Ahhh It's Summertime!

Well, the hot, humid days of Summer are back in WV. It makes it really hard to work at any kind of good pace however, I have found that having my daughter, Marina, at camp for three weeks has motivated me somewhat! I usually only get to spend about 4 hours a day at my art gallery/studio since I have to pick her up from school and do the wife/mommy stuff. But almost three weeks of 8 hour days gives me time to really play some! I never thought there would be a time in my life where I looked forward to more time at work!! I guess what they say is true...if you love what you do it's never work! I got juried into another Tamarack Gallery show with two pieces which is a big honor since the theme for the show is "The Best of West Virginia". We are completely overhauling our website so that people can save a little gas and shop from home for the whole gallery. I am also completely psyched that I sold my first piece on www.etsy.com! It's a wonderful place for all handmade items. Just search on vittoriabanks or my name vicki angotti and it will take you to my page. When Marina gets back from camp we will be going over to Columbus to Quarter Horse Regionals. Our region includes KY,OH,IN,WV,MI and Ontario. Last year Rina got two top ten medals! We are really excited to see how much our new trainer, Amanda Davis, is helping. I'm sure we are going to have a great time. Plus it will be during my birthday so we will all be celebrating with Mojitos I'm sure!
Vicki

What a Spring!

I has been quite an eventful Spring for me. We have had some record rain and storms in our area and then my car gets hit by lightning! My daughter Marina was in it at the time but thankfully she was okay. It just fried my battery. I took a fabulous metalsmithing class in TN at Arrowmont School for Craft. One whole week of 16 hour days with big hammers, big torches and acid...it was unspeakably fabulous! Make great friends from all over the US and learned some new techniques. As a matter of fact, one of the pieces I made at Arrowmont just got juried into a gallery show at Tamarack in Beckley, WV. I now have my stuff on Etsy.com under vittoriabanks so that I can sell on the web. New website under construction so we can sell stuff from the gallery as well. I can also now be found on MySpace and Facebook so look me up and chat! I am going to try to post some pics of some of my latest works for those who are interested in what I do. Cross your fingers it will work!! Besides trying to stay cool and am staring down the barrel of a birthday soon. July 15th will be the big 45! I am just now finding out what I want to be when I grow up and now just when I am ready to kick some butt I need a nap!