Three Artistic Wishes for 2016

It's that time of year.  You know the time when we think a little bit more about what we could have done, and what we want to do differently for the upcoming year?  I guess I'm no different.  Introspection is healthy.  If we go the same route year after year, we don't grow, change and improve.

So I will whittle it down to three points artistically that I want to explore in the next year, and would love to hear your comments about what you are doing.  Let's keep it positive, because a half full glass is so much more encouraging than a half empty one.

In 2016...

* I'd like to explore more mediums to combine with my glass artwork.  I've been contemplating it for quite a while, and some of you might know that I used to do watercolors, before glass. I'm not sure if that is the medium I'll use, and where I'm going to go, but it's time for a multi medium adventure and I'm excited about it.

* I'd also like to pick an area in my glass work and expand the technical difficulty of what I do.  Whether it is picking another technique to learn at a higher level, increase the size of my glass sculpture, or what... no decision yet, but I'll show you as I am figuring it out.

* And finally, I'd like to find ways to better communicate to others about how I do my art, so that others can benefit from it too.  I have focused on photographing my beads, but maybe this is the year of online classes, videos, or perhaps live studio feeds.  Open to ideas and suggestions there too.

But most of all, I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year for 2016.  And I'm serious about the "Happy" part.  If you're like me, we get caught up in our busy hamster-wheel lifestyle and sometimes forget to take a little time for the little things that bring us joy.  Wishing you joy and let's stay in touch.

Christmas Sparkle in Glass Art

I know they look like glitter sticks, but this is dichroic glass that I use sometimes in my art.  They are made to add "sparkle".  Here are some examples where I use it in my bears.  I think the sparkle looks like little stars in the sky.
 
There bears were part of a custom order for snow globes. These are ideal, because the water magnifies the details and the translucency of these really glow in the light.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year.  See you in January.

Den of Foxy Beads

I'm gearing up for my next online trunk show starting tomorrow. As it gets closer, I start worrying whether I will have enough beads for it.  So some days, I get on a roll and make a few of something.  As you can tell, recently, it was foxes.  I think I have enough for a family.  I like these for necklaces, but probably even more for Christmas tree ornaments. 

No they don't have any bling, nor are they particularly bright and shiny.  But I tend to like bits of "nature" on my tree.  I probably have more bird ornaments than anything, but I love the hedgehogs, raccoon, foxes and all other woodland ornaments tucked into the boughs like they are little treasures to be found.  

I also like making little vignettes, so I've made some trees to sell too. They stand on their own and on some, I've added sparkly silver glass to add a little bling.  and others are the simple tree.  For my modern friends, I made some red, purple and turquoise trees too.  Aw what the heck, they look fun.

See you next week. 

Can We Talk?

Zeus, my administrative assistant has been listening to the new studio employees' views on the holiday beads, snow globes and glass cloches that we've been making around here. 

He has nixed the idea of cheese ornaments, but thinks perhaps "fish" might be a pretty good idea.  I need a little convincing.

Meanwhile, I've been making sheep snow globes (this one is based on the Swiss Vallais Blacknose Sheep), and other holiday animals, people and other entertaining fun stuff.  I'll get some more photos ready for next week.  See you then!

Bearly Here

I am still here... oh, I know it's seemed like AWOL, but I've been traveling.  Just returned from Asheville, NC, one of my favorite towns.  Hot Times in the Mountains at Touch of Glass hosts about 30 flame workers  - and it is always a pleasure seeing my friends and making new ones.

This is one of my bears.  I've been slowly populating my StudioMarcy Etsy Shop with them.  I have some on sale right now. 

I am headed out of town soon to another favorite town, Austin TX.  This time to take a class.  Usually I go there to teach at Blue Moon Glassworks.  I love teaching, but really enjoy taking classes too.  

Both Asheville and Austin have a vibe that resonates with me.  They have a lot of art, and it's interesting.  Not always traditional, usually a touch of funky or sometimes even quirky.  I like that.  Especially when I see art with a bit of humor mixed in too.

Sunset on St. John

We're back from our special vacation on St. John- both of us celebrating one of those birthdays that ends in a "0" plus a big anniversary too.  So this year, it was time to splurge.  We don't normally take much time off, unless it relates to family or ties into work, so this was a big deal for us.  And boy, was it worth it!

We snorkeled every day.  I was hoping to see some cool fish, but we were lucky and swam with sea turtles, stingrays, jelly fish, and lots of gorgeous fish.  Every day after snorkeling, I'd go back to my guide to see what it was that I had seen.

And of course, no Lamberson vacation occurs without a little bit of adventure.  The first day, we hadn't checked our guides thoroughly and snorkeled too far.  It was really hard fighting some of the undertow, but we made it back.  Unfortunately, between the slippery rocks and the strong tow, I did accidentally step on a spiny urchin.  Yikes! my foot still isn't back to normal.  We also had to climb up a small cliff after that swim to get back where we needed to be.  Lol, we were lucky to find an area with exposed tree roots to use as hand and foot holds.  I was pretty tired after that one.

But the rest of our adventures were a lot more tame after that.  The sea turtles were fascinating to watch.  I would spend long periods of time watching them eat and surface.  They swim so gracefully.  I look forward to making them in glass.

This is the view from our room.  Can you imagine that about 30 steps our your door brings you to this each morning?

These three were all on our hotel property too.  There is a herd of white donkeys who are the resident lawn mowers (and fertilizers) and a few cool iguanas are known around there too.  This seagull was quite persistent in hoping for a handout.  (as much of a softie as I am, I didn't feed it.  Seems that would make it even peskier for the next person)

And this was a view from a different beach.  We went to the British Virgin Islands for a day trip and visited 4 islands.  One of them, Virgin Gorda has a large network of rock caves, called The Baths, which we explored.  It was easy to imagine pirates from hundreds of years ago storing their loot in them.

We also stopped at Jost Van Dyke island home of the Soggy Dollar Bar.  I guess there is a Kenny Chesney song that makes that area famous, and there is a drink they invented called the Painkiller, that is made throughout the islands.  It is called Soggy Dollar, because there is no dock, and you anchor your boat and swim in to shore to the bar.  We swam, we had a libation, and it was a gorgeous day.

So vacation is over, inspiration is filed in my mind, along with a lot of wonderful memories.  Now back to the torch.  If you are on Facebook, I will be starting a trunk show tonight for about 48 hours on Glass Open Market.  Please join me if you have time.

It Was The Cheesiest Day...

My niece was visiting  this past week and we decided to hit the North Georgia mountains.  We started with Montaluce Winery, which we really enjoyed.  Took the tour, tasted the wine and had a lovely lunch on the upper balcony overlooking some of their vineyards.

I am not sure whether the wine was speaking to us, but we were so close to Cleveland, GA, home of the Cabbage Patch Doll, we took a little detour to have some more fun.  As two adults, we laughed a lot and we got some funny photos. (yeah, not showing them here...

And then, there was still a little time left, so we drove north another 15 minutes to Helen, GA.  Helen modeled itself after their idea of an alpine village.  The buildings remind me of my beloved little music boxes as a child, but much cheesier.  The whole town looks similar to the photo below.  More laughs, a little exploring and then the drive back to the city.  What a delightful and memorable day with my niece.