clownin' around

Now that Halloween has past, i can finally share a very special piece i had been working on.  I was commissioned to make a doll replica of a special gentleman that had passed. I was given the photo (in the bottom right corner of the first photo) and given the following requirement. the wig, the fangs and blood. The award was to be given in D.C. at a party held on Halloween- so no chance of ruining any surprise- and the wonderful client gave me plenty of time to complete the project (not all do you know -wink, wink)

not knowing the person in question and yet knowing that it was going to be used as an award in his honor, to celebrate his love for Halloween and dressing a bit 'psycho'- i can tell you now- it was a daunting task. challenging new territory. i liked it.

it isn't often that, as an artist, you are presented with such out of the comfort zone commissions. usually, you are commissioned to make duplicates of your work that people love, but are not always quick enough to purchase the original. To get a commission so out of my territory, and for such an emotional work- i was truly honored.
the frosting?  the client was over the moon with the outcome.

and i must admit, i am pretty pleased with the outcome- not a bad liking, eh?

celebrate on another.
be a clown.

poof. part one. the mud.

it wasn't a large POOF. small really, almost unnoticeable. I turned around and summer was gone. A blur of plantings and paintings, of plaster and mud. so now it is time for catching up and slowing down.

The harvests are finally in. A grand total of 47 acorn squash, 42 lbs of fresh dug potatoes, 37 ears of corn, a bushel each of peaches, onions and peppers and 11 bags of zucchini stuffing the freezer to capacity.

pies, muffins, sauces all tucked away.

having a garden is the gift that keeps on giving.

peach pie and fried zuchinni are the closest thing to bliss come february when the snow is 2 feet deep and the winds are harsh.  The hardest job you'll ever love.

it was a horrible (horrible!) year for tomatoes. Loads of rain and very little heat make very unhappy tomatoes. It is the first week of October and there are still about 2 bushels of tomatoes still on the plant and still very green. Since they are all sauce tomatoes you can't even fry them up properly- so it looks like there will be a very large batch of late season salsa in the kitchen this fall. I forced about 24 lbs into red to  get them into the pot for pizza and pasta sauces for freezing but not nearly enough to last through the winter.

for those of you not in the know- if you have tomatoes that are just on the brink of changing- that icky pale not quite pink but not quite green color- find yourself a brown paper sack (i say find because at least in these parts paper sacks are somewhat of a commodity- another downfall of the plastic generation!) anyway- toss your tomatoes in a paper sack and close it up tight. set them on the back of your counter and forget about them for a day or two and when you open the sack- voila! red ripe tomatoes.

So the big surprise of the summer was the melon. Cantalope and watermelon- by the dozen. Surprise because all of the cantalope vines (seemingly) died. first by sunstroke, then by drowing. frustrated, i ignored them. next thing i knew they were crawling all over the place, threatening the lettuce patch and trying to make a break for the gate. As for the watermelons- they are a tricky bunch- too much water and they don't get sweet. not enough water and they don't get red. With the driving rains we had i was sure i was going to wind up with big green balls of pale pink, well, water. In the end- I wound up delivering several to the library, and pawning them off on unsuspecting summer folks along the lake shore. They were in such high demand, they have made the final cut for the farm stand next year! i can grow melons. who knew? so there you have it. the mud. i went from an old barren field to a full freezer/pantry/fridge in four fleeting months. and some how, some where, in the middle of it all, i managed to attend a few art shows, make a few friends, have a few laughs and learn a few lessons. So i suppose, it is no wonder that the summer seems to have passed in the turn of a head.

next up, the plaster...

till then,

live well,

stay happy.

don't blink!

tracey jean

so, blogger is acting up again and i had to post this through html coding- you'll forgive the glitches and run togethers- i'm a bit rusty!

unpacking. or not.

i believe it is going to take the next 20 years to unpack everything. so after watching the change of two seasons, i have decided to take things a box at a time, and just spend the next several months rooting and trying to remember where things are. i am not quite embracing this new philosophy. that is to say that while my A.D.D. is loving this new idea- the obsessive compulsive side of my nature is throwing quite a tantrum. full on stomping tantrum to be precise. The shear volume of the studio itself has led to this madness (we are going to ignore the house and the attic and the garage for the moment). It is a good thing the need to create (and, let us be honest, to add coin to the coffers) outweighs the OCD and sends it sniveling to it's room. in the basement. to hide behind the furnace.

Besides... look around.

Its snowing!!

there are places to explore, things to discover and everything is so beautiful when it is topped with a bit of white. everything is more defined. clearer. quieter. 

it is a time when you whisper to the birds for fear of disturbing the silence.

live well.

love each other.

tis the season; for tradition, a story, a new shop, a few updates and a sale to be

okay, so maybe i am getting a bit ahead of myself, or even the season but when you spend as much time as is needed creating for the next season- i have been waiting with anticipation for thanksgiving to pass and for the holiday season 'to begin'.

as a child, it was the day that the boxes were hauled from the attic and the tree was placed, that the holidays began to come alive. box after box of lights and tinsel and every ornament lovingly placed upon the tree, after a close inspection and the recant of a story as to its origin. every year since i can remember there was a gift of a new ornament to place on the tree. when we were just little tots, they were ornaments we made ourselves from clothes pins and paint or macaroni and glitter; as we got older they were symbols of events, of adventures and travels and each one a memory- if only a memory of a smile of a moment in time.

my great aunt is responsible for my love of creating ornaments. she would spend months sewing and gluing; beading and tacking; sequins, lace and shiny gold hangers- she made ornaments. dozens of ornaments. little dolls with locks of yellow yarn and gingerbread men with white rickrack icing; soldiers with big red top hats and green felted christmas trees with tiny little bells- she was a master. one year she created an entire felted manger scene. dozens of little ornaments all strung on lines of gold; wisemen  dressed in long colorful robes bearing gifts and  large white camels with bright turquoise saddles; donkeys and sheep and a barn with a manger and a bright shiny star. every one a gift, every one more detailed than the next and every one destined for that tree; and then the box, and then the tree. year after year. the ornament box comes out and the memories flood back like hidden treasures tucked safely away awaiting to be discovered again.

so it is no wonder that i tend to go a wild when it comes to creating ornaments and fun little celebrations of the season.

between local shows and deadlines, i have managed to stay pretty on top of things so far this season- which i have to say i am pretty proud of *pat on back*- i spent this morning adding new listings to the etsy shop- so stop on by to check out the new ornaments- new this year; i have added gift boxes! so many people asked for gift boxes so they could spread the love- i thought it would be much simpler this year if i just added them to the listing- so if you purchase an ornament you have the option of purchasing a gift box. gift andddd DOne!

due to a great new promotion that artfire was having- i closed my shop over there and opened a brand new one- also "Whisperings 13"- ends a lot of confusion and is allowing me to tidy up the branding of the studio. I hope to have enough inventory to add some things to the new artfire shop the first week of December- but i have to wait until after the old fashioned christmas celebration on the 4th. the etsy shop will be closed the 3rd through the 5th as i re-sort and restock.

e-commerce will never cease to amaze me. it is unpredictable and predictable at the same time. when something doesn't work- it really doesn't work. when something works, it takes off and leaves your head swimming as to why, why, why as you dogie paddle through the bliss of a successful campaign. i find myself in this conundrum with my holiday SNoWiEs. two days after i listed them, my email was flooded with requests and my custom order drying table looked like this:

these sweet little snowmen (or whats left of them)  have been a wonderful hit and i am very excited as to how they have been received! as i finish up on the last of the latest orders, i am coming to the realization that i am going to have to put a deadline on orders for multiple SNoWiEs- but that is to be determined. in the meantime there are still a few available in the etsy shop.

a *super SNoWiE* three times as large as the other SNoWiEs-

only one being created! will be listing later this week.

keep your eyes out for a sale coupon coming this week, just for blog readers, hive members and facebook fans of the studio. *how cool is it that etsy finally caught up and allows us to run specials now*

i go back to greedily awaiting the first snow of the season, the warmth towards others that people seem to find and the magic that envelopes the world.

live well.

love each other.



one leads to many; moments, days, lives, loves

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” ~Jimi Hendrix

idealistic. yes.

unobtainable. no.

Peace is not something you wish for; It's something you make, Something you do, Something you are, And something you give away.” ~ Robert Fulghum

"Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace"~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Celebrate differences.

enjoy cultures.

share stories.

discover humanity.

Live well.

Love each other.

True honor

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

~Theodore Roosevelt