San Diego cont'd

just so more random shots from my trip to San Diego

Suzi Blu's mermaid's by the sea class, San Diego, California

side trip, San Diego

While in San Diego, my friend, Laurel, drove south from Los Angeles to visit with me. We made arrangements to go visit yet another friend, Kathy Lafleur (no blog as of yet!). Kathy gave us a tour of her absolutely beautiful property and studio (next time i want to see the inside!). Kathy lives in the hills of San Diego and her landscaping was stunning. lots and lots of succulents, which are my favorite. unfortunately it is too wet and shady where i live to grow them. she had a wonderful veggie garden where some darling little baby bunnies were zipping about. she also has chickens. they were cool. they like to be petted and would wait patiently for me to stop and pet them. Kathy does mosaic work and works with clay that she fires in her kiln. Kathy has the most fabulous studio. she brings art friends in and has teachers there. i don't care if i have to teach "how to bathe your chicken 101", i want to go there and teach, stay in her guest house and play with the chickens.

a mosaic frog in the garden

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a current project she got in the works. this piece is stunning. see the hat/bowl on her head? it is removable and she will make one for each season. the lady will be quite tall and will have a beautiful skirt that will have more of those blue birds on it and also will contain faces like the picture below. i can't wait to see a picture of it finished.

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a face that will adorn the skirt for the project above

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a walk through her gardens

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some visual art in the yard

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darling mosaic donkey

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a train garden full of succulents

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the inside of the chicken coop/pen that Kathy mosaic. isn't it lovely?

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here's the 3 of us looking inside the coop. Kathy made molds from the chicken egg for that egg border running along the inside of the coop

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the outside of the coop. i love it! it's her redention of a mission walk featuring her chickens!

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this is Tina, one of her chickens. so named after Tina Turner and the way she struts about the yard.

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chicken coop with succulent garden growing on roof - pretty cool, huh?

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more chickens. alas, i don't remember their names!

back home, but not for long

I am home. got in tonight around 6:30. what a long day! i've unpacked, did my laundry and then repacked again because i leave on Wed. for Artnsoul in Virgina, where i am selling at vendor night. after i return home, whatever jewelry did not sell i will be adding to my new website (finally)! seriously, between the laptop crash, this show and going to cali, i just haven't had the time to work on my website. but it is my # 1 goal upon returning (that and working on some online classes). i received an exciting email while i was away saying my submission to Belle Amoire jewelry had been accepted and will be in the September 2009 issue - yay, clap, clap! (i'm excited)

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here is a class picture from this weekend, hijacked from my new friend and classmate, Julie Prichard. it was a really great group of girls, very laid back, no drama, lots of sharing and caring. we had good food and the company of sweet Gigi who received so much attention. i believe we wore Gigi out! i took so many pictures of Gigi - i feel like a stalker. but every pose Gigi made was adorable, so i couldn't help it. i'm a sucker for cutie patooties! i found it interesting that 4 of the women there (including myself) have special needs children. one of the gals was really cool. her name is Lisa and i overheard her mentioning something, so i called her over and began grilling her. it turns out that Lisa decided to quit her job, get rid of most of her possessions and start living an artful life. she's traveling her car where she sleeps at campgrounds. Suzi's class was the first stop on her interesting adventure. i just think that sounds so fun. i invited her to New Jersey and do hope she takes me up on it. So did anyone see me on the streaming live video that Suzi had going during class? Deidra emailed me and said she saw me when i was wearing my blue mermaid wig!

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after class was over on the 2nd day, anyone who wasn't hitting the road headed to the beach, which was beautiful. perfect conditions: warm, no wind, sunny - it was lovely. from there my cute little friend, Kelly Snelling, called. we had made dinner plans with her and Ruth Rae, so me, Becci and Julie met them for sushi. it was a lovely dinner and the perfect way to end my time in San Diego.

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Patti and i channel our inner mermaids. (i'm a hollywood mermaid with the glam glasses) i made that crown with real shells and it was heavy!

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here is my piece from class. i still have some work to finish up on it. i wasn't getting the whole "shading" concept very well, so need to do more shading on her face before i beeswax the whole surface. oh, and i have to add my words too. i have so many more pictures, but for tonight, i'll leave you with this one of Gigi: