Jewelry Discoveries

It seems funny, or maybe I should say natural, that all of the things that I encourage students to do in terms of discovering their artistic processes also work as part of my artistic discoveries. I've been doing jewelry for Christmas gifts and have produced dozens of pairs of earrings, but started looking at and using "sea-glass" or "beach-glass" over the past week or so in some experimental pieces. I feel like these things were successful, and have led to even more discoveries around how I might use the rather large collection of glass that I have.

The photo below is an example of the fact that no two pieces of "beach-glass" are the same, but some are close enough to make a good "pair" of earrings. I liked these pieces because they were similar in size and have segments of raised letters on them, and they most likely came from the same bottle. I made the large jump rings to accommodate the holes I drilled in the glass, and then replaced the silver holding bead with a colored seed bead.

This series of photos partially shows the process I used to make rings for Jen and Lynne using pieces of rounded fused glass "stones" from my glass kiln. Make the bezel, fit the "stone", and then solder the ring and bezel.

Birthday Celebration at Finn's

David's birthday today, so we got reservations at Finn's and went there for a nice celebration dinner. Morgan and Dave  came with Abigail as well and so it was a lovely time. We had some good discussions, stories and a whole lot of fun!

The photos are from the way into the back of the restaurant and a "selfie" that I did with a "holey chip" over my eye.

All Phone and Nothing But the Phone

Tracks in the snow from going up to get the paper this morning. I walked up somewhat carefully, but it is obvious from the imprints that I "slid" back down to the house, going as far as I could with each bounding slide! The snow was like lubrication on the ice from the storm, what fun! Please notice the 180 degree crossover at the bottom, not an easy task!

Is anyone sick of the ice pictures yet? There must be a million of them out there and it is as it should be! The first of these taken at Bangor Savings Bank and the second in the appealing lot of Home Depot, both in Ellsworth!

Christmas at Morgan and Dave's

Jan and I picked Matt up yesterday and we all went to Deer Isle to have a wonderful Christmas dinner with Dave, Morgan, Abigail, Lynne and David. We exchanged gifts and conversation and enjoyed a most excellent meal with turkey and roast beef and a dessert (tiramisu) that was out of this world.

The photo has been enhanced with one of my iPhone apps to give it the ethereal spiritual feeling that a true Christmas gathering deserves. L. to r. ; Abigail, Jen, Dave and David.

No Interweb, But the Phone Works!

We are still "stuck" in terms of connectivity, but I am going to post a couple of Christmas shots from today via my cellphone!

More Ice

Last night the ice continued to form, but with very little additional accumulation over the night. The apple tree in front of the house down near the water has always been an inspiration to me for it's unique visual qualities, and this ice is yet another way in which I can view it.

Here are three shots just closing in for more detail in each one. I used my Sony HX1 for these and notice a bit more "graininess" in the lower light of an overcast day.

Ice Storm Driving

I did not take any pictures while driving home this morning as the roads were covered with ice, there was very little traffic, Jen and I were the only ones adventurous/stupid enough to be out on the road, there were lots of sanding trucks and lots of ice all over the car. I stopped three or four times to break up the ice on the wipers and to clean the ice off the edges of the windshield.

We just went slow and got home in four hours or so, not really finding that there was any difficulty, just paying close attention to the road and looking out for slippery spots, of which there were a few.

I got home and just had to record the ice before it got dark, so I took my DSLR, screwed a 4X close-up filter on the 50mm lens and took some of these pictures. I also brought my fixed lens zoom and got some pictures of the ice on the trees, but from a different perspective. Beautiful stuff!

More Fun in the Snow

Of course, Jackson refuses to wear mittens or anything on his head, but I am sure he will get over that when he realizes how much more fun he can have in the snow with the proper gear. He was frozen, with his little hands like ice and his head bare, when I took the "family snow shot". If you look closely you can tell he was not happy to have to stay still to have his photo done. We did, however, manage to produce a couple of large-scale snow monsters, one becoming a robot figure and the other a cartoon "little person". The really small snowman with the carrot nose was JAckson's and I think his first. He loved it, especially when he knocked the head off and we had to keep putting it back on the body.

Torrey and I dragged a few things up from the basement to embellish the figures with and had a lot of fun in the process. If they soak up with water during the rain that is coming, and then freeze, they may very well be there all winter!

And then of course, Torrey and I had to go out tonight and photograph the snowmen in the dark. More drama there, you know!

Birthday Party

We had the fortune to be able to celebrate Katie's birthday with the family and as usual, Jackson stole the party! He helped to put the candles in the cheesecake (Katies' favorite), blow them out, and cut and eat the goodies as well. He was so in the middle of things and he has gotten so fast, up on the counter in no time and moving about with complete disregard for his own safety. I had forgotten the adventurous nature of the two-year old. Here are a couple of shots from the birthday party.

Snow Curves

These pics are from my snowshoe adventure this afternoon. I went out with a telephoto lens on the camera and found that it was very limiting, but that was the adventure. Some great curves in the snow drifts are what bound these photos together for me, with the light becoming warmer and warmer as the sun went down in the sky. Good day.