Meet my photographer and new banner

I'm not staying on the computer very long today, I'm having a flare up of the repetitive stress injury, so it' a quicky post today. I've got a new banner designed by my budding photographer teen. (That's him above.) He prefers to take portraits and not do graphic arts but he feels obligated to keep my photos, banners, website fresh and not go stale. Thank you! He does most of my bead/jewelry photography although I'm still teaching him how to "style" the beads. He's a fast learner and I expect he'll be styling the beads soon.

Wire Head will be back - I'm doing lots of wire lately!

Budding creativity in the suburbs!

Maybe I mentioned it before but if I didn't, my house is the hang-out spot for my son and his friends. Every Friday night, I have a house full of teens, 6 to 10 of them to be specific. They're not the popular kids, nor the academic nerds (like I was), they're mostly artist, DIY types but they don't know it yet. I'm impressed by their Threadbanger style altered fashion, they're eye for photography and art. So, my house is full of very youthful creativity that can't help but permeate my creative sensibility - even though according to them, I'm "old." But today's post isn't about me, I want to talk about these talented young people who inspire me without even knowing it.

One of these budding artists has been friends with my teen since they were 7. They used to spend hours and hours drawing Anime and writing their own Manga. My son uses that influence in his photography by creating digital collages:




his friend, Robin has continued to draw. They share a love of all things Anime and were inseparable during the AnimeNorth convention.

Sidewalk art is cool and there's always a huge box of chunky sidewalk chalk in my garage. They know it's there and help themselves to creating on my suburban driveway. The neighbors don't like it but who cares? Why stifle creativity?

Today, I'm showcasing Robin's sidewalk chalk art. If you're a Pokemon fan, you're recognize some of the characters, Pikachu and a Snorlax.

I love love love having public art in the neighborhood - I was really sad to see the rain come but how Buddhist is that? Everything is temporary, enjoy it while you can. Fortunately, my teen took pictures and we all can enjoy them even though they've been washed away.

Musings on beads, being a Mom and 16.....

Normally, I talk about beadmaking on this blog. But I have another life as a Mom. Some of my best beads have been inspired by being a Mom - like the Heartz n Skullz series. Inspiration to make beads is awesome but this morning I'm having an attack that goes like this - OMG! What happened?!?


I know it's cliche and all that but really, the time has gone so fast! I think because I enjoy him. He's got a good heart and is growing into a really cool person. Not to mention his great sense of humor. He's not so good at school and doesn't like it much which worries me alot! He loves photography,





manga and writes and creates techno music (when he should be studying). We're having a huge 16th birthday party for him and an in-house wizard rock band. Oh yeah, he's mad at me right now because I took the internet away for the 3 detentions he got yesterday. Wonder what kind of bead THAT will inspire?!?




(All photos by my son! :-)and a link to his techno music on SnoCap which has samples from his favorite teen movies - so parents with little ones the language on a couple tracks are too strong for them. )

Off topic post....

Off topic post today - I'm bleary eyed from the events of the weekend and my torch was off for the weekend because of it. Saturday night while my son and his girlfriend were at the homecoming dance at his high school, the phone rang. It was the school calling, my son was hurt and being taken by ambulance to the local emergency room.

It's the worst phone call in the world. It scares the be-jeesus out of you. Thankfully, it wasn't life threatening. He had dislocated his knee when he slid on the dance floor. Spent Saturday night and early Sunday morning at the emergency room while they put him to sleep to push the bone back into place. He's in a soft cast now for the next four weeks.

I didn't feel sleep deprived yesterday but it's caught up with me this morning. No sleeping in today and a late sign language interpreting job tonight. Hopefully, I'll catch up and post a little later in the week.

I did get a chance to post to my crochet blog this past weekend....you can pop on over there if you'd like!

What does a beadmaker do when she's not making beads?

A week ago, I went to Rockin' at the Knox - the annual fundraiser for the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Headliner was Elvis Costello - one of my favorite musicians! He performed Green Shirt which he hasn't performed in years - over articulating the "t" and "k" at the end of the words - awesome. The encore was What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding" a song I've been blaring on my car stereo every morning. It poured that evening - all of the concert goers were soaked but most of us stayed.

My son, the budding photojournalist, took these pictures. Upon arrival at the festivities, he went to the stage and stayed there the entire 6 hours! For me, these shots wer worth it.

The best thing about the concert, though, was that I was standing next to my 15 year old who loved Elvis as much as I did! He was very impressed his Mom jumped up and down and screamed the lyrics along with him. Doesn't get any better than that - I am a lucky person!