Angelas Diner

Today’s post is light on words and heavy on the visual. I gallery sat yesterday, and wanted to share some of my favorite works from this month’s show. ENJOY!

This month is also the Children’s Show, so here are a couple of wider shots of their work this month. (Middle school kids, grades 7 & 8  )

Tonight was the regular gallery stroll from 5-8. The back gallery is filled with children’s art, and our work is up in the front.  The back is bright and cheerful - it’s a really great show.

Then, just two doors down, there was a Raptor demonstration.  Here are a couple of shots from that - a screech owl and a red tail hawk.  There is a raptor rehab in Bradford, RI, and they brought some of their raptors and gave a talk about them in the Old Stone Bank building.  What a great space there.

so, honestly, on Saturday (which was groundhog day) we looked in the back yard and saw THIS little guy :

GAAAAH. I hate those things.  He actually visited on Friday morning too - but not after Saturday.   And why did it take me until Tuesday to get the photo online?  don’t even ask.

Just be glad you don’t wake up and see that creature in your backyard!!!

I recently joined a blogging community of flameworkers called “Flaming HOT!” The moderator, Susan, posts inspiration for all of us members to blog about each week (which will keep me blogging since I’ve been slacking in my normal winter doldrums for a while now.)

This first post needs to be about the little things I like about glass work and my “glass business.”  Well, I’m too crazed to have a full fledged BUSINESS, so I’d rather refer to my glass working as my passion, my obsession.  It’s really what I look forward to creatively - and when I haven’t been torching (like NOW since it is just too cold in the garage for me!) I get into a place where I have to create other things instead.  So, that explains my recent knitting focus.

One of the best “little things” about glass I enjoy is receiving a new box of glass rods!  I have been buying from Gail in Tyngsboro Massachusetts.  I love how she wraps the rods in colorful tissue and ribbon.  I love opening the package and seeing the colors - how close are they to the pictures on the website? She usually tucks samples of frit in there to try as well - for those of you who aren’t lampworkers, frit is the tiny crumbs of crushed glass that are mixed in all sorts of colorful combinations.  So, for me, the littlest things, even frit, can put a grin on my face, and a itch in my fingers to go out (maybe even in the COLD!) and make more beads!

I haven’t been out torching as it’s been just too darn cold for me. So, I’ve been reading a TON, and knitting stuff too. Just finished a book about “the Loomis Gang” that may be about my husband’s ancestors in upstate New York. Here’s a pic of the cover:

And a page on the Loomis Gang from Wikipedia.

After I finished the book this morning, I got online to see how far back I could trace my husband’s lineage. He went downstairs and got out all kinds of old photos and fun stuff. I sat at the computer for about six hours on & off doing research on ancestry.com (they have a free 14 day trial, and we decided to give it a shot. GREAT site - if you know certain things about relatives, you search on their name, birthdate, etc, and you see if they were written into early census documents, and can print the original pages) We traced him back to relatives born around the late 1860’s. But there the trail is cold. That was right around the time of the most notorious gang activity…. we plan on more searching, and maybe even a trip out to NY at some point. If you’ve never looked into your genealogy, let me tell you it can be addicting! I hardly noticed the time fly by.

On a different note, I finished the anti-stress scarf I have been knitting since Christmas. Here’s the scarf - the really cool yarn is “Tundra” by Traveling Rhinos. It was a blend of fibers that mixed all kinds of colors of the north - and it inspired the color choices for the rest of the scarf. It’s a wide scarf done in garter stitch (no stress cuz there’s no pattern to remember!) I wore it yesterday doubled over and tucked into my fleece jacket. It’s nice, wide, and warm too.

I decided to go with your suggestion Suzanne - l’Acadie was submitted yesterday to the Out of the Box exhibit process!

Here’s one of the shots I sent along (can’t seem to get enough of this, can I?)

This is a side view showing the piece’s dimension.

Made it through to the new year, made it through those holidays…. and I’ve just assembled the piece I’m going to enter in the ISGB exhibit “Out of the Box” - now I’ve just got to name it. I’ve been asking everyone in the family over the past couple of days, and the only name I’ve liked so far has been “osmosis.” That sent the 14 year old into fits of laughter - “osmosis? we’re learning about that in BIOLOGY.” Here are a couple of pictures.

I’ve used the enamel technique and transitioned from grey and brown earth tones at the base of the piece and moved upwards using blues and teals, including some new transparent enamels I got over the holidays. The beads are assembled using wire, and are mounted to the base, which has been painted to echo and reflect the beads themselves.

a closer view of the beads:

I got an email from the gallery, a recent article written for “mercury” included one of my felted bowls! Take a look at the no tax article.

my children have a sense of humor; look what they made for me today! Anybody know what the significance of a deer and my pickup is? I had a deer run into the side of my truck back a couple of years - he left an imprint of his head in the driver side front door!

the days are flying by - can it really be december?  i worked at the gallery yesterday, and the opening was the previous wednesday.  took two out of three kids down, and they had fun roaming the streets of Westerly because it was the “holiday stroll.”  luminaria, santa in a wagon ride, shops open late (including Hammen Home, one of our very favorites!).  meanwhile i was writing up sales in the gallery like the madwoman that i am.  whew!

yesterday, on the other hand, was kind of quiet.  i took my work laptop and ended up putting in a couple of solid hours… i enjoyed it actually!

what’s on the docket for today?  well, we need to get the kids “christmas card picture” taken - i have an idea for that, but i wonder if it will work.  then, swap the screen on the front door for GLASS - cuz it’s cold outside! oh, and we have to take out the air conditioners too…. hmmmm. no more 80 degree days in the near future here!  we actually still have a dusting of snow on the ground.

i’m sitting here watching the sun come up, watching the sky turn creamy yellow… i WANT to go make beads, but it’s so COLD in the garage.  i have gotten to the point where i really really don’t like the cold.  so instead, i’ll make blueberry muffins, and go cut out a couple more t-shirts to sew.

got the coolest pattern from fabric.com - a jalie crossover tshirt pattern.  I made a couple already - a plain black one, and a really cool red panne velvet one.  i’ve got fabric for 4 more! getting in a tshirt groove here…

later, J is going to a screenprinting class at the Dreyfus (the AS220 printshop) - I still have to stop by Utrecht and get supplies for that! there’s no such thing as a “relaxing weekend” when Christmas is just 16 days away.