Let Me Introduce Myself

Hi! Thank you for visiting my new blog. I made my living as an artist for over twenty years but then I took a very long hiatus. I'm happy to announce that I'm back and I'm energized and full of new ideas. The sculpture and jewelry will be coming in a few weeks. I'm still working on my studio space. But while I finish those mundane but required tasks of clean up and organization, I have been working on a few pen and ink drawings of a new series of my favorite subject, angels. The one shown here is the first in a the series. I will post the others as they are completed. I will offer them as matted prints, matted, framable cards and on fabric in the form of pillow tops. I am also still in the process of setting up my new website and etsy stores but I will provide links when those are available.

Now, the reason behind my name and the reason angels are my favorite subject is my mother. My mama passed away twenty-five years ago. She had a heart attack late one night. While we were rushing to the hospital, I kept saying to myself, "She isn't gone because I haven't heard the bells." This refers to, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings." I know that may sound like a childish thing to be thinking but when your mother is dying, we all feel like small, helpless children. My mother passed not long after we reached the hospital. Before the doctor came out to tell us, I felt as if sunlight suddenly exploded in my heart and I heard my mother say, "Oh, Sande! It is so beautiful!" On the drive home, I felt crumpled and I was unconsolable. Suddenly, there was the sound of bells chiming inside the cab of my husband's truck. He was startled and started looking around for the source of all that noise. I said simply, "An angel just got its wings." There was one more beautiful peal of a ringing bell and then silence.

Many years later, on my fiftieth birthday, I did something I'd wanted to do for a while, I saw a psychic. I was an open minded sceptic. I didn't know if I believed in them and wondered if they were all frauds and con men. This one told me that my mother would send me feathers to let me know she was watching out for me. I stopped at a drive through to get something to eat on my way home. I pulled over into the parking area and rolled down my window and through the window a feather floated and landed on my lap. It was a beautiful blue feather and very unusual. Since then, whenever I'm really upset, feathers seem to float out of empty skies and fall at my feet. Most recently when my best childhood friend died. I had a white feather drop in front of me as I was on my way to see her on the day she passed and then at her funeral, I'm walking up to the gravesite where I was to speak about her and at my feet there was a snowy white feather. So, I guess now I believe in both angels and psychics. Which is why you will also see feathers featured often in my work.