Aurora Borealis StarMara Fused Glass Earrings

New from StarMara's kiln, wear these fused dichroic glass earrings and you will light up the night sky.

They glimmer and glow like the Aurora Borealis and will delight anyone who wears them, or receives them as a gift.

I will send them to you in an elegant black gift box, with fancy ribbons. Free shipping within the US and Canada.

To purchase, click on their photo in my Etsy shop (PayPal) or follow the link to my new 1000 Markets shop (Amazon).

Ha de ansii? What are you lacking? Do ansii! I lack nothing!

I am full of the blessings of this rainwashed world outside my door. I warmed by the company of our grown-up son once again sleeping under the roof. ("Boy in the House", we sigh to one another, when our son is visiting. We breathe deeper, resting assured that for a brief and comforting time, our beloved son is home. And we get to listen to waaaaay different music. Of Montreal and The Killers are playing now. I like!)

Ha di ansii? Do ansii! is the traditional Apache greeting. What are you lacking? I lack nothing!

On this day before Thanksgiving, before the turkey is even completely thawed, I lack nothing.

Outside my door, growing profusely in my yard, white sage.
Are we human or are we dancers?

All I Ask of You Silk Painting with Dragonflies and black bamboo

"All I ask of you is forever to remember me as loving you".

This black silk is handpainted with golden gutta and Lumeire metalics. It glows with shimmering beauty, as four dragonflies hover around the tender words of this Sufi song.

The hanger is made of two pieces of black bambo0, beaded and wrapped with black hemp.

Listed for sale at my Etsy shop (PayPal) and my 1000 Markets shop (Amazon).

Benjamin of the Magical Fez at Owl Peak Pottery

Benjamin, one of Felipe Ortega's apprentices, holds his micaceous clay pottery, which we purchased. They are being shipped to us...and I can't wait to start cooking in them. I brought home bags of freshly blessed and blended New Mexico chili, four different varieties. Great fez, eh?

Felipe Makes a Pot and I Get to Watch

On the day we left Ojo Caliente and La Madera we returned to Owl Peak Pottery to pick up pots which we had purchased, and Iwas fortunate to be in the studio with Felipe as he made a traditional bean pot from the native micaceous clay.

It was a treasured interval of time to watch Felipe make pots. In this photo at the left, he builds the wall of the pot with coils. In the photo below, he is shaping the pot from the inside with a rib tool. He said "I tell my students that the beauty of a pot is not the outside shape. The inside shape is the beautiful soul of the pot." The finished pot is drying on the woodstove. Next it will be coated with micaceous slip, polished with sandstone and then fired in a wood fire. After this first firing, a corn blessing is offered then the pot is returned to the fire to call in the fire clouds, the black and silver colorations that are unique to each pot. Only then, after all the forming, polishing and firings, Felipe signs his pot.

Felipe Ortega's Micaceous Pottery

We stayed at Felipe Ortega's Owl Peak Pottery Bed and Breakfast, in La Madera, New Mexico, for three wild nights of meeting new friends, enjoying fabulous food cooked in his earthenware pottery, bread baked in the outdoor "horno" adobe ovens and marvelous stories flavored by the flow of good wine in good company.

http://www.felipeortega.com/index.html

Here are several of Felipe Ortega's and his students' pots.

See that glow? This is traditional hand built "coil and scrape" pottery made with local clay called "micaceous" because of the high mica content (40%). It is so thermally sturdy, it can be used as cookware on the stovetop. We bought mugs from Felipe and bean pots and a bowl from his apprentice Ben. They are on the middle shelf in the photo awaiting their final wood firing, for the smoke patterns ("fire clouds") to emerge. I will treasure these pots. Someday I will return and take classes from Felipe. The mica slip that is used for the final polish is exquisite. I can already feel that my own pottery will be changing, just from watching these potters at work and at play.

On the Road to Taos

This pink art gallery was on the road to Taos and I had to stop to photograph it. The big heart reads "AllOne". It was a blustery day, with big fat snowflakes and a stunning sunset. I love New Mexico! Everywhere we go, from the mineral springs at Ojo Caliente, to the La Fonda Hotel in the Taos Plaza, I am meeting Obama volunteers. We are still walking around with big cheesy grins, pinching ourselves. We have a new president! And New Mexico took names and kicked ass. All along the roads in the tiny towns of this enchanted country I see "Obamanos" signs.
Si se puede, indeed.

In Guad We Trust

At large, from Northern New Mexico, I am in Our Lady of Guadalupe country. This is a gallery in Chimayo, near the shrine where holy dirt is available for collecting. There are crutches, canes, baby shoes and photos hanging everywhere in the shrine. Testimony to the miracles of healing that happened there. You can see me in the bottom right window, reflected.
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Hospice Show on Dia de los Muertos

I spent most of the day on Friday setting up my show at Hospice of SLO. Here is the winged heart silk banner hanging from the ceiling. It was purchased almost immediately by one to the women setting up the big Day of the Dead altar for all the Hospice clients. This event will happen tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 2, and I am looking forward to the entire day long event.

Being with people who are in the sacred place of Grief is heart opening for me. I am in the company of tenderness. And everyone who works at Hospice gives me such a lift. Hospice helped my mom in her transition during her last stages of Alziemers disease, and I will be forever grateful to them, angels all.