Modern Bubbles - A New Design

I've been spending the last couple of weeks working on some new ideas and I'm excited to share them with you now! Today I debuted a new line of jewelry in my Etsy shop that has a clean, modern look that I'm hoping you will enjoy as much as I do.

As you can probably tell, I love working with color and one night as I was listening to the rain outside I started thinking about puddles of color and how I could represent that in my pieces. Soon I started making 'buttons' of all kinds of colors and arranging them in little pools. After some trial and error, I came up with several designs. The first of which I'm sharing today.

I think these pieces can really relate to a lot of things in our modern world. Are they planets in orbit? Molecules forming bonds? Or simply colorful drops of paint on a canvas? Tell me what you see when you look at these pieces, I would love to hear!

Modern Wing - What a Wonder!

Last Friday I had the opportunity to visit the new Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago. Although it just opened in May, I had already heard lots of great things and was excited to see it for myself. I must admit, I was so taken with the building itself that my interest in the collections almost became secondary! The artwork I had seen it before, but this building... it's amazing! Built by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, it is light, airy, open and crisp. You are truly looking at works of art while standing in a work of art!

Diffuse natural light bathes everything in the building. The exterior glass walls and roof are covered with louvers which provide wonderful lighting conditions for the artwork and the interior glass walls have pull down shades which can be adjusted in the galleries during different times of day.

The main corridor is breathtaking and open to the top floor of the building with a floating cantilever staircase and balconies on the north side. But for me, the icing is literally on the top of the cake. The third floor galleries house the Modern European collection and seeing the likes of Matisse, Picasso, Mondrian, Kandinsky and Dali in this setting took the experience to a whole new level. Between the canvasses of these great artists are picture-perfect views of the city and Millennium Park and above you, the architectural interest of the louvered roof - also known as the "Flying Carpet".

I was so absorbed in the experience it didn't even occur to me to take any pictures. But it's better that you go see it for yourself! If you can't, be sure to check out the Art Institute website and see what they have to say about it. You'll be impressed with what you see.

Something Different - Learning to Wire Wrap

This weekend I got to try something different.  I took a glass pendant wire wrapping class at my local glass shop, Alpine Stained Glass.  Last year the instructor - Jeanne - offered a fusing glass where I really learned a lot and I had a feeling that I would soon be hooked on this as well.  We started out with some copper wire for practice but we quickly got the hang of it and selected our own cabochons to work with for a finished product.  The pattern she taught us was fairly basic and a great one for beginners.  And boy, there's a real 'wow' factor to doing this!  After laying the ground work for the wrap, you place the cabochon into the wire and suddenly you're working on something beautiful!  I'm thrilled with the piece that I made and have already ordered supplies to do my own at home.  Now, I'll just have to keep myself busy with glass until it gets here!

What do you think of my first attempt?  I'm excited to keep working and learning how to avoid tool marks and trying different patterns.  Keep your eyes on my Etsy shop because I'm hoping some of these will make an appearance in the coming weeks!

At Work in My Studio

Today I'm working in my studio and I thought it would be nice to share these photos with you so you can see where I work.  We've converted a spare bedroom into an office which I share with my husband and I've put a large work table by the window so I can use it to cut glass. It's actually a pretty nice place to work since I can bounce back and forth between the work table and the computer as needed.  

My kiln however, lives in the kitchen on a rolling cart next to the sliding glass door.  For some reason, I wasn't too keen about putting the kiln in a room with carpet and the sliding door provides good ventilation should I need it.

Isn't it cute?  It's just a table top version and it runs on a regular household outlet, but it's perfect for me.  I can run a couple of firings in a day if needed and it never takes long for me to make enough things to fill it up!  Not too big, and not too small - yet.  They say kilns are addictive but I really like the versatility of this one.  I guess only time will tell.

For the Love of Martinis - Cocktail Jewelry

I'm excited to have listed the first piece in a new line of jewelry in my Etsy shop.  For quite a while I've been making pieces that look like olives and have been thinking I could start making a whole line of cocktail inspired pieces.  Then I realized I have been doing it for a while and didn't even realize it.  In the coming days you'll see more pieces of Cocktail Jewelry appearing in my shop. Most of the pieces are inspired by my favorite cocktail - the Dirty Martini.  But you'll see others make an appearance as well.  What's your favorite cocktail?  Maybe you'll inspire me to make something new!

Look Out Folks - I'm On a Roll!

That's right, I listed TWO more items in my shop today - you'll have to go over there to check them out.  I'm particularly happy with the dragonfly pendant shown here.  It's the perfect gift for someone who loves dragonflies and it's even more stunning in real life!

Another reason I'm on a roll is we finally got a new desk for the office last night.  I had robbed us of our main work table a few weeks ago to use it in my art show booth and we decided to try and find something that better suits our needs rather than put it back.  Sooo, off to Office Depot we went last night and we got a great L-shaped desk with lots of work space.  It took us until 2 AM to get everything set up, but this morning I was able to go through everything that had been accumulating since we took the other table out and boy do I feel better!  Isn't it amazing what clearing a little clutter can do for your state of mind?  

Finally Some New Items!

After several weeks of preparing for my first two outdoor shows ever I finally got some photos done today and listed some new items in my Etsy shop!  The pieces I've listed are great summertime pendants with a real tropical feel to them.  Hmmm, maybe I'm thinking a vacation would be nice?  ;)

I'd love to know what you think about these new listings.  Also, more pieces will be listed in the coming days so be sure to keep your eye on my shop!

Booth Setup Redux - Art in the Arbor

As promised, I'm sharing another booth setup photo today.  This one is from my second outdoor show which was two weekends ago at Art in the Arbor in Louisville, KY.  I decided the walls needed a little jazzing up so I had a couple of photos of my pieces blown up and put them in poster frames on two sides of my booth.  I think the photos added a nice touch which made it easier for people to understand what I was selling without actually stepping into the booth.   I also decided to bring a few different accessories to mix it up a little bit.  In particular, I brought my 'wire lady' to hang one of my necklaces on.  She is such a good display that some people have even tried to buy her from me!   

All in all it was a good show and I was happy with the function of my booth setup but there are still a few things I'd like to tinker with.  I'll probably look to have a professional banner made with my shop name and some images of my work to hang across the back of the booth.  And I'm planning on cleaning up my artist's statement and framing it alongside some photos of my studio so that people can understand me and my process a little bit better.   What are some things that you've seen or done at art shows that you thought were particularly successful?  I'd love to hear about them in the comments section here!

My First Outdoor Booth - Artwalk 2009

So I had my first outdoor art show a couple of weekends ago at the Artwalk at the Promenade Bolingbrook and these are the photos of my first set-up.  For my first time out, I think I did pretty well.  I would like to have had some more levels to the display and want to 'loosen' it up a bit, but I did get lots of compliments and that was nice.  The above photos shows the overall set-up with my pendants all displayed on the two tables on the left.  I put the  tables up on bed risers so that the pendants are higher and easier to see.  On the right I set up a little checkout area on a card table so that people making purchases could select a necklace to go with their pendant, check out and I could wrap their packages.

I used a mixture of jewelry trays and wood and ceramic trays with risotto and black beans to display the pendants.  I think a lot of the pendants show up better in the rice and beans and people always comment about what a neat way that is to display them.

They say that when you do something for the first time you learn exponentially and I couldn't agree more.  Just last weekend I had my second show and already instituted a few improvements.  Setting up the booth itself was a snap because I knew exactly what I needed to do to attach the side walls.  Another handy tip I learned by watching more seasoned show attendees was to roll up my sidewalls before detaching them.  Then you don't have to fight them and the wind to fold them up and store them.

I'll post the photos from last weekend soon so you can see the changes I've already made.  But in the meantime, if you have any suggestions or tips, I'd love to hear them!  

Upcoming Event: Art in the Arbor

This upcoming Mother's Day weekend Art's Desire is happy to be participating in the 42nd Annual Art in the Arbor in Louisville, KY.  With over 100 artists' booths, great local musicians, good food and beautiful wooded grounds this makes the perfect Mother's Day or post-Derby weekend outing!  As many as 8,000 visitors are expected and free shuttle service will be available every 10-15 minutes with pickup points at the Browenton Building and Ballard High School.  Drop off will be at the festival entrance in Crossgate.  The church and it's grounds are located at 4936 Brownsboro Rd. and the hours of the festival are Saturday the 9th from 10-6 and Sunday the 10th from 10-5. So come out and join us for what promises to be a beautiful weekend of art, music and fun!