Today's Design Work

The only satisfying thing that I accomplished today was that I had some interesting ideas for new stained glass panels.

I am continuing to make panels that are 1-foot square (what is that, 30 cm sq?) to sell for hanging in people's windows. I also want to get back to more classical medieval stained glass techniques, but give them a modern twist.

This image is just a rough sketch that I did on the computer for my next idea. It takes foliage from an actual medieval stained glass window, and combines it with modern graphics of a songbird. I love the songbird trend that's hot right now. I'll be sad when it goes away.

Nothing worked today

Today was just one of those days where everything refused to work. Whether it was the computer, my tools and equipment... even my clothes, even it all seemed to go haywire at the moment I needed it. Rrrrgghh!! I was about to tear my hair out. Maybe because it's so hot right now. I don't mind hot weather, I love it actually, but even I have to admit that I function a bit slower when it's 95 with high humidity. Hence the same must go for my inanimate objects.

In late afternoon a storm came though, and cooled things off. It was a good ripping windy rainy gale that lasted about half an hour. Later when I walked to get groceries it was gorgeous and it smelled so nice out, like warm earth and wet pines and wildflowers.

My friends Lauren and Emily have been out of town all week and now I miss them. I've been busy the last two or three weeks and haven't seen them, but this week I'm not so busy and they're in Hawaii for a wedding. Come back guys!

Tinkering on MySpace

This evening since I got home I've been tinkering with my MySpace page, making it all pretty and design-y. I've been discovering a lot of new graphic design tricks lately with Photoshop. I'm pretty happy with the results (even if MySpace is a waste of time overall -- which it definitely is!).

Want to see? Click here www.myspace.com/greenlanternglass

Here's a couple examples of my graphic design tinkering too. These are the "thanks" messages that you leave on other peoples' sites when they make you their "friend" (oh so sweet).









Tomorrow I'm definitely going to have to get back to real work. This is such a waste of time, even if it's fun...

Been a Good Week

This past week has been pretty good. Last week there was a concert in the park near my studio. It happens once a week, and my building had reserved some space for the artists in our building to put out a table and show our wares. I brought out my table, Marco came over and we sat there and watched the concert (bluegrass, if you're wondering).

A woman came over and looked at my jewelry. Then she introduced herself and said she owned a gallery in downtown St. Paul and invited me to participate in a show of glass jewelry that just happened to be opening the next friday.

So I went over to their gallery the next day and they bought 10 necklaces wholesale. Just like that, money on the table. Yay! That covers 2/3 of my month's rent! In addition to that I got the final payment on my most recent custom work, so I definitely came out ahead financially this month. Yay! I get stressed when I'm draining money.

I Love Summer in Minnesota

It's the middle of beautiful, perfect summer in Minnesota these days. Now that I'm living here again I think that there's nowhere in the world that has summer days as nice as here.

A few months ago I complained here on this blog that Minnesota was a bit dull and I felt like going somewhere else, but I don't feel that way at all now. Marco and I visited New York two weeks ago and Chicago last week, and I couldn't be happier to come back here. Those crowded dirty cities in the summer are terrible. I never want to live in that again. Here there is greenery and trees and birds and rabbits and flowers everywhere, even right here in the middle of the city. Evenings are gorgeous, with sunsets and soft fragrant air and cheerful people spending time together on outdoor patios and front porches. People are relaxed and cheerful. We spend our evenings visiting people or just strolling around our neighborhood. We go swimming at the St. Croix River on the weekends. It's all very simple. I'm content.