We have been continuously busy since last August when we secured four commissions. the major one being the Invesco project, the two 16' x 9' walls. I posted previously about finishing the map wall. We finished the mountain wall mid-December and then took a two week break for the holidays. The mountain wall was installed the first week of January. Since then we have been working steadily to get out the other three commissions and I thank everyone for being so patient.

The mountain wall for Invesco Management Group, Houston TX offices, 10th floor.

Master bath window, 45" x 60". I hope to get a better picture when the shower door is installed.

Residential front doors.

We have two more commissions to get to that came in this year and several other opportunities floating out there so the last 6 months have been about as diametrically opposed to the previous year and a half as it could possibly be. I am truly grateful for all the work.

What all this commission work means though is that I have lost all my momentum on the pate de verre. The peach box sits unfinished. The botanica erotica pieces sit unfinished. The blue heron box has not even been started. Now that we are closing in on the backlog of commissions, I hope to get back to sculpting and casting.

12/16/12 - I've been working on this website all day. It's been rainy so no doing anything outside. The changes I made seem minor but I had to change code on so many pages and move pictures and htms around and make new graphics just because I wanted to change the name and function of the two pate de verre gallery pages. Instead of the Singles and Multiples, I now have Current Work and Archive. It's still a work in progress while I tidy up and I toy with the idea of changing the look of the gallery pages so eventually I may do that too.

We've been really busy the last two months working on the second wall of the commission from Invesco. The Mountain Wall is also 16' long x 9' high in four panels and while the map wall was done on 3/8" glass, I recommended 1/2" for this one so they are a third again as heavy. I've posted some progress pics on my FB page and my last blog post was about finishing it. Because we are nearly finished. Next week we will do the last touch up and get the last two panels cleaned and sealed.

We have several other commissions to finish and start so we are glad to be done with this project. I'm also looking forward to having some time to finish the peach box and cast the next four ready waxes in the botanica series.

As I've mentioned before, our home gallery is closing at the end of the month. Oliver and Nancy are retiring and leaving a big hole in the art scene. Currently, we are being represented by Morgan Contemporary Glass in Pittsgurgh. They are showing our newest pieces and that is where the peach box will go. We also have a small bowl at Kittrell Riffkind Glass Gallery in Dallas.

We participated in the open house at Houston Studio Glass in Houston TX the first weekend of December. We made some small paperweight type pieces for the show just to have an excuse for hanging out with our friends. It was fun but working two weeks and the weekend with only one day off was tiring.

10/17/12 - It's been a while since I started with a garden report. Now that we've had a few fronts move through, the temperatures have been very pleasant for the most part but summer still is not completely convinced that it's day is done. It's hot today with a hot wind but the confederate rose is creeping towards full bloom and the pecans are falling faster than I can pick them up, sure signs of fall. And speaking of garden reports, we finally got our fall garden planted although I still have some seeds to put in.

Work progresses on the job for Invesco. We have finished the map wall and it was installed last Saturday. I posted pictures of the installation as it progressed on my blog.

Now I'm working on the drawings for the patterns and diagrams for the mountain wall. The second wall will be considerably more complex. We're also working on two other commissions, two residences, the most recent being a pair of doors for the front entry. More on those later.

I had to stop working on the peach box for a little while as we needed to make progress on the map wall but the box body is currently in the kiln. Since the peach blossom sculpture that will adorn the top is already cast, that leaves only the peach inlay to cast as the feet and top are planned, at this point, to be cast in bronze, something I'll have to have done by others. I've decided to fill the box with peach pits so I went out digging around in the compost pile and came back with a couple of handfulls. After soaking them for about a week in water and scrubbing them thoroughly, they are now drying out and are a range of very nice colors from whitish to pinkish to a very nice brown. They vary in size too, from the tiny ones off our native tree to some large ones that I think are from California peaches. I don't buy those very often because they are often mealy. Most the pits in my compost pile are from Texas and Georgia peaches.

As if we weren't busy enough, I'm also working on some small waxes for a dozen or so pieces to show at the annual open house at Kathy Poepple's and Dick Moiel's glass blowing studio that they host every year. It's the first weekend of December, starting actually Friday, November 30th in the evening. I foolishly agreed to participate knowing I didn't have anything here to show so now we're in a race to the finish.

As I mentioned in my last entry, we will be showing some of our new work in the upcoming show at Morgan Contemporary Glass, happy birthday! studio glass is 50 opening October 5, 2012. I'm trying to get a 4th box finished for the show and I've been sort of documenting my progress and my thoughts about it on my blog. You can read about the progress so far here, here, here, here, and here.

We've also been invited to participate in Kittrell Riffkind Gallery's anniversary show in the fall in Dallas TX, One Of A Kind, September 29th - November 3rd. And the second part of our first prize win at Archway Gallery was a spot in their next show which opened last Saturday and runs through the month.

When it rains, it pours, right? All of a sudden, three shows and some commission work has come in. We have a very nice residential commission for two interior doors, the master bath shower door and the big window over the tub. Within weeks of getting the deposit for this job, we received our deposit for the two 16' x 9' walls for Invesco Management Group, an international investment managing company. One wall will have a map of the world and the second wall will be a design of the mountain that is their company logo. We expect this job to keep us busy for 4 - 6 months.

I continue to work on the Botanica Erotica series. I have four new waxes ready for casting. I also have another box planned but haven't started on it yet. It may be the last of the boxes for now.

One last item, Goldesberry Gallery, the premier fine craft gallery in Houston and our home town gallery representation, has announced that it will be closing it's doors at the end of this year. After 21 years Oliver and Nancy Goldesberry have decided to retire. Starting in September, Goldesberry Gallery will go out in style with a series of inventory reduction events. Their closing will leave a big hole in the gallery scene in Houston, especially for those collectors and artists of fine craft.

The most promising request was for two 20' x 9' walls for a building downtown and I have been consulting with them, submitting proposals and samples and going to meetings since January. They continue to tell me that they are committed to the projects but they have yet to issue a PO. I had thought we would be well into it by now.

I've also fallen into apathy concerning the pate de verre though I continue to work on the Botanica Erotica series in spurts. I've made little effort to have my work exhibited in any of the 50 year anniversary shows around the country for the Studio Glass Movement except for one show. We will have several pieces in Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery's upcoming show happy birthday! studio glass is 50 opening October 5, 2012. We are very pleased to be included, showing our newest work.

We also have a piece in the Fourth Annual Juried Show at Archway Gallery in Houston TX, July 7 - August 1, 2012. I'm pleased to announce that we won the first place award in the show.

Our 5 day workshop At Helios in Austin TX last February went well though the one at Oatka in Batavia NY for March was canceled. I haven't scheduled any more for the year as I expected to be working on the corporate commission.

The only other thing of note I have done was to have Riley Galleries send back our work. Now I'm looking at the pieces with a colder eye seeing if I can transform them into something else; taking things apart, rearranging, adding new elements.

Well, now, summer is dead upon us and it's too hot to run the kiln so I will spend the rest of these next two months working on models. Don't forget to check out my blog though it's mostly about my grandkids' visits the past few weeks.

We did not see much commission work this past year so the past few months have seen me getting some of my new work cast and making a few different kinds of things, like these small sculptures which measure about 4" x 5" x 2". You'll find them at Goldesberry Gallery.

I also put together a few kiln-carved windchimes.

I finished two more boxes, the Moonflower Box (below left) and the (working title) Reliquary Of Memories (the set of three photos below) and reworked another, the Bee Box (below right). Instead of having the flowers scattered around it I finally went ahead and finished it the way I planned from the beginning. The boxes here and the two below in the previous entry (the Book Of Wren and Reliquary For A Night Sky) are currently available but haven't been placed in a gallery yet.

And I cast 6 of the 4" square Botanica Erotica blocks. I'm not sure how I am going to display these, they are still a work in progress and not offered for sale yet but here's a peek at a couple of them.

We have two workshops coming up, one in Austin TX at the end of this month on pate de verre which is full and another in Batavia NY on model and mold making in early March. I'm also working on getting some more workshops scheduled for the coming year and will be scheduling a workshop on wax working techniques and another on reproduction molds at Hot Glass Houston soon. Scroll down to the workshop listings for details.

Check out my blog as I often post about work in progress but mostly it's about life and the things that inspire my work.

Class Schedule nothing currently scheduled   Recent, Current and Upcoming Shows and Exhibitions One Of A Kind; Kittrell Riffkind Gallery, Dallas TX; September 29 - Novenber 3, 2012 cheers, salute, l'chaim to the next 50!; Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery; Pittsburgh PA; opening Oct. 5, 2012 Fourth Annual Juried Exhibition; Archway Gallery; Houston TX; July 7 - August 1, 2012, winner 1st place prize On The Wild Side; Kittrell/Riffkind Gallery; Dallas TX; April 30 - May 28, 2011 The Texas Chair Project; Ohio Craft Museum; Columbus OH; February 6 - March 27, 2011   Recent Installations 2013 - 16' x 9' wall in the Houston offices of Invesco Management Group

2013 - Residential front entry.