Tonight I had the absolute pleasure of watching a Lyle Lovett concert...the musicianship was incredible, the banter and dry humor beguiling!
It was a small venue and intimate, and I was int he front row!! I go my seats right away!
He played some of my favorites including, "You're not from Texas, Bears and others...
Anhoo, like a nerd I hung out in the back of our little theatre with 2 other fans and met the man himself. What a gentleman,and I got to ask him one question. "Do you remember a club called the Rubiyaat in Texas?" And he did not even hesitate, "Yes!" He went on to say that he hadn't played there but he was very familiar with it. I mentioned that the famous owner Bob Johnson was, in fact, my Dad! Anyway, we had a short conversation about it and he asked about Bob and all that. SO, it was awesome, it made my night. So, Daddy, if you are reading this, I hope it makes you happy!
I am here in my motorcycle jacket which is reflecting..sorry.

The Bitter Foodie: Don't look at this post.

The Bitter Foodie: Don't look at this post.]
this is insane

So much for employment security...

Here is a recent work in progress, a gift for my good friend Dara. It's not finished yet, though. I am going to try to break into the exclusive , platinum only club of pet portraiture.

Bad news about my stupid job as a HS art teacher. They cut my position to .5 FTE from .6 which does not sound like like much but when you consider that is going from 2/3 of Full time to 1/2 pay wise, you see how that would be quite a salary cut, plus the same number of preps. Insane. The jury is out as to what I will do yet....but I am depressed.

Beading Continued

Ok..Hi everyone. Here are some beads from Sunday. As you can see I am finally getting the "round" bead shape...it is hard to control the molten glass. We also learned cylinder beads, although now I look at them mine look like suppositories or larvae ...lovely. One onf the beads here is from the instructor Wesley Fleming, who was demonstrating the gravity swirl design. My turquoise and red bead was an attempt at that, but my torch got too low and it was taking forever!! I guess serious beadmakers/glass sculptors use a stronger torch with separate oxygen tank and propane which burns much hotter, so processes happen more quickly than with our little propane dinkies.
So around 3pm on Sunday I burnt the c**p out of my hand. I was concentrating so hard on getting this little dot in exactly the right place that I put my hand OVER the torch and burnt the tips of all four of my right hand fingers. THe middle one got it BAD. Luckily Wes was prepared and had my soak my hand in a bucket of water for 1/2 and hour or so..this helped, but on the way home I had my hand pressed up against the glass of my car (It was snowing out) to cool the agonizing burn that would not go away!! So, I have a great blister now, and some sensitivity still, but obviously I can type, so it isn't bad now.
Overall--awesome class and I intend to keep going with it as a hobby. I may invest later in a bigger torch set up, but for now, I will practice with dinkies and send the beads to my friends!
Don't ya want one??

Here is a recent commissioned piece I finished...now I can pay studio rent! Yay!
This piece is a mere 8" x 10" !!

My first beads!

Hello everyone! Well today was and exciting day, and tomorrow will be too. I am taking a flamework beadmaking class at the Livingston Center for Arts and Culture with Wesley Fleming who is an amazing glass sculptor in Bozeman, whose studio is opposite mine! You should check out his work at http://www.wesleyfleming.com.

Anyhow, I have always wanted to do this and boy it is tough..it like juggling, patting your head and rubbing your stomach all at the same time. It is also very tiring on the eyes and body. I have a lot mor respect for the simple round glass bead...that is a tough shape to make! Here are some images of my first beads ever, they are not annealed (so they can crack or break pretty easily) and are rife with sharp edges and irregularities, but nevertheless I am showing them to you all, flaws and all. TOmorrow I will make more beads, with more practice and post them.

I also discovered a charming shop in Livingston called The Drawing Room which is run by Patricia Buckley a loquacious and lovely tea and art connoisseur, as well as a fine artist. Here I bought some AMAZING tea (she has a tea master) and some cool metal earrings by local artist Sarah Lomans (sarahlomans.com). So, I had a fabulous day in the windy city Livingston, and will post more on it tomorrow.

New Start

I am going to use this blog to post new paintings and drawings. I am not thrilled with my website which I cannot change due to the ridiculous way the designer put it together, so until I have time to create a new one, I am going to use this bloggy thing.
Today I am supposed to be sketch crawling and should really get out of here to go do that. I will post images of my day. In the meantime here is an image of a new work..."Baby Donkey"