Work in Progress for STJ

Two things today. Wanted to show you the third Christmas piece still needing a few brushstrokes before being seen on SpookyTime Jingles in August. He is only 8" tall to the tip of his hat and is a small Santa in a chimney. The Santa is made of paperclay and the base is a paper mache box painted to look like a brick chimney. He has odd little proportions and looks a bit more folky than some of my pieces due to his oversized head, but I thought it would be fun to play with this idea in a few upcoming pieces. Hope you like him because my husband still doesn't like the paperclay surface and thinks it is influencing the look of my pieces too much. Your thoughts?

The second item I wanted to talk about is think about supporting your local businesses. With the price of gas, groceries and cost of living taking some large leaps lately (an alliteration) I know we are all looking for the cheapest prices and discounts we can find so we are buying outside of our communities and online. I think this is something we all do, I do it, but recently I talked to a local store owner and was shocked when she told me her sales were $11,000 under this year to the same date last year. She is a small business and this is huge for her since she has invested financially and emotionally in her business venture, and I know how hard she works and how wonderful her store is. If you have a favorite store or business and you want them to survive our current economic times you need to seriously think about supporting them financially. I feel the same way about supporting the artists I have recently met through my blog. If I want to continue to see their work out their and evolve, I need to support them financially as well...so guess what family, you are all getting handmade items as gifts, not just made by me, but by other artists as well!!!! (That will just crush my sisters--HA!!!)

Sorry to have gotten preachy--you all have a great day!! I'm off to the studio!!

Laurie