Canines N'Blooms Auctioned Off...

The Western Springs / Sun Times blog featured my "Canines N'Blooms" hand painted bird bath in their publicity for the final Charity Auction Event for HCS Family Services, held last weekend. I hope mine found a good home and brought in some good money for this wonderful organization. Follow this link to see all the other artists' creations.

...missing my girl.

Missing my sweet girl, Izzy...the dog that launched a thousand paintings, and even a few sculptures. I said goodbye to her a year ago today.

recent works in clay...

I continue to take Corinne Peterson's "Dreams, Myths & Pillars" class at Lill Street, it's a form of therapy for me - and her class is always filled with the most interesting and genuine souls. The piece at the top is about as close to a pillar as I will probably get, there is a 3rd component that the top 2 pieces will stand on. Photo coming soon, once it's all glazed. The  other 2 pieces, tiles that I carved, the middle glazed with white and the bottom one still wet, with slip that I carved directly on. Love this carving process. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend, it was a sunny day in Chicago with lots of people out and about, and popping into the studio. I worked on commissions, most of the day.

Snicker gets his wings...

 

My dog sculpture of Snicker is complete...came out pretty well with the exception of a hairline crack across the base...oh the joys of working with clay! Luckily there are some great epoxy products out there that may save the day if it decides to split. This piece is about 23" long and 13" high. Follow the link for the story behind this piece.

Growing Trucks...

My goal is to continuously make the next one bigger than the last, until our spring session ends in late May. These will, hopefully, soon be growing things in their beds...stay tuned to see them evolve and for more info about the "Women in Grains Show" in July.

...with wings

As I drove to clay class Monday night I decided this dog was asking for wings but being the neurotic artist, I worried it would hasten the departure of sixteen year old Izzy...then thought even if it does, maybe this means I'll be giving her permission to go, in case she's just been sticking around for me. (I know...welcome to the emotional crazy world of my mind and heart!)Then Wednesday my Mom sent me an email regarding the previous post commenting that the dog looked like Snicker...her beloved big yellow lab that passed away over the summer...and I realized right away it was Snicker and not Izzy and how appropriate those wings were...and that's the reason everyone who saw the sculpture called it a 'he' including me. So this is Snick. My Christmas gift to her and Bill is a portrait of him that I have yet to create but I gave them some drawings as a preview of my ideas: Snick was not the only family dog to go last year, Willie my brother's dog (who I'm also working on a portrait of) and 2 dogs that belong to my Mom's stepchildren's families Pretty Boy and Nimush the 3 legged dog. That's a lot of new doggie angels frolicking in heaven...and many broken hearts they left behind. Mom, a hospice social worker, has been on me for awhile to design pet loss sympathy cards, and/or a book. Perhaps we will pen one together, but not while my Izzerloo is still wagging her tail on this earth...and I'm happy to say she has been doing pretty darn well these past few months and doesn't look to be taking on wings any time soon.

My wonderful Mom with Snicker, the 'Patron Saint of Stick Chewing' last spring.

Tall dog...

 

My most recent work at Lill Street...Hope this pup is still intact when I unwrap it tomorrow. I have been known to be a little too careless when it comes to clay appendages, but as my wise classmate, Haleh, commented "it really is about the process not the end product".