How does she have the Patience?

A bad case of carpel tunnel has kept me out of the studio for a while.  This is the worst I have had it in a long time - first the left hand outer fingers went numb, like they had taken a trip to the dentist.  Wore my carpel brace for a few days, but that did not help.  Dr said it was not originating in my wrist, but rather upper arm, elbow area.  I had to be fitted for a form brace that I  have to wear at night to keep my arm immobile.  What a pain, can not sleep comfortably no matter what position I am in.  Then, after I started wearing that, my RIGHT hand went numb also.  So now I have braces on both arms and am typing this two fingered. 

All this when I am trying to get ready for the Clayditeron Cruise (only a few weeks away .... WEEEEEE!!!!).  I may not get all the charms made and tagged like I wanted.  AND I have the BSBP to work on. I am afraid that I will be forced to keep my piece really simple for that.  I really wanted to do something elaborate, but that is just not in the cards right now.  I am bummed big time.

Instead of my work, today  I am going to showcase the seed bead art of my friend Donna. When we went to the bead shows in Tuscon last year, I blogged about the picture she had given her sister who lives there.  That was the second one she had done.  This one above is the first.  It was created with seed beads, each one glued in place individually. I couldn't do that - I am more of an immediate gratification girl.

  For her third piece, she is going even bigger.  Her canvas this time is a DOOR! -  yes, a door.  She has been working on it for two years now (mostly in the winter when there is no were to go anyway).  She allowed me to take some photos of the work in progress.

The specks in the clouds are clay birds.  

She starts of a piece by painting an underlying picture.  In this photo you can see the painted portion at the bottom.  The top clouds and trees have been beaded.    She figures she has at least 2-3 more years before she will be finished, and already has plans for her next.    

A closer up of the top portion.  It is going to be amazing when done.  

Sunny (and Cold!!!!!) Tucson

Boy, here I was looking forward to soaking up some sun in Tucson. Well, it is sunny and cold! Looks like we arrived during the cold snap. It was 19 degrees last night and there was no heat. Seems when my hosts had their system worked on during the summer, the guy took the heating element out and did not replace it.  Whether by accident or design is not yet known.  But my kind hosts loaned us thermal undies and more blankets and started a fire in the grate.  They hardly ever use it but boy, it came in handy last night.
    We hear it is supposed to warm up by the weekend.  Spent part of yesterday morning walking around in some of the outdoor booths.  Hardly any people out so we had a lot of fun talking to the vendors.  Found some double holed pearls, which I have been having a hard time finding.
   Then my friend Donna and I headed over to the To Bead True Blue show for our first class with Christi F.  We made lunar moths... Today I will be making a dragon sculpture.

  I mentioned before that Donna is quite an artist in her own right.  Here is a picture of a work she did several years ago and gave to her sister here in Tucson

You can't really tell from this blurry cell phone pix, but this is made entirely from seed beads.  She glued each one individually on the canvas. Took almost a year, if I remember right. This is the second one she has done. She is currently working on a piece using a door as her canvas.  I wish I had her patience.

A Nice Surprize

My friend Donna (quite an artist in her own right) gave me a wonderful gift for my birthday.  She loves to make faces, of all sorts and sizes from all different types of materials. She has these displayed in the long hallway of her home - her Rogue's Gallery as she calls it. This one is only ceramic, as opposed to mixed media, but simply beautiful. I especially love the swirls of red designed into the blue side of the face.

It will fit in well in my collection. I am attempting to amass faces that convey the four elements of fire, earth, air and water.  Now I just have to figure out how to hang it.