Patience is a Virtue

Patience is a Virtue, but I can't remember the last time I was called virtuous.

I got an email today pairing me up with my BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTNER. All i got was the E mail address of the other person and I have no Idea who it is.I can't wait for them to E mail me back and reveal their identity.

I'm like a kid on Christmas Eve. I can't help but to shake the presents.

So I leave you with the kinks for some morning tunes.

Happy and Free!

I am feeling much better about things. I am actually excited to work again. I scrapped my old website and it felt like a weight was lifted. It was past time for a change. I am building one at big cartel. It's simple for us technologically challenged. You can still find me at www.dianehawkey.com, but things will be different. Its a work in progress. I'm loading it up with inventory and figuring out what I want to do with it. If you would like to purchase any of my work during this time of transition and can't find it on my website, just shoot me an email.

I am also feeling better in general. I was pretty much sick the entire month of December, so was my macbook.

I finally shook off the cooties, and the nice boy at the Apple store traded my old macbook for a new one out of the box so I can be blogging on the interwebs more frequently. (I learned all about kernel panics. They are bad)

All of this has me feeling happy and free, like dance naked in the rain happy and free. Right now we have 3" of snow out there and more coming down, so naked outdoor dancing is put on hold. Oh well, spring will be here soon

So some exciting things are happening that I want to share:

The Bead Soup Blog Party

My word beads are in both Step by Step Wire Jewelry & Stringing magazines and that's a great way to start the year.

Out With The Old, In With The New

reinvent redefine rediscover recharge reexamine

Its that time of the year again. Things are going to change. I need a fresh start.

I am going to redo the website,(If its disappears for a while, don't worry, it will be back). I am getting rid of old styles that are just not "me" anymore.

I've had some of these beads for 10 years and they no longer make me feel good. Some still resonate with me and I will keep them, perhaps tweak them, but it will be a conscious decision and not "just because".

A lot of these things have been a heavy weight on me. I need to breathe again and allow myself the freedom to create.

I honestly don't know what that will be. Clay makes me happy but I will be exploring more media keep the winter blues at bay.

Maybe its because its the end of the year. Maybe because I realize how old I am and how fast time slides by.

So many people I care about have experienced loss in this past year. Loss of their homes, loss of their beloved pets and even loss of their earthly life.

It has made me reexamine my own life and my own direction and I hope it has made me brave.

Wishing everyone a sweet New Year.

WINNER

The auction winner is aljamie

& the winner of the special randomly drawn surprise (a small set of word beads) is

mlgovaars

Please email me with your addresses and we'll sort the details.

Thanks to everyone who bid.

Friendship is a sheltering tree.

Friendship is a sheltering tree. ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I count myself lucky to know Andrew Thornton. I met him many bead shows ago. He is one of those special people that make the world a little more sparkly.

Andrew has been diagnosed with skin cancer- (specifically a big word type of cancer that I cannot spell)

The good new is he has had treatment and the Doctors have now pronounced him cancer free.

The bad news is that as an artist in this country you have to pay for your own medical bills, which easily cost 10 times more then you funeral.

So there is where friends and good people come in.

Many artists have been helping Andrew make a small dent in this mountain of medical debt by having special sales of their work . I am happy to be joining them with this Spirit Doll.

As I posted before, This is one of the last remaining spirit dolls in my inventory.

I have made them for a number of years and I feel its time to try new things. I will not be making these figures anymore. This is a last chance to own one.

So if you would like to bid on this this piece, knowing all proceeds will go to Andrew Thornton, (I will pay shipping) please leave a comment below with your bid.

The bidding will start at $20 U.S.

Also as an incentive to bid I will put every name that bids in a hat & the winner of that random drawing will get a special surprise that I'll post later. (let the suspense kill ya a little) The more times you bid, the more chances of getting the special surprise.

The bidding starts today Weds Nov 17 & ends at midnight Saturday Nov 27th.

About the piece:

This spirit doll is about 12 " tall and is ready to hand on the wall.

It is made of white stoneware, glazed in a beautiful pewter metallic and fired to cone 6.

The central assemblage is mixed media.

It is signed and dated.

Opening bid $20

THE BIDDING STARTS NOW!

time to change, time to shine

I have been thinking a lot about change lately. Its easy to do what works and not risk failure. As an artist there is a trap in being successful. You begin to get too comfortable.

I feel ready to change a lot of things. It is exhilarating and sad too. I will be saying goodbye to some things that I have done for a long time that are almost a part of me, like chopping off pretty long hair because you have hung on to it for so long you forget what made you grow it out in the first place, but you know you really wanted it at some point.

I will be placing a lot of beads on Etsy at special prices for the Holidays to move a lot of my stock. I am not sure what my beads will look like next year, but I know there will be changes.

Also, I have been making these "spirit dolls" or figures like this one for many years. People have loved and collected them, and I have been very fortunate to have found a following with them. But all things come to an end. And I don't think I will make any more of these. Or if I do they will be in a different and yet to be explored incarnation.

Anyway, you have a chance to acquire one of these figures before they are gone. I have just a few left in my stock and I have decided that I would like to use the opportunity to do some good as I let this work go.

So stay tuned I'll announce how you can get one of the last of these and help a fellow artist with his enormous medical bills.

Admitting you have a problem is the first step...

Here it is, no sugar coating it. I spent last Sunday at Ayla's Bead Bazaar. My table was next to JC Pearls. They had 3 tables, so that's 18 feet of pure pearl goodness. It was like putting Martha Stewart next to a vendor full of color coordinated cocktail fork organizers. They kept calling my name.... Diane....Diane....

I have had a thing for pearls nice I was a girl. They are my birthstone and symbol of the moon, ever so gently reflecting light back to you.

Ok, it was like putting Anthony Bourdain in a room full of shark testicles cooked in butter. I could not help myself. I had to have some. I really cannot afford to be buying more pearls & the sales were not the kind that make me feel like "hey you can do something nice for yourself today". They were more like "ummmm... booth fee + hotel room + gas + food = oh shit, I better fill my Etsy store".

But looking in the bright side I reasoned with myself, (since I am a reasonable person) I really do want to design more finished jewelry & heck I could do some kick ass designs with these little beauties.

So I succumbed. What can I say? They were so pretty.

November is here

November is here. The leaves are still falling, but so is the temperature. Its time for that short burst of frenzied holiday shows and stocking galleries that are still talking to me.

The only consolation to this madness is I have a legitimate excuse to play with glitter. I really don't need an excuse to play with glitter, but just in case my kid goes to school sparkling like a disco hootchie, I might need an explanation.

Besides the approaching winter, the other change around here is Arlo.

He is my new Boston Terrier.

Arlo was a day away from execution at a kill shelter in Tennessee when he was pulled by a rescue and flown to Louisville by Pilots and Paws.

Last Saturday he was transported by three different volunteers up to central OH were we pick him up and brought him home.

We were lucky we found him and he is lucky he made it out alive.

I wish there were not so many who run out of luck too quickly.

Inspiration in Autumn

The Chihuly exhibit at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids has been on my to-do list since it opened in May. I finally made it there in last days of the exhibit this month.

It was so magical in its autumn backdrop. I think I came at the right time.

It also made me think about organic shapes and the use of color. I know this will influence my work in the future.

Now if I only had a Chihuly instillation in my own garden, life would be just about perfect.

Ok I seriously suck

Ok, I suck. It has been 28 days since my last blog post.

I feel like I should be doing a mea culpa.

The problem is my life just hasn't been that interesting. I have been busy making beads, filling a large order, getting my daughter settled back in school, taking the my poor 12 year old dog to the vet (does anyone really want me to blog about his stuffy gallbladder & flatulence?)

And the honest truth I have been in a funk. I have been so busy with production and all mundane things life requires that I haven't had time to be really be inspired.

This is the dilemma of the artist that relies on making a living with her craft. Too often it leaves little time to explore new things.

I am hoping that as this new month begins I will be able to have fun again.