Why You Should Be in Beacon This Weekend...

So, why should you spend your weekend in Beacon? Well, because I am! Oh, and it's going to be a lot of fun if you do...

Second Saturday is this weekend - when the galleries have most of their art openings, restaurants and bars have special entertainment and the Main Street businesses stay open late. And this 2nd Saturday is going be the last Hudson River Market I'll be at. Maybe the last one in it's current incarnation ever, actually. They're looking to make it a "European Style" Market for next year - which means the handmade arty stuff will be pretty much absent.

So.. this Second Saturday will be your last chance to get some one of a kind and handmade jewelry, clothing, bags and fine art from some of the Hudson Valleys local talent. Well, on the street on Main anyway...

Plus, Sunday, Mount Beacon Fine Art Gallery is hosting a Jewelry Party - with jewelry by Andrea N. (that's me...) - from 2pm to 6pm. Refreshments will be served and I will have 4 tables of jewelry set up so there will be even more one of a kind to choose from than on Saturday. Plus, it's indoors, so I can bring stuff I wouldn't put outside... Though, if the weather is as nice as they say it's supposed to be (Fall Foliage anyone?), I'll probably sell quite a few one of a kind jewelry things on Saturday. So, if you want first dibs on anything I've got, you might want to come see me both days... If you can.

Oh, and I just dropped off some new necklaces at Raindance so you can run over to Beacon Friday if you want to be the first to get one of those. I just created a whole new unique-to-the-store design; all with a Vintage bead as the focus and gemstones on the chain. Since I've only made Sterling jewelry for Kathy's store up til now, and Fall is more of a Gold time of the year, I made 4 of the 7 new necklaces in Gold Fill. It went better with the Fall colors. So, if you're more of a gold person and you like one of these:

(the top four are the Gold Fill) you might want to get down there asap before someone else gets the one(s) you like...

Let's see, lots of art and activities plus special shopping opportunities... perfect weather and gorgeous mountain and river sides full of spectacular Fall color... um... the chance to hang out with great people and enjoy a wonderful weekend... um... um... nope, I think that about covers why Beacon NY is the place to be this second weekend in October.

See you there!

Wire Knitting on a Spool

So, if anyone is thinking about buying the book: Wire Knitting... on a spool by Sharon Hessoun, DON'T DO IT! It's a total waste of money and time... unless you want to get so frustrated that you feel like ripping the book in half! Seriously. I came THIS close every time I tried to follow the instructions. And I'm pretty good at figuring things out from books. Almost all the bead weaving techniques I know I learned from books.

Anyway... I got this book with a knitting spool and, even though it's supposed to be for people who've neither knitted or worked with wire, there are almost no illustrations and the actual photos are blurry. Plus, it's $20 for a book that looks like it was put together at Kinkos! Plastic binding through square punch holes and all.

I wasn't very impressed when I got the book but thought I'd give it a shot anyway. I picked it up and started and got frustrated and put it away (for a couple months before trying again) several times over the last 8 months. After about 6 tries to start learning how to do this technique, using the written instructions (that mostly read like jibberish), I once more restrained myself from flinging everything and thought back to when I was 12 - the last time I knitted or crocheted - and finally just figured it out on my own. After a lot of deep breathing.

To be fair, the first couple illustrations make it possible to follow the written directions, but that's just for wrapping the wire on the spool to begin with. After that, there are no illustrations and the written directions make absolutely no sense. Very annoying.

So, I finally figured it out on my own and knitted a few lengths of tubey whatsits and now I have my first necklace using wire knitting (on a spool):

Thanks again to Phil for the watercolor. It's painted to look like stained glass. But you knew that, right?! Oh, and there's some vintage beads and little brass flower links; Quartz, (reconstituted) Larimar, Goshenite, Peridot, and Peruvian Pink Opal beads; and all the wire is actually Gold Fill. [I grabbed the wrong spool for practicing and didn't realize it til I got home and saw the Brass spool sitting there. Kind of hard to tell the difference when the wire is that small, unless there's really good lighting. Good thing I didn't screw it up too much...]

So, whatya think?

I did another couple of banana sections (they really do look like it, only holey and in wire) with beads on them. Still working out the design and bits for using them. Then I figured out I could use wire AND thread. So I did a couple with some Fiber Artist thready stuff. That was actually really hard. I still need some thinking for the design and bits for those too. I'll post pics when I figure the other two out and get them finished up as well.

In case you've just fallen in love with it... I sent an e-mail to Riverwinds to see if they want to add it to my other h2o painting necklaces they have. Just waiting to hear if they want to carry it in the Gallery or not. If so, you can run over and get it there next week. Of course, if you just can't live without it and need it RIGHT now, let me know that (you just have to have it) and I'll make sure you get it. Right now.

Ok.

Back to the book.

I actually did some serious research before I ordered it and only got it because it seemed to be the only one of it's kind. If anyone knows of another wire spool knitting book out there for sale, please, let me know. I'd like to see it but, I'm actually thinking that after a couple months of working on my technique with this, that I'll have Phil take pics while I'm doing it and make my own book. Apparently, if I take it to Kinkos for "publishing", I can still sell it for $20 each, so I might as well give it a shot. Right?

Let me know if you want to reserve your copy now, I think I'll have it finished by Spring. Just leave me a message and I'll put one aside for you. Actually, I'll probably do it as a pdf, buy it online version first. Then, I guess, I'll shop it around to some instructional craft type publishing houses for printing. Since it's said that anything's possible, that means there's always a chance I can get it published by a real publisher too. Right?

You can start crossing fingers and toes for that outcome once I get the online version up. Talk to you more about it then.

A Blog By Any Other Name

Everyone is blogging. 

Everyone. 

Even Phil; who is a man of well chosen words. That means he's pretty quiet, for the most part. Though, when he has something to say, he has a lot of it to say. I think he stores it up. Usually he communicates through his music, art or photography. The last of which is the basis for his new blog, the name for which came to him before the content. Well, actually, when he went to start his blog, there were already two that had differently spelled versions of the same name Phil was going to use, so he settled on this:

Polly Blog Nature

Which is a play on his more well known online moniker: The Polywog

(and contrary to the copyright info at the bottom of the polywog site, I actually took both of the pics of Phil that he uses for each of the two sections on his website. I should probably make him credit me, noh?)

Not a lot of verbiage on this new outlet. Not a lot on his website either. All his descriptions, stories and musings are short and to the point but, I think, pretty interesting. Right now, there's just a small selection of his amazing nature photography (with a lot more to come) and a story of how one set of those photos came to be. 

I'll probably be getting roped in to check for mistakes and even edit those few words from time to time and even though it probably wont be updated on a regular basis, when he does update, he changes and adds a lot. So, if you like what you see, check back regularly - just in case. 

Now, if I can just get him to add his magic touch to the design for my blog... 

Mommy... Where Do Ideas Come From?

Ok. So I don't have kids tugging at my skirt asking me questions about life, the universe and everything but, I have had a lot of people ask me where I get my inspiration lately. A question I've always found odd. 

Why?

Because.

Just because. 

Ok. Not just because. Because it seems like a strange question to ask. Like: "why do I have a mouth?" or: "why do I think?". Strange because, what do you do with an answer to that question - where does inspiration come from? Do you use it to look for your own? Does it concretize the object the inspiration creates in some vast bubble of "Ohhhhh."? It's just something I've personally never wondered about in regards to anyone else's art or anything else. Personally. Myself. Plus, it's such a complicated question to answer. You might as well ask: "why do we exist?" 

Inspiration. Some people have it. Some people don't. That's it. Like being able to dance or play an instrument. Like seeing the sun rise and knowing life is good. Like watching the sunset behind a storm and being mesmerized by the color and shapes of the storm clouds roiling before it. It's just there. Or it isn't. No specific place. No specific thing. Many places. Many things make up inspiration. Sure. Skills can be learned, but there has to be talent to develop behind those skills or there is just robotic motion. Same with inspiration. Can't force it. Just has to be there.

Ok. That said. How does one answer such a question. Most artists say:

"I don't know. It just happened."

Or some such thing. Which makes art critics crazy so they wind up making something up; which is why they looooove to critique dead artist's work. No one to say: "That's not it at all." Which inevitably, all living artists do; at some point. 

Right. I just make jewelry and I make it mostly from other people's things. True. Right now. I have, however, created small metal sculptures from nothing. And choreographed movement to music. Something else I've at some point in my life created from nothing. Words form in my head and get translated into poetry and short stories and essays from time to time as well. Sometimes I draw things that are recognizable or swirl paint around so I can have pretty colors on something. I didn't go to art school. I have taken classes in different art forms. There is much I want to learn and more I want to do. I will. No. I don't consider myself an artist. I do consider myself artistic - though, sometimes I feel more autistic. 

(a picture of my favorite small sculpture - in Sterling)

I digress. 

I'm supposed to be answering the question: "Where do you get your inspiration?" aren't I? Ok. Here goes:

Everywhere. 

Really. From the things I see around me. From music and sounds I hear. From things I read. From the materials I have to work with. From my dreams. Sometimes things just pop into my head and I have an overwhelming desire to make it. Or write it down. Or move with it. 

Of course, sometimes there is no inspiration. Things won't work the way I want them to or my hands aren't working; or my mind. So, whatever I'm trying to do at the time gets set aside until a better time. This is a good thing to learn: If it isn't working out, walk away from it and come back later. If it still isn't working out, leave it alone a little longer and try again later. Eventually, if it's something you're supposed to do, it will work out. If not, there are always other ideas to work on. Personally, there are dozens of ideas still in my head - that's where I file them, mostly - that are just waiting for the right time to come out into the world. If the time is never right, there are dozens more that might get the chance. 

So, anyone else got a different outlook on inspiration? Leave me a note for all to see. 

It Comes Down to This

Recently, I was asked by an old friend (hi Bronco Billy!) to write for a Blog he was setting up with some other old friends. Music, politics, travel, fiction of our own; those would be the topics plus favorite's and recommendations. I opened up the (at that point empty) link I was sent and couldn't figure out how to join in. Turns out, all I had to do was bookmark the page. Guess, there isn't much else you can do. But I couldn't figure it out. 

Expressing this failure to the friend, I received  the response to book mark it. I thought there should be something more and, being extremely busy and not really thinking I would have time to blog anyway, I took it as a sign. 

That blog is now up and running and full of muted testosterone. Very interesting, very those guys. I thought, as I perused the entries, I don't really fit in here right now. I haven't been able to travel for some time and don't get the chance to listen to a lot of new music. Haven't written any fiction for a long time either. Don't even really feel any particular way about politics - that doesn't make me want to stop my head from exploding - and what more could I say that I haven't already expressed at great length over the past 7 years? These things are not inspiring me to write at this time in my life. 

So, I decided to start my  own blog. Even though I still don't really have the time.  

I just moved a store I was managing and now run as a partner. My former boss and new business half is the non-working half so I'm doing absolutely everything in the new location. I even had to manage the move on my own. It's effectively my store. Though, to call it a store is not really accurate. It's a boutique and fine art gallery. 

We (that is to say I since there are no employees and my business partner doesn't actually do any work) sell jewelry - that I sometimes have others make but mostly make my myself - and textiles - that one of our regular artists makes - and have a rotating exhibit of artists showing works in many mediums. 

I write a monthly newsletter, do all the marketing and PR, book and organize the art shows, buy, sell, make, book keep, organize, re-organize, advertise; take the photographs for advertising, newsletters, and the website; I even do most of the physical labor involved in any remodeling and setting up for exhibits. Heck. I did most of the physical labor involved in setting up the new location; including hand sanding and finishing the floors! 

All I really want to do is make creatively beautiful things and write. And listen to good music and see a few good shows and dance. I haven't gotten to dance in a very long time. 

Recently, as if I didn't have enough to do, I started an Etsy store to sell the jewelry my business partner thinks is too out there for his original concept. Well, the idea behind pearldaddy (the name of the boutique and gallery aforementioned) was, and still is, freshwater pearl jewelry. I have a brain (and boxes) full of designs that do not incorporate pearls. So I set up the Etsy store and spent all my time on my days off taking pictures and editing pictures and uploading pictures and descriptions. 

Apparently, I'm at a point in my life where I feel the need to over extend myself a little. You should see how much laundry I have to do and the state of my work desk at home! 

Oh, and - once again, just to add to the number of deadlines and stresses - I also decided to start writing for actual publication again. Yes, that is to say I am a published author. Though, it was just music reviews and interviews for the Daily Alibi in ABQ; about 10 years ago now. Technically, I suppose the press releases I get printed now might count as being published, but I don't really think so. So, I just sent off a true life tale of late nights and sobriety tests to The Sun. No, not the paper. The literary magazine out of NC with no advertisers. Great publication. Highly recommended! 

Right now, I'm supposed to be finishing a necklace I started and working on something for a friend for her birthday party this weekend and for my sister, who's 40th party I'm going to have to miss because I can't afford the $500 to fly out West. Last minute notification of a party that I was told last month wasn't going to happen. If I can get a good last minute deal next week I still might go, but it's not looking good. So, I have to figure out what to make her that she'll actually wear (she registered for housewarming presents and returns things she's asked for if it isn't EXACTLY the one she asked for). I've never seen her wear any jewelry I've given or made for her. I'm going to try again.

I think I'm hungry and all blogged out now. So, I will endeavor to do this again next week. 

I've decided on dedicating at least an hour on Tuesdays to this blog until such time as more time can be assimilated, created, found, mustered. Sleep is inevitable - eventually. As this is my first one, I still have to figure out how to finish this post and upload images and set up my profile - which I thought would come before the blog box, but whatdoIknow?

So; friends, family and strangers alike; until next week I bid adieu.