A Pleasant Surprise!

Puzzle

This morning I received a phone call from The Art Center of Estes Park. Apparently there had been a small glitch in their system and they wanted to let me know that another of my pieces had been accepted in their "Lines Into Shapes" show. My jewelry submission, Puzzle, pictured above was also accepted. You can imagine my delight!

You may remember Puzzle from a spring show that I did; it actually took first place in that show in the glass category. It has companion earrings that I will enter in their miniatures collection. The Art Center of Estes Park lets artists include miniature works, once one of their pieces has been accepted. Tonight I'm off to work on a small version of a bowl or plate to compliment my other piece, A Grove of Trees. Pictures to follow in another post.

Happy creating all!

Accepted ~ Lines Into Shapes Show 2009

A Grove of Trees

I am happy to announce that this piece, A Grove of Trees, has been accepted into The Lines Into Shapes Show at The Art Center of Estes Park in Estes Park, Colorado. In addition to that good news, Dan's photograph Rusting Winch (see below) has also been accepted.

Rusting Winch

This is an internationally juried show. I was fortunate to have one of my jewelry pieces accepted for last year's show. My friend, fellow artist, and blogger, Karen Phipps, purchased that piece, Asp-Zen Twigs.

The great news is both Dan & I will be in this show.

The opening reception will be from 5 PM to 7PM Friday, September 18th at the Art Center. It is located in Middle Stanley Village, 517 Big Thompson Avenue, Estes Park, CO. The show runs from September 18th through October 4. The Art Center is open daily from 10 AM to 5 PM. Any of you in the area are welcome to stop by and if you can make it for the opening reception, we would love to meet you.

Salida Riverside Arts Festival

Yesterday Dan & I traveled to Salida, Colorado for the first Riverside Arts Festival. It was a nice day, even though a few rain showers visited. There were 100 artists admitted to this juried show. My friend, mentor, and teacher, Lexi Erickson was there. It's the first of three shows she will be doing in the next 6 weeks. The following is a picture of Lexi talking with a customer in her booth. She's wearing one of her pieces, of course!

I saw some beautiful work and had an opportunity to meet some of the artists. Pam Caidin was there. Her metalwork jewelry designs/creations are just phenomenal. She's featured in the current issue of Lapidary Journal. We had a chance to visit and I discovered she was a member of Colorado Metalsmiths Association (CoMa) too. We discussed getting to know each other better at the upcoming meetings, which would be great.

Lexi introduced me to Harold O'Connor, her friend & mentor. Harold is an internationally known goldsmith and an extraordinarily gifted artist. It was great fun to finally meet him and I hope someday to take one of his workshops.

Fellow Coyote Creek Artist Cat Roberts was there with her beautiful watercolor paintings. We had a chance to talk and discussed the possibility of doing a trade of our respective works. I really enjoy doing that with other artists.

Salida is known for its artists and there is a definite charm to the city as reflected in the next couple of pictures that Dan took.



One of my favorites is of this building with the large stained glass sun in the circle window at the top.


Dan took this shot of me with some of the festival in the background. Who knows, maybe I'll apply to do the show next year? I'm wearing one of Lexi's pieces, of course!


Oh and I have a finished pendant on my other blog, it has one of my glass cabs as a center. Please stop by and take a look. Thanks!

May all of you have a wonderful week of creativity. Aspire to be more as an artist and person.

Not One Sparrow

Thanks to my friend, Tracey Clarke, I discovered a wonderful blog, Not One Sparrow and Ben DeVries. The mission of Not One Sparrow is to be a dedicated voice for animals in the Christian community.

Ben contacted me to discuss doing a feature about my work and how some of it relates to animals. He has honored and humbled me with this post about the special connection I share with dogs. I hope you will take a moment to visit Not One Sparrow and read the wonderful post Ben completed about me.

Arrow In The Forest

Arrow in the Forest
12" square

I finished piece this weekend. You may recall that I did a step by step on the construction of this piece in a May post.

Once I completed coldworking the edges of the plate it was ready for the next step...slumping.

The square sushi plate mold that I used for this piece is one of my favorites. The shape and the way it slopes when the slump is complete seems so elegant to me. I thought you might enjoy seeing the mold, shown in the picture below. The pink on it is the kiln wash that I've applied. This is a necessary step in the slumping process as the wash prevents the glass from sticking to the mold when it slumps.


This is how the fused blank looks as it sets on top of the mold, prior to being put in the kiln for slumping. Once the correct slumping temperature is reached, the glass 'drops', ok it slumps, into the mold and takes on the shape of the mold.



I used some of my favorite Bullseye glasses for this. I've become quite fond of the richness the mineral green opal shade. It lends itself so well as a compliment to the dark green streakie. And I had a lot of fun with the wine colored 'arrow' accented with yellow and clear glass.

Here's wishing all of you a great week of creativity.