A Painful Loss

"Slowly, gradually, he detached himself,

breathing less and less,

fainter and fainter;

then was he off and free,

like a dry leaf from the tree,

floating up and away."

- Helen Nearing

On Friday evening, I suffered a huge loss. The death of my father, George. My dad was 91 years old, and would have celebrated his 92nd birthday on May 2. Although his health was declining over the past several months, his mind was still sharp. He was such a source of knowledge about the history and people from the area where we lived, and loved to share his stories with relatives and friends. He never missed church, and was always the first one there each Sunday morning. He was proud to have served in the Army during WWII, where he fought for 4 years in the Pacific Theater. He also raised beautiful African Violets and loved to frequent his favorite diner, the Waldo Cafe, where he would visit with his friends and family on a regular basis.

Everyone in the community knew my dad well, and everyone liked him and always spoke very highly of him. He had a wonderful, dry sense of humor which he could ever-so-casually interject into a conversation with a straight face.

He was surrounded by his family when he peacefully passed away. I am so grateful that I had such wonderful, loving parents. My dad loved the old singing group, "The Ink Spots," so the music playing on my blog is in his honor.

I love you, dad, and I'm really going to miss you.

My Latest Projects

"You cannot govern the

creative impulse;

all you can do is to

eliminate obstacles and

smooth the way for it."

- Kimon Nicolaides

This is the latest pendant I finished. I actually started the piece last Fall, but I put it aside and had forgotten about it. The pendant portion was actually very close to completion, so that part didn't take long. I had to figure out what I was going to hang it from, though. I finally settled on making a long necklace from heavy leather cord, and attached the pendant to it by fashioning a bale from an old pair of scissors. I'm working on another pendant right now, but am having a mental block as to the necklace portion of the piece. So I just have it laying on my workbench, and I walk past and look at it every once in a while, trying to get some sort of inspiration.
I also made this altered photograph for my friend, Linda O'brien. It was Linda's birthday last week, so this picture of her and Opie became her birthday card from me. They just got back from teaching a workshop in Mexico last week. I wish I could've went along!!!

Marie Antoinette Award

When I checked out Kim's blog, Art Dog's Life this afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to find she gave me the "Marie Antoinette Award." As she posted in her blog, Marie represents a special woman who is willing to be heard, stands up for what she believes in, and is strong and outspoken. Not to mention she loved cake! I can totally relate to that!!! I met Kim last August at Valley Ridge Art Studio, where we had taken a workshop from Nina Bagley. We became friends there and shared a lot of laughs together, along with Julie, Kecia, and Amy. Kim has also been a guardian angel to me in the 'art world.' So I would like to thank you for the honor you bestowed upon me Kim, and I changed my blog music in your honor!!!!!

I went Antiquing

"You begin with the

possibilities of the material,

and then you see

what they can do;

so the Artist is almost

a bystander while's he's working."

- Robert Rauschenberg

Friday afternoon I decided to go to several antiques shoppes before visiting my dad at the nursing home. I really scored at one shop in particular. They were having a 30% off sale on everything in the store. The shop isn't overflowing with inventory, nor is it a 'high-end' shop, but each time I go there, I always leave with a bag of goodies.

This round the owner even gave me some wonderful 'freebies.' I couldn't believe it! As I was putting my items at the counter to purchase, I noticed a wonderful old german Bible on a table across from the counter. It was one of those huge, heavy, hinged types that are about 5 inches thick and weigh probably 5 pounds. Anyhow, I went over to the Bible and was leafing through it. It was in remarkably good shape for its age. I just said to the owner..."it's too bad it's written in german." He responded back by saying..."yeah, that's what everyone says who looks at it." He then added, "If you can read me something from that Bible, you can have it!" Well...that's all I needed to hear! I picked up the Bible and proudly placed it on the counter before him, flipped it open to Psalm 23, and recited that Psalm to him. (Needless to say, I really can't read German, but I knew several words enough to know what it was). He then told me he's got another Bible in the back just like the one on the counter, but it was in poor shape. He then went and found it, brought it back to the counter, and told me "you can have them both...I'm glad they're going to a good home." I thought he was just kidding, but he wasn't! He gave them both to me. So for $28.00, I got both bibles, a wonderful little wooden 'stanley calipers' box, a music box filled with interesting-looking chess pieces, a tiny slide ruler, a wisconsin license plate from 1938, and an old celluloid hand mirror, which ended up costing only $1.75.

This is what I did to the old mirror yesterday.

I'm going to put it in my guest bathroom upstairs. Perhaps if I start having some workshops in my studio this year when the weather is nicer, you may see it for yourself.