Lucky Valley Press author/friend, Sharon Mehdi

 When I first met Sharon Mehdi, I thought she was a stand-up comic. She made me laugh until  my jeans burst at the seams. Then I discovered all kinds of interesting things about Sharon: labyrinth walker, healer, teacher, writer, public speaker. She told me she wrote a book, so I ordered...

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Charles Osborne’s "Boss" is just in time for the Pebble Beach Centennial

 “Without Sam Morse, Pebble Beach would be a West Coast Coney Island.”   – Bing Crosby “A newspaper dubbed my grandfather “The Duke of Del Monte” and although he pretended to be embarrassed by the title, I believe he liked it. Del Monte was more than a chunk of some of the most beautiful...

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Sculpting Polymer Buddhas #4

I am not well-set, nor do I have the bandwidth for, taking pictures of my hands while creating. Following are all the photos of my Buddhas over the course of three days. All the facial features are exaggerated, not on purpose. The top not and hair aren't right proportionately and you can...

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Sculpting Polymer Clay Buddhas #2

Just Buddha's Head. In the interest of keeping my self-imposed sculpting lessons simple, I scrunched up a ball of foil and rolled out some clay to cover it for a head. (I learned the hard way not to bake any polymer clay thicker than about 1/4 inch; it takes forever, you're never quite sure if...

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Sculpting Polymer Clay Buddhas #1

In typical DIY style, I took up the challenge of building my own Buddha for the Tibetan Shrine to the Divine. Ah, well, more of a dare, really. It was my girlfriend, Eunice. She said, "You're going to make it yourself, right?" I laughed. "No, no," I said. "I draw the line at sculpting a Buddha." "I...

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Tibetan Temple #5

Even though I did not complete this Buddha head out of Basswood, I am posting the idea to show the sacred geometry of drawing  a Tibetan Buddha. Just the geometry itself is beautiful to me. These images are posted all over my studio. They calm my spirit. I have been attracted to Tibetans and...

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Tibetan Temple #4

Each of the Shrines to the Divine has a 12 x 12 inch footprint, for uniformity and to fit on shelves for display. The Zendo on the left is the first true completed shrine. By the time I built it, I had made several single walled messes before I figured out how to do tiny double wall construction. The...

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Tibetan Temple #3

I rediscovered polymer clay after a 20 year hiatus. Back in the early 90s, I made beads and pins and jewelry items. This time around, I had in mind the tiny lumberyard and all my little itty bitty constructions. For the Zendo, I formed a little platter, a bowl and a vase. In the midst of the experiments,...

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Tibetan Temple #2

From The Once and Future King by TH White: “It is God who keeps the price secret, Uther. Not I.” “God? God? What god? I have heard you speak of so many gods. If you mean Mithras...” Says Merlin, “Mithras. Apollo. Arthur. Christ. Call him what you will. What does it matter what men call the...

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Tibetan Temple #1

When I begin a project, I often have no idea where it will take me, creatively. I do know that I will learn something new, develop a latent skill, or just be amazed. As part of my Shrines to the Divine project, the Tibetan Temple (working title - I don't know the name of the piece in the beginning,...

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Lucky Valley Press author, Judy Tatelbaum

Recently a  friend came to visit. After she left. I sent her a copy of Inspiration for Living. Here is a quote from her thank you note: "Dear friend of 5o+ years! "What a lovely surprise to receive your thoughtful (and beautifully printed) gift of Judy Tatelbaum's latest book. Her first...

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