I finally got around to getting a good photograph of my pirate. Here he is:

Aaaarrrgh, mateys!

I've been sadly remiss in updating this blog lately mainly because I've not been spending any time in my studio. Bad girl! This week, however, I broke out the nippers and the thinset and started work on my pirate.

I was chosen to be the artist to design next year's Arts for All Festival t-shirt and this is my design. I'm calling it "Aaarrghts for All". If you click on the photo you can see it in more detail.

The parrot I modeled after one I took a photo of in Cuernavaca, Mexico earlier this year. The pirate is just your run of the mill typical pirate, not the Somalian variety. I'm pleased with his beard but I've re-done the nose about three times already. I was happy (but feel a bit guilty) about only having to do one eye. It feels like cheating.

Deadline on this is July 30. I'm so bad about waiting til the last minute but it took me awhile to get inspired. It does feel good to be back in my studio.

I was the Thursday morning guest at Art Camp here in Frederick. I had a blast teaching thirty or so 4th, 5th and 6th graders all about mosaics. Well, not ALL about them but at least as much as their attention spans could hold. I then turned them loose on some paper mosaicking.

Some of these kids were very very good and all of them had fun. Here is a photo of my favorite piece from today along with the artist, Wyatt Snyder.

"Bringing Back Carol Rae" will be on exhibit at the Chicago Mosaic School in Chicago, IL from June 5th through August 1st. The exhibit is entitled "About/Face: Portraits in Contemporary Mosaic".

I made this piece at Shug Jones' portrait workshop last fall in Plano, TX. I chose a photograph of my late mother-in-law and very close friend, Carol Rae Perry to mosaic because I knew she couldn't complain if it didn't turn out to look like her. Fortunately it did look just like her though and I am sure she would get a big kick out of being on exhibit in Chicago.

Here I go jumping into the 21st century (only 9 years late) with my very own blog. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks?