"I try to take
one day at a time,
but sometimes
several days
attack me at once."
~Jennifer Yane
Things are still rather hectic around here, but I wanted to post a few pictures of gifts I made for Christmas. My dad still has a long road ahead of him, but he has shown some improvement, and has been moved to a nursing home where he can be cared for until he is able to return home. I don't think that will be for quite a while, though.
This is what I made for my good friend and fellow artist, Kim Nugent. Kim has three boston terriers, so I thought it was only fitting that I create a portait of her and her 'children.'
My sister, Mary Beth, still mourns the passing of my first pug, Otis. I created a portrait of her with her beloved 'OT' on her lap. Up until the end of his life, he loved oranges, so Mary would always bring him one each time she came over to visit. That's why Otis is holding an orange in the picture. I framed this picture similar to Kim's.
I also designed a pin for my sister with Otis, Mugsy, and Popeye. This is the picture I had done for the "Surely You Jest" theatre in the latest "Somerset Workshop" publication. The pin is done in layers of etched nickel, plexiglass, etched bronze, and etched copper, and is dimensional.
Of course, I decided that as long as I was making one pin, I may as well do two. That way I could have one for myself.
But several days before Christmas, I got a brainstorm and turned my pin into a pendant instead. I don't wear pins that often, so this is better-suited for me. I added a metal heel-plate, an assortment of antique keys, washers, and sterling discs I had made and added it to a choker.
This view sort of shows the layers and depth of the pin/pendant. Once my sister saw what I had done with my pin, she now wants hers to be a neckpiece just like it. So once things settle down here, I will be working on her piece.
I love using my 3 pugs as the characters in my photos. I started working on a few more today, so I'll be posting them in the near future. Little Junior is proving to be quite a naughty little pug. Hmm.....I'm beginning to wonder what the real reason was that his former owner needed to find a new home for him!
