Onion River Studio

"Happiness is...

Spending the day with my friend,

creating art."

- Jill Marie Shulse

The weather has been spectacular all week, although it is apparent that Fall is here. Even on warm days, you can feel the crispness in the air, and the leaves are beginning to turn color. By 7:00 o'clock in the evening, the sun has gone down, and the chilly darkness sets in.

When I got up on Thursday morning, the sun was shining brightly, and the view from my worktable in the studio was so beautiful, I took some pictures of it. This is what I look out at through the patio doors as I'm sitting and working on my art. Aren't I the lucky one???!!! I've been busy getting my charms completed for the swap at RaeVn's Nest Art Retreat next month. I decided I would make soldered charms. (Not that I'm the greatest at soldering, but what the heck!). I made two different collage pictures, and shrunk them down to 1" squares. I then sandwiched them between the glass, and began the tedious task of placing the copper foil around the edges. The weather was so gorgeous outside, I took my supplies upstairs and sat out on our deck to work. I didn't realize how time consuming doing that is. Probably because I don't do it very often, and I'm sort of a perfectionist. I didn't want uneven borders. Friday morning, Kim called me to see when we could have another 'play date' in my studio. I love it when she comes over, so I told her to come right over. She had a project she wanted to work on for her retreat, and I was busy soldering all the charms. I was in my 'art mode' and was eager to work on my soldering project. After getting a few charms finished, I was having a difficult time getting the solder to flow. It was a battle! Nothing was working! I was getting frustrated! Finally, I gave up and decided to get a new soldering iron. Kim is always 'game' for a road trip, so we stopped what we were doing and headed to Hobby Lobby. I found a nice iron that was a much higher wattage than the little cheapie I had, and wow, did that make a difference. This iron is great. The solder flows so nice, and I no longer have to struggle to get the solder to melt. The afternoon passed by sooooooo quickly. Finally at 5:00, we decided to stop, so Kim could get home. But when we got upstairs, we had a nice surprise....Mike had steaks on the grill for us on our deck, and he persuaded Kim to stay and have dinner with us out there. The three of us relaxed on the deck, enjoying our meals and the tranquil beauty in our backyard. We chatted and had a lot of laughs out there, and didn't come back inside the house until it became too dark and chilly to sit outside any longer. Kim called me again yesterday morning, to let me know she got her advanced copy of the book she wrote. It had arrived while she was over here yesterday afternoon. Of course, I told her I couldn't wait to see it, so she came over in the afternoon so we could go through it together. It turned out great, and I am soooooooo happy for her. I can't imagine the feeling of having your very own book published! I am also honored to be one of the artists she invited to participate in her gallery. Her book is entitled, "Interactive Art Workshop: Set Your Mixed Media in Motion," and it can be pre-ordered at http://www.amazon.com/.