FALL COLORS

Cooler weather is out there,  it is coming,  and with it the beautiful colors of autumn.  Maple leaves,  oak leaves and all the fall harvest themes.  Squirrels harvesting their acorns for winter storage, scarecrows and rich red and orange flowers.

Colorful fall leaf necklaces and earrings will be featured in my booth at the West Michigan Potters Guild Fall Show next month. November 7&8  in Grand Rapids Michigan.

And other fall themed items like scare crows and squirrels gathering acorns, and fall daisies.

Check out more information about the show at:  https://www.facebook.com/WMPottersGuild/

THE POTTERS GUILD SPRING SHOW

 I had a good day Saturday at the West Michigan Potters Guild  Spring Show in spite of the fact that my lights did not work.  We  had good sales and talked with lots of happy people who were out enjoying the show.  After returning home the family fixit guy was able to find the problem with the lights and parts have been ordered.  They should be working again in time for the fall show in November.

This is a new picture of me in my booth this spring.

MY BOOTH for the SPRING SHOW SATURDAY APRIL 26

Here is a photo of my booth that we took several years ago.  I am looking forward to doing the Potters Guild Spring Show again after not being able to do it for a few years.

For information about that show,  please go to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WMPottersGuild/

WEST MICHIGAN POTTERS GUILD SHOW IS APRIL 26

 

Here is the postcard that the guild sent out about our show.  It has the place, date, and times of the show that is coming up the Saturday after Easter this year.   I will be at the show and look forward to seeing everyone again.

For information about that show,  please go to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WMPottersGuild/

SPRING SHOW IS COMING

 

It is time to start thinking about the West Michigan  Potters Guild Show now that I have applied for a booth and have a space.  It has been several years since I was able to do art fairs and I am happy to be back.   These are some of the pins and pendants that I will have in the show this spring.

April 26 is a few weeks away, but I have already found my tables and shelves,  and taken stock of my inventory.   Earring spinners have been found,  and many other display items as well.  I should be ready to go the weekend after Easter.

For information about that show,  please go to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WMPottersGuild/

WINTER GARDENING

 

I love the way the sun shines so far into my sunroom in the winter.  When it is too cold and snowy outside I can enjoy my indoor garden.   The Christmas Cactus's are blooming and the ferns are feathery and green.

I am reminded of the Fern Fossils line of Buttons and Jewelry that I started making several years ago.

The Japanese  Painted Ferns in my garden make perfect fern patterns in the soft clay when they are pressed into it.  

Here are some of the pieces I made.

I will be showing similar pieces at the West Michigan Potters Guild Spring Show in April

For information about that show,  please go to their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/WMPottersGuild/

PAINTING OF MILHAM PARK SLEDDING HILL

 

For my second painting I chose a photo I took several years ago at the Milham Park sledding hill in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  I have fond memories of sledding there as a child.   I hope they still allow sledding,  it is a golf course.  The nice thing about this hill is that it gradually gets steeper at one end and fades out to a very gentle slope at the other,  so all ages and skill levels can enjoy it from two year olds to dare devil teenage boys.

For a few years right after college,  I spent some time in Texas and got into a conversation with a co-worker about snow at Christmas.   He was very concerned about the snow and asked with a worried tone, "How do the kids ride their new Christmas bikes?"   I was stunned.  I had never thought about bikes for Christmas and replied, "You don't get bikes for Christmas!"    Then it was his turn to be shocked.  No bikes for Christmas?   What do they get?  I quickly replied,  "We get sleds and ice skates!"   Of course, what did he think?  It was a clash of cultures.  I don't think he had ever been north of the Mason-Dixon.

Another thing he had probably never done.    Make snowmen.........

• See more of my photos at:      https://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

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WINTER SUNRISE BREAKFAST

 

The sky was ablaze with color one morning as the sun neared the horizon.  I grabbed my camera and ran out to capture the sunrise.  After taking several photos, I realized I had taken a picture of a squirrel having his breakfast up in this tree.  He is sitting there in a crotch of the branches silhouetted against the pink and lavender sky eating an acorn or a walnut.  

Several years ago I made a series of squirrel pin/pendants for my fall collection of ceramic jewelry.  The squirrel is holding an acorn and I made acorn earrings to match.  I still have some and will probably put them out at the next West Michigan Potters Guild Fall Show.

• See more of my photos at:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/
• Find out when the next WMPG Show is at: https://www.facebook.com/WMPottersGuild/

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WINTER WALKABOUT

There are only two of them now, but at Christmas there were four.  

Sometime in January there were three and now there are only two.  Every day they make their  rounds of the neighborhood.  Many days I see them walking past my front door or they greet me on my way to the mailbox.   Other days I just see their foot prints in the fresh snow   They are noisy too sometimes.

Many years ago, I when I started making holiday themed ceramic jewelry, I made turkey pins and earrings.  I have sold out all of them,  but still have these examples in my own collection.

• See more of my photos at:

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

PAINTING AGAIN

PAINTING AGAIN

     Last October I finally began painting again after several years of thinking about it.  I never seemed to have the time, but seeing the bright orange and yellow trees out my window every morning inspired me to make time.   Some of my tubes of paint had dried up,  but there were enough to work with and my pastels were still in good shape.  I also found a couple small groups of colored pencils.   I began with a sketch and a watercolor(y) wash using acrylic paints to lay in the general color areas.  Then I intensified the colors with pastels and defined some edges and details with the colored pencils.  I had tried for years to capture sunlight in my paintings and finally I think I have been able to get the values right. This painting of trees in blazing autumn color is drenched in sunshine just like it appeared to me many mornings in October.  After going back and forth with pencils, pastels and acrylic paint to develop the colors, I put the finishing details on it and recently framed it.  The bright sparkles of sunlight on the water was impossible to capture so the white looks more like whitecaps which is at least appropriate.      I don't think it is possible to capture sparkles.  The contrasting values would be too great.  Maybe I will keep trying.

    As I looked at the beautiful autumn leaves in all their colors,  I remembered the ceramic leaf pin/pendants and earrings I have created for my Fall Collection of ceramic jewelry.  

• See more of my photos at:

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

WINTER SUNSHINE

 WINTER SUNSHINE

When the snow is white and fresh and the sun  is shining in a deep clear blue sky,  even January is beautiful.   This was the view out my front windows the other day.  The patterns of snow blown by the  wind on the ice and the blueness of the sky was breathtaking.  These kind of mornings are what inspires me to make snowflake pins and pendants in my ceramic jewelry collection for winter.

• These little snowflakes are pins that can also be worn as pendants. See more of my photos at:

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/36275350@N06/

  
  

  
  
  

  

  
  

  
  

                                                                                                

Buttons on Etsy


Giant Focal Buttons,  Button Sets for coats and sweaters and jackets,  and mini button sets.

NATURE IS FULL OF SURPRISES

NATURE IS FULL OF SURPRISES

              Heavy rains in June often end in rainbows in the evening.  I caught this one recently.

This  little peach iris appeared in my garden this year.  I don't remember having one this color before.
It was such a happy surprise.  I trade flowers with friends so often,  I wonder who gave me this one.

                                    Fragrant old fashioned iris from my grandmother's garden.

Holiday Shows November 2012

It is time to shop for Holiday gifts and what better place than these fine craft shows.

The West Michigan Potters Guild Annual Fall Show is Friday November 9 Noon -9pm and Saturday November 10 9am-4pm at The Cultural Center at St Nicholas  2250 East Paris SE Grand Rapids Michigan.  This is my booth from last year,  featuring my porcelain and stoneware jewelry and buttons.

I will be featuring similar items again this year including my limited edition Snowman figures and other snow scene items.

A new show for me this year will be at the Fair Grounds in Kalamazoo Michigan on Friday
November 16 and Saturday November 17.  I have joined a potters group that puts on this show along with a paper makers group,  and another artists group.  The Weavers Guild Show will also be going on at the other end of the building so come for a fun shopping trip for all your holiday gifts for friends, family and yourself too !

Come,  join us at one of these fine shows.
Alice

Foggy Morning

Foggy Morning

It was  misty moisty morning today when we took our walk.  There was enough fog that we couldn’t see across the lake and everything had a stillness that was wrapped in a cottony blanket.  It was a restful softness after two weeks of unseasonally warm 80 degree days. 

Limited Edition Snowmen 2011

Just out of the kiln in time for the West Michigan Potters Guild Annual Fall Show next weekend.
New snowmen sculptures and snowmen pin/pendants with this years distinctive scarf, a red and green plaid with gold.  This year I have added some stand alone trees,  snowy hills with trees, and deer/reindeer figures so you can arrange a scenic display on your mantle or dinner table.  This and much more will be in my booth at the show.
                 Friday Nov 11 noon to 9pm
                 Saturday Nov 12 9am to 4pm
           At the Cultural Center at St. Nicholas
           2250 East Paris SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan

A Summer in the Garden

This summer was spent in the flower garden.  After many busy years of art fairs the perennial beds had become overgrown and weedy.  This summer I decided to cut back on the art fairs and do some housekeeping in the garden, gathering fresh inspiration each day for new work I am starting to develop.  The days and weeks flew by and it is September already.  As the summer draws to a close, I realize that I  have not written a new blog in a long time.  With cooler mornings I will be at the computer more as I wait for the dew (and soon the frosts) to dry off before the final trimming and raking, and I will be spending more time indoors working on all those new inspirations.