient cultures.  I should have been an archaeologist...but growing up on a farm meant you took practical things in college...not art...not ancient cultures.  I took math and science and trained to work in a hospital laboratory...practical.  But life leads us down many paths.  I no longer work in the lab but I'm still around them and work as an Administrator....fancy name for a person who can move all the red tape.  I'm good at this but it's not something that excites me.  It is a means to an end....paying the bills and being able to do the things I want to do....make jewelry, travel, study other cultures. 

SO....about three years ago I stumbled across an image of an ancient Parisii coin.  The Parisii were a Celtic tribe who lived on the island...Ile de la Cite...in the middle of the Seine.  They were the first inhabitants of that area and modern day Paris takes it's name from this tribe. 

I love this coin...I love Paris.  I understand The Met has one... so some day there will be a trip to New York so I can see it in person.  I traced the image and made a texture sheet out of it and have been making pendants and earrings not just from this coin but from others.

The day came (over the weekend) when I wasn't happy with just making texture from images or molds from replicas.  I was surfing the net and found one of many sites selling antiquities.  I don't know why this site broke down my defenses...but it did.... and I bought some coins.  Probably because they came as a set and the price seemed reasonable...well....reasonable for 13th century coins.  Here are 3 of the 5 coins that I bought. 

Plus part of a bronze Visigoth belt buckle

I guess I will consider this a Christmas present to myself :))
.

 

I want to learn you better???......

What list did I get on???  I keep getting these spam e-mails from girls looking for a Sugar Daddy.  But they do crack me up. 

Here is "I want to learn you better"

Greetings,

I came here to look for my second half, my soulmate,my friend It is to tell about myself to you, as I haven't seen you ever before. But I feel something inside. I feel like a little sign of hope that I am not doing this in vain.I feel that you have the friendly soul to mine.What I want to find is Love. Yes, Love from the big letter. Love demands everything - to present yourself, your soul to the other person. I want to learn you better. If you want the same, I will be very glad. I want to meet you and spend life with you together. I want to comfort your heart with tenderness and care. Maybe our souls belong to each other, please write me back through this same mail adressand i will send you some of my pictures.

Hug From,
Jennifer


But this one is even better..."My name is Miss Happiness"....of course it is dear....because nobody would write back to someone named "Miss Bitchiness"

HELLO

How are you today, Hope all is well with you and your family? My name is Miss Happiness However it really pleases me to write you for a lovely and sincere friendship even if we haven’t met or seen each other before. I will be so much appreciate to see your reply soon so that we can share pictures and know more about ourselves.  I shall appreciate an urgent response from you.

With lots of love from your new friend
Happiness

Do you think they'll be upset if I don't respond???
.

Cleaning progresses...

The reading area is cleaned........

The metal clay area is cleaned....including the floor

Where did it all go???

On top the desk....of course. 
.

Blog Link - Gwenn Seemel

Elaine Luther from All Things Metal Clay provided a link to Gwenn Seemel's blog...Face Making.  Gwenn has some interesting thoughts on copyright, free culture, imitation and originality.   She puts up videos in both English and French.  Check her out!!

Cleaning....

Cleaning up my mess a little at a time.  I decided to clean up the metal clay station.  This is what it looked like at the beginning of the week.

And this is what it looks like now.  It will stay this way until I decide to work in clay again and then it will take all of about an hour to make it a mess again. 

It looks so pretty....but if you look down at the floor just next to the desk there is this.....

 
But like I said....a little at a time.  I have a tendency when I clean to pick a spot where I put everything that needs to be put away.  So inch by inch the room gets cleaned and straightened....except for THE PILE....which gets bigger and bigger.  The pile is the last thing I attack. 

I have a four day weekend coming up so I will have a chance to put a dent in all the mess I created over the last 6 weeks.  I'm also taking pics of the jewelry for Etsy.  The light tent seems to be a permanent fixture on the dining room table.  My Esty shop is open again.  Hopefully I will get some more pieces up soon. 
 
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!
.