ho ho ho

I finished this 16 x 20 Senorita almost two weeks ago but was unable to post her photo because she was a Christmas surprise.  This was for a Spanish teacher who loves "dia de los muertos," lilies, and red.  Check, check and check!  Let me tell you, a lot of blood when into this.  While working on background, I cut off the tip of one of my knuckles, blecch!  So worth it because the Spanish teacher is my new daughter, Erin.  Kaleo asked me to make it for her.  Serious fun.  What a beautiful smile!

caffeinated faerie

I just finished this little 11 x 14 faerie and what's not to love. It's purple with just enough blue to make me happy. It is a picture of my friend who is a faerie. If you don't believe me, you'll have to see her in a backless shirt. I added a close up so you could see the teeth. That took a bit of ingenuity considering the entire mouth is about the size of my pinky nail!

more months like this, please!

Yeah, I know you saw this before but I have gotten so much mileage out of her this month. She deserves another post. In the last post I mentioned that Not So Pretty Now was featured in Harrisburg mag. Well today, Alyson Stanfield featured it in her newsletter. Yeah, that goes out to ton-0-people. Woot woot! Stanfield is the art business coach that I keep telling my artist friends to subscribe to! AND the youtube counter for this work is over 4G with about 50 views daily during the end of October!

What a banner month. I won't even remember all the good stuff that came my way in October. I got a feature in Central Penn Arts Guide, an on-line mag. I just got a new canopy for shows. I know, right? That is not what makes normal people happy, but it floats MY boat. The Bethesda show was wonderful. All good in October. I am telling you, November already looks just as rosy. I am going to be starting on two installations that are the kind of thing I dream about. One fused, one mosaic. Ahhhh......loving this life.

more good stuff

Now how did I manage THAT??!! I was asked to submit a photo for possible inclusion in an article that would run in the October issue of Harrisburg Magazine. Well since it was going to be an October issue, I thought I could increase my odds by making the photo Halloween-ish! And there you go! Not So Pretty Now in all its glory. The article is about the Yellow Breeches Chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild, of which I am a proud member.

Not only that, about a month after I got my work home from Brooklyn, I found out that my work was voted "People's Choice" in their show! No kidding. Out of hundreds of artists that showed, I tied with another guy for fave! Woop Woop! Hope people feel that way in Bethesda, Maryland this weekend!

OK, today was one of those days that I was up at dark-thirty cause I couldn't wait to see how things worked out in my kiln overnight. This is not my usual subject matter but I am so happy with it and HERE'S WHY!

First-This is the piece that I worked on while making my video. The video is to help answer some of the how-to questions I get. If anything rolled out of place when I shut the kiln, or a crack occurred during firing, it would have meant that I spent a whole lot of time on nothing.

Second-I have been thinking about a bones piece for a couple of years, and something with flies for a couple of months. Combining them means I can empty out two of my brain's folders at once.

Third- I just plain like it! Its rare for me to like anything with this much red in it. Instead of water references, I was going for a "meat" and "drops of blood" feel. Really, the bones were initially going to be fish bones. The whole thing kept changing even after I started cutting parts. The working title is "not so pretty now" ( a nine inch nails song) but Rob might come up with something better. Anyway, as with all my bigger pieces, this is my new favorite....at least until the next one is done. I am hoping to have the video done this week yet.

Oh, and the coolest part about the movie? I got permission from my current favorite band to use their music. NO KIDDING! How cool is that??!!