Thanksgiving

 It wasn't our usual houseful of relatives and friends coming and going all day this year for Thanksgiving, which felt a bit different, but the good part: I didn't have to have the food ready by 11am.

The kids came home for the Thanksgiving break. My brother and his girlfriend cooked the Turkey and stuffing and brought it over. My husband cooked the ham and lamb, on the grill, while I made and a variety of side dishes. Pretty east day for me, it was laid back and quiet, and we all sat down and ate Thanksgiving dinner together.

We enjoyed dinner, talked and then we all relaxed.  Just a pleasant Thanksgiving Day.

Oh yeah,  I finished painting the kitchen chairs Tuesday evening and they  were completely dry by Wednesday. What I didn't take into consideration was the smell when I decided to use spray paint. I left them outside and brought them in Thursday morning, I really lucked out because the smell was very faint by then.

Tonight we decorated for Christmas, the kids decorated the tree, I decorated the mantel, and my husband the outside of the house.   It was a really nice day.

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Sunday, productive Sunday...

The past few weekends have been busy for me, but not in my studio or in my home.

This weekend  I decided to take care of my house that seems I have neglected for a long while now, and put off studio time for after Thanksgiving. (I really did want to have the stained glass bathroom window finished before Thanksgiving but whatever :)

I decided to freshen the kitchen up a bit, a detail cleaning of the cabinets, new kitchen curtains, and a removal of a vast collection of vases that stood tall on the shelf over my kitchen cabinets.  I don't know how the collection started, but it did. Over the last 20 years my husband and brother would bring me flowers in very special vases. I decided to remove most of them and store the rest. It kind of feels empty, but clean.

I also decided to spruce up the kitchen chairs. The black paint was starting to wear off and I thought it would be nice to brighten them up. I went out and bought spray paints, a different color for each chair.  I have to go back for a second can of each color, but this was the project this evening.

Now the fun begins!

I found the green glass today that I needed for the panel, now all the glass is cut! I always have fun desinging, coloring the design, and cutting the glass. It may only have taken me a few hours to get to this point, but now the real work begins. Grinding, fitting, foiling, framing and finally soldering.  So with that said, it will be several Sundays in the studio to finish it up. I can't wait until it's complete and in the window!

Productive Sunday!

Another fun Sunday morning in the studio!  Went in around nine this morning and finished around noon, just in time for lunch.

My doodle loop design and pastel chalks are always fun to play with. I think that's what makes it feel so easy to create a design like this.  In my minds eye I had imagined a few less colors, but I love color so I used 3 different blues 2 greens and 3 yellows. I am missing 6 pieces of green that I need to cut, but I ran out of green glass. I will be on the hunt for that specific green this week.

doodle this morning

cut glass by noon. 

Jazz music and a creating art always makes for a good Sunday morning!!

Back to the drawing board

Last weekends art show left me with my creative juices flowing.  I wanted so much to get up Monday morning and get working in my studio, but as life has it, I had to venture off to my day job that supports me.  The time change and rainy weather this week didn't help either when I got off from work.  Last night I decided that I would venture out and purchase a few pieces of glass.

For the last few years I had been working (procrasting) on a bathroom window that I wanted to create over the vanity. Needless to say, the design I had created all those years ago of birds and branches, and all the glass that I cut, has now been scrapped. I decided that I am going with what comes naturally easy to me, a loopy abstract design of pale blues, yellows and greens.

So far I've picked my blues and green. Now on the hunt for a pale yellow.

weekend of success

I'm home now, relaxing on the computer....  The Uptown Art Stroll was a HUGE success! My interpretation of success is not only counted by the sales I made, it was a success because a LOT of people showed up at the event! I believe EVERY artist sold something at this show! It was amazing. Even though the majority of the artists at the location I was at were glass artists, it was such an extreme variety of art. There were also other mediums of art that included a polymer clay jewelry artist and metal artist.

I had the smallest display of all the artists, with only one table to show my art, but I was happy with it!  I met wonderful people, was invited to participate in other art shows, and I have the opportunity to (possibly) do a few custom pieces.  However, I do need to mention that my first customer of the day, was my first and favorite drawing teacher from St. Philips College (from a few years back). We didn't recognize each right away, until I heard her voice and recognized her braided hair!  It was a wonderful little reunion!

I forgot to take a picture the first day, so here is my setup from the second day, minus a few items that I had sold :)

This was the 14th annual event of Uptown Art Stroll in Olmos Park in San Antonio. Twenty homes in the area participated, many of them with guest artists.  I hope I can participate in this event next season!