A Fave Illustrator

I bought my hubby a print by this incredible artist, Joey Chou, because it reminded me so much of my beloved angel dog, Poco, mentoring our young, newly-adopted little Coyote* dog. Poco was a peaceful, angelic mature bear (actually, a Chow mix) and Whiskey was a rambunctious pup. I could see them perfectly in this painting.

Joey's so incredibly talented. Vintage-inspired, yet totally contemporary, beautiful work. Check out his website to see more.

*By the way, we don't know if Whiskey actually has any coyote in him. We adopted him at four months old from our local shelter, and everyone always thinks he may have Coyote him. Whiskey, however, prefers the term, "mountain dog."

The Wolf pendant

Here are photos of the new pendants I've made with photos I took of the beautiful wolf, Flurry. (You can buy the pendants at the shop here.)

Ten percent of the sales of these pendants will be donated to The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, where Flurry resides. It was incredible to be so close to him. He is beautiful, but that goes without saying. :-)

Movies, Wolves and Vampires

Despite how that title sounds, this posting really isn't just about "New Moon!"

I've been conspicuously absent from the blog in the past two months. That's because the short film I wrote this summer finally came to fruition in mid October. So months of pre-production culminated in five days of filming. Although I got sick with a flu just days before our shoot began, I did manage to be present for the last day (which worked out well, since my scene was shot on that day). This short is a prequel, actually, to the feature that hubby wrote which we anticipate shooting next year. But now, we can breathe again—just in time for a busy holiday season. (Oh, did I mention post-production and editing?)

In addition to some pretty new Fall designs and a whole new crop of "New Moon" pendants (can't wait for November 20th!), I'll be creating a special

wolf design shortly. The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary is a rescue sanctuary for wolves and wolf-hybrids here in New Mexico. We visited the sanctuary last Spring and it was beyond wonderful to be so close to such beautiful creatures. On Halloween, the Director of the Sanctuary came to our local library with Flurry, a beautiful Mexican Grey Wolf (who is actually mostly white).

I photographed him and will be making a special pendant featuring this beautiful boy. 10% of sales of this pendant will go to the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary.

In addition to rescuing wolves, the Sanctuary is starting a new program with some local folks to help the area's homeless and neglected dogs. There are two Reservations and many impoverished areas nearby in dire need of veterinary services, including spay/neuter, and bi-lingual education. If you can help, please contact the Sanctuary.

Fridays on My Tail

The weeks have been flying by this month. We just sent out our August tile pendant giveaway winner email today (should have been around the 1st of the month...oops!).Part of the reason is my work on a short film I co-wrote that we are in pre-production for right now. That means I've been busy casting, writing, location scouting....and biting my nails to bits.

I also started Weight Watchers online. Just a tad stressful, no? :-)

But I do have some awfully pretty bird designs that will be posted shortly.

Speaking of birds, while on the top of the Sandia Mountains yesterday (hehe...I like saying that), we saw some hummingbirds at feeders. They were obviously more interested in eating than the proximity of humans. Take a look-see.

Also, it's baby lizard season in Albuquerque now. If you can imagine the smallest, cutest little guys ever...you still won't even come close to picturing how adorable they are.

Here's a baby that Randy rescued from the sidewalk. He's in a drinking glass (the lizard, not Randy), about to be released into our garden.

My Surroundings

Just a few images from a recent hiking trip in the Sandia mountains, and a spring visit to El Morro National Monument.

New Mexico is such a visual inspiration.

This is a common Chollo cactus, in flower.

This rock looks just like a beached whale, doesn't it?

The famous watering hole at El Morro National Monument.

Graffiti, from the 1800s.

Drilling Rocks at Twilight (sort of)

Last month, I blogged about my research into drilling rocks. I left off with having found info on how to do it, and the intention of trying it out myself. The big hurdle was getting over the ....um....fear of electrocution that goes along with placing part of an electrical power tool under water.

Right. So I did it...and survived. However, the whole experience was actually disappointing. I tried drilling through a pretty, blackish rock (a river stone) and, after several goes at it, I only got slightly into the rock. Worse still was this feeling of somehow, this whole process just wasn't right. How could I safely continue to drill under 1.5 inches of water? Even though only the drill bit was actually in the water (not the entire drill, of course!!), it still felt wrong.

Well, last Friday, I took a Glass Fusing class at Hot Flash Glass in Albuquerque. Karen, the wonderful glass artist who taught the class, showed me how she drills through glass. Instead of putting the whole thing underwater, she just tapes around the area where she will drill, and puts several drops of water inside the taped area, and drills away. It worked perfectly. You can add a drop or several as you go along, but amazingly, the water tends to kind of stay there, and go into the hole you are creating as you drill. The purpose of the water, after all, is to keep the drill bit and material cool, by, I would imagine, reducing friction. And it worked. 

A better method than putting a power tool, even partially, under water----eh?

On another topic, we finally saw Twilight. Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my. It was dreamily, beautifully, mesmerizingly wonderful. Just like Adam Lambert! :-) Count me in. Our website will be updated with our newest pendant designs very soon and I intend on making a Dazzle pendant for myself. And impatiently waiting a mere five months until...New Moon.

The LINK---between Animal Abuse and Human Violence

I just bought the correct Dremel chuck to fit the diamond bit in order to test out my underwater drilling (see previous post). But in the meantime....

A couple of days ago, I attended the 6th Annual New Mexico Governor's Conference on THE LINK between ANIMAL ABUSE and HUMAN VIOLENCE ("Forming Positive Links"). Wow...it was amazing, important, devastating, disturbing, enlightening. I've been involved in animal welfare causes for a very long time, and always got frustrated when occasionally encountering folks who say, "what about children?" As if helping one is hurting the other! AS IF THERE IS A DIFFERENCE. Violence towards animals is a desensitizing precursor to violence towards humans. It's proven and widespread. 

Some of the wonderful speakers included:

Phil Arkow, Director of The Link program of The American Humane Association, and officers/psychologists/directors from animal control agencies, domestic violence agencies, social service and children's agencies, and a veterinarian. 

These LINK programs are held in states throughout the country. If you are so inclined, check it out where you live. Here's the info from AHA. 

I will be putting energy towards one particular cause: ending dogfighting. If you want to learn more about this vile activity, which is shockingly prevalent in this country, take a look at Diane Jessup's site on the subject. I had the honor of knowing Diane when I worked in rescue in Washington state. She is a brilliant author and animal advocate, who speaks from a deep knowledge, having worked at a shelter for many years.

One very appropriate and very beautiful fact I learned at this seminar:

Man's first artwork showed pictures of animals. 

Animals---our cohorts, our companions, our connection, our life source, our inspiration. 

From the very beginning.