Yule Tidings and Merry Christmas!!

My Nephew had his first child this year. This is his first Christmas and I made this tree decoration in his honor. He is always laughing and so sweet. This decoration pretty much sums up his little personality. We all love him dearly! Happy Christmas little Amaethin!!!

Sabbatical

I am taking a Sabbatical from commissioned work for the time being. This winter I plan to take my skill level up a few notches and create some gallery quality work. Time to go inward and let my creative subconscious do its thing. I feel it stirring and yearning to create art that comes from within..........

A Little Visitor

This is Phoebe, she is our little hubcapbird that nests here and has her little family. She knows us and lets us come right up to her and take pictures and say hello. She is a little Dipper, who spends most of her time in the creek and in the shrubs around the creek. We have a number of birds who come around on a regular basis and live close with us. I love it when I can get a picture and keep a record of them all, get to know them and their habits, as they do ours, I`m sure!

We`ve had another wonderful visitor , from Stourbridge, England, Yes!, a fellow glass engraver and Guild member. Amanda Lawrence. www.gge.org.uk She was in Canada to personally deliver a commission she did for Mission Hill Winery in Kelowna. Amanda and her husband, stopped by for a short but very sweet visit to our home and My Studio. It was so inspiring and very thrilling to at last talk to another engraver in the flesh. It is fantastic to belong to the Guild of Glass Engravers, which inspires, educates and connects us together. "Light" is truly a magical medium to work with, and I hope to share with as many as I can in this part of the World.

Happy Halloween!

This is a wine bottle engraved with the copy of my client`s family label. They are from Sulzburg Germany, the family label is "Ghost from Sulzburg". They will then fill the bottle and keep it in their wine cellar as a special bottle. A cool design, the white image of the ghost coming over the castle. It turned out quite nice, the ghost was really sparkling. The bottle was brought here from Germany, Engraved and brought back again. I`m half German, on my mothers side and actually lived overseas for all my teenage growing years. It was a most rewarding experience to travel the world at such a young age.

It was kind of neat to engrave something that came from Germany to go back there again.

Finally getting back in the creative saddle, I will be engraving things with the winter season in mind and stir up a few ideas that have been waiting patiently for my wrist to heal up. Happy Halloween Everyone!

Harvest Time

Harvest time in our beautiful valley. This piece is a small portion of a 5' panel. Custom loft balconey glass, Two 5` panels, one side vineyard the other apple orchard.The house overlooks Okanagan Lake on a bluff. Not much engraving went on this summer. I took a wild fall, slipping on wet stairs in my slippy rubber boots. My engraving hand took all the weight of the fall. Silly thing to happen, devastating to my engraving. We don`t realize how precious something is until we loose it for awhile or altogether for that matter.

A fellow engraver from England, also a member of the Guild of Glass Engravers, is in my area. She is here to hand deliver a commission to a local winery. I really hope to get to meet her!

More news to follow!

I`ll be shortly back in the studio again, good as new I hope!

Local Scenes

We are now enjoying our beautiful summer Okanagan, wonderful vistas, the lake, beauty everywhere. So blessed to live here. I never take it for granted. Cherries are so delicious now, dark and sweet and sooooo good! The rainbow children are here to pick fruit and enjoy the culture and adventure of it all the tourists are happy enjoying themselves. The lazy days of summer. Just had a few small orders in the studio lately. Its Siesta time in the valley now. Time to enjoy the summer!!

Summer

Well, we are still waiting for summer anyway, our usual "Sunny" Okanagan has been rather dark lately. We hear it will be coming next week! Certainly can`t complain too much as we live in a beautiful paradise. When I look around this crazy world, I think how am I so blessed to live here and do what I love? Gratitude fills my heart everyday. Growing season is upon us and things grow a little every day. Its such a delight to run to the gardens in the mornings and see how they`ve miraculously grown overnight! We are embracing our gardens and growing more and more food every year. There is nothing like eating a meal that we grew ourselves that is still filled with life energy and nutrients. Ahhh, the good life! Anything you give attention to will flourish! We create our surroundings and all that happens to us. Attitude is so important to the outcome of everything. We can choose to keep the shiney up. Act as if you are excellent, even if you are a little off and soon you will be excellent. We really have that power. Its ok to feel bad sometimes, feel your feelings and let them run through you, then you can quickly change your mind, like a fish darting in the water! Try it!