feeling like the white rabbit...or maybe the march hair?

geez, april is almost over already. for local artists april and may are probably the busiest months of the year, with two major art shows: the Kodiak Whale Fest Art Show opens tomorrow evening at The Next Page bookstore and features ocean and whale-themed pieces from artists of all ages, and the Kodiak Crab Festival Art Show, held in may, which traditionally showcases work from local and village artists.

i encourage you to click on each link & visit the sites. the whale fest is held every year as a welcome home party for the migrating grey whales returning to kodiak waters, and the site includes a link showing the latest whale sightings & photos. can you tell we take our sea life serious here?

here are two of the pieces i've entered on the whale fest show:

the piece above is called "water wheel" it measures 10.5" square. i hand dyed and painted the top, machine quilted it and threw some beads in for sparkle. i ended up liking the "feel" of this, kind of calming. i'm considering a sister piece for it in the fall, during the spawn. it probably won't have the calm feel to it - the poor gals.

this piece is called "time and tide" two things that are a very big part of our life on the island. the base wood i found on our beach at ugak bay, it cleaned up just right for its day in the spotlight. i put down a piece of muslin i rusted by wrapping it over an old wrench i found on the beach & left outside for a few days - i love the way it turned out. i stitched a bit of embroidery to keep the mermaid happy. the paper layer is covered with old local navigation charts, pages from tide tables, some teabags, a mermaid and her fishy friend. this layer is held down with wonderful metal bits i found on the beach, all aged to beautiful patinas, and old brass screws. i added a piece of rusty screen which i sewed some pearls & crystals on (for the mermaid) and there it is.

between whale fest and crab fest is the opportunity for twelve artists to create halibut tails for the Kodiak Island Visitor and Convention Bureau's annual Chocolate Lovers' Fling and Halibut Tail Auction. (phew that was a mouthful) some of you may remember clarice, the halibut tail i created last year for this event. i am currently working on her sister tail now. the event was a huge success last year, and i'm tickled to be able to participate again. you can see photos of all the tails from last year on Kodiak Island's facebook page.

here's the beginnings of my halibut tail for this year. we all get a fiberglass taxidermy form of a halibut tail to build on - you can see it in it's naked glory on the back of the table. it's a pretty intimidating blank canvas, and i have been "dragging my tail" getting started...

on top of these events i'm working on a super secret project i can't wait to spill the beans about. but i have to.

i've recently had the great opportunity to take a class on PMC- precious metal clay, taught by martha biggar. we so rarely get teachers here to the island, so this was such a treat. i'd never worked with this medium before, and was a bit apprehensive of it being like polymer clay, but this was not the case. i still don't comprehend the whole alchemy thing of it, but here's what i got - you start out with a lump of clay (expensive clay) you make something out of it, it gets fired in a kiln, and when it comes out, it's .999 fine silver. amazing. mind-boggling. and super duper fun. i'm hooked. martha was a wonderful teacher, she's a certified PMC instructor, and was a lot of fun to get to know. she was generous in sharing her experiences with the processes, her tips & shortcuts. her jewelry is stunning, check out her website here!

above are some of the pieces i made after they came out of the kiln, before they were burnished. they come out of the kiln looking chalky. after burnishing they sparkle & shine like nobody's business. it's an amazing process.

here they are after burnishing. i haven't put any of the pieces together yet, i want to patina them first. i'll show you again once that's done.

i will leave you now with one last photo. this may be my last post for a bit as i finish up my top secret projects. i'd like to introduce you to my new friend, della. della arrived on my doorstep last week with quite a bit of baggage...from Mad Housewife Wine. three cases of wine!!! my prizes from the cork slogan contest i won! i have to say never pass up an opportunity to enter a mad housewife contest gals. they have showered me with gifts: t shirts to share with my pals, 100 corks with my slogan printed on them (go get yourself a bottle and see for yourself!) pretty pink spatulas, fun matches...etc. but i have to say, della tops it all. ever hear the story of flat stanley? he was a little boy who folded himself into an envelope and mailed himself all over the world. in grade school my kids used to make flat stanleys & send them to relatives or friends in the states, who would take stanley around & photo him , then send him back with the pictures. that's what della and i are going to do, around kodiak. i can't wait to introduce her to everyone!!

my pal duffy does not like della. at all. look at his face! he snarls every time he sees her. ha!

thank you patty!!

never have i ever been so lucky as i have this winter. i have won a couple fun giveaways. at christmas my name was pulled for an incredible namaste knitting bag stuffed full of knitting wonders from our local fiber store, the rookery, and most recently, the Mad Housewife Wine cork slogan contest (more on that one in an upcoming post)...i am just one deliriously happy lucky duck.

one of my favorite blog spots to visit is magpie's nest. if you haven't found patty yet, please take a minute to go meet her. every day she posts the most wonderful photos, stories, and art pieces. her blog is almost serene, her artwork is detailed and beautiful and almost always makes me either gasp or sigh. she shares trips she takes to inspiring art exhibits, and even the local farmer's markets and parks. frequently she includes little quotes or bits of poems. she touches my heart. plus, she also has creepy doll heads. she used one as the angel on one of her christmas trees, it was awesome. i just love it.

for a person who doesn't travel much, she brings it all right to me. she even shares her tea! and at easter, she really shared, giving away precious little bird nests she made from wire & beads by having a drawing for followers/commenters. i am beyond thrilled to have had my name pulled from her big blue bowl, and just look at what came to my mailbox!

again i apologize for the poor photo, you really can't see the beautiful colouring, and i couldn't get a good close up of that precious nest, but to get this beautiful little work of art was just over the top. patty didn't stop with the nest ATC, she filled the envelope with all kinds of wonderful art papers, book pages and other usable goodies. i was touched by how kind a person i have never met could be. so, go visit, you will love her work and her beautiful photography. thank you, patty!!

while on the giveaway topic, i urge you all to click on my Mad Housewife link - they are having a mother's day poem contest right now, and let me tell you, they know how to treat a winner! i keep getting boxes of more goodies in the mail...too fun. i am waiting for the wine to get here and then will share photos, hopefully good ones, of everything.

life is good for duffy...

our easter snowfall arrived in the nick of time, and my pal duffy was just beside himself with spring snow joy. he and i spent a great afternoon sledding down our back hill together. it's sad when your kids grow up and go away and you only have a small dog, because then you are always stuck pulling the sled back up yourself. with the small dog on it. duff rules!!.

eastie egg hunting!

i think spring is a state of mind...

(i'm testing my computer. so far no blue screen of death. and i'm happy to report cullan now has the cleanest room in the house)
i've been seeing a lot of beautiful spring posts on blogs i visit lately. lots and lots of photos like this:

and this:

all i can think when i see these breathtaking photos is "wow." because i have a cherry tree in my yard also. it's a japanese cherry tree i planted as a twig 19 years ago and named bing. and here is what bing was doing this morning:
see him down there between the railings? i'm just not getting any "gosh i'm ready to bust out in blossoms" vibes from him today. in fact he's pretty chilly towards everyone.
my friend chuck the yard gnome is feeling pretty good about himself right now though, in spite of the fresh snow & bitter winds.

...because i finally finished his wishbone scarf. i'm not showing you a close up of it, because the majority of it was knit during the olympics, and the cables went kind of wanky during the half-pipe and snowboard X events.... i haven't yet reached the knitting stage where i can happily tear out row after row of my stitches. especially for chuck. i do need to tell you about this beautiful yarn though - it's another Noro yarn called Kochoran. it's 50% wool, 30% angora and 20% silk. so so soft! wonderful to knit with, and all my favorite colours in one ball!

you might be wondering if that's the eastie bunny back there behind chuck. nope. just another arctic hare.

enjoy your springtime, whatever the climate! and yay, i made it through this whole post without one cranky computer glitch.

i'm still here...

can you believe it, my under one year old computer crashed.

so for now, i am sitting in my youngest son's room using his computer. and let me tell you, it is not a pleasant place to be. how can one 15 year old boy be so....so...gah, smelly. dusty. have so many icky food containers laying around. i had to lysol my way to his desk.

how can this lair be home to my little boy who used to sort his legos as he put them away?? what the heck happened?

at any rate, instead of being able to show you my awesome cabled scarf i just finished (because my camera doesn't connect to this computer) i am going to put on rubber gloves and get a 40 gallon hefty bag in here, along with the rug shampooer.

so much for the creative buzz i woke up with...

where's your inspiration?

linda from a swap for all seasons asked what colour combos inspire us. yikes - what doesn't?? maybe my art life would be easier if i really only cared for one or two colours....as it is, when i start on a project there are always myriads of colours running through my head. a very big part of the "beginning" of a project for me is the colour interviews and rejections.

it sometimes bogs me down, i need to get past that.

here's a classic example of me & colour~ i couldn't decide on just one fabric for my dresser drawers...so i used all of them.
we are supposed to post a photo showing a grouping of colours that inspires us. i've spent all morning going from room to room in my house. those of you who have been in my house will understand...how can i settle on one small photo.

this is just one corner of my kitchen. the others are green, and orange, and yellow...
in an effort to get my husband and kids to embrace their inner artists, i have spent years surrounding them in every colour i could get from a paint can. our walls are covered with maps, mermaids, witty quotes, and stuff. nothing matches, nothing really "goes together"
and there you have it. that's how i find my inspiration.

phew, that really stressed me out...

...and for a fleeting moment, the sun shone bright

sometimes, after endless weeks of relentless rain and wind, i think all of us on the island fall prey to the "Why, Why Do I Continue To Live Here" Imp. no matter how sweet a person's disposition, when mildew begins to form on one's limbs, your bright outlook on life in general dims. i finally snapped last week. lately there has been a good amount of wind, which has blown branches, moss and other stuff into our gutters, filling them up. so when the rain turned from a slight drizzle to full out downpour the other night, the water from the roof had no choice but to overflow the gutters & hit the deck. the noise actually woke the high king of snoring up. it sounded as if we were living behind niagra falls. incredible.
but then, when mother nature knows she has pushed us all to the end of the wet and slippery rope, this happens:
sun! clear blue sky! this was saturday, in all it's glory. all it takes is a single day like this, and we all know we could never live anywhere but here on this jewel.

kodiak on a cloudless day can take your breath away.

there's no place like home. even if we only get one sunny day per month. or two months...

and then, in the blink of an eye, the clouds slipped back in

an hour after i took these last two photos, we were blanketed in big fluffy snow flakes...

we'll just have to focus on the fact that we are gaining daylight every day, even if we can't see it.

the view from the kitchen sink

i don't know about all of you, but i would sure like to see some springtime happen...

"Breaking Sound" Altered CD art show

"Breaking Sound" sponsored by Emerald Isle Framing, the Rookery and Kodiak Island Brewery, invited artists to submit artwork incorporating CDs in some manner. the show opened last night and will be on display for a couple of weeks. it's been good to have something to work on during these dreary rainy days.

now it's time to start planning my next halibut tail for the KIVCB's 2nd annual halibut tail auction...........

"erzulie" and "papa legba" ~ collage & embossing on CD. these are haitian veve symbols~ erzulie represents the spirit of love, emotional healing & creativity. legba represents the spirit of the guardian of the crossroads, the provider of opportunity and remover of obstacles.

"shhhh" was made by bending a CD in half. the assemblage includes an awesome old plastic doll ear i found beachcombing one day. really! how cool is that find!

"beach diva" (i know, but i love urchins). i dyed a bit of raw silk, added vintage mother of pearl buttons, pearls and hand quilting, and stitched it and the backing piece over a CD.

this is my favorite, "time in a bottle" ~ remember that jim croce song? i papier mache'd over a CD for texture, painted it, added a chunk of hand made paper and aged copper screening. i played with a heat gun and an old credit card (someone told me if you melt them you don't have to pay off the balance....) and popped the bottle through the opening. all the little metal bits are found on local beaches. i just love how aged this ended up looking.

not just exciting, stinkin' exciting!!!

you know how sometimes you're just not in the mood to stop what you are in the middle of and cook dinner??? now that the kids are grown and i'm not working full time, this happens to me more and more. if i'm gluing, or stitching, or have my hands dye or wallpaper paste, i don't want to stop and marinade the poultry. so it's like a standing bit of humor here that when the husband walks in the door after work and asks that loathsome question "what's for dinner?" i hand him a bottle of wine and say "this is." it buys me a few more minutes at least.
a couple weeks ago i visited Mad Housewife Wine's blog and saw they were holding a cork slogan contest. this was for a slogan, seven words or less, they would use to print on their corks for their mother's day bottling. i couldn't resist, and sent in my favorite saying.

well, last night they announced the winner, and it was me!!! boy howdy when i saw MY name i think my heart stopped for a bit. i feel like i won the wine cork oscars or something!!!!

if you like a nice glass of wine, let me suggest you try mad housewife. they have four varietals, all lovely, and for every case of white zinfandel they sell they make a donation to breast cancer research. there, another good reason to have a glass with your girlfriends!

a late happy valentine's day

the highlight of valentine's day for me this year was the package i received from my vintage valentine swap partner dolly. she made me a sweet decorated valentine box, and filled it with so many goodies i couldn't believe she fit it all in there. papers, ribbons & trims, old sheet music, sweets, hand crafted tags, a beautiful vintage hankie i adore, and my favorite, a little lavender filled shell. what a wonderful partner. it was fun swapping valentines again, thank you dolly!

the news stories dwindle, but haiti is still there...

life goes on - that's just the way life is. but there are still little bits of things we can do to help those around us in need, without creating huge riffs in our day to day routine. many of you probably already browse through etsy shops occassionally (or regularly, or obsessively as the case may be.)
i'd like to encourage you, who are reading my silly ramblings right now, to visit one special etsy shop started by rebecca sower. i won't go into all the background in this post, but you can read all about what rebecca has been doing with a group of haitian crafter ladies and how the earthquake has affected them, and how you can assist, here on rebecca's blog, and here, on the haiti by hand blog. any of you who have watched the movie "what about bob" with bill murray will know it's all about "baby steps."
please take a moment and click on that haiti by hand button over there to the left - see it? i have donated this sea glass and pearl necklace, and i would dearly love to send it to one of you!

octomom's got nothin' on this...

at the beginning of last summer i mentioned a very cool embellished art quilt round robin i am participating in. i think i showed a couple of the sections i had worked on. we are still all plugging away at each other's tops, understanding that life, families, etc. butt in on our creative bubbles all too often. but, we are getting there. i just finished my section on this beauty - i tell you what the last two ladies were tough acts to follow! this one gave me a bad case of coveting my neighbor's quilt top, but managed to pass it on down the line earlier this week. i was happy to be able to incorporate some rusty bits of stuff from the beach into this one. i can't wait to see it finished.

valentine's day is on it's way....

this is probably the holiday that makes me miss being an elementary school secretary the most... we in the office knew that it was a given there wouldn't be much work done on valentine's day. i loved the parade of gooey cupcakes and cookies, chocolate goodies, and all those tiny little valentine cards appearing on my desk. even better, all those sticky-fingered hugs. talk about on the job benefits!

i've been having fun working on my treats for my vintage valentine swap partner dolly. she's a real sweet person who likes just about everything, so i had limitless ideas. hopefully her valentine box gets to her safe & sound and on time.

here's a peak at one of the things i did - a little cupid shadow box from an old cut out card and a piece of vintage wallpaper i've had. amazing what a bit of glitter can do.

the rain has washed away the creative spark i need...

holy smokes this has been, even for kodiak, a wet wet winter. normally, i really don't mind the rain at all. stormy days provide me with the excuse to stay in and make stuff. when the kids were small i stuffed them into their miniature extra tuffs & grundens, and out the door they would go to build forts in the woods. rain in the summer just meant bringing extra blue tarps camping with us, along with dry firewood from home...

maybe i'm just getting too old to appreciate the 60+ days of rain in a row. i feel like this:

without the orange stuff in the background. i seriously need to shake this off!

i haven't worked on anything since xmas except the items for the vintage valentine swap i am in, but that's all a secret still. however, before everyone returned home for christmas i did finish a project i've been thinking about since seeing this post on the wonderful Calamity Kim's blog. i just loved that chandelier, and it got me looking at chandeliers other people have created - look on etsy, there are some amazing ones there. anyhow, i've had a collection of old - some might say vintage - silverware that until a couple of years ago when the kids complained about it, we used. all of it old & worn, none of it matched as i have collected it from thrift shops, yard sales, etc. since i was in college. it became my first soldering experiment, i attached jump rings on knives, butter knives, forks & spoons. the bowls of the spoons were pretty worn and not shiny at all, so i covered them with bits of tissue paper and words cut from an old children's story book using gel medium.

on some of the forks i bent up the tines and attached little dangles of things i love - a pewter mermaid, sparkling beads, a vial of sand from our favorite beach, and my fave, a little plastic cherub baby i put glittery butterfly wings on. (this totally creeps out my 14 year old son, who insists he can't eat with that thing hanging over him)lucky for me my husband works in metal, and after a bit of wheedling and assuring him it had nothing to do with ART at all, he made me two aluminum rings for the base of the 2 levels of the fixture, and drilled the holes in for me. i picked up some cheap chain at walmart to attach the 2 rings together, and to suspend it from the ceiling. those i covered with fabric tubes i sewed from my scrap basket.

once the frame was hanging and level, i made up a bunch of silver hooks and hung the flatware on, alternating each piece with an old plastic icicle (the kind our moms used to hang on our xmas trees back in the day - they were a gift from my wonderful friend cathy, the queen of cool stuff)
i wish i could master photography, as none of my photos really do the complete light justice - using the flash or not it just doesn't look as sparkly and fun as it is in real life. it was a fun project, and it's great to have my wonderful old silverware in view again. even though as i have found out, i have to polish it every few weeks.... maybe that's what i'll go do to get out of this slump.

i was surprised when i began this post to see i have been doing this for a year. wow, i didn't realize. i guess i have a "blogaversary" to celebrate...maybe mr. metal will cook dinner tonight... i will have to think of something to do for a give away, i have been lucky enough this past year to be at the winning end of a few wonderful give aways myself. even luckier to find so many new friends and discover so much new stuff to do. so i guess i really should quit whimpering about our weather, and get busy. any ideas?

happy belated new year everyone!

a late new year greeting to you from wet and windy kodiak! i've been avoiding my computer in an effort to soak up as much of my kids as possible while they are all home. thea finally made it in after 3 days in the anchorage airport, and devon experienced a true christmas miracle, getting home on christmas eve in spite of canceled flights and late landings...a whole other story. i look forward to getting back in the swing of things mid week~

what a sweetie~

look at this sweet girl! and her beautiful frame! this is the wonderful treasure i received from my swap partner deb miller. we were partners in A Swap for all Seasons' "Santa's Helpers" altered cabinet card swap. the frame is an antique cabinet card frame made from pot metal. i love the detail on it. it's heavy, and very soft. a local artist gilded it with gold leaf, and it really is wonderful, with an aged patina. i love how she is fiddling with her dress. i was a dress fiddler also. she is hanging by our christmas tree, guarding the packages from the sneaky 14 year old.

as i write this it is howling with wind and buckets of rain. my daughter thea has been stranded in the anchorage airport for over 24 hours now, trying to get home from college. too much wind, too much fog, no planes are flying. at least she's not alone, there's a large hoard of college kids with her. if the weather doesn't clear soon, alaska airlines is going to have to send an entire fleet to get everyone over here.

just something to think about if you are considering living on an island....

how can this be????

after a very hectic day, i finally got around to looking at the pile of mail on the counter (at 11:30 pm). there was a letter from my boot camp son. this was in it:

needless to say, i got all teary-eyed and blubbery. can this be the same floppy goofey swimmer boy who walked across the tarmac and got on that plane just 8 1/2 weeks ago???

so many images have been flashing around in my head, things like how determined he was not to have training wheels. how mouthy he's been the last few months. his face when he'd look up at the scoreboard and see a PR time after a big swim.
all those little things have turned him into the man in that photo. well, those things and a healthy dose of airforce discipline i imagine...

geekers. kids are just full of surprises.

ahh, a minute to come up for air...

hot diggity what a busy 2 weeks i've had. i'm sure i'm not the only one. but holy cow it's already december 14th??? nuts! i've been submerged in my workroom (i'd like to call it my "studio" but feel that's a bit presumptuous, and the washer and dryer may take offense. they are bigger than me and i can't afford to make them angry right now) at any rate, that's where i've been living, getting ready for a wonderful holiday art show/sale held last friday & saturday. there were a total of 15 local artists along with our hosts Just Jane's fabrics, The Artists Eye Gallery, and Stringbeadz bead shop. friday night the place was packed, i was amazed. everyone was in such a holiday mood, it was a lot of fun.

i spent a week and a half sewing and dyeing silk ribbons and cut silk velvet scarves. i love dyeing, every stage is like finding hidden pirate treasures of colour; the way the fibers grab the dye, blend it, and release it is so amazing. i love the surprise. i'm not one to keep notes, and i don't beat myself up trying to duplicate shades, hues or whatnot. i guess i dye using the prozak method, that way i'm happy and so are my pieces. so, here's some of the stages:the dye bath ~ i use procion dyes and a low water immersion method loosely based on Ann Johnston's book "Color By Accident." here they are after the final clear rinse and before the first machine wash. at this point, i have been rinsing these by hand under hot running water, for what seems like days before the water runs clear and free of dye. an interesting point is that each primary colour rinses out at different times, the blues usually hang in there the longest, the stubborn things.

here's the line up after the wash, before i steam pressed them. i got some awesome vivid greens and oranges this time. happily they all went home with new owners and i'm ready for the next batch.

once i finished with the dyes, i dug back into drilling the sea glass and piecing together more necklaces. i also finished a few bracelets that were quite hard to part with. i spent some late nights with my dremel tool, and thank goodness for starbucks christmas blend in my favorite elf cup.

here's one of the bracelets, almost done. i go all mooshie over pearls, i don't know why, but i'll take a pearl over a diamond any day... and check out that amazing piece of pink glass! what a score, that had me doing major happy dance at mill bay beach one morning, let me tell you! that i had the perfect pink pearl...man oh man. nirvana on a jump ring...

my ultimate stress reliever is needle felting, i just love everything about it. the feel of the fibers pulling together, they way you can blend the colours, the pop pop of the needle. it's either the first thing i do in the morning, or the last thing i do at night. i didn't get a lot done, but here are two of my favorites: a sea urchin which measured about 2.5", and a little limpit. i made some sweet little angels but neglected to take their photo, so will have to do some more.

so, that's what i've been doing. instead of decorating the house for christmas, or baking for christmas, or anything for christmas. guess what i'll be doing this week... my daughter comes home from college next sunday, and i just can't wait to have her here to hug whenever i want. and have her bring me coffee whenever i want. etc. getting to see her for 2 days in 12 months just isn't enough. i need to get her room dusted out and hang the christmas flannels out to air.

and here's the big happy news - my devon will be graduating from his Air Force basic training this weekend - with honors! he survived the texas heat, the push ups, and the TI's who can yell better than his mom, according to him, and he did it well. we are so proud of the little weasel and i can't wait to see that hair cut. he arrives home at 11:00 am on christmas eve, so we are praying that the weather have a bit of mercy for us so my boy can land on this island.

i can't think of a better gift this year, than to have my family together again. i hope you all are ready for the holidays, and also get to share them with family, and friends.

in the spirit of the sharing season....

i am sharing this info with you all. even thought i really really want to win, if it can't be me, i would want it to go to one of you, my dear friends. so - click over to Knit Purl Gurl and sign up to win a fabulous Namaste knitting bag. i have coveted one of these bags for a long time. could anything be more decadent than a beautiful leather knitting bag? in my humble opinion, coach & dooney have nothing on these lovelies. let me know if you win!