Oh! My Gourd.

I am so happy to have completed my first crafted gourd today! I only regret not taking its picture last fall when it was a bright green, spotted swan neck gourd. At that time I had no idea what this lil' fella would become. I only had an inkling when I was at the Alameda Holiday Bazaar in December and saw a fellow Alamedan and gourdista, owner of Studio Phoenix Gourd Art, display her gorgeous gourds. I promptly made plans to dry my two gourds and turn them into.. something, anything! Each gourd is so unique you just have to examine it and think about the possibilities a while before you know. This one, besides being an autumnal equinox celebration gourd, is inspired by Southwest gourd artist extraordinaire, Bonnie Gibson.
I copied her Hopi rain cloud design for the top woven coiled part, and added my own beaded design for the handles. The top neck part is still around for use in a future gourd art piece! I love that the materials are (almost) all natural, and I can combine gourds, beading, and basketry all in one piece. I have two more gourds in the works already, which makes me very happy.

By the way, just because today is the Autumnal Equinox DOES NOT mean that we have exactly 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. Look it up on a real website like time and date dot com why don't ya? If you have a science geek gene like me, you'll really want to read all about it. If not, well it's still the first day of autumn, and I wish you a beautiful fall day!

Happy People and Box Shows

We were lucky to be able to get out of town over the long weekend, and visit another town about the same size as Alameda, but much closer to the ocean and wine country: Petaluma! A charming town: river-front walks, great restaurants, large open space near river for migratory birds. If you like cheese, Petaluma is the home of Cowgirl Creamery and former egg basket of the USA. Surprisingly, our cheap hotel had a large, heated pool which we had all to ourselves one afternoon - even more surprising. The highlight for me, however, besides the peaceful scenic drive (happy cows, happy cheese, happy people), was our hike: Pomo Trail along the Sonoma Coast.

We started at Shell Beach (seals, cormorants), hiked up Pomo Trail (garter snake, turkey vultures), which thankfully wove through a small oak and redwood grove, to the top of Red Hill (kestrels, crows, stunning view), then back down (wildflowers). One of the many reasons I love living in California is the year-round hiking.

The other highlight was a spontaneous visit to Gallery Route One in the town of Pt. Reyes Station on Highway 1. GRO is home of the famous Box Show, which was just at the end of its exhibit/auction. Artists volunteer to create an art piece using a box, which is then auctioned off to support their community art programs. This is their 11th year, and the boxes were just amazing - much more than I can even describe here. The best part is that I was able to entry the lottery next year's show (demand to create a box exceeds their space, so a lottery is held). I'm feeling lucky, but still keeping my fingers crossed that I am chosen to make a box. If you know me, you know that my ideas far exceed what I have time to create. I can't help imagining what my box would look like, if chosen, or even if not chosen, so I am leaning towards making an art box just for fun anyway.