A Video...with me in it

I know I"ve been very remiss in writing in my blog....but lots of stuff happening behind the scenes....here's a video I just saw that has two pieces of my work in it

http://animoto.com/play/urxhHEsj5fuY6iCtz5Fbpg

Stay tuned...soon I'll be posting lots of new work I've been doing...in the meantime...have a look at the link...the music is lovely and there's some very nice work showcased....

In A Blog

I just found out I was featured in this blog a few days ago...

rivervalleydesign.blogspot.com

thanks...it's nice to be included in your lovely blog!

Sorry that it's been awhile since I've written....lots of things going on
...we just had the new doors installed yesterday in my new studio....now I'm getting ready to do some faux finishes on the walls....once it is all done, I'll post pics!

Also, I decided to pull out of Baltimore....lots of reasons, mostly fear lol....but I'm glad I did....I feel much better now and not stressed out so much, trying to come up with a line that would work...hopefully by next year I'll be ready...
In the meantime, I'm letting the muse relax for a while as I work on the studio and enjoy the warmth and coziness of our little mountain house while it snows like a mother outside....:)

"And Now For Something Entirely Different...."

I am in the process of designing a new studio and I've very excited about it....hopefully it will be done soon, but in the meantime most of my art supplies are in boxes, waiting....

I got the urge to paint...so I set up a small table top easel in the kitchen and did this....I really enjoyed it, it's been years since I've painted....and soon I hope to combine my paintings with my polymer clay pieces by using transfers....

In the meantime....here's a potato....

"Eastern Fusion" Mjxed Media Pendant

I was invited to do a new piece for Synergy3....either collaborative or of mixed media.

I work with both resin and polymer clay, but I've never combined the two...so I thought, perfect time to try it...

Here is the result....the piece in the center was cast from a mold I made of my original....I cast resin(polyurethane plastic)with dyes and real brass metal powder....then I popped it out of the mold and buffed to a high shine with steel wool....then I added a Skinner Blend to the background of this, and made polymer clay cane adorned drop and bail....and hung it from a multistrand steel necklace....the pendant is 3" wide by 6" long

I'm pretty happy with it....and I think there will be more to come.....

A New Etsy Treasury

I'm in an Etsy treasury today....yay!

Earrings....mostly

Since I did those two pieces the other day I've been making things like crazy...I'm in love with colors against black....and I've been mostly doing earrings, which is something that lends itself well to this style and I'm so glad because I've usually had problems coming up with earring ideas....these aren't the greatest photos but I just wanted to get some up here to show you where I'm headed....I keep thinking of refinements and how to make them better and I'm loving all the ideas I have....the only problem is....these are way different from the style that got me into Baltimore lol....so this should be interesting....trying to integrate this colorful style with the earthy pendants I was doing when I applied...sigh...always something huh....

Some New Work...and a workshop pendant

I've finally photographed the pendant I did in Kathleen Dustin's workshop in October...she is such a lovely, gracious woman...it was a total pleasure to learn from her. It's easy to tell which one is that pendant....it has the layers of color and pattern that is her signature...it was a joy to create and I've learned so many invaluable lessons...even things as simple as the proper temperature to bake Premo at(285 degrees)...and how to use a heat gun to get really good transparency....using prismacolor markers and pencils on baked clay.....so many things that I never knew...thanks so much, Kathleen...you've done more to advance the acceptance of polymer clay as a valid art/craft medium than anyone else I can think of....I'm so glad I had the chance to take your workshop...

So now what? lol...In the weeks I've been back I've gone round and round trying to figure out (still)what it is that makes me passionate about polymer clay...and what direction to go in..

I've had several false starts and got to that place where I felt like I was up against a wall creatively....it's not so much that I don't have any ideas....it's that I have so many that I don't know which is the real me...you know? So I've done what I try to remember to do when I hit that wall....walk away and do something else....so the hallway has been painted and I even have groups of framed pieces lying on the floor to be put up when the mood strikes me...and during that time several things seemed to come to the surface.

I've always loved black...with lots of colors...so I'm playing around with that...here are two pieces I've done to start....

I also want to figure out how to incorporate some wonderful things I learned in the workshop...but that's for later...for now...this is sort of fun all by itself....