So we finally managed to put in our vegetable garden this year - and what a garden it has been! We planted zuchinni, yellow squash, eggplant, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes in the 16 x 20 space. To keep the critters out, including the many deer that graze in our backyard, we had to build a 6 foot high fence around the space.

My parents came for their annual visit just before we put in the garden. While they were with us, we enjoyed many of my mom’s wonderful home-cooked dishes. One of our favorite recipes was my mom’s ratatouille. My parents make it every summer since it is the perfect recipe to utilize an abundant harvest of veggies.

I cooked a batch of it last week and it was delicious! All of the veggie ingredients came from our garden, with the exception of the onion and the zuchinni (since the ground hogs managed to wipe ours out entirely, early in the season).

Here’s the recipe:

RATATOUILLE

1 medium eggplant, cubed
2 small or 1 large zuchinni, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
3/4 onion, chopped

Saute the ingredients on med. high in 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil. Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning to taste. While the veggies saute, cut up the equivalent of two 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes. Add two packets of spenda or two tablespoons of sugar to the tomatoes. If they are especially juicy, you can add cornstarch or flower to thicken them up. Then toss the diced tomatoes into the pan and stir to heat everything together.

Bon appetit!

I’m gearing up for the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival at the end of this month. This will be the biggest (and longest) art festival that I’ve ever participated in. The show attracts 500,000 patrons each year and lasts three days! The Festival will be held along the Boardwalk in Virginia Beach, VA, from 19th to 31st streets. Please stop by and visit me in booth 2627!

Neptune Festival – 19th through 31st Streets on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk (booth 2627)
Friday, September 26, noon to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 27, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 28, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

No, no, not a ring for me, silly - not just yet, anyway! I’m talking about the fun I had plotting and planning and creating an engagement ring for a good friend of mine here in Richmond.

Back in May, her then boyfriend, now fiance, Jonas, asked me very nonchalantly if I would make a ring for her. He sent me a photograph of a design he had in mind. After a little prodding and nosing around, I ascertained that yes, indeed, this was going to be a very special ring, as he was planning to ask Karen to marry him! So happy to have a part in the wonderful news, my heart skipped a beat, and I replied a resounding YES!

While on vacation in Portland, OR, a couple of weeks ago, he popped the question and presented the token of his intention. Now the happy couple is engaged! I can’t wait to see them both together tonight at dinner, ring on her diminuitive finger (a size 3.5, by the way), my part in the wonderful plot that is their engagement, complete.

The ring has both 14 karat yellow and white gold, a textured surface on the white gold, and it is flush set with eight 2.5 mm rubies. Eight is Karen’s favorite number.

I am excited to announce that my jewelry will be featured in the October edition of Richmond Magazine!!!

After being discovered at a local art event, I was interviewed by an exceptionally sweet Style Editor/Writer. Excerpts from my interview, along with photographs of my newest collections will receive a full-page publication in October’s Style section.

For a sneak peak at my latest collections, I hope you will stop by my booth at one of these upcoming shows:

Richmond, VA
Arts Around the Lake – on the campus of the University of Richmond (booth #8)
Sunday, September 21, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Virginia Beach, VA
Neptune Festival – 17th through 31st Streets on the Virginia Beach Boardwalk (booth #2627)
Friday, September 26, noon to 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 27, 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 28, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Bethesda, MD
Bethesda Artist Market - in Bethesda Place Plaza
Saturday, October 11
10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

If you’re anything like me, then you often find yourself foraging around on your workbench for a piece of solder, only to discover that once you find it, you can’t remember whether it is hard, medium, or easy solder. I try to use the bending method to mark my wire solder once I cut a few inches off from the spool. I loop it like a lowercase ‘e’ for easy. Give it a hard right-angle bend for hard. And bend it twice for medium. I must admit, though, that sometimes this bending method takes more time than I am willing to commit to marking my solder.

So when I found this tip in Contenti’s newsletter, I was quite excited, because it is faster and more practical than my current bending methods. If you use sheet or wire solder, color code it with a Sharpie marking pen. Use red for hard, blue for medium, and green for easy. That way, if you find stray solder snipets on your desk or floor, with a quick glance you’ll know exactly what you have by the color. It also makes it easier to put different types on your solder station, so you don’t have to stop each time to change solders.

To find more helpful tips and tricks, visit Contenti’s webiste here.

Thursday, July 3 through Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008

Gallery 1: art6 poets. Gallery 2: painting, prints, photography, drawing, and sculpture.

Location: 6 East Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219
Phone: (804) 343-1406
Gallery hours: Thursday-Sunday, 12 to 4 p.m.

Make a trip to downtown Richmond and be sure to stop by the dynamic and ecclectic members’ exhibition this month. We will have a second opening on Friday, August 1, from 6 - 10 p.m.

I am showing two abstract, experimental paintings in this exhibition. The paintings are composed of oil on canvas and mixed media. I used my silver and copper metal filings in both pieces, which creates an interesting texture as well as a glitter effect. One piece already sold on the first opening night!

Be sure to check out the art6 calendar for special events, musical performances, and even art workshops!

I’ll be travelling to Bethesda, MD this weekend to exhibit in the Bethesda Artist Market located in downtown Bethesda Plaza. It looks like the weather is supposed to be pretty nice (well, nice for these parts in the middle of July, anyway). If you are in the area, please stop by and visit. I have a wonderful corner location in front of the fountain. You can’t miss me!

I’ll be showing two new lines of work. One is called the “Recycled Bits Collection” and it is composed of recycled silver. You can get a sneak preview on my Etsy webstore.

I’m still working on a clever name for the other new line, which has a mod look and incorporates found organic materials, such as birch bark, flower petals, dried leaves, and even the shells of insects, which are forever sealed behind clear, epoxy resin. I can’t wait for this line to debut on the internet!

The Artist Market takes place on Saturday, July 12, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. If you’re in the area, stop in and check it out! Bethesda is only about 20 minutes from downtown D.C.

At long last Spring has made her great debut - tender flowers poking through the damp earth. My azaelas are ablaze with color and the catepillars are wriggling higher and higher into the trees. In the words of Robin Williams: “Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”

Come party with me this weekend at ARTS IN THE PARK at Byrd Park in Richmond, Virginia. I’ll be exhibiting an array of new designs at booth #386. The event is free and open to the public and takes place rain or shine on Saturday, May 3, from 11 - 6 and Sunday, May 4, from 11 - 5.

For directions and more info, visit this site: http://www.richmondartsinthepark.com/

Move over, Michael. You’ve got competition!!! This little guy has certainly stolen my heart. He’s my nephew, Joey! This photo was taken this past Christmas, during my family visit.

Since I live five states away from most of my family, I don’t get to see my little Valentine very often. So it’s quite exciting to experience his growth and development in quarterly doses.

Although Joe is three feet tall already, he’s only 20 months old. Apparantly there are some giraffe-genes in the family. Aside from my unusally long neck, I think I missed the boat on the tall genes. But not my brother, Dave. At 6′5, I’d say Joe is taking after his papa.

Last time I saw him, Joey was becoming quite interested in language. If you asked him who he was, he responded, “Doe.” And he kept leading me around the house and asking, “What’s that? What’s that? What’s that?” And then afer I had answered about twenty What’s that questions, he would smile as if to say, “I knew that already. I just wanted to see how long I could make you answer questions.” Yeah, that’s frighteningly a little reminiscent of my brother, Dave, too. Joe is like a little mini-Dave. A Dave/Joe hybrid. A Doe.

This is just too cute! I can definately relate to that cat.