Nimbus vs. Mt. Alyeska

Normally Girdwood is where hangovers are created, but this weekend Gird is where my hangover was nursed. Yes, my class reunion Friday night mixer was sooooo good that I wasn’t up to making the Saturday night reunion dinner. Kristen was in town for a day and between wanting to spend what little time we had with her and nursing my aching head from Snow Goose’s kick azz Vodka Cranberries…well you get the picture. There were almost 200 Dimond High School Class of 80' classmates (out of a class of over 450) who disco danced, laughed and dusted off the ol’ memory banks, a good time was had by most –including Daddy-O and I! Wow, am I out of shape –my forearms are still aching from dancing under the mirrored ball, my throat is sore from shouting and laughing and my poor tummy from all that

Cranberry juice… The small group picture is those of us who had gone to school together since our Willow Crest Elementary days –huge group that's still around, considering Alaska is a very transient state. The other picture is of Mike A., one of the reunion organizers, and I who have been friends since 5^th grade. Daddy-O was my chaperone and noted that as the evening wore on, my cheeks became the color of my Cranberry cocktails...

The USCGC Healy ended NASA’S Arctic Voyage 2010 in Seward and Kristen spent a couple days with us before heading up North to UAF Saturday night. What a fantastic and fascinating voyage she was able to experience, here is a link to the Icescape Blog that a fellow scientist from Stanford University kept. It was a treat to be able to see her during a break from her busy, busy summer.

Daddy-O took the amazing Nimbus up to the top of Mt. Alyeska this weekend then down the new Northface trail. He had planned to ride the tram down but it was LOADED with tourists and the smell of a big, wet dog didn’t seem fair to permeate the enclosed tram ride for visiting, out of state old folks. The rainy, cool and wet weekend had Gus, Tauzer and I choose to stay at the cabin and just relax with movies, books and hot food. I'll be hard at art making this afternoon though –lot’s of fun pieces to wrap up and new ones to make for Saturday’s Spenard Farmers Market. Sorry, I missed this Saturday's Market as a vendor, I promise we'll be there this coming Saturday. I’m refreshed and recharged and glad to have uncorked and gone a little wild –though it was a bit of the “Hot Tub Time Machine” having our daughter drive us to the reunion party Friday night shouting for us to “make good choices, don’t stay out too late and call me when you need a ride home!”

Food, Friends and Fun

So much for dropping any weight before my class reunion (Dimond High Class of 80) this weekend! Denny and Kay were visiting us from Chandler, AZ (they’re originally from Kansas City, MO). We enjoyed a full week of fun, family and FOOD! I think we ate our way through their visit, indulging every meal with plenty of beverages… We ate everything from fresh

grilled seafood on our BBQ from the Spenard Farmers Market to dining out on prime rib and pasta at the Glacier Brewhouse. Desserts at the Brewhouse are always a must –I LOVE their Crème Brulee, Daddy-O ate the Peanut Butter Pie, Kay had the Cheesecake Sundae but Denny opted for a dessert of another Old Fashioned!

Not to skip a day of good eating…Our friend Kristina invited us to a surprise birthday party last night for another friend of ours and

we dined on catered Japanese food from Dami Restaurant. Yum! That’s the beautiful Kristina pictured next to me (below, not the two dogs) –you can see my new haircut I got for the reunion in lieu of any weight loss. I thought about submitting a photo of Kristina to my class reunion committee instead of me in my Carhartts and welding helmet, but I didn’t want to disappoint the guys come Friday night at the pre-function mixer! Don’t worry Daddy-O and I have actually been keeping our figures quite trim with daily walkies (more like joggies) with the Amazing Nimbus! He continues to adjust to his new life in the great outdoors of Alaska and even got his first whiff of a moose last

night which is like doggie catnip! I finally fired up the new plasma cutter (Thermal Dynamics Cutmaster 52) this week too –WOW, now that’s POWER -I’m ready to cut out some FUN new steel work for the Market –right after I figure out what’s for dinner…

Keepin' It Fresh

One thing I’ve learned about selling at the weekly Spenard Farmers Market is that no two weekends have ever been the same! I know partly it has to do with the weather and the overall vendor energy of the Market but those other intangible things are a complete mystery. To help with a solid production schedule, I’d like to think by now I’d have a better idea of what was selling and what was not, but each weekend is completely different. The good news is my work is selling –whew! But I am completely mystified as to what triggers a certain sculpture's “buy me” radar! I had an outdoor sculpture that has been at my booth for three weeks and last Saturday FOUR completely different people wanted to buy that same sculpture! I’m not kidding –I almost left the piece at the house but decided to bring it because I kept thinking “you can’t sell what you don’t have out…” The customer who bought the sculpture happily pulled up in her cute VW and loaded it in the front seat. 5 minutes later a customer who had been by the Market that morning said I’d like to buy that flower sculpture now… Two other people came by later in the afternoon and asked “where did that beaded sculpture go, I wanted that for my garden?!” There has to be a word for this art phenomenon, if not we need to make one up! Then when we discover what triggers this, as artists’ we can collectively bottle it and sprinkle it on every piece we have for sale at every Market, Gallery, Fair or Show!

The Garden Raven Flags have also been a hit –I’ve had several people want to buy them on the internet but I’m not able to sell any of my work that way. I can hardly sew enough of the flags for my Market booth. HOWEVER(!) the Garden Raven Flag kits ARE AVAILABLE at The Quilted Raven! The kit includes 5 panels of individually silk screened Ravens (designed by me!) on beautiful, 100% cotton Batik. Call 907-278-3521 or visit The Quilted Raven's web site -they ship anywhere. My finished flags are using the kits and 1, 3 yard packet of Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape -easy-beezy, so if you want some garden flags give The Quilted Raven a call and sew up a very cool set. Maybe when I can get my retail act together I can look into being more sales efficient…not sure when that will ever happen though. Making the flags is just one part of the process and designing the inserts, printing them, packaging and pricing them is also necessary. To help boost sales I’ve also needed to pay better attention to keeping everything for sale at the Market booth looking fresh. A bright, happy, put-together booth has definitely brought me more customers. Wind and rain takes it’s toll on all of my tags and price stickers so I swap them each Saturday morning and fluff and primp all of the hanging baskets on the plant stands that are for sale. I keep my signage new and not tattered looking as well. There are plenty of my business cards and newspaper articles about my work on hand for my customers too. All of my pieces have a clear to read price sticker that can be easily removed if it’s a gift. I’ve learned that most customers don’t want to ask how much something is. My thinking is, if it’s not priced then it must not be for sale.

We were able to get a little Girdwood time in this weekend after the Market. Daddy-O needed to do some roof repair and general maintenance on the house, which also meant some much needed fresh air hiking on the mountain for all of us! The amazing Nimbus thinks Girdwood is pretty cool and Tauzer got to forage in the ferns on our property. She loves to find a dug out area and cool out -she freaked me out though because when I walked up near where she was laying I though it was a small Black Bear!

I Wanna

Spoiler alert- I’m (not) complaining. Are any of you finding it hard to make the time to follow all the Blogs you normally do in the winter? How can it be JULY

ALREADY?! I miss my slower winter routine, I miss reading all of the Clay Blogs and even a couple of cranky-chicky-complainer Blogs I secretly follow. I want to make more time for clay, encaustics, lounging on the deck reading trashy chick-lit, hiking up Mt. Alyeska, fly fishing, or even going to a mid-day movie with Gus…waaah, waah, waa. There are so many fun things we’re packing into our summer days that it leaves little time for me to do my other routine fun stuff! We finally got the fabric screened and cut for the cool, new Raven Garden Flag project I’ve been

collaborating with Jana at The Quilted Raven! Wow, this has been more of a project than both of us anticipated. The goal is to have kits at her quilt shop and finished sets for sale at my Spenard Farmers Market booth. The very talented Judy Walyer sewed up a fantastic sample set for the quilt shop and now I need to design the full color insert for the retail kits. My summer schedule has left very little time for being at my computer and combine that with the fact that my graphic designer brain has been on hiatus, this project is what I needed for a good kick-start.

Nimbus has been adjusting beautifully to his new home and schedule –though it’s meant some MAJOR changes in our family routine. More exercise for Daddy-O and I, a new jog-bra for me(!) and keeping the Bunny in his cage more… Bunny

Foo-Foo used to free-range in the studio but for his sake, no more unlimited free-ranging. This is working out good for everyone including bunny. He has started to get a little kooky in his senior moments and has been doing weird things so a little more kennel time is good. Our crazy rabbit is over 11 years old, which is considered geriatric by bunny standards and he’s still going strong. Derek says it’s because of all the organic veggies I feed him… We’re just saying his new arrangement is like spending more time safely in “his retirement condo.” When we run Nimbus outside, Bunny Foo-Foo gets his inside exercise too, I’ve just had to make myself a little reminder that the rabbit bait is loose in the studio before Nimbus heads inside…

From Portland to Alaska With Love

Hard to believe there aren’t any sparks in my shop with 4^th of July here! I actually unplugged this week –well if you don’t count the electric griddle and Encaustic pan that Katie had set up for us to do some art making! Wow, what fun mixing it up a bit this week with creating. I’ve needed to get re-inspired to work on a couple of new sculptures and had to take a breather from my heavy production

schedule. I felt the burn-out flame wisps nipping at my butt… not good. So, when I went over to Katie’s for a little chick visit she was heavily into an Encaustic series for a Show she has opening tonight at her Studio for First Friday. I’d never done Encaustic’s before and after a quick primer I dove right in and made a couple of pieces. It’s much harder than it looks but I’ve always loved and admired the medium. For my birthday last year, Daddy-O bought me a large, Sheary Clough Suiter Encaustic work that the whole family loves. After painting with encaustics at Katie’s, I do look at Sheary’s work with additional appreciation now! Here is a link where Sheary gives a good demonstration of the medium and process.

OK, the BIG NEWS is on Wednesday I got to fly down to Portlan

d (and back that night) to pick up the newest member of our family! Meet “Nimbus” the 6 year old, male, Giant Schnauzer. For the last year or so we had been waiting on the placement list with Valley of the Sun Giant Schnauzer Rescue looking for another Giant -and a couple of weeks ago I got the call! “Nimbus” comes to us from a very loving couple in Oregon who faced with a serious illness, had to make the most difficult decision to re-home him. We are grateful to all of the loving and dedicated volunteers who make rescue, placement and adoption possible! “Nimbus” is adjusting better than we could have hoped for and seems to enjoy the “wilds” of Anchorage so far. At just over 100 pounds he makes our “Tauzer” seem even more petite but they are bonding and she has no problem showing him the great outdoors of Alaska. While the dogs and I continue to adjust, our Holiday plans include being at our booth at the Spenard Farmers Market tomorrow from 10-3, then Daddy-O and Gus are going to get some fishing in at a friends lodge. Have a safe and happy 4^th of July!