It is nice to choose what I am going to next, rather than to work with a fixed deadline. I went up to my workshop on Sunday morning determined to design a piece with a west-coast influence but I got distracted by that small piece of dark pink cranberry left over from my previous project. Hmm...there was enough there to make a Rene Macintosh-style rose. So I drew and cut out the rose, ground and foiled it and then soldered it to make it easier to fit into a small panel. Then on Monday I realized that there was just enough glass to make a SECOND rose. 

As I worked on cutting out the second rose, I decided that rather than a simple design with two roses in a vase, I would create a piece similar to one I made as a beginner, based on a Rene Macintosh design. I still love that piece which hangs in my bedroom but always felt that it would be so much nicer with cranberry glass and fractured streamer. I spent a few minutes sketching out a simplified design and then started cutting. After spending most of Monday in my workshop and a few minutes today, the cutting is about one-third done. The design for the bottom half is still evolving and will take shape in the next few days. 

This is a busy week and I am at Galerie Old Chelsea all day on Friday so it will probably be this time next week before I finish cutting. Photos to follow.

It feels good to be back in my workshop! Last week I finished four panels that will travel to Nova Scotia in March and be assembled there into a lamp for a client. I will post photos when it is finished.

A new theme is emerging which I am calling 'Out of Chaos'.  After I finish a larger panel, I try to use the 'scraps' to create a smaller piece - by nature, most of these to date have been abstract. "Out of Chaos - One" is now hanging in the Galerie and "Out of Chaos - Two" is cut, ground and partially foiled. It should be finished next week and will show up on my website soon.

Time caught up with me! I finished the last pieces, hung the shows at the Galerie for the 3rd of November and at the FSCA show in the Pearson Building for the 4th of November. After the FSCA show, I turned my attention to the planning of a 'surprise' party on December 7 for my husband's milestone birthday. I juggled days at the Galerie with days in the FSCA office and late evenings working on a memory book and somewhere in between I actually found time to make three batches of Christmas decorations. These decorations were sold at the FSCA Craft Fair on December 5 and 6 and then at the Galerie Christmas Market.

I finally got back to some creative play in my workshop in late December and hope to settle back into a routine which will allow me to continue creating new works and keeping this blog up-to-date.

My Galerie days in January will be the 10th and 24th - both Fridays - from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. Please stop in and say hello.