Coming Attractions!

New Halloween pieces for the upcoming shows! This is just a sneak peak...

The Road To A Friend's House Is Never Long.

Christine's Street in CT.

The summer is flying by and I have been happily wallowing in my art and creating new work for the upcoming fall show season.

Last week, I left the county line and travelled to the opposite side of the country to see two of my very dear friends, Christine Phelps and Anna Sprague. It was a trip planned and discussed for some months, coordinated with each pal so I could visit both of them like stepping stones, one after the other. The trip went without a hitch.

My first visit with Christine (whom I had never met in 3-D) was an intense and joyful time of creating lots of mixed media art, including spun cotton ornaments, paintings on wood blocks, and another painting inspired from one of my ceramic plates.  We both worked feverishly in Christine’s basement studio in Connecticut. The temperature was cool down there and we were often visited by Christine’s family members, including feline friends. Her studio was crammed full of treasures galore, which Christine generously offered me a free-for-all!  I learned many new techniques from the master herself, Christine, which lives up to her mantra “Art Makes Life Magic.”

Christine working on a painting.

Christine in Northampton on an outing.

Sharon's painting.

Spun Cotton Kitty ornament (with help from Christine:)

Kite Bird painting by Sharon.

It was bittersweet to leave Connecticut, but I carried all of the moments we shared together and sent a box homeward of all of the wonderful art we shared together. I boarded the plane and began to feel the excitement rise in me as I headed toward Rochester to see Anna.

I have not seen Anna in about a decade. We met at a workshop in Oregon some years ago. We became instant friends and laughed our time away. I feel so fortunate to have Anna as a friend. She is wise and a very gifted metalsmith and jeweler. As I stood outside of the airport, I saw her smiling face as she drove up to the curb. It was like no time had lapsed and we chatted and laughed as before.

Anna cutting copper discs for enameling.

Disc cutting tools.

Anna also has a basement studio. It was very organized and that made it so easy to work with metals and enamels. We cut out copper and did some etching as well as enameling on copper.

Anna is a great and patient teacher. I was kind of rusty with the techniques not

practiced for many a year. In the end I was elated at what we had made. Anna’s enamels were stunning and multi-layered with colors. Mine were more graphic and bold.

Sharon's enamel pieces in progress.

Completed painted and enameled pieces.

Anna took me around the Rochester area, a close proximity from her home. I saw mansions and a lot of bricks. We even went to a crazy craft store!

Dan's Crafts & Things, NY

Home now, I continue to savor the memories of the recent days and feel so fortunate to have these women in my life. Thank you Anna and Christine for a wonderful experience and sharing your artistry and most of all your friendship across the miles.



Sail Away

It’s summer! I am off for the summer from my day job and busy creating new artworks like this fun plate, “Sail Away,” available in my Etsy store. I have many, many new pieces in the works and have been loading and unloading the kiln as fast as I can.  I’m loving the long sunny days and late nights without the sound of alarm clock ringing in the a.m. now replaced by a whiny tabby that keeps exact time. I’ll be back soon with more new works soon!

New Cards

I have some new blank greeting cards in my Etsy shop tonight! There are more to choose from than these, so please check them out. They are handy to have around for just about any occassion! (Please note: the Halloween cards are in the "Halloween" section of my shop).

Halloween Dishes!

I have some new Halloween dishes in my Etsy store! They are brilliant orange and black and have great retro designs hand painted on them.

New Directions

Despite the pounding rain of recent days,my pink jasmine is in full bloom! I anxiously await its brief, but spectacular awakening each spring. Too bad it's so wet outside to enjoy the fragrance.

These hearty blossoms are bursting out all over the side of my shed and have sneaked inside the walls....

wrapped around the cord to my flex shaft tool. I had to laugh when I saw this yesterday.Never underestimate the tenacity of Mother Nature!

The shed where this jasmine lives also houses my two kilns. One, now cooling off from a complete glaze firing. Here are some of the new pieces I have completely recently. I have been making plate forms and adding some dimension to them with cut outs. I like them and they are a ton of work. Here are some of the newbies.

Heart Felt

Bead embroidered earrings in my Etsy shop.

Felt brooches in progress.

I'm having one of those slow moving kind of days. Not an unproductive one, just slowly, gradually moving through my creative goals of the day. I typically try and crowd my time with way too many tasks, finding myself frustrated at my lack of accomplishments by nightfall. But today is different. I have the day off from work, I'm still in my pj's and I don't mind much if I even step outside into the gray skied world. Inside, I have been patiently working on these colorful bits of felt and beads transforming them into textural and wearable small artworks. Just another tangent in my ever evolving world of art explorations and distractions. The earrings are now in my Etsy shop, and the brooches will hopefully be following in the near future. Now onward to clay!

Trash or Treasure?

When I go to a yard sale or a flea market that old saying comes into mind, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Truer words were never spoken as I walk the rows of a large flea market. Sometimes there are piles of things I would not ever want or be attracted to, and once in a while I find myself drawn to tidbits of the past lives of previous owners’ well loved items. The fun is all in the hunt of course, but then it can be overwhelming at the same time. Hundreds of vendors, some taking great care in display, while others pile stuff about in a hap hazard fashion not seeming to care if this pile of dusty stuff finds a new habitat. I look around my place and wonder if sometime in the future someone would find rummaging through my debris a delightful curiosity or just shovel it into the nearest landfill. As a maker of things, I respect the stuff of life that

stuffs my life, but I’m not sure if I want to have too much more of it popping out of every nook and cranny of my space. But then again………I might miss out on that perfect treasure.



Happy New Year

As you step into the new year, take a moment to pause and take the road of your choice. Best wishes for a beautiful and wonderous 2012!

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

More Beads Please

Yesterday I went to the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (also known as B.A.B.E.). There were over 200 vendors selling their handmade beads, supplies and tools. My heart was full and soon my wallet empty, but it was a grand day. I came home inspired and recharged and ready to create new work. Working out new designs and with new found loves of vintage buttons has been challenging and rewarding. I love the way the buttons feel with the beads creating textures and color spots. These are some of my newest pieces now available in my Etsy shop! So the hunt continues as I wander down the pebbled road of glass beads in all of their brilliance.

Sacramento Arts Festival

I'm at the Sacramento Arts Festival this weekend, booth #704!! Stop by and say "hello" to me. The show is located at the Sacramento Convention Center, 1400 J Street, Sacramento, CA. There are 225 fine artists and craftspeople with many beautiful wares for sale. See you soon!

Happy Hallowe'en

Happy trick-or-treating and to all a Good Fright!

Favorite Haunts

I thought since it was October, my favorite month of the year, I would share with you a couple of my “favorite haunts.” These places transcend time and the common world of the retail shopping experience, and are more like a magical trip to a forgotten world somewhere between European arts and a Steampunk village shop.  Both venues are in Berkeley, CA.

Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles is our first stop. Every time I walk up the doorway of this place my heart begins to race. I am flooded with visuals: brilliant colors, textures, and objects I have never seen before except here. I love massive selection of uncommon threads, needlework tools and equipment, books, and a plethora of foundation materials to create just about anything from a spectacular Chapeau to a tatted lace doily. And most importantly an extremely knowledgeable staff, that seems to know what you want or need before you do. There is even a lace museum in the same building! With its high ceilings and vast array of goodies and books, you will not ever leave Lacis empty handed.

My next stop is the fascinating Castle in the Air located on Berkeley’s famous Fourth Street sharing other specialty shops as neighbors. Shopping on Fourth Street is never disappointing, and Castle in the Air is on the top of my list as a destination. Amazing seasonal window displays are worthy of more than a casual pause. Once inside the doorway you are greeted by German puppets, miniatures in antique glass cases and an excellent selection of items like heavy crepe papers, real glass glitter, blank books, drawing and calligraphy inks, scrap and just about anything sparkly to create your own wonders. They have classes and a gallery upstairs run by artists that create their own work and are masters at their craft. Many people frequent this place to purchase a gift that one could not find anywhere else including fountain pens in all colors and styles, reproduction classic fairy tales, European greeting cards, hand carved collectibles, paper mache figures, and French ribbon.



Happy haunting and may you discover these places and your own secret nooks on your travels.



The Great Pumpkin Halloween Blog Giveaway WINNER is...........

The Vintage Witch, a.k.a. Julie, is the winner of The Great Pumpkin Halloween Giveaway!!! Thank you to all who participated and shared great memories of your fabulous costumes. Happy Halloween!!

The Great Pumpkin Halloween Giveaway!!

It's time to have another giveaway! Make sure to read the flyer below and follow the Rules for the giveaway. Good luck to everyone!