Ocotillo (Cactus) Installation

I finished my commission this weekend for a Large Ocotillo cactus.   If you're not familiar with one it's a beautiful tall cactus as shown below.  It is currently blooming like mad throughout our desert here in Sunny Arizona.  It truly is beautiful.  Don't be fooled by the word Desert ~ it's a magical green and colorful valley here.

Here is the finished product (9 Ft tall) after all the little leaves and flowers are welded on, each one individually cut out by hand and then painted with a combinations of rust/red/orange paint to mimic the real thing.

 Here it is in it's new home in Cave Creek, Arizona.  The buyer was thrilled and so was I.  I guarantee it will never need to be transplanted and it will never freeze!  It was a Good Day!

So Just after I sent this my customer sent me this lovely note and these beautiful pictures!!!

I'm so happy she's loves it.....

Thank you, Susie, for the wonderful job you did on my Ocotillo sculpture!!! It is even more beautiful than I could have imagined and it fits perfectly in my landscape. I'm thrilled :-)

I took a couple of photos as the sun was going down and thought you might like to see them. You are welcome to use the photos if you like.

I wish you much success in your business!

 She takes way better pictures than I do!!!!!

Guitars & Honky Tonk Bars

One of my creations a few years back was trying my hand at life size guitars.  My inspiration was my son, Ian - lead singer/guitarist for Dear and The Headlights (DATH),  Check him out  - he's a wonderful person, musician, he sings and plays the guitar - I had a lot of guitars around to model after.  He could of made it big and did for awhile, toured with Paramour, Jimmy Eat World, Plain White T's, but as I know from past experience being on the road as a musician or with one, is not a life that nourishes your soul.  It's long nights, long roads, bad food, bad motels, lots of tearing down, setting up, groupies and trying not to get caught up in all the bull of it. All things end for a reason and now I have two beautiful granddaughter's as proof that getting off the road was a good thing.  I still believe that his song writing will prevail and he will once again be recording again.  He's a wonderful writer and wrote most all of the songs on his three recorded CD's - all from his experiences, childhood, loves & heartbreaks.

So with all that said ~ I tried my hand at these sturdy but delicate guitars.  These were probably the hardest things I've ever created only because they had to be clean and sanded finely (hated that).

On this one, I tried to create the ocean with a mermaid on the front, the back was waves and underwater life.  These have way more detail than I usually do in most of my work and it was challenging, because I had to be precise..... not something I like to do, but I was satisfied when all was complete.

This one was of a peacock and a large feather on the back

And the last one was of two birds

I don't think I'll ever make a guitar again - too precise - too big - been there - done that!

I'm almost finished with the commissioned Ocotillo and will post on that later in the week...... then on to The RAVEN...

"The artist's world is limitless.  It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away.  It is always on his doorstep."

~P. Strand~

Oh my where have I been!  Obviously not posting on what I've been up to.  :)  I've been in the purging mode again - it's that Spring Cleaning Fever thing that seems to get a hold of me every year.  I'm pulling stuff out of every closet and getting ready for yet another garage sale.  Yes, my love of thrift store shopping always seems to fill up spaces, but I guess I'm not a true hoarder as I do get rid of a lot.  Give's me a reason to hunt for something more exciting I guess. Having a five bedroom house may not be a good idea when every closet is full and all the kids have long since moved out!  But perhaps by the end of the month I shall be freed of some of this overflow.  That has been what I've been focusing on for a week.

Today however, I received another commission for one of my very large Ocotillo's - So I will be getting busy getting that one done before visitor's arrive the end of the month and then I head off to Bellingham, WA for two weeks to visit my Son, Andrea, my beautiful granddaughter and introduce myself to the newest little one arriving around May 1st.  

I'll be taking a break from blogging as there seems to be a lot going on over here and when I've something to share you'll all be the first to see it.

Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be Happy.  

Guillaume Apollinaire

Another one out the door today.  I've finished up my commission for another shovel.  Hummingbirds - lots of folks ask for them and now I'm completely out.  I really do have to get busy with making more of the full shovels - sadly I'm down to about 4 and I have at least 40 in the shed to complete.  If only I wouldn't get side tracked with glass flowers, painting, birds nest, barbed flowers and thrift stores I might be able to get them all done this year.

I've been sick for two whole weeks, but finally yesterday I felt like creating again and since it was time to do the dishes..... I DID!