that felt good

I have been doing almost exclusively mosaic for quite a while. The library project has been kicking me in the arse. Been hung up on trying to get colored photos of the hotel and trying to find people who remember the hotel. Both are almost non-existing. Who knows what colors should go into this mosaic? I am just going to make it the colors that I WANT to go in it rather than the colors that SHOULD go in it. Isn't that what art is? So while I was temporarily stuck on the mosaic side of my studio, I made my way around to the fusing side. Sure feels good over there. There is a show in 2nd Floor Gallery this month, Music and Dance. Pictured on top is an 8x10- Saturday Night at Union Street. Kaleo has been playing at Union Street blues in Middletown this past week. The lower work is an 11x14- Rain Dance which is just about how happy I am that spring is here. Anyway, now that I am unstuck on the mosaic side, it will feel good on that side too. Back to "work."

plugging away

OK, so I am still on the library mosaic. It is a lot more fun to do since I am doing the video with it. This is the National Hotel photo I have been using and it will be fairly close to this. I have gotten a lot of help from friends at the post office so I will definitely stick a little postal reference in it somewhere. Besides, after 16 years in the postal service, the reference is for me too. I found so few pictures of the old hotel to look at so that makes it tough. I've gotten a poster of it (thanks Fazz!) that is actually in color so that is helpful. What makes it harder is that the hotel has changed so drastically that it is hard to decide HOW it should look. In the end, I chose this photo because it best shows the front porch of the hotel that was saved to use in the new library. That is where the mosaic will hang. Because I picked this view, you should be able to stand in the same spot that the photographer stood for this photo, and you (hopefully) will be able to see my mosaic of this photo through the windows! Back to work.....that's hard to do when your dogs keep wandering in your shop to get their belly scratched.

meanwhile.....

OK, so I'm working on the library project. It is humungous! I will be on it for quite some time because I have decided to do a video of it which will drag the work out even longer! I don't have any significant photos of it yet so until I do......I'll just put up pretty pictures of my puppies. Celia does not get slighted in the photo department, but geez, she's an old lady. She doesn't do the same funny stuff that Bonsai does. And wow, wouldn't this make a great mosaic!??!

love my "job"

One of the best things about my job is that I have these guys with me all day. I had always been envious of store owners etc who had their dogs in their work space. Now I have these two crack me up all day. I keep a water dish fresh for them and in weather like we have right now, I keep the door open so they can come and go as they please. Currently, I am working on the mosaic that will hang in the new Hummelstown Library when it opens. I have been putting the substrate together which is a dirty and time consuming job but my dogs and I are happy. What's not to love?

a little tired of snow

Well we got about three feet of snow dumped on us in February SO FAR. One of my dogs has arthritis and the other has three inch legs. So in addition to shoveling our drive way, we had to shovel off a huge section of the yard so that the dogs could go out. Not to mention, we had to shovel three feet of snow off the top of my studio's flat roof because I worried about the weight!

So during this horrendous weather, of course, I'm thinking I'd rather be in calm blue waters. This piece is a picture of me but the person who buys it can say its anybody they want. Angelina Jolie? Sure! I do see the resemblance in the lips.

does it get any better?

OK, I just got the BEST news! Back in May I was asked to submit photos of my work for a possible inclusion in a book about contemporary glass. I just found out that, YES, they will be including my photos! One of the photos I gave them was Kiwi Blast. It is an all time favorite of mine.

If that is not enough....I am starting work on a mosaic that will hang in the lobby of the brand new Hummelstown Library. The library should be complete in June and so should the mosaic. The room it is in will have huge windows so you should be able to see it driving by. I should pinch myself.

blessings in disguise

photo- Andy Dierk- http://www.dierksphoto.com/c/andrewdierks/gallery-list

On Nov 4th I posted about how lucky I was with this van of mine. Now, I have more story. I couldn't plan things this well if I tried. I am telling you-SOMEBODY is looking out for me. My mom and I were driving three hours away to purchase some display panels from a photographer, Andy Dierks. You guessed it. My van died. Sure I could complain that a 6 hour trip turned into 12 hours of driving and 6 hours of waiting. Instead I will tell you how lucky I was AGAIN. First of all, on the day I broke down, I was fortunate enough to have my husband at a meeting about 25 minutes away so I had a ride home. In addition to that, the van decided to quit the second I pulled up in front of Andy's house. My mom and I were warm and dry and served the best tuna melts ever by Andy's wife, Trish! Check out his site (linked above) because not only is he a saint, he's also a great photographer.