New work: Heart of the Lotus

Now that the Butterfly is done, "Costa Rica: Metamorphosis Part 3" I am focusing on my next commission, "Heart of the Lotus"

Here is the art work above and the piece in progress as it looks on my work bench. This will go in an entry way door. The size is 25"x 36".

When I first talked to Gail, I was boarding a plane to Chicago to relocate my Mom and Dad down to Little Rock, AR. My art was on hold and I had no idea when I would be able to resume my passion. But in those few minutes on the phone, I knew I really wanted to work with her! I was so happy when she called me back months later to start what has become a wonderful friendship!

Thank you Gail for having faith in me and understanding the chore I had to do and believing that I was the right artist to create this piece!

The elements for the "Lotus", including the tree, the red rocks, the sun and moon were inspired from Gail's home in Oak Creek Canyon.

I think what I love the most about creating glass for people is learning who they are and helping them bring to reality, a vision that they have.

This piece has a new challenge: the center of the lotus blossom will have a large crystal in the center, so it will be thicker then the glass and will have special consideration when soldering it together. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with and the final out come.

Peace,
Christina

Coming soon... Raven's Eye Glassworks expands into the world of jewelry. I have returned to my love of beads. Working with primarily Tibetan beads, semi-precious gems and minerals, seed beads and sterling findings. I am creating a line of necklaces that are substantial and earthy. Posting images soon!

Costa Rica:The Blue Morpho Stained Glass Piece

This is the final piece. It measures 20"x30". This piece is available for sale, please contact me for more information about this and other pieces I have. It took awhile, but it was worth the time and detail. Inside the moon I sandblasted a poem.

Defeated by Love by Rumi,

"The sky was lit by the splendor of the moon
So powerful I fell to the ground
Your love has made me sure I am ready to
forsake this worldly life and surrender
to the magnificence of your Being"

This is the artwork
The poem is perfect. One night about a week into the trip I couldn't sleep and I walked out to the beach and lay in a hammock just yards from the ocean. Looking up, there was the full moon in all of her glory shining through the fronds of a coconut palm. Too good to be true, but it was true. I was moon struck.

Flagstaff Open Studios Tour: Ladies of the Canyon 2010

It's here again, but this year it is a month earlier! August 28-29, 10am-5pm each day.

Please come out and celebrate a weekend of creativity with us; Joni Pevarnik, pottery; Ryanne Sebern, uniquely original jewelry; Christina Norlin etched and stained glass.

Raven’s Eye Studio Location #25 in the catalog:
1255 Cox Ave. (Mountain Dell)
From the Visitors Center at Rt 66 & Beaver str. West on Route 66,
follow road to left under RR overpass (turns into Milton Rd).
At sixth traffic light turn right onto Forest Meadows. At first traffic light
turn left onto Beulah, continue through third traffic light. Go half a mile
on 89A and bear right at fork onto Mountain Dell Rd. Turn right onto
Sinclair to the 4th street, Cox, turn right, studio is just past the
stone house on the right corner.

Directions from Phx. on I-17: Exit # 337 Pulliam Airport, left on to
John Westley Powell Blvd, then right (north) onto 89A, 2 miles to
hard left to Mountain Dell Rd. Turn right onto Sinclair, Then to the 4th
street, Cox, turn right, studio is just past the stone house on the right
928-699-6824

Quaff & Nosh will be provided by:
Simply Delicious
928-774-2855

We will be doing demonstrations, so bring the kids!!

This is the Moon of Love

Full Moon in Pisces

10:05 AM PDT

Tuesday

August 24, 2010

“You who let yourselves feel: enter the breathing that is more than your own.” Rilke

Ultimately, all our questions return to our desire to understand Love. Yet so often we confuse ourselves with the allure of romance. The difference between being in-love-with-love and being in the presence of Love is an important one.

The astrological reference is this one: Tonight we feel the tug of the mystical Pisces’s Full Moon as it merges with Pisces’ ruler, Neptune, and with Chiron, the Wounded Healer. And, simultaneously, we are experiencing Mars and Venus tightly coupled in relationship-focused Libra.

For several weeks, and continuing through September, Mars and Venus are helping us to see where we've created balance--and where we're seeking balance--relative to our human desire for love.

* Enter tonight’s (and tomorrow night’s) Pisces Full Moon. Pisces teaches us that in our search to be loved, we so often miss the obvious . . . we are Love.

Pisces helps us sense the compassionate Universal Heart energy which floods our human bodies every minute of every day. The human body is, indeed, a temple . . . and the energy of this moon reminds us that we are Infinite Light moving within and out from the human experience.

Pisces understands that grief and longing for completion are part of the experience of Love. This full moon is coupled with Chiron which suggests that we may sense the places in our lives where we've felt both unloved and unlovable. Tonight's moon is reminding us of the Love which we carry within ourselves.

This is energy which can also create no small dose of delusion, so please watch for any old habits which seem to offer escape from the rough edges of your life.

You can expect a rich dream life these next couple nights. And with Pisces, it's often unclear where the dream begins and where it ends. But whatever, or whether, the dream, it is nourished by our capacity to surrender ourselves, humbly and bravely, to the wonder which is Grace.

Please share these notes with your friends.

Much peace to you.

Deborah O’Connor

deb@lovedogdesign.com

www.lovedogdesign.com

406.531.5129

Food & Wine Festival: June 19th Noon to 6pm Flagstaff, Pine Mountain Amphitheater

I will be showing the unique design of custom wine bottles and glass sets. They are the perfect gift for that very special occasion when you really want to show someone how much you care!

Metamorphosis: A Butterfly's Story: The Zen of Creating

*** Please note, the above artwork is only a drawing and not the final piece. This was designed with The Glass Eye software.

Here is the first design that has come to me from my trip to Costa Rica. This incredible insect helped me to revealed a part of me that has long been concealed.The finished size will be 32"x 20". I will post more of the actual piece as it is being created tonight...
Thanks,
Christina

So there is a lot of saw work , lots of inside curves. More to come!











It's at the point now where I am so excited about being able to hold it up to the light. This is the thing about stained glass: I've picked out all the glass, scrutinized each color and how it will appear next to the other colors and textures. I cut, grind, foil, solder, reinforce. There are many steps involved in the creation of a stained glass panel, hours of love.....

Finally, the long awaited moment comes when I get to pick the piece up and hold it to the light! Was I right? Did I choose the right colors and textures? It's kind of like gardening, planting all of those bulbs in the fall then having to wait and wait and wonder.... Delayed gratification to put it simply. It teaches patients and love of the craft. I am excited to share this with you.... More to come!

Update on A Little Piece of Heaven.... August 25, 2011

The land sold.... Now it is up for sale again, this time I am really actively working to buy it. Why not? It enhances my existing lot. And it feels like it has been part of my life for years already. So I again ask for your prayers and positive energy in obtaining this little piece of heaven.
Many Blessing to you all!
Chris

Looking down hill to my home and studio. Faithful dog, Lola sits about where my land stops up the hill... My labyrinth is in the foreground, buried in new spring grass...

I have lived nestled on a hillside for 18+ years now. I am also guilty of "squatting" on the top of the hillside for 18 years... You see, my property ends just at about the top of the hill. My neighbor, Mark has graciously allowed me to sit, party, camp, sleep, daydream, build a labyrinth, walk, and pray on this hillside for years now.

I grew up in a suburb of Chicago; houses close together, fenced yards, snug to say the least. Then I came out to NORTHERN Arizona, high elevation and open spaces back then, in 1976. I found my little slice of heaven in 1992. I rented the house for 2 years and was so taken by the space, energy, light and just beauty of the postage stamp lot, that I had to buy it! SOLD; 1994! To the east lays the hillside, an undeveloped acres or so of land owned by an old college friend, he has a total of about 5 or so acres. Since this hillside dips down towards my home, there was/is no value for anyone up hill from it. Like I said I have used the hillside to feed the birds, observe wildlife, welcome the sun and just sit and rejoice for 18 years now. I can look out my studio windows and not see another house or structure, It looks and feels like I am in the wilderness with no others around me on that side of my land, I love it!

Last year my neighbor got married and moved from the property and put the entire 5 and then some acres up for sale. My dilemma is ZONING!!! All I want is less then a 1/4 acre of the 5+ acres that is up for sale. Just enough to buffer me from anyone who buys the uphill property and builds a house. The way zoning works, he is unable to divide the lots up any differently then they are now, which means would have to buy 2+ acres for a lot more money than I have and I don't really want what comes with the 2+ acres which is several building and a triplex. So now I risk losing the small piece I want.

I am writing this blog as a prayer, a prayer that will be sent out to the universe, the heavens, the powers that be to let them know that I need to obtain this small piece of heaven I have known now for so long. I don't want to "squat" any more, but have the right to sit and pray, set a tent up for my grandson to camp in and what ever, on my own property. So I am putting the energy out there now, looking for a solution that works for both Mark and I. There truly is a win-win situation.... I know it!!

Peace,
Christina