Do you have any gourds in your stash that are so nice that you wait a long time before you do anything with them?  Like the ones that just sit and you stare at them and you don't want to mess them up!  I have a few of those, and this is one of them.  It was a gift from Helen O. from a PAGS holiday luncheon (ahhh two years ago!).  This gourd is large (pre-cut) and THICK! And begging to be carved.  I am not so much a carver.  I carve, but only minimally.  So I knew that one some level this will be experimental and I really don't want to ruin thi ..read more

Or....how to improve your pyrography through sketching. In my most recent video, I talk about a little sketchbook project that I have been doing this year.  I decided I wanted to draw a hundred cats in pen and ink, and mostly from life.   Click to watch the video and you will also see a few different ways I have found this exercise can be a benefit to your skills in gourd pyrography.  Watch to the end for a super cute surprise ..read more

Winter is a perfect time, a quiet time without many outside obligations that lets me reassess, reorganize, and give myself permission to play with art without restraint. No upcoming shows to prepare for allows me to do art and mess up and learn, which we all need to do.  It is not enough to find what works and keep doing that thing- this causes stagnation which reflects itself in lack of enthusiasm for showing art.     During the winter months, I have so far been working on a few things.  I am currently working on reediting my online courses (that were previously on Te ..read more

From the beginning of autumn I have been thinking about developing new classes to teach at the PA Gourd Fest.  Some years I teach repeat classes, but this year I have 3 new ones and I am excited to share them with you here first! Koi Fish Pyrography This gourd class will cover pyrography of the koi fish, as well as adding the variegated gold leaf.  I will also be encouraging my students to make their own fish unique in the way they add the scales and patterns.  This is a great all around class that will be fine for beginners to join and fun for intermediate pyrographers alike ..read more

​Roughly two years ago I launched my first online course on Teachable.   During the course of those two years, I was able to create 4 more online classes and I have received a lot of favorable feedback.    Sadly though, the platform that currently hosts my courses has changed a bit and they are no longer a good fit for me. For several months I have been looking into changing platforms for my online classes and I am excited to say I am 99% sure I have found the one!   At the end of November, you will no longer be able to sign up for the existing courses on my current platfo ..read more

​A little diary about my newest completed gourd, Rainbow Trout.  It was a special commission of a vase in the style of some of my other water life themed gourds.  It went home to its owner this week and we are both pleased how it turned out. I often get asked if I have an idea first and choose the gourd or let the gourd dictate what it wants to be.  That is funny because it tends to happen both ways at different times.  No art piece unfolds exactly the same way. In this one, the size and shape were predetermined, so I had to first find the gourd that fit the bill.  &n ..read more

Fairytales and beautifully illustrated books go hand in hand.  It is these that first introduced me to art, and I spent many a long hour gazing at the pictures in my Hans Christian Anderson and Grimm books when I was a youngster. Then I spent many a long hour drawing knights, princesses and dragons!  Still as an adult, I love these old stories with their magic and mystery, I just haven't grown up I suppose!  Now I am finding myself stumbling onto folk music and many of which happen to be inspired by the Child Ballads. The Child Ballads are a collection of 305 ..read more

​Or, 3 little things you can do that make a big difference to judges. 1. Clean the inside wellAnd while you are at it – sand, sand, sand!  Oh yes that inside.  It doesn’t matter how awesome your gourd is, judges will look at the inside, and with a flashlight to make sure it is clean.    I have seen gourds that still have their seed ball intact, and gourds that have the fibers and seeds still sticking to the interior walls of the gourd.  This will automatically deduct points from your score. 2. Pay attention to your stem If you don’t want to clean the inside, that is fi ..read more

​Are you a bird watcher?  I love to watch the birds, but I wouldn’t call myself a birdwatcher- at least not the hardcore bird list kind of bird watcher.  Those are the types that are super dedicated, who travel the world to check off a rare warbler off their lifetime list (have you seen The Big Year?)   I am more of the "set up 5 bird feeders and baths and wait for them to come to my own yard" kind of birdwatcher.  And I have seen a lot of birds this way!  Yes, I have traveled a little to see migrating birds, and my family trip last May to Maine did include a boat ..read more

​In between dealing with catching every virus bug around for the last two months and was probably sick more than well, I did manage to work on this gourd vase.  It follows a theme that has been part of an ongoing series of sorts.. ...​of animals that would normally be enemies, or predator/prey and instead they are depicted as being friendly, even protective.  ​The cats sit among the flowers, with sparrows around them, even sitting with (and on!) them.  They don’t mind their presence.  My interest in this theme comes from this passage in the Bible, from Isaiah 11, “The wol ..read more