And now it's summer!

Summer has arrived.  I'm going to take it easy this summer, as I have one outdoor show on my schedule.   I will be in Winter Park on July 19 & 20 for the Winter Park Alpine Art Affair.  It's a lovely show that takes place on the same weekend as the Winter Park Jazz Festival.  So make a plan to spend the weekend, and stay over until Monday if you don't want to hit the weekend traffic returning to Denver.

I just finished a really fun 3 day workshop with Andy Cooperman in Milwaukee at the Bead & Button show.  We worked on personal projects in "Zengineering".  I learned so many tricks with the flex shaft and great new ideas about setting a stones or objects in a different fashion.  Our class was extra fun and we had a great time together for the 3 days.  Andy will be in Colorado for COMA this July.

Upcoming Spring Shows

I updated my calendar, listing the 3 spring shows I will be participating in;  Castle Clay, Colorado Potters & the Denver Potters Association Spring Show & Sales.  I will have jewelry in all three shows;  pottery & jewelry in the Colorado Potters Show. My olive dishes will be for sale, as well as some other functional ware.  I hope to participate in a few summer art festivals.  And I'm hoping to do a few of the Vail Farmers Markets as well, they are on Sundays through the summer.

I've been making rings in the metal studio.  I love the fact that the stone can be seen on your hand (unlike wearing a pendant, where others will see it) and these stones make me smile.  Carved by Gary B. Wilson, from Michigan, I bought these long ago, and decided to challenge myself & soldering skills. 

I have a bunch of gadgets to try out.  I bought a Silhoutte Portrait cutter.  I want to make some texture sheets.  I have 4 packages of Sterling PMC to work on some rings.  I also have an Imagepac stamp maker to make more stamps.  There is a great article by Andy Cooperman about procrastination.  Fits me to a tee.  I do acquire tools, etc.  Read it and you will know what I'm talking about!

I also found an interesting book, Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work by Steven Pressfield and Shawn Coyne.  As they say: "You don't need to take a course or buy a product. All you have to do is change your mind."  Ok-I'm going to work on it!

Tucson Update

Tucson was super fun this year! This year was quite different with a broken ankle, so we didn't get to all the shows we normally do, but we got to all our favorites.  I started going down there for Gem Show in 2005, so I know my way around pretty well.  Once again we ate great food, enjoyed milder temperatures than here in Denver, and I found great chain, pearls, gems, etc.  We even shortened our trip by a day, which is fine, since it's easy to blow out your budget in the first few days.  Some images from Tucson, along with what kept me busy healing that broken ankle.

One of my drawings from our daily drawing group. 28/365, or something like that. 

Colors of Tucson….

more colorful things to buy

rocks? Need a car to bring these home.

Food for Ascension Cafe-delicious vegan blueberry pie.  Local, organic, vegan.

Tucson reminds me of Boulder, Madison, same hippie element….

Walking stick anyone?

more colors….

On the plane, on the way home...

Another creative project, working on a travel journal.  Collage made from old prints I made in a Monotype Workshop, many moons ago.

Finishing up income taxes, inputting inventory purchased in Tucson--time to make jewelry!  Also working on some clay pieces for the upcoming Colorado Potters Show.  One small step at a time! Ciao!

Happiest of New Years!

Wow! 2014 is here already, in fact over half of the month of January is gone.  I had a slight trip-up on New Year's Eve day.  I stepped on my dear cat, Meka, and broke my ankle.  She's fine, and I'm in the process of healing.  No cast, just a compression bandage and a walking boot.  And crutches, or a walker, (thanks Barb!)  I've never broken a bone, so I am figuring out this is painful, and as an active person--a pain in the neck!

In 2 weeks, I'll head back to Tucson, to look for stones, pearls, new chain--6 days of walking (ouch!) the shows, looking for interesting things to add to my work.  

Also, two galleries where I show work in closed this month, L.A. Coppersmith in Louisville, and Creator Mundi, in Cherry Creek North.  Creator Mundi will become an on-line store, and hopefully the space where L.A. Coppersmith occupied will find a new owner.

January always begins new challenges for me, taxes, sales & income; the after the holiday slump--now what to do??  On the creative side, I am enjoying being a part of a Quantity Drawing group on Facebook, we are attempting to draw each day of the year.  And believe me, I am not great at drawing, so it is a challenge for me.   A friend and I tried a new (to us) printmaking plate, Gelli Arts Gel Printing Plate.  It was fun and challenging, since neither of us had made monoprints in quite a while.

Last Day of the Arvada Fine Art Market

Tomorrow, Sunday December 22,  is the last day that the Fine Art Market will be open at the Arvada Center.  Great gifts abound in the Gallery and if you go upstairs the ACES Ceramics show also has gifts for your shopping pleasure.  Stop in if you are in the area.

I had a great year--thanks to all my customers, new & old for shopping with me--I truly love what I do and appreciate you all who appreciate hand made work.  I will be busy in the months ahead on taxes (ouch!), making my annual trip to Tucson and working on new designs for the new year--2014!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My Open House!

Today from 11am - 4pm is my holiday show & sale.  Stop in for gifts, food & fun.  I also have a collection of work at the Arvada Center Fine Art Market which runs through Sunday December 22. 

It's been a busy season--thanks  to all my loyal customers old and new!

Last Day of DPA and my Open House

Shop today until 3pm at the Sixth Avenue United Church (at Adams St).  My first time doing this show, there are an array of great holiday gifts.

My Open House starts this Friday at 3pm until 7pm.  Come by and have a Happy Shopping Hour!  Food, drinks, and shopping-what fun!  Or stop in Saturday from 11am - 4pm.  382 Cherry Street, Denver.

DPA Holiday Sale this weekend

Through Sunday, the Denver Potters Association is having their Holiday Sale at 6th Avenue United Church, at Adams St.  You can find lots of gift items, soaps, dips, glass, ceramics and of course----jewelry!  It is my first time participating in this fabulous show.  Stop in, there is street parking and you can't miss all the signs.  Shop through Sunday at 3pm.

Baby Doe's Clothing, Artisan Jewelry & Fine Craft

My work is featured this month at Baby Doe's, in downtown Golden.  They have a nice array of my earrings and necklaces , you can read about it in their Fall Newsletter.  The link:

http://www.babydoesclothing.com/site/

If you are on Facebook, here's a link to their page:

https://www.facebook.com/babydoesclothing

This Saturday November 30th is Small Business Saturday.  And Baby Doe's is offering this special.  On Saturday, November 30th, we’ll be offering buy-one-get-one-50%-off for any top and bottom combination that you buy.   If you need an outfit for the holidays, stop in. 

Also in Denver, my  jewelry collection is at Barbara & Co through Monday December 2nd.

Denver Potters Association Holiday Show & Sale

I have been invited to show my jewelry at the Denver Potters Association Holiday Show & Sale starting Thursday December 5th through Sunday December 8th, at the Sixth Avenue United Church, 3250 E. 6th Ave, near Cherry Creek North shopping area.  The hours are:

Thursday  Dec 5     3:00pm - 8:00pm
Friday     Dec 6     10:00am - 8:00pm
Saturday   Dec 7      9:00am - 6:00pm
Sunday    Dec 8      11:00am - 3:00pm

Thanks to all who shopped with me at Sami's yesterday, I enjoyed seeing all of you!

Sweeties

 

Jewelry Event at Barbara & Company

Barbara & Company, a great women’s clothing store on old South Gaylord is holding a Jewelry Event.  My work, CC Designs, along with Chan Luu, Escape from Paris & Mickey Lynn will be featured through Monday.  Stop in and have a look.

Also stop in this Sunday at Sami’s house,
7405 East Kenyon Avenue
Time:  11:00 am to 4:00 pm

Castle Clay Artists Show through Saturday

My jewelry is featured at the Castle Clay Artists Holiday Show & Sale,  in Golden until Saturday. It’s easy to find, off I-70 and Youngfield. I will be there tomorrow until 2:30, stop in and say hello.

My Home Show this year will be a week later, December 13 & 14, as I was asked to be in the Denver Potters Holiday Show & Sale.  The show is in the Sixth Avenue United Church, at 3250 E 6th Ave.  Dates: December 5, 6, 7, & 8.

I also dropped some new work off at Barbara & Co on Old South Gaylord Street.  They will be having a trunk show of jewelers on November 20th.  They have an amazing array of women’s clothing and of course, great accessories!

My Fall Schedule

 Boy–time flies–it’s already November and I’ve had a busy fall!  I should have my new website up and running soon-we are incorporating the blog and the site “all-in-one” if all goes well.  My old web site was hacked, somehow and the front page went missing.  I hired Jimmy Sellars to build a new site for me.  So look for that soon!

My fall schedule is as follows:

Colorado Potters Show & Sale
November 7, 8, & 9

Castle Clay Show & Sale
November 14, 15 & 16

Sami’s Home Sale
November 24

Denver Potters Assoc. Holiday Show & Sale
December 5, 6, & 7

Arvada Center Fine Art Market
December 12 through 22

My Holiday Show
Friday evening Dec 13th & Saturday Dec 14

American Trade Beads

I just finished setting this bead by Harold Williams Cooney, American Trade Beads.  His beads are amazing and I love the way this turned out.  I used a tube to set the bead, threaded the tubing and then put rubber washers and screws to keep it in place.  Fabricated with sterling silver. It is a stunning piece.  They also have a Facebook page, and sell on Etsy.

I just restocked at Evergreen Gallery, in downtown Evergreen, of course, and tomorrow Baby Does in Golden will have a new grouping of my work.  There are a few new pearls at Barbara & Co, on Old South Gaylord Street.  And next week I’ll have new work at Willow in Littleton.

And one last note, I will no longer have handmade jewelry in Creator Mundi.  We had quite a tenure, I found records from 2002.  It’s a wonderful inspirational gallery in Cherry Creek North.

Two Upcoming Shows

etched black agate in silver with pearl

I have two shows coming up, the Castle Clay Artists Sale in Golden, which opens this Thursday.  This is my first time doing this show, come and see what the Castle Clay Artists have in glass, jewelry, and ceramics.

Castle Clay Artists

First Unitarian Church, 14350 West 32nd Ave , Golden Colorado

April 25 10am – 7pm

April 26 10am – 7pm

April 27 9am – 3pm

The Colorado Potters Spring Show & Sale, opens next Thursday, May 2nd.  Come and see all the new work.

First Congregational Church, on the SW corner of Hampden and Colorado Blvd

May 2 4pm – 8pm                      May 3 9am – 8pm                May 4 9am – 5p

LA Coppersmith representing my work

I was asked to show my work in a cool gallery in downtown Louisville, LA Coppersmith, the address: 915 Walnut Street.  There is a great collection of jewelry, sculpture and art.  Angela Facciotti runs it and she makes amazing Copper Wall Sculpture.  They are always open on First Fridays and lots of the artists attend.  The gallery has a Facebook page.  Stop in when you are in Louisville.

Gallery Hours:

Wednesday: 12 – 5pm

Thursday 12 – 5pm

Friday 12- 6pm

Saturday 12 -5pm

Sunday 12 -4pm

Marching through Spring & Tucson

Where has the time gone? It seemed like a few days ago I was blogging in the New Year, soon after I returned from Tucson in early February and it’s mid March now!  Here’s my much belated update on my Gem Show trip:

Unpacking after my trip to Tucson made me think about how many miles I walked that week.  I’ll bet there is an app on my smart phone for that.  It’s unusual to be on your feet for 6 days straight from 10:00am until 7:00pm.  Granted the pace is slow, and the right walking shoe is paramount.  This year I counted 37 venues in the Tucson Show Guide, of which we visited 16.  Quite a few are termed, ‘mineral & fossil’ shows, and there are plenty of raw specimens, fossils, etc.  The African Art Village is a venue with art and beads.  The week is an amazing experience-very overwhelming and exhilarating too.  So hard to fall asleep each night, with visions of gems in my head swimming around.

Here’s a peek into some of the things we came across, and some of the food we enjoyed–all Mexican of course!  We did take one side trip to a few art galleries, where the Tucson Sculpture Festival was being shown. The Whistle Stop Depot, a reworked train depot along the  tracks at 127 West 5th Street, and the Sculpture Resource Center, 640 North Stone Ave. 

Whistle Depot was made almost entirely of re-purposed materials.  The main door came from an airplane. 

One wall is composed of toilet tops embedded in concrete. 

wall of toilet tops

The bathrooms were unique and had lots of metal and copper. 

Corrugated metal surround the mirrors. 

The sculpture exhibit featured  re-purposed art.  I apologize for not keeping a log of artists who were showing there! 

At the Sculpture Resource Center nearby the other half of the Tucson Sculpture Festival was happening.  Love this piece for all its texture!

This small gallery had an outside sculpture garden as well.

Back to the Whistle Stop Depot.  They had an entire orchestra made from metal–wish we could have heard the concert but did get a CD.

look inside this man....

We decided to try the infamous “Sonoran Hotdog”.  A culinary treat-a hotdog wrapped in bacon, in a unique bread ‘boat’ piled with fresh onions, grilled onions, beans, tomato, mayo, mustard, and jalapeno sauce.  Reminded me of a Pinks hotdog from the famous stand in Hollywood.

could probably call our culinary picks in Tucson the “best dives to get great food”.  They are not fancy, but they are really good.  They are full of locals.  Our last favorite we go back to each year is Mariscos Chihuahua, for a dish I’ve not had outside of Tucson called “Camerones Culichi”  I found a guy on youtube making it once, it’s cream and chiles blended into a wonderful sauce for seafood.  We did try it one other place years ago but it was not as good.

pulley systems repurposed to open door

corrugated mirror surrounds

We

did shorten our stay this year, as the more you shop–well, you know what I’m going to say–the more money you tend to spend! So once again, it was worth the trip, I found tons of new tools, beads, pearls, stones, etc. etc. to work with. 

orchestra made entirely of metal repurposed

Blogging in the New Year

Happy New Year!  Can you believe another year has blown by?  WordPress notified me that I have made 152 posts since starting my blog, and soon, my blog and web site will be integrated into one, and we will leave WordPress for a new destination. I will keep you posted on the transition–should be seamless.

Ten days have already past in the new year and the last four days I have been down with the flu.  Well, a version of the flu, without the fever & chills, but all the other bells & whistles.  I thought I’d have a huge dent made in my 2012 taxes by now.  Much of the beginning of the month was spent picking my jaw off the floor when I found out that the really old version of Quicken I use for my business expenses will not convert my data into a newer version.  I am mad!  I am furious!  I’ve been online with Intuit to tell them that they left some of us high & dry.  I realize I had an old version, really old, but for the Macintosh, they did not do a lot of updates.  I have spent countless hours online doing searches for “best accounting software for a small business”, “best bookkeeping software for a sole proprietor”, “best bookkeeping software for a jeweler”, best spreadsheet–anything!!  I refuse to purchase another Intuit product!!  Help!  I just had a thought, I’ll change my search to “best software for an artist”–maybe there is something creative out there.

Arvada Center Fine Art Market Show & Sale

I am participating in the Arvada Center 26th Annual Fine Art Market.  The opening reception is this Thursday, December 6th, from 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm.  The admission is free, and the show runs until 5:00pm on Sunday the 16th.  I walked through the show yesterday and the gallery is full of amazing original art, ceramics, glass, and of course, one-of-a-kind jewelry.  Stop in to find a unique gift for your special someone!

And also I want to thank all who came to my Open House last weekend.  I so appreciate the support of my loyal customers, and my new customers as well.  I’m thankful for all of you!

I also have work at Foothills Art Center in Golden until December 30th.  The center is  full of handmade gift items, worth the trip to beautiful Golden, the 30 minute vacation!  And the lights at night there are worth the trip.   Happy Holidays!