A Glass Act Artwalk at THE LOFT Art Studios and Gallery

A Glass Act Artwalk was held last Thursday evening that had participating galleries demonstrating featured artists and their love of glass.

I invited some of the gallery artists to come and spend the evening with me demonstrating their art. Mary Heldenbrand does lampworking and brought some of her beads to wire wrap into fantastic pendants. Pat Hardy came with her latest glassworks and demonstrated her art of stenciling in preparation for sandblasting her decorative glass pieces. Kathryn Guler demonstrated her lampworking techniques in front of her torch. She displayed her fanciful glass beads, that included mermaids and lots of colorful floral beads. Last, and certainly not least, Terry Cook was on hand to explain and show enameling techniques - enameling is fusing glass to metal. The kiln was glowing hot - which looks good at night!

It was a lovely evening under the stars and being in the Kiva Center especially, because we get to listen to the fountain! It was great to share our art techniques to those that were on the Artwalk route.

Thank you for those that came by...
and a big thanks to my colleagues in art! It was fun and we managed to have just a few more people know where we are now!

Figuring out My Creative Process ........or Step Out of Your Life for A Bit

My great friend, Terry, took me to the Desert Botanical Gardens Sunday where we spent the late afternoon and early evening walking through the gardens and checking out the Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Lots of people were there but we were so enthralled with the beauty of the gardens and the beauty of the glass that we made no eye contact with the other people except to get out and stay out of their way when they were taking pictures. I liked the colors of the glass and the different shapes nestled in between cacti and desert plants.

I had been working a lot of hours lately because there's a farmer's market on Sundays and it is the height of the "season" here. So it's best to just grab it while you can, be open, and see if there might be a gallery sale, or someone interested in taking one of my classes. I was due for a little break...

When Terry asked if I'd like to go, I jumped at the chance. Not expecting to "see" anything other than what was in front of me, I was surprised to find that I was getting inspired by the colors and the shapes, and getting motivated about what my next project would possibly be.

Those four hours of getting out of my routine and focusing on something other than working and jewelry making (which by the way isn't "work" to me), made me feel like a new person. I will make my project and then show it to you.

I am also promising myself that I will "Step Outside" more often!

Take care and have a great day!