Vacation is Over

Well we had a wonderful time on our vacation visiting family!  I'm not sure I'm glad to be home, because that means I have to work, clean, cook ~ you know all that stuff you  have to do when you'd rather be doing something else.  It's back to the grind for the the next show in two weeks, but here's a few pics of what I saw.  I hope to visit you all soon and see what lovelies you've all been up to!

I love the ocean, the sound, the smell, the peace, the discovering of so many treasures.  Watching the wildlife, which surrounded us day and night.  I know there are a lot of pictures to see, but it could of been worse .... another 400-500 I have.

The OCEAN

 The SCULPTURES

 The Wildlife

 

 

 The Beautiful Chapel
go HERE to see and read more on this little Gem.

We saw all the signs of the seasons change to fall that we never see here in our part of Arizona.  Everything stays the same so to experience all the color of the trees was awesome. 

 The water was so still early in the morning the reflections were magical

 Fog never looked so beautiful

 Another unreal reflection

Headed to Sea Ranch

Had a great sale at the Botanical Garden's this weekend and as always it's a double edged sword; when you sell a lot you have to start all over creating and since we are headed on vacation for 10 days that makes my window for recreating some items very small for my next upcoming show Nov 19th, but that's life and all I'm thinking about is heading to Sea Ranch on the Northern California Redwood Coast on Thursday.

 Sea Ranch Chapel (isn't it wonderful!)

I can't wait to see family and walk the beach, smell the ocean and just do nothing!  I hope to catch up with all of you upon my return!

Gifts from Down Under!

Oh what beauties did arrive for me today all the way from Australia! 

The most lovely of recycled metals transformed into leaves ~ one from a Jardiniere (urn or pot ~ I have to admit I had to look this word up as I did not know what it was) and the other from an old copper laundry boiler!

Are they not GORGEOUS!

 Barry Smith from Maleny, Australia does lovely sculptural pieces with found materials.  You can see is beauties here.  His creativity always inspires me and amazes me. 

Barry - Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!  

I will treasure my beautiful gifts always.  They are in the perfect glass bowl made to look like leaves on my coffee table for all to admire and hold. 

CROSS Pollination

Well, my box of Oak Barrel pieces is a little smaller and has slowly been Resurrected! 

Here are the latest of my endeavors in the junk pile.

  Brass braised flower I made in the first welding class I took 

Old nails & old coca cola sign

 This one is from the Leaf Springs of a truck.... and remember those railroad numbers I found!

Did you notice .... I love Rust, Crosses & Hearts!

Resurrected Crosses

If you've stuck with me long enough on this blog journey of creativity, you've noticed I like to play with a lot of different art mediums ~ I get a little bored if I'm creating too much of the same thing so I veer off the path often.  This weekend was no different.  We went out to Cave Creek to their monthly flea market called Thieves Market - sometimes I'm the Thief and sometimes they are. 
I stumbled upon a box of OAK slates from a wine barrel that had fallen apart and because I love RUSTIC I had to have it.  It had beautiful rust patina where the metal circle used to be and that wonderful gray patina that only get prettier the longer it's left outside.
So today,  I RESURRECTED some of those slates to one of my favorite things that I collect ~ and trust me I have so many they take up an entire wall...................and I'm not even religious!

CROSSES

 These have some old rusted pieces from previous projects - I never throw scrap out once it gets this beautiful patina on it.  I'll eventually use it on something.

 This one has some old horseshoe nails and a piece of red metal from a Coca Cola side panel ~ Lots of rusting still left to do on this one

 This of course was the beginning.

We'll see what comes out of tomorrows batch.

I'm in LOVE

 I'm not sure when the exact moment was that I fell in love with beautiful old trucks and I don't know when it was that I wanted to trade my beautiful BMW Roadster in on something quite different & quite old (sadly it's an SUV right now).  I thought for sure it was a 1936 Ford Truck that I wanted ~ but now after I stumbled upon this beautiful old 1940's International Harvester this weekend, I'm smitten.  I don't like working on vehicles, even though I've done so many times,  so someone else would have to Cherry this baby out for me.  Nothing would suit me better right now then to drive this to my shows and everyday after that.  I'd even have to Plasma cut the door or fender just to put my signature mark on it. 

Funny how things change in your life - you go from Hi Heels and fancy cars to flip flops and Arroyo Junkers!  I LOVE IT!   I guess you can take the Girl outta the Country, but you can't take the Country outta the Girl.