Majestic Heart ~~ Symbols of Love

Another Heart from my Symbols of Love series. This one is fairly large, with some dichroic inclusions. I added one of my last heart shaped leaf bails to it. It looked so regal to me that I called it Majestic Heart. It's number 20 in the series and is available through Second Street Art Market.

I plan on making more hearts this weekend, in the main color pallet and some of my new colors too. I have some new ideas for other pendants and will do a few of those as prototypes to see how they turn out.

Symbols of Love ~~ New Colors

Here are a couple of the new colors in my Symbols of Love Series. I call the green one, Heart of the Forest. It has an emerald green inclusion and I thought the heart shaped leaf bail fit nicely.









The next one I call True Blue Heart. This is a rich, deep blue, with a few more dichroic inclusions. I wire wrapped this and added complimentary colored Swarovski crystals.







Another shade of blue, this one a little more subtle, called Steadfast Heart.










And this is a lovely shade of lavender. One of the new shades from Bullseye Glass this year. It's very rich looking and the picture just doesn't do it justice. I called this one, Heart's Desire.

All of these went to Second Street Art Market today. I hope they will be well received as I enjoy making them.



My plan is to add more colors, depending on the response to these. In the meantime, I will continue to work with the original red/pink glass as I think those hearts are wonderful.

I'd love to know your thoughts on the new colors... Do you like them? Stick with the originals? I appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

An Evening at Second Street

Yesterday, I asked my husband out on a 'date' for tonight! We went to the Wine Bar at Second Street Art Market, where I'm represented, to listen to a new musical artist and enjoy some beer and wine. The people at Second Street are so wonderful; it was great to catch up with them.

What a nice evening. And a wonderful way to end the work week after returning from our vacation last week. We enjoyed the music and mingling with the people there. I happened to meet a delightful lady from Dekalb, IL and it was fun to discuss our experiences of living in Illinois. She wants to move to Colorado at some point, and who can blame her? She loves the mountains as I do.

Dan and I had a great conversation about his latest idea... a year in the life. Those portraits will be like a photo contact sheet....he wants to do one of me with my glass work and others in a humorous vein. I can't wait to see how his ideas evolve.

As for me, it's back to the studio tomorrow to work on finishing up a current project and multi-task working on other things too.

Things Happen for a Reason

Those of you who know me well, know that I firmly believe things happen for a reason. We may not understand why when certain events are taking place, but ultimately, it becomes clear.

So many good, wonderful things have been happening for me with the response to my work. A fellow artist recommended that I submit my work to an online art wholesaler, which I did. It's been a learning experience and has helped me to grow. My submission went to the jury last Friday and yesterday I received the results. I wasn't accepted and that's ok. The jurors were very encouraging about where I am with my fused work right now, but I need to continue to develop my style in order to stand out from other fused glass artists. Deep down I know this is true and I've been working really hard the last couple of months to come up with ways to make my fused work more distinctive.

I have no arguments with their evaluations. In fact, I'm grateful to them and I'm actually relieved. Yep, relieved. When I submitted my work last week, I have to say it was with a good deal of trepidation, because I was concerned that if I was accepted I may actually have trouble keeping up with orders....if they came in with any volume at all. Remember, I'm a geek by day with a full time job in the corporate world, and artist by nights and weekends. I don't have a lot of spare time. While it would be great to deal with the problem of so many orders to fill, I think I'd rather ease into that situation gradually.

My loyalty belongs to Heather at Second Street who first gave me an opportunity to be in a gallery. I cannot and will not let her down.

My dear husband and soul mate sees this as a good thing too. Now I can approach other galleries, maybe in the mountain communities, Denver, or Santa Fe. If/when I'm accepted at another gallery, let's see how well I can keep up with the demand with two galleries, then move on to three, etc. Plus who knows what the exposure in Estes Park and Denver will do for me with those upcoming shows?

So I am learning from this experience. I've been exposed to how to present, prepare your work for jury review...I can do better. And a bonus for me is I had a couple of new ideas pop in my head this morning for things I want to create. I'm still working on things for the Glass at the Gardens show. I'm busy and most of all I'm happy.

Yes, trust me, things happen for a reason.........

Surprise Celebration

I was working on another entry for the Glass at the Gardens show last night when the phone rang. It was Jessica from Second Street Art Market. They were having a celebration and wondered if I could come by. Dan & I were just about ready to eat supper and we decided it would be a fun, spur of the moment thing to do.

When we arrived, it was wonderful to see that guitarist, Clay Canfield, was performing again. The celebration was for the gallery's second highest month in sales to date. How wonderful.

An added bonus for me was being introduced to some delightful ladies from Wyoming who had purchased my pendants. One of them phoned a friend and sent her a photo on another one. The friend loved it, and she purchased that one for her while I was there. The pendant she purchased was titled "Heavenly"; here's a picture of it.


Heather, the gallery owner, opened one of her favorite bottles of wine and shared with all of us. What a fun evening.

So, remember, if you ever receive an invite on the spur of the moment for a celebration, by all means, accept it!