Lately I’ve been getting an unusually high number of requests to “tour my studio”. While the sentiment is lovely, and I think no less of anyone who asks this, it does make me giggle a little inside. Right before I go into “oh hell no” mode. Well… since you asked, here are a few reasons why this would be a lousy idea…

1. My studio is in my home. As romantic as it may seem to “tour an artist’s studio”, this is the same place where I sleep/ eat/ shower. Mind, I don’t sleep/ eat/ shower IN my studio, but you have to walk through those parts to get to where the “magic” happens. I walk through them all the time.  But should you need to walk through them, I would have to clean them.

2. My house is a “fixer upper”. Those of you who read my blog with any regularity know this; in fact you’re quite possibly wondering how anyone in their right mind could live in such a place — except you’re nice enough to not say it. My driveway has potholes, my garage leans like the Tower of Pisa, and I have a yard full of weeds where the grass should be. Again, this is perfectly fine for me, as I can delude myself into thinking I am slowly fixing it up, and some  magical day it will be done and all will be right with the world.  (When that day comes, please feel free to pop by unannounced.)

3. I have a cat.  Said cat likes to play a little game I like to call “puke on the rug”.  This game is all about the element of surprise.  The cat usually wins. While I am obligated to play said game with the cat, you are not.  You’ll thank me later.

Truthfully though, for all it’s faults, my house also has lots of charm.  And “charm” isn’t code for “it sucks”.  (That’s “character-building”.)  It has a pond in the backyard.  WITH a waterfall.  (I know, cool, right?)  Filled with giant cattails and purdy fish, and a Japanese threadleaf maple weeping gently over the side.  If you can ignore the driveway, I will totally let you sneak in the backyard and sit in the comfy chair.   It also has hardwood floors and a pellet fireplace.  Which means my house will be heated to 78 degrees in the winter, and you can sock-skate to your heart’s content.  There is artwork everywhere.  (This has less to do with the fact that I’m an artist and more to do with the fact that I have a birthday, and super-cool friends.)  But most importantly…

I have a studio : }

Well I’m about halfway through a billion pieces, give or take a dozen… mainly catching up with show orders, a little wholesale, and restocking the galleries.  With so many things in progress it starts to feel like I’m never finishing anything, but I know this means I just have to keep my nose to the grind to break through.

I started experimenting with a few new cut ACEO’s, because there is something so sweet about their teeny little size with the thickness of the metal that feels so perfect.  Came up with a design in miniature that I think will translate well to a larger piece:

The ice blue background is cut out to show the gray (it’s actually just laying on top of another piece so I could photograph it better).  I was going to add a little sliver of “ground” below the tree, but think I really like it just as is.  There’s a zen-like simplicity that I don’t want to lose.  Hope to enlarge it tomorrow and see what happens…………………………………..C.

Posting new work tonight, thought I would share:

Well, it took a few days, but I’m finally unpacked, recuperated, and my dining room table is (mostly) cleared off. Cain Park was a great show, and it was wonderful to meet so many lovely people!  As far as shows go (or anything for that manner), I have to say this was by far the nicest group of people I have ever met in a single sitting.  The show was a dream; short of being “discovered” and handed a million dollars, it was the most pleasant experience you could imagine.  There were dozens of volunteers offering to help, ample amenities, and the most perfect weather.  How could you go wrong?
My daughter was a wonderful help, and put on a cute little dress and her best personality and charmed anyone who dared come within 20 feet of her.  I called her my “door greeter”.  She called herself my “groundhog”.  (umm, “gofer”.  close enough.)  The most charming moment was when we were offered lunch during set up.  Seats were scarce, and artists shared tables and chatted with their new colleagues.  A gentleman asked if he might join our group if we’d have him, joking that he was sweaty from the heat.  She quickly replied something that I’m sure she meant to sound like “why certainly, we’d love to have you” but ended up coming out as “of course! We don’t mind that you’re so gross.”  As the Mastercard ad says, Priceless.

The great thing about doing shows is all the face to face interaction — chatting with people about what you do, getting lots of new ideas and inspiration, and my favorite: seeing people go from a brisk pace to slow motion, slack-jawed stop as their eyes catch something they like.

(The other best part of the show was Saturday night when my friend brought over rum and we made mojitos with the wild mint in my backyard, but that’s another story.  One that involves a certain metal artist who almost never drinks wipe out on the couch after half a glass of rum-flavored sugar mint water.  But we’ll save that for another day.)

Well,  I’d best get back to work… have lots of new things to share over the next few days, so stay tuned!

with love and wussy drinks………………………………Copper

It’s a beautiful day, and a wonderful world.  My website is finally updated, though much like my other recent technological episodes it managed to completely break itself before getting fixed.  But all domains are redirected, all pages are back up, all photos were located, and all links corrected.  The only bug that is still lingering is a smattering of question marks throughout my old posts, but if you can selectively ignore them, then I’m perfectly happy to quit beating my head against that particular rock.  I was always a little punctuation-happy anyway.

So this is an exciting week!  Not only did I do a great (albeit wet) show yesterday, but also just found out I got accepted into Cain Park Arts Festival next weekend :)  This is quite a happy thing, because not only is Cain Park a nationally recognized show (#14, if I remember correctly) — it is also spitting distance from my house.  (Well, that’s a slight exaggeration.  I actually can’t actually hock a loogie quite that far, for which my friends are grateful.  However they are perfectly happy to park their cars on my street and walk over to the show.)

The other reason I’m excited to be in this show is because I have a Hyundai Sonata.  And a 10×10′ tent, 8′ table, display walls, and oh yeah, artwork.  I have discovered that I *can* in fact fit everything in for an outdoor show, barely, so long I fly solo.  There is nothing that resembles a “passenger seat” by the time I’m finished.  And once I build the extra display walls I’m gonna need, there may not be room for a driver, either.  So the ability to sneak out and make a 2nd trip is quite a good thing.

Well I must get back to the studio — catch you later! …………………………..Cu.

Am in the final stages of launching Copper Leaf Studios into full-time existence, and have oh so many cool things in the works!? (technically it’s been full time for a week, but I wanted to have a more spectacular entry into entrepreneurialism than my computer blowing up, and need just a peench more time to really get things ready.)? So mark your calendars, July 1st is gonna be the day!? (it’s a nice clean number and all)

By then I will have a new website design, a new artwork database, new wholesale linesheet, and a lot of brand new cool artwork to go along with the shiny new computer and iPod.? (what does an iPod have to do with business you ask? not a darn thing, but I like to listen to it when I exercise.)

Some of the new cool shinies that you’ll soon be seeing more of:

…Lots more to come, stay tuned!

……………………………………love you lots, C.

a whole week. I broke the internets for a whole WEEK.? Not a good way to end the school year, with grading done online and all.? And not a good way to embark on self employment in an internet-dependent business.? But I didn?t do it on purpose, honest.? I?ve had plenty of ?character building? and was not really looking for more.

I bought myself a big nice shiny new iMac, and I just wanted to use it.? So I tried to get it on the internets.? But instead of computer #2 joining the ranks of computer #1 on the world wide vapors, the whole shebang went kaput.? (I?d use technical lingo, but clearly if I knew any, I probably would have known how to fix said issue and wouldn?t be writing this.)

Then (because surely you can?t have just one problemo at a time), computer #1, which was dying a slow and painful death anyway, decided to die.? RIGHT THEN.? Not after I had transferred all my files to shiny new #2, but before.? Doesn?t it know how this thing is supposed to go??? Clearly next time I will have to threate– er, have a sit down chat with both of them beforehand.? Stupid computers.

The kicker?? I got a free iPod with my shiny new #2.? That I couldn?t use until it was able to sync up with iTunes. Online.

How did we ever live before these internets??

Epilogue:? Everything?s been fixed, and life lived happily ever after.? My Twitter friends did indeed think I had died, but mourned thoughtfully and got over it.? My blog readers didn?t notice my absence because I had been neglecting them horribly anyway.? The Cool Kids nicknamed my computer the iCopper, or iCu for short. ?My daughter showed me that the iPod was capable of getting online all by itself, if only you hang out at the right coffee shop. ?(She also deemed me unworthy of owning it because I did not know this.) ?And all was right with the world.

So my good friend Kathy the Smashing informed me yesterday that the other day I promised that tomorrow I would share pictures and cool stuff with ya’ll.? I tried to remind her that today wasn’t tomorrow yet even if tomorrow was actually yesterday, but that didn’t fly.? (I had me pretty convinced, but at 11:45 p.m. that is a fairly easy gig.)? So being a person of my word, here you have it!

First, the chop-job.? (My friend coined the term “Spontaneous Home Haircut”, which I rather like).? I let my hair get rather long in the past six months, but after going through a gallon and a half of conditioner and snaking the tub drain no less than once I decided it was time for a change.? Now you know you’ve got a winner on your hands when you start at 10:30 p.m. high on Nyquil with help from an overzealous 15 year old.? (Just remember I’m not stupid, I’m adventurous.)? You are convinced it is destined for greatness when the first audible sound from her mouth after “I know, I know, I kneooow, mom” is “…oops.”? (Yes, really.)? But I can honestly say that I have never laughed so hard and had as much fun as I did that night — and my hair actually looks pretty darn good, if I do say so myself? (which I don’t have to, because she has been proudly declaring it so daily.)

Reactions from my students were overwhelmingly positive, except for the one lovely child who blurted out “Your husband let you DO that?!?!?”? I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m not married, and quietly reminded myself that this is the same child who tried convincing me she was a vampire not long ago, and that she would probably grow up to be a healthy, happy cat lady some day.

Second, and much cooler thing, I am oh-so-proud to unveil photos on metal!!? The copper one is of my daughter from her younger, cuter, more stubborn but less flaky years:

The print quality is gorgeous, and I’m happy to announce that a custom version will soon be in my shop :}

The zinc plate is a a picture she took of herself — she’s becoming quite the photographer, and is loving the Photoshop Elements that I gave her for Christmas!? I hope to post more of her work, as it’s really quite good, and so great to see her fall in love with something artistic.? The print on zinc didn’t come out quite as nice as I had hoped (too much spottiness in the darks, but with a little tweaking the process has great potential.? The bluish tint to the zinc is lovely:

Let me know what you think!

…………………………………………………with love and locks, C.

The COSE Arts Business Awards ceremony was last night, and it was quite the shindig.? Amazing event, and incredible people.? And proud me got to see my awards in the spotlight :}

I can’t remember if I actually told you that I got this commission, or if I just said something cryptic like “a cool thing happened!? I’m so excited!!? But I can’t tell you!”? (I’m guessing it was probably the latter, so if the suspense has been killing you, my sincerest apologies and I promise to be more forthcoming in the future.)? Here is the time-lapsed version:

February: Yay, I got a commission!!? But I can’t tell you what it is!? Because it’s a secret!

March: Yay, the commission is to design the 2010 COSE Arts Business Awards!

April: Yay, the awards are done!!? And they look great!? But I can’t show you because the winners names are on there!

Without further ado:

The ceremony was lovely, with lots of wine and fancy people.? I am not one of the fancy people, and probably would have been carded at the door had it not been for my teenage daughter.? After 20 minutes of playing human mannequin, I was transformed into “Barbie does Business School” and passed through security unnoticed.? The “look” included braid-y hair twisty things that are called something that sounds like a French pastry.? Not only did she do the hair, but choreographed it so that if it came out during the evening, with a quick shake of the head it would transform into Long Wavy Locks:

Mike D from Zerolandfill was my “hot date” for the event, for which I was ever grateful.? Not only did I have someone to talk with, but he gave me the pep talk of a lifetime.? The kind of talk that opens eyes and changes lives.? I’d thank him now, but I think it might be more significant to become a rousing success and then say “remember that moment?? That was the turning point.? I owe you big.”

Many thanks to COSE, to Christy at Red Dot for her ever challenging cool new projects, and to my new friends at Liquid Image, without whom the awards would have been just another cut piece of copper.

with luv and peas…………………………………………………C.

Apologies in advance, but this is gonna be one of those teaser updates!? I just finished the very sweet Arts Business Awards for COSE, but I can’t show them to you until after the winners find out that they’ve won!? I toyed around with the idea of showing a sneak preview picture with a black rectangle blocking their names, but decided nope, I’m just gonna make you wait.? Cause I’m mean like that.? But I will tell you that not only did they come out way cool (with many thanks to Liquid Image’s amazing printing), but I have some darn nice photos of them too.

But I couldn’t leave without sharing something new, so here is my new cool “fresh from the studio” copper egret:

peas and luv to all……………………………… C.