early spring
Things are changing as the sun makes its annual journey to the top of the sky... bright spots emerge. In some cases, you'd need to take a close look but the moment is worthwhile. Small, vibrant reasons to be in the world, not far at all from many doorsteps.
very february
pale lights of early winter... listed in the shop page.
give a little bit
of your time, the song says... to be clear, Supertramp has not endorsed me ;) but I wholeheartedly endorse them. *There's so much that we need to share So send a smile and show you care* Give this timeless tune a listen one more time, you'll feel better. Rodger...
catch a falling star
A few little Perseid rings found very good homes this winter :) but there may be a couple who were visiting the Rockland Art Center coming to the virtual shop soon. Who can tell when they fall from the sky. Maybe that teeny heart standing on his tippy toes will see...
lady in waiting
Waiting a very long time... almost ready for firing. Hollow build terracotta.
holiday look back
thankful
Warm moments in a chilly world...
light
This must be how moles feel... I'm used to the dark in my old subterranean workshop lair. But there's windows all across the room here and my eyes need to adjust. Still a bit rough, a mudroom where the far corner walls are comprised of the original exterior in this...
tiny harvest: first fig…
... and faded flowers as the garden shifts.
fall garden
details... details...
rooting
I've packed up. The forget-me-nots, the slate bench, the little seedhouse. Bird baths, coneflowers, even the mint- every kind. The fig tree! My scrappy stoop pine with the long needles and the ginko, oh so very patiently they waited for years to stretch their roots...
late spring notes
healing hearts
Milagros for my valentines this year :) cut copper foil & painted.
sweet heart
So, February is in the rear view mirror but there was a little valentinig around here...
Holiday 2018 look back
I've had some long in the work changes to the site (yay!!) but lost this holiday post in the mix. So, a tiny bit of Christmas still lingering here. Better start dreaming up next time!
Winter in the works
from the bench!
From the bench
...little bit of this and that going on, some comps for a 2 stone project and lots of little details in every state of undone around here! These rings feel like armor, pretty useful these days :)
High summer
Sultry garden days, watch out or you'll loose your seat to the locals... that last picture sums up the state of things out there ;)
Summer, celebrate
Just back from a visit with Alice, and she’s an inspiration. I’m wandering in the woods when it comes to this virtual life, but we had a nice chat about re-posting on Instagram and how that works. So since Alice was loving these little pearl rings, I’ll be giving one...
Summer is coming…
Summery snaps from the patio and the bench, almost solstice.
Late spring snaps
A tiny peek at how spring is shaping up around here :)
New in the works!
is it spring yet? new things growing :)
Sweet Day
Be sweet!
Valentines!
It's time!
Reflections
January, month of doorways, comes to close. Reflecting on portals, it seems that second-hand mirrors proliferate around here. I've taken a survey and they stare back at me from almost everywhere. Very few dollars can provide such a vista. A tiny white elephant sale at...
Peace is a ladybug
How to start New Year's day: find in inbox this drawing sent by a delightful customer whose daughter is wise beyond her years. Proceed accordingly. Drawing by Stella Blue. A very Happy New Year to John, Kathy & Stella :) with thanks.
Holiday house
Just a few favorite holiday moments
Winter solstice
Only a few days left, everything is a blur. I step out from the kitchen, warm and scented with lemon, rosemary, chocolate and spice. The early night air feels sharp, the chill jarring after the whirl of warm baking sheets and sugary smudges. Bundled up with packages...
Sparkly season
Christmas wishes on the way :)
Thankfulness giveaway – 2017
Last year I had fun sending out a pretty fall leaf to one lucky gal, so much so that I am at it again this fall season. It's a gesture of thanks for the lovely comments, feedback & support I receive through the year. Those words of encouragement mean a lot! ...
Bounty
and so it begins :)
Falling
Not yet
Holding on to the last of the summer days...
High summer snaps
Just a few snippets from around here this summer!
Midsummer passion
Flower that is. Long a summer favorite of mine, and giving this a go has on my 'to-do' list for ages. Cross that off. All hand-fabricated, large passion flower and vine jointed bracelet in sterling silver with amethyst center stone. price on request. Midsummer note:...
Summer garden
It's just getting started.
Positively peony
Each year the ephemeral peony is again wondrous and one of a kind. Even lovely in the end as a memory of their former beauty.
Bespoke summer
Sure feels like summer today, complete with tiny bespoke sunflower, ready to go. I better get to work on my listings for this little flowers big brothers (see a sample in the background) before summer arrives for real!
Summer song
Trailing chimes bracelet, recycled from silverplate flatware handles, with handmade bangle & chain, gem embellished.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
France rejects LePen and her right-wing populist tide -Washington Post Whew.
Class sketches, spring
Back to class, good to be back in the moment.
Spring snaps
Earth Day 2017, a day for science
This year Earth Day takes on a special meaning. I'm supporting science. Truth. It's pretty simple. Everyday is Earth Day. Everyday deserves the truth. That's what lives here.
Charmed life
Spring brings tiny charms... more to come!
Spring cleaning
I'll have some virtual spring cleaning going on behind the scenes at my website for a couple of weeks... updates in the works!
Sweet
heart-flies
Heart smith
Dickens (Jacob Marley's ghost, from Scrooge): I wear the chain I forged in life. Not such a bad idea, I say. Happy Valentines Day!
Valentines
On the way to my Valentines... happy hearts are on the fly!
Coleus leaves, from my potted garden
Small hand cut coleus shapes make for graphic harbingers of spring. Find these pretty pieces at the Store at MAM, Montclair Art Museum, and take in the new show featuring the influence of Matisse. Can you tell he's my fav?
Thanks Mary
It had to be about 25 years ago, a (soon to be lifelong) friend stopped in to see my new apartment, handed me this A. I didn't get it at first, then she says something like: 'It's your own place, you need your letter, like Mary!' She'd gone to some hardware store or...
Be a superhero
No going back on civil rights!! Women's march today for all!
White on white
Working on some cut paper illustration, based on paper patterns from my butterfly year. Still fluttering, I suppose.
Secret lives
Last season's geraniums owe their life to this antique volume. Every year I dread the task of pulling out the potted gardens and tossing away the plants I can't squeeze onto the windowsill or rationalize the possibility of overwintering. When a friend loaned me this...
Happy, new
Ginger cake, starry night sky, glasses raised.
12.16: butterfly project
The last butterfly of 2016! This one is precis octavia, or the gaudy commodore. And for Christmas, I attached a big one to a chunky hand fabricated charm bracelet hung with and old collection of noir-like black coral branches, vintage mexican silver buttons, and a...
About trees
(last weekend) It's much too late and the midnight air is crisp, almost sharp when you breathe. Time has gone so quickly and tomorrow it will snow, with rain and fog and all that to follow for days so it's got to come in tonight, no question. It's still full of...
Recipe revision!
I made my first gingerbread of the season, and grabbed the recipe card I hand out instead of going to my original copy... well, I thought I made a big mistake! I listed 1 teaspoon of ground cloves, but I thought it should be 1/4 or 1/2. But it actually was 1...
11.16: butterfly project
Time for the November butterfly (see calendar page at the end). It's my favorite... blue morpho (the photo in the middle is from a visit to a butterfly habitat a few years back). This time of year I'm up to my eyeballs in metal everywhere, so change of pace - this...
Thankfulness giveaway! Double maple!
I love maple: the candy (super yum), the brilliant fall leaves drifting through my garden and crunching underfoot, the cooling shade in the way back of the yard on a high summer afternoon. I hope you do, too. With gratitude for your time, your attention, your...
New works, fall 2016
Studio is cranking, elves at work.
Escape to drawing
It's been a stressful fall, no denying it. And more stress to come. So, a day off in the drawing studio does a world of good. Everything else falls away, just you and the paper. Note to self: more of this.
Wintering
Tonight the wind is howling, the last of the fall colors swirling into knee deep drifts of crisp confetti against the garden gate. But it's ok, we've hunkered down, everyone that's coming in is tucked - the last burst of geranium admired on the mantle, and the usual...
Come into my parlor
Happy Halloween goblins... trick or treat!
10.16: butterfly project
October butterfly: heliconius, a widespread genus with a passion for passion flower and batesian mimicry, where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species as a defense mechanism. Clever. Mine has a sizable antique peridot...
9.16: butterfly project
The September butterfly is the eastern tiger swallowtail, papilio glaucus, one I spent a lot of time with this year. It's featured on my summer magnet! Much drawing and fussing over this particular critter ensued. So for right now, no metal... my drawings will have...
Howl
The seasons turn the corner tomorrow, but the harvest moon rose last week in a still sultry summer sky. It's enough to make one forget to howl.
8.16: butterfly project
This month was the buckeye butterfly, Junonia coenia (see the calendar photo at the end of the post). I’ve drew a super simple, graphic representation of the bold coloration of the species and two fluttered off my bench. August will soon be a memory... butterflies...
Lush life
From this summer’s potted garden.
7.16: butterfly project
The July butterfly is the red-spot jezebel... see the calendar page photo for my 2016 butterfly project (one butterfly each month as they appear on the calendar. Mine perches sideways in copper and silver on a delicate silver band, size 8. High summer is underway,...
6.16: butterfly project
This month, the butterfly on my calander (below) is one I've already spent a lot of time with... the monarch. So, I’ve been working on restoring some of these wings to my inventory and will be adding some of these missing pieces to my etsy shop & online store this...
Sweet solstice
Longest day of the year, summer arrives. Tonight, the fireflies will wink under a full Strawberry moon. The solstice and the strawberry moon last coincided in 1967, the ‘summer of love’. The Strawberry moon is said to be a time to seek forgiveness, as sweetness...
Pop up this Saturday!
Chances are…
The local church is holding their annual carnival this weekend... I've added to the prize table loot with a mini-collection of summery bead earrings in white coral, rhodochrosite (pink), and amethyst (purple), $66.00 value tucked in a little terracotta pot. But...
Irrational exuberance
oh, you are such divas.
5.16: butterfly project
Purple spotted swallowtail butterfly (Graphium weiskei), May 2016. (The butterfly project is one butterfly per month following my 2016 calander-see the photo at the end of the post.) This month, earrings! Happy unofficial summer! Look for butterflies!
My_Tiny_Art_Stand
Exciting news! My young friend next door has a brand new project... My_Tiny_Art_Stand! As described by the artist: The Person Who Made The Art Come one come all... We are proud to present My Tiny Art Stand!! It's a tiny homemade pop-up that shows up like a bright...
4.16: butterfly project
Drumroll.. the April butterfly of the month is the orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines). Scroll to see the calendar photo. (My 2016 butterfly project is one butterfly per month following this calendar) Delicate silver webbed wings with copper wing tips. Inset to the...
Pink moon
Tonight is the full pink moon of spring, my very own personal holiday. I'm celebrating with this one-off, peachy-pink moonstone bracelet over in my etsy shop. Howl accordingly. Stay on the path.
Earth day 2016
Today in the garden :)
Small blessings
Paper in bloom
I wanted to make some paper flowers for a display and found this very nice free template & instructions to try at the elli blog... it works!
3.2016: butterfly project
Last day of March... here is the March butterfly (butterfly a month based on my 2016 calendar of butterfly photos). So, this month the calendar shows another european peacock butterfly... the same species in the Jan photo (see that post here). Who edits this thing...
Dessert first
Happy Easter!
Rabbit, oh, rabbit…
I could use some assistance. Have you seen that rabbit? Find the little chickens on Ann Wood's site if you don't quite have enough to do. It's an adaptation for one of her clever patterns, and she has a 25% coupon on offer through the end of March. Who does not need a...
Jupiter, tonight, like now
Glancing towards the eastern sky tonight, something striking, unusual. So I checked at my fav sky site, EarthSky.org, and yes! Jupiter in the eastern sky slightly above the full worm moon. I swiped their diagram to show you, which I hope is ok since I'm fully...
Welcome spring
It's here! My window sill concurs.
Butterfly flock
This little flock is not part of my 2016 butterfly project, I'm just catching up. ;)
Rock candy
Spring sweets!
Loose ends
There's always a thing or 3 kicking around here from back in the day. I figure sooner or later it all falls into place. This week one of our long ago friends stopped in to look at a special something for a special somebody. We're catching up - she’s moved, I’ve lost...
2.16: butterfly project
February's butterfly is the Rice Paper Butterfly (my 2016 butterfly project: 12 months of butterflies based on my wall calendar, a giveaway from the Paralyzed Veterans charity). Just how this one will be worn is TBD... but I can think about that for a while yet, the...
Happy Valentines!
Secret admirer: valentines 2016
Carnivale and Valentines Day collide! It’s Fat Tuesday! Break out the beads and find a guide for making your very own artigiano carnivale-valentine mask here.
Everything looks better in snow
1.16: butterfly project
Artists make up these wacky projects to get themselves to do things, often they are personal challenges throughout the course of a given year. I've not been so inclined. But this year I've tripped over one. I happen to have a calendar of 12 months of butterflies....
Whew!
No shoveling this weekend!
Seek and find
Finally in the grip of old man winter, it's time to dream about a day at the beach and the unexpected treasures of said day. Good things come to those who walk slowly and look down. There could be a resolution in that. ;)
Happy, new
Find the recipe for this unusual gingerbread cake at smitten kitchen. It must be the Guiness... Happy New Year!
Keep Christmas all the year
Warm
It's just the beginning. ;)
Winter’s tale
Funny how things come back to you, things you think are past. Folks around here may remember, way back when there were a few more trees and a lot less traffic and kids rode bikes around town after school without ‘play dates’. The old shop windows at my dad's place...
