Spring is (among so many wonderful things) the season when bears awake from a long cozy slumber to roam and forage, driven by post-hangover munchies.  Thus it is also the season when I must once again retrain myself to grab the bear spay before my daily jaunts in the woods behind my mountain top home.  I never think of the spray until I am well away from home, tromping through mud or post-holing through knee deep snow polka dotted with critter tracks – moose, elk, deer and the sweet wee-baby-versions of each.  I simply need to get back into the habit of grabbing the bear spray before I go.  
Similarly, I must re-establish the habit of blogging.  I am constantly struck with the impulse to share and yet last month went by with nary a word.  Transition has me floundering between habits and whatever semblance of routine I may had.  Finishing and moving into the NEW studio took precedence over any type of writing routine.   I am still juggling the addition of three wonderful children in my life with Paul along with the scattered part of living in two towns and the addition of caring for my mother since my father’s death last year.  The New Year brought a commitment to fitness (I have lost 15 pounds so far) and I have completed a wonderfully intense webinar course for artists with Paul Klein.  Recently the shocking untimely death of a sweet friend knocked the wind out of me and the little community I live in. 

Winter lingers in the Rockies.  Spring has a tough job trying to move into the high country bit-by-hard-won-bit.  My progress this past month is on par with spring- bright moments of light and promise in between the mud and muck.  The lack of blogging had nothing to do with the lack of content, ideas, or events – life has been full.  Somehow blogging and social media bumped my old fashioned habit of journaling right off the shelf.  I missed it.  The need to scribble words and doodle ideas on paper has returned just in time to spill over and into my new studio space.   Juicy stuff which I promise to share via the blog.  Bear with me...

I have been sharing my studio, my house, my bed and my life with one of my closest girlfriends Wynn.  More than a foot of fresh spring snow greeted her when she got off the plane last Saturday (good thing she left her flip-flops at home in Nashville).   Just over a year ago she came to nurse me physically and emotionally through a difficult major surgery.   She needed a “Montana fix” and I needed a “Wynn fix” so I scraped together the moola for a ticket.  Despite the 16 hour days of finish work, “the nest” (studio nap room) was not ready for her even though she had already dubbed it “Wynn’s room” on Facebook.  She arrived early afternoon but the day was gobbled up by what felt like a zillion errands before we bounced up the mountain road in my truck.  Wynn plucked her way through the muck and mud of the construction zone; I opened the studio door with a flourish, stepped aside so that she could enter... 

 “F*CK!” she screamed.

Followed by “F*CK!!!”

and another happy overwhelmed “F*CK!!!”  She grabbed my arm to steady herself.  Tears sprung and rolled down her face.  We held hands.   

Wynn has known me since before my life on the mountain - a looooooooong time.  She congratulated the addition of electricity to my cabin home knowing better than anyone just how much fuel this insomniac burned in her Coleman lanterns during those first years.  Wynn was one of the few guests who ventured to stay during the seven years I lived without plumbing.  She knew all about “Smoky” the sweet o’l retired railroader who let me use his garage shop with the big barrel trash burner stove for a studio.  She cheered me on when I closed in the covered cabin porch with plywood and windows to make a studio at home – dragging my sculptures outside at sunrise each day to work since the ceiling was too low to stand them up inside – then dragging them back before the afternoon mountain thunderstorms.  Wynn met and loved Freeman – the painter for whom I modeled for fourteen years before nursing him through terminal illness.  She cried with me when she heard Freeman died in my arms.  She encouraged me to accept his widow Daisy’s invitation to use Freeman’s studio as my own.   Spacious – complete with an office, a shower and a nap room; I spent more time working and sleeping there than at home during the years I enjoyed Freeman’s special space.  Wynn sent me $1000 when I was busy creating the first five “Reliquaries” for my first solo museum exhibit – too broke for anything but basic food but of course able to buy stained glass and steel – whatever necessary to realize my vision of the works.  She let me take her climbing on slimy rock in the bug and slug infested Tennessee cliffs when I found myself studioless  – she understood my need to push the edge and never gave up on my passion and vision when the  studioless years stretched impossibly long. 

I cannot imagine life without Wynn and felt blessed and excited that she is one of the first to see the studio nearly finished.

A splot of metallic copper paint is shimmering on the back of my hand as I sit down to the computer for a moment – a leftover smudge from the final coat of faux copper painted onto the ceiling of the studio nap room – aka  “the nest.”  Serene.  Heavenly.  Sweet.  The nest has grand views (five windows).  The copper and faux Venetian plaster is a warm earthy cozy welcome respite from the zap happy lime green study below.  The floor will be painted deep purple and a henna-inspired mural painting of the Tree of Life will bloom itself up a wall and onto the ceiling - someday.  Birds and Buddhas are the theme for the nest.  Dreamie.

Last Friday Paul and I packed up all of his tools and took down the scaffolding.  I swept.  We opened the doors so that Momma Nature could blow out the sawdust while I spun around.  The amazing brand NEW pristine inspiring space is…mine. 

I wept. 

Simply sat down on the cement floor of this elegant empty clean-slate compelling place, I felt overwhelmed by the gift, the grace, the years and years of dreaming/struggling/believing and then…this!   Even as I begin to move each truckload of studio stuff from storage I find myself shedding tears and grinning.  I see myself on this big blank first page of a new chapter in a vivid richly packed fully lived book of my life.  Little o’l me…not much bigger than a punctuation point.   There.  On the white page, in the white sunlit studio - a question mark -an exclamation point and three little dots.

                  ? ! ...

Obsessed with finishing the studio, my time is spent painting and staining along with all of the chores and hardware store visits that go along with finishing up a place.  Luckily Lowe’s opens at 6 a.m. so I can enjoy dawn as I zip over the mountain pass with a list and a cup of tea.  Plenty middle-of-the-night shopping sprees on eBay and other places have turned up bargains and a fun twist on normal stuff (like a toilet paper holder).   The wide world offers much more interesting options than Lowes or our wee little Montana stores.  I spent $8.00 for a bird embellished cast iron toilet paper holder on Ebay.  The antique Mexican hanging light was 98 cents and my hand painted peacock blue Talavara sink a whopping $24.00. Fun stuff!

The studio itself is a soft winter white with plenty of ambient light.  Ah the light!!!   Dreamie.  Churchee.  Inspiring.  Inviting – a perfect place for the Muses to play.  I have been giggling vivid colors onto the walls in the study, the bathroom and the nap room.  Just think – for 16 years I have lived in a small log cabin which means that sheet rocked walls have never existed for me to splash color onto!  Oh the possibilities!!!

“Calypso Blue,” golden yellow and deep purple compliment the painted sink in the bathroom and transport the space into a south-of-the-border feeling.  “Limelicious, ” “Limeburst,” and “Celery” combine to create a zap-happy study and kitchenette.  Like a good dose of wasabi to my visual senses – the walls tickle my spirit.  The nap room is tucked into the clerestory above the study and has just been renamed “The Nest.”   Painted in a warm peachy light terracotta faux Venetian plaster – the room will be a restful haven complete with birds and buddhas.

Behind the scenes - beneath the paint, the stain, the trim and the fluff churns new purpose, vision and direction for my creative life.  Damn exciting.

 

Here it is Friday morning already!  Snuggled deep under the covers, a heavy lidded sun slovenly hints at the horizon with a streak of ice blue.  Wind blows.  The desk is piled with mail, exhibit applications and post-it notes with seemingly endless “to dos.”
I left my computer home last weekend while I enjoyed a complimentary ski trip and then hit the ground running upon my return - thus Friday seems to have budged to the front of the line and arrived prematurely.  Paul has some clients who put us up in a comfy condo at the base of a ski resort in Steamboat Springs, gave us ski passes, a rental car, and rental skis.  The trip was too good to pass up but I drug my knuckles and grumbled at the thought of leaving since the studio is nearly complete.  I am more-than-eager to finish up, move in, and get to work!!!  
BUT I had no idea just how much a spin out of town would salivate my creative art glands.  I slurped up the art scene like a parched woman.  Sipping, lapping, dunking and gorging myself at the Denver Art Museum I felt my pores open up to soak it all in.  After years of struggling without a real creative space I find myself shifting internally as the studio nears completion.  A whole new novel in the series of my life is set to go to press.  Many of the feelings Snoopy-dancing in my soul are similar to the hungry excited curious and driven passion I felt in my early twenties when I jumped on a Greyhound bus in Bozeman and rode to Seattle for a museum fix and to buy my first four chisels at a wood workers store.  A few years earlier colorful cravings drove me to charge a bus ticket from Montana to New York after I received a full scholarship to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia.  Actually much of my life is fueled by the passion to create and to visually gobble up creations by others. A recent life chapter focused on survival mode, family and transitions.  Large life shifts shoved some of my creative hunger cravings into a dusty dark corner but they are impossible to ignore and certainly haven’t lost any of their sparkle!  Last weekend was a yummy chunk of soul food.  My thirst is far from quenched but feeling thirsty feels good!

I bought a beautiful museum book about Louis Bourgeous.  She too suffered from insomnia.  She also journaled.  Somehow my journal habit fostered for decades has been on hiatus since social media and blogging entered my life.  I vow to return to the blank book and pen as I dive into the juicy creative tank – eyes wide open.   

 

The only thing that can tear me away from the NEW studio right now are commitments made before this wonderful exciting stage of painting and staining the interior.  Heck, Paul has a client who is treating us to a complimentary weekend of skiing at Steamboat Springs and I can hardly stand the idea of leaving my new beautifully sun lit creative space for four days – so much to do and I LOVE LOVE LOVE being in the space.   The idea of catching a plane early in the morning feels like putting down a well written completely engaging book just before the final chapter – torture (of the best kind). The clearstory is brilliant.  The windows and light beam a chorus of smiles from the sun.  The walls are pristine white and the windows trimmed simply in pine creating a rather church-ee feeling with the height and light.  Perfect place for the Muses to sing, dance, worship, play, and nap.  Placed on the west end of an open mountain meadow, the building captures the very first rays of sun each morning.  I actually stepped into the sunlight just a few feet before stepping into the door of the studio early yesterday morning.  Grinning.

One of the commitments which pulled me from the studio Tuesday was my weekly volunteer ski day for Eaglemount.  Jackie giggles and grins her way down the mountain.  Sometimes she makes race car noises.  She gets cold easily so we “group hug” on the chairlift spinning tales, singing made up songs and thinking of ways to make her giggle more.  She always has a stuffed animal or two for skiing companions.  I am still learning the intricacies of just how to guide the sit ski down the slope which means Jackie and the stuffed animals get more of a bouncy ride when I take the tethers but she seems to love it – ALL.

 

 

 

 

Here’s a picture of the studio freshly sheetrocked.  Each day brings exciting changes (Calypso Blue in the bathroom complete with a vanity which I stained deep purple, doors, windows, trim, etc.)  More pictures soon…

 

What does an artist do during 3 months of being totally studio-less?  Obsessive Ebay searches and paint chip collecting.  I have lived in a log cabin for the last 16 years and the studios inhabited haven't been mine to mess with so for the first time in decades there are brand spanking new white walls craving color AND I get to do whatever I want!!!  Also a heated cement slab floor and some plywood floors will be stained - colorful of course!  The kids are excited to help.  We’ve packed brushes, rollers and winter gear for the first day of painting and staining the studio interior.  Epic sledding breaks are planned (thus the winter gear).  Crazy happy excited to launch into the space and begin the process of making it my own.  Of course the main studio will remain white so that I have a blank canvas space to work within.  My Sunday will be spend snoopy dancing, paint flinging and grinning inside the NEW studio!!!

 

How about this festive Talavera Mexican sink I found on Ebay for $24.00?!  I will be staining the cabinet deep purple for this bright happy sink to set into.  Yesterday I bought a BIG utility sink for the studio - funny how much fun it was to purchase a big o'l utility sink of my own!  The silly sink has no idea how much work it will do.  Right now it is so clean and shiny that I am tempted to put a bow on it. 

Sixteen degrees below zero today.  I picked "Oboe" since the piece has a crystal-like quality.  "Oboe" looks like I feel today, a bit fuzzy but wide-eyed and happy to see  the horizon begin to lighten and brighten earlier each day as we inch toward spring.

Half price with all of the funds going toward charity.  Friends of GNFAC - The Avalanche Center will be the recipient.

I followed a fresh set of mountain lion tracks down the driveway to my cozy little cabin at the end of the road near the top of a mountain in Montana…a long way from the warm nights of Texas ranch life!  Temps dropped below zero soon after I drug my little suitcase up the patio steps and shoveled my way into the door.  The little place heats up pretty quickly – by the time Zaydee has made her rounds sniffing out every visitor who roamed outside while we were gone – I can take my down coat off and settle in.  I ignored cyberspace for the most part during President’s Day Weekend.  I squeezed in a soul refreshing long yoga class, bought groceries and hunkered down happily on the mountain content to stay put for a few days.  I enjoyed a slumber party with a girlfriend – drinking hot toddies and peering at paint chips for the studio, finished reading a book while soaking in my big claw foot tub, poked around my freshly sheet rocked studio, hiked and post-holed my way through deep snow late one crisp cold afternoon.  The last afternoon was sunny - I strapped on skis to enjoy the sunshine and powder while skiing up and down the mountain behind my home.  Ranch life with cute furry babies seemed a world away.  

My work week started with a 3 hour dentist appointment.  Dr Amy Madden Kinney is a talented dentist AND my cousin.  Lucky for me we trade art for dental work.  After a round in the dentist’s chair I scooted to Bridger Bowl to ski with little Jackie for the Eaglemount program, and then to the school to watch the girls' basketball games before unpacking my truck and settling into a week in Bozeman with Paul and the kids.  Already it is nearly time to get them up for school and launch into a business-part-of-art day while itching to get back after it in the studio…soon!

I guess 2:15 a.m. is about the middle of the night.  I am simply not used to warm nights - not even summer in Montana has many warm nights but here I am dorking around in the middle of the night in flip flops and shorts and it's February.  I am leaving in an hour to catch an early flight out of San Antonio.  Ranch life is sweet and my hosts are awesome but I hear my studio calling me.  When I left a week ago three fellas were spraying insulation. I guess the place has been totally sheet-rocked this week which means I can paint the interior walls next week – fun colors in the bathroom, the office, and the nap room.  My excitement is bubbling – tickling my nose and fizzing my innards.

Can you see three guys in this photo?

I am just bursting with love today!!!  The Cosmos is grinning down at me – warm and friendly.  I am at the ranch in Texas which is beaming with life and sunshine.  A teeny new little 3 week old miniature baby burro with fluffy old man eyebrows has been hanging close to his mom and kicking up his heels playfully – both new additions since my last visit three weeks ago.  A new calf came into the world yesterday, slick and big-eared.   One of the hunting dogs had puppies which I hear are teensy but will go see for myself today. The chickens ran toward me like a crazed fan club when I showed up with a bag full of scraps.  They sure are silly fun quirky fretful critters.  Yesterday we flew to another ranch where the boys caught fresh bass.  YUM!!  Paul impressed us with his culinary skills during a fresh fried fish feast (say that 3 times fast!).  Desert was fresh strawberries dipped in warm chocolate.  Yum! I woke a few hours before the sun and stretched through my morning yoga Sun Salutations before sipping tea and getting to the desk part of work.  An early walk in the fog had me a bit worried about stepping on snakes but once the sun came up, I pulled on my sneakers and went for a run – which did not seem as difficult as the first time I ran on the ranch nearly a month ago.  Phew!

I selected “Victor” for this week’s Pick of the Week because of his name and the cause.  My friend Aaron Mulky has created a unique fundraiser to take care of one of our tribe in her time of need.  Echo Oak was injured when she fell 200 feet while climbing ice.  She spent a cold winter night outside before her rescue but she is recovering thank goodness.  Aaron and his partner are going to climb ice for 24 hours straight to raise funds for Echo’s medical bills.  See their event. 

Buy “Victor” for half price and all of the moola will contribute to Aaron’s efforts – Victor-ious all around.

I am crazy about climbing and even crazier about climbing ice.  ICE?!!!  Yup.  I’ve tried to reason that one out myself and can’t.  How can a sport where frozen fingers, bitter cold cramps, huge helpings of danger, long difficult approaches and a guarantee of suffering be something to be crazy for?

Ah…but the ice.  The ice!  Constant changing sculpture…capturing light, holding light, bouncing light, sucking light, reflecting light, spitting light.  Magic.  The stuff of crystal balls…enticing…confusing…delicate and impressive.  Like the eyes of the snake in the Walt Disney version of Jungle Book…ice entices.  “Trust in me…eeeeeeeee,” the snake sings, his eyes spinning, working their magic.  Allure, hypnotism and like Mogli I am drawn in grinning stupidly.

“You…are…so…beeaaauuuuutifulllllll…I say all dreamlike.

But then comes the moment of getting down to business…which means getting my feet off of the ground and that is where the voices come in.  I’ve a zillion of them.  “You haven’t eaten enough.”  “You are not strong enough”  “You’re nuts.”  Maybe its too early…too late…the ice too hard…too soft…too long…too blue.  What if these weren’t the right gloves?  Underwear?  Chap stick?  Egads the voices can be loud and obnoxious like a kindergarten class before school.  But the bell rings…the voices get louder and the activity even more frenzied before the teacher claps her hands yelling, “Settle down”  I send the thoughts to their desks…better yet…I try to shut them up inside the desks and worry about the mess later.  Right now I gotta climb.

And so I do.  Clumsy at first…I know and now accept the fact that it takes me awhile to warm up to any activity I am doing.  Others leap out of the starting gate and whiz into things.  I wheeze.  But long after their jumpstart I’ve found a pace and a place in my mind where the energizer bunny lives…I can keep going and going and going.  Thank god.  Somehow I find myself being of the right constitution to keep plodding.  Onward and upward…one foot in front of the other…or an ax placement in the ice a toe kicking a crampon point in…I can make myself keep going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the clumsy klutzy start, the doubts and dreams tumble and jumble together creating an intoxicating tonic that quenches my thirst for living.  The same elixir propels me to create - pushing boundaries and scaring myself in the studio day after day.  Art happens in the places and spaces outside the comfort zone.  Curiosity, drive and passion push.  Art happens when I get my feet off of the ground and the Energizer Bunny steps in to propel me forward.  Much of art is plodding - one chisel mark after another – chasing a vision sparked by light.  Art making is as ethereal as water – flowing or momentarily frozen – constantly changing, challenging, and compelling.  Humbling.  Inticing.  Adventurous art is a leap of faith finessed with skill and the kind of sharpened intuition which comes from a bold spirit tuned in.

 

 

 

 

 

I debated Saturday night whether to spend Super Bowl Sunday on a ski tour around Bunsen Peak in Yellowstone (wouldn’t be able to take Zaydee) or ski near Chico Hot Springs with Zaydee and include a soak afterwards.  I woke early feeling a bug in my bones and knew I had to cancel ski plans with my girlfriend to hunker down in my cozy cabin while snowflakes fell big as cotton balls.  Seems like everyone around me has been sick and alas – finally – I succumbed. 

 

 

BUT – being ill has its little blessings.  Sipping tea, I talked for 2 hours by phone with my dear friend Wynn in Nashville.  After weeks of phone tag my couch time allowed talk time.  I read a book – what shouldn’t be but seems to have become a luxury in my busy world.  I looked up some artists who inspire me on the internet to see their new creations.  I soaked in my beloved claw foot tub.  I slept.

Luckily a few days before the bug I enjoyed a relatively warm day playing on ice with friends and have a few pictures to share.

 

Cool amphitheater of ice at Big Sky.

The extra bulge in my coat is a warm pair of fat gloves...

Climbing behind frozen falls is fun and challenging...

Fun and whimsical - "Zuko" seemed like a bright cheery pick on this winter grey day.  My girlfriend Stacey Herries is having an art opening at Tart next week with 20% of sales going to the Gallatin Mental Health Center.  The "Pick of the Week" is going to piggy-back with her charity choice.  Half price for you - 100% from your purchase will support the same charity.

Monday morning:  Temps are below zero and dropping.  The landscape is soft and pale as crystals hang and wait their turn to cling in a delicate doily-way to trees, grass, mailboxes and eyelashes.  The kids are off to school and a week with their mother.  Last week was full of basketball games, after-school practices, and homework.  Ali’s 6^th grade girl’s basketball team had a tournament at Gallatin Gateway Friday night.  They lost their 2^nd game by only ONE point when a foul against a teammate in the last 6 seconds brought the chance to get two free-throws and possibly tie the game, (which would have put them into overtime and a chance to win).  Alas, the poor little nervous gal made one out of two baskets and they lost the game.  She broke out in tears but got hug after hug from her teammates.  I am impressed at the heart and gumption these young gals show.  Ali is a pint-size force to be reckoned with.  

Saturday night we had a pajama party with Mom. Sami baked two different batches of cookies, Paul made popcorn in a pot on the stove and we watched “The Sound of Music”  cuddled under blankets on the couches.  I thought I had seen the movie enough times in my life that I wasn’t particularly keen on our choice of entertainment but the kids are gearing up and doing tryouts for the musical at school.  BUT I got goose bumps in the first few moments and several times throughout.  We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I have been singing ever since (though nothing like Julie or the girls for that matter!).  Julie Andrews is such a bright sparkle isn't she?  Speaking of sparkle - Mom wore black lounge pants with rhinestones to qualify for the pj party dress code.  Jake lasted half-way through the movie but got squirmish and went to bed early announcing that he wanted to be rested up for our big ski day at Bridger Bowl.   

Skiing with these three munchkins is SO much fun!!!  Jake rips it up!  Sami and Ali explore the mountain and pick runs with confidence.  We laughed and whooped our way down slopes, ate a picnic lunch and sipped hot chocolate.  The temps neared zero.  I was more-than-a wee-bit-thankful that we took several breaks in the upper lodge to warm up since I was so sore from Crossfit the day before.  Getting back into shape after a year of healing leaves me with plenty of sore muscles but it is more fun to be sore from playing and working out than from major surgery!  Humming "Sound of Music" tunes, smelling my favorite Volupsa "Baltic Amber" candle, and drinking tea on this happy Monday morning - the eve of a new month in a year that has launched as especially promising and full of rich blessings.

 

 

Paul took this picture Thursday.  I haven’t been on site since Monday morning (this is a Bozeman week with the munchkins).  I can hardly wait to stand inside and look out a window.  Just opening a door will make all of this seem more real.  Plumbing is going in.  I hear I have a shower stall.  Duel flush toilet from Costco (great price!) will go in soon.   We haven’t set up a cistern for water yet.  Keep your fingers crossed that we find water the next time we drill!  Itch’n to move in!

 

Each week - one original artwork is offered at half price with all of the money going to charity.  "Rizzo" looks to me like a bit of an insomnia sufferer like myself or maybe he has simply had too much coffee.  "Rizzo" is the pick and Tibetan Doctors are the recipent.  My friend Mike Cooperstien is actively and soulfully involved.  Just follow this link to learn more:

Please Help Tibetan Doctors

Click here to purchase "Rizzo"

New York!  New York!  (the place so nice they named it twice!)  The frog bronze titled “Spring” is in route to the BIG APPLE for the N.A.W.A Open Small Works Exhibition.  Here’s how it happened:

I made a pact with myself to enter one juried show each month this year.  I have only entered 2-3 juried shows in my life and the last one was the Western Design Conference in Cody, Wyoming - well over a decade ago.  So I started by entering a show in December just to begin to get myself into the habit.  Voila!  My sculpture was accepted!!!  I have been told that over 650 artists entered and only 65 were accepted.  "Spring" is one of five sculptures selected for the show.  The exhibit is at the National Association for Women Artists – which is the oldest professional women's fine art organization in the United States (founded in 1889).   So here are the exhibit details:

Exhibition Date:    February 2-22

Place:                The N.A.W.A Gallery  80 Fifth Avenue Suite 1405, New York, NY

Reception:           February 9, 2011  5-7 pm

If you make it to the show or the reception call or write to me – I want to hear ALL about it!  I haven’t the moola for a jaunt to New York but I am tickled pink that this little bugger has a debut in the big city.

  Finally a few picture peeks of the finished sculptures at the Devil Woman Saloon for you to see.  I will be frank.  Once we stuffed these buggers into their allotted corners, they simply “died” in the dark.  The post-placement moment was seriously and painfully anti-climatic and a far cry from the expected “TA DA!!!”

Yes my client was there.  Brenda seemed happy and excited but then she is a super nice person (that’s an understatement) and could very well have been just being kind.  I grabbed her teeny tiny long haired teacup chiwawa Cami and bolted to the ranch warehouse in search of some lights.  With Cami tucked in the crook of my arm, I loaded up with clamp lights and extension cords, crossed the ranch to the Saloon and attempted to “show” the sculptures with a bit of hard harsh light illumination.

Better.  At least Brenda could get a bit of an idea but the sculptures were far from “finished” and not worth applauding.  The delivery day was a confusing gamut of emotions.  Honestly I felt as if I had crossed valleys, climbed peaks, thrashed my way through thick jungles, inhaled buckets of sawdust and sat my tuckered scratched and famished body down eagerly to a deliciously prepared full five course dinner at a table set with white linen and one of those silver shiny cover thingees over my plate lifted with a polished flair by a decked-out butler and there…. Before my ravenous eyes and centered on my fine china plate….lay… (drum roll please) …a little smelly dog poo.

Ok.  The sculptures are a far cry from dog poo.  They might even be GRAND without upstaging their surroundings as planned but first they must be lit properly.  The excessive emotions could simply be chalked up to: a) being a passionate artist b) being an emotional girl c) hormones d) the culmination of expectation after a rather challenging journey.  I am guessing all of the above played into an unsettled feeling that left me cranky (poor Paul) and far from satisfied.  We sat down in the saloon and shared a few shots in “celebration” but that was a bit like planting a flag before reaching the summit: anti-climatic.  The next day Paul and I scampered to the nearest city in search of lights.  We scoured lighting shops, landscape warehouses, Lowe’s and Home Depot in the hopes we would not have to return to the Devil Woman Saloon empty-handed but the specialized lighting we need is not something places keep in stock.  We had to order the lights.  I spent another day putting the final parts and pieces together (whip, crystals, trident, etc.)  We screwed a few little $8.00 desk lights on top of the sculptures so I wouldn’t have to leave Texas with them totally in the dark.  I felt better and we snapped a few photos. 

The “Devil Woman Saloon” sculptures have been tangled up in a long road of unexpected twists and turns.  We launched the project nearly 18 months ago believing I could whip these buggers out in a few months time but I blew the deadline by one year(a first for me)  But then last year was full of challenging “firsts” and unexpected painful endings.   I have taken more-than-one deep breath, calmed down, accepted the lighting delay and returned to Montana.  The “Devil Woman Sculptures” are in place.  The proper lighting and professional photos will happen next month.  Thank goodness Brenda has such a big heart and faith in me. 

Visit my YouTube channel for project videos

COCK A DOODLE DOO!!!  The roosters clucked a cheery loud hello this morning in the moonlight when I walked to the ranch office with a cup of tea and my computer.  Yesterday they just clucked a bit and helped guide my way through the pre-dawn fog in the wet heavy darkness.  I guess the chickens appreciate moonlight and moon shadows too since they up earlier and cheerier today.  I love the moderate temperature, the dank earthy smells, and the clucking and carrying on.  Right now a covey of ducks are swimming in a big puddle right outside the office door and from the sounds of it – they are having quite the gossip session!

Ranch sounds and smells put a grin on my face and a bit of a song in my heart – a different song than home, where everything around my cabin is wild.  Nothing is cultivated (another song and reason to grin).  I didn’t grow up on a ranch or a farm but as a young child I always felt a bit of romantic longing for the lifestyle.

I like being up before anyone else.  Quiet time.  Meditation time.  Yoga and a cup of tea time.  But I must admit having barnyard feathered friends clucking and quacking away hypes up the expectation of sunrise like musicians tuning their instruments builds the pre-performance energy.  The silly little critters seem to be hell-bent on waking up a sleepy headed, blurry-eyed sun – just their clattery insistence oddly enough elicits a rather domesticated feeling of family.

So I settled in to sip tea and write when my phone rang.  Paul had just woken up, turned on the TV (something we don’t have at my home) when he noticed a show called, “Woodsculpting.”  He thought it might be of interest to me so while he waited for his coffee he settled in to watch the show and there I was!   The show was about me - a whole show – at 6 a.m. in Texas.  So I crossed the ranch yard again, roosters crowing, ducks quacking, Hobo the German Sheppard barking and a cup of tea in my hand to watch the show.  Filmed years ago for DIY – I have never actually watched the episode on TV – let alone a gigantic BIG plasma screen TV in a saloon where I had just installed a few big sculptures.

Oh yeah!  THAT!!!  The sculpture installation…!!  Yesterday was a big day.  Heavy mesquite logs-turned-into-sculptures were unloaded outside and set up inside the Devil Woman Saloon.  We used a John Deer tractor and broke a Genie Lift but luckily no injuries to people or the art occurred.  You’ll have to wait for the final pictures since today I will be putting the finishing touches on the sculptures (trident, Swarovski crystals, whip and lights):

 

 

I love the fact that Zaydee made it into the feature article written by Donna Healy of the Billings Gazette!  Many of you knew Shiva, the special dog who shared a precious chunk of my life with me.  Shiva used to always upstage me whenever photographers showed up.  A natural model and total ham for the camera, Shiva would glean the lime-light whenever it so much as glanced my direction – just look at the past articles and TV spots on my Artist Page. Zaydee is a whole other cookie.  Horribly abused before being rescued by a sweet Montana couple, Zaydee showed up in my life as a bit of a basket case.  She’s come a LONG way!!  No longer scared of her own shadow - much less the power tools in my studio – she relaxes and hangs out with me while I work.  She barks to let me know if someone is around (usually I have ear plugs in and am oblivious).  Zaydee has warmed up to the camera – or at least relaxed enough that Bob Zellar from the Billings Gazette captured this photo of her napping in the mesquite sawdust.  The whole article along with a short video can be viewed on the Billings Gazette website (yes – Zaydee is in the video too!!!) 

 

I am going to drop off two Works on Paper at Printing for Less for a fundraiser.  The e-mail from a friend of mine explained:

“There's a fundraiser at my work place for a coworker's wife (Carrie Kling) who has been sick for years. She has reflex sympathetic dystrophy.  It is a disease of the central nervous system that causes intense pain. She needs to get another treatment in Tampa, FL which their insurance doesn’t cover and they have tapped out the financial resources from family, friends and personal savings for the first two treatments that she received.”

My sweet little town has a number of frame shops – all of which generously often donate framing of the piece.  The believe the most one of my Works on Paper has raised in a fundraiser auction is $300.00 – that was for a museum if I remember right – not a lot but little bits add up.  Always happy to help, the tables were turned last year after my own surgery.  Paul Meyer from Vern’s Wood Goods approached me with the idea of a fundraiser – for me.  Boy did that stir some emotion and push my comfort zone!!  What a gift!!!  The fundraiser (of course) was a gift but more than that – the opportunity to step fully into humility and embrace receiving was an opportunity to grow.  Full of hesitation, I tugged on the uncomfortable tight-fitting, breath-constricting role of receiver and found that it quickly conformed and fit comfortably with the added bonus of WARM FUZZIES.  Paul Meyer and I have never met but check out this quote from the fundraiser idea e-mail he approached me with:

“If you want to carry this burden on your own and spare your community the privilege and rewarding pleasure of supporting you, well, you will miss out on one of life's great treasures, and one of the benefits of being a free spirit.  Don't stop being a free spirit NOW for crying out loud!”

He nailed me.  He compassionately strummed exactly those notes which screamed loudest when I found myself struggling to accept.  Paul Meyer gave me the opportunity to grow and feel.  What a blessing.  I don’t know Carrie Kling but my heart hurts for the challenge of dystrophy and the money challenges which add insult to injury at a time of struggle in her life.  Have you struggled with the role of receiving?

Sub zero temps put a halt to progress this week until yesterday when the boys were able to nearly finish the clearstory!!  The purpose of the clearstory it to allow ambient light into my studio (the windows haven’t been cut yet- they will be much bigger than the picture shows).  The BIG bonus of this particular clearstory is the nap room which will be in the back.  YUP!!  Thanks to Paul’s brainstorm, the nap room will sit up there like an observatory – perfect place to close my peepers or blow kisses to the sky!!!

 

I don’t believe that has ever happened to me before.  But then many things happened during this past year that never happened to me before.

I lost socks.

Seriously I don’t believe I have ever lost a sock in my life…a pair of stockings or two but never a sock.  Stockings are a given because stockings are uncomfortable, unnatural, inevitably itchy and confining.  So off they come at any opportune or inopportune moment.  But a sock?!  Never.  Now I have several lonesome mis-matches loitering at my cabin and Paul’s house.  He and the kids have a gazillion mismatched socks.  I used to raise my eyebrows and shake my head at the big basket of single socks mostly because Paul had socks in there but now I do too.  I inherited a huge pile of mismatched socks when I opened my heart to this family, which is no big deal and kind of sweet but I never expected to join the quandary of lonesome socks! 

I also dented my truck.  Twice.  Something I have never done during decades of driving but two times I backed into unseen obstacles last year.  I still shake my head, shrug my shoulders, and grimace when I see those big dents.  Dang.  I am chocking it up to last year.  By anyone’s definition, last year was exceptionally challenging and I have the dents to prove it.

BUT – I have digressed since the purpose of this post is to introduce the NEW bronze.  I glanced at my blog this morning and realized I’ve forgotten to post a picture of “Munch” even though the photos have existed since before Christmas.  Lordy.

 

“MUNCH” limited edition of 19

Look back two posts and you will see this bugger in its original state of wood.  I love how the chisel marks and even the wood grain are captured in bronze.  We went a few rounds at the foundry getting the patina just right.  Of course the patina process was happening the same time I was working around the clock to finish the Devil Woman Saloon sculptures AND move out of the space…what a whirlwind!  Here is another view of the finished piece:

Eighteen out of nineteen SOLD before the sculpture was officially launched on my site last week.  Patron Members always get the inside scoop and first chance at new art and this time they snatched ‘em up!!  I don’t blame them.  I would like to keep #19 myself but for now the bugger is for sale on my site.  A warm content feeling mixed with a bit of awe wraps my heart when sculptures find enthusiastic loving homes. 

Sneak peak of a recently completed carving taken just outside the foundry where it was molded and cast into bronze. The new edition titled “Munch” features a momma and baby bunny stuffing themselves with cabbage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I began the carving in Cody Wyoming while attending the “Women Who Design the West show.” We were asked to bring something to demonstrate…thus a new little piece began in September.  Last month I swept up the little pile of woodchips and delivered a finished carving to the foundry. 

“Munch” will be cast in an edition of 19 - which means only 19 of these cute little buggers will ever be made. Photos of the finished bronze will be posted this week.  Stay tuned...

 

WAHOOOOOO!!!!

Post-trip bliss had me beginning to believe that the drama in my world might be simmering down enough to have more of a balanced routine in my life. More time for friends, outdoor excursions, and the exciting conclusion of a large sculpture project done during reasonable hours at the studio…just in time for the holidays with Paul, my mom, and the kids.

Alas – the very morning this thought ambled longingly through my mind, I arrived at the studio and found a nasty eviction notice taped to the door. Long story but the short version is simply that the sweet folks who own the building have given it up in a painful hostage takeover forced by their new son-in-law. He’s an unpleasant 3-time felon thug who has not responded to our reasonable requests to rent the space for a few more months. Seems he would rather have the worn out shell-of-a-building sit vacant just as it did for four years before the three of us gals moved in. Panic. Deep breaths.  None of us want to be in a space with that kind of energy threatening us. So I’ve begun once again to pull double shifts and pop vitamin C to build up for the triple shifts it’ll take to finish the Devil Woman Saloon sculptures, pack and deliver a 5-piece large sculpture exhibition, and gather up all my studio stuff for storage. I have a week and a half. Paul will be gone to Carson City all of next week attending the funeral of his close childhood friend. Yesterday a girlfriend jumped in with lunch, did the grocery shopping for my mom, and took the girls to mom’s for cookie baking to give me more much-needed precious focused studio time. Kirston has found another space. We’re helping Stacey find something affordable. The walls are going up at my very own soon-to-be realized studio on the mountain. I’ve a zillion ideas for spending my studio-less time but right now I am in survival mode, cranking out piles of woodchips and sawdust and eating LOTS of cookies and chocolate.