gosh... it sure has been a while since i have posted anything, hasn't it? not sure why that is... guess i have not had much to say.

the SAMA conference in early april was great! i really enjoyed meeting a lot of new people. i also had 2 very good workshops: one with bill buckingham and sophie drouin on working with stones; and the other one with sonia king on the business of mosaics. volunteering was a wonderful experience which gave me an opportunity to meet even more people.

the MAI 2008 exhibit was very exciting... so, so many good pieces representing a lot of different techniques and materials. i think that my favorite mosaic in the exhibit... the one that wowed me the most when i first laid eyes on it... was by scott henderson... i believe.. and was titled swan lake. absolutely stunning! kind of surprising, as i am really more into abstract these days... but it was beautifully done and so, so striking... it just kind of took my breath away. click on the thumbnail to see it.

still working on my monthly rhythms explorations, and i am enjoying both the process and the challenge. i also finished up my latest floating planes piece from my above and below series. i am calling it subtleties. i am not sure how i feel about it... it just did not turn out as i had envisioned it. it was very experimental... but really nothing like i anticipated. i will expand on all that some more when i post some pics in a few days.

not much more to talk about right now... i will post my april rhythms piece now.

more later...

scientist jill bolte taylor's powerful stroke of insight

greetings all! i am wishing everyone a joyous and peace-filled holiday season, and a very bright, shining new year!

it is a nice time for me right now... between christmas and new year. my 18 year old is working for his dad... they hired him to be webmaster (is that one word or two?) during school, he will work part-time, but now he is taking advantage of being able to get some extra hours. my 16 year old is just hangin' out here at the house... reading, playing and listening to music, etc.

santa was pretty good to me... i received 3 mosaicsmalti.com gift certificates... what more could a girl ask for!?! i hope he was good to you too!

i was able to spend several hours yesterday on my latest mosaic attempt... which was pretty nice for a change... and should have a few hours as well today. i hope to finish this one this week... will post photos asap.

my vegetarian chile was the best chile i have ever made!... in my opinion anyway. my 16 year old does not entirely agree... he thought it had too many vegetables... weird, huh? but my mother- and aunt-in-law, and my husband, who are fasting until the orthodox christmas on january 7, seemed to really like it... mission accomplished!

well, i need to go dry my hair and take advantage of the mosaic time i have... my very best to you all!

here is a mashup... i only just learned what that was a few weeks ago... that my oldest son, assisted by his brother, created. basically, a mashup seems to be putting audio from one movie/source with video from a different movie/source... often done with movie trailers. these mashups are very interesting, and apparently a lot of people are doing them... with varying degrees of expertise. this one is done with the pirates of the caribbean: at world's end trailer and video clips from harry potter and the order of the phoenix. my guys have been having a lot of fun putting them together, and it really is a lot of work! this one turned out very well... and its got a few surprises!

enjoy!

here we are... these are much better pics of daisy and misha. the 1st pic is daisy, our beagle mix, and the 2nd one is misha, our shi-tzu/sheltie mix. they seemed more than happy to pose for my iphone camera, didn't they?

a bit shameless of me to plug my iphone, isn't it? its just that... i have never really been one to get into the latest tech device... i never even got into ipods... my husband gave me a little ipod nano that he got as a gift at some conference, and i only used it when i travelled. but this iphone is sooo cool... and it does take reasonable pictures. i am an official apple convert now, it seems... i purchased my first computer ever... for myself... and it is an imac... i love it!! i am hooked!

have a good week, y'all!