Sneeky Peeks!

Phew! I've been busy in the studio, playing catch-up and starting new projects, in what can easily be described as an unabashed wallowing in a creativity hot tub. Jump in! Oooo it feels good! And just like hot water loosens the muscles, serenity loosens the artistic impulses for me...now all I need is another pair of arms! So I thought I'd post a few sneek peeks of some pieces that will be available for sale as customs or as castings.

So first, here's a peek at V.2's neat row of teensy little braids along her neck (right). I would have finished her some time ago, but I wanted to redo her eyes. Something about them wasn't quite right, so I put her away for a couple of months to refresh my eye (oh the irony!). Actually, it's always a good idea to put a sculpture away for awhile, and return to it later before considering it "done". It's amazing how this trick can illuminate what you previously overlooked. And learning is a continuum, which this practice also exploits to an artist's advantage. So I'll be popping new eyes on her soon, then off she gallops to the caster!

The next peek is "Sebastian's Muse", or "Bastian" for short, that customized MOW I mentioned on my list. Here's his hinder and tail (left).

I'm nearly done sculpting him, with only one eye to go, plus some shoe details. Then it's sand, sand, sand....and more sanding. Did I mention sanding? Ugh. But I really like how he turned out and I'm so excited to paint him! He's going to be a light dapple fleabit grey, and I'm looking forward to using some new painting techniques I learned from other artists. And Corinne Ensor's fabulous new snaffle bridle for him arrived today and wow...it looks awesome on him! I can't believe the tiiiny working buckles! To check out her fabulous tack, ooogle her website at www.shoeboxsaddlery.com.

Next, here's a peek at Vixen's hindquarter (right). Vixen is about 3 inches tall, being Taboo's lady friend, and she's full of the same pugnacious spunk, too. Birds of a feather, flock together! And as you can see, her tail is curled over, and I've given her quite the expression, too, but you'll have to wait to see her mug when she's completed. She has a bit more work to go on her legs, head and her mane and tail, but she's pretty close to done.

And I gotta tell ya...that's a marvelous thing! I was having such a bear of a time with her and her foal because, for some inexplicable reason, I kept breaking their dang little legs! I'd get a leg exactly how I wanted, then snap! I somehow managed to demolish it. So I decided to put them away until whatever gremlins were lurking about would grow bored and leave. Begone! I picked them up again, about two weeks ago, and things have been moving smoothly on them, finally. But good golly!...each of their legs has been resculpted at least twice, with some three or four times! Good practice I guess.

Which gets us to, Imp! Vixen's and Taboo's feisty little kidlet! Here's a photo of his hinder and flippy little tail (left). This wee one is only about 2 inches tall, and he's gadding about, like ol' Dad. As you can see, he has a foal coat like Pixie, only teensy tiiinier. He's been a lot of fun to create, but boy...sometimes my eyes start crossing working on his little details!

And finally, here's a sneek peek at a repainted mini, Donna Chaney's Chasing Rainbows (the landing jumper), that will be up for sale soon (below right). I've named him "Beane"...and yes, the pun is intended! And what an elegant sculpture! He's been a lot of fun to paint, with those lovely muscles and crisp head. I still have a bit more work on him to go, like his hoofies and some small details, but he's close to done. And you can probably tell that he's a chestnut sabino, and, boy, does he looks sharp in those "clothes"!

Anyhoo...back to work for me! It feels great to have my mojo back. I sure missed it! Having a "still" mind is essential for me to ease into the creative groove, and stay there. Ironically, I gotta be still to move forward.

"The monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind." ~Albert Einstein

Ahoy Me Bucko Bilge Rats!

Today be Talk Like A Pirate Day!

We here sailin' the addled waves at Minkiewicz Studios have gone on account to pillage booty and grog with those fierce pygmy landsharks, The piRATS! These scurvy wee sea dogs are eager to give chase and keelhaul the poor soul who dare hoard ye grub fer yerselves!

SQUEEEEEK! (translation: "ARRRRR!")

Avast me hearties! These blobbie buccaneers have outright mutinied and are running amok o'er the seas in their jollyboat! So beware ye good souls! Use yer deadlights an' watch out! They be after the contents of ye ice box! Ye brethren o' the Coast! Gangway! Or suffer a drink in Davy' Jones locker!

Two blobby bilge rats and a sack o' grub
Yo ho ho and a gooey belly!
Scamperin' and snatchin' it all in a hubbub
Yo ho ho and a gooey belly!
Yo ho ho, Yo ho ho, Yo ho ho...and a gooey belly!

ARRRRRRRR!

So I bid me farewell to thee with this here reckonin': "Now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates." ~ Mark Twain

Dafydd is SHINY!

Ta-da!! Here he is...the big secret I was waiting to spring on you....Dafydd is now clinky!! "Beloved" is now in beloved baked mud!

Many thanks to the ever-talented Joan Berkwitz for bringing him to fiery life! This luscious bay here was glazed by her--check out those dapples! And landsakes...I gotta tell ya....his mold is quite the IQ test! What that lady can do with plaster and mud boggles the mind. For some eye candy, spoil yourself with a visit to her website at www.pourhorse.com.

Joanie is finishing up a satin fleabit dapple grey Dafydd and Lesli Kathman will also be finishing up her Dafydd (with shoes!) soon, and I'll post pix of them here when I get them, along with some fun pix of his plaster mold for kicks.

Clinky Dafydd will be available as glazed and bisque pieces, but I haven't hammered out sales information on that yet, so just keep yer eyes peeled on my mailing list.

Anyhoo, we were madly working on these guys, along with the clinky Pixies during "Mayhem" here in May 2007, but oddly enough, Pixie is far easier to mold and clean. Heck, applying the shoes to Dafydd alone was enough to drive a person screaming into the hills. But baked Dayfdd is well worth the effort, I think.

So feast your orbs on Joanie's gorgeous work! More to come soon!

"We're all filled with naturally recurring patterns that make us unique – they're called talents. And our charge is to bloody well use them." ~Marcus Buckingham

The Descent--To where?--WHO KNOWS! And why don't we care??

There is a rare and pugnacious critter that you may have encountered, called a Laurie Jo Jensen. These creatures require a steady diet of uncontrolled laughter to maintain their vibrant colors and have been known to spontaneously erupt into that unique one-eyed spin-laugh so characteristic of this species. "Ahh-Ahhh....Ahh-Ahhhh!", like some exotic bird calling to its kind in a remote Amazon tributary, echoed throughout our halls. Truly, there's nothing quite like a Laurie Jensen in her natural environment... "Shhhhh....don't disturb it...they're so beautiful in the wild"....

And so Laurie visited over the weekend, and I got my much needed dose of her special brand of mayhem. We porked out on Mystery Science Theater (it was a "good and beautiful thing to do"), Extreme Elimination Challenge, Borat ("Good tiiiiimes!"...tho I'm still traumatized by that movie), Brak songs and assorted fits of craziness. We had lunch with my Mom, visited the minis (Noah is getting huge!) and puttered about a bit, before venturing home for a solid night of cackling and craziness. On Saturday, we managed to venture down to Art in the Park and meet my friend, Tina, for wine and Pronto Pups (What a combo! Bon Appetit...eat yer heart out) and enjoyed Boise's largest art fair.

We ate, drank and were merry until our faces hurt, and we both lost our voices within the first day. Sounding like Lauren Bacall can be fun for a few hours, until you start to squeak like spaztic squeeze toys over certain vowels! In the photo, Laurie brandishes the sacrifice we made to the grill gods, in the form of a carbonized skewer of pineapple and shrimp, though I'm happy to report that no eyebrows or bangs were sacrificed in kind...which has been known to happen.

Now I must reveal that my dear hubby had just switched from nightshift to dayshift the very day that Laurie descended, which I'm sure was just the dose of manic chaos he needed...if a 48 hr fever dream is the prescribed jolt the circadian rhythms need! I think the pure shock-factor alone equaled about 2 billion cups of expresso. My poor rats didn't know what to make of all of this, and simply hunkered down in their houses to ride out the storm.

But ahhhh....the weekend was a wonderful dose of the spazzy giddiness I needed, and Laurie certainly needed a quick break from her hectic world, too. Sometimes, pure unabashed insanity is just the ticket to shock neurons back into life which had fizzled into gnarled, charred stumps. Plus, one of the boons of weekend guests is that the house and studio must be cleaned thoroughly to maintain the grand illusion of an organized and spotless abode, in that eternal cat-n-mouse game between hosts and guests. And so my studios are spotless, and ready to be decimated in the new flurry of crazed creativity only Laurie can inspire. Life is good.

Indeed, I'm so bloated on the heady lunacy of her visit that I've actually started to realistically glaze a couple of my new WB plaques, over which, previously, I had been so timid to touch that I'd actually whipped myself into an frothy meringue of insecurity, quivering in a corner. But now..."Why doesn't Sarah care?" There's a certain cackling critter to credit!

Good friends are a treasure. When you least expect it, they remind your spirit of what it believed to have forgotten and makes everything new again. "Give me room....I'm about to spaz!" is my new motto.

And so, I leave you with this quote: "No my friends, darkness is not everywhere – for here and there I find a few faces illuminated from within. Paper lanterns swaying among the dark trees." ~Carole Ann Borges

A Day in McCall, Idaho

These last few years, it's been hard justifying breaking up studio work with day or weekend jaunts with my hubby (See -- He's not imaginary!) when I was trying to keep up with work while also taking care of my Dar, too. But now we're playing catch-up and it's been wonderful "rediscovering" what it's like to just be again, to turn my brain off to worry and frantic studio work and contemplate the beauty of nature around us and those we love. I'm finding this so important for re-charging my batteries.

Now ordinarily, you'd see the beautiful Payette Lake in the background, but because of some wildfires in the region, the place smelled faintly like a campfire, and the smoke caused just enough haze in the air to confuse the camera. Oh well. But in typical Idahoan fashion, that didn't stop anyone from enjoying the wonderful mountains!

Plus, every once and a while, a wonderful piece of artwork sneaks into the trip, like this endearing bear sculpture by Dan Ostermiller, situated by Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho. I'm a big fan of public art (especially when it's so charming!) and I find it inspires me in different ways, being art for the people. I'd like to think that my artwork speaks a language you enjoy because in this way it draws us together and reaffirms what's important in life.

Anyway, don't let hubby fool you...he may look scary all decked out in his biker clothes, and his enthusiastic bear-hugs certainly aren't to be reckoned with, but he's really a big happy guy who's quick to laugh, with a sparkle in his eye!

And so I leave you with this quote: "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song" --Maya Angelou