Outta The Box

I just finished posting an update of outta the box freestanding assemblage onto my web site today. Last week as I entered my studio I had no idea I would be creating these kinda pieces, but stuff started coming out of the drawers and damned if they didn't start insisting on turning into the pieces you see here.

Next week, like other huge segments of the populace, I will be heading out to spend Thanksgiving with my family in Nebraska. I hope you all get to experience the overabundance of
great food and laughter I have in store!

What's in the drawer?

I find it endlessly amusing that people think I am organized because I keep my inventory of assemblage objects tucked away in plastic drawers that I have labeled with the general categories of the contents. I have this particular drawer labeled "METAL" and though that tells me that there are things made of metal in there I don't really know what all is in there. So just for the hell of it I hauled everything out of this drawer and laid it all out to really see what I had. So much stuff I had forgotten about. Does this "system" really mean that I'm organized?

I can see clearly now

During Open Studios Tour I had one assemblage piece that I had just started so that I could let peeps see what one of my pieces in it's beginning stage looks like. Basically I had constructed the box and I had the first coat of a mixture of gel medium and molding paste (with a touch of sawdust for texture) brushed over the entire box. And I had the nine doll heads for this piece decapitated and I had filled their empty heads with bondo and resin and made wire sprout from each head with a rusted bell hanging from each wire. And of course I knew what the text was going to be..."Moments Of Clarity". DING! But at Open Studios time I still had no idea what background I would use for the piece and of course the box needed all it's finished paint, glaze, and wax coating. So here I am one month later with that beginning assemblage in all it's finished glory.

Indian Summer

Less than a week ago on Saturday it was snowing and COLD in Boulder, a very definite reminder that the cocooning time of winter is soon upon us. So as the week has offered up some stunningly warm sunny days I have taken advantage of the indian summer (is that a politically correct term?) to head for the mountains and my favoritest hike. Food for the soul. I breathed in the sharp pine aromas at the beginning of the hike that give way to a sweeter, lighter smell at the end of the trail. I was accompanied by the sounds of a billion pine needles encountering a gentle wind, the light rattle of the dry Aspen leaves, and the chirp and chatter of the forest critters. I have hiked this trail with beaucoup friends, but this was my first solo and I took the time to do a little photo documentation...even though the exquisite beauty simply can not be captured.

Scenes From An Open Studio

Here are a couple of scenes from this last weekend...the final two days of the Open Studio Tour.
The weather for the weekend was predicted to be awful, and it lived up to the forecast beautifully. Even with the dismal quality of the weather about 115 people managed to get to my studio and my profoundest thanks to them all!

At this point I'm pretty sure I will participate in the tour next year as well. I'm still decompressing from the experience and just like everyone told me, two weekends of opening your studio to the general public is intense. But...I am not only glad it's over, but really glad I did it!

Virtual Tour

For those of you who are unable to come to my studio this weekend for the Open Studio Tour I thought I would provide you with a virtual tour. I opened the doors to my workshop (messy) space, but I kept the area blocked off from entry, because I don't think power tools and the general public are a good mix.

The forecast for this weekend is for cold and snowy/rainy weather, so I hope that there are enough intrepid souls out there who are willing to forge their way through inclement weather to get to me.

I'm excited to have my bestest friend Natalie Caine visiting me and helping me out this weekend.
Natalie is THE empty nest/life transitions expert in the nation and she is wise and witty and wonderful. So besides helping me out we plan on having a great time, laughing our butts off, and drinking some REALLY good wine (after open studio hours).

Exhale

I rarely give myself the luxury of taking a whole day off to do pretty much nothing. But it felt soooooooo good to be a sloth most of yesterday to decompress from an exhilarating weekend of meeting people during the Open Studio tour. Despite the fact that the Open Studios guide book indicated that my studio was in the wrong location, most persistent folks found me anyway. And next weekend I will have many more signs to help everybody find me.

Yesterday Laurie Mika sent me this photo she took of me standing next to my art at the Friday night reception for the Open Studio tour. Thanks Laurie!