Life is odd sometimes. I generally like to get out my sketchbook, research pictures to figure out layout and colors - plan designs right now to the amount of clay I use. I experiment with scrap clay to figure out shapes and sizes and get my bearing on new techniques. But sometimes, art just grabs you. My new owl pieces came about like that.
I was sitting at my workbench staring at all the ends and ends from the projects I just finished and starting to clear up the clutter to work on the next project. I picked up a few leftover canes from owl cane projects and while starting to put them away and wondering what the heck I'm going to do with these leftovers, I glanced down at my workbench and saw some teardrop shaped cabs I had made out of scrap clay while experimenting with different die-forming ideas. Well, the bulb went off and within an hour, I had a owl that I had little owl necklace that I had sculpted from leftover canes. I made a couple more - just because one hadn't really put a dent in my leftover pile, took and posted some pictures, and headed down to Houston to meet the wonderful folks in the guild down there. And they disappeared.... and I had requests for more.
While in Houston, they talked about different charity ongoing and one of them was the Brazarre Houston 2015. Well, owls were on my brain, so I though owls and bras - which is what you see pictured above. I'm donating them to their charity auction. The one with two owl faces is called, "A Nice Pair of Hooters" and the other - thank you, Cheryl Pope Roach - is called "Owl Support You". They are little pins about 3" wide with buna cord bra straps with my signature cane on the back. If you'd like to see more pictures of my pins, you can click on the large image above to go to my Flickr.
I miss blogging and my newsletter. The last year has been very, very busy trying to work full time while my classes and art were taking off in a way that sometimes brings me to tears. I've now dedicated myself to working my art full time and am putting out more new classes, workshops, and trying to find the time to ... well, just be around people. It's a good feeling, but still scary at time. I'll be starting up my newsletter again soon, but only temporarily as I work on a way to publish it so folks can subscribe to it and read it on their apps and kindle. And for those that like owls, I'm currently working on a new CraftArtEdu class that will be coming out the end of this month or the beginning of next.
Here is a few more pictures of my different owls. I've including links to my Etsy shop for any that are still available.
