Meet Our Newest Neighbor

Our cool, new neighbor is named “Candle,” and he’s a big Ibizan Hound whose owner recently moved to Anchorage. I enjoy seeing Candle out on his walks because he’s so graceful and deer-like at the end of his lead. Though his coat is very wiry and feels much like a goat, his ears are rabbit-smooth soft that stand tall and his eyes are a beautiful golden color. I’d never heard of an Ibizan before I met “Candle” but learned that they are very common in Spain.

I called my friend Katie yesterday to see if she wanted to meet for a quick coffee before I started welding.

When she answered her i-phone out of breath, I asked what she was up to… She was setting up for the Alaska Women’s

Show –WHAT?! Yes, I think Katie must be one of the hardest working artists/business owners I know. She had two booths at the Show all this weekend, one for Katie Sevigny Studio and one for the other Gallery, The Fiddlehead. I hadn’t been to the Alaska Women’s Show

since I think before Gus was born. I swear, sometimes I can be so out of it –I mean who would have thought sales at the Women’s Show would be off the chart for selling art?! Katie did. She’s had great success with the event before and is working her tail off through Sunday. I made Gus go down with me to see her and see if there was anything I could bring her. The place was SLAMMED! Free admission and free parking probably contributed the masses of females killing time on a Saturday but it was beyond busy, and this

wasn’t the only big event today. There was also over 6,000 people(!) registered to run the Alaska Heart Run 5k AND Alyeska Resort’s Slush Cup Spring Carnival. Sometimes I wonder how I can be so out of touch. I could not believe all the different vendors hawking everything from cosmetics, back rubs, jewelry, health food supplements, OB-GYN services to mops and chef knives -but mainly I couldn't believe how many women were there BUYING!

My latest sculpture (though not yet taking the place of the Steel Wool) is Crescent Moon playing the Sax. This old Saxophone was given to me by another artist a few years ago. He had good intentions of making something out

of it but after collecting dust in his studio for a few years, he gifted the Sax to me. But before I welded it to Mr. Moon I took it down to my friend who owns the Horn Doctor to make sure this wouldn’t be an episode of Antiques Road Show gone bad by de-valuing a priceless vintage Sax! All was clear and I got the go-ahead to up-cycle the instrument –actually the exact words were “yeah, better to use it in art than the scrap heap” which I thought was kind of sad. I love vintage musical instruments and keep an eye out for good deals at my favorite Thift Store, but they are usually way overpriced. The sculpture needs to weather and patina a bit more but I think may add some good jazz tunes to a garden.