catherine witherall

these following posts were inspired by catherine. her blog www.happydayart.typepad.com had a challenge about walking into someones house for 15 minutes and learning many things about them. although i have never been to her house, i was fortunate to take a pmc clay class with catherine at artfest. there was not a detail catherine left out for us to make our class a pure delight, she brought several special ovens, had wonderful kits for us, and much inspiration and lots of laughter. she made us feel at home and we were extremely productive in that short little time. i also had the great pleasure of having her at my house, and got to give back to her my special etching techiques. we had a special hungarian breakfast out on the deck, and busily etched many pieces.....i did not photograph our special time, but catherine posted our etchings on her blog www.happydayart.typepad.com (dont know how to fancy click it.) she is a very fun girl and gets crazy excited over learning something new just like i do. at those excitable momemts we decided we were old hungarian friends in our past lives. we traded jewels, she gave me a special silver heart, and i gave her one of my rosary necklaces with a bird etching.... thanks catherine..... so below are corners of my house..... what do you know?

while ashley was in europe going to college, she had a silk screen project....she did 4 hugh screens, one of her, one of bush, and howard stern, and one of the beheaded journalist. a commentary of the times..... we of course kept the one of ashley, and it fits beautifully in our bedroom with the tall ceilings.

a small tiny paris bathroom, named after my husband st james.....he toiled setting those tiny black tiles at angle to make me happy. he deserved a street named after him....wee wee

one our last areas we remodeled....now i love our bedroom, it is very peaceful.

art studio

when Ashley moved out, this became my art studio, it houses an incredible collection of rubber stamps, that has been revisited with my metal etching...but it also home of many small treasures, like my dollies, and my special Madonnas from Sharon, one of which has holy healing water from Lourdes.

heart rocks

i began collecting heart rocks several years ago, inspired by my friend irene. we spent many camping trips at Leo Corilla beach every year searching out these rocks. my hubby took a special liking to finding heart rocks, and now my house is filled with his rocks of love...especially around our water fountain. i have since found many friends collecting these messages of love from nature....

musem of treasures

our family treasures and memories live in this house....the cook books, journals, old vintage books, artwork, trinkets, all tiny mirrors of our family.

coconut of memories

this small vignette is a small memory of our Hawaiian trip. the dolphin was made my ashley in clay class many years ago, and the hand painted coconut of a beach we loved.

jane goodall

when my son was in the 4th grade was in special program that Jane Goodall sponsored. they did many wonderful things with animals. one of the projects was some artwork that connor did, and his artwork was chosen by Jane Goodall for thank you cards....of one which she wrote Connor and thanked him. it was ironic, or maybe not that Connor should would have a deep love of animals, become a vegetarian, and commit himself to ecology for his future.

tropical paintings

i finally decided on a Hawaiian theme for my living room, and was tired of the blank walls, i found 2 flowers i loved and a wonderful painting teacher that helped me paint these flowers. i would love to paint again, of course it would not be to create art for my wall, i would love to explore so many things now.

tropical living room

thank you carol parks

while i was at carols art retreat i found myself in her bathroom crying... she had a book called wisdom sitting on her tub, opened up to a very appropriate saying for the moment, and since the moment was so divine it brought me to tears, it said... "you are as unique as your are here and now. you are never the same. you will never be the same again. you have never before been what you are. you will never be the again." swami prajanpad so to my house i brought this special book, and everyday i go to the oracle and receive my message.

ashley and connors ceramics

their foot and handprint museum

come to the edge life said,

they said, we are afraid........come to the edge life said, they came, life pushed them, and they FLEW................................... it sits in my kitchen window to remind be to not be afraid

ghandi said, " "

maija, do you remember this? it was our little trade after artfest, it hangs in my window to remind me everyday...

garage sale owl

last year teesha brought back the owl at artfest, ever since then i find them everywhere... this little guy was so cute. he sits in my window in the kitchen next to many to other treasures.

photo altering, done with karen michel at artfest 4 years ago, is still one of my very favorite things to do. we scratched, bleached, painted, dyed, crayoned our photos.....to much fun.

thank you china

the bird nest brought many memorable images. i don't think I've ever seen a show like it, china far surpassed anything we could have ever imaged. hey diane, this kinda looks like a fractal....hope the fractal Nazi isn't out....hee hee