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
sheetrock and eaglemount warm fuzzies
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.
Each day in the studio brings exciting changes - Calypso Blue in the bathroom complete with a vanity which I stained deep purple, doors, windows, trim, etc. More pictures soon…
let the finishing begin!!!
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 dowhatever 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.
pick of the week - brrrrrr!
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.
from puppies to powder!
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 g
roceries 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 hear my studio calling...
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?
Read moreHappy Valentine's Day!
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!
Pick of the Week
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.
Read moreWhy Climb Ice?! (has more to do with my art than you think)
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.
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Ice is Nice
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...
Read morePick of the Week
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 - humming, sipping, and sniffing
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 6th grade girl’s basketball team had a tournament at Gallatin Gateway Friday night. They lost their 2nd 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 p
Saturday night we had a pajama party with Mom. Sa
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.
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Windows and Pipes
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!
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Pick of the Week
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:
Click here to purchase "Rizzo"
Read moreNew York Debut of the Frog Bronze!
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.
Read moreDevil Woman Saloon - peek at the sculptures
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
Up before the chickens
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):
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Twenty Five Photos in Billings Gazette Feature
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!!!)
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Two Little Artworks for a good cause
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?
Read moreClearstory - oh glory!!
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!!!
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