DENISE CALLA CHRISTMAS COLLECTIBLES

(A message quoted from the artist Denise Calla)

One of the most frequently asked questions I hear is "Where do you get you ideas from?" My artwork has always come from my heart, inspired by what I experience in daily life. The greatest source of inspiration to me has always been nature, I just can't "get over it." I am as enthralled today as a middle-aged adult as I was as a little child, maybe even more so. I have walked my woods almost every day of my life and can honestly say there has never been a time I wasn't stopped in my tracks and just completely enchanted with the natural woods around me. Emerald green moss growing on a piece of granite, the sun soaking into the back of a bluebird and giving "blue" a life of its own, a snowflake disappearing into the warmth of my cheek...and endless showering of gifts to fill our hearts and make us aware of our souls.

Here in Wisconsin, we often wake up to cold frost-covered winter mornings. However, every once in awhile Jack Frost the little snow maestro goes all out and composes a masterpiece. And so he did last winter when I was thinking about starting my 1999 line for House of Hatten. We woke to a frosted world, where everything was sugared and glistening in the pale winter sun. Little Jack had hit everthing with his frosty brush; every blade of grass, every pine needle. I spooked a herd of deer and as they ran away I could see each hair on their backs and the buck's horns were crystalled. Here was my inspiration for this years new line of artwork. My Jack Frost hanging centerpiece, and the Little Jack ornament to complement it, celebrate that beautiful morning. I also have Jack Frost warming his hands by a voitve candle and so the pieces came to be know as "Fire and Ice."

You will notice a lot of my characters have wings this year. Faeries and angels have wings of course, but St. Nick, snowmen and even little kitties were given a set of wings when I carved them. Way back, over 25 years ago, I would put wings on the characters I painted, carved or wrote about. This was a secret message to those closest to me to remember that "to have a happy life you have to have a grateful heart." Now, the older I get the more I've discovered the depth and meaning of the words "a grateful heart." I have been so blessed as my career has taken each turn in the road and I have met so many wonderful people through my artwork. So as I come off another memorable year with House of Hatten and head towards 1999-2000, it's with a very gratful heart! I hope that my loyal collectors who have celebrated this journey with me from the beginning and all the new collectors I met this year will see those little wings and know that someone out there is wishing them "a happy life and a gratefu heart."

Denise Calla