color::love::inspiration

on the beach in Mustique (the Grenadines)

I can't believe it is time to go home...but it is. My time here in Bequia been incredible. I am going home well rested, inspired and brown as a nut (and I have learned a bit about sailing too!) I do miss my studio and have lots of new ideas floating about in my head. I have a couple of things to show you that I have been saving until I return home (new pieces for sale!). The Xen Gallery Show has ended though there are still some pieces available for sale here. Thank you Dawn for all of your support and effort to make the show possible! I also have some exciting news to share with you about upcoming events for spring. If you are interested in seeing some of my vacation pictures please click here. I'll be back in a few days with more news and new work.

you are invited

Xen gallery invitation front; Diana Fayt ceramic platter & Clare Goddard collage

It is time to put worries aside...put on something nice to wear and show the world my smiling face (because I am smiling). Please join me for the opening of my show at Xen Gallery tomorrow evening. It will be a virtual opening (for me included as I won't actually be there). I will imagine us finally meeting and exchanging handshakes and hugs, oh yes, so many hugs, with all of you.

You can see the show here
and
if you are interested in purchasing any of the pieces you can do so here.

Also showing along side of me is my dear friend Clare Goddard who makes the most lovely collages from all kinds of found ephemera and used tea bags. Her work is simply stunning. Clare lives in Helsinki, Finland and runs a small gallery called Compost.

I look so forward to seeing you all there!

hangin' in there

I have to admit I have become totally attached to having computer and being without one is really cramping my style. Today the stress of being an independent artist really broadsided me. I packed up all the work for the Xen Gallery show and shipped it off and I made the deadline for the calender to be finished. It is relieving but working for the future does not always bring money in today. It is sometimes gets very tight financially and the loss of my computer has just exacerbated my feelings of struggle.

I am doing my best not to feel sorry for myself...and I am constantly reminded of the good fortune in my life but I gotta say being an Artist does not make one financially secure. Sometimes it gets really,really scary. These are the times when I think to myself I am going to go to work for a big company designing nic nacs and get a regular paycheck with benefits.

I know it will all work out. It always does and now that I don't have my computer to distract me maybe I will finish that book that I have been trying to read for the past three months.

three swallows & a rose

When did it become February? I thought February didn't start until tomorrow. A calendar maker like me should know what day it is, if not that, at least what month it is. January seemed to slip away. I've been holed up in the studio, not lifting my head for much else other than to eat, sneak in a run here and there and obviously not to look at a calendar!

I made a deal with myself not to begin any new pieces until ALL the ones I started are completed. Sometimes I don't finish a few last pieces, leaving them to dry out on my shelves which is a waste and a source self imposed frustration. I am almost there. If all goes as planned, I will be finished with everything tomorrow. Then I can start on my next project and the few small orders that are next in line.

I know I promised that my shop would have new stuff in it in January. Yeah, yeah, promises, promises! That was the optimistic, back in December, thinking she'd be able to get it all done, me. Too bad I did not confer with the other me...the more realistic, pragmatic, not so optimistic me. I am not going be able to get to it in the next couple of weeks before I leave on my vacation (yes, I will be taking a few weeks off to rest & relax) so I will try to post some things for sale on this here blog. I seem to have a lot of cups these days and some other things too (hint; tea bowls). I have to get photographs of everything and get it all in order first. So please hang in there.

large footed bowl 23"x 19"x 6"

As for the bowl above I gotta tell you I am pretty darn proud of this baby! It is large! Almost two feet long. Moving a slab of clay around that big is no easy task. Not to mention it came out almost perfect (if I do say so myself ) without any warping and no cracks.

I should also mention that all of the pieces that I have been posting for my upcoming show will be for sale starting February 23rd at the Xen Gallery.

new news :: new year

I am not going to give you my list of resolutions. Why? Because I don't have one. I am not a resolution kinda gal. Yeah, I could be a bit (lot) more organized with the paper work and so I always wanted to be a world class gymnast but that is NOT going to happen. So why have a list! I do have news though... So much more fun than resolutions, don't you think?

As you see here in the photo I am already working on the 2008 calendar. Oddly enough it has to be finished by the end of January so it can be shown at the Tokyo gift show in Japan in early February. It has been a little strange thinking about 2008 in 2006 when 2007 hadn't even started yet. The other news is that I am having a show in February at Xen Gallery in St. Louis, Missouri . I am very excited about it and have already begun preparing work for it. I have to get fifteen pieces completed in the next month. (Please kiln gods, be good to me.) I am working with new some new images and am keeping the color scheme black and white ( with maybe a little red). I'll be posting the new work as it progress.

I also have a piece up for bid in the kim family benefit art+ craft auction. The auction opens on January 3rd so mark your calendars. I hope you saved some of your Christmas cash to buy yourself something nice. The proceeds are going to a such good cause. Plus I gotta say I am so honored to be in such good company of so many talented folks who have all donated their work for the auction. Lisa and Stephanie have put together a gorgeous site all on their own (and very little extra) time. A BIG thank you to the both of you for making this happen!

So, I am off and running from the gate...look out 2007, here I come!