sunny seattle

view from my freeway drive into downtown seattle............

mt rainer

headed towards Seattle.................................. after finishing my busiest jewelry show of the year on Sunday nite, i rushed home and packed for a 5 day art retreat with susan lenart kazmer, i had a 7 am flight, and 3 hour flt from l.a. to Seattle, and when i arrived i rented the car set my gps to downtown Seattle, arrived and found my way to the class in the middle of pikes market....what a day it was....

view from our class room with susan lenart kazmer

seattle's pike market

the artreat with susan was held directly at pikes market....right by the pig, upstairs overlooking the harbor. the marketplace is so cool because it is a real old original market place probably over 100 years old. fish throwing, amazing flowers....and the nicest people ever. everyone is smiling and nice in seattle despite the cold raining weather. it rained off and on all week, but when the sun was shinning everyone lit up even more.

susan lenart kazmer art retreat in seattle

5 days with Susan in Seattle's pike market, learning cold connections. i had watched Susan at artfest for 4 years, always blown away with her museum jewelry pieces. i thought i was never near the level to take her classes, and last year at artfest i was finally ready, and searched for whatever classes i could find with Susan. and i found the retreat in Seattle for 5 days. you opened a new world , and i am very thankful.

two laughing buddas

there was much laughter, and many funny stories exchanged along with our hard work, we are laughing buddas here.

linda larsen

linda is susan's partner in portland. she runs the online store, www.objectandelements.com which has every tool you would need, including their special product ice resin, a non toxic resin, which i hope to be selling and promoting because it is so much fun. linda encouraged me to take the class, even though i was not at the master level...i owe you linda....

at work with susan lenart kazmer

everyday we had multiple ventures we learned....this was a masters class and all the students except myself had previous jewelry experience with cold connection.....but i was lucky to be accepted, and worked very hard to keep up with the class...i made several rings, did enameling, and made molds, and poured resin designs....i learned how to use the torch, and anneal medal. i learned how to use tools to rivet, drill, shape, mold. but i mostly learned not to fear any of the tools, and how to make them an extension of myself. Susan is an awesome teacher, her energy is pure, and there was never a moment that she was not present and giving. i am always astounded that artists like Susan give so much of themselves to others. it was a small class, and we had special one on one attention, with alot of room to work. Susan and her partner Linda brought every tool possible to share with us, from torches, punches, every hammer size, molds, resin, and they brought vintage finding from their recent trip to France.....so not only did we get 5 days of amazing classes, we got the pleasure of swifting our fingers thru old letters, medals, vintage, ribbons, bottles, and special things i have never seen. i am very thankful for the doors you opened.

susan demoing enamel

besides learning how to use Susan's ice resin, learning how to do enameling on metal was one of my favorite things we did.... i made 3 rings putting enamel on my copper pieces. it was magical to watch the torching process and having a wonderful piece with brillant colors... i know i will be doing more of this.... our entire class went enamel crazy.

my dolly

resin dolly

one of the many amazing things we learned from susan was how to use your new product called ice resin. it is non-toxic product with lead time of 30 minutes using it. although this is not the best picture of my dolly, she is cast from a rubber mold we made from a german glass doll. the head is seperate from the body. susan helped me make a bezel staple to attach her head, and her body is hanging with a trapeze swinging attachment. i love my dolly and i loved casting with resin. i might take the ice product on the road and do demos to sell it. i know this will be the next wave in art world.

so cute

ok i don't normally go for these dogs, but this one was cute.....she was some rare breed, she had a sweat jacket on with pearl necklace, and a pokadot shirt.......she had to put her muzzle on to leave the boat, ....in the very cute catagory....

so

my favorite pier

i love the pier in catalina, of course if you know me, you know i love turquoise, and it reminds me of my favorite town in italy burano....the place where every house is a different color, and ultimately i came home and painted my house the very same color as this pier....i just realized this....

santa catalina

3 weeks ago leaving catalina island after the artshow there.

venice beach, california

this vintage cottage store has some wonderful pieces, and hidden along side the building are a set of live chickens...

sharon blows out candles in l.a.

sharon was on a birthday journey and stopped by to see me for a few days....not only did we have the best fun in venice shopping at abbot kinney, we got to design some fun jewelry one nite...it is always fun to get new ideas and inspirations from friends, sharon came back to help at my largest show of the year in manhattan beach... i think we had so much fun she may come back and help with next years show. i made her a piece for her birthday and it was stunning on her, she must have sold at least 10 of them by just they way it looked so good on her. we laughed alot....thank you sharon