Both items have sold.

I found a great pattern to try for some earrings, the designer is Randy Drobny. They work up really nice. I made a pair to go with a cabachon necklace I made. I used Jade and Garnets. The center stone of the necklace is Ruby-Zoisite. I love how the colors look together. Then I made a simpler pair that look great also, just doing circular peyote.

March and April BJP

Finally, I am caught back up...for now. The piece for March features The fiesty little grey squirrel that thinks the bird feeder is his private stash and tries to run the birds off all the time. Tries, but they keep coming back and some days they gang up on the squirrel and he stays away for a day or two, but then returns with the same "I'm in Charge" attitude. April features one of the many Eagles that use our tree out front for a scouting post. They are all building nests now so the fight will be on with all the birds guarding their territories. Saw the Canada Geese yesterday and a friend posted that the Cranes are here already. I haven't heard them yet, but they usually nest in the swampy area down the road from us, so I'm sure we will see them soon. The moose will be dropping their babies next month, and the bears are out of their dens also, so.....mother natures family is on the move.

Spring is Coming........Right?

Spring really does seem to be on its way. The days are getting longer and we are having more Sunshine, and its even warm sunshine. It is 42 here today and its really beautiful. I have been working on two pictures for the Spring Watercolor show thats coming up in a couple of weeks. I think they are done....I just need to get them in their frames and leave them alone. I have finished a couple more simple necklaces for the Gallery, very simple. This is a fishing, skiing, outdoorsy town and the more intricately beaded pieces just don't sell, however, the tourists like them so I guess I should do a couple of more "Beady" pieces for summer. I just can't seem to focus with the sudden onset of Sunshine..I feel, well, almost frantic for some reason. I hate it when I feel this way....no direction, just scattered. I need to finish my March BJP before April is over..hate being behind...no one to blame but myself.
We went to the Lodge for Easter and watched the kids hunt for eggs, the snow was mostly gone out of the yard so they had a good time. We watched the Ravens watching the kids and when the Adults went to hide the eggs for the next group of little ones, one Raven decided he needed an egg too. He tried several times to get his beak around one and finally he just jabbed his beak into the egg and flew off with it, with the other ravens hot on his trail. It was such a beautiful day and the tide was a minus five, so a lot of people were down on the beach clamming. One unfortunate fella left his truck unattended and the tide came in and well, the truck disappeared under water. Don't know if he was able to get it out when the tide went back out or not. Well, anyway, I am posting my latest Watercolors and need to get back to work.

I am happy to report that both of these paintings sold this year.

January-February BJP

So I finally finished my February BJP which I call Hunger Moon..The young moose eating our Spruce tree..a true sign of the lack of available browse due to the depth of the snow in the higher areas. I wasn't real happy with myself for getting her nose so close to edge of the piece...but its finished. Now on to March...

Honest, I've been busy.

I have been slow in posting lately, but I have been creating. I am almost finished with my February BJP finally. I will post it just as soon as its done, which should be tomorrow. I have completed a new watercolor for the watercolor corner at the Gallery, and today I finished my portion of one of the collaborative paintings for the Watercolor Society project. This is the first time I have been able to participate in this project, It will be fun to see it all put together. The picture piece that I painted in watercolor is on the right. The original picture piece was a little fuzzy in places on the flower, so I sort of winged it, anyway it was fun to do. I still have to do a new watercolor for the Spring Show, which is held during the Shorebird festival, so nature, and birds are the main features. I think I might do a painting of Puffins this year. I did a Chickadee last year and it sold, which was quite a surprise to me.

More Projects

I've still been beading out of the Super Beadwork 2011, and these are my latest projects. I've also managed to photograph two of the latest visitors that will soon become part of my Bead Journal Project. Tried to photograph the Rabbit again last night, but he's just too fast for me. But I'll keep trying. Today has been a low energy day, must be the weather, we have had more snow, rain and now the wind has kicked up pretty good. Makes it feel very very cold. Well, its time for a nice cup of tea....

Trying New Designs

I have been busy trying out new bead patterns and finally settled on a pendant design in the Feb-Mar issue of Super Beadwork 2011. The design is by Trang Gordon. It took two attempts, but I finally made it. The first attempt turned out beautiful until I turned it over and discovered I had looped a thread around one of the pearls and skewed the whole side. Not a happy camper. But the second attempt with the onyx beads came out great. Working with fireline and two needles it was hard to keep track of which needle was which. I tried coloring the thread ends but the color would not stay on and then I tried painting a dab of enamel on the needle and that didn't work either. So I finally went with one bent needle and tried valiantly to keep the second needle straight. It all worked out in the end thank goodness. Next I tried a design by Laina Goodman, also from the same Super Beadwork Magazine. The earrings came out great, I had to adjust the count on the first pair as I used some vintage Jade beads in the center and they were bigger than the pattern called for. The second pair (red) I used beads closer to what was called for and they came out flatter and not so ruffled. I liked both looks, so I guess we can call that a success. I forgot to mention that the pendant is double sided, so it doesn't matter which way you put the necklace on. I made the neckchain using the spiral stitch for part of it and then strung crystals and onyx beads for the rest. Came out really pretty, and light weight.The third pair of earrings, also from the same magazine, were supposed to be stars, however I decided to leave off the last part of the design and added the drop. The picture is not very great, the earrings are Topaz AB crystals, 2mm onyx, and 4 mm faceted onyx. They read more black and gold in person. They turned out really pretty.