Life has been busy. Renovations have started again and we have a long list to make our way through. John and I hope to finally get everything done once and for all.

I have been the recipient of an art award and tomorrow evening is the awards presentation and reception. As a result, my winning piece has been on exhibit here since May 10 until June 15. Very exciting. I'm a little nervous about going up on stage but I know everything will be fine.

I've been spending some time in the studio and over the next few days I will be posting some images of stuff I've been working on.

Above images are of a crow and a duck I took on my birthday while having a picnic. I love, love, love crows. I think they are the coolest creatures ever.

Playing around with solder. It took some getting used to but I really do enjoy it. In the top image you can see how I got better at soldering as I went along. I used glass slides that I found in the microscope box and I sandwiched photos of my grandparents, a window and a tree between two pieces. I then used copper foil all around the edges and soldered the whole works together. Adding the jump ring on the top was a pain, but doable.
The bottom image is of a beach rock that I used for a butterfly body and wire for wings. Lots of fun.

I can't believe so much time has passed since I last wrote. I've been very busy lately with work and life and getting into the studio sometimes, even for a few moments, is difficult. But today I'm devoting to just that. A whole, wonderful, glorious day in my studio. The image below is of an assemblage that I had so much fun making. I made the wooden box from scrap wood that I found and I painted and distressed it to make it look old and weathered. I added vintage newspaper from 1939 that a friend of mine found when she tore her floor up during renovations. Transparent images, rusty nails, rusty bottle caps, wire, a tiny bottle with messages inside, stamping with my favorite stamp, fabric, beach rocks and sticks are all used to create this piece of artwork.