FeBLURary....

February was a blur...hence the title. For the past seven years, my good friend and wonderful artist Gisela Pferdekamper and I have joined forces to hold a wildlife art show benefiting the good works of the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation. This show, aptly called "Wild Things" began as a small, word of mouth event featuring a few of our local arts friends, showing works inspired by nature, held in Gisela's converted barn/studio. Our first year attracted about 100 folks and raised a few hundred dollars for RSCF. Fast-forward to 2013 and the show featured 18 artists from around the country and attracted over 350 guests, raising several THOUSAND dollars for RSCF! We done good! Each year the show gets bigger and better, yet still retains a "down home" appeal we are so proud of. Gisela's barn/studio is an ecclectic, wonderful space, tucked off a dirt road in the wilds of Loxahatchee, surrounded by a lush garden landscape, wandering albino peacocks, and a molluccan cockatoo named Pepitta greeting you as you come in. Gisela and I are so proud of this show and the fact that we hold it each year with a budget of around $500.00 (thank Heaven for our volunteers, friends and sponsors!). 

 

 

 This year's show was a BLAST. Great art, music, food (thank you International Polo Club and Wanderers Club Wellington), and more. Please visit our Flickr page for pics of the event. Planning and preparing for the show pretty much obsesses me for the bulk of January, and recovering (my word for "accounting") takes me through to the middle of February. When it's all over I heave a sigh of relief and immediately begin imagining next year's show. I'm a glutton for punishment!

 

In the meantime, I am so thrilled to be showing at the Copper Frog Gallery in New Jersey. Just sent them a box full of goodies, soon to hit their shelves. I hope they like the selection, and look forward to joining the CFG family. One of my favorite jewelry designers, Staci Klinger Smith also shows there, so neat to have my work alongside hers....I anxiously await reviews....

 

I also just sent a box to Plum Gallery in St. Augustine, one of my favorite spots on the planet. Karen Sheridan has created such a wonderful space on Avilla Street, right in historic downtown. The gallery is gorgeous, full of light and filled with wonderful works, including Karen's beautiful Key West inspired paintings. I am always looking for any excuse to visit St. Augustine...I may just have to head North to see what she thinks of the new work I just sent her...

 

Working on new designs as well--exploring steel wire bundles and color. I'm experimenting with Gisela using steel wire, glaze, and clay. Her kiln is loaded and I can't wait to see if my ideas worked or not. Will keep you posted, the firing is today. I've posted a couple pictures here of the first rings I've made featuring the wire bundles. The rusted steel wire ring is my favorite. I love rust, and steel rusts beautifully. Add MaryAnn Carroll's enamel copper discs and you get a gorgeous ring. The other ring is aluminum, with blue enamel steel bundle and a copper enamel accent. More to come.....

 

 

Finally, a ring I made right after this month's rather explosive celestial events. This "Asteroid" ring is created from a lump of black quartz druzy I set in sterling silver and brass, wth 14k gold nugget accents. I love this...very fun to wear and full of sparkle and mystery.

 

My head is overflowing with ideas these days, just have to find the time to execute them! My life is about to get even more hectic--as many of you know, I am a conservation biologist in real life, and soon will be hostage to hatching red-browed Amazon parrots, one of the most endangered Brazillian parrots. Eggs in the incubator, will be hatching next month. We feed the babies every 90 minutes around the clock, so sleep will be a distant memory...wish us luck!

New Year, New Designs, New Show...

2013 has begun in creative frenzy.  I have managed to shake off the low feelings and dark thoughts that accompanied a very emotionally exhausting Holiday Season.  Cleared my bench, my mind, and my calendar!  Looking ahead now to one of my most favorite events, a wildlife-themed art show I co-host every February with my dear friend and artist Gisela Pferdekamper.  This will be the seventh year for this show, dedicated to raising funds for the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation.  Held in Gisela's converted barn (she is a wonderful sculptor and turned her barn into a working studio), this show has evolved from a word-of-mouth event with a few of our local artist friends getting together for a fun evening, to a three-day show featuring works from award-winning artists from around the country.  Last year we attracted over 300 guests for our opening night reception alone!  The outpouring of support from the arts community for this event has been so overwhelming--all participating artists donate 25% of show sales to RSCF.  This year's show will be held February 10 - 12, we have 18 artists participating, and several live art events opening night including a raku firing and live body painting.  All the work is inspired by nature--really gorgeous stuff --photography, sculpture, fine jewelry, paintings, pottery, mixed media and more.  I've included the invitation here, featuring a lovely art photograph courtesy of Melinda Moore of our female golden lion tamarin.  Zeppo has never looked better!

I'm feverishly creating new works for this show, and have hit on a couple of pendant designs I really love.  I call them Ladder Works and Glyphs.  The Ladder Works feature hand constructed and soldered wire ladder-style bases from which I build layers of elements cold connected with rivets or screws.  Brass and bronze wire have caught my fancy at the moment, I love the deep golden color and ease of use (solders and hammers beautifully).  The Glyphs are textured open-wire designs, accented with a cold connected element.  I call them Glyphs because my brother commented that he likes the style because each pendant reminds him of symbols of a lost language from an ancient tribe.  I love that!  These two design styles are perfect for another of my current obsessions, enamel copper discs by MaryAnn Carroll of Artisan Beads Plus.  I absolutely love them and use them constantly--the rich rustic colors are so intense and gorgeous!  Perfect for layering and cold connecting.  I plan to have a nice collection of these for the show and am offering some in my Etsy Shop as well.

 

I'll keep you posted with photos from the show--it will be such a fun night.  AND, if you are in my neck of the woods, do come by for this event.  Great art, great cause, great artists.  See you there! 

Looking Ahead...

Welcome 2013!  Clean slate, metaphorically speaking, right?  Clean work bench at any rate....new designs brewing in my brain, anxious to become reality.  Got a fabulous package of goodies from Becky Nunn of Nunn Design, to stock me with the very latest jewelry components from their soon-to-be-released 2013 catalog.  Yes, I am so happy to be a part of the 2013 Nunn Innovation Team!  Becky also sent me a PDF preview of the catalog and I drooled all over my keyboard.  So many lovely design elements!!  Many included with the 2013 stash she sent me.  Already been busy, effectively destroying my clean work surface in a creative frenzy.  I can't share photos of the new stuff yet, (I send the finished designs to Becky first and she promotes for us--SWEET) but I can tell you about my favorites so far...first off, the brass elements coming out for Nunn are FABULOUS and I've been cold connecting like mad (made a gorgeous cuff).  Deep bezels in many sizes (great for us mixed media, assemblage folks--I made two really cool pendants filled with this and that), tons of unique, detailed stampings, new clasps, closures, chains, findings, chatons, settings, bangles, and SO MUCH MORE.  I have included here some photos from the catalog of finished designs from the Innovation Team, including some of mine.  Becky has a great team and the photography for the catalog is to die for.  

So, get to the Nunn website and go crazy!  She offers wholesale accounts for designers and links to retail outlets that carry the products.  You won't be disappointed! 

It's Complicated....

Today's creation.  Okay, this is a complicated design. I wanted to make something that speaks to my frame of mind recently, which has been rather dark. This ring is called "Poisonous Thoughts", and is created using a tiny porcelain doll head under a glass dome. A black flower blooms from the head, accented with a highly toxic seed from a vine that grows on our property. My intent was to visualize capturing and containing my black thoughts--essentially imprisoning them, but allowing me to see them so I will remember not to let these thoughts and emotions overwhelm me. Whew...and you thought I just made pretty jewelry...

Embarrassment of Riches...

I must say, I was feeling pretty down in the dumps these past weeks.  The holidays and hideous world events sort of sucked the life out of me.  Then, I wake up to wonderful virtual support.  First, a great comment on my blog, then, I find a favorite ring design of mine featured in Jewelry Making Daily, AND today MaryAnn Carroll featured my designs using her GORGEOUS enamel copper discs in her blog, Love My Art Jewelry.  If that isn't enough, this cold full moon is just overwhelming.  Thank you all so much.  I feel ready to sit down and create something to show my appreciation...something related to this moon, perhaps.  I'll keep you posted....

Great Way to Start the Day...

Woke up this morning to find one of my rings featured on the Jewelry Making Daily blog! My Party Hat Ring, created here for Nunn Designs, features a gorgeous ornate adjustable ring blank in gold by Nunn, layered with lots of colors and textures in brass, aluminum, enamel and more. Topped off with a lovely purple enamel dangle. This ring is super-fun and easy to make. Check out the step-by-step instructions on the blog, and make one for yourself! A party for your hand….and who doesn’t like a good party?!?!

 

 

Holidays, Get Thee Behind Me!

I know that the holidays are a time for family, food, giving, receiving, and fellowship. They are also a time for stress and chaos, so I am glad to be on the other side of Christmas. Especially this year, so full of tragedy and pain for so many. I’m not sure our country will be able to truly celebrate this season for a long, long time.

 

So, we reflect, stiffen our spines, and move on. Searching for beauty in the madness, we must somehow energize our souls and replenish our spirits as best we can. Art, in it’s infinite forms, has always been a tonic to sooth my battered psych. A way to refresh my mind and bring inspiration when none seems possible. Art, and the ability to express myself through it, has saved my sanity on more than one occasion.

 

Yet, this time, this time we live in, weighs so heavily on me now. I am struggling to find the spark, to put my hands and heart to work again. The furious flurry of creative activity leading up to Christmas was exhilarating and joyous for me. From my hands I created thoughtful, beautiful gifts, and found myself exploring new designs and mediums with ease and inspiration. Not so now, and I am having a really tough time re-starting my “engine”.

 

I have commitments and deadlines and promises to keep. I have been so lucky and blessed to be chosen to continue as part of Becky Nunn’s 2013 Nunn Design Innovation Team. I have projects that will be published in the coming year, something that has never happened for me before working with Becky. I am so thankful (and a bit terrified!).

 

My goal is to try to begin as fresh as I can. Today, I attack my workspace to simply clear it and organize. If that is all I accomplish today, that’s fine. I hope that each day I will be a little clearer, hopefully a little lighter in spirit. I will not push, or stress myself right now, no matter how I long for that feeling—that magic when time blurs, hours fly, and suddenly you hold in your hands something entirely new and beautiful. It will come, I hope, soon.

 

I would like to hear from other artists…how you deal with times like this, when it seems impossible to see beyond the chaos. Please share, and I wish you all the very best in this coming year. Peace for us all….