Raymi and Red, Painted Cat Ornament

 

I painted this ornament of our two cats Raymi and Red and stuck it in my son's stocking this year. We got Raymi from a shelter nine years ago for my son's birthday. She was the queen around here until Red came along. He was my mother's cat who came to live with us after she passed away four years ago. He has tried to make friends with Raymi ever since but mostly she will have none of it and will swat at him whenever he comes near. There have been some moments of her allowing him to sleep a foot away and she also "sort of" plays with him but pretends like she's not. We're getting there slowly so there's hope!

 

 

 



Hand Painted Cowboy Ornaments With a Twist

I bought a couple of wooden gingerbread man ornaments to paint but realized I was not inspired at all - I find the typical gingerbread man a bit soulless with their eyeball-less eyes. I tried adding interesting eyes but it still wasn't working for me. 

So I looked at the outline shape of him and instantly saw a cowboy hat in his head and arms! His bowtie fit perfectly on the hat. Well, then I saw a handlebar mustache and these guys magically appeared. I gave one away as a gift but you can find the other one on Etsy.  

Have a Yee Haw New Year!

More Hand Painted Ornaments

These ornaments were all gifts and have been received so I can now post them!  Hand painted on wood with acrylics. I have others available in my Etsy Store if you'd like to take a look.  Have a beautiful Christmas!!

Cat Art with Brush Pen Markers

 

"Cat on a Flower"
Trying something new, 5x7", markers and ink.

If you're interested in purchasing it, you can find it here!

 

Embroidered Ornaments on Felt

I had fun creating these ornaments for gifts this Christmas.  I bought some beautiful blended wool felt in gorgeous colors and love it. I even added beads to one of the ornaments which was tricky but worthwhile.

I plan on experimenting more with the beads as well as creating more "softies," especially animals and maybe dolls, too, we'll see!

A Mosaic Tribute to My Mom

Five years ago I was commissioned to create a mosaic triptych for the Sacred Space at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital in California. After several years of delay, I began working on the design of a whimsical tree and colorful sky. It had just been submitted for approval when my mother suddenly passed away. My mosaic project quickly became more meaningful to me as I requested additional time to change the design and pour my love of her into it.

My mother adored nature and one of her favorite trees was the Jacaranda. She also had a tremendous love for daylilies, buying them, selling them, creating her own hybrids. She was deeply and enthusiastically involved with the daylily community with daylily pals all over the country. My original design had no flowers but I knew my redesign absolutely must.

My mother had more than 100 potted daylilies as well as maybe 100 more in the ground.  I couldn't possibly take them all home, so took 25 of her favorite potted ones and dug up 10 more. They had just finished blooming so had no flowers when I brought them home.  I used my mom's photos of them as inspiration for the design. 

A year later, as I was cutting glass for the flowers, they bloomed for me for the first time. As they were all different, I had no idea what colors or type they would be. For the next two months, I couldn't wait to go out in the morning to see what had opened that day. Sitting on the deck with my coffee and my cat, I was with my mom and her beautiful creations all around me. They are each magnificent and unique, as she was, and I am so grateful to have this part of her with me always.

After months of working on the mosaics, they were installed last week while I was out of town. I will be at the hospital this Thursday for the dedication ceremony to commemorate the opening of the hospital. The lighting is beautiful in the Sacred Space and I can't wait to see the mosaics in their new home. It will be another place I can go be with my mom, but nothing compares to being in my garden with the flowers she and I both love!

Mosaic for Hospital

I adopted my mom's cat, Red,
who is watching over two of the three panels

I recently received the go-ahead on a project I applied for more than four years ago! After much delay, I was able to start cutting glass for a triptych that will be installed at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital. The three panels total 24 square feet and will hang in the hospital's sacred space.

The design was originally an anonymous sort of tree, but after my mother passed away in 2013, I asked if I could redo the design to reflect more of who she was and what she loved, to honor her in this mosaic. So I re-drew it as a Jacaranda, one of her favorites, and added day lilies, her favorite flower. She was so in love with these flowers, she joined an online community of other day lily enthusiasts who shared images of their favorites and traded their day lily seeds with each other. Many of them, including my mom, would experiment with hybridization to create their own unique species.

Mosaic detail

She left behind hundreds of plants, some in the ground, others in pots.  I took home about 35 of her favorites, which weren't flowering at the time, but began to bloom almost a year later. It became my daily ritual each morning to visit them with my cat and my coffee to see which ones had opened up that day. Each was a beautiful gift and I am so looking forward to spring when I get to see them again!

Some of Mom's gorgeous flowers.

One of my favorites

Professional photos done for book!

I'm getting more and more excited about the book being done, now that the mosaics have been photographed!  What a beautiful job my photographer, Mehosh Dziadzio, did!  And he was a joy to work with, for any locals looking for a photographer.  :)  Here is a detail of one of them.

New Mosaic, New Trade!

I created this mosaic, "Gila's Tree," for who else, Gila! Gila Rayberg to be exact. She asked for a tree and I asked her for an animal, her choice. She picked a chameleon, well, actually, two (see the hidden one?). Another fun trade. Thanks, Gila!

Mosaic Trade!

The wonderful thing about knowing so many fabulous mosaic artists and having them as friends is the trading we get to do! This is my fourth trade now and oh, am I a lucky girl! This beautiful mosaic is by the ultra-talented Jane Denison. As soon as she posted it on Flickr I fell in love with it. I thought it was made for somebody else, so I quickly decided it couldn't be mine. I did, however, let Jane know how much I loved it, and lucky for me, it was available! Isn't it gorgeous?!! It is about 5 1/2 x 8 1/2", entitled "Bursting at the Seams," inspired by Hundertwasser's work. I love the colors, the fabulous Mexican smalti and millefiori cleverly cut in half and using the centers for the windows, the fused glass door! I love it all. And now I own two mosaics by Jane!

So Jane suggested we do a trade, and asked if I'd make a mosaic of the little orange cat who starred in "I Gotta Be Me." This is the mosaic I made for her, entitled "What a Glorious Day!" also 5 1/2 x 8 1/2," and made with stained glass, millefiori and vitreous, with gold wire for the whiskers. It was a joy to make and I'm so happy Jane now owns one of my mosaics. Thanks Jane!!

P.S. Two more trades are in the works with two more of my favorite artists. Who could they be? Stay tuned..... :)