Features Archives - Page 10 of 26

The Magic Zoo Custom Jewelry Designs

July 5, 2018 By Merry Leave a Comment

This past week I made oodles of custom jewelry designs in polymer clay. Much to my delight, everyone and her sister and brother seemed to need a Magic Zoo custom design!

This is something I don’t complain about. Besides, it’s a good excuse to get my husband to help with the meals so I can devote my time to being inspired by so many beautiful animal photographs!

I think it is very sweet to honor a beloved pet “gone over the rainbow bridge” with a one-of-a-kind pendant, pair of earrings or pin. In the years ahead you have this little memento to remind you of your days together.

And of course celebrating the joyful life you have with a current pet by ordering a custom design based on his or her photo is almost magical. Think about how it can aid you when you just need to brag about them!

So…I was pretty darned busy this past week, creating custom jewelry while gazing out at our beautiful Manzano Mountain range from my upstairs studio window.

Great photos to work from

Capturing the personality of someone’s pet is a task I don’t take lightly. I know first-hand how dear our companion animals are to us, and I sometimes make a design over and over several times before I’m satisfied that I was able to do just that.

By the way, a beautifully clear photograph goes a long way towards aiding this artist!

But life being what it is, occasionally I have to work from a blurry, tiny or otherwise impossible-to-see photograph. Sometimes, in the case of a pet who has died, that is all there is. Then I have to use a bit of imagination, and still create something that somehow taps into the basic personality of that dog, cat, bird, lizard, rabbit, etc.

It is a skill I have developed over the years, and it has been hard-won!

Is there a pet or wild animal that means something special to you?

Not all custom designs I’m asked to create represent domestic animals. There are people (maybe you are one of them?) who adore a specific wild animal. Over the years I have created custom jewelry representing an aardvark, an anteater, a turkey vulture, a songbird, a lemur, an ibis and even a T-Rex! Over my 30 plus years of making jewelry, there were many more unusual requests, but these are the ones that come to mind immediately. They have all been a challenge and a joy. I have photos of some, but not all of them. I wish I’d photographed them all!

If you have been looking in vain for a piece of jewelry that represents the animal you love, contact me! I will be more than happy to work with you and make you something you will adore. Just email me merry@themagiczoo.com and we can get started!

New Mexico Hummingbirds Galore at The Magic Zoo!

June 20, 2018 By Merry 2 Comments

Our New Mexico Hummingbirds are now back in force…I have never lived in a place with such an abundance of these little buggers…I hear them from early in the morning (sun rises around 5:30 or so) until sundown around 8:30 at night. They sound like super high little tinkling bells, or maybe more like crickets. I can’t decide. And sometimes they chatter back and forth in these funny voices that remind me of what alien munchkins would probably sound like. If you are familiar with hummingbirds, you know what I mean.

I have 3 feeders that hold a quart of sugar water each, and I have to completely refill two of them about every other day. Since in all my adult life I never ever bought white sugar (and was pretty proud of the fact), I felt a strong impulse to explain my purchase to the checkout person in the grocery at when I first took on the role of hummingbird caretaker last summer. Twenty five or so pounds of sugar and a year later, I just don’t worry about it.

There are at least 15 hummers right now at the feeders, but they are really hard to count since they move so fast it makes my eyes spin. I imagine there are probably more like 25 or 30.

Hummingbirds are the Fred Astaires of the bird world – never a careless maneuver (well, excepting those that accidentally beak-dive into our living room window then soar away, probably embarrassed by their blunder) and even at rest their trim graceful bodies remind me of that infallible dance icon.

In the Family Way

This morning I poked my head out the back door and heard an unfamiliar buzzing sound. I was looking all over for some giant wasp or bee in the back yard and finally spotted a sexy little hummingbird male arcing back and forth above his beloved like a feathered pendulum. I’ve seen their mating dance before, but never accompanied by that interesting “tune.”

I figure one more hummingbird wife will soon be building a nest, care taking the little eggs and feeding her young. The males are for some reason exempt from this familial routine.

Somewhere in the pinon trees are their nests. I’ve never seen them, but I know they are there. Judging from the frenzy of feeding over the past few days, I expect the babies are hatching and demanding nutrition. Luckily, they don’t just grow up on sugar water. According to Frequently Asked Questions about Attracting Hummingbirds, Mama and Papa also provide tiny insects and spiders to their young.

A Rainbow of Hummers

We have a two varieties of hummers here currently – the lovely iridescent green “black-chinned hummingbird,” and the “broad-tailed hummingbird” with a brilliant scarlet chin. Long about August the tiny orange Rufous hummingbird shows up. They are all kind of rowdy, especially the boys, but the Rufous seem especially belligerent for their tiny size.

Or maybe they have to be more assertive considering their late arrival at the feeding trough.

Despite their incessant chatter, the almost daily demands to fill their feeders and a little bit of mess (bathroom breaks seem to take place right around the feeders) I love my hummers and spend more time than I should watching their antics.

What varieties of hummingbirds do you have in your area, and do you put out feeders?

A Baby Horned Lizard and Other New Mexico Thoughts

June 7, 2018 By Merry 6 Comments

We are surrounded by wildlife, even though some of it’s pretty small. Like this adorable (to me, anyway) baby horned lizard in my 8 year old granddaughter’s hand. There is something “Yoda” about him…so tiny but with those ancient, wise looking eyes.

And then there’s the iridescent blue and green beetle that came by to say hello. I was washing dishes and noticed a BUG on my blouse. My first impulse was to hurriedly brush it off, but that gorgeous color stopped me. I rushed outside with this tiny living brooch perched near a button so I could show the menfolk. (My husband Ed, son David and grandson Cassidy were loading up the truck for a trip to town.)

For men, I thought they were suitably impressed! David took a photograph, but alas, the little bug was small and out of focus.

But he was so pretty! Cassidy said it reminded him of a hologram.

Luckily, I like Bugs

There are actually a lot of cool bugs in New Mexico. Like the hardworking black beetles that trudge around all over our property. They are completely harmless, and always seem kind of busy and preoccupied. We leave them to their tasks, which sometimes involves exploring our flagstone floors. Then I return them to the great outdoors.

As summer heats up, we’ll see the return of wasps and yellow jackets. They never bother me except for having to trap them in yogurt containers and release them outside. They tend to congregate in the windows both upstairs and down, and make a bit of a racket buzzing in frustration.

And the cicadas! I thought they were noisier in Florida, but once they got revved up and going here in New Mexico, their sound eclipsed just about everything else, including the wind blowing down from the mountains and whatever my grand kids happen to be telling me. Standing underneath a juniper with their concert going full blast, you have to talk pretty loud just to be heard.

Birds in the Family Way

Best of all, I have nesting birds all around our place…over 15 hummingbirds (I have no idea where their nests are, but somewhere up in those tall pinons, I expect), and then there’s the two unidentified birds building nests in the backyard bird houses.

Most fun for me are the flycatchers that have built a nest on top of an outdoor light above the pump room, which is conveniently located outside my kitchen window. Washing dishes these days is entertaining because mama and papa are making constant migrations to and fro the nest with beaks full of flies and other tasty bug morsels.

I’m loving life in the country!

Modern and Ancient Artists Meet

May 31, 2018 By Merry 2 Comments

This week I viewed some petroglyphs in Albuquerque with my family. Not for the first time (I’m quite sure) our particular visit was a meeting of modern and ancient artists.

There are several places (all within a couple of hours of Mountainair) to see this remarkable art, but since I was with my New York artist brother and his wife, we chose the one that boasted at least 300 petroglyphs, Piedras Marcadas Canyon in Albuquerque.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done this kind of time traveling, but with just a little imagination I was able to see lightly clad native Americans squatting by black lava rocks, stone picks in hand carving animal, human and symbolic messages that had definite and specific meanings in their time. I saw them busy early in the morning or very late afternoon, when the midday sun we were modernly trying to avoid with hats and sunglasses was not so intense.

I hoped there was more water and more shade for them.

Or maybe they were just tougher than we were. After 30 minutes or so I was so overheated my inner temperature gauge went haywire and I was shivering in the 90 degree heat and had to head back to the car.

But was it worth it? Oh yes…

It was a treasure hunt…along the trail and from several yards away we stood still, scanning black boulders of mixed size. Horned lizards, birds with fantastic headdresses and shamanistic figures with piercing eyes appeared, staring back at us from the rock.

We moved closer, right up to the design, careful not to touch them with our hands (having been warned of their centuries-old frailty.) Being so close to the work of a fellow artist, separated from me by hundreds and hundreds of years was an extraordinary privilege.

The meanings might be elusive and coded, but the petroglyphic beauty, rough and worn by passing centuries is a current communication, at least to me. One artist to another, one human being to another, ancient carvings of the very lizards and birds that dashed through the sand and into the brush on either side of our trail that afternoon.

When I found Kokopelli, the flute player with the hunch back, (obviously created by different artists all with different skill levels), I mentally compared those roughly beautiful carvings of this strangely joyful figure with the too perfect modern versions you see these days on coffee cups.

I am moved by those who felt their messages were valuable enough to carve in stone. They were, and they still are.

Is there some artwork of the past that moves you emotionally? I would love to hear about it in your comment here!

The Magic Zoo Customer Photos!

May 20, 2018 By Merry 2 Comments

Many of my customers sent me lovely photos of themselves wearing their Magic Zoo jewelry and a HUGE thank you to all of you who did! Once my remodeled site goes live, I will send you all a special gift – you know who you are!

But I need more photographs…If you have a couple minutes and can snap some casual photos of you wearing your favorite Magic Zoo jewelry that would be so very appreciated. And if you can include an animal in the photo with you, that would be especially wonderful. (But not required.)

I need lifestyle photos…so what are lifestyle photos?

What I am looking for are “lifestyle photos” rather than a close up shot of your jewelry. Here is how Wikipedia defines lifestyle photography:

“Lifestyle photography is a kind of photography (that) mainly aims to capture portrait/people in situations, real-life events or milestones in an artistic manner and the art of the everyday. The primary goal is to tell stories about people’s lives…”

So casual photos of you wearing your jewelry would be perfect. I just need to actually see the jewelry in the photograph clearly. But it does not need to be a close up of the jewelry.

You can be part of my newly remodeled website!

I will primarily be using your photographs as secondary photos on my product pages, so my new customers can get some idea of how the jewelry looks on a real person. But if it is an especially clear and large enough photo, I may use it more broadly.

The larger the photo, the better.

Just send your photo as an attachment to my personal email merry@themagiczoo.com

Here are 4 easy steps to sending me your photograph:

Take a photo of yourself wearing some Magic Zoo jewelry. You can send several different photos with different pieces of jewelry…I may use them all!
Please send as large a file as possible (for you savvy photographers, 1000 pixels wide is best)
Email the photograph to merry@themagiczoo.com
Please say in your email “I give The Magic Zoo permission to use my photograph” or something similar so I have your consent to use it.

I think I have the best customers on the planet, and I want to include your photograph on my newly remodeled and super beautiful website! (Which is coming very, very soon)

By the way comment here on my blog, and tell me what your favorite Magic Zoo jewelry design is, and why!

You May Be An Artist!

May 16, 2018 By Merry 2 Comments

One of my pet peeves is when a customer tells me “I have no talent whatsoever.” I take it personally…after all, we are all part of the same race, and I happen to think we are all a pretty creative bunch. Yes, you may be an artist!

Even life itself can be an art form. I’ve seen people who are so kind and so beloved by their fellows that their very existence is aesthetic. Maybe they have a gift for listening to others’ troubles and giving good sane advice, or encouraging a person in tackling a difficult or challenging task. I think the very best teachers are often in that category.

And talent comes in so many forms! Great cooks, excellent gardeners, singers, writers, storytellers, athletes, organizers and the list goes on and on. Art is really a part of life, and anything done exceptionally well can be an art form.

I imagine the top reason some people think they aren’t creative is because someone simply told them that and they believed it! Maybe they were a child, inventing something with crayons, sticks or finger paint and someone they respected criticized what they had done. Imagine how a child’s creativity could be blunted by an insensitive adult or peer telling him what he made was ugly or poorly done. I think most of us would agree that little guys and gals need encouragement, not criticism!

Growing up with an Artist Mom

I guess in many ways I was lucky growing up…I had a mom (Kathryn Hutton) who was a very talented artist. From the time we were kids she had a home studio, and drew wrapping paper and cards for Gibson Greeting Card Company. She also had a steady clientele of customers who commissioned her to do portraits of not only their children, but their pets as well! (The photo of the cat drawing is a portrait Mom did for a senator and his wife back in the 1960s)

Well into her 80s Mom was still a much in demand free-lance artist, illustrating children’s books. I have at least a dozen of them on my bookshelf, but she did many more.

Could Art be your Career?

So to me, making a living as an artist was always a viable career option. After all, I had the example of a mother who did just that!

Even though it is often looked upon as a “pipe dream” by many, if you have the desire, work hard to hone your skills and are not afraid of a few set backs along the way, you can be a full time artist.

But even if you don’t “do art” full time, please don’t deny yourself the joy that comes with creating! Write a poem, invent a new kind of pie, tell your grand kids your own made up story. It’s what gives life that extra zing…it’s the salsa on top of the enchilada, the sour cream on the blintz, the whipped cream on the bowl of strawberries.

What kind of artist are you?

Roadrunners Running the Roads

May 9, 2018 By Merry 10 Comments

They aren’t called roadrunners for nothing. Truthfully, every time I’ve seen one they’ve been running down a road. My husband once saw one running around in a National Park near Albuquerque, but I didn’t personally witness this. Besides, “parkrunners” just doesn’t have the same appeal (or alliteration).

A couple days ago we were heading for Albuquerque and a roadrunner ran right in front of our car before sailing gracefully (and pretty close to the ground) after he made it across. So they can glide kind of like a turkey. And since I’ve never seen roadrunner roadkill, I’d wager they have a pretty good record on beating the cars.

Whether coyotes ever get the better of them I couldn’t say. But we do have coyotes in our midst so it’s not impossible. But from the looks of them they don’t have a lot of meat on their bones so I bet they’re not too worthwhile a catch.

Roadrunners in Downtown Albuquerque?

Last weekend we were in Albuquerque and I had to blink twice to make sure what I saw was what I was really seeing. A roadrunner hanging out in a strip mall! Yes, right in the middle of Albuquerque. One of my friends tells me he sees them in Albuquerque quite often. Funny, that.

One of our fellow “country bumpkin” artist buddies told us he lost a small population of horned lizards to a predatory roadrunner one season. When the roadrunner moved on, the lizards moved back onto his property. They are good hunters, but I like my lizards so hopefully the roadrunners will stay on the roads and off our twenty acres!

A Few Cool Roadrunner Facts:

They belong to the cuckoo family
They can measure up to 24 inches tail to beak
They can weigh as little as 8 ounces and as much as 24 ounces
They can run up to 20 mph!
It is believed that roadrunners mate for life
They are the state bird of New Mexico (I love that!)
They can eat venomous snakes (also a cool fact)

Roadrunners are long-lived for wild birds…up to eight years. I imagine one could get kind of attached to a roadrunner in the area and get to know him or her after a few years.

Well, another interesting critter in New Mexico. You just never know what you might “run” into here. (Unintended pun, but I kind of like it.)

Have you ever seen a roadrunner, and if so, where?

Deer in our Mountains and Hummingbird Dances

April 26, 2018 By Merry 10 Comments

Deer in our Mountains!

We had a couple of visitors yesterday…a mama deer and her yearling fawn came by for a morning drink. Luckily, I was putting on the water for tea at just the right moment and caught them in action, right outside the kitchen window.

We have collection tanks for our gardening, and a couple of big horse troughs just for the critters. Critters being deer and bear, and hopefully, someday, elk! We’ve seen their prints and scat on our land, so we know they’re in the area.

We’ve had a dry winter…not a lot of snow, and what did accumulate was gone within a few hours. But somehow life goes on. In fact, there seem to be more jackrabbits and cottontails than I remember from last year. I saw a jackrabbit running across the road yesterday along with a couple of deer. Jackrabbits are elegant, long legged rabbits and look kind of deer-like themselves. They actually run, unlike their hopping cottontail cousins.

And the hummingbirds are back in force!

This morning I was watering the fruit trees we planted last autumn and the little hummers kept buzzing me. You’d think they’d have a little more respect for the goddess who keeps their feeders full of sugar water, but I suppose they think of me as just another part of the ecological system.

They are full of beans right now, busy with mating dances and nest building. I’ve counted at least 3 hummingbirds, but they move so fast that I’m pretty sure I’ve missed a few. The sugar water is going down in the feeders at a pretty good clip anyway. By Autumn (if last year was any indication) there will be at least twenty five of them.

And reptiles, Too!

I also saw our resident striped lizard (who likes to sun on the log in front of the house next to my husband’s small garden Buddha) dashing by a few days ago. I haven’t seen the horny toad yet, but I’m hoping he makes an appearance soon, and manages to stay safe from the cats.

Horned lizards (horny toads) do have a defense mechanism, kind of an interesting one. Have you heard of it? They can squirt blood from their eye sockets. Pretty sure the cats wouldn’t enjoy that much. Plus they are pretty spiky! I’m hoping the cats stay with hunting mice instead of lizards.

What wild animals are making an appearance where you Live?

Tell me what critters you’re noticing in your neck of the woods! You know me, I can’t get enough of animal stories!

The Bunnies are Back!

April 19, 2018 By Merry Leave a Comment

Ah…springtime in the mountains!

Tiny purple wildflowers are blooming close to the ground, the hummingbirds are dashing hither and thither like little cricket jets (they really do sound like crickets), moths are begging at lighted windows at night, and it is actually hot in the afternoon sun! But it could still snow, and the rule up here is don’t plant anything until June 1^st. (Although my daughter-in-law has planted some kale, which is one of those early season crops that don’t mind a little frostiness)

Just a few days ago this little bunny obligingly sat outside our kitchen window, nibbling at winter leftovers. To me his lunch seemed pretty dry and unappetizing, but he just chomped down that long dry stem as if it were a strand of uncooked spaghetti.

My visitor was a desert cottontail. I guess they can be troublesome if you have a producing garden, but since we aren’t at that stage yet, we can enjoy these little furry critters without worrying about their penchant for green veggies. (But I better warn my daughter-in-law!) Luckily, before too long there will be some wild greens for the bunnies to indulge in.

Oddly, one of my neighbors had trouble last summer with mice eating his garden produce! Then an old timer in the area told him to put little jar lids of water around the perimeter of his garden. Seems the mice were just gobbling up the greens for moisture.

We actually have several rabbit species around these parts. I’ve seen jackrabbits (two different varieties) and this ubiquitous little cottontail. Last year we had a baby cottontail that entranced the grand kids. The nice thing about rabbits is they try to make themselves invisible so you can get pretty close. A real bonus for a curious, animal loving 7 year old grandson!

I haven’t yet lived a full year in my new mountain home, so every season is entrancing. Spring here is one of the best of the four, with lilacs putting out delicate new foliage and local cottonwood trees showing off misty green hairdos. And now it’s warm enough that I can hang out the washing and bring it back in within a few hours. Oh, and the lizards are out!

What signs of spring are there in your neck of the woods?

Merry’s First Gallery Show!

April 11, 2018 By Merry 10 Comments

I was invited to participate in the “Remarkable Women Artists” invitational show at Cibola Arts Gallery in Mountainair New Mexico! For someone who mostly displays her work on the internet, this WAS kind of remarkable and involved more action and communication than just writing copy for my jewelry and putting it up on my website.

At the opening reception in February I got to mosey around wearing a fancy name tag and be “famous” for a few hours in the gallery, meeting and greeting fellow artists, local ranchers, shop owners and I imagine a few tourists as well.

The show will wrap up next week, but it was fun to introduce my animal jewelry to this community and make some new friends at the same time.

I’m not planning a second career as a gallery artist, but I believe in enjoying new stuff coming my way and I definitely got a kick out of this one.

One of the wonderful things about living in this community is the fellowship among not just the artists, but everyone who appreciates this unique, semi-desert environment. I talk to everyone I meet, in stores and on the street. This is one of these places where you wave to everyone you pass on the road, and when the greeting isn’t returned, you just figure they “aren’t from around here.”

I’ve gotten involved in some extracurricular activities too. I love to sing and last Christmas season participated in the Community Choir, singing my heart out (initially as a Soprano, until I realized those high notes really were high) and finishing as an alto (much more comfortable).

Now we’ve started a year round choir, made up of die-hard singers among our community. Our next plan…some Americana (think Stephen Foster) tunes for our local Fourth of July celebration!

The other wonderful thing about Mountainair is the care and interest artists have in our community, and the effort taken to introduce art to youngsters. (This has always been a big deal to me) Because if we don’t encourage the next generation in whatever they long to pursue (especially art, in my opinion) the future looks a little grim.

Do you have some good ideas on how to encourage your kids or grandkids in their artistic endeavors? I would love to hear them!

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