Old Friend- Amazing Talent!

 I am a very fortunate fella!

Through a series of expertly negotiated one year contracts, I have managed to stay married to "She Who MUST Be Obeyed" or as she's commonly known- The Real Artist- for more than 52 years.

In addition, I have been able to stay in contact with several friends I have known for over 60 years! And while we live far apart, we communicate regularly- sometimes via video conferencing so we can confirm the others are actually still alive (heh,heh). I cherish those friendships.

One such friend, Cheryl, is an amazing photographer and dog lover. Recently, she revived her interest in pastel portraits- mostly of animals. Her work is stunning!

Use of high quality pastels and other materials along with her unique technique, enables Cheryl to capture the subtle variations in fur and hair that all animals have. Her skill in capturing the expressive eyes makes her portraits seem to come alive.

Years of photography and attention to detail enable her to capture not only a pet's likeness but also its personality.

Recently I decided to put Cheryl to the test. Our daughter Lisa loves all animals but especially cats. She volunteers with the animal shelter in Freeport, Grand Bahama and has proven to be a complete failure as a foster mom- failure in the sense that she rarely gives them back (she blames her husband)! Lisa has a passion for Maine Coons which led her to become mom to Duke. To say that Duke (named after a famous Hawaiian surfer) was a large cat would not be doing him justice.

Duke was massive and eventually tipped the scales at over 30 pounds! When he died, Lisa and her husband Jarrod were devastated and since their anniversary was coming up, we decided to commission Cheryl to do a portrait. We sent her a photo...and got this back:

Lisa was both ecstatic and deeply touched because Cheryl had captured the essence of her dear pet- right down to his damaged ear!

So if you have a cherished pet or know of someone who does, why not check out Cheryl's web site at www.somewhere-in-time.net. There you will find testimonials and pricing (very reasonable) along with tips on how to photograph your pet(s) and all the info needed to commission what will no doubt become a treasured family heirloom.

Welcome to "The Roaring 20's" !

OK so I jumped the gun. There are still a few hours left in this tired decade but what the heck!

For me personally, the "teens" have ended well.

Last night, my Florida Gators won their football bowl game vs. Virginia and now I look forward to following their basketball team. Go Gators!

Last weekend, we drove to Dartmouth to see daughter Sandra and her family and also old friends visiting from Ontario. Sandra and Vickie saw "Cats" and, contrary to the reviews, absolutely LOVED it. So much for critic reviews.

And of course, no Boxing Day (27th here) would be complete without an amazing lobster feast!

That's son-in-law Sean "guarding" them! In all, Vickie and Sandra cooked and cut in half 26 1.5 pound lobsters in one hour and 50 minutes! I'm pretty sure that that is a world record. Even the drive through the beautiful Annapolis Valley was fun- especially with a sky like this!

Not too shabby, huh?

Meantime, our other daughter and her family were enjoying their weather in Freeport, Grand Bahama, where life is slowly returning to normal after Hurricane Dorion.

I am supposed to get my second bionic hip on Feb. 24th. It's a Monday so I hope they don't make hips like they make cars! The timing is good as I should be ready to go when it's time to open the shop in the spring.

I was involved in a very interesting test project for Hi-Tech (lapidary products) and have just sent in my results. If you are interested in lapidary, watch this space as I may be able to let you in on it at some point.

Cheers and best to all!

Fall Comes To The Neck

Well, another tourist season is drawing to a close and the scene of activity now shifts.

Yesterday, the last stones were groove cut and all the saws, tumblers and wheels have now been drained,cleaned and put to bed. The VT Rock Lab is in hibernation mode.

The oil cooled 10 inch saw is in Dartmouth where, hopefully, my talented grandboys will be replacing the neanderthal 1/3 HP motor with a new 3/4 HP beauty and mounting it to a nice laminated countertop piece courtesy of East Coast Countertops. Who knows, knowing them it might come back equipped with bluetooth!

So now is the time when I take inventory of what I need to make over the winter and get to work at my bench in Vickie's studio.

The first priority is to finish some ear ring and ear ring/ pendant sets as I sold quite a few of these over the summer. I get to use this beautiful space as long as I keep my mouth shut and don't disturb the REAL artist.

Here she is working under the close supervision of one of the two studio cats (the true rulers of the domain!). And here are a few of the pieces she is working on.

So while it is cold and rainy outside, we are all set for a fun, creative winter inside.

The shop is still open and we still have a good inventory of Seawall Fibres yarn so if you are in the area, come on by!You might want to call first to make sure we are here.

Back at the Jewelry Bench

Well, we are in the midst of a typical Nova Scotia winter- a bit of snow, a bit of rain, a bit of freezing rain, winds north of 100 KPH and temperatures going up and down like a toilet seat. The perfect time to be in the studio. Vickie is working on a big project for Seawall Fibres and since "where she goes, the cats go" I have plenty of company. here's a shot of the interested spectators:

I decided to finish a couple of very nice "bloodstones"I had kicking around. Bloodstones get their name from bright red patches (usually hematite) that provide a striking contrast to the rest of the stone. The first one is a little "donut" that I hung from a slim, premium black leather cord with a silver clasp. It has a brecciated (or broken) matrix so it's quite unique.

I decided to enhance the second piece by adding Czechoslovakian faceted fire polished glass beads and copper spacers and clasps along with a premium leather cord. In person, it actually glows.

Next we have two pieces that are rare and unique. They are made from mollusk shells that have been riddled by holes created by tube worms to produce intricate and dramatic patterning.

They have been hand set with copper wire and hung from premium leather cords and are something you ain't gonna see every day!

Finally, here's a really nice piece of polished amethyst set on a reddish copper metal plate to enhance the colour and then hung from a blue premium leather cord.

In upcoming sessions I'll be doing several pieces combining stone and leather so stay tuned and if you are in the area, drop by. The sign may be down (tucked away out of the wind) but all the inventory of yarn etc. is still here.

Cheers!

More Stuff For The Shop

As I mentioned, I have started a new series I call "Stone and Bone". I am combining polished stones with wire wrapped fossilized shark's teeth that we found while living in Florida.

Since it was very cold and snowy here today, I spent some time on the bench and here are the results.

The two on the outside are fossilized wood (jasper) from Arizona set in silver plate bezels and the one in the center is a beautiful local piece of agate showing amazing patterning and colour.. I'll probably hang them from a leather or buna cord.

Today we live in dangerous times but here's what keeps me awake at night.

If they ever learn the combination to the safe we're in real trouble!
Cheers,

The Queen Has Her "Studio Cats" Again

It has been, to say the least, an eventful summer. We have had house guests for about the last 2 months and one guest, daughter Lisa, brought a special gift!

Some of you may know that Lisa, the one who lives in the Bahamas and hand dyes our Seawall Fibres yarn, puts a lot of time in as a volunteer at The Humane Society of Grand Bahama. Part of that involves being a surrogate mom for newborn kittens and she recently took a bunch that were only 3 days old! Some don't survive but two "Potcats" (what they call cats down there) did.

Now Bahamians are interesting in that they love dogs and hate cats. So the chance of a cat being adopted down there is minimal and since the organization is terribly underfunded, many are, unfortunately, euthanized.

Lisa was determined that that was not going to happen to her two "boys" so she decided to bring them to the U.S. where they have a chance.

Enter Vickie, AKA "She Who MUST  Be Obeyed"- our artist in residence. It has been several years since Vickie had the inspiration of a studio cat so she said to bring them here.
And here they are:

They are brothers and Thor is the larger. Leif is the runt of the litter but we have already ascertained that both are excellent mousers. They appear to love their new digs and have agreed to work as Vickie's inspirational "muses" in exchange for food.

And not a minute too soon since Vickie is painting a large number of "sock blanks" for the upcoming Knit City Show in Vancouver next month.

This has been our best year ever for visitors and I can assure you that on average the weather from now to the end of September is really good and whale watching is at its best. So if you are looking for a late summer escape, come to "The Neck"!

Doodling on Steroids!

At one time or another, I'm sure most of us have doodled. But I doubt very many of us have ever "doodled" quite like this.
Our daughter Lisa volunteers with the humane society where she lives- in Freeport, Grand Bahama. The society is having a 50th anniversary fund raising gala (as with most such ventures they are chronically underfunded) and Lisa asked Vickie if she would donate a piece of her art for auction as she has in the past.
Vickie agreed but then the creative juices took over and not only did she come up with an art idea, she hit on a real promotional opportunity. The theme of the gala is "Black and White and Gold" so she decided to do something in keeping with the theme and work they do.
A big part of the humane society's work is rounding up local wild dogs- called Potcakes- to be spayed and neutered. So Vickie decided to draw a Potcake- in her own unique way.

This is a drawing method called Zentangles and it is a real skill to choose patterns that won't obliterate what the image is.
Since she and Lisa liked it so much and since the humane society also handles a lot of cats, Vickie decided to do a cat as well.

So now things have expanded somewhat. The images you see are going to be used to silk screen       t-shirts that will be sold by the society and then Vickie will add some shading and a bit of gold to the final art that will then be used to produce sets of cards and finally auctioned off at the gala.
So if you like to draw, give it a try. It is supposed to be very relaxing although I think choosing the patterns would drive me nuts!
And if you ever want to donate to a worthy cause, check out the Humane Society of Freeport.
I have been working on ear rings recently and the next blog will show some examples.
The days are getting longer and it is almost time to put the sign back up by the road and open for business. Hope to see you at some point.
Cheers!