I have not posted in a while. I look over at my blog list and read the posts of those whose blogs I follow and discover that there is something keeping quite a few of us from posting daily. Maybe it is the cold weather or the allergens in the air -- that certainly has kept me under the weather -- or it could be the winter doldrums. I don't know.

I am just not a "daily" gal. I'll probably never post on a daily basis, but I am thinking, and I am writing-- just not here.

I have been working on my e-textbook this week, especially the introduction to the Earth Art section. This past summer my husband and I visited Orkney, a series of islands off the far north of Scotland. (Click on photos for larger view.)We experienced the Neolithic village of Skara Brae and also the associated standing stones of the Maeshowe complex. That experience has found its way into the writing I have done in the past two days. The stone circles we visited three years at Kilmartin Glen and at Castlerigg have also shown up in this section of my textbook.

My first encounter with the work of Andy Goldsworthy in the National Museum of Scotland is also inspiring my writing muse. I have been a fan of his Earth Art almost from that instant. Andy Goldsworthy creates the most evocative, intuitive, whimsical, temporal works of art from natural elements such as stones, leaves, icicles, or sand. There are three or four permanent works by him in the museum, most of them act as a backdrop to the displays in the most ancient part of the collection. However, I was most dazzled by his sphere created from all the bones of a pilot whale that washed ashore. No wires or pegs are used nor any kind of glue to hold it together. It is amazing!

Each semester I introduce my students to Goldsworthy's art and ask them to create a work inspired by it. I am constantly pleased. Today I stumbled upon an artist who is also inspired by Goldsworthy, Richard Shilling. In truth, his earliest post and photographs are his attempts to "emulate" some of Goldsworthy's pieces, but as he continues to work and make art, he finds his own voice.

So, that is what I have been up to. What about you? Or am I just talking to myself here?

Ta-Da!

As promised, I have photographed the necklace I made using Lynn Davis' Dutch Red Zephyr Connector I posted yesterday. I have trouble wearing heavy necklaces, but I have not had any at all with this little beauty. I've been test-wearing it for the last two days and have received a dozen of compliments. No one can believe the focal bead/connector is made from polymer clay. It looks like porcelain and is as light as a feather.

So, what do you think? I have another connector and can't decide if I want to make a twin or to do something different. Help me out here.

And Lynn, you are a most generous soul, thank you!

Thanks Lynn!

A few weeks ago, I was reading the always wonderful blog authored by Lynn Davis, who had created some terrific connectors in polymer clay. She asked for suggestions for their use and offered to give away a set as a prize. Well, there were six of us that responded and she decided that our ideas were so good that we should all get a set!

I received my set of Dutch Red connectors (right) on Christmas Eve. It has taken me this long to 'get to it' and create the lovely, long necklace I had suggested and, I must say, I'm quite pleased. I'll be taking photos later on and will posted them and send them on to Lynn. Thanks again Lynn, for your wonderful generosity!

A New Year!

After the holidays is nice to come back to the regular world and do regular things. Unfortunately, I feel like I'm in a game of Fruit-Basket-Turnover.

I'm losing my campus studio at the end of the month and I'm having to move the contents of my office home because I will be sharing an itsy-bitsy, tee-niney cubical of an office with five (no, 7!) other adjunct faculty. I have no room at home for an office AND a studio.
I'm going to have to find a place to work, to write, and to create.

It's unsettling, to say the least. And just when I have all these wonderful ideas swirling in my head!