Paula's Avocados

A trip to Paula Teplitz the wonderful potter.

Gayle and I drove out to the country to Arroyo Grande to Paula's house and studio. Paula had work for her for Gayle's Chambers Gallery here in Cambria. It was a gorgeous day and her home sits on a beautiful avocado ranch .

After business was completed she took us to her back yard that is actually a huge vegetable garden with avocado and several fruit trees.It backs up to enormous old oaks and a forever vista of soft hills, citrus and avocado.

She plucked a big box full of avocado's for us and a big bag of oranges, what a treat!A very fun day, all of Paula's beautiful pottery, her studio and the delightful trip to her vegetable garden.

Thank you Paula and Gayle for a special day in the country.

WHITE EARTHENWEAR SCULPTURE

Wall sculpture 5" wide 24" tall.

A different piece, fun to make and a bit of a challenge!I seem to be doing alot of that lately!

This sculpture is hand built with white earthenware clay and glazed with an all white glaze.

WEDDING 'CUP' CAKE

6"x6" oil on board. Oh I love weddings! Everyone is talking about them right now and there are many family's here who are participating in this ever beautiful event. I am inspired by all the fun and excitement and just had to paint a "wedding cup cake"!

WHEN PIGS FLY!!

6x10"" Hand built pig with wings! Just finished some clay work. This pig has to be fired and glazed but I wanted to put him on. He is made of white earthen wear clay and will be glazed white and as soon as he's fired I will put him back on. I'm concentrating on clay work right now and will be painting again soon. This piece is for Heather's Gallery.

HEATHER'S NEW GALLERY

My daughter, Heather Roddy has opened her new gallery in the Flower Hills Mall in Del Mar California.I just got back from a trip to see it and I am so proud of her! If you are in the area please check it out, it's wonderful! She will be carrying my pottery and sculptures. She offers classes in a really fun setting in a weekly format and I will be doing a workshop there possibly in September.  It is called HART Gallery  http://www.heatherroddyartgallery.com/

WHITE BIRD

hand built earthenware clay 5" tall

Fresh out of the kiln this morning, I made 2. I'm not sure if I will leave them white or paint them! I do like the pristine white glaze but I also like color! Maybe just leave them white for a while and make up my mind........A dilemma!!

ROOSTER

20x24" o/c / It's been a while since I painted a rooster. The last one was on one of my pillows. This was fun to paint, I just love to paint all birds!!

PEARS

5" tall I'm loving the white pears! This is part of a special order for the" H~art Gallery"in DelMar Ca. This is my daughter Heather's new gallery!

CAW CAW CAW

6"x6" oil on board/ He's calling you!!

CHOCOLATE STARS

6"x6" oil on board chocolate cupcake with pink frosting and chocolate stars!

EGGPLANT with FRUIT

I'm experimenting with my new computer and camera this morning and having fun but it is alot to get used to!! This is the only picture to work so I'm posting it! This is the center piece on my kitchen table. I love the color of egg plant andI've combined it with a pear and a small fig from my friend Vicki Green. The red piece is a glass plum my daughter Heather gave me and the platter is by Miller.

I'll be posting new cupcakes as soon as I figure this all out!

CUP CAKE

6"x6" oil on board Pink frosting! Who doesn't love it?? Chocolate and little sprinkles!!

CUP CAKE

6"x6" oil on board Who doesn't LOVE cup cakes? Butter cream frosting? I'm going to be painting cup cakes again and I'm excited! Wish I could eat them too!! Maybe just a bite.

SOLD!!

BIRD HOUSES

Side of the blue bird house and back sides of the blue and one of the green. Today I am sketching new ideas. Bird related or something new? Today will tell! These have been so fun to make and more clay work sounds fun!

BIRD HOUSE

5" x10" Two more bird houses. Yes there is a bird peeking out of one of them ( pretend). They have roses on top and words. All pieces except the chards are hand made. I will post the backs too, I've been asked what they look like. These are weather proof, they have been sealed to protect them in the elements including water.

BIRD HOUSE

10"x5" piqueassiette . I have been working on bird houses for the last couple of weeks. I have 4 done and will post the other two tomorrow. The bird houses are first made in clay and fired then the shards are cut and applied. Then grouted. I have two more that I will post tomorrow!

The green one above the blue and white one is SOLD!

Peruvian Seed Jar

10"x7" This isn't actually a Peruvian seed jar but I got the idea for it when I saw one. The jars had little farmers and vegetables hand made and placed on the jar. They were made of clay and usually terra cotta. Seeds were kept in side the jar and saved for the following year after farming. They were the best of seeds only, like gold, insuring a good crop the following year.

I made the jar from terra cotta and the little people and pieces. Then using terra cotta shards and bits of potterie I mosiaced the piece. Allot of fun, my Peruvian seed jar sits in my garden next to the nasturtiums and lavender.

Humming Bird

6"x6" oil painting on board. Sweet little bird!

BLUE BIRD

6"x6" oil on board. They can spot their dinner from 130 feet away! Curtains for an insect of any type. They aren't fussy!

Spring Bloom

My friend Annette gave me plants for my birthday several months ago and this is a brand new bloom for Spring! It has rained so much and the winds have been so wild the little tag that was on it is gone! I don't know the name of this plant? Do you? Anyway, I love it and it grows beautifully in a big terra cotta pot on my deck.
I'm taking a short break from painting and spending much needed time in the garden.
The geraniums, yellow daisey's and lovely blue and violet rosemary are all taking over the yard! I Love Spring!

Humming Bird

6"x6" oil on board. When I was looking at photos of humming birds I was astonished at how many varieties there are. Amazing! I had such choices , the light on this one shown a beautiful lavender and I just had to paint that!
They are attracted to the color red so plant some red flowers in your spring garden! SOLD!!

Dark-eyed Junco

6"x6" oil on board. Little juncos. I paint many of these little guys because they are very popular here along the coast. I have allot of them on my deck since the squirrels keep knocking my bird seed about. They love to go along the ground and eat, they are seed eaters, so there is plenty of nourishment there for them!

Black Phoebe

6"x6" oil on board. An insect eater that prefers to nest near water. He will nest in a bird house!

DEL MAR ART GALLERY

This is my Daughter Heather Roddy. She is opening her first ever art gallery in Del Mar California in the Flower Hill Promenade. It will be named Del Mar Art Gallery. It won't be open for several weeks but when it is Heather has asked me to give painting workshops there.

I will be going back to my roots. San Diego is where I started. I have to comment too that so many years ago when Heather was a baby her dad and I would take our three little ones ,put them in a play pen and sell our paintings out front of the old Del Mar Hotel . How funny life is, to bring you back to the start in such a different way!
I'm so proud of you Heather, congratulations and I can't wait to join you in your exciting new endeavor!

PINK FLORAL

20"x24" oil on board. This painting is one I did some time back and I've probably posted it but I wanted some color up here!! I will be painting some new works soon and I'm wanting to get back to my loose florals. They are so much fun!

Workshop

All of the paintings for my workshop have been sent to Arts Desire in Vancouver Washington. You can see them by going to www.bevelar.com I am listed in "oil painting workshops".

Classes will be the 8th,9th,1oth,11th of April for 4 days of painting fun! Bev will have all supplies there plus frames for your beautiful finished work.

See you there!!

WILLET

6"x6" oil on wood panel The willet, like other shore birds wades through the water and probes with it's long beak in the wet sand or the mud of wetlands looking for food. It dines primarily on aquatic insects. It winters along the entire coast line of California.

CROW with NECKLACE

8"x10" oil on board What can I say? He's ready for a party!

BLUE BIRD

6"x6" oil on board Yes, I know, I said shore birds! Well, I must keep up with my inland birds too, I so love them. I will go back and forth, it's all fun!

Blue birds are insect eaters. They prefer open areas like parks,orchards,pastures,where it is easier to spot their food. They love meal worms, live or roasted....yum. SOLD!

PIED OYSTER CATCHER

6"x6" oil on board. While researching the black oyster catcher native to our western shore I came across the "pied oyster catcher" native to Australia. I couldn't resist painting it. !

OYSTER CATCHER

6"x6" oil on board. Shore birds are my new fascination to paint. Beach walks with camera in hand.
The oyster catcher is found only in the marine shoreline environment favoring rocky over sandy areas. It eats most every kind of shell fish favoring muscles but it doesn't eat oysters!! It mates for life and their nests are made from shell fragments and small stones. Nest building is done by the male. SOLD!

BIRDS

Thursday I went to the book store to find a book on bird feeders. The squirrels completely demolished the one I had. A crash and bird seed everywhere. The little juncos were first to pounce on the seed. I was upset to say the least but knew I wanted something special to stop the marauding of the bird feeders!
This a great book! Not only does it have the feeder suggestions but all about habitat's and different bird species in California! Perfect!
I whipped up a makeshift feeder until I can get the one I want and this morning after the rain I was host to robins,juncos,chickadees and jays. I also have the delightful gold finch coming but that is a separate feeder.
All is right with the world again!!

Santa Barbara Gem Faire

This weekend my friend Vicki Greene and I took a drive to Santa Barbara to view the gem and mineral show. Oh my what an adventure! Have you ever been? We were absolutely just over taken by the display of so many beads and gems . We didn't know where to start! So, so much to see! So many like minded people.

Reams and reams of beads,wire,findings,tools,jewels and stones.Gorgeous beads simple to exotic,I had never seen so much. So tempting , all of it!

We were exhausted by the time we left with our bags of fabulous do-da's and have to haves that we knew we couldn't live with out! This was our chance to purchase and see everything we needed to pursue our plans of jewelry making.

A drive past the house I used to live in, another past my gramma and grampa's house. The memories that came flooding back of family.An over night stay in beautiful Montecito, lot's of talking about our day , out to dinner at "Cava" a delightful dinner house. Up the next morning for one more turn through the show!! We couldn't resist!The weather stayed lovely the whole time we were there only to rain on the way home.

This show is not to be missed if you love beads and gems of any sort imaginable!! It will return again next year! We will be there to do it all over again!

SILVER ADORNMENTS

1"x1 1/2" pure silver medallion. The inspiration for this piece was an antique French medal.

Loving silver as I do I am enthralled with the process of making jewelry. All the adornments will be one of a kind designs with special embellishments. This can be worn with a cord or a chain. (not included with purchase). This piece is 75.

BIRD in the HAND

8"x10" oil on canvas board. Tiny Chickadee coming for a visit.

CROW with ACORN

Sort of fooling around this morning. I'm getting ready to go to my studio and get some painting done and heard the crows skulking about and calling to one another. I couldn't resist posting a crow, the acorn is from my old oak tree. He's made of black stoneware clay.
Off to work!

Rose Floral Pillow

30" square floral pillow. It's finished and I am so happy with it! I love the floral rose fabric and the addition of the French metis along with the floral ruffle makes it especially nice I think. Great size too!
Back to painting tomorrow morning, just a little detour in the meantime.

French Metis Ruffle

All my pieces are together and waiting to become a pillow. The creamy colored ruffle is vintage French metis. A blend of cotton and linen. It has a fine weave and it will go beautifully with the floral print of the pillow and the larger ruffle.
I'll put this together this morning and sew it up. Post it when it's completed. This has been a delightfully fun project after so much time in the studio.

Valentines Day

Today being Valentines day I felt it should be a special day. The ocean beckoned to me to come down to the shore and walk in the sand but I chose to sew. I had purchased a lovely old rose floral fabric at a flea market and so wanted to make a very large pillow for my couch! I have it cut out and have to put the ruffle on yet.
I can hear the ocean now. It's roar. The sun is going down and it gets wild. I've heard the glass has been churned up and the rock piles have been uncovered. Well, I made my choice and it was a special day. My pillow will be beautiful but I know I missed something wonderful today.

I hope your Valentines Day was special too!

Class in Silver Jewelry making

Silver Jewelery Class