Design Journal

One of the benefits of the PMC Conference being in Indiana…the only benefit. Is that Steven and I get a chance to see his parents and other family that live in the area. His parents are always very gracious and kind. They arranged for the 4 of us to see the Indianapolis Orchestra at an […]

The Solo Gallery in Los Gatos is carrying some of my work now. You are all invited to the opening on Feb 9 from 5-8 for the artists reception. It should be a lot of fun with many artists including sculptures, painters, stone sculptures. Plus Los Gatos is such a cute town! Visit their still

So many of you might know that I won the Saul Bell Award 1st Place in the PMC division. As part of my “winnings” I get to be featured in my own ad sponsored by Rio Grande. I just got the proof for the ad and thought I would give you all a preview of

Steven and some friends of ours went to visit Hangar One to see the how Vodka was made. It was pretty cool and I highly recommend it. Even if you don’t drink, it’s fascinating to know how liquor is distilled and at Hangar One how much time and effort goes into making just one bottle.

Club Metal Clay Video for web I can’t believe I finally finished my promo video for Club Metal Clay! To sign up for Club Metal Clay visit my website at www.patriksstudio.com

Today was the our local Metal Clay PMC Guild charm swap to celebrate our chapters anniversary. Everyone made several charms to trade with each other. There were so many talented people who took part. To check out everyone’s charms visit my friend Beki’s website at http://whimbeads.com/misc/charmswap.html One my regular Club Metal Clay students made peace

Just a a quick note. I’m getting ready for a show and sale at Heather Farms in Walnut Creek. The sale is on Oct 21 from 11:00 too 4:00 and is showcasing artists with garden related artwork. There will be painters, jewelry and other artists. Please stop by and say hi! for more info visit

My friend and fellow Saul Bell Recipient, Sherry Cordova, and I were at lunch the other day and started talking about all of the talented jewelry and metal artists there were in the Bay Area. We came up with the idea of putting together a show and sale based on the idea of “Artists on

So today I spent at Nova Studio in Pt. Richmond doing demos most of the day. I’m proud of what Lori Nova has done there. She’s a dynamo! She runs a great business and I always look forward to teaching there. Check out www.thenovastudio.com/4yearanniversary.htm for more info. I also spent the last part of the

My friend, noted interior designer, decorative painter and TV Host, Shannon Kaye is going to appear on a new TV show called Blog Cabin. The premise sounds really cool. The show follows the building of log cabin BUT the twist is that bloggers get to help make the design decisions. Sounds like a lot of

A very sad day today. We had to put down Max today . For those of you who knew him he was spunky and very protective in his youth. In his later years he reminded me of a stately old man in a huge fur coat gliding around the back yard. Nothing much phased him

I so excited I won the Saul Bell Design Award in the PMC Division. Here is a pic of me in my studio showing off my award.

Venice is a dream. We spent 5 days exploring Venice. Here are the highlights. Venice at night, gondolas, a mask shop near San Marco and a flea market find at Campo De-Fiore. Proseco, long lunches, exploring boutiques, getting rained on, buying rubber boots that don’t fit, hating the Dollar to Euro conversion, long dinners, Italian

Found this fantastic restaurant while exploring the hills in Umbria and Tuscany. Great food and wine. Fantastic Vin Santo and Cantucci. One of those rare finds, while exploring the countryside. The owners invited us into the private cellar and to their private museum!! Who know places like this existed? Restaurante Fattoria Pulcino. www.pulcino.com

Spent the day exploring our first day in Roma! had dinner at the Hotel Excedra. www.boscolohotels.com Just to be clear, we didn’t stay here, just dinner! Although I think dinner probably cost as much as our hotel. We stayed at a great B&B, the service, location and rooms were all excellent! http://www.enjoyromebb.com highly recommended, close

I’m spending the day taking a class at Castle in the Air, in Berkeley on 4th Street. One of my closest friends Paulette convinced me to take the class because of the beautiful reliquaries that we saw in the shop last Halloween. Little did I know how fun the class would be. www.castleintheair.biz

My kinda place… the Castle In The Air store had things for us to buy at the class, like a BUG COLLECTION. So of course, being interested in all things from nature, I had to have some for use in my reliquaries.

Close up of one of my reliquaries. I used a coral branch and wrapped it with some text.