Tsunami?

Happily, the tsunami warning for our beaches was unnecessary, but it was interesting to see what a non-event it was. There were no warning signs on the beaches or anywhere else in town, so now I'm wondering what would happen if we really did have a tsunami? I hope we never find out.
While waiting for the non-event to happen, I was gallery sitting and beading and got another little pin/pendant started. Last piece before the next bjp and this time I don't even have the fabric yet. I'm thinking green will feature heavily, since many of our bushes and trees are already beginning to develop leaves, but beyond that it's all still up in the air.

WIPs

I've finished the hand brooch and a small 3-D beaded cross that was a commission, so I'm looking at some of my older works-in-progress that have stalled for one reason or another...maybe if I look at them long enough some ideas will leak into my head, lol!

The spring rains have begun...sure was a nice long run of sunny days though, so I'm not complaining...yet!

Hand Brooch

I'm working on a mini version of my hand to make a pin/pendant...all done here except for the back, finding and edging which I'll finish this afternoon while I'm gallery sitting.
We've had several days of sun, with at least another one to come, so I've been sitting out on the sun porch beading. Next weekend is our seafood and wine festival, so it will probably be wet as usual...it's amazing how rarely the weather is nice for it, but then it's held in a huge tent so I guess it doesn't really matter. I hear this year's theme is the Wild West...hmmmm, that makes me think of beef and beer, not seafood and wine, lol!

OWOH Winners

The winners of the OWOH giveaway are Pam Aries of Aries Gypsy and Leslie Anderson of My Life and Times! Thanks so very much to everyone who stopped by and left a comment...I've visited almost everyone, but still have about 20 to go. It was a real pleasure to visit so many talented and dedicated artist bloggers!

Hearts to You

Happy Valentine's Day! Just finished my second heart based pin/pendant in time to feature them both in my Etsy shop....little later than I expected but then a heart is a universal symbol that means "love" whenever it's seen. At least that's my first thought at seeing a red heart...

February Blooms

This is the earliest blooming tree around town...at least the one I see the most as it's down on bay drive so I see it often throughout the year. I took the photos on tuesday...today it's raining cats and dogs again but warmish compared to the east coast!

Edited to add...and in the last half hour the storm has passed and I see blue sky again!

Blues

We've been having lovely blue skies the past few days, which mean beach walks for my DH and I...I also realized the blue in the batik I've used for this month's bjp is just the color of the sky in the afternoon.
February is finished off with some blue goldstone hearts and then mounted on a matallic paper background and framed. I'm feeling very lucky this month as it's been a year since my diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer in my bones....last year at this time I was in shock and wondering if I'd even be here through the summer...it took about 6 months for me to regain my equilibrium and remember (again and again) that all any of us have is today and that worrying about how long I may be around would be a big waste of whatever time I do have.
I think the image of the rabbit in this piece represents me; balanced on a gold sphere, supported by my home (the ceramic square) and everyone/thing in it, and seeing all the different paths I may take in the future.
It feels like a very peaceful, balanced piece to me.

Almost Finished

The center hand is finished...gold iris nailheads, bugles and three-cuts, charlottes in three colors, marquise-shaped nailheads, laser-cut wooden rabbit, incised, handpainted ceramic square and a faceted jade rondelle...but I still have to bead/attach the blue hand to the large background hand and then mount them all on metallic paper and frame it.

A Bit Further Along

Still working on the hand with lots left to do...

Process

I was thinking about time yesterday and wondering where it had all gone...we've visited and/or lived on the central coast for 30 years, been in this house for 15 and I've been doing beadwork for almost 20 years now. And what's been playing in my mind is a very old song about rowing your boat gently and merrily down the stream...and that life is but a dream.

Then I look around the studio and I'm thinking, wow...it's sure a heavy dream because I must have a ton of beads alone! Not to mention the other stuff in here...lol!

So maybe I've got the merrily part down pat, eh?

Speaking of beads...here's some more progress on the second heart piece and february's bjp...this one is coming pretty fast so I may go on to something else next week...I'm thinking of a larger piece...maybe with a boat in it...

February BJP

February is a month of contrasts here on the coast. We have many wet, windy days and then a day or two of lovely sunshine and warmth with hardly any wind at all. A few of the spring flowers may be in bloom...our daffodils and the neighbors earliest rhodedendron, for example, but mostly the field grasses are sienna and ochre colored. So for this month's bjp I've found some lovely muted browns in the cotton batik fabric as well as a contrasting blue (for our occasional blue skies) with muted green and purple to remind us how close spring is now.
I've also posted a photo of our bridge for this months header.