BACK AND OUTSIDE

I've returned from Santa Fe and the show was a great success! So, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Now that it's over I realize just how stressed I was. The good new is it's still summer and I'm going to spend as much time as I can outside enjoying it.

SHOW IN SANTA FE

Okay, it's down to the wire. Two weeks from today I get on the plane and head off to Santa Fe and then, hopefully sell the beadwork. I've been preparing for a year. If you are around the area on August 15,16,17,18th I'll be at the  Eldorado in the concord. The nerves are starting to kick in, I love doing what I do but the selling part, not so much...   p.s. thank you for everyones input on the leopard, I went with the majority and used a softer sun.

PLEASE GIVE ME SOME OPINIONS!

I need help making a decision.You see the sun, well I have it drawn in with orange rays radiating out. What do you think, is that to much? I can leave it just the orange orb ( which is what my husband Robert thinks I should do) or go ahead and bead the rays? It's a very different look, which do you like???? This leopard is turning out really good so I don't want to blow it with the sun. Thank you for any input you care to give!

REST IN PEACE

Today I'm sewing with black beads on a" Day of the Dead" piece. My father passed away late last night,  he was 90 and I'm glad that he was able to die peacefully in his own bed. It's weird that this is what I've been working on. My dad would like this piece.  I remember how he always brought flowers to my mom like clockwork when the ones in the vase started to wilt. He was a talented artist and his medium of choice was block prints. Here's a portrait he did many years ago for some occasion.

He had a very unique sense of style and his work was always very much his own. His atoms are mingling with my moms now. He leaves Mag, Dave and I with lots of crazy memories and a true closeness for each other, not geographically, but with a loving family bond.

SET UP

Busy setting up the gallery. We open May 9th!

ANTSY FOR SPRING

 Working on some spring time pieces even though  the weather is not cooperating. I'm loving the simplicity of the loon piece. I have some clouds drawn in but I think I'll leave them out because I like the stark contrast of the butterflies with the bright blue background. The little cross neck pouch is cheerful, that opal lavender vintage bead is so pretty. 
I've moved the bead table back upstairs to the gallery. It's nice to be back in front of my big windows, the light is so much better. I can't help but feel antsy though, the giant snowflakes falling down today are not part of the spring time feeling I was hoping for. You can bead all the spring themes you want but you can't make it warm up any sooner...

THE COMPLETE PICTURE

So here are the finished wall pockets. I hemmed and hawed on how to make them. Finally I ordered some salmon skins for the the back pieces and used neoprene, (the material that all the fishermans waders are made out of) for the lining, which in my mind tied it all together. While I was putting them together I kept saying I'm in whip stitch hell. This was way, way, way to much whip stitch to do all at once! Using the same colors and pattern on all three helped the continuity though and in the end the whip stitch hell payed off...