A sad day in America.

It looks like I have to post this from my blogspot as YouTube wouldn't link to FaceBook. If you are squeemish about race relations in this country, do not watch this and if you don't like the F bomb, don't watch this. Very powerful and it makes me sad.

Sometimes I Feel Like an Extrovert, Sometimes I Don't

Costumed Revelers at Carnival in Venice

I feel like I'm moving into an extroverted phase after being in kind of a retreat for a while. When I'm not feeling it, it can be very difficult to come out of my shell which is a nice shell by the way. This coming Saturday is Kate McKinnon's Glitterganza at the Mingei Museum in Balboa Park. She is doing a talk for the San Diego Bead Society and then we will don ballgowns, drink champagne and see beautiful beady things. I will accompany this event with my cello and photographs will be taken by Kyle Cassidy .

You really should try and come to this if you're in the area. Wear your finest regalia and be seen and photographed in it. It happens at 10 a.m. Saturday April 16 at the Mingei Museum and will go until 3 p.m.

Cones and buttons

Lampworked glass cones and buttons

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Kim Osibin cone mandrels and a pair of Heather Trimlett button mandrels. They hung around my studio for awhile before I decided that I needed to try and make something with them. My first buttons were kind of a disaster, I had trouble centering the hot glass on the double prongs and I had a hard time getting them off the mandrel, I even had to use a hammer to remove the blobs of glass. Back to the can they went to collect dust for awhile. I had similar results with the cone mandrel, a bit of frustration and then back to the can they went. Months later I returned to the mandrels but this time with more pleasing results. Now I want to get more of these odd shaped tools to form glass upon. I haven't made anything with either of these shapes yet but I have plenty of ideas for pendants, necklaces, bracelets and knit wear or other fiber wear.

Confound you blogspot!!!

Springtime in Joshua Tree

I actually posted something yesterday but for some reason I haven't been able to link it to FaceBook. Blogspot wants to link something I wrote 2 months ago. This thing continues to have a mind of it's own, sometimes it cooperates and other times not. Maybe it's time to try another service...

Days of Futures Past

An outdoor sitting area at the Lux Art Institute in Encinitas.

I'm not the type that is nostalgic for my past. I have nothing against the past, it's made me who I am today but I really enjoy NOW and am still excited and have many aspirations for my future. At some point it seems to have been decided that when a person reaches a certain age they are supposed to give up on dreams and settle into an acceptance of things the way they are and not bother to try and change much of anything anymore. To that I say BS. I've already lived several lives and am looking forward to living at least a few more before I leave this plane. If I do spend much time with my past it is to archive and prepare it for release into the future.

I was born in the mid 20th century and I feel as if I'm straddling a major compression in time. In the "old days" change was slower. Today changes happen by the minute, hourly, daily that used to take many years to happen. This affects me in many ways. I want to be a person of today but I can't deny the times that made and continue to make me. As I grow older I want to remain flexible, viable and part of the conversation, which means I adapt and embrace tools that are available to me but at the same time remember what came before and how I got here. I'm looking for a balance or melding of past and future that works best for me in the way I produce my art and music. I think it's good to have an understanding of the way things used to be done in order to make the new better.