Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Dreamy Sunday

We get so caught up with all of life's responsibilities that sometimes we forget to stop and enjoy
this wonderful life and the people in it.

This past year and a half has afforded me the blessings of meeting
many wonderful women.  

Sunday was Emily and My DAY to enjoy these friendships.

First we met our friend Julie Nutting and carpooled to Tustin.
The time driving distances always passes swiftly while enjoying conversation with a friend.



A Vintage Lady in Old Town Tustin...amazing garden vignettes.

 Whimzy.
LOVE you Sheryl and Diane.




 Country Roads.
So nice to see Sue, Katie and Stacey!


 Delicious Lunch and Gelatto at Luca.
Debbie was running late meeting up with us.
My sweet friends... from left to right...
Moi, Emily and


 A dealer at Country Roads...LOVE this!


 There was a matching pair of these.
Who doesn't need matching Pink Lions???

 I am Nutz about clocks...


 In the Grand Palace of my Imagination that I live in,
these would be above a fireplace or morphed into a headboard for my bed.
Hmmm...Can't I fit them in somewhere in my 1800 sq foot house???
Up high on my studio wall, perhaps???
I do have room there...
They were $3,900.
Do you think I could Lay them away for a YEAR????
Oh My...I want these.
My FAVE of the day!

 Same Dealer...another clock and a mini liberty bell!

 Oh, common...this could hang from the beam in my studio too!!!


 Tim and Lisa.
Their space is always inspiring.
Fabulous Design!


Masterful!


Tim and Lisa...You peeps NEED a blog!!!


A VERY cool and HUGE Soldered Bottle in
Tim and Lisa's space that I ADORED!!!

Cutest Fairy gardens and A Vintage Lady...

Makes me daydream that I am a tiny fairy frolicking in
the garden riding dragonflies and having tea
with a surly catepiller...


Makes me want to garden!

Happy Tuesday my lovely Bloguettes!
Hugs,
Lisa

Monday, October 25, 2010

Village Venture Re-cap

The night before The Claremont Village Venture , I suffered from insomnia...so
needless to say, no pics were taken of my booth or work.
Being that this show has over 20,000 people who attend,
people watching was very fun.
Kids in costumes, dogs in costumes, a marching band and the occasional 
fun loving adult in costume as well.
Sales were great and some wonderful new friends were met.

What I did take pictures of where of a couple people who
inspired me, and I will tell you why...


This particular Garden Baby got a little damaged in the back of it's head.
He was placed under my covered Gazebo close to my fountain. Water
splash made the back of his head peel, needless to say...Composition dolls don't like the water...
so don't bathe yours!!!
So, I decided to place this baby right outside the front of my booth, expecting him to attract attention and be touched by "little People".

People pointed, chuckled and commented, "How Cute, How Clever." 
But the best part for me was watching the dozens of children, 
particularly Toddlers who were in awe of this tiny humanoid structure.


Asking his father's permission to take photos of him, I snapped away.
This little boy is 21 months old and loved the "Baby". 
He squatted and looked into the dolls eyes,
talking to it.  Touched it's face, his hand...


This happened all day long with many children.
It was captivating...I ADORE children.
They are so free to express themselves, curious and open to what so
many adults are closed off to.


When he walked into my booth and saw a table full of "Babies" his face lit up,
he pointed and said...."Babies"
My camera wasn't fast enough to capture that face.
Now, I wish I had asked permission to take pics of every child that did this that day.
So wonderful!
By the end of the day, Garden Baby's metal topper to his Funnel
hat had come loose and I didn't care...a little glue will re-affix it.
Happy that was all that broke, he was picked up, plopped down, poked and prodded.

The next wonderful person Emily and I met was Ashley.
Up walked this Adoreable young lady in 6 inch platform stilletos.
Dang, I remember the days I could wear shoes like that!
Her ensemble was FABULOUS!
I LOVE FEARLESS PEOPLE!
Ashley is an Artist with a particularly interesting medium...


She is studying Taxidermy and uses animal bones in her wearable art.
She is quick to point out that she is not a proponent of animal harvesting or cruelty.
(and if you think she is weird and you are a meat eater...
who supports animal harvesting???)
She obtains her pieces from museums, schools and guess what else???
ROADKILL!
Carrying big trashbags, she stops, picks up the dead animal and buries it in her back yard.
No harsh chemicals are used and in 4 months, she digs them up and they are clean.
WOW!
She is the ULTIMATE recylcer.

Her necklace is composed of a quail wing and the tiny skull and jawbones
are of a Bumble Bee bat.
Her hat had empty bullet casings and another tiny skull with Ostrich feathers.
I found her equally as captivating as the small children 
and swear we stood and spoke for nearly an hour.


We spoke of her work, her clothing, how long it took her Family to accept her.
How mainstream people respond to her and her work.
How PETA people chased her down.
10% of her proceeds are donated to the SPCA.
She is an animal lover.
None of her pieces involve animal cruelty.
I witnessed people starring at her as they walked by, making comments and
judging her with their glances.
We spoke of that too.

Why is it that so many in society judge people so much?
It is a free world, we are all individuals.
Thank GOD we are individuals, after all, didn't HE make us so?

I relish that when I look at the horizon I don't see JUST palm trees
or JUST oak trees.  Instead the horizon has thousands upon thousands
 of varieties of trees.
Not a flowers all of one color,
or People the same color, shape, creed, sexual orientation, 
all art the same,
etc, etc...

How boring it would be to eat the same food, every meal for the rest of your life?

You have ONE life to live,
LIVE it on YOUR terms.  

Hugs and Happy Rainy Monday!
Lisa


Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Rabbit Hole


Where does this door go to and what does the sign on it mean???



 It is my "reclaimed" Garage Studio" 
Where I can do my messier, more intense and dirty metal, wood, torching, hammering,
firing, soldering and doll art work.
I am also going to be teaching classes from The Rabbit Hole.
 
One might ask..."reclaimed garage"?
What does that mean?

  

 
Many years ago, while married to my first husband. 
We lived in a tiny condominium, 1100 square feet
with three young boys.
Half of the garage was mine.
It was my escape in which I discovered myself, started making art and selling it.


When my marriage was crumbling and the divorce was decided, I rented the coolest little studio above
a coffee house named "Java Jitters" in Old town San Dimas and moved
out of the condo garage. 
The new studio had great light and gave me the opportunity to spread my wings
and build my Mural business.

It was there that I met and fell in love with my second husband John,
who I had my daughter Emily with.

 
When John and I married, my studio moved out of the coffee house
and back to our home.
But John was a contractor and fine woodworker and wasn't
about to share his HUGE three car extended garage with me.
So, my studio became the really cute loft area on the second
floor of the house we rented.
I was happy.
 


When we bought a home together, John still kept his garage
and my studio became what most people call a Family Room, which
adjoins my kitchen.
 
When John died 7 years ago,  I sadly got the garage back.
Still feeling John's presence, it was always kind of hard for me to work out there, but
I did as well as created an exercise area for my sons and I.
The garage is pretty cool with black/white Race Deck flooring that the boys and I installed.
It is a sealed garage with ac/heating.
Come on, what woman wouldn't LOVE an aqua garage?
 



A year and a half ago, my Beau Rob moved in and I gave up part of said garage to him
because he ran a business out of the home too.
It was a squeeze to say the least.
A bookcase, a huge executive L shaped desk, two file cabinets,
the workout area, toolboxes, workbench, shop vac, engine jack, etc, etc..
It was a MESS.  Being that I still needed a place to store my shipping supplies, show supplies
and a place to do tool work, because you don't do that stuff in a Studio next to the kitchen...
we had to share the space and it was tough.
Rob is a very supportive and infinitely laid back guy,
so we were patient with each other.



Recently Rob joined a new company and started working at an office.
The day he said he would sell his desk and move his files to the new office,
I JUMPED for joy and gave him a BIG HUG & KISS.
I got my Garage Studio back and now have a place to teach classes
and really work on some larger pieces.
Business has thankfully been good and I really do need this space.



So, where did the Rabbit Hole idea come from???

Well, a few weeks back while preparing for Glitterfest...doll parts were laying all over the place
and morphing themselves (with my help of course)
into Spiders, Tin men, Gumball Machine babies and Bling Babies.
Completely amused with myself while creating and singing along to
Danny Elfman's Willy Wonka Soundtrack....Rob entered the garage after work...



he aptly placed a large picture frame before his face
and said...
"Welcome to the Rabbit Hole"
We laughed and the new name for Studio 2 was born.

He thinks I live in Wonderland...
He is right,
I do live and create in a world of my own...
and I am Happy!!!

XO,
Lisa

Last of the Last

Despite Life's little interruptions this past week, 
a sick daughter home from school for 3 days...
a broken car at the dealership...
other minor emergencies.
I have managed to get a few things done.

I came up with the idea of text message acronym rings...

OMG
BFF
LOL
I (heart) you
Be
Om


Used up the last of my supplies for these crosses.
The painted folk art one I will do again
as it fits into my new work.

It has been a spiritual week for me.  Listening to Hay, Dyer and Chopra
as I work utilizing the Last of my Last supplies before
concentrating on my new work.
The last ring blanks, the last enamel flower bracelets,
the last crosses...

I am ready to move on, but had to use up what supplies were left.

My jewelry is at rock bottom prices, so scoop it up for gifts!
Ready to blow it all out.

I will be in Claremont on Saturday for The Village Venture.
Hope to see you there!

Hugs,
Lisa

Friday, October 15, 2010

Happy Halloween!

I am not a huge seasonal decorator, but do a tiny Vignette for Halloween!
Finally got it up.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Baby Bliss

As some of you might know, I recently became a Gi-Gi.

What praytell is a "Gi-Gi" one might ask???
This is how the story goes.
I was the firstborn grandchild on both of my parents sides.
Being the slightly independent free thinker even then,
I refused to call my Grandparents traditional names.
Big surprise, huh?

My grand parents & great grandparents were...
Nana, Dolly, Honey, Pap-pap, Pop-Pop and Pap.

Dolly and Honey were my own creation, they each called me their little "dolly" and "honey", 
so I mimicked them and their names were born. 
Dolly was my Grandmother and Honey my Great Grandmother.

My Nana story goes like this...while sitting in my high chair, Nana would try to get me to call her Nana.
I'd shake my head saying "no"and turn around pointing to the bananas on the counter saying "nanas"
She accepted that I just didn't think she looked like a Banana.
I still call her Nana-Banana sometimes.

Back to the "Gi-Gi" story.
My eldest son Brandon and his wife Krissy just started a family.  
Baby Ben was born on Monday.
My first grandchild. He is adorable and I am in love.
There is something so surreal watching your son become a husband and father and being totally smitten with his wife and child...doting on them how you would want him to.
A new experience for me and one that I am very proud to witness.

So, in classic form, I do not want to be called Grandma...it is "Gi-Gi", which is French...
that is unless little Benjamin has a mind of his own and if like me, comes up with his own name for me, but I will try like my Nana to get him to call me "Gi-Gi".

 Nana and Ben


 Brandon, Krissy and Ben.

 My Mom, G-ma and Ben.

 Gi-Gi and Ben.



My son loving his son.

What a blessing it is to have 5 generations able to enjoy one another.
We are Blessed.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Momma's got new shoes!

Two ladies custom ordered some painted shoes.
A pair of boots for Tara and slingback pumps for Kathy.
Pretty happy with them even though I never overly LOVE
painting faces...


Early stages...


Before final detailing...


Right one is complete, left still needs detailing.


Step one.


Finished but still shiny as they are the paint is wet.
Painting the roses red!


Back of one boot.


Finito!

Happy Thursday!
XO,
Lisa