To get your own custom ornament or figurine, the following must be provided, photos and or description of your pet, including any unique characteristics, (white tip at end of tail), that may not show up in photos
I will work from photos emailed to me and descriptions!
I can make a dog or kitty in your choice of pose- Sitting, standing or rear up,
and style.( including but not limited in any way, with favorite toy, shoe, lights, as an angel......)
Figurines can also be made with no ornament hook
Please be aware that due to drying and firing times of the
porcelain clay allow 3 weeks for your item to be finished,
Inspiration comes in many forms for me, a comment on a previous work,a shadow on the ground,, light coming through the trees. Sunset, sunrise, a memory and a prayer..., a song, this song reached out and touched me when this album first came out. For those of you who don’t know Trans Siberian Orchestra, please check them out.
I want to paint this, I have not yet had it come to me, something with a Unicorn in a night sky, snowflakes, stars...so far this is all I have come up with, but I can feel it, wrap itself around me, it will come, this painting of mine....
CHRISTMAS DREAMS
SOMEWHERE BEYOND WHERE THE LIGHT RARELY GOES
SOMEWHERE BEYOND WHERE THE DARK BARELY BREATHES
SOMEWHERE THIS NIGHT WHERE THE DARK ONLY KNOWS
SHE AWAITS EVER PATIENT
SHE AWAITS RARELY SEEN
BUT HER MOMENTS ARE TAKEN
FOR IN THE DEAD OF THE NIGHT
GATHERING LIGHT
CHRISTMAS DREAMS
…AND A TEAR FALLS UPON HER SNOW-WHITE HAIR
AND IT RUNS TO THE END WHERE IT LINGERS THERE
THEN IT FALLS THROUGH THE AIR OF A WINTER’S SKY
TILL IT CAPTURES A DREAM AND IT’S CRYSTALIZED….
LET IT GO!
LET IT GO!
THIS OLD WORLD THAT I KNOW
FOR SOON EVERYTHING WILL BE CHANGING
IN A SINGLE GLANCE
WHERE IT ALL ENCHANTS AND EVERY HOPE IS WORTH SAVING
I know I have neglected this blog for a long time now. The dog's blog took over ! (sorry Kira!)
Life is about change. Some changes are big, some are small. In the past month, I have had a new change in my life. My last child living at home moved out to be on her own. Now for you without children, you may think, so... you now have more freedom, more time...
You are suddenly also now old. There are three stages in a woman's life, the maiden, the mother, the crone.... I am now the crone...The word crone once meant simply 'wise woman' and, in antiquity, was a term of respect. Now a days is means simply you are old! I do not feel old! I look in the mirror and go ahhhhg! who the #@%*^# is that?
So time marches on, you clean the house,change the bedrooms into guest rooms, pick yourself up and go on....and wonder, as an artist how this is going to change my work. Every year I grow, my art grows. Something major happens, the art changes. That is because the art is me. I change, my art changes. It will be interesting to see the way I go now.
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge — myth is more potent than history — dreams are more powerful than facts — hope always triumphs over experience — laughter is the cure for grief — love is stronger than death.”-Robert Fulghum
I have been in a creative funk. Nothing I make, create, sculpt or paint has been to my satisfaction. This is traditionally the slowest time of year for me, sales, work, everything. This year it has been worse than usual. I know the economy is bad. Times are tough, people are having trouble paying there bills, feeding their families. After what this country, and the world, has been through the past few months, we need hope. We need this feeling to return to our lives. I think right now, we need Christmas. It is a long time until Christmas, and a long ways from Christmas. I need to remember why I do what I do. To bring magic into my life, and hopefully into the lives of others. Christmas is not only about the giving, the loving, or the magic. the most important thing to me about Christmas is Hope. So remember Christmas today, keep it in your heart. Even if you are not a Christian, remember the peace, the love the spirit of the season, even if it is not the season. It is the joy of living, of appreciating the little things that God (or the Gods) have blessed us with. The drop of water glistening in the sunlight, the colors of the sky,the green of the leaf, the kiss from a dog, the smile of a stranger. Remember, smile, and pass it on....
When you’re big, things are usually easy. Jumping, running—we take it all for granted. That goes for squirrels, too, I guess.
Now, consider a wall. If you’re a big squirrel, you jump right on top of that thing. But if you’re a little squirrel, it might as well be 100 feet high. You just are not going to jump up there.
However, maybe you have some friends. Maybe you didn’t even know you had them. They make it possible for you to jump on that wall. Isn’t that what friends are for?
I entered one of my paintings at Lockheed Martin's Management Club’s 12th annual Arts in April Art Show. This was the first time I ever entered one of my paintings in any exhibit. I am proud to say it won 1st place in Oil and Acrylic Paintings!
IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER - by Erma Bombeck (written after she found out she was dying from cancer).
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained, or the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have sat on the lawn with my grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television and more while watching life.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil, or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, 'Later. Now go get washed up for dinner.' There would have been more 'I love you's' More 'I'm sorry's.'
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute.look at it and really see it. live it and never give it back. STOP SWEATING THE SMALL STUFF!!!
Don't worry about who doesn't like you, who has more, or who's doing what Instead, let's cherish the relationships we have with those who do love us.
If this quote is as true a most would believe, than I have a problem. My true nature rears its ugly head as a cute little puppy. (or a pretty, pink Puff Dragonling)
While I may love to work in realism, spending hours sculpting or painting one particular item, my true gift is creating the whimsical, cute, and just plain adorable. It just comes naturally.I can't help it. The harder I try to create the amazing likeness of realism, the cuter it gets. Take these two unicorns, one I created over several hours of sculpting, working, studying form , function, how the leg turns, how the muscle would move, the other as a whimsical figurine, in less than a quarter of time the other takes, so what sells? The downright, comical, "awww, its sooo cute". The other barely gets a passing glance.
I accept my gifts, as much as I try to rebel sometimes, I want to
be a serious artist, but I guess I am a whimsical, fanciful, comical, silly, cute artist. My true nature at work...
These little bunnies, about 6 days old, were attacked by a dog and orphaned.
Two out of the litter of five did not survive, and these three were not doing very well.
Noah is a non-releasable, one-legged homing pigeon that we have here in rehab. Noah kept going over to the bunny cage and looking in....even sleeping in front of the door to the cage.
Then, 2 days ago, I only counted 2 bunnies in the cage, so I hurriedly picked Noah up from the front of the cage so I could look inside. And to my surprise...there was the tiny bunny...under Noah's wing...sound asleep! The bunny had crawled through the cage....preferring a featherbed, no doubt.
Now, they are all together, and the bunnies are doing GREAT. When the bunnies scoot underneath Noah's feathers, he extends his wings out to surround them..and they snuggle. When one of them moves and they start sticking out here and there, he gently pushes them back under him with his beak!!!!! This is amazing!!!
Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places . She's my baby.
When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with
shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.
This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday
, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her o
wn, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.
We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington . We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV . Miracle Pets even did a show about us.
In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma.. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whol
e bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.
Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone.
So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them
pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.
On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power course through his body. I have so many stories like that.
I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom.
Normally I don't send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read it. Hope it touches you like it did me. This is so beautiful it'll bring a tear to your eye....
A little boy says to his mother, " Mommy, how come I'm black and you're white?" His mother replied, "Don't even go there! From what I can remember about that party, you're lucky you don't bark!
Lots of things make great last-minute holiday gift ideas. Candy, chocolates, gift certificates for more candy and chocolate… but live animals should not be included in that list! There’s something crazy about going to the store for a loaf of bread and coming home with a pet as well. But that exact kind of crazy happens all the time around Easter.
Each Easter, many breeders and pet stores set out live rabbit displays right along with the chocolate bunnies and candied eggs. And, sad to say, some people continue to fall prey to the cuteness of a baby bunny. Yes, unrefined bunny cuteness is formidable stuff, but still. This is a spur of the moment purchase that needs love and care for many years to come. Sad to say, a couple months or so after Easter, animal shelters and rescues start filling up with these unwanted rabbits.
Rabbits require a lot of work and TLC. Sure, they make great pets for the right home, but like any pet, they’re not for everyone. Especially not for somebody who was only looking to get a child’s smile on Easter morning and didn’t do their research. Well guess what? There’s a better way to give a gift this Easter! A way to have your jelly beans and eat them too.
How about adopting a stuffed rabbit to help a real one? Best Friendsis partnering up with Stuffed Adoptions.com,an organization that helps real animals by selling toys. Here’s how it works.
You hop on their website and browse the goods. This time, feel free to let the cuteness wash over you. A stuffed rabbit may not have the same adorable zing as the real thing, but they don’t chew through your carpets, either! The idea is to adopt a stuffed rabbit as a gift for somebody, but with the added bonus that in doing, so you help real rabbits in the end. Not only do the profiles of the stuffed animals represent real rabbits in rescues across the country, but the rabbits at Best Friends receive a portion of the proceeds for every stuffed rabbit you adopt. The funds will go toward Bunny House renovations.
So go ahead, make an impulse purchase. No buyer’s remorse this way. You can even sponsor a Best Friends rabbit to go along with the toy. The perfect double gift!
