Blue eye baby

Blue eye babySeriously?!!!  I am blown away by my little blue eye baby.  Tala's other eye is darling too - a deep purple/blue/black eye with a little rusty round eyebrow above it.  I have never had a puppy.  Zaydee was a rescue dog (about 2-ish) when she came into my life and Shiva was about the same age when she showed up at the cabin with bullet wounds and a collar with no name.  Tala likes to put all of her toys (and whatever else she claims as a toy) in her bed in my office.  She doesn't sleep in the bed (she sleeps under the desk at or on my feet).  

Office Entertainment

Did I get any work done my first week with Tala?  Barely...  But she is good at entertaining herself and luckily 6-week-old puppies sleep a LOT.  But even while sleeping Tala can be a distraction because she is soooooo dang cute!  She runs in her sleep, squirms and suckles.  She prefers to nap right at my feet, holding me captive in my desk chair for fear of running over her fluffy little paws. [embed]http://youtu.be/_Z-xUqlmq7A[/embed]

Happy Birthday and Valentine's to me...!

IMG_0167 Meet Tala - the best little soft fluffy fat enchanting Birthday present ever...!

I have never actually had a puppy...!  Zaydee was a rescue dog and Shiva found me by showing up at my door with scabs from a gunshot wound.

Would you believe this winter wonderland photo was taken 24 hours after my hot day of rock climbing in the sun?

Born January 2 on a ranch near the Judith River, this BIG spirited little being arrived in my life last Sunday.  She landed in my lap the day after Valentines.  We arrived at her name the day before my birthday.  I am in love with my precious 6 week old klutzy bundle of joy.

Unseasonable Valentine's Day

Weeks of untypically warm weather have shocked our mountains with spring-like temps. I grew up here and have never experienced warm winter weather of this intensity and length. But Valentine’s Day was surreal.  I joined friends visiting from Jackson for an afternoon climbing rock at the local crag. I actually peeled off the long sleeve shirt I was wearing and climbed in a sports bra….! Crazy to climb right here above the Yellowstone River during 70 degree temps in February!

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As if climbing hot rock in February isn't surreal enough, by the time I got home, made dinner and soaked in my claw foot tub the view from my cabin had transpired back into a winter wonderland since a storm dropped a blanket of snow after the sun went down.

Raising funds for the airport sculpture project

Bison Bench Thanks to a generous pledge of $10,000 – the Bison Bench “Sojourn” is one step closer to being placed permanently at the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. Three pledges totaling $26,000 have been promised for the project. I carved the life size bison in black walnut before casting it in bronze. The sculptural bench will be at the top of the stairs near the fireplace to greet people arriving in Bozeman.

Making sawdust without Zaydee

Zaydee sunning her face while laying on the studio floor (taken in autumn) I have never created in this studio on my mountain without Zaydee curled up nearby. I find it difficult to return to work without her. Creating the frog sculpture at home helped keep me from the sadness of walking to my studio without Zaydee. I cried while I swept up the sawdust from our last project together. Tears dropped on lids of cans filled with stain as I put things away and readied for the next chapter - the next project - the next inspiration. Patience. Grief. Baby steps…

Finally - back to work...!

A new month and a sunshine-filled studio beckoned me into work without tears. The satisfying smell of sawdust and a head full of ideas helps drive me forward.

Celebration of the Arts

The Emerson Center’s biggest gala of the year includes a Quick Draw event. I was honored to join 3 other artists on a bright-lit stage to whip out an artwork for the auction. I was so busy chatting with people during the 2 hours I was creating on stage that I imagine the drawing only got about 20 minutes of my time (but that didn’t keep me from getting plenty dirty in the process). The drawing was slipped into a frame and sold along with the bronze “Munch” during the live auction. I love the crazy energy shared during a live Quick Draw event. The money raised adds warm fuzzies.

Yellowstone Art Museum Opening of Works for the Annual Art Auction

If I was totally on top of things rather than pulling through the grand grief that comes from losing my dearest little constant companion dog Zaydee - then I might have actually gotten an eNewsletter off to everyone to announce the opening at the Yellowstone Art Museum before it happened. Then again, I might not have gotten that done.  But I am pretty certain the event on January 22 was a special "members only pre-view" night with the artists rather than being open to the general public anyway.  The roads were dry.  Weather was friendly.  The gala was a blast (and a fine chance to wear my new beautifully fashioned one-of-a-kind suede fringe jacket gifted to me last month).  I love the opportunity to visit with other artists and find myself honored to have had two works selected for the event this year.  My large reliquary sculpture titled "Live it Gently with Fire" is in the live auction and can be seen in a photo of the main museum gallery on the YAM's website.  

On view now at the Yellowstone Art Museum

"Silent Dreams" - one of the sculptures from my recent "Neruda Series" is also on view at the museum and is open to bid for the silent auction with a "Buy it Now" price.

Blast from the Past

Recently I was challenged by my Chicago artist friend Joanne Aono to complete the "Facebook Artist Challenge."  Which means I have been asked to post 3 images of my art each day for 5 days in a row on Facebook.  So for fun I pulled a few photos from the past - starting from the very beginning.  You can see the posts/photos on my FB page. My very first wood carved sculpture.

So here is a detail photo from my very first carved sculpture.  I am not counting the 4' tall santa claus I carved my mom for Christmas that year when I found myself too intimidated to whack away at the beautiful logs I had harvested with some smokejumper friends that autumn when I was a wilderness ranger.  After the santa, I got to work on the biggest log - a beautiful 11' tall spiral shaped lodgepole pine - the first in a series of five sculptures created as part of my Honor's Thesis about Magical Realism in contemporary Latin American literature.

Froggy Day

My intentions were to just work on the frog sculpture at my dining room table for an hour or two and then head to the studio office to catch up on piles of desk work. But the light was just right.  The audio book I was listening to was engaging.  And - well - honestly I have had a hard time being alone at the studio without Zaydee.  We spent more of our days together at the studio then at the house I guess.  I don't know why it is hard for me there but I have never been in that studio without her.  Anyway - here is a glimpse of the frog after a steady day working from home:

Gaining on the little bugger

Little frog progress...

The past two years I created the little collectable bronze at my dining room table rather than in my studio - just because clay and sawdust don't get along too well together.  Usually I would spend an hour each morning before the sun came up drinking tea and working on the little bugger during the whole month of January.  I am grateful for the "studio" time at home the past two weeks but have skipped the early mornings to wait for sunny moments to soak up the bright beams by my dining room window.Frog day 2