This summer I am taking a three-dimensional design class at De Anza College taught by Patti Jauch, who also teaches at San Jose State University. 

Our second project is to use paper to make folded, glued or molded forms that we then put together into a larger sculpture.  My initial idea was to make fungus-like pods that would “grow” out of the wall.  My plan was to use reed for the inner structures, cover those with paper, and then paint.  As art does though, the project morphed into something different and I went with that.  It’s a cyclone made of reed and thread.  My plan is to put photos on the cyclone, photos from my life, so it will be an autobiographical piece. 

The basic cyclone structure is nearly complete.  It needs more reed woven and tied in to make the structure stronger.  In the meantime, I’m experimenting with printing my photos on translucent paper, or perhaps translucent cloth.  I want them to look ghostly, like memories rather than actual photos.  Once I figure out printing the photos, I will do some tests to figure out how to adhere them to the cyclone.

I especially like the threads hanging all the way around the cyclone.  They are a fitting metaphor for how fragile life is.

The project should be complete in two weeks.

This morning I have started work on the first of a trio of pieces for the upcoming show at Hodgell Gallery in Florida.  The theme of the show is COLOR.  My trio of pieces will be The Birth of Color:  Red, Yellow and Blue. 

My objective is to create three similar pieces, one for each color, and to make each piece evoke the mood and feelings that its color evokes for me.

I started with yellow, my favorite color.  I want The Birth of Yellow to be an explosion of unself-conscious, happy color! 

The three pieces will take six to eight weeks to complete, and I will post photos when they’re done, with perhaps a few sneak previews along the way.

A few years back I set out to draw a family portrait.  Not wanting a traditional, representational portrait, I went for abstract.  

We have a very character-ful family.  Each of our personlities, styles, appearances, moods, and interests are quite different, and each of us is engaged in interesting pursuits.  We are in the semiconductor industry; glass sculpting, casting, fusing, beadmaking, and jewelry making; drawing; baseball playing and umpiring; softball; music, with family members playing classical and jazz piano, euphonium, saxophone, clarinet and baritone; writing; childcare; volunteering; kayaking; beekeeping; classic car restoration; languages including mandarin, french and japanese; vegetarianism; recycling; wrestling; pets including a great dane and a python; and each person has their own brand of intelligence and humor.

I depicted us as a giant sunflower, one of my favorites.  Each family member has a section of the sunflower face, with each of us a “puzzle piece” of the whole.  Within each family member’s section, I have drawn details about them, their personality and interests.  Brent’s and my marriage vows are the thread that ties our whole family together. 

Recently I submitted my drawing to the Statewide Drawing and Print Competition and Exhibition at the Triton Museum in Santa Clara.  Last week I received a letter with acceptance to the exhibition!  Over 600 drawings were submitted and 70 chosen for the exhibition.  I am completely pleased to be included!

For local people, the opening reception for the exhibition will be December 11, 7:00 – 9:00pm.  www.TritonMuseum.org

I’ve completed a new piece in my toys series – a funny little futuristic car.  My brother Bob and I played cars often as children.  We had a variety of cars from Matchboxes to the big, hardy Tonka dumptruck.  We built big and small cities of roads and hills and bridges in the dirt and drove our cars around, talking the whole time – “… and then this guy drives up and dumps off a load of special rocks brought back from the moon … and these guys are using the moon rocks to build a bomb proof shelter for the President … ”

This car has one wheel in front and two in back, and a seat and steering wheel inside. 

Although rather lumpy and somewhat square-ish, the wheels on this little car turn, so you can drive it around and make up your own stories.  The little car is available in my miniatures auction. 

The first two pieces in my expecting theme are complete.

I started with a botanical cyclone, my symbol of growth and becoming.  It has a peach gestating inside, like a new idea formulating, a new direction being considered, a new commitment on the verge of being declared, connected to the cyclone vine with a long umbilical stem.

Second is a full-bellied vessel vine, pregnant with a nearly ripe, ready-for-the-world lemon.  The vines of this piece are made of an interesting color called English Ivy, reminiscent of the glass I used for the acorn trunk piece.  It appears opaque until light shines behind it, and then it is actually a transparent ivy green with blue and butterscotch streaks.

I plan to attempt pushing my idea of expectant plants even further, with the idea of enclosing the fruit fetuses in glass amniotic sacs within the plant.  That will be a tremendous technical challenge, but certainly interesting!

In the other realm of my recent expectations, our puppy is arriving this Saturday.  After nearly 2 months of our family unsuccessfully attempting to agree on her name, Brent finally coaxed the kids into letting me name her.  I named her Piper.  When I was pregnant with our youngest son, Reilly, and before we knew he was a boy, we had chosen Piper for the baby’s name if it was a girl.  So now our puppy will be Piper.

Here’s to expectations!