Long time, no see… I can’t believe that 4 months went by since the last time I posted. I have been pretty busy starting my new jewelry activity and I guess I lost track of time in the process.

So far, my decision has been pretty much rewarding. Orders from wholesalecrafts.com are coming in on a regular basis. And the cherry on my cake is that I don’t have to endure anymore the hellish temperatures in my garage where the glass tools are. Believe me, right now, this is a must. It is so hot and muggy that I dread to even have to go outside….

As planned, I have not attended Acre this year and I pat myself in the back for that. Although some artists went back home happy, many reported that the revolution will keep going without them. Anyway, participating to trade shows is not on my todo list for now.

I caught the chain mail bug big time and I’ll tell more about that later. But the biggest news is that I am back online. Blogging and Facebooking. Not fully yet into tweeting because I still need to understand what’s the deal with it… Aarghh!!
Oops, got some work waiting for me in the studio. Tata for now.

A bientôt!!!
Patricia

© 2010 – Patricia C. O’Neill

I firmly believe that the Universe is going to bring me what I need at the exact time I need it. It happened so many times in my life. The signs are often subtle, yet they are here.

I was hitting my head on the wall looking for a logo for Invincible Art. Nothing cartoonish, something simple yet elegant and powerful. As much as it is easy for me to have a vision for others, I have difficulties when it is time to create for myself.
I badly need a new identity… business cards, web banner, gift boxes, etc… and know that I have only one shot at a good impression. So, the way I present my business is very important.
I was in a dead end when on Tuesday, I’ve met my friend Chrichton. She is also taking her spa and massage therapy business to the next step and she proudly announced to me that she found a great designer. She gave me his web site url, and I liked what I saw. She showed me her new business cards which are stunning. So, I called Greg, he was available and we met on Friday. When it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. Two weeks from now, I will see the first draft of my new identity. I am so excited!!!

Besides, Nancy Vince from wholesalecrafts.com suddenly announced the creation of a second ACRE show, this time in January in Orlando. ACRE will share the exhibition floor with the Orlando gift show and its load of imported junk.

What a mess!! I am happy to have decided to leave the show business scene and go the direct marketing road.

I am even going one step further and have started working on a shop-invincibleart.com which will be my online store. I will keep working wholesale for arts and crafts galleries but I also believe in the power of the internet and social marketing. More and more people are choosing the convenience of online shopping over going to the mall. Not only this is a trend I cannot ignore but I cannot put all my eggs in the wholesale basket.

This upcoming week is going to be placed under the multiple signs of preparing my taxes return, keep producing more “bulletproof” work and optimizing my sites for SEO. If I want to promote my work using the web, I must go up in those google pages!

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2010 – Invincible Art Studio

The month of January has been very busy here at the Invincible Art Studio. So busy that the New Year resolution of posting once a day went down the drain. Oh well… I am declaring it a February resolution.

The workshop with Hadar Jacobson was FANTASTIC! I hope that I am not going to upset anyone, but I think that on the matter of working with metal clay, Hadar is one of the best, if not the best.

Hardar’s technique is cutting edge and she is an incredibly talented and inspiring artist. This workshop in Phoenix, organized by our local PMC Guild chapter, was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am happy to have been able to attend it.

Although I had gathered quite a few supplies and tools before the workshop, I needed to order new stuff. Ha, the smell of new tools… yummm… After the Foredom flex shaft and the ring maker, I just received the propane-oxygen torch I ordered from Ottofrei. Little leery to blow up the house, but excited by the possibilities. The world of metal clay is new to me and there is a learning curve… but it’s a lot of fun.
I officially started this afternoon. Stay tuned for some photos, maybe tomorrow (if I do not screw up the firing which is running right now).

Then, the Arizona Highways Click n’ Photoshop with J. Peter Mortimer and Steve Burger. This one was great too. I am such a fan of J.P.!!! This was my 3rd workshop with him. Some features of digital SLR cameras just leave me like brain dead and J.P. has a knack to make me understand them in 2 minutes.

We went to the Phoenix zoo early in the morning. Quick meeting with J.P. to learn tricks on shooting animals (with a camera, of course!!!) and get our assignments. Then, each of us went their own way, a zoo map in hands, looking for the prefect shot of our favorite animals.
This was not the perfect shot, but when I saw this one it cracked me up. Right away, I saw the potential of the image

Saturday afternoon, review/critic of the photos and selection of the ones on which we were going to work on Sunday. To my big surprise, I did better than I thought!
Sunday was the Photoshop day. Very interesting. And yes, a few Photoshop tricks can make a world of difference on a photo.

Some of my favorites… another rhino (serious this time, not worried about his butt) and an African wild dog. Look inside the ear of the wild dog. The hair looks like the face of a woman. Spooooky.

Besides, I have attacked my big project of the year: de-clutter our house. Very simple strategy: I keep only what we need, use, like. The rest will go to the trash, the charity, or will be sold on Ebay and Amazon.
Right now, my first (and worse) task is to tackle the paper monster in the office, aka 12 years of paperwork accumulated in banker boxes….
Then, the second will be the studio. Goodbye supplies I do not use and tools I do not need. Hello clean slate!!
The rest should be a breeze compared to those two. I give myself one year to complete the project.
Of course, Hubby is looking at me strangely. I think he is worried to find his unicorns collection on Ebay

And that’s it for the highlights of January. February will be placed (is already placed) under the sign of developing new jewelry collections, starting my new site invincibleart.com and let’s not forget the big piece of preparing my taxes.
I have more learning planned in another category. Some one-on-one time with Harry from the Shooter’s World to improve my shooting skills.

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2010 – Invincible Art Studio

This is already a few months that I was thinking about my future. Maybe the turn of a decade is for me a time of change. Most of us continue doing what we’ve done for years longer than we should… I think it was about time for me to break the pattern.

The truth is that, as an artist, I think I was at the end of what I wanted to do with glass. After 10 years of creating intricate glass pieces, it was time for me to reinvent myself into another type of work. To be perfectly honest, since this summer I was feeling that my work was weighing me down and it is a great relief for me to have been able to stop, reflect upon myself and discover what is going to rock my new world.

You may have wondered where I was during this past month… this is where I was… putting the last touch to my summer reflections and like the mythical phoenix die to be reborn new and live again.

Making people happy always has been my greatest satisfaction and I have received from many sources the message that I should create jewelry.
My new jewelry is going to be made of precious metals, glass, gemstones, fresh water pearls, clay and unique finds. Kiln-formed glass will still be present in my body of work as I am also experimenting with pate de verre but my main focus will definitely be jewelry.

As the work changes and evolves, my inspirations are staying the same. I am always very much attracted by everything related to energy flow, healing, balance, harmony and symbolism. But what’s new is that I am opening myself to create work inspired by some of my passions that have been my secret garden so far.

Because a change must be conducted all the way, I have decided to change the name of my business. “O’Neill Glass Art” becomes “Invincible Art”. The name came to me via two close friends who told me this is how they see me… nothing can bring me down.

As you have noticed, I have also changed the name of my blog to reflect all these changes. This was a tough decision to take, but in my soul I know this is the right thing to do and I am very excited by the adventures waiting for me ahead.

I have so much ideas and projects, my head is going to explode!!
In January, I am going to attend a once in a lifetime workshop opportunity. At the invitation of the Metal Heads group, Hadar Jacobson is coming to Phoenix to teach us about bronze clay, copper clay and even the brand new steel clay. That’s going to be exciting!!!
Then, I also attend a Photoshop CS4 class organized by J. Peter Mortimer (my favorite Arizona Highways photographer).
And I am going to spend few days in Las Vegas to visit a trade show where I plan to exhibit next year.
Between all of that, I will find time to work on new designs, launch my site www.invincibleart.com, and prepare my taxes (beurk).

Happy New Year everybody!!!

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – Invincible Art Studio

If you have been following me for a while, you certainly know that my business site O’Neill Glass Art. And if you go there, you will find yourself forwarded to a new site. And now you may be scratching your head wondering where did O’Neill Glass Art go?

Alas, all good things must eventually come to an end. As an artist, I think that I was at the end of what I wanted to do with glass. After 10 years of creating intricate glass pieces, it was time for me to reinvent myself into another type of work.
To be perfectly honest, I was feeling that my work was weighing me down and it is a great relief for me to have been able to stop, reflect upon myself and discover what is going to rock my new world.

Making people happy always has been my greatest satisfaction and I have received from many sources the message that I should create jewelry.
My new jewelry is made of precious metals, glass, gemstones, fresh water pearls, clay and unique finds.
However, kiln-formed glass will still be very present as I am also experimenting with pate de verre.

As the work changes and evolves, my inspirations are staying the same. I am always very much attracted by everything related to energy flow, healing, balance, harmony and symbolism.

Right now and until the end of the year 2009, not much will happen as I am working hard at developing new collections.
My new work will be promoted under the name “Patricia O’Neill Studio” and I will set up a site www.pco-studio.com as well as a www.pco-studio-fr.com for my French contacts.

As a convenience to my current clients and accounts, I am still offering work to re-order. Please, do not hesitate to contact me to tell me how I may help you.

Thank you for your support over the years. It was sad to take the decision to stop O’Neill Glass Art, but in my soul I know this is the right thing to do and I am very excited by the adventures waiting for me ahead. I also know we will still be seeing a lot of each other again in the years to come!

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

After recently deciding it was time for me to give my work a 90 degrees’ turn toward jewelry, I joined the PMC guild ant joined their local chapter in Phoenix: Metal Head Feat of Clay.
I attended my first meeting yesterday and had a great time.
The group is very friendly and well organized. In addition of many special events, regular meeting are held every month at Friend & Friends AZ Arts Studio in Peoria and I sure will be back to participate.

The meeting was followed by an artist reception for Pam East who is giving an enameling on silver workshop this week-end at the studio.

Pam, who is a renowned enameling artist, spent the last few months experimenting with enameling on copper clay, which has not been done before. She had prepared a slide show which was very informative and shared with us the struggles and excitements she has been trough during this testing phase. This presentation was a real treat.

I love colors and love working with enamels on glass. So, the idea to add them to spice up my new silver pieces is very attractive to me. And since this week-end workshop is already full, I purchased her new book “Enameling on metal clay” (Pam nicely signed it for me) to experiment by myself.

Needless to say that as soon as I was back home, I thumb through the book. At a first glance, it is very well made.

- a first part describes the basic of working with silver clay. Tools, techniques, tips… a brush-up never hurts! and there is always new tricks to learn.

- then, a part dedicated to enamels and how working with them. Lots of good advices here.

- and step by step projects, going from very basic (quick and easy earrings) to more elaborate (cloisonné et champlevé).
I just can’t wait to try. Maybe not this week-end… but absolutely during my holiday break.

If you are interested into enameling on silver, I highly recommend this book. Note that the name “metal clay” in the title implies silver clay. Copper clay is too new and hopefully she will write another book soon. And we cannot enamel bronze clay.

A bientôt!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

• Verizon who shipped me a new Blackberry overnight to replace the one that decided to go crazy on me.

• my wonderful dentist, Sheila Naik, who saw me in emergency because what I thought was a cold sore was in fact an abscess on a wisdom tooth.

• Louis Paster for Penicillin!

• again my wonderful dentist who called me at 7:30 at night, to tell me that she has reviewed my x-rays and proposed me to extract the tooth. At first she gave me a referral to see an oral-surgeon because the extraction looks a little bit tricky. But she knows that I am scared to go there and that I will be more comfortable with her.

• the Universe who let me go uninjured when a guy ran in the back of my car at a red light. I am driving a little Jeep Compass, and he was driving a huge heavy-duty company truck. He has just a scar on his front bumper…. my trunk is totaled…

• my husband who was here right away to deal with the police (who by the way forgot to ask me if I was OK) and the insurance company, leaving me just to deal with the aftermath of the stress.

• my insurance company who was very helpful at explaining what to do and how to deal with the insurance of the guy.

• the Universe again who made my Macbook Pro survive the crash. Yes, it was in the trunk of the car… When I heard the big “boom”, this is the first thing that came to my mind. Oh s**t, my laptop!

• preventive mammogram who found that my girlfriend has breast cancer at a very early stage and is very treatable.

• Alyson Stanfield for elegantly refunding my money on the “Cultivate your collectors” class which was not a class for me.

• Janet, from wholesalecrafts.com, who created new categories for me to index my jewelry. And that at no charge.

• Daniel, from Shooter’s World in Phoenix, who recommended a Crimson Trace laser sight for my handgun, installed it, tuned it for me and taught me how to do it myself. Now that I have experienced a stressful situation, where mind and body stop to communicate, I fully understand how it can make a difference for me the day things turn out really bad…

• and my all time favorite: Ricky Martin and iTunes which allow me to download videos for $1.99 and watch them as many times I want. His upbeat music, dance moves, killer smile and good look always bring me back in the saddle when I am down! Go Ricky!!!

Yes, emotional things happened this week. But instead of whining and complaining, I much prefer to believe into the power of gratitude to make me feel better. Have you tried it?

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

Just a quick post before the show tomorrow. Yes, it’s Friday night and I am such a geek but I am glad I looked at my blog because I had published by accident a page that I was using for test. It looked kinda funny and no one told me I was nuts!!!

The set up this afternoon went fine. The show is located inside a rent-a-space glass studio. It is nice and roomy. Parked my car just right at the door. My best set up EVER!!!
No canopy, no dirt, no long walk loaded like a sherpa. And most of all no worries about the weather.
Ill try to post a photo tomorrow.

Besides, I have started an operation Feng Shui of all my paperwork. I got a fantastic small but kick-ass-fast scanner that swallows all my junk and stores it in an indexed database. I am going to write a detailed review of this one, because it’s a life saver for business owners with small memory capacity.
It’s going to take me a while to go through all I have accumulated for years, but I committed one hour a day to the task. Right now it looks daunting but I dream of the day where I’ll be able to find the information I need.

A bientôt!!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

If you are in the Phoenix area this week-end (on the 24th and 25th October), I would like to invite to stop by “A taste of Art and Wine”.

This will be an intimate and fun indoor art show hosted by Fire Z Friends in Peoria.
8550 N. 91st Avenue, Peoria AZ T: 623-444-7918
From 10 am to 6pm….Peoria Arizona

Currently there are 20 artists with a multitude of talents: Blown glass, glass beads, art jewelry, soap, textiles, gourds and much more.

Of course, I’ll be there with some special glass pieces, sand carved beer glasses (it’s Octoberfest too!!) and I will introduce some new jewelry work. All of that at show special pricing.

Some other highlights of this show:
- Schlossadler International Wines will be pouring European Wines.
- Su Vino Winery will be pouring wines made right here at their Scottsdale Winery. – Wine Styles of Peoria at Park West will also pour a variety of their favorites.
- “Its A Grind” Will be mixing different coffee drinks both hot and cold for your enjoyment.
- Fletcher Music providing beautiful organ music through the entire event.
- Avira, A Flute Duo will play Sunday afternoon.
- the ASGB (Az Society of Glass Bead Makers) will also be demonstrating the art of lampwork bead making.

Please stop by and spread the word to your local friends, family and coworkers to help make this years “Taste of Art and Wine” a must attend event!

I hope to see you there. A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!

I realize this is almost a month that I have not posted anything. Ouch!!
Although life is still tough out there for us artists, I have had quite a few orders to ship.
I am also preparing a small local art show on October 24th and 25th at Fire Z Friends in Peoria.
And getting ready to launch my new line of jewelry.
Just plenty to keep me busy in the studio and far away from the computer.

But I am finishing working on the last posts of the series about wholesalecrafts.com and they will be out before the end of this week.

Because a new series is coming right after: how packing up an extra 5 pounds improved my life. No, I am not going to talk about chocolate and ice cream, but about Mac (and not the big one from the clown LOL).
A year and a half ago, I have made the switch from PC to Mac and not only it was love at first sight (I can’t resist cool looks), but it has helped me working better and faster.
Since, I have had so many artists friends who asked me questions about my experience, that I decided to share it here. Stay tuned, it’s coming!!!

A bientôt!!
Patricia

© 2009 – Unleash the Spirit of Glass!