more plants...

This weekend was the Master Gardener's Spring Garden Fair out at the Canby fairgrounds. Happens the first weekend of May each year and there are lots of local growers and garden artists struttin' their stuff... 200 to be exact.

Today was a beautiful day and there were lots of people about despite the fact that I seem to have this big, empty space in the front of my photo!

These striking blooms really caught our eye. Abutilon, Red Tiger. Hardy to zone 8.

We stopped by our friend, Marta Farris' booth to check out her garden sculpture and stash our purchases while we continued to shop. That's my pal Linley on the left with Marta. Marta's metal sculptures are really fun, several live in my  backyard. Her husband, Steve, makes these gorgeous steel urns. I already know where I'd put one...

 David and Linda Neff of D & L Woodworking, make the most comfortable Adirondack chairs this side of, well, the Adirondacks. Here, David tests the merchandise. We have one of their rockers, and it's the favored chair in our backyard during the summer.

This was one of my favorite displays. The Shady Lady Nursery in Aurora had put together these bright orange pots and baskets filled with purple coleus, orange and red begonias, and a trail of lime green. Brilliant color to liven up a shady area, and those orange pots, genius. 

The Shady Lady Nursery will be hanging out at the Milwaukie farmer's market on Sundays from 9 -2, for those in the Portland area. I really want to check those pots out again...

Along with all of the great plant material and garden art, there are educational talks by master gardeners, soil testing, exhibits, and of course food. So if you live in the Portland area and have never visited the Spring Garden Fair, put it on your calendar for next year, it's well worth it!

A few new pieces

It seems like the past week has been all about rings! I've finished several new rings, all wildly different from each other, and each one extremely satisfying!

a very cool bumpy pearl on a simple sterling band

freeform pearl and rose cut diamond in sterling and 18kt and 14kt gold. These rose cut diamonds are my new love. And I just purchased a new parcel of various sizes and colors I can't wait to get into...

malachite and stick pearl in sterling with 14kt gold

and today I finished this pretty little fossil coral ring in sterling with 14kt gold rivets

My next project is in the works. Moving away from rings for a bit and concentrating on combining various elements in a necklace for David Frank Gallery. Depending on how it comes out, I'd like to do more and perhaps utilize some of those diamonds in the design.

Here I'm using rose cut tourmalines, peridot, ocean jasper and freshwater pearls. Still a bit to work out... I'll be posting it when it's done though!

New Additions to the Family...

I've been having some challenges in the studio recently and today brought the melt down of an 18kt gold bezel I was working on. Good time to take a break, and what's the best thing to do when you need a little cheering up? No, not that half gallon of chocolate chip in the freezer, but a trip across the river to the farm store to pick out a new critter or two... or maybe seven. Always makes me feel better!

 The newbies, soon to be included in the stable of photo props already working hard to sell

                        my jewelry on etsy.

I have no idea what kind of dog this is supposed to represent, but he looked eager and check out that crazy face!

whew, intense...

And everyone knows that lizards are pretty good at selling stuff...

not too cuddly, but speaks with an Aussie accent. 

Here's cute...

Now all that remains is to design the perfect piece of jewelry to go with each one...

They should be popping up in the shop before too long! 

let the gardening begin...

My gardens have been in a sad state since last Fall when I told them I was done, they could put themselves to bed... This Spring, when we've had a nice day here and there, I had other things to do, mostly spend time in that little basement studio. Today I finally got myself out there and boy am I feeling it!

Noticed lots of little things in bloom, especially the Akebia vine with it's heavenly scent...

 

Usually blooming in March, it's a bit late this year most likely due to the cool weather we've had.

It's evergreen, with a very pretty leaf. The flowers consist of small flower clusters and an occasional larger single flower. I think it's the male and the smaller ones are the females. The scent is really lovely. I get a waft of it every time I walk out the back door and if the weather is warm enough, I can open the window and let it in.

Most of the daffodils are gone, but tulips are still hanging in there, in fact I had tulips come up this year that I know weren't there last year, and no, I didn't plant any last Fall. The last time I bought a bag of 100 tulips at Costco and never got them in the ground I learned my lesson... bad me.

I really couldn't tell you what these little guys are. The were bulbs that I planted some years ago and they really multiply, so be careful, I have to dig a bunch out every so often to keep them from taking over. And the kaffir lily is the same, but easily managed. I've given them to people all over my neighborhood. Around here, you'll get blooms all year round and they look kind of like miniature gladiolas or iris. Very sweet with an insane deep salmon color.

I cut back the ferns and already see the fiddleheads emerging. The hostas are coming up and looking good. I love the colors in this little clump! It's amazing what you can find when you pull away all the debris...

The always reliable bleeding heart planted below the akebia trellis and one of a few camellia blooms that survived my husband's "pruning". 

And last but not least...well, I actually got this done first thing today and that's probably why my knees aren't working so well right now... the vegetable garden. Planted in the strip between driveways, but getting great sun, I tilled, amended and planted onion starts, and spinach, lettuce, chard, and snow peas from seed. About a month or so later than I had wanted, back then when I was doing my taxes...

Flores wasn't a huge help. Every time I got down to put the seeds in the ground, he'd put his nose in my ear. But he was nice company... Happy gardening!

 

I went with a friend to the Portland Art Museum on Tuesday to see the Mark Rothko retrospective.  It was a wonderful timeline of his early figurative work to the later, sublime abstracts that one associates with the name Rothko. 

 self portrait 1936

Most of the 45 paintings in the exhibition are on loan from the National Gallery of Art and the Rothko family. 

But THEN we left Rothko and walked upstairs and into an exhibition of the work of California sculptor John Frame. His Three Fragments of a Lost Tale installation completely and totally blew us away. I would say, left us breathless actually...

This incredible experience began with footage from the stop motion animated film project, The Tale of the Crippled Boy, he has been working on for the past 6 years. All the characters are fully sculpted and meticulously detailed by the artist with tiny jointed fingers and emotion behind their eyes. I felt an instant connection to the work, in part, I'm sure, due to the tiny attention to detail, but you can't help but feel a human connection of sorts, albeit from an alternate universe. The characters are on display, in a darkened room with spotlights, which feels like an extension of the film. 

You can see the entire twelve and a half minute film here: http://johnframesculpture.com/film

as well as more of John Frame's amazing body of work.

John Frame spoke to a sold out audience at the museum on March 18th. I missed it but caught it here.

Portland peeps, don't miss it. 

Paired with the Rothko retrospective through May 27th, you may just walk away feeling like it was the best $15 you've ever spent...

New Work

It's been a while and I wanted to share some of the new work I've completed in the past month. Between The Real Mother Goose, David Frank and etsy, I find my days filled with work. So much so that the dog is right now staring me down to get out for a walk and all I want to do is get back into the studio!

high domed Ohwyee jasper ring

lots of Nevada boulder turquoise

lots of interesting pearls

Pendants: a nice tourmalated quartz and African petrified wood

Gorgeous Montana agate and citrine

finished today: Sonoran dendritic rhyolite and freshwater pearls

Sometimes I despair that I work too slowly, producing one piece at a time, but when I see it all together I realize I'm actually getting more done from week to week then I think I am, and enjoying the process along the way... 

I guess I'll get that guy out for his walk while it's not raining!

How I Spent My Weekend

This weekend found me out of my studio for once, and into Sara Swink's studio instead. A couple of friends and I took Sara's two day creative process workshop. That was two days that just flew by. The first day concentrated more on collaging and doodling while in day 2 we got to get into the clay. Check out this feature on Sara, her art, and her workshops in American Craft Magazine.

One of Sara's newer pieces, almost finished

Sara's West Linn, Oregon studio is surrounded by large trees and it was delightful to be inside and warm while the rain pounded on the roof.

Sara, doing some 'splainin' and a few examples of the output from day 1 on the walls...

At the end of day 2, checking out the fruits of our collective labors

I came away refreshed and revitalized DISPITE the fact that we had all lost an hour of sleep due to daylight savings time!

Ready to get back to work in my own medium, and a little bit sorry I have to put the clay aside. However, I will be back to Sara's on one of her Saturday open studio days for more clay time. 

Bottom line, I highly recommend this workshop, Sara's a great teacher. Thanks Sara!!

Sara and friend.