Please visit my new web at www.islandgourds.com and e-mail me at ardee@islandgourds.com or itsardee@msn.com since I can't update this web site anymore.
I wasn't born an artist at all. I couldn't carve, paint, even draw. Realizing and accepting that I was't artistic at all and that I could only see but not create, I had never dreamed of having anything to do with arts other than admiring them.
One day, recently, I saw a picture of a gourd birdhouse that my aunt sent along with a wooden birdhouse kit for my young son and all of a sudden I got very bad, craving-like feeling to try to make a gourd birdhouse. My husband had a drill/ saw kit and we have a mini drill from my in-laws 4 years ago. So all I needed was a gourd, thanks to them! Since then, I couldn't stop thinking about gourds! I keep making different kinds of banks, birdhouses, bowls, hula drums, etc. So far, I've been inspired by my surroundings here in beautiful Hawai'i and my husband often give me wonderful ideas. It's a wonderful feeling, it's fun to do and surprisingly, I love most of what I have made.To tell you the truth, it feels like somebody else does it for me and it can't really be me. And I'm grateful for all this. It's such a blessing!
