Twigs & Leaves

The music was playing, the kids ate pizza and were watching Iron Man 2, ladders were busy, artwork was being hung, pottery was being unwrapped and color was everywhere! We got the cash wrap installed last night at my friend Katie Sevigny’s new Gallery space and it looked great. I'll try and get a better picture when the activity is a bit calmer!

To achieve the finish I wanted on the background panels I first use an orbital sander and evenly hand sand the entire

area. Next, I have a disc sander that I use on my drill, creating circular patterns. Before I weld the steel branches in place, I take a grinder and create long, fluid, sweeping grinder lines over the entire surface. The largest front panel was so long that I had to lay out my design and spot weld on the shop floor so it wouldn’t bow and flex unevenly. After

the layout was spot welded, I could put the entire 10’ strip up on my work table using a couple of extra metal saw horses and finish weld the branches and leaves. It was an easy install thanks to my sweetie and I wasn’t sweating the fit since I had pre fit all of the pieces on Friday. I had 3 pieces of galvi custom cut then embellished all three panels with a Twig & Leaf design. I chose the motif and purposely kept it unpainted to compliment the varied work that will be in the Gallery. I designed the branches and leaves to flow to the right and to pull the customer into the space.

I couldn’t believe the transformation since Friday when I “sailed” into the Gallery to test-fit the counter wrap.

WOW! The artwork is so original and Katie has some incredible new artists lined up. We even saw our friend Dawn Gerety last night who was prepping some large canvas paintings at the new Gallery and AK Starfish Company was scheduled to come today and merchandise an area. That's Katie's sister on the ladder hanging an original Duke Russell -Derek and I have our eye on a couple of his pieces we saw last night... Fresh, bright, happy and a good energy, were just some of the words Daddy-O and I kept saying on the way home last night. Daddy-O helped me mount the galvanized metal panels on Katie’s sales counter. Over the weekend Katie had a crew on hand to move all of the artwork from her old space on 4^th Avenue, East, up to the new space right next door to Cake Studio Bakery and the 4^th Avenue Theater.

I know if I’m ready for the party and grand opening on Friday night I can’t imagine how ready Katie is!!

Me and Katie last night. Katie-girl deserves a pARTy!

Look what the wind storm on Friday blew from one of our huge Spruce trees -a little gift to me!

Status Report

Anchorage is earthquake country and this state was a rockin’ this week! The temblor at 4:00 am this morning was a 5.4 magnitude that woke us up and the earthquake on Tuesday was 4.9 but located just 15 miles north of Anchorage –making that one feel much stronger. Tuesday I was meeting with my friend Ann C. about my new pattern designs at the Midtown Kaladi Brothers Coffee and we thought a huge semi truck had hit the building when the earthquake struck. The guy next to us lost his fresh, HOT, Americano all over his wrist! We are all fine but my pets have been on high alert –especially Bunny Foo-Foo who just may wear out his thumping leg! My meeting with Ann was to give her a proof set of my new Quilted Wall Art Patterns I have designed to be “pattern tested” by a group of talented and experienced quilters she recruited. Ann has been so valuable helping me to transform the designs into a list of materials needed as well as the difficult part of writing and editing the instructions. For me, the design part has been fun and fairly easy but writing the step-by-step instructions was very difficult, especially to boil the process down to be easy to read, concise and accurate. Ann says I’m what you would call an “intuitive quilter.” I know what I like and I figure out how to do something by working backwards –as I told her when she admired my “partial seam” borders on “Raven Says Hello!” I’d never heard of the common term “partial seam" but I knew

what I liked for that pattern and just figured out how to sew the background. Explaining how to do that never occurred to me –though essential in pattern designs! For now the first five patterns I designed are all in the hands of my pattern testers.

Hopefully, if all goes well I’ll get their input and edits, make the revisions and off to the wholesale market they’ll go by the Holiday!

In NC the Clay and Blogs Show opens Friday! My piece was shipped and waiting for the opening. In Anchorage, Katie’s new Gallery space is on track and scheduled to open next Friday also for an October First Friday Grand opening. She’s got the band lined up, furniture installed and artwork starting to be delivered and moved. My boys were there last week installing her very cool art hanging system. In addition to some new wall sculptures I’m working on, I’m finishing an original counter wrap for her. I’ve got the metal custom cut and I’ll be welding ornamental leaves and branches on it and installing on Monday. I nearly caused a

major news event yesterday though as 50+ mile an hour winds whipped through Anchorage, and of course that was the day I needed to fit the 10 foot piece of metal on the counter. Getting the huge hunk of metal from the back of my truck across the sidewalk and into the Gallery turned the metal into a shiny galvanized SAIL! My finger tips bent backwards and holding on for dear life, the lunch crowd inside Cake Studio next door were treated to the sight of woman vs. metal and WONDER MAMA prevailed –though today, all my fingers are killing me but at least my pride is in tact –and so are Katie’s new windows!

Taming Giant Cat Mint

My friend Jana offered me a design challenge. I love a good challenge, especially when it involves two of my favorite things, art & gardening. Jana needed to artfully tame her perennial Giant Cat Mint. She currently used 7’ garden stakes and twine to keep the tall plants upright, especially after a heavy rain. Because her kitchen bay window looks out onto her the garden area where the Cat Mint grows, she wanted something more permanent that would be artful enough for year round installation and she could hang small white lights on during the dark, snowy winter months. I decided on using panels of concrete mesh with hand bent, welded round stock. I welded reinforced upside

down, u-shaped rebar on the bottom of the free standing “trellis-style” panels for sturdiness. I came up with the idea of using a series of bamboo poles skewered through the grid to restrain the towering plants. The bamboo can be skewered up the grid as the plants grow throughout the summer and removed after the plants are cut back in the fall. Jana loved the panels and so did I. I think I’ll make a couple for myself and plant some climbers next season.

xOx

On Tuesday, I was flattered to be nominated for a “Life Is Good Award” by Linda Starr. What I like about Blogger awards is by being recognized

with others helps widen my circle of routinely read Blogs and it’s an opportunity to learn about other people and their interests or even learn more about existing Blog friends. Seeing images of where people live and work around the world is my favorite part, or if even for a moment, it takes me out of my own zone of 99503.

Before I can accept this award, I must answer the 10 questions below and pass the award and questions on to six fellow bloggers.

1. If you Blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?

I’ve never been anonymous. Anonymity is not for the brave and I’m working on being braver.

2. Describe one incident which shows your inner stubborn side

My stubborn side is not so "inner"...I’m sure my husband and kids could answer this better than I.

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the face in the mirror?

I’m surprised that I look older than I feel and I should probably wear makeup.

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

Mikes Hard Limeade

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

Go to a bookstore or eat Tamales.

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

There are so many things but near the top would be find a free a PhD program to pursue and be a cake decorator.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school? Describe who you were if not one of these.

The class clown who ditched to go skiing.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?

Holding each of my 3 kids right after they were born.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your Blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

It’s easy for me to share using filters.

10. If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

READ!

I'm passing this award on to these fellow Bloggers who celebrate life in their own way. My days are virtually traveled and more entertaining because of the words and images of these fellow Bloggers. Please visit these Blogs, they're a good read and all for different reasons. Thanks to Linda, my "friend across the miles" for your insightful and talented writing of Blue Starr Gallery Blog in FL and for nominating my Blog for this award. In no particular order here are my six picks:

Ang -Ang Design Blog

Linda -Linda's Bees

Hollis - Hatchville Pottery

Jen -The Amazing Trips

Jim -Sofia's Dad's Pots

Judy -Painted Threads

To accept the award you must answer the 10 questions and nominate six other bloggers. Go ahead spread the winnings –life is good.

Clay and Blogs: Telling A Story

I shipped my clay piece to North Carolina yesterday for the Clay & Blogs Show. As I was boxing and bubble wrapping, at the last minute I swapped out what I was going to send for the piece pictured above. The wall tile is one of my most favorite pieces that I was saving for myself. The sgraffito illustration shows how my heart feels about working in clay. This was a bittersweet moment. A couple of years ago at this time, I had high hopes of working more in the medium of clay to compliment my metal work. I purchased a couple of kilns, electronic kiln controller, had my electrician accommodate the additional power needed, loaded up on tools and materials, got a new slab roller, saturated myself with wonderful ceramic books and regularly had my hands “in the mud.” I loyally followed several clay blogs and learned more from these clay artists and potters who Blog than from all of my books combined. However, recently I made the difficult decision to move on from spending a lot of time with clay and started downsizing the amount of space dedicated to clay in the studio and "gifted" my clay related materials and tools. The most difficult part is that the majority of artist Blogs I follow and enjoy are clay Blogs. I feel like a deserter. I’m normally not one to not finish something I started and to not be focusing on clay makes me feel like a quitter. But the truth is I found working in clay too unpredictable. I also discovered I don’t have the “patience” (a key word for working in clay!) or the stomach for failures. The process of firing, glazing and firing, to me, was a real science that needed a lot of practice and experimentation –technical ability helps a lot too. I was so looking forward to attending the Clay & Blogs Show in North Carolina that I even applied for a grant to travel to NC and further my exploration in clay. I know I could have been easily inspired by all of the talent in the “pottery capitol of the world” though it was not meant to be. The grant or the trip. So yesterday, as I shipped my piece to the Show it was actually a bit sad as the well-packed box tumbled into the gaping metal mouth of the USPS receptacle, a bit of literal closure if you will. My solace is that the wall tile and therefore a small bit of me will be among those great potters at the Campbell House Gallery in Southern Pines, North Carolina October 1.

The show is the brainchild of Meredith Heywood of Whynot Pottery in Seagrove, NC. It's called "Clay and Blogs: Telling a

Story" and brings together 50 potters from throughout the U.S., England and Australia. Click here for a link to Meredith's Blog with a complete list of those participating and links to their Blogs. In addition to the Show at the Campbell House Gallery, there is an Online Exhibition. If you're like me and can't make it to North Carolina, you can take a virtual tour of the on-line portion of the Show.

I Choose To Be Here...

After a summer of record setting rain, where would you choose to be?

I think you can imagine what I chose this weekend and there is some serious R&R going on here at the cabin. Yes, I have a stack of work I should be doing in the shop and studio and Derek has a stack of papers to grade, but the glorious Autumn weather forced us to hike, BBQ, enjoy cocktails on the deck and catch up on a stack of good reading in the mountain sun -and Daddy-O even patched the roof while I "supervised." Even though the Spenard Farmers Market is over, I was hard at it all week with new work. The week was spent finalizing some new quilted wall art patterns I’ve been working on this year. A talented group of quilters are in the process of reviewing my new work and I hope to finalize the pattern production this month.

The plasma cutter and welder gets plugged in on Monday though. It was fun to take a break from steel and turn to fabric but it ended up forcing me to get an eye appointment… Yes, I needed to get reading glasses –arrrgh! It was getting harder and harder to see threading that damn needle and I was tired of the wasted energy of mis-threads. This was a hard appointment for me to make as “ol Eagle Eye” as Daddy-O affectionately calls me has finally succumbed to one of the natural affects of young age. Fortunately, I don't need my new glasses for welding!

Bravery Wheel

I’ve been able to take a break from welding this week and focus on an on-going fabric design project. This past spring, working on a collaborative project with my friend Jana for her quilt shop, The Quilted Raven, we designed some Raven themed fabric that is being custom screen printed on batik fabric. Jana also owns the very cool gift shop Cabin Fever -both shops are in downtown Anchorage. We also decided to produce my popular Raven Garden Flags. In Jana’s quilt shop she sold the flags in kits and at the Market I sold the flags already assembled. Both versions were a success and we are on our second silk screening of that project. For some time I have wanted to design quilted wall hanging patterns using Raven and other fun designs. The design part for me is fun and comes much easier to me than planning the fabric colors and print combinations. I’ve said before that I’m not very color brave and on my to-do list list this winter is Judy's on-line Color Theory class, but until then I'm on my own. You’d think that all artists should have an eye for color but just as all artists can’t draw, not all artists (ME) know how to use color! UNTIL I found this handy color wheel called the Rainbow Color Selector at a fabric shop. This wheel helps you select colors that “guarantees (I like the word guarantee) your color choices will be based on proven principles of balance and harmony.” The printed mini companion piece that came with the wheel is very educational and informative.

I’m sure a lot of this color knowledge may be obvious to some, but it wasn’t to me. I know I should have paid closer attention to Color Theory in school –but I didn’t and there is not a whole lot of color variations in steel -well there is various patina's of rust and I've got those down pat! What I like best is the wheel actually inspires me to try other color combinations I normally wouldn’t consider, especially when I look at combining 4 different color combinations –all done by pointing the “Rectangle Tetrad.” By turning the wheel there is even a complementary, triad and split complement stars to better help me with color selections. There are also Square Tetrad, Analogous, Monochromatic,

Counterpoint and Multi-color color combinations the wheel can suggest. My first 3 pattern designs are done and now I’m working on all of the packaging and printed pieces that will accompany the design. I also still need to double check my measurements and proof the sewing instructions, but that stuff is easy compared to selecting the various fabrics and colors that you hope inspires the customers!

These are my first two quilted wall hanging patterns that will be for sale at the Quilt store. "Raven Says Hello!" is approx. 15" x 15" and "Raven and Friends" is approx. 13" x 33"

Born on the Wild Side (wild side of the highway!)

Born: September 3, 1962 At: “Around 10:00 P.M. En Route”

Delivered By: “Her Father - in the front seat of his truck”

Hospital: “Hwy 101 San Luis Rey, Oceanside CA”

Weight: 9 lbs. 4 oz.

Yes, it’s true, my Dad delivered me in the front seat of his truck, 48 years ago on Labor Day. Being their first child (and large), my Mom was a very brave woman and my Dad probably a bit frantic. Or more accurately, Dad was relieved that after the BIG event on the side of the road, once back at Camp Pendleton, his USMC buddies cleaned up his new truck while Mom & I rested at the base hospital. Being born in my Dad’s truck has turned into a bit of an urban legend in our family. A few years ago, the story was last told in fantastic, bard-like style by my Dad in what was probably the best version yet at my 40^th birthday party. We had a “Princesses & Banditos” themed party with authentic Mexican food, Margarita’s and everyone dressed in costumes –hence, princesses and banditos. We handed out glitter, crowns and fem for the women and girls in prom-like dresses and sombreros, mustaches and fake ammo belts for the guys in tough jeans and boots. Everyone laughed and danced to Fiesta and Salsa music all night long under a huge outdoor tent –which is really funny because when you “Google Earth” our house, the party was immortalized by the satellite capturing an image of this big yellow tent on our deck! I know I’ve said thanks to my Mom & Dad every year for being brave on the side of that dark road 48 years ago, but I know they read my Blog so I’ll say it again “thank you and I love you both!” Oh, and mark your calendars, only 2 more years to the big Five-Oh, PRINCESSES & BANDITOS PART DEUX!

LOVING Fair food isn't a crime!

Mixing business with pleasure is always easy for me at the Fair. I LOVE the Fair. This time of year reminds me of my birthday (which is Friday, September 3rd, hint-hint Daddy-O). I needed to deliver more wall hung Ravens to the Bad Girls of the North fair booth today and agreed to meet 3 girlfriends at the Fair just as it opened for an afternoon of chick Fair fun. Another treat was Bad Girl Vicki had a FREE ticket waiting for me at the gate. My friends and I

all agreed to eat our way through the Fair along the Green, Purple, Red and Yellow trails after reading an article by Julia O'Malley on the good and the bad of the Fair food. Hands down all of us agreed that the deep fried cheese curds ROCK and we'd have been in big trouble if we had them with our beer in the Sluice Box! The sun was shining, we'd been shopping, laughing, dreaming of raising chickens, mini-goats and the curds were hot and the beer was cold... The 2010State Fair Official Beer -Kassik's Cream of the Coop which went down smooth after a tamale, a Gyro and a Fireweed Honey ice cream waffle cone. Normally, I would have fit in Taco Dans and Friar Tucks Corn on the Cobb... Here's a link to the master list of Fair fo

od.

Today a new Alaska State Fair Record was set for this pumpkin at 1,101 POUNDS! Grown by Dale Marshall of Anchorage -yaay Anchorage, usually these monsters are grown by people in the Valley. Way to go Dale!!