Chanteuse: She's a girl but no one could tell...

I had to make a body so she'd look more like a female! She's going to go live with my friend Anne.

Pittsburgh Zoo: Afternoon with the Animals

Rob and I stopped at E2 on Bryant Street for breakfast. I had a DEELISH frisee salad topped with fried egg and bacon. There was goat cheese and pecans hiding under the egg. I feel like going back again today!

Even though it was one of the hottest days, the animals at the Pittsburgh Zoo

were fairly cooperative for the camera (plus a little Photoshop cropping and contrast work!)

...and the most dangerous creature in the sea!

I Made It! Market: I'll be selling June 27!

Everyone should stop by! The I Made It! Market is full of a wide variety of crafts and it's always an interesting all-ages crowd...dreadlocks to walking canes, you see it all!
______________________________________
I Made It! Market, Pittsburgh’s nomadic indie crafts marketplace is celebrating our third birthday party on Sunday, June 27 from 12 – 5 pm in partnership with the American Jewish Museum and My Baby and Me, both located at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill.

The festivities include 50 local artisans selling handmade wares, hands-on activities for kids including pirate and princess hat decorating, collage making, and cake and balloons! For more information, visit www.imadeitmarket.com or www.jccpgh.org.

Art: BeeBoo Beads

I loved these little pink, periwinkle, and misty gold beads when I saw them on flickr so I hopped right over to Beth Mellor's etsy shop , BeeBoo, to buy them. (She has more like them if you want your own set.)  And it was fate that I find them because my childhood nickame was BeeBoo!
I stayed up way too late last night to finish my new necklace because I wanted to wear it today with my new shirt. And it just so happens they look perfect together! I tried to channel a bit of Lorelei's asymmetrical genius to make my necklace interesting.

Faces: Forest and City Dwellers

The Manager

The Exotic Chanteuse

The Lamenting Lumberjack

The Old Crone

Fabi: Beautiful Mosaic Mirror

Fabi of Madrid, Spain, made a lively and colorful polymer mosaic mirror. I love it! Now I have to think of some way I can use a similar technique. While I'm thinking of what that could be, look at the pretty mirror close up!

 She is multi-talented too. Take a look at her drawings, decoupage on interesting boxes , crazy coils that look like some sort of fat insect(!), fabric arts and more!

JaneJoss: Plants for the Green Thumb Challenged

JaneJoss on etsy makes the prettiest fabric plants and flowers. They'd be a great gift for someone who isn't great with real plants, or who has pets that like to chew on indoor greenery (like my two good boys!)

Sweet Leaves - Spring Romance Fabric Branches (set of 6)

 

Sweet Potted Fabric Plant - Pink Roses Aloe

 

Etsy Treasury: Waves

I made my first treasury on etsy. I picked a theme and color scheme and then searched for items that fit.

Margaret Dyer: Pastels

Margaret Dyer's pastels are great! Look at the hair here -- seven colors at least -- and yet it looks like hair. If I tried such a thing viewers would think the model was in the tub to wash off the paint that had been dumped on her! Click here to see this GORGEOUS painting in full.
Margaret's in France now teaching a workshop. Read her story about this session.

More Faces: Hat Man and Night and Day

Beads: New Faces

I made some new faces last night and there will be more. Too tired right now to put them on etsy -- doing so would require me to think and that's dangerous when I'm sleepy.

A Girl and Her Dog

Pineapple King

The Worriers (no wonder...they have a stick through their heads!)

 

...and some more gradient etched beads. 

www.artybecca.com: Expired

If you go to www.artybecca.com you will find it no longer works. My first post on this blog last September was the growing realization that it was easier to do a blog and have a flickr, etsy, and facebook site than manage my own website. My hosting agreement was set to expire yesterday so I let it. (I still own the URL.)
I heard a story once that in the early days of radio, everyone got in on the act. Department stores and other businesses had their own radio stations to advertise their sales and promote their products. Later, it became easier to let a radio company manage the technical aspects of the work and just buy time on their stations. Why bother with all the hard parts when you just want to advertise your clothing or gasoline?
We're already at that point with the internet. Why do I want to bother with a web design program, organizing folders of images and html files, and then uploading to multiple folders on the web host's site when I can just log in and start typing or uploading my photos? So much easier and at less expensive than the hosting cost!
---------------
My blog even lets me have a few pages that are not chronology based so I moved my favorite web content there. If you're interested, those pages are:

Drawings

Pastels

Halloween costumes

A fun trip not far from home

My cats

Paint projects

Beads: Skinner Sets

In the etsy shop now. More coming later tonight.

Beads: From This to That

More scrap clay beads. Forgive the terrible low-light "before" photos. That's what you get at 1 a.m. with a bare lightbulb and an ancient floor lamp! Hmmm, do you think I need better lighting at my worktable?

HARLEQUIN

From this...

To that...

TRIBAL WOOD

From this...

To that...

Beads: Snake experiment

Artist:: JenJuddRocks!

One of my lions found a home two weeks ago with Jen of JenJuddRocks! and is now part of a necklace with a special meaning.

Jen's husband is serving in Afghanistan. He's in the Panjshir Valley which translates as "Five Lions" so she's collecting lions and creating Afghan inspired pieces.
Go check out Jen's blog and see my lion hanging around with Afghan lapis and smoky quartz!

Here are two of my favorites from Jen's etsy shop:

Ciao Bella

Klee Organic Bangle