These are the counters that Jack's building.......

This is Jack http://www.jaxdesignshop.com/

Jack is a Renaissance artist in my mind.

He is building our concrete countertops for our new kitchen. He has a very cool shop in Carlsbad close to the beach.

 Jack's tattoos read: "Become the change you wish to see" .....Mahatma Gaundi quote.....

Jack rides his bike from his home in SD to the train station, rides up north and then bike rides to his shop. His trucks run on Bio fuels....need I say more?

The second photo shows the templates he made for our counters.He's going in include some small found  stones and things in some of the sections.

My friend Al Rodriguez just came back from a fishing trip in  Baja...a thousand miles south. He picked up  a small very worn down shell remnant on one of the beautiful beaches and gave it to me last Friday at his studio in San Diego. http://yagottahaveart.com/bio.htm . Al's shell will be a part of the countertop....thank you Al! There are also some milagro birds and a couple of clay buttons.....more photos after the holiday...

This is the Bath that Juan is building....

This is Juan. He's creating our beautiful bathroom with tumbled travertine, glass tile and mosaic bits. He created 2 nichos for us. I designed the nicho mosaic and the glass tile strip. Together we placed each small shell, ceramic buttons (that I made in high school!), ceramic heart designs, a little fish design plate, and stones. Juan had never created a mosaic piece before. He hand cut tiny bits of glass tile to fit around the objects in the nicho. The photo shows the nicho before the grout was laid. We picked out a teal blue...it looks great. Juan likes to sing while he works and it makes me happy to hear him.


We took out a massive iron tub that no one ever used and now we'll have this wonderous Mexican style shower....we'll want to sing everytime we take a shower too!

Yesterday I found a copper sink that looks like a seashell for only $55.00. Juan is going to mount it on top of the cabinet like a vessel sink. This bathroom is going to be amazing when it's finished. Our remodel continues.......



Helen on Vista Grande Trail

Helen on Vista Grande Trail
Originally uploaded by Agave Latte

It was a lovely Thursday Morning at Santa

Rosa Plateau. My art friends and I painted along the Vista Grande Trail near the Visitors Center. The light was warm and wonderful.

Ceramic Tree of Life for my Kitchen

This is a close up of my Ceramic Tree of Life I made at my friend's Ceramic studio http://www.cheryltall.com/ Cheryl offers studio time each week and you get to see her fabulous sculptures too.

I used to have a running gas kiln but it's covered with a Wisteria Vine in the backyard. It would be quite a sight running that kiln with an eight foot torch of fire on my vine!
This Mosaic piece will be mounted on the wall behind my stove in my new kitchen. I almost didn't leave enough room for it.....didn't exactly measure.......
The kitchen cabinets are up and my tile guy, Juan, is putting up the tumbled travertine and glass tile in the bathroom as I write this......more photos soon!