So, I’m working on a new mosaic plate using the theme of ‘paleontology‘. Don’t know that this term is used much anymore- it’s so 19th Century.

The beginnings- laying out a basic composition and cutting glass.

I love the word. It reminds me of hours in the public library, selecting my next dinosaur, fossil, or prehistoric anthropology book to read. I was a geeky kid.

In fact, I have had the same recurring paleontological dream since I was four years old: I am in a warehouse furnished with rows and columns of tables laden with dusty cardboard boxes of fossilized dinosaur bones. The atmosphere of the space is all burnt sienna, but luminous. I am completely alone with the bones.

Perhaps paleontology is on my mind because I am still excavating in my studio to find tools and supplies. My husband Bob has been creating a ceiling ‘light show’ in each room, according to my specifications. He has also been installing my shelves from the old studio, as well as modifying walls with the help of my cousin.

We are a long way from a well-established studio, but with an art show coming up in just one month, I am waaaaaaay behind in making new art. I have swiped one section of tabletop clean enough for my immediate supplies and I am drawing, planning, cutting glass, firing the kiln, cutting stone, mixing mortar, arranging, gluing, and making custom shipping containers for each new mosaic.

New wall opening and enlarged doorway between rooms.

The master at work, fitting baseboard to a curve.

Speaking of geeky- I am most of the way through with my class, Real Estate Finance. I am expecting to get my license soon and add selling real estate to my creative repertoire. Because I want to be able to help educate clients about finances, as well as homes, I am calculating a mortgage amortization ( using actual arithmetic), calculating various closing costs, or memorizing points of law each day so that the concepts become second-nature for me. Still a book-worm after all these years.

-Lynn Bridge in Dripping Springs, Texas, U.S.A.