GOLD-en' yellow

It never ceases to amaze me how good results can come out of random moments within a design/making process. Sometimes a vision is so strong that I don't let myself see beyond my prescribed ideas - but then something so simple as having some extra material laying around makes me step back just enough to consider something as simple as a color. Yellow is not a Christmasy color.......but gold is! (Que the tune "Silver and Gold" from Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) I'm normally a Silver girl - and boy, I sure am surprised by how much I love GOLD at this very moment! (the gold ornaments are available in my shop)

ornament

So, I am back from one of the most emotional weeks in my life to date. Everything really played out in the best possible way for my family to say goodbye to the anchor of our family who seemed like he'd always be around. The fact that it took place during the week of Thanksgiving was a blessing in disguise, because it enabled us to spend an extended amount of time together which was really therapeutic. I feel as much at peace with it as one could hope to be.

The week away has created a bottle-neck for me, though. I spent all of Monday catching up on special orders. I'm behind the ball when it comes to getting my new ornaments packaged and photographed, but I've finally been able to get some of the new ones in my shop. (I plan to add the flakes in a few more colors and in plywood before Friday.) I continue to love the simple clear with blue SC sticker -- making them the perfect immediate gift.

Locally one can find selections of my ornaments at Gallery 360, at Simple Luxuries a special holiday boutique downtown at the PR firm ESBEE (M-F 10-5 until Christmas) and again - with me at the Gaviidae Market for the next 3 Fridays.

if it's hip its here

thanks to Gail in London, UK for sharing this:

Gallery360 window

After a full day at the Walker Art Center, I made my exhausted way to the opening at Gallery 360 where Barbara Gilhooly is in the main gallery and in the front window - opposite me. We customized one of our 7ft. tannenbaums by trimming it down (2 branches worth) to fit in the window of the gallery. (We also trimmed/adjusted the branches in order to accomplish the proper taper.) I think it turned out really well and that it looks fantastic in their window!

Merry did a really nice job dressing the tree. I was so plesantly surprised to see my name on the glass - somehow that makes it feel 100 times more legitimate. The gallery has a selection of red and white "ball"ornaments in 3 designs (stripe, flake in ball, concentric circles), small red solid balls, large and small flakes in white and transparent blue - and I will be adding 1-2 new colors to their stock in the coming week. (I will also be putting some in my shop in the coming week for those of you not in Minneapolis)

I also worked hard to make some new artwork pieces. I've been testing and mulling over several directions that I could go in, but this seemed the most logical first step -- an expansion on the pins/brooches I've been doing - for small wall hangings. They are 4.5 inches in diameter and made from layers of solid wood. I sand the end-grain edges so that the "frame" is a beautiful striped edge that is literally connected to the content of the piece. I think I'm happy with the way they turned out. They are still so fresh that I haven't really had a chance to absorb them ... larger scale that jewelry, but still very small scale when it comes to wall-art.