Monday, November 23, 2009

"LE CIRQUE DE NOEL"



A CHRISTMAS CIRCUS! If you come to the Theatre of Dreams you will see a Parade of fanciful dressed animals, ready to adorn your tree or table for the Holidays! Kitties and elephants, dromedaries and lions, horses and tigers, all form a peaceable kingdom here in the shop.
Our first Open House of the season is this coming Fri and Sat, Nov,27 & 28. We are also open Fri. and Sat. Dec. 4 & 5, and Fri. and Sat. Dec 11 & 12. Hours are 10 - 4 each day, and the you are also welcome to tour the workshop where all the animals are made!
The address is #11 Canyon Lake Dr, Port Costa, Ca. 94569. Port Costa is 20 mins. north of the bay bridge, in the east bay. Call for directions - (510) 787-2164.
The public is welcome, come one, come all!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

TINSEL AND SAWDUST




Without showing too much, here are a few pics of things I am working on for my Christmas Open House! This is just a peek around the workshop, where things are piling up in an interesting way. I am fascinated by hands this year, and they are appearing many ways, on gilded wreathes, covered with mirrors, and even sea shells. Also shown is a box full of Santos figures, waiting patiently to be dressed by me in antique clothes.
The title of my Christmas line is "Tinsel and Sawdust" and this phrase is an old way of describing the circus. I am in love with anything circus these days, and if you check my next post, I will be showing pictures of my "Cirque de Noel" line.

Monday, November 9, 2009

HAYWARD MOON


A month ago I walked down to the waterfront to watch the full moon rise, (I think it was the Harvest Moon), and then a few hours later, just before I went to bed, I walked up the hill to the little park, where there are no lights, and did a little bit more moon watching. Mr. Kitty actually followed me up there - quite far from home for a bed kitty - and also Big Boy, who roams this territory every night. They both purred and wrapped themselves around me as we all stood in the silence and moonlight.
The moon has some special meaning for me dating from my days in Hayward, Ca., a town on the edge of the east bay, full of used car lots and run down strip malls. My life then seemed so prosaic and I felt so lost to the mysteries inside of me. When I finally began to re-connect to them, I was in a very scary place, and was not sure how or where to start, but I knew I needed a place to go of my own, and so I sort of moved into to the old ramshackle 1920's garage in the back yard. I started spending all my time there, playing with drawings, writing, etc.
And when I came outside after an evening there, it would be late, and I would see the moon rising over the back yard (which by day was ugly - with piles of rusty old metal, old plastic toys, broken bicycles and an old volkswagon) and the moon would just transform everything- and breathe life into all of my intuitive suspicions.
So now I go out and see the moon several times a month, and I am always looking for it in the sky, to see if it is waxing or waning. Sometimes I can be out shopping, and see the full moon rise of Kmart, and it seems even more amazing that it does in beautiful Port Costa, where I now live, and I call that a Hayward Moon, because the drama and magic of it transforms our everyday life.