new mermaids!

Mermaid Heidi

Mermaid Maddie

i just finished these two new mermaid boxes for a friend who is moving off-island. one is for her sister, and one for her daughter. it was fun getting to be a little more personal with them, and giving them real faces! it's also nice to know where they are going to be living! sometimes it's hard throwing your work to the wind, so to speak.
while i was working on them my new diamond bits came for my dremel tool, so i got to drill my first bits of seaglass for them. it works so slick, and now they get to bring a part of mill bay & mission beach with them.

anyhow, now on to a piece for the summer solstice small works art show...due in 2 days. it would be nice to have some sun for inspiration...but rain keeps one focused.

new challenge at Awfully Big Art Adventure

rosie & linda have posted a new challenge at bigartadventure.blogspot.com ~ the theme is shells. who can resist that??? go take a look, it's inspiring. and they give us 3 whole weeks to create & post. i automatically thought of all the pasta shell necklaces my three kids have made me over the years... i have a shoebox full of them.

a sunny day for graduation

i haven't been doing a lot of artwork lately as we've been busy getting ready for devon's graduation from high school, and we did make a quick trip down to ugak. it was hot! and i don't get to say that very often! also dry. the boys got everything opened up, tuned up, and ready for summer. i aired out the lodge and de-spidered - ugh they are horrid and huge down there. the annual shedding of the shells has already occured and there is a continuous line of hollow perfect little crab shells down the beach. how do they get out of them like that? anyhow, now we're all set for summer, and can't wait for cullan to finish school so we can head back down.
devon graduated sunday, it was a beautiful sunny day and the speakers had mercy on all of us crammed into the auditorium and were blessedly short. yesterday i put him on a plane to anchorage to meet with his air force recruiter. he will finish his last paperwork, get his physical
and take his oath. when i pick him up tonight, he will be in the air force. as i sat boo hooing in my car after his plane took off i realized that, just like every other major event in his life, he was meeting this one full of confidence, with his goofy grin, and a giant scabby scraped left knee.

i won bead soup!!! yee haw!

thank goodness we don't have close neighbors, because this morning when i discovered i was a winner of one of beverly gilbert's amazing bead soups, i did the happy dance in my pj's out on the deck. and to get to choose which one...over the top. i couldn't pick. i'm trusting ms. beverly for that. my family is notoriously non-celebratory. say the word birthday and all 4 heads get buried in the sand. so this is like the best mother's day ever for me. i encourage whomever may read this to check out beverly's blog & website. she is the zen master of colour and bead artistry.
beverlygilbert.blogspot.com
www.gilbertdesigns.net

the sun is here!

we are having a burst of the most beautiful sunshine ever. on kodiak, when the sun comes out like this, no one stays inside. duffy and i have been out on our favorite beaches all day long. he's a smelly salty wet dog, and i am sunburn. it's great. and, i can finally post a photo of my tiny little patch of crocus blooms - i have been seeing so many pretty flowers blooming on blogs from everywhere for a month or so now, now i can be one of the flower crowd.

it doesn't get much sunnier than this. now we just need the green to come in. this is gibson cove, a favorite place for duffy to swim with the sea otters.

i have finished two projects. i lugged my sewing machine outside and made a new sassy dog bed for duff, he loves the pin up girls. then i completed a mosaic lamp i've been wanting to get to all winter. it has mother of pearl buttons from my grandpa's shirts, and "pearls" from an old necklace of my grandma's. i wet felted the shade, and will probably sew "stuff" on it this afternoon, in the sun, on the deck. yay!

i wish i knew how to get that evil glow out of his eyes - my photo program doesn't register it as red eye... he really is a nice dog.

clarice is finished!

the whole sparkley effect doesn't really show up for lack of sunshine, but this tail shrieks when the bright lights hit it. a friend tells me she is elegantly overstated.

the golden circle hook was too fun to make. i wonder if it would really work.

i love the pale back side, again the sparkles don't show, but they are there. this fabric turned out perfect for this. while dying it, i threw in some of thea's white socks & tank tops, so she's set too.

i finished clarice very late last night, everyone was asleep so i celebrated with duffy. this morning was overcast, but no wind or rain, so i decided to take photos of her down by oscar's dock for atmosphere (trying to make up for lack of photo skills.) it was a big risk, as the seagulls were out full force, but i had cullan along to warn me in case of incoming...you know. just one close call so all was fine. and the whole time there were a couple of sea lions playing behind us, i'm sad they didn't show up in the photos, just their ripples.

so, i turned her in to KICVB right after. they will be displaying the tails at various businesses around town until may 16, when they will be auctioned off at the annual chocolate lover's fling. it will be fun to see them all.

the tail becomes clarice...

i can't even say how excited i am to be at this stage with my halibut tail. all the fretting over fabrics and seams is over, i know it is going to fit on the form, and now i can relax and have fun with her. the tail has become clarice over the past couple days. she's getting so lovely, she couldn't remain "the tail." i have been hoarding my precious pearls for a long time. i decided if any project deserves them, it is clarice.

for some reason a couple days ago a wild hair hit me telling me to stop everything and clean out my work room. i resisted as long as i could, knowing i need to finish this project...but the hair won and i was up until 4 a.m. wednesday night moving shelves on walls, dragging totes out and purging, hauling tables, dusting and scrubbing. too weird. but i got it done, and when i woke up yesterday morning and headed out to get my coffee, there was my spanking clean studio, all organized and ready for me to sit and sew on clarice with a clear head. funny how those wild hairs work. i got a whole new perspective on my project, and found my favorite missing xacto knife to boot.

as a really over the top bonus, the clouds parted and the sunshine appeared. it was so bright you could almost hear it. the dogs went nuts outside, and i sat in the porch swing for the first time in months. it was wonderful. my poor rhododendron is less than thrilled with the amount of snow it is still buried in, but i see tiny buds on it...

The Tip of the Tail...

i've been doing nothing but re-dying fabrics, deciding on fabrics, sewing, ripping apart, sewing more...i don't remember ever ripping apart so much, i'm blaming indecisiveness on the hot flashes...i finally have the top of the tail pieced & sandwiched, ready for quilting & beading. the bottom will be whole cloth as the dyes blessed me with the perfect halibut belly fabric. i will just quilt the heck out of it.

a reporter from the daily mirror called today to talk about my mermaids. wow, i was surprised. it was a bit confusing as he thought he was talking to a different person and my descriptions weren't going with his photos...a regular laurel & hardey thing was happening. who know what will end up being printed in the article...

well, Low Tide Lunch Date didn't make the CPS challenge.
i've allowed myself today, a lovely grey cold snraining day, to stay inside, pout, drink an extra pot of coffee and do nothing but look at everyone else's incredibly beautiful and inspiring blogs. as an added bonus, i am not cooking dinner, instead ordering pizza. and i believe a piping hot banya will cap off the evening. tommorow back to work on the halibut tail.
viewing all these wonderful blogs has made me realize two things. 1) i am not the only one in the country who sees things the way i do and 2) it is spring everywhere but this little island. what fun to see what other folks are doing with paper & glue, ribbons and glitter, and of course, the mermaid. i'm refreshed, and even if my version of a beach doesn't fit in with everyone else's version, it's still my beach, and i wouldn't trade it for anywhere else in the world. okay, maybe a caymen island beach, but only for a little while.
time to order the pizza. ;~)

whale fest entries done

i decided last minute to do a couple of mermaid boxes for whale fest instead of more fabric. i finished the last one last night, and i don't want to part with either of them. i love making these little ladies and their worlds. and they all start with a name on a paint chip. (i've been banned from the paint isle at our hardware store)

now, to get started on the tail.

woolie winter pixies on spring break

Wow, blizzards, winds, and volanoes erupting - are we versitile or what. I can see snowflakes out my bedroom window, then walk out to the kitchen and see rain falling. we really must have angered the weather gods somehow.

however, it's been great creating weather, which is good since there is only a couple days left til the deadline to turn in entries for the Whale Fest art show. true to form, i have one piece done and two to go. i really had fun with the winter woolie pixies. i picked them up on the beach last spring, and now that i know what to do with them, you can bet as soon as the ice cracks i'll be out there again! it was too fun mixing the textures of the needle felting, rusty lures and hand quilting. i'm ready to crank out a couple more, then on to that halibut tail.

charm swap charms

my five little needle felted charms for the cloth paper scizzors charm swap...in the mail and on their way...

here's my "Life's a Beach" challenge entry...

well, here it is finally. after being torn apart and remade twice, i finally have a piece that feels right. we'll see what the folks at CPS mag. think...fingers crossed.

there's a reason it's so green on this island

after two days of full tilt blizzard and snow accumulation, we are now being blessed with a 15 degree rise of the thermometer and a lovely raining downpour. i definately recommend kodiak as a destination for your springtime travel plans.

got the post cards done & turned in. it was a fun project, but now on to CPS', on the beach challenge. and still more snow.

snowy rainy february

great weather for staying in and making stuff. the last few days i've been working on postcards for the artist's post card show next week. i have a couple more to go - but so many more ideas! it's good to have a goal.

happy new year

this is my first attempt at "blogging" ~ a bit intimidating, but i thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with the world.
the last day of 2008 is sunny, beautiful and COLD in kodiak (20*) great ice skating.
i'm looking forward to a new year of creating new art. happy new year to you all.