Saturday night at the Sonoma Marin Fair

I took a little break Saturday night and had a nice dinner at Central Market in Petaluma, and then a visit to the Sonoma Marin fair (not to be confused with the Sonoma County fair). I have a confession to make, the reason we went was because Bret Michaels was playing there, included with the price of admission. I'm not a fan of his music, but I have to admit to loving the utterly trashtastic "Rock of Love" shows that he's in. We don't even have TV at my house, but we watch it on the internet. The TV show can be compared to the fried twinkies touted at the fair - pure junk, nothing redeeming about it but a guilty pleasure nonetheless! As for the performance, it was WAY too loud, Kelly (who knows about these things since he was a rock star in Hastings, Nebraska) said the guitar player was awful, but Bret did seem to be genuinely enjoying himself and was doing his best to put on a good show. With any luck he'll continue to cash in and we'll get Rock of Love 4!

Featured seller on Etsy!

I meant to post this yesterday, but I was so busy I didn't get to it - I'm the featured seller on Etsy through Monday morning! You can read the interview here:
http://www.etsy.com/featured_seller.php?featured_user_id=5868807
Back to work now!

Working half days

There's an old joke about working half days when you work for yourself - you even get to choose which 12 hours of the day you work. I'm living that right now! So much for getting a bit more sleep now that I've quit the day job. I have a really big event coming up on Friday (more about that later) and have been making, making, making. The photo shows only some of what I've been doing. The gray pieces on the left are finished but unfired clay - they are in the kiln right now. The bright silver pieces have just come out of the kiln, and the black pieces are fired, finished a bit and oxidized and are waiting final finishing. There's still more to make. I guess I better make some coffee and get to work!

West 9th Street Egrets

Here in Sonoma County, California, there is lots of farmland, open space, and a seasonal wetland (that may be the wrong term) called the Laguna de Santa Rosa. Great habitats for all sorts of creatures, including egrets and herons. But where does one large group of them nest every year? About a block away from my house in Santa Rosa, on a group of trees that are in the median strip of a 4 lane road!

They've been coming to this same group of trees since the 80's. There are plenty of other tall trees nearby, including some on Santa Rosa creek, but these birds prefer living in the hood. The city closes two of the 4 lanes beneath the trees for about 4 months every year while the birds nest and raise their babies. It's quite a mess beneath the trees, and a cacophony of very strange sounds. There are snowy egrets, great egrets and a few night and green herons too. There are 4 trees that are just loaded with birds, it's quite a site and draws birders from all over. I went with my mom and sister to see them nesting out at Audobon Canyon Ranch in Marin county a few years ago, but while the setting was nicer, the birds were closer and easier to see in my own back yard.

Vegetable silliness

I was working away last Friday evening, after a lovely dinner at Abyssinia Ethiopian restaurant in Santa Rosa, and was struck the need to make a beet in silver and concrete. Immediately. So here it is.

Do try grilling beets - I slice and cook them in the microwave first (so they grill quickly) then brush with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar and throw them on the grill till they brown. Yummy!

The coldest winter I ever spent....

was a summer in San Francisco - Mark Twain
He sure got that right! I was down in SF on Tuesday for an Etsy event and took this picture. The CEO Maria Thomas and a few others were in town so they held an informal meeting at a cafe'. It was very informative, they were all very friendly and seemed to truly listen to everyone's questions and concerns. The highlight of my evening was when I introduced myself to Maria and told her a bit about myself. I gave her my card (which is the same artwork as my Etsy banner) and she said "I know you!" Very cool indeed!

Custom piece

I did these two pieces for my old friend Lori after we reconnected on Facebook. We hung out together in the mid to late 80's, right after high school, going to lots of punk and new wave shows. We were very cool with our asymmetrical haircuts and our Doc Marten's (hmmm, I had very asymmetrical hair until about a month ago and my closet is still full of Docs!) Back then mohawks and pink hair were still unusual and a bit shocking. Whenever I see kids today sporting that look I want to go up to them and say "that's so cute, I wore my hair like that when I was your age".

Anyhoo... Lori is training for a half marathon, and wanted something that symbolized strength and perseverance for herself and her training partner. She found the west African Adinkra symbol which symbolizes just that, the Tabono symbol. I suggested the 13 dots which represent 13 miles, and the tiny dot in the center is the final .10 mile. We had a good time catching up while designing the piece together.

I'm free!

The jukebox in my head has been playing this song all afternoon, so I thought I'd share it. I wish we could see the fringey outfit Roger has on.

I quit my day job!

Well, I did it! I gave notice today at my day job, so I can pursue my own work full time. It's scary, but I have been so unhappy at work for such a long time that it really feels like the right thing to do, even "in this economy" as the media is so fond of saying. The best part is that someone else quit yesterday too. Now there are 6 full time people, 4 of whom have the title "manager". Need I say more? No more complaining about the boss and annoying/lazy co-workers! No more relating to Dilbert! I'm free from the tyranny of petty office politics. Whatever time I waste on the internet is my own. Yay!