End of Year

Reckoning...
Well, it's the last weekend of the year and I'm doing my end of the year reckoning...one of the major reasons I started this blog was to get some idea of how much work I was actually getting done. Beadwork, especially seed bead work, is a very slow process compared with most other art mediums and I sometimes felt like I was working at the pace of a three-toed sloth.
But, I've been revisiting this blog and realizing that despite tendonitis and two carpal tunnel surgeries, I've still managed to get a lot done!
I've also got the studio rearranged a bit, the walk-in art closet re-organized and the decks cleared for next year's work.
And I have big plans. This is the year I will be taking my work to some galleries in Portland to see if I can find a fit for my, admittedly unusual, work. The "art" galleries have a hard time thinking of beadwork as "art" and the fine craft/jewelry galleries prefer artists who have some sort of production items that they can sell for a quick 30 or 40 bucks....my one-of-a-kind work is a hard fit for most of them. I do have several smaller galleries that carry my smaller pieces but the major gallery here on the coast that carried my work for many years changed hands and the new owners did not want to continue carrying my work. So, it's time to put on the marketing hat and start making the rounds.
I've also been gifted (thank you universe) with an idea for a major piece for next year, so I'm looking forward to starting work on that next week.
You'll hear more about that in the new year.
My single new years resolution is to walk every single day...rain, shine, hail, sleet, ice...keep walking until I shed some of the very unnecessary poundage I've put on the past few years! And then keep walking!
Thanks to everyone who has dropped by this year....your comments have meant a great deal to me...I hope some of mine have been what you needed to hear too!
The photos today are of my fairly clean and organized studio and art closet and some of the work I've done the past 18 months...
Oh, and one quick question....I'm considering moving over to beta blogger....any comments pro or con?

Finished

Happy Holidays!
One of the things I love the most about doing the work improvisationally is that "the piece" often surprises me! I start out with a general idea....and then it takes off from there! The bottom photo is pretty much what I had in mind when I started the piece...then I came to where I needed to finish it and I started the edging and realized I wanted to give an idea of the light rising and more light, so I started with silver-lined bugles and an occasional tiny swarovski crystal thrown in....by the time I got to the bottom, (a few larger swarovski's snuck in) a whole story had evolved in my head (while beading) and I wanted to add the idea of spring coming to it...so I fringed it with some very old silver nailheads in the shape of wings and hearts...the center fringe also has the only colored crystals...green for leaves and violet for flowers and a single flower-shaped nailhead.
And now it feels done.
Oh, it's a pin/pendant...

Solstice

Old and New
I'm working this week on a face I started a week or so ago...it's coming together very slowly for some reason and I'm not real fond of it right now...but it seems if I keep going and finish it, I usually like it when it's done...usually.
The other piece I started yesterday, as a solstice piece, so I hope to have it done by the winter solstice tonight...you won't see any of the back ground material, but it was just what I wanted to work on.

Just finished

this pig pin for a friend...
hope she still collects pigs!

And done...

This was just about all I could do this afternoon...
but it sure feels good to be able to feel the needle again!

yet another face

Faces, faces, faces...
along with hands, they just fascinate me. When my fingers get a bit more nimble, I think I may try some manipulation of the face molds and then maybe sculpt some faces of my own...

I can hardly believe it but...

It's our 35th anniversary...
and although it's been my intention to only post my beadwork here, I thought today I'd post a couple of my photos of our "neighborhood", which has been my major inspiration for the beadwork for many years....(think colors and feelings, not direct representation)...
and a picture of the two of us thirty-five years ago.

Back with the needle again

Finally!
She's almost done, but I didn't want to over do last night...

Much Better

Should be beading
although a bit slowly at first, by next week...I'm typing two-handed, slowly, now...