Anticipation!

Just had a great mini-vacation with hubby, youngest daughter (USNA younster) visiting son and his girlfriend in Raleigh North Carolina. He was back from deploying to Afghanistan in May and we had only seen him for 3 hours before he flew back to Japan. Luckily for us the matchmaker who introduced my son to his girlfriend was getting married this weekend so he flew in for a two week vacation.

While in Raleigh we went downtown to the Market Center and visited Art Space a collective of established artists and new emerging artists. We got to spend sometime with two different artists. One well established and working in fine sterling silver clay...a bit disdainful of the copper and other metal clays, her final comment on them was "I am not sure about them but they are cheaper". The other emerging artist was great- she is working from wood blocks and found recycled wood making prints and other art objects. She was excited as she had collaborated with another artist and learned encaustic wax layering on one of her wood print blocks. She had only printed with black ink before and the bright waxes filled in the carved areas and brought the block to life... it was lovely. She has started to do some work with a theme of an adventurer doing world travel by a cargo ship, some of the blocks are already done and they look great so far....wish I would be around to see the finished exhibit.

The drive back started late as we were delivering son and girlfriend to Richmond Virginia for the festivities. Traffic was heavy through Quanitco and DC. This is where I congratulated our family in living in Upstate New York where traffic jams usually involve farm equipment slowly moving down the two lane roads. We made it as far as York PA and we were done for the night. Much to my delight while reading the local art/travel paper the next day there is a bead show going on in York today.

Free admission coupons too, okay I was really excited as I had to hope hubby and daughter would come with me. They are agreeable, okay daughter is less than thrilled listening to the sounds coming from her bed.....wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, sounds like a  baby dinosaur with a marble in her mouth.

 

soul recharging

Shabbat is a day of rest of relaxation a chance to recharge your spiritual batteries. For me it is a time to do something for myself something that recharges my soul.This morning I woke up left the hubby and the two boys ( that would be the dogs the only kids left at home) in bed and got a cup of coffee and started to create.

The first piece I worked on was jewelry piece from an art project I had worked on at CAJE in North Carolina. We read, dissected and learned about Torah together studying the torah protion the binding of Isaac and then looked at how artists had depicted it through the years. Was it midrash was it torah based? Then we created a unique and personal piece I did the story of Ruth, Naomi and Boaz. As a convert Ruth resonates with me- "your people are my people, your God is my God". The love between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law- is a role model that I hope to exemplify with my son's girlfriend and I pray someday his wife. I was inspired by Picasso and the women reflects both Naomi and Ruth as they were to both become mother to Ovid.

The colors in the painting were red and gold and that is reflected in the coral red beads and the gold crystals, the golden pearls and natural warmth.

From the Wednesday Wine & Women fimo clay pendants we finished wire wrapping the pendants. Only made better with crystals, glass pearls and mixed color metal spacers.

My turn to inspire this week led me to provide a bead challenge- every one got a focal piece, several small clay accent beads and several clay eye-pins the rest was left up to each artist. Since we have  two artists that focus primarily on jewelry, a mixed media expert and one true novice. I supplied chain, wire, beads that matched the same color palette and the fun was on. "Owl love you always" was my finished piece!

Next week our novice beader is taking us on a field trip for her inspiration challenge we are going to the McKenzie Child Barn Sale. Her work reflects  both folk art, scandanavian and victorian sometimes all on the same piece. I found myself drawn to the bold black and white pieces in the catalog and am curious which pieces grab my imagination in person.

By the time I finshed the coffee was cold, the jewelry was finished and I felt restored.

Wednesday's Women With Wine

Well we have been having so much fun making art together that we expanded our circle and added one more lovely lady to make art with. She has no experience in art but has the greatest tools imaginable a young heart and a free spirit.

So last Wednesday we got together for wine, lovely food, blessings and conversation first.

Then on to the fimo clay led by Karen we had multiple colors to choose from and made a fun cane then twisted, refolded twisted again. From there we made several bullet shaped pendants that we had cut in half then half again to get two sides with mirror images.
Then all the fun broke loose we were sharing canes, making more pendants, beads and using metal findings making earrings and pendants. Used stamps and tools and embossing powders.

While they cooked in the oven it was on to snack time with wine and mediterrean fare-think olives, roasted garlics, cheese, ham, turkey. Then topped it off with some gluten free dessert.

The pieces are waiting to be wrapped this Wednesday and to teach some simple wrapped wire beading as well. Pictures of the art to follow.

Art Camp

Gail and I have felt the need this summer to make art, to express our creativity in tangible form. Life interferes with the making of art but when it is important when it nourishes your soul you make time.'

Saturday we got together to create. I get to the lake and find Gail is still in town running errands ( as referenced above life and duties can get in the way). I had packed my jewelry making supplies with two projects to work on. So I sat at her cast iron table overlooking the Seneca Lake and beaded happily until a spider dropped on my head. I couldn't even scream and run as I was in the middle of crimping the the toggle on.

We had been at the Manayunk Art Festival the weekend before and on the way back from Philidelphia to Upstate NY we stopped in Jim Thorpe, PA and had a break from the drive. We found a wonderful pendant Pietersite and silver. It has a wonderful hologram effect with copper, blasck and gray colors.

The other piece I worked on was a mixed metal clay piece made with my sister Lucy of Lucy Ellen Design. It was an Owl face with two metals so I used metal findings with 3 colors and colored pearls-gold, magenta, green. I had a fun stone piece that was oddly shaped but when placed with the owl made it look like a winged body. In the pictures are some of the fun owl pieces I have collected since being a Chi Omega Omicron Chapter U.C. Davis. The background original art work was by Gail Walker,

mermaid life

I find myself drawn lately to all things mermaid.
I have been thinking about how I love all things water. It seems the freedom from pain when I am in the water daily teaching classes or just swimming for myself motivates me each day. I live with nearly constant pain in my hip and knee lately if I do not get in the water to stretch all muscles out.

So I wanted to add to this blog the finished necklace from the mermaid beads made with Polymer at Karen's. I love the iridescent finish reminds me of fresh fish scales on a trout.

I love the metal components it reminds me of seaweed. The pearls are purple coins and green and blue regulars. Crystals accents have coating that reflects blue and green.

I just love this piece I find myself dressing to wear it once a week at least. I have several pieces that have beautiful sterling silver pendants int he same color palate yet I tend to pass them by. This piece reflects more of me, my work, my artistry, my aesthetic. It allows others to glimpse a bit of my soul-the woman trapped by arthritis that can be free as a mermaid in the water.

Art of Bartering

My girlfriend Gail makes the most exquisite fabric art pieces- she has been published, and has sold these pieces. Best of all like me she likes to make art to gift both to people she loves but also for causes she believes in. Her areas of artistry are in painted, printed and then manipulated art and she has been generously sharing her time, knowledge and talents with me.

Since I mainly work in jewelry making we have had some fun collaboration.
Much to my delight she bartered a beautiful bag for a necklace of my choice just supplying some seed beads and shells that she had collected to start with the rest was up to me. The following necklace resulted, I especially love the metal shells, starfish and the head pins are art-i-cake.

On the day I was picking up the supplies from her art studio she sent me home with several other pieces. They had started as a hand made stamp, then too linen, then to the computer for manipulation I think I should call it computer hocus pocus because it is magical at the end. I could not decide if I liked the matt or the glossy finish so I went home with both.
I ended up making both into pendants one for me and one for Gail. Much of her art especially her print making has a Japanese aesthetic so the shell coins with the blossoms looked terrific together and I was able to tie in the ivory seed beads from the original project. The colors are ones she tends to favor in clothing as well.

In fact the day I delivered the necklace her skirt and rest of the ensemble had all of the above colors in it and it looked terrific with her outfit.

collaboration makes for great art

I have two friends that I love to make art with. We each have strengths that when together we encourage each other to do some fantastic art.
Two weeks ago we ventured up the eastern side of Seneca lake to Gail's house in Hector to play in her art studio. First we had a lovely meal with great food and conversation. Then Gail let us loose in the studio. We ended up carving our own stamps. Of course I could not just settle on one stamp I made my mermaid with fish and octupus friends and used some of Karen's left-over block and did the two dogs. Gail ended up with a rooster and Karens was much more art-deco and minimalist.

We then started to play with the stamps, ink pads to see what needed to be refined and quickly went to screen printing. I ended up with two archival prints on mulberry paper (according to Gail it picks up the paint better). Gail then stamped the mermaid on blue linen and the dogs on beige linen.
Well yesterday back up the lake I went. Again great food- dried salami, cheese from England with apricot bits in it, fresh cherries and strawberries, and some potato and bean chips. Thus fueled up to the studio we went.

What commenced up there was magical. I had brought a watercolor painting I had done 2 years ago at CAJE in North Carolina. Depicting Naomi, Ruth and Boaz in a picasso-style painting, We scanned it manipulated it added Hebrew text to it. I ended up doing a 5x7 print and framed it. Made several smaller pieces to do up into jewelry.The dogs we scanned the linen and use a paint program to put on a USNA dixie plebe cover and for our American Pitbull he got a green USMC cover painted on.The other jewelry pieces I will be working on in the next week or so as I need to wire wrap the pieces before finishing them as necklaces.

I also used the mermaid prints and manipulated it also for jewelry. The mermaid print is on acrylic and made into a necklace.

The linen mermaid Gail started to work on it for more art quilt, she added a tail, finished out the octupus and fish, added seaweed, I embellished with shell, pearls and beads. It is still a work in progress.
Knowing that we print onto linen best I went to Salvation Army and picked up a 100% linen J,Jill dress that I loved the color of but not the shape, very very boxy. We plan to deconstruct it and add the mermaid to the front. I am so excited to continue to work on it.