Snow globes and Easter eggs

Back to work in the studio...

I have always been fascinated with collages and snow globes and sugar carved Easter eggs, and all things miniature, for as long as I can remember. I love the layers of fabrics, paints, textures, images and colors. I love the attention to small details, the hidden meanings, the voyeurism, and the movement. 

Take for example, the sugar Easter eggs. Now, while I prefer the classic white ones, they all fascinate me. I love to peer inside at the pastel scenes of frolicking rabbits, crystal fluffy chicks, and Easter baskets. The big ones are great, but if I happen to find the small ones, where all those scenes are stuffed into smaller compartments, then I have hit the jackpot! Now, while I know how they are constructed, I like to block that out and pretend they just magically happen...


Who can resist picking up and shaking a snow globe with all those miniature scenes and glitter and "snow" swirling around? One good shake and you can control the weather! Ah the power!
 Just the other day, beautiful creature numero uno and I were looking at the sky, and she remarked on the way it felt like we were in one giant IMAX theater. The sky really looked like a dome above us.  Sometimes I wonder if maybe we are in one giant snow globe...

Now, don't get me started on a well built, fully furnished doll house.  Every time I see a great one it makes me wish I could shrink down and wander around inside. Where else but in this voyeuristic situation can I live in ten furnished, accessorized to the max, sparkly clean rooms? I wonder what it is like to sleep in a floor to ceiling floral wallpaper bedroom, eat off of tiny Blue Willow china plates then retire to read in a Biltmore like living room, complete with roaring fireplace. Don't you?

Collages hold even more allure for me. I love how the layers of paints, papers, textures, and colors reveal themselves. I love how the partially hidden words, barely visible photographs and layers of products lend themselves to new study every time you look at the work. Collages are fluid and even the meaning of the work can change depending on the viewer.

I have been working on creating art that can combine my love for all things layered, and miniature and complex. I have been creating a series of pendants that combine paper, seed beads, sticks, fabrics, metal objects and resin. I am very excited about these collage pieces and the stories they tell, and they will be listed on my website for purchase.

   

Until next time, create something beautiful!

Autumn Bounty

Welcome Fall!

"I'd rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion"-Thoreau

Until next time,  enjoy the harvest.....

Yes Ma'am!

What Do Women Want?

I want a red dress.

I want it flimsy and cheap,

I want it too tight, I want to wear it

until someone tears it off me.

I want it sleeveless and backless, 

this dress, so no one has to guess

what's underneath. I want to walk down

the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store

with all those keys glittering in the window, 

past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old

donuts in their cafe, past the Guerra brothers

slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly, 

hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders. 

I want to walk like I'm the only

woman on earth and I can have my pick.

I want that red dress bad. 

I want it to confirm

your worst fears about me, 

to show you how little I care about you 

or anything except what 

I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment

from its hanger like I'm choosing a body

to carry me into this world, through

the birth-cries and the love-cries too, 

and I'll wear it like bones, like skin, 

it'll be the goddamned

dress they bury me in. 

-Kim Addonizio

Until next time, I hope you find your red dress!

Family Secret

" The history of our grandparents is remembered not with rose petals but in the laughter and tears of their children and their children's children. It is into us that the lives of grandparents have gone. It is in us that their history becomes a future."  -Charles and Ann Morse



Have you seen the quote about being the type of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says "Damn! She's up!"?  Well, my grandmother is that woman!  At 81 she walks several miles a day, paints her own toes bright red,  keeps her hair blonde and has a fantastic figure! She keeps a house so clean, that for 40 years, I have been trying to find evidence that my grandparents actually do live in the house. At Christmas she adopts a whole tree of angels and sets out to spoil each one as if they were her own grandchildren. She is a dyed-in-the-wool democrat, a sage advice giver and a fierce protector. She is the salt of the earth, and she has been cooking too much for supper for as long as I can remember.

She makes the best cathead biscuits I have ever had the privilege to eat. If you are reading this, and do not know what a cathead is, then all I can say is bless your heart. Some things you cannot google. For those of you that do know, I will not be sharing that recipe with you, because some things are truly family secrets!  However, she also makes fantastic oatmeal raisin cookies and I will share that recipe.

1 1/4 cups plain flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

1 cup melted butter

1 1/4 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

3 1/2  cups quick cooking oatmeal

1 package vanilla instant pudding

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter and sugar together. Add eggs and pudding. Mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12  minutes.

I hope you enjoy them! Let me know how yours turn out!

Until next time,  I hope you are cooking too much for supper....

Singing in the Studio

Welcome to my studio! When we moved a couple of years ago, one of the requirements for our new house was that it had to have a "bead room" in addition to a guest room.  Now if you don't suffer from the same addiction that I do, its kinda hard to explain to a realtor what exactly it is you mean when you say that you have a lot of beads and need space to house them.  I tried saying that I needed "studio space" but that seemed to imply I needed space for an easel and some canvas to paint. I didn't need a corner of a room, I needed a whole room! We would go look at houses and my two beautiful creatures would get all excited and pick out which room would be theirs, and then they would stop and ask "Where would the beads go?" My husband would house hunt on his own and come home and report "I found a great house, except there is no bead room." The Realtors would ask if I could use a closet or small office space. Before I could answer,  beautiful creature numero uno would just burst out in this sarcastic laugh and say "you haven't seen the beads!" The "beads"and all that goes with them, have become a collective entity all to itself.

I am very blessed to have a family that supports and encourages my art. My kids and husband patiently attend bead shows without complaining. In exchange for video games, skateboards, camera fund money, and anything else I can think of to bribe them with, the kids will sort, count and photograph the beads for my inventory system.  My husband, parents, in-laws, and occasionally my husband's office staff, hold down the fort when I am traveling for bead related events. It seems it does take a village, and for that I am grateful.

This is my creative space.  Cluttered. Organized. Stimulating. Beautiful.   A place where I can create and dream. To just be. This is my place to sing, if you will. Since this picture was taken I have replaced the small fish tank with a larger one on another shelf, out of view. It has the constant sound of bubbling water that I find very soothing. I also have a great sound system, wonderfully scented candles, a huge chocolate stash, an occasional snoring dog and absolutely no rules!

Until next time...as my favorite artist, Picasso,  once said "To draw, you must close your eyes and sing."  I hope this finds you singing...

Welcome to Blue Finch

I must admit that I am both excited and nervous about launching this blog. This whole voyeuristic blog thing reminds me of skinny dipping. Exhilarating yet scary, and at the same time liberating and most importantly, life altering.  Now if you find yourself reading this and you've never been skinny dipping, then this is a must do for the old bucket list. Trust me. Just don't try it at your local pool! Or your neighbor's without permission...
I grew up in the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee. Kingsport, to be exact. A culture rich with grand storytellers, great cooks, avid Vols fans and above all, Dolly Parton glamor! From a very early age, I was indoctrinated with the ideals that all creatures and nature are to be protected and cherished, that handmade is superior, and that the written word is invaluable. I hope to instill these same values in my children. Although I now live on the other side of the state, my family is still in the mountains. No matter where I live, it will always be home.

 What else should I divulge? Besides a jewelry artist, I am a mom to two beautiful muses. I love a great treasure hunt. I relish stimulating conversation, especially when paired with great food, and even better wine, or vodka, depending on the company. I am easily distracted by shiny things, and never met a horse I didn't like, or couldn't shoe. There is more to come, but for now, welcome to Blue Finch! I hope you will join me on this journey.

Until next time,  create something beautiful...