And Yet Still Winter...

This is the current state of our backyard patio...or as we like to call it, The Treacherous Icy Expanse of Death.

It's several inches thick! Seriously, who needs this much ice???

Ask me again when July rolls around...

SPUTNIKFEST 2008

My friend Kim Geiser came up with the fabulous idea to start a city festival to celebrate the landing of a small part of the Sputnik satellite right here in little ol' Manitowoc. You can check out the official website at www.sputnikfest.com. It's going to be a fabulous event!

Anyway, Kim and I are putting together a fine art/funky craft fair, Artta This World, as part of the event. Anyone interested in applying can now find the application on the website.

Come and play with us!

NEW ONESIES!

After a long trip visiting family in Utah, I returned home with a major cold firmly engrained in my being. So fun. Anyway, I finished these onesies before I left and today is the first day I've felt well enough to get them photographed and online. Check them all out at www.kategadd.etsy.com. Enjoy!

Wow...What a Night!

Wow. Who doesn't love a great concert...fab music, great atmosphere and many, MANY middle-agers?!? I LOVE CONCERTS!

Buddy Miller

Shawn Colvin

Patty Griffin

Emmylou Harris

Just...wow.

I fought off the dregs of the stomach flu, and we drove into Milwaukee Saturday afternoon. After some quality time with family, we braved the frigid weather (damn, damn cold...a balmy -25 degree wind chill...yum) and hit the incredible Pabst Theater for some equally incredible music.

I was mesmorized by the awesome talent filling that small stage. It was simply "Three Girls and Their Buddy" and I loved every minute of it. The four folk legends strolled onstage and sat amongst their numerous guitars and basic percussion instruments. They took turns playing and singing and entertaining for the next two hours. I swooned.

Michelle's Tote

So, I'm heading back to Utah in a couple of weeks for a quick stay. During my visit, I'll be attending my sister's birthday bash.

By request, I made her a little tote, and I have to admit, I love how it turned out.

I had a blast making it. It's a revised version of the all-day tote from Lotta Jansdotter's "Simple Sewing". I LOVE THAT BOOK!

Next project: A purse for my other sister, Dayna.

A Year in the Life...

I love the concept of this project, and I've officially signed up. You can check it out here: Project 365. I can't wait to get started.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

I overheard my sister-in-law describing me to someone the other day. She said that I usually have a quick, deep fascination with a particular craft and I immerse myself in it. It's typically fleeting, but I always hold onto my main obsession...my favorite fascination...glass.

I guess I'd never thought about it before, but she's right. I'm always on the search for the next challenge, the next colorful craft to cross my path. I love learning new skills. I love being able to make things with my own little hands. And I love being part of the crafter/artist community.

My latest obsessions revolve around fiber and fabric. I'm grasping at some of the handicrafts that seem to be falling by the wayside. I'm learning embroidery, crewel work, knitting, crocheting, sewing and felting. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff!

I currently have an intro model Singer sewing machine, and I love it. But with my growing desire to sew more complicated designs, I'm ready to move on to the big leagues. After much research, I've settled on the Pfaff 2038. It's gorgeous and hopefully, the last sewing machine I'll buy. I'm saving up, but the mere thought of it makes me drool.

My growing stash...let the fun begin!

It's rough to be these girls. This is Otto's favorite perch. She can survey the entire back yard from that window. And yes, that is a pillow she's sleeping on.


Mrs. Maggie Greybeard. She wild, collarless and sleepy. Life is rough and nobody loves her.

Have a great rest of your week!

Back to the Ol' Grindstone

I had THE most relaxing and enjoyable holiday season. I sewed and read and spent time with family and played my PS2. I'm a total gamer at heart, but I typically only play during the holidays. The rest of the year is just too busy.

We also had some time to sit and work on a new puzzle. Nothing like a geography puzzle to show how truly little you know about the world you live in. It was snowing outside, the house was quiet, we worked on our puzzle, and it was perfect.

Here's hoping your holidays wonderful as mine.

Just My Luck...

All I can say is that I have, by far, the greatest customers of all time. I always knew that my retail customers were fabulous--the cream of the crop, so to speak. I loved meeting and interacting with them at shows. I cannot put into words the extraordinary feeling of satisfaction it gives me to see people light up at the colors and patterns and designs of my glass work. It simply makes me smile...from the inside out.

The customers I have met over the years have been kind and generous and incredibly sweet, but I had no idea that there was an entirely separate group of extraordinary people out there with whom I would have the privilege of working.

I started selling wholesale to shops and galleries in August 2006. Since then and much to my joy and amazement, my wholesale customer list has grown and grown and grown. You can now find my glass work in various locales across the country and soon to be in Canada. I love working with business owners who are creating their own unique stamp on a landscape overwhelmed by big-box competitors. They support artists and craftspeople like me who crave to eek out a living by doing what they love. These customers are kind people who are a joy to work with.

I am sincerely grateful for the support and encouragement I have recieved from all of my customers over the years. Your kindness means the world to me, and you have made it possible for me to immerse myself in creative production day in and day out. I truly love what I do. Here's to 2008...a year full of great possibility.

Memorial Day Bliss

I love the spring! LOVE IT! I spent today in my own personal version of heaven. A kind friend was good enough to share some of her amazingly healthy perennials with us. We spent some time with her this morning gathering up the lovelies and picking up a few annuals for the planters and hanging baskets. YUM!



I was in color heaven, surrounded by all of the delectable sights and smells of summer. If I were a millionaire, I'd have to drop a few thousand on plants and flowers at Lowe's. I'm equally tempted by both indoor and outdoor plants. I simply love to grow things. I love to be surrounded by greenery and blossoms.





Despite not feeling 100%, I was still drawn outside to enjoy this perfect, sun-filled spring day. Rit and I spent the afternoon on our knees and up to our elbows in freshly turned soil planting the new additions to our garden. She's not quite so addicted to the experience as I am. I love feeling the dirt between my fingers and toes. I love planting and watering and nurturing. I'm one of those crazy people who talk to their plants, who attempt to coax slow blossoms into revealing their color through gentle conversation. I love spending summer evenings in the yard watering my garden, willing the peacefulness and serenity and patience of the greenery to soak into my being as though by osmosis through my bare feet. It calms and inspires me.


Tonight my fingers are crossed, hoping that all of the transplants we welcomed today will brighten back up and embrace their new home. Tomorrow brings a long work day spent in the studio with orders to fill. No complaints.



I hope everyone had an equally relaxing weekend and enjoyed time spent with family and friends.

Hello, Sunshine!

So what did you do Friday afternoon, Kate? Oh, I just spent the last 20 minutes or so worshipping my good friend, the sun, el sol, le soleil, il sole, giver of wonderful warmth and happy and bright thoughts, lifter of my mood. I wasn't worshipping in the traditional sense of my youth--slathered in oil and lying spread eagle on the trampoline. No, I was simply sitting in my back yard with my eyes closed, soaking up the warmth and letting my thoughts float around and over and through future creative endeavors involving glass, paper and fabric. Color and emotion being at the forefront of each. I can't wait for the ghostly images to settle into something I can bring out and shape into some tangible object. A little quiet creative time is good.

Basking the bright orange and red and yellow warmth of the sun inspires me. I hope you find these photos equally inspiring. They seem so fitting today.

Complements of Rit, I give you YELLOW:

What a great eye! Enjoy!

White Noise

Today's inspirational color is...

WHITE (or the combination of all color).

Think light, think balance, think clean and bright and peaceful.

Enjoy: White...

Kudos to Rit again for an assignment very well done.

Bye, Bye Georges...

So the Georges have officially flown the coop, so to speak. I noticed that they were becoming particularly bold in their wandering throughout the weekend. I checked on them Sunday afternoon and then went to take a shower. All were cuddled up, sleeping soundly. About an hour later, Rit came into the living room with a look of such sadness on her face. All she could say was..."Don't look outside. Just don't look."

After much wailing and a puddle of tears, we buried two of the Georges. I still don't know what happened to them. The rest had left...gone. I did a little research online and learned that it was time for them to leave the nest...they were plenty big enough. They had to make a 4-1/2 foot leap down from the nest onto the concrete of the driveway. I don't know if those two just didn't survive the leap or what. I was so sad. I know, I know...the whole circle of life thing...survival of the fittest and all that. I was just heartbroken that two of them died. I did see one of them later hiding in the tall grass of our front yard. I hope he finds a new nest to call home.

As I dug a hole in our soon-to-be flower bed for the burial, tears streaming down my face, I went through an internal session of kicking myself for getting so attached to the little guys. See, no thick emotional skin. What did I tell you? (See previous post...)

But as I've thought about my complete and total emotional vulnerability, I can't help but smile. It's what makes me who I am. Yes, I cry during sappy commercials and I gasp at the sight of dead animals by the side of the road. But I'm also so easily amused that I laugh openly and loudly at the same commercials over and over, regardless of how many times I've seen them. I think it makes life more enjoyable to feel deeply...to be emotionally available and open and aware.

I take great pleasure at the little things...the perfect grapefruit, fragrant lilacs, grass under my bare feet, a mid-afternoon nap cuddled up with my girls, a newly painted room. But I also drop into emotional turmoil when two of my little Georges don't make it to their two-month birthday.

It's what pulls me into my studio each morning...to surround myself with glass and to create...to pull from my deepest inside a seemingly endless supply of whimsical designs and eye-catching color combinations...all while keeping my brain occupied with books on tape, excellent music or taped season finales of my favorite shows. It's what allows me to do what I do day after day...and enjoy it so much. It's all part of the overly sensitive package called Kate.

I hope there are more Georges next spring.

BUT I LOVE THEM!

Winter is hard on me. Don't get me wrong--I enjoy a good yummy snow storm. I enjoy the quietness of a winter day. I love snowshoeing and skiing and snowmobiling. I love hunkering down with a thick blanket and a good book while a mad, crazy blizzard rages outside. But after the rush of a busy fall and the craziness of the holidays and seasonal orders, I find myself sinking into a deep funk after Christmas. I think January through April are the hardest times of the year for me. I claw my way out of darkness every day searching for some semblance of a routine to get me through to the next morning. It's rough. I don't feel anything like my usual self.

That's part of the reason I anticipate spring with such glee. I can't wait for the days to start growing, for my ferns to begin their long arching stretch toward the sun, for the birds to return and greet me each morning, and for the blossoms to unfold and reveal their magnificence. I love hearing children's laughter as they dare to venture into the outdoors once again. I love the feeling of the sun on my face. I love seeing all of the new life that slowly spreads across the once barren artic tundra. It delights me to no end. This spring brought a wonderful new surprise.

If this doesn't melt your heart, then you must be completely lacking in softness and affection for all things small and loveable and furry and too cute...

About a week ago, I noticed a rabbit hanging out in our yard. This isn't TOO abnormal in that this area does have its fair share of rabbits. However, we have two large dogs, both of which obsess about small furry things that dash about in a teasing manner. This has turned our yard into a mostly small-furry-animal-free zone. Only the bravest of squirrels dare cross the threshold into an up close and personal--not to mention potentially fatal--version of "When Good Pets Go Bad."

So there she was...just sitting there, huddled up against the house. I watched her for a minute, and then I came in the house and called Rit. I thought it was so odd that a rabbit was hanging out in our yard that I had to a share the shock of it all. The next time I looked, the rabbit was gone. Since that day, I always look in the same place for her. I would hate for the dogs to catch sight of her before I did. Much screaming and barking and fur-flying would ensue and it would take me weeks to recover from the horror.

I have had my fair share of dead-animals-in-my-yard experiences growing up. We had a pet chicken named Gloria who met with an untimely demise. And then there were the baby chicks I was raising, which were slaughtered by my own dog while I was at church one Sunday. Not to mention the time my pet kitty was hiding in the lawn mower when my sister attempted to mow the lawn. All quite scarring. But I LOVE animals. With my healthy stash of animal death horror stories, one would think that I have developed a thick skin when it comes to this sort of thing. But no. I still choke up when I see a poor deer or raccoon by the side of the road, struck down in the prime of its life. I can't even handle disposing of the little songbirds that mistake our front window for a lush forest. Any time I hear that sickening thump, I immediately dart out front to see if the little fella needs CPR or crutches...perhaps an aspirin.

As I approached the planting bed this afternoon, my eyes settled on the same spot in search of a furry little ball. Instead, I was greeted by a tiny little pile of dark eyes, twitching noses and perfect pairs of ears. My delight was palpable.

"I will hold you and kiss you and stroke you and call you George."

I think I've counted six little ones, but such a mass can be hard to separate into individual palm-size bunnies. I love them already, but I am refraining from touching them or getting too close. I'd hate to throw a wrench into the whole circle of life thing. I was so excited that I've already shared the news with my mail carrier, the incomparable Lynn; my neighbor, Michelle; and anyone else who will hold still and feign interest long enough.

LATER:

Well, Otto, in all of her wild wisdom and tracking prowess, has discovered that something is amiss in the yard. I've talked with her about how devastated I would be and how long it would take me to forgive her should she harm the Georges in any way. She doesn't seem to care much. I'm keeping her far, far away until they find their way out of their cubby. She is wolf-like after all. The call of the wild runs through her veins.

Here's a photo of cuteness incarnate...I give you the Georges:





I'm taking the appearance of these new little lives as a sign. It's going to be a great summer.

So much color, so little time...

Last year, our digital camera bit the dust. It just gave up the ghost....wouldn't focus any longer. It had a good life, I guess. Anyway, so I spent weeks online researching digital cameras. We needed one for around the house, but I also needed one for work...taking pictures of products, etc. We didn't want to spend too much, and although I really wanted a digital SLR, we couldn't afford it. But I wanted to find one that had the most features possible. And I did. Enter the amazing Olympus SP350. I love this camera. It has an fabulous super-macro setting that I find highly addictive. And it takes great photos.

Last summer during the annual Lee Family Big Lake Retreat Week, a challenge was extended. A photo contest to end all photo contests. Our camera was a mere couple of months old, and yet Rit embraced the challenge and set about attempting to familiarize herself with our new digital wonder.

And that's how it all started...her photography obsession. I have to admit that it delights me to no end to see her get so excited about a hobby. She loves it. I've given her a few photography books to foster this new love.

I gave Rit a photography assignment a couple of weeks ago. The assignment? Color. Go and seek out colorful shots of everyday items. Give us new perspective and make each shot single color dominant.

Wow. I continue to be amazed at the shots she shows me. Let me present to you the first of many color days. Today, enjoy BLUE:

Enjoy!

Kate

Water Colors

My choice of colors on any given day reflects the ebb and flow of my ever-changing mood. Today my pallette consists of muted blues and greens and purples. I don't feel morose, just pensive, I think. I'm aching to spend some time by the water. I think I'll head down to the lake this weekend.

Thankful

I sit back behind the table and try to hide my eager watchful eye, waiting for a reaction from the passers-by. Please accept this, my color, my life, my day in and day out, myself exposed and laid out before you. Please smile back. Please be kind. Please respect that those funky colorful baubles are my heart, my soul, blood drawn from my living being and spread out before you--displayed in living color, highlighted by cheap fluorescent lamps.

I do this because I love it. But that is not all. I create because I am compelled to do so. It's my impulsion, my therapy, my strongest urge and my deepest contentment. It makes my soul soar and feeds an ache deep within me. It makes my heart weep one moment, and the next I'm singing along to my ipod and dancing around my studio.

A most sincere thank you to all who have supported my endeavors as an artist--you who have inspired me, you who have shown me where and how to find beauty in the world, you who have wrapped me in kind words, you who have enjoyed my work, you who have shared my passion with others. Thank you. You have allowed me to live as my true self, not only to make a living, but to make a life--a very happy one at that.

Everything Looks Better in Colour

http://www.bravia-advert.com/paint/thead/

Buy Original

I've noticed recently that there are some pretty blatant copies of my work and designs circulating, especially in the Manitowoc County area.

Yuck. I hate dealing with this kind of thing. It makes my insides hurt. I hate the idea of someone copying or stealing someone, anyone else's designs. I know firsthand what it takes to be creative. I know what it takes to be an artist. I know what it takes to try and make a living as an artist. I know what it takes to nourish your creative side, to sit there with a blank canvas in your mind and play with colors and designs until inspiration hits.

I've also experienced watching customers mull over my work as I make notes on what sells and what doesn't. I've done the leg work of honing my product offerings after attending countless shows and listening to customer feedback. This is my living we're talking about.

But more than that, this is me we're talking about. I'm the one who sits in my studio hour after hour and day after day (loving it, of course, but that isn't the point). It's my insides turned outside and fused into each piece I pull from the kiln. Each item's color palette is determined by my mood the day it was made...or what I'd like it to be. I admit, sometimes it's wishful thinking. Each item is representative of some piece of me. For someone to take that cuts deep.

On the flip side, I know that it isn't the end of the world that others are mimicking my work. I guess I'm just expressing the meanderings of a moody artist.

They say that imitation/plagarism is the sincerest form of flattery. Somehow I don't feel very flattered...I'd describe it more as violated.

Moral of the story: When looking for my work, make sure you're buying Kate Gadd Glass originals. Trust me, it's worth it.

New Offerings...

I now have loose lampwork beads for sale on my website. Go to www.kategadd.com to see what's available.

I also offer wholesale for established shops and businesses. Contact me for more information.