 When I first heard about it, I thought it would be fun for my classes to go along with this year's PA Gourd Fest theme, "Mystical". For me, my interest in art began with illustrations in children's books, especially fairy tales. I loved looking at the pictures of knights and princesses, unicorns and dragons, talking animals and fairies.
I will be teaching only two classes this year, but one will be a full day. Read on below and I will tell you more about them! Link to register is at the bottom of the post, registration opens on April 1, 2025.
My first show of the season is fast approaching, I will be returning for the second year to the Lititz Outdoor Fine Art Show at Lititz Springs Park on July 27 9-5.
As per usual, I am juggling a few projects and I will share a preview of some of my recently completed gourds that I will have at the Lititz show here. Saying I have had a busy spring is an understatement. These last few months has been a challenge to balance work/life, all the things! The gallery page is updated with a few of my newer pieces if you want to check that out. I will highlight four gourd pieces with a little more information below.
 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 this beautiful gourd!  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! 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.
 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!
 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. |
About me...Art has always been a part of my life, and I have worked in many different mediums. Archives
April 2026
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