love is as ancient as the gods and the trees

this is a piece close to my heart.  i love the three metals in the same piece.  the body is a bronze model of a  worm-eaten piece of wood  inlaid with copper.  happy hapy february!

wing and a prayer in silver

 i love using pure silver for gifts of love.  it so expresses the purity of the sentiment!   

continuing with my heart theme for february, this was last bebruary's heart that i never posted.  i seem to get a little crazy this time of year while i'm gearing up to have plenty of new work for the annual Stutz Artists Open House, in april.  it makes me get off track, sometimes, forgetting the little things like posting.  this is the second version of a piece i designed for my sister.  it has the serenity prayer on the back...a prayer that has special significance for both of us.  she wears in on a 5mm wide silver neck ring on which it is stunning, if i do say so myself!

the original 'a wing and a prayer' pieces were bronze, and a little smaller.  the heat patina here shows up, here, very well.

again and again....and again

........now for the rest of the story.... after a couple of tries, i finally reproduced the accidentally 'broken wings' pendant.  i learned a few things on the way:  don't be in a hurry.  when i cut the clay for the new 'broken wings'  i didn't stop to pay attention to the thickness of the whole piece, thus when i broke off the part to be 'broken', i didn't notice that that part was thinner than the main.  the small piece shrank much more than the rest of it, and so was not usable.  back to the drawing board.  the second piece i fired turned out a much better size, and since i did have the forsight to drill holes for the 'stitches' in the clay while it was in the unfired stage, assembly went much quicker.  here is the finished piece along with the original, it's inspiration.  so next time i'm faced with the question, 'can you recreate an accident?'   i'll be able to say, yes.....yes you can....ifyou think twice! 

 here's one of my poems that seems to go with this. 

sky blue woman

 sky blue woman thought she'd never be whole,

the wind knocked out of her earth-strong soul

.......but when the dust cleared and she shook our her wings,

 she was grateful to find they were still useful things.

  when sky blue woman is brought to her knees,

 the mother earth whispers to the wind in the trees,

 and the trees rise up to speak to the sky

 that bends over the Woman with the visioned eye. 

 the wind and the trees and the sky embrace,

 to dry all the tears from the Woman's face