CHRISTMAS SHOW

It is late and I am working in the studio about 14 hours a day, so I am just going to quick post some pictures of my first Christmas Open House of the year....and add some relevent text later!!!
ALSO - quick update on my book, A2Z Printers have completed the revised scans and the pages should go to print next week! There is light at the end of the tunnel!

LA BELLE MYSTERE

"The Beautiful Mystery" is the theme of my Chistmas Show. Here are some of the items I am working on and will be packing up and taking to Tinsel Trading this coming week, and also showing at my own open house. I am getting really excited about being able to spend some time in New York in the month of November! Monica (my 21 yr. old daughter) and I will be having lunch at Bergdorf Goodman, overlooking Central Park!

THE SEASON OF MAGIC

HAS ARRIVED!!! When I walk out to feed the cats in the morning, I can see my breath, and the patio is papered with little yellow leaves. The look and feel of the outside permeates my work at this time of year. Gilded oak leaves, and glittered acorns, and mirrored things that reflect like the pools of silvery rain. I am busy in the workshop making special things for my upcoming Christmas shows. First, on Fri. & Sat. Nov.14 & 15, I will be in New York, at my favorite store, Tinsel Trading! (212 730-1030) I will bring a trunk load of magic with me, including many of the items pictured. Two weeks later, I will be having my own Christmas Open House at my shop in Port Costa, on Fri, Sat, and Sun, Nov. 28, 20, & 30. (The weekend after Thanksgiving). Please call for directions to my shop (510 787-2164) I will post more pictures tomorrow, please check back!

THE WALL OF QUOTES

When my daughter was 14, she got a magic marker and started to scrawl her favorite quotes all over the walls of her room. Some were from Shakespeare, some were from cartoons, some were from movies. Now my room has a wall of quotes also, written in chalk on old slate blackboards mounted to the wall. I can change them every week. Today, they read: "I sell the shadow to support the substance", "They can't make me and they can't break me", and "Self discipline is not about denial, it is about purpose". The first quote is by Sojourner Truth, the next two are by me.
But I have a new favorite quote and it is this:
"To live in so much mystery, to rely on a feeling, an instinct, on faith, that everything I need is already inside me, and best I just don't block the exit."
That remarkable quote is by Michelle Williams, actress.

A MORE PERSONAL VIEW

I am still getting the hang of creating posts - getting the pictures to post with the relevant text is a puzzle. Here are a couple of views of my tiny apartment home, which is right behind my shop. I am so lucky to live and work here. I came here 11 years ago and I knew right away this was where I wanted to be. Lord knows I get so frantically busy juggling everything in my life that I sometimes just rush through my days.




But then I usually step out every morning to sniff the air when I feed the cats, or hear the air rushing through the trees in the late afternoon - moments when you stop, and are just there in the present.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

from the Theatre of Dreams. My October Open House was last weekend - Once again I was amazed that people came from near and far to drive down that windy country road to visit my shop. I work alone for months at a time getting ready for my Open Houses, and when I finally see the shop all lit up and crowded with people, it makes it all worth it! I am much cheered by the turnout and by all of the smiling faces and kind words. Here are some views of the shop that I took right before I opened the doors.

My friend Marcia, from Tinsel Trading, keeps telling me to get more personal in my blogs!! So I will tell you a little bit more. Right now I am sitting in my bed drinking coffee! It is 8:00 am, the backdoor is open and there are crows cawing outside. (I live right behind my shop, in a tiny apartment with a private patio) There are cats draped all over my bed. I lit candles because in Oct. it is foggy in the early mornings here. My bed is right up against a big window that looks out over a private outdoor space that is draped with virginia creeper and birch trees. (see pictures in the next post). This is the best hour of the day for me, when I sit and drink my coffee and look outside as the world wakes up.

OCTOBER IS ALMOST HERE

and I am still working on the book! It is beginning to seem like the endless project, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!! When I get tired of turning the heavy wheel of that letterpress, I call on my friend and worker bee Rob Garbarino to take over. He has arms like an octopus and makes that machine hum. The letterpressed text is now done, and neatly stacked up, waiting for...



The drawings in the book, which will be offset printed. And while they are at A to Z printing, I have three weeks to put together some merchandise for my Halloween show - Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3 & 4, from 10 - 4. (see pics). Nothing could be more fun! I will try to post more often, at least once a week, from now on. I am still getting the hang of it.