Headed to New Jersey

What could be better than a Tinsel Wonderland Workshop? How about a Tinsel Wonderland Workshop led by the inimitable Lisa Kettell? See? There IS something better. So, I'm headed to New Joisey from Balmore, as the locals say. Actually, I wonder if people in New Jersey like it when interlopers say "New Joisey" or some silly variation. My guess is no. I'd better leave my nearly half-century Midwestern twang at the door. If you think about it, don't we all talk funny?


I'm excited to be hanging with Lisa, founder and creator of Art Opera, sad that I won't meet Ann-Denise Anderson, a fellow Lisa fan and supporter and artist in her own right, curious about what we're going to make (Santa's Toy Apothecary, a clay and paper mache Christmas tree with doll-head topper), and ready for some great antiquing at Lafayette Mill Antiques Center.


It seems like so long ago that I 'met' Lisa that I can't remember how or when. I think it was in her private Flickr group, The Faerie Zine, whose actual zine you can order on Amazon here. Not sure. We became fast friends, and I was honored to be asked to submit a piece for her first book, Altered Art Circus, which you can also order on Amazon. We've swapped art, we've commiserated, we've yakked...so it will be fun to see her leading a workshop. TTYL and BRB...gotta go get my art on.

Check my latest book review

Visit Vintage Indie for my latest Off the Shelf book review. This time it's Lisa Kettell's Altered Art Circus.

Postess with the Mostess. Squee!

Everything thing about this post makes me squeal with delight. In fact, I have been on cloud nine for the last 12 hours, barely stopping to sleep. I AM the postess with the mostess, simply because I feel like the luckiest blogger in the world, well, the www world anyway.

Yesterday I happened upon Altered Art Circus by Lisa Kettell at Barnes and Noble (Quarry Books, 2009, ISBN-13:978-1-59253-487-6; or on Amazon). I say 'happened' because I wasn't expecting to find it on the shelf yet. The publication date has been February 2009 for about the last year and a half, or ever since the author, Lisa Kettell of The Faerie Zine, invited me to submit a piece of art for the book's gallery.

At the time I started making this 3D sculpture representative of Marie Antoinette, my intent was to make Lisa a gift for all her work in our art group. I don't think I even knew then the book had a circus theme, or certainly I would have drawn on my great love for circus art! Nevertheless, I made the 18" 'Marie' in one day, and sent her east to live with Lisa. I never really believed the piece would make it into the book- either because of some mail disaster only I would experience or because it was edited out for being "no good." Every artist has those thoughts, especially one who has never been published in a real book until now. A 'real' magazine, yes. 'Real' books published via Blurb or Lulu, yes. But a real publishing house with a real editor (who didn't cut out my picture)? C'est Magnifique!

Here's a couple more links to my other Marie figures here and here. I have one still for sale on etsy, and I sent the rest off last summer in hopes of finding their way into Stampington's new Marie Antoinette magazine.

But as for being in Lisa's book, I am over the moon! And I share the Gallery with so many wonderful art friends like Bella and Wanda and Ann-Denise. And I share my page with the inimitable DeBriNa Pratt of Spark*Your*Imagination. Thank you again Lisa!

Another great art friend who roams these same circles is Viv Neroni of New York. Out of the blue (and I say that because I haven't been reading everyone's blogs as faithfully as I should) Viv sent me the most darling pin-keep (above), which I won in a contest on her blog. Viv and I swapped goodies once before. She makes the most darling tiny felted bears and paper clay figures and posts the most delicious photos on her blog. Viv is also Violet's 'new mom.' Violet is of the Blythe persuasion, and I only now realized 'V' is the perfect letter. No wonder Viv kept Violet's name after 'adopting' her.

The 'beady' looking photo (top) is a work-in-progress. It's starting with stringing assorted tiny seed beads from a bead soup by Beverly Gilbert of Gilbert Designs in Washington. I met Beverly at Art & Soul, Portland, in October and made two pendants in her class. It is tiny work that requires reading glasses and a task light. See that sliver of a curved beading needle? It's a wonder I can string anything. This strand so far is sort of a freeform Peyote stitch, which I am glad to have finally learned. It really is easy.

I'm planning to use the strand when fully-formed to encase either a 'jingle' shell as shown above or a piece of beach glass or some other shell and a tiny starfish, and that will form a pendant just like the amber one I made at A&S. But, shhhh! Don't tell. It's going to be a gift for someone special who favors shells.

So Excited! You'd Think I Just Got Published

These two amazing books are by and belong to two fellow artists and people I can truly call friends. I am so excited for them! Each is very different - the book and the person- and I feel privileged to say my art is in each book. The thrill of publication belongs solely to the artists, Jane Powell and Lisa Kettell. But, I'm so thrilled for them, you'd think they were my books.

Altered Art Circus is now available here on Amazon. You won't be disappointed. And I can say that even though my copy is not in my hands yet, for I have some of Lisa's original work as well as works by some of the other contributing artists.

Artist and Silver Bella founder Teresa McFayden reviewed the book here. Although I didn't get a mention there, I am just so happy with her review of Lisa's book. The circus animals by Lisa that Teresa shows on her blog are great, and interestingly enough, Martha Stewart just featured a similar project here by Katie Steuernagle, Matsutake on Etsy. And talk about full circle, Lisa was in the audience, third row, for the Martha taping that day!

The hand-made, 75-pp book above is equally impressive. Owner Jane Powell of Random Arts in Saluda, one of my favorite places, decided to host a collaborative journal project and even sent out some supplies to willing participants to get the ideas flowing. When the unique pages started flowing in from around the country and beyond, Jane knew she had something special.

So special is this book that Jane "donated" it for a fund-raising auction for the Saluda Senior Center and then Jane bought it back in a bidding war for $500.00! How great is that? You can see my "Sorry, Time's Up" page peeking out of the photo above and my finished project here. I hope I can get to Saluda again soon to see the entire book. Here's her story about it.