You Say It's Your Birthday...

yes...and the weather was just amazing...took my new little lumix out and shot photos all day - 276 in all - including the lighthouse on my banner for this month...here's just a few of them.

(and a special thanks for the birthday wishes from my friends here who are also on facebook who got a slightly larger slice of my shots today...)

(added more to my flickr page this morning of the 7th)

Just a bit more

to finish this hand...still haven't decided how it will work or where but there's no big rush as we have almost 2 months before the next bead journal project starts.

Day of the Dead

I spent this beautiful sunny day thinking about dear friends and family who have passed on...and giving thanks for their presence in my life.

Colors

This month I'm going to focus even more on putting together colors that are out of my "comfort zone" in all my pieces...
My "palette" for this week and one of the first experiments in colors...

Trick or Treat?

Is blogger just playing tricks or is this s l o w d o w n supposed to be a treat? In any case, I give up for the night...will be back when I can get changes made and posts posted in real time!

Natural Light

It does make a difference!

Still Hands

Still working on the hand idea...the nailheads are a wonderful green iris in two sizes but I can't get the light to show them...maybe tomorrow it will be overcast enough.

Rainbow

Rainbow colors on this bracelet-to-be as soon as I figure out how I want to finish it...I have several ideas so it's "just" a matter of making a decision...

Sumi Deux

Just a photo to share today...I've been noodling around with some book ideas but don't have anything visible to show yet...
I'm a day late on photo thursday...but she is a "beauty" isn't she (do I sound like a proud mama or what, lol)...

New Banner, New Gallery

I think I'm going to change my banner monthly....it's fun to figure out what works best for each month...this one is in honor of the upcoming El Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead as well as the usual Halloween celebration.
I've now got my work in the three galleries I wanted to put it in; the 9th Street Gallery here in Newport, Touchstone Gallery in Yachats (a small coastal village about 25 miles south on Hwy 101) and the River Gallery in Independence, which is a small town in the valley, not far from I5, our major north/south freeway through Oregon. The only other venue for my work is my etsy shop...just in case you can't make it to Oregon for your holiday gift shopping, lol!
Still working on the prototype for the next bead journal project....I hear (from pam, our wonderful registration fairy) that we've got almost 100 folks signed up already! Wow...can't wait to see how many we end up with by the December 15th deadline!

Sumi in October

I'm thinking of doing a series of sumi photos...now that I've got my three day of the dead postcards done for the fiber art traders group.

October

O, here comes October...cool mornings and nights with some lovely sunny afternoons and early evenings. I saw the moon come up last night over the firs that cover our hills here in the park and I woke up early this morning and watched it go down from our bedroom window. Now I'm waiting for the sun to come up over the firs...since they're on a hill above us, the sky gets light long before my little studio window actually sees any rays. But it looks like another week of indian summer for us...

Studio Tour

A 360 degree view of my studio...I work in beads and fiber, mostly mixed media and you can see my work on my flickr site...

Bead Journal Project 2010

Woohoo! Registration is open for the next BJP which starts in January 2010 (so you have lots of time to decide what form your journal will take!) and I can't recommend it enough! It's fun, it's inspirational, it's the opportunity to meet some of the finest and most enthusiastic and sharing/caring beaders in the world! How can you resist?

Registration is open until December 15, but I'd register early...I know a couple of times folks have missed the deadline and got seriously bummed out, ya know! (Not that they couldn't play along on their own, but it's so neat to be able to post your work and see all the wonderful comments it gets!)

Go HERE for more information/registration and I do hope you'll decide to play along!

Mixed Up

I can't decide whether to make more earrings or get started on the prototype for the next bead journal project, so I'm doing both. A little peyote and herringbone and then a bit of bead embroidery...the only thing I'm not doing at the moment is right angle weave and now that I've said that, I'll probably find a RAW project I must start immediately, LOL!

Virtual Studio Tour

Quilting Arts and Cloth/Paper/Scissors is putting out a new studios issue this fall and also hosting virtual studio tours of artists's studios. This looked like fun and I do love to see other artists' studios so I'll be participating on the 3rd of October along with a zillion other artists...boy, do I know what I'm going to be doing next week...good thing it's supposed to rain all week, lol!
Anyway, here's the link if you want to play or just for more info?

Mizz Sumi Approves

of our new little settee (don't you like that better than "loveseat"...I sure do!) She's captured the back and oliver gets the whole seat after I've gone to bed or half if I'm still on it, lol!

Still Earrings...

I'm still working on earrings...will save the necklaces/pendants for next month.

Today...

is the love of my life's 70th birthday...I think he's just a tiny bit amazed to have lived this long since most of his family died at much younger ages. I thought about writing a post about him, but I just can not find the words to express how wonderful I believe he is and how much he means to me, so I'll just post a photo a friend of ours took at his 65th birthday party...
His birthday wishes? A new shirt and a load of barkdust...how could you not love such a guy?

Road Trip

The weather was so perfect yesterday we took a short roadtrip down the coast to florence. I think it's one of the most beautiful drives in the world and we hadn't done it all summer. I wanted to take some photos from the top of cape perpetua and the bridge in florence. Got the cape perpetua ones (and this one I'm using for my wallpaper now) but they were working on the bridge, so it wasn't a good time to photograph it.
Today is gallery sitting and another pair of earrings or pendant this afternoon....it's raining so we won't have to water the garden and tomorrow the sunny weather is scheduled to return, I hope!
Photos are from cape perpetua looking south and further down the highway, a view looking south towards florence and a little hidden walkway in florence that felt so cool and serene.

Triangles

I have to say, of all the shapes in diane fitzgerald's book, I love the triangles the most. Three has always been a rather special number to me, coming from a family of three and being a family of three...and I just like the balanced, yet yearning upward feel of the triangle.
I could not figure out how to hang the pendant until I thought about stringing some of the delicas on softflex, then crimping it and add a crimp cover, which looks like a tiny silver bead. I wanted to keep it affordable and fun at the same time and I hope I've succeeded. I do love this color combo too and I'm thinking I'll have to make another set like this just for me.

Hands

I've used hands in my art work for many years...some drawn, some painted, some collaged and then again in my bead and fiber work. My first series was 13 hand portraits done using the outlines of bead artist friends' hands. Each person graciously outlined their non-dominant hand for me and I took the outlines, reduced them by 50% and using the reduction as a pattern, traced each hand on different fabric and then beaded each hand as a "portrait" of each individual artist. You can see this series on my flickr site under, A Beader's Dozen set.

When I started the bjp for 08/09 my focus was in making the pieces larger and more 3-D than last year, but a few hands did show up in some spring and summer months.

For the last few weeks I've been pondering next year's bjp and what my focus will be. I had vaguely decided I wanted there to be more beading than last years, but I also wanted to go smaller this year, since I am always drawn to the tiny and miniature. I thought about doing a shaped piece instead of the rectangles I've done the last two years and considered houses, birds and hands.

This morning the image of two hands, palm to palm, came to mind and I was wondering about doing 12 hand-shaped books with hand covers but I don't think I've got 12 books in me. Next I wondered about resizing the hands and layering them, so I took my hand and put it palm down on my copy machine and made a copy of my right palm. That was interesting but a bit too large to bead, so I made two smaller copies and cut them all out to use as pattern pieces. I rummaged through some older fabric that already had stabelizer ironed on and cut out the three hands in three different fabrics and layered them.

So that's how far I've gotten this morning.

I'm still considering a book in there somewhere (I loved robin's books about her mom and dad that she incorporated into two of her bjp pieces) but I'm thinking of maybe just having the smallest hand slide aside to reveal a line or two of poetry? Maybe I can attach it with an eyelet to the next size and that would allow it to swing up?
So, I'll see what I can do this week with the three hands I've cut out. This can be my artist's proof or template, if you will.

And then we'll see if I'm still excited about this idea in january, lol!

Beads and Beach

I was gallery sitting this afternoon and got some photos of the beach...love the light on the waves...and some beading done...Not too sure what I'm doing with the beaded beads...maybe a bracelet or hung on a chain.

Bay and Bridge

I'm having a fasting ultrasound this morning, so I took an extra long walk and found myself at the top hill of our neighboring RV park...what a view they have! I wonder if we could ever leave our little doublewide and garden and trade it for an RV and that view? Maybe if the day comes when the garden is too much for chuck to handle, we'll think about that move...

Another BJP Year Finished

It just all came together this morning...I call it, Goodbye/Hello to Turtle Island.


World on a String
is a great 5 part documentary on the history of beads...our library ordered it on my recommendation and they just love it...maybe your library would like to have a copy too?

More Sun

We're still seeing sun here, at least in the afternoons, so I've been spending an occasional hour or two out by the island...some beading...some photography...some meditation. It's a good spot for all of those activities. A seal was fishing by my spot and I could hear him breathing when he came up for air...didn't have the lumix with me though, so I didn't get a close-up.
Got some more earrings done...and a bit further on the bjp.
And a photo of the fog coming in the bay yesterday afternoon.

New Beginnings

It's interesting that this years bead journal ended in august since september has always felt like the beginning of the year to me...probably because I was one of the lucky few who loved going to school and did not mourn the passing of summer.
So today is like the first day of autumn for me...even though the summer sun is still around during the day, it is beginning to get cooler at night...and I'm determined to greet each day, whether it's sunny or misty or wet, with an equal amount of gratitude.
I love the Basho quote I've put on the top of my new header...it's one of the main reasons I started the 40-part Basho series I finished last year (you can see them all on my Flickr site).


I may not be able to wander very far physically, but my spirit is the eternal traveler.

Nope...

not done and it's looking like it may take a while, as I feel it's going to take a lot more beading before it's finished...but then, I've got 4 months, lol!

Still Working on BJP

I'm going to be working on my last bjp for this year today and tomorrow...might finish it or not...

Now I'm wondering what bead embroidery series or challenge I can do between now and january when the next bjp starts!

Anyone else have any plans for "filling in" the next 4 months?

More Earrings

These are from an old pattern I did years ago, but the earring design is new...I sure wish I could figure out how to handle all the light flashing off the beads in my photography!

New Series

I've been working steadily on the new jewelry series...mostly earrings and I think I'll probably make another couple bracelets too...all done with delica beads (japanese cylinder beads) since their precision suits the patterns. I also made a pendant with bail using some czech 22 kt. finish seed beads...creates an entirely different look which I don't like as much as the delica-look.

Between some good (read, sunny) weather and a brief return to caffeine (I've been staying away from it), I'm really feeling productive again!

Beading by the river

I love to drive up our river road about 5 miles to this little roadside shaded spot and bead. I park the van and then move into the back seat while keeping the sliding door open and start beading...every once in a while I look up and all this blue water and the little "island" (you can only get to it by boat ) with it's house gives me such a sense of peace and serenity...I think it shows in the beadwork too.

Shaped Beadwork

The shapes are from diane fitzgerald's new book...the bracelet and earrings are my design. I have a couple of galleries to show them to but if they're both overstocked on jewelry, I'll put them in my Etsy shop.

Beads and Ships

From my walk this morning...the NOAA ship leaving our bay.
Some more pieces and beads to go on the august bjp.
One possible hand I'll be beading for the fiber art traders group I've joined on yahoo.
I'm thinking of doing some beachcombing this afternooon...low tide is around 3pm, but it's not a very low tide so I may wait until friday when we have a minus tide in the early morning.

Boats and Blooms

A few photos from my walk this morning plus a shot of the boat shortly before they rescued her.

Abalone

I'm working on the abalone button...lots of freshwater pearls too and the new metallic finish charlottes...they're just lovely to work with.

Surprise

When I went to work yesterday afternoon I couldn't find a place to park...almost the whole parking lot in front of the visual arts center was closed off for emergency vehicles due to a fishing boat coming aground on nye beach. And a 50 foot boat with 1600 gallons of diesel fuel is a bit heavy and hard to move! Luckily, they were able to offload the diesel fuel, so an environmental catastrophe was averted, but it's going to be interesting to watch this afternoon to see if they can get her back afloat and off the beach...hey, never a dull moment in nye beach!

added on thursday...she's off the beach and back in the harbor for now...

Bizzy

It's been quite a few days...between the pow wow on friday, beaders' gathering and lunch on saturday, short visit from son & girlfriend on sunday, wonderful surprise visit from friends on monday along with blueberry picking in the morning...we've been having fun!
I also managed to get a few pieces beaded for a bracelet and I'm working on another abalone piece this afternoon...I'm hoping I've turned a corner here and can get back to getting at least a bit of beading done every day again, as I used to!
I also got two pairs of earrings done this last week...I collect hands and they often end up in my own earrings and this week I found some metal ones in silver and copper I liked and a couple of stone ones that are unlike any I've seen before...brings my hand earring collection up to around 9 pair, I think...and an added good note-heard our friend who had major surgery will be going home in a day or two...absolutely amazing! One week and he's home again...ain't modern medicine grand!

August BJP

One of the pieces of abalone I bought at the pow wow has found it's way into this month's bjp, along with some of the new metallic charlottes....my, they are pretty! Here's a photo of the ones I bought...a finished triangle pendant from diane fitzgeralds new book using some 22kt.-finish beads from the pow wow along with some vintage nailheads and a close up of the abalone piece...I love the organic shape of this piece.
I haven't taken a lot of landscapes this summer, but this one of the bay at sunset is one I managed to do.

Siletz Pow Wow

Here are a couple of photos I took a few years ago at the pow wow...this year isn't as sunny, or at least it wasn't today!

Last BJP of this year....

wow...time surely flies! I do have my bjp ready to work on, but haven't even thought of where to begin with the beadwork...
I did find a great shaped key and had a crystal that just fit in it....I'm living with it for a while before deciding how to hang it...
And tomorrow is our annual bead buying trip to our local pow wow...I've been going for almost 14 years with a group of friends to buy most of the charlottes I use during the year and some unusual abalone pieces...although this year I won't be buying much, but the trip itself is always a treat...no drums or dancing...that starts tomorrow night.

River Road

Went to visit a friend in the valley yesterday and took him this leather bracelet I made...not my usual, but I liked the cicada (for long life) and as he's having major surgery tomorrow, it seemed timely.
On our way home we took the long way...about 20 miles from the coast we headed up into the hills on some logging roads and had some fun with our county map...no GPS for us, lol!
Here's a shot of the alsea river yesterday afternoon, then a view of one of the interior valleys of the coast range and our van sitting up on a ridge road, just before heading west...into the darn overcast...but at least we got our fill of sun and heat in the valley!

July BJP

I keep trying to add something else to this month's piece but nothing is working so I think it's done, lol!
This month I was going for earth...being grounded...our lovely bamboo...and somehow the buddha's eyes got in there too.

Bead Fair and Friends

I had a great time today at the bead fair...got to see old friends I haven't seen in a while and had the pleasure of meeting kathy of beady zoo and her darling dog, rosie. Kathy also surprised me with an incredibly thoughtful gift of varigated perle cotton, a gorgeous hand dyed silk ribbon from Mindy's in eugene wrapped in a piece of beautiful batik cotton....thanks so much kathy! I know you'll be seeing something of your gift in this month's bjp...as soon as I got it home it started talking to me! I sure wish I'd had more time to chat and it would have been fun if lisa had been able to join us....maybe we can plan a getogether later in the year?

Photoshop and Bead Fair

Tory of Copper Crow Studio has been showing some of her photos after photoshopping them and seeing her work reminded me of how much fun I used to have with photoshop filters, so I took one of my sumi photos and did a little playing around...and it is still fun!
Also, Kathy of Beady Zoo asked about our local bead festival this weekend, so here is the text from the article our local paper wrote...for educational and informational purposes only, please.

It's supposed to be terribly hot in the valley this weekend, and we're always much cooler (sometimes too much so!) but I still expect a good turnout for this annual event that I enjoy so much...and you can see the Pink Bus in the background....it's always nice to see them at the fair.



They've got the BEADS
Colorful beads and jewels come ashore during Nye Beach festival

By Monique Cohen Of the News-Times
Published: July 17th, 2009, News Times, Page 9

Eighteen vendors from around the Northwest will showcase beads of all shapes and sizes at the Nye Beach Bead Festival next weekend - July 25 and 26. Linda Neigebauer, owner of Nye Cottage Beads and festival organizer, shows several pieces of Kingman turquoise mined from Kingman, Arizona. (Photos by Monique Cohen)
Bead lovers, get ready to revel in the multitude of colorful beads and jewelry for sale at the Nye Beach Bead Festival next Saturday and Sunday - July 25 and 26 - at Nye Cottage Beads in Newport.
About 18 vendors, most from Oregon, will be at the festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day in the Nye Cottage Beads parking lot and shop at 208 NW Coast St. in Nye Beach.
Linda Neigebauer, festival organizer and owner of Nye Cottage Beads, recently returned from a buying trip in the Czech Republic and is awaiting delivery of 1,000 pounds of beads. She saw the bead-making process firsthand, with visits to bead, button and glass factories.
"It's an amazing process for making beads. There were 11 bead store owners who went in one group, so we bought over 10,000 pounds of beads," said Neigebauer. "It amazes me that our beads are as inexpensive as they are after seeing the process they go through. It's so many steps."
Festival vendors will showcase glass beads - Japanese, Czech and vintage - as well as jewelry and turquoise and semi precious beads. Tom and Elisabeth Freeland, formerly of Waldport, are bringing opal, turquoise, citrine and amethyst, along with handcrafted rings, bracelets and pendants.
Mussa, from Washington, will bring African trade beads - new and ancient - both days of the festival.
Artist Nancie Miller will feature dichroic pendants made from fused glass, and Indigo Birdwell of Otis will bring ethnic beads, bone carvings and handblown vintage beads.
Debbie Jimmerson of Lincoln City has a selection of Athabascan inspired beaded pins, earrings, barrettes and purses. David Eslinger , with Nature's Art, will have handmade jewelry, crystals and fossils.
In addition to beads and jewelry, Neigebauer will sell tie-dyed doggie T-shirts for $16 to $20 in various sizes as a fundraiser for Friends of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter . Shirts are tie-dyed by Newport Farmers' Market vendor Circle Tie-Dye , and proceeds are earmarked for FOLCAS.
In the shop, Neigebauer sells new and vintage beads, semi-precious beads and beading supplies. She has a selection of items from several Fair Trade companies, such as jewelry from Zulugrass, Kazuri beads from Nairobi , and weaving from Guatemala. She offers beading classes for beginning beaders, as well as those who want to learn how to knot between beads, and on and off-loom weaving .
Local bead artist Jeannie Bard created the festival, which she named Many Facets of Beads. When Neigebauer inherited the festival six years ago, she renamed it Nye Beach Bead Festival.
For more information about the Nye Beach Bead Festival, contact Neigebauer at 265-6262 .

July BJP

I'm still working on the july bjp...it's been a bit of a slow go which is fine...I think I'm going to name it Mother Nature...
I've also been working on some samples of things you can do with flatbacks...I've got a number of pairs of these gorgeous vintage german art glass pieces that I bought unused on ebay a few years ago and I'm going to be selling them at a local bead fair here in newport this weekend...thought a few examples of what can be done with them might help the sales...also gave me the opportunity to try out a few beaded bezels, both with bead embroidery and using just netting or peyote stitches...the different bezels seem to give each piece a different look.
I'm also doing a bead embroidered piece for a friend but won't be able to show it here until it's finished and sent to her...
Oh...and my knee is getting better but I'm still walking with a cane...seems I managed to put a small tear in my miniscus...small muscle that acts as shock absorber on the knee....but another week and I should be fine...I hope!

Morning Fog

The sun was lovely this morning coming through the fog and trees...and then it will clear for the afternoon. We are so lucky in living on the bay side of newport...quite often the summer fog (drawn in by extreme heat in the willamette valley) covers the beaches but stops at the bridge so the bay and harbor are sunny.
I seem to have sprained a tendon in my knee so I'll be home a lot for the next couple of weeks (all this to be confirmed by the doc this morning, but it seems to be what the nurse was telling me last night)....so I'm planning on doing some more garden shots and lots more beadwork. I've also been doing a bit of drawing for the first time in months and of course, I'm getting some reading done too....

Yes and No

I made two pieces this week...one works for me and one doesn't...but it's good to be working again.

Progression

I got a bit further in my bjp...added a small piece of driftwood with some of my favorite yarn wrapped around it and also took a trip to the valley, across the coast range, to find some sun. Found it...yippee...and we took the scenic route back home, along the alsea river, which is one of my all time favorites too.
Also found a couple of skeins of perle cotton in the variagated colors I've been looking for...they're size 5 instead of 8, but I can adjust, I'm sure, lol!

It was a good day...

More July BJP

I was gifted with this amazing spider and fly button last month and it seemed just perfect for my earth page...finding beads to go with it has been hard though, so it's sitting there waiting for more inspiration...but you all know how that goes, don't you, lol!