IT'S OPEN STUDIOS TIME AGAIN!

Today was the reception for the big Open Studios Art Tour Preview Exhibition. Hundreds of arts and crafts enthusiasts and artists filled up the Santa Cruz Art League gallery and lobby, and it seemed there were hundreds more outside for the food, drinks, and entertainment. A good time was had by all! (The picture is me with my "Luttrell Harp" at the reception.)

My wife and I had a lot of fun seeing and talking to all our old friends and meeting new ones. It's a great event to catch up on everyone's past year of shows and new works. It's also a great place to network and learn about other shows and galleries, and even to get inspiration for new works. Just talking to other artists can trigger ideas.

The Open Studios Art Tour is the first three weekends in October. October 4-5 is for South Santa Cruz County, October 11-12 is for North Santa Cruz County (my area), and October 18-19 is the Encore Weekend for the entire county. (I'm open for Encore too.) Calendars/Artist Guides, with a map showing the locations of all the artists are available at many stores and galleries throughout the county. To find out where to purchase the calendar, or buy over the internet, go to the Santa Cruz County Cultural Council website at http://www.ccscc.org/. Be sure to visit the Santa Cruz Art League to see the Preview Exhibit, and you can see examples of nearly all the Open Studios artists. For Art League hours and directions, visit their website at http://www.scal.org/.

Then... come and visit me, see my studio, and purchase a fine piece of musical sculpture!

I'm Artist #234 in the Calendar/Artist Guide, at 147 Sacramento Avenue, Santa Cruz, California. My location is just off West Cliff Drive, just three blocks from Natural Bridges State Beach. Follow the big green Open Studios signs.

Medieval Ukulele

After nearly a year of planning, carving, re-planning, re-carving, sanding, sanding, and sanding more, I finally finished the "Rebekulele". It's a one-of-a-kind ukulele tuned and fretted type of instrument, but in the shape of a medieval rebec.

Most of the wood is salvaged and scrap pieces of maple and black walnut that came out of my storage bins. I laminated several pieces of maple for the body and neck and hollowed it out, like the rebecs of old. The head, with an open mouth for the strings to go through, is a tagua nut from Ecuador. (Also called vegetable ivory.) The figure and peg head area are carved to look like an ancient Polynesian tiki.

Now that this is finally completed, I can look ahead to finishing other projects that have been on the shelves for way too long, like my Chapter House organ (3 months so far), my original Chapter House Harp (around 4 years), and my long-worried-over Victoria and Albert Ottavina (octave spinet, 29 years and counting).

Of course, there are other "normal" projects going on in a continuing basis, like another Mountain dulcimer (nearing completion), and a ton of spoons, spurtles, and other folk art pieces that I have to finish by the time I start my late Summer art festivals and crafts shows.

Stay tuned.