Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Look What The Lizard Dragged In


A huge fan of mine, who happens to be Mosaic Woman's mom, saw the lizard and thought...

"cat" "sister" "violet" "Siamese" "birthday" "suncatcher" ... see how six simple thoughts can lead to a commission.

I have considered doing a cat in glass, but always imagined a Stratozpheric take on an Egyptian cat. But the eyes were important to the client and to keep it simple and highlight the eyes I went with the face. The eyes are the blue glass of the sky surrounding the lizard. But the lizard was not done dragging cats from my studio. The scraps left over from the land the lizard lives upon cried out to become a cat itself and so I expanded the suncatcher into a mosaic mandala...


center of a cat mandala


It currently is looking for a new home but seems happy enough hanging out with the rest of our mandalas .


If one can trust tracking info, the Lizard is showing up in Denver today (photos of the finished stepping stone will be shown once Snowcatcher get it). By the way she is on etsy herself!


Sunday, August 21, 2011

My Blogging Mind


Coleus blooms


My blogging mind is a bit like the leaves of this Coleus plant. Coleus leaves tend to rule the day and so it was with my mind and blogging. I would come up with blog thoughts as my life unfolded. Then came Facebook and Twitter and my mind started to think in short thoughts.

The above photo comes by way of my garden and originally the red leaves were still dominant, but then I lowered the exposure as I tweaked it on iPhoto and the blooms popped out. Not what I expected, but did I expect other social media to affect blogging.


Has one social media changed another? Has this happened to you?


Every August I do a computer vacation to cleanse my soul and that will arrive after this coming wordless Wednesday. In September, I am thinking of returning to an a-z theme to get this blogging mind of mine flowing again as it did in April.

We will see. Maybe it will become like this Zinnia jungle...



Zinnia Jungle

Saturday, August 13, 2011

After "American Gothic" by Devorah Sperber; having fun in Rochester


Take some spoils of thread...





create an upside down master piece...





give Mosaic Woman a tool made of glass...





and have fun at the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY ...


Thursday, August 11, 2011

Stained Glass Memorial: a special commission

in process: a memorial commission


One of my best friends at work was thrown for a loop not so long ago. It was clear it had been thrown as he spoke to me about the death of a man that had been there many a time when someone needed to be there for his family.

So he asked me to make a gift, a memorial to this man. We talked some colors, but they didn't seem to be well matched for the project. That evening in my studio I remembered a piece of glass that was not needed for a specific project when Mosiac Woman and I gone shopping for commissions, but it spoke loudly to me and came home with us.

I carried that piece of glass to work the next day.

Light will flow through this tonight when I solder these pieces into a whole. Soon people, who loved this man, will experience light shining upon them.

It is not the piece that brings healing. It is the light that shines through it.

May your peace be anchor in stormy tide,
May your hope run like a river that'll never run dry,
May your burdens grow light, may your worries subside,
This is my prayer for you.

May your soul grow deep, may your joy run wild,
May your heart know the face of mercy has smiled,
May your faith come to let you believe like a child,
This is my prayer for you.

This is my prayer for you.

Julie Miller

This is my prayer for you, my friend.





Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Mosaic: Terri Lyne Carrington and the great women of jazz

47  277/365  Margaret's 2nd Rainbow Mandala


Just like Mosaic Woman's ability to bring a multitude of glass into one mosaic, Terri Lyne Carrington has created a mosaic by inviting an amazing collection of women to play along with her on her latest CD. Including these women who we are blessed to have seen in concert: Geri Allen, Anat Cohen, Ingrid Jensen, Dianne Reeves, and Helen Sung. Thanks for making this wonderful mosaic.

Take some time out and learn about what will make many a best of 2011 lists...




Sunday, August 7, 2011

I'd rather be...

47  360/365  Margaret's fortune

feel free to fill in the blank. For artists it is often "I'd rather be in the studio", which happens to be the title of a great book by Alyson B Stanfield .


The thing is that in most cases if you don't leave the studio, you don't make sales. So you have to venture out to craft shows and twitter. To networking events and facebook. To conversations with friends and flickr. To family events and blogs. To spiritual retreats and there and here.

As for us, Mosaic Woman and I have made an effort to venture out and it appears to be paying off. We have a list of commissions to work on from a college friend, a close relative, a craft show attendee, a flickr friend, a Dave, a blogging friend, a friend made at a retreat.

So now we need to be in our studios, because we told the world that We Are Nutmeg Designs.

But that means I have less time to blog and tweet and .... so, am I saying I would rather be out of the studio. Not really. We love what is happening here.

Thanks for all the support

Monday, August 1, 2011

The Collared Lizard and Me

Collared lizard
photo by Jimmy Thomas


Can't say I knew much of the collared lizard when my friend sent me some photos and said she wanted a stepping stone. I wanted to say, "No you don't. You want a suncatcher or maybe a mosaic on something light." But she had her reasons why she wanted a stepping stone and clearly it needed to be one to help replace something that did not bring her joy.

I wanted to say, "Surely you could have a local artist do the project and not have to pay the shipping to mail it from PA to CO." But I didn't, so now what was a blank piece of concrete in our video is still a blank piece of concrete.


But on was once my grandma's dresser (which is taking a brief break from the fruits of the spirit) next to that stepping stone is all the glass that is needed for what has become a collared lizard mandala. By Friday bed time the blue border was done and thus the square had an inner circle. Saturday after breakfast, Mosaic Woman and I sat for 45 minutes choosing glass, then she stepped away, and by Saturday bed time the lizard was complete. Sunday morning I posed for my birthday portrait with a sunflower and the glass that would complete the mosaic:

47  365/365  = 48

By the time we left to go out to eat, 12 of the 18 pieces had been removed. When we returned I decided to leave those six pieces for Monday evening. It's Monday evening.

collared lizard stepping stone pieces


Now, all we have to do is adhere it to the stepping stone, grout it, clean it up, and pack it up. Soon my friend, soon.


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