Happy New Year!    January 11 2023
Here's to 2023, may it be a wonderful year filled with good health, joy and happiness. I love the beginning of a new year and all of the possibilities it holds. 2023 is already brimming with creative opportunities. Next month is the Artburst Studios online show and sale. I have been very busy the last few months creating 11 new pieces for this show which features 20+ artists and over 230 pieces of amazing art for sale, something for everyone! Visit artburststudios.com for more information and enjoy reading the fabulous artist profiles. I also found out that my "crow shrine" was accepted into the Crow Show at The Studio Door gallery in San Diego. I am excited to be a part of this annual show for the first time. On another creative note, I have been thoroughly enjoying creating images using AI (artificial intelligence). It's a brave new world out there with unlimited possibilities!! Happy new Year.


Happenings!    November 12 2022
After months of wedding planning, I am back in my studio creating once again. My new line of tile stencils was recently released by Stencil Girl Products. These tiles were inspired by our recent trip to Portugal. Loved seeing all of the facades and interiors of buildings adorned with azulejos, the blue tiles. I released six different tile patters that reflect the many tile motifs we saw throughout Portugal. Speaking of travel, we just returned from our 10th year of our Tesoro del Corazon art retreat in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. My sister and I decided it was time for us to retire from the group after a great run of ten years. The legacy of this event that began in 2011 will continue on with new leadership and another artist, Katherine England, taking my place. Know it will continue to provide wonderful art adventures well into the future. Part of the reason I wanted to retire was to spend more time in my studio creating art. I was recently invited to join Artburst Studios for their inaugural online art show February 21-23, 2023. I have been working on many new pieces for this show. There are so many amazing artists who will be joining me and I encourage you to go to the Artburststudio.com website to check them out.


Been a long time!    October 11 2022
Our daughter was just married this past weekend in a beautiful ceremony by the beach. My life has been consumed for months by wedding plans and helping my daughter with all kinds of special touches. I only mention this to say that I have not been in my studio creating art for the past few months, so there wasn't much to post about! But now with that behind me, I am happy to say I am in my studio right now with lots of projects underway including working on a few details for our upcoming retreat in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico during Day of the Dead. This will be our 10th year anniversary of our Tesoro Corazon art retreat. It is always a special time to visit. I have quite a bit of art related news to post soon including the launch of my new set of stencils designed for Stencil Girl Products. Stay tuned!


Spring has sprung    May 11 2022
My two March workshops were a wonderful success with incredible pieces of art created in each class. I have decided that due to a very busy calendar that my Fall workshops will be postponed until next spring. I have been very busy creating "pendants for peace", a fundraiser for the House of Ukraine in San Diego. I am currently sold out but after upcoming travels I hope to be back in my studio and back to creating! I received some exciting news that one of my larger pieces called "Our Lady of the Pandemic" was selected for inclusion (amidst some very stiff competition) at the Oceanside Museum of Art's 2022 Art Auction which will take place in June. This piece will also be part of an exhibition at the museum as well, so all very exciting.


February round up!    February 16 2022
In March, I will be hosting two boutique home workshops. The first workshop is Home is Where the Heart Is and focuses on altering three wood house shaped substrates. A variety of techniques will be employed to create wonderful little shrines. The second workshop is Jeweled Book Boxes and this class was inspired by the treasure bindings created during the Middle Ages. These medieval books have beautiful jeweled encrusted, gold gilt covers. Both of these workshops are currently sold out. Please email me for more information about these special events and to be put on my interest list for future workshops. The next two may be in the fall. I recently joined the Artist Alliance through the Oceanside Museum of Art and started applying to a few shows now that I have a few larger pieces to exhibit. I was pleased to hear that my piece called Life Resplendent was accepted into a show called Renewal at the Front Porch Gallery in Carlsbad. I am excited to continue working on a larger scale and seeing the evolution of these new clay appliqué pieces.


Off and running    January 14 2022
So here we are in 2022 and who knew we would still be dealing with covid two years later. I have been grateful for the slower pace of life which has allowed for more time in my studio. I have also really reduced the amount of time I will be on the road traveling and am instead focusing on boutique, home workshops in my backyard! These workshops have been wonderful as they are limited to ten people and are two to three days long which allows for more comprehensive class instruction. I just completed another in a series of large panel board pieces that combine collage techniques with polymer clay. I am having so much fun experimenting with new techniques and have many ideas for further experimentation. It is hard to know what to call these pieces other than mixed media because they aren't really mosaics and while I incorporate "clay appliqué" details, they aren't entirely polymer pieces either. Perhaps, clay collage is the best description. I am also enjoying this new body of work because I am painting more and that is something that I truly love doing. Hope you are staying well. Here's to a very happy and healthy new year.


Fall update    October 15 2021
The months just pass so quickly, here we are heading into the holiday season once again. I just recently conducted my first two boutique home workshops that had been postponed from early 2020 due to covid. I decided to do both workshops back to back and really liked how that worked out, so going forward that is what I will be doing. The student's work in both classes, Illuminated Triptychs and Hand of Mysteries was excellent. It was so fun to gather in person outside. My next two classes will be in March of 2022. Please email me for more information if you are interested. On the studio front, I have been very busy working on some larger pieces that have taken me down a different path. I am using collage techniques to create a background and then doing a process I call clay applique to add pieces of polymer clay to it. I have so many ideas using this technique and can't wait to have a bit more time to explore. We would have been leaving next week for what would have been the 10th anniversary of our retreat in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. But once again we had to cancel due to covid concerns. We are planning on returning for Day of the Dead in 2022! Stay well and Happy Halloween greetings!


Summertime 21    June 28 2021
As we roll into the summer (a hot one indeed), our lives have resumed a somewhat new normal pace. The quiet days of last year have been replaced by a frenetic schedule of road trips and socializing. While I am finding it harder to carve out time in my studio, it is so nice to be at a place where we can be with family and friends and hopefully travel abroad one day in the near future. I finished shooting a new online class called, Wall Dolls in Polymer Clay. This is a fun, figurative approach to creating in polymer. This class will be launched in mid-July through Create Arts Online. They do a super job of producing first rate instructional videos and I am so happy to be working with them. I also have a Stencil Girl blog post being released on using my sacred heart stencils to create beautiful collaged cards. Making your own cards really saves money and adds a nice personal touch that the receiver will be delighted with. This blog post will be released on July 9th at Stencil Girl Products.com. I hope everyone is staying well and enjoying the lazy days of summer! Happy Independence Day to all.


As the world turns....    March 25 2021
It is hard to believe that nearly six months has passed since I last updated this page. It has been a time warp for sure as we have all been sequestered in our homes. This past year has led to an entire body of work called "During the Pandemic". Creating these Covid-related pieces has been a way for me to process the events of last year. My Etsy shop has been very busy and for that I am eternally grateful since ALL of my teaching engagements were canceled last year and for most of this year as well. I know after this "pause" that I will not be teaching nearly as much as in previous years. I have enjoyed the quiet pace of spending time in my studio and have enjoyed being unencumbered from the pressures of teaching and being on the road as much as I was. I, like my others, have reevaluated my goals and feel like this is the right move for myself going forward. I will focus on getting another online class up and running this summer and will still continue doing my boutique/home workshops. Mostly, I look forward to the process of creating art. Hope you are all staying well. Here's to the vaccination roll-out and to our lives resuming some form of normalcy.


into the fall...    October 23 2020
As Halloween quickly approaches, we are reminded of all of the ways that our lives have been impacted by Covid. This is the first time in ten years that I am actually home for Halloween as we are usually in San Miguel de Allende for our art retreat. It will certainly be a different experience this year as will all of the upcoming holidays. I continue to stay very busy in my studio creating art and relieving stress by doing so. I have also been having jigsaw puzzles made of my artwork and that has been fun and mindless! We are now in the process of updating our backyard. Home improvements seem to be on everyone's to-do lists these days while people are still staying home (for the most part.) I hope this brief newsletter finds you and your families well. Here's to better days ahead. Remember what Emerson said, " when it's dark enough, you can see the stars." Happy Holidays.