Mr. Kitty

I know Christmas is long gone, but I wanted to post one memorable picture of Mr. Kitty and my Christmas tree, which is always set up across from my bed so I can see it when I wake up in the morning.

Light Fairies

I had a dream several months ago. I was in some ruined and bombed out building, the windows blasted out and the doors all missing...there had been some general catastrophe that had left everything in shambles. Strangers wandered about the wreckage. I was oddly calm and collected, and stepped outside and sat down on what was left of brick steps and looked up across the street. Up high on the wall across the steet was a shimmering reflection of light coming from nowhere, a refraction that danced itself into some changable, magical shape - and this formless ephemeral beautiful thing was some kind of free gift that left me with a wordless joy in spite of the emptiness of the world I was wandering in.


In my house in Port Costa, I sometimes catch a light on the walls in the morning, reflected from the windows across the street, and they are glimmerings of the same light fairies, and for a moment I remember how I felt in the dream, perfectly happy to live in a world emptied of meaningless stuff, and left with just the dancing of the light.

Meet Me in St. Louis!

This spring, I am heading back to my home town, St. Louis, to do a workshop with Mary Engelbreit! From April 29 to May 2, I will be teaching classes at her artistic conference. Mary and I both grew up in the outskirts of St. Louis, and so I am happy to be visiting and teaching back in my original territory.
If anyone out there is interested, please visit the Mary Engelbreit website and click on the Workshop panel to get more details. You can also email me personally with questions at theatreofdreams@sbcglobal.net. I look forward to teaching and schmoozing with many new and old friends!
Here is me, in case you need to spot me in St. Louis!

"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!

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.

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.