Trust Yourself

I was fooling around with some metals and new letter stamps today - thought I would do a quick little project. Over 3 hours later, as usual, I had gotten a little carried away and this little trinket grew on it's own as the ideas flowed. At the top is a small print of one of my paintings soldered beneath a glass pebble. The metal piece that started it all is in the middle - patina on brass and textured copper. This was inspired by the book Life is a Verb by Patti Digh. (A moving read by a favorite writer.)
And, at the bottom another angel that manages to creep into many of my pieces. This one is a birthday gift for a good friend and is meant to hang on her wall as an inspiration. Hope she likes it.

Riding the Artfest Wave

What a wonderful, blissful few days of creative fun with friends.  And, let me start by thanking those responsible for making it all happen - Teesha, Tracy and all the others who worked behind the scenes.  What  a huge undertaking to bring together an event of this size and scope.  And also a big thank you to everyone who shared such enthusiasm for my little "kissing fishes".  Thanks to my closest buddies (now dubbed the "Groupers"), I seem to have earned a new moniker as "The Fish Lady" - sheesh!  Anyway, the warm reception was much appreciated.
I didn't manage to get back for the show and tell night on Friday as we were too absorbed in finally exploring the lovely town of Port Townsend and enjoying a fabulous dinner.  So, here's a little show and tell of a couple of items I started in the classes I attended.  On Thursday I was in Sunny Carvalho's Plywood People class.  Really an impressive surprise.  Her paintings are so much more wonderful in person - they have such depth to them.  Mine still needs some finishing touches, but this is where I got her to before I left:

 

On Friday I was in Linda and Opie O'Brien's class, "Set in Stone.  This one was such fun to mess with metals, patinas, cold connections, and concrete.  I managed to get a couple of pendants complete and ready for chains which I will finish at home in my studio.

 

Now....what to start on first now that I'm back home and my head is swimming with ideas and creative energy??!!

Would You Kiss These Lips?

Well....look at that grinning face...would you kiss him? I'm trading kisses at Artfest next week!...Well....Fish kisses, that is.

I have been having an absolute riot making these little babies for trading at Artfest. I'm taking some artistic license with the theme, which sea monsters. I figure even sea monsters need friends...and as we all know now, "Fish are friends, not food!" So, I'm making sea monster friends in glass - and kissing ones no less! I tell you, I've never giggled so much and so long in my studio while working as I have for this little project. As soon as the eyeballs and then the lips go on, I'm howling at their quirky little personalities that just instantly light up. Each one is completely unique. Such fun.

If nothing else I think I now have sufficient training in creating kissable lips, I might consider applying as a surgeon in Hollywood. What do you think?!

Featured: How Cool Is That?

Our local publication has run an article about me as an artist....so very neat!  I remember being a little girl at home and thought it was so cool that my dad was written about in our home newpaper about his stock car racing, and all the races and trophies he'd won.  When I was very little I said "I'm going to win trophies some day, just like you!"  Well....this little article kind of feels just like that.

Finally......a winner!

Many pardons for my tardiness in announcing a winner for the One World, One Heart project.  My excuse?.....I'm on Island time.  Well.... that's what I'm claiming anyway.  Between wrapping up a project at home, attempting to pack as fast as possible, and getting the family out here to Barbados...there just hasn't been a spare moment to get to my blog to announce a winner.  But, today...finally, we did it. 

With help of my little Caribbean Beach "random number generator", the winner is post number 96 -  Marva at Purple Paint Muse.  Congratulations!!

One World, One Heart...in the Nick of time!

Well....I just love this idea of OWOH - the brainchild of Lisa Swifka. And, this is a great excuse to get back to the blog on a more regular basis. Funny how other work can get in the way of creative activity and blogging. So Kudos to Lisa for inspiring me. Here's how this lovely project works - in Lisa's own words:

I created this event in 2007. The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. 2007 had roughly 85-90 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong. We had a strong showing the first year for sure, and then in 2008 we had just about tripled that number. This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the art community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together. This is an INTERNATIONAL event that has and had participants from the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, England,Wales, Slovenia and more. It transcends geographical location, socio economics, political affiliation, religious beliefs......it's a coming together like the giant community we are on this planet. If only it took a simple giveaway to create PEACE everywhere, in the mean time here we give from our hearts. We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging. What more could I ask for, my little idea has surpassed my wildest dreams of what it could become.


So with that I join in this fun adventure of giving and connecting with artsy bloggers and kindered spirits. On Feb 12/09 I will draw from all those who leave a comment on this post, and the winner will take home this lovely heart pendant. It is Lampworked Italian glass on a short sterling silver ball chain - appropriate I thought for a "One Heart" give-away...all hand made by me.

Here's what you need to do to enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post
2. Everyone is welcome to enter, just be sure your comment takes me back to you, if you are not a blogger, make sure to leave a email address where I can reach you.
3. On February 12th a random winner will be drawn from the comments left. I will notify the winner and announce it on my blog. This little glass token of love will be sent to its new owner.

Good Luck Everyone....I'm looking forward to meeting some new art loving friends!

Being Grateful For Me - A Mixed Media Self-Portrait

My Naturopath gave me an assignment - to keep a gratitude journal about myself.  Not what I'm grateful for that is outside of me (other people, places, things, etc.), but what I am grateful for each day about myself.  Wow, that's an entirely different thing...and infinitely more challenging.  But, I set out to give it a whirl and from this initial little gratitude note I wrote grew a self-portrait, and with it I observed again some initial resistance.
A self-portrait seems like the most daunting of creative endeavors. Why is that? Do we feel we can only attempt a portrait if we have the skills to get the likeness just right? Or is it because we really have to look closely at ourselves; if not at our actual features, then at ourselves, our lives, our values, etc. Sometimes this navel gazing seems like a huge task that we don't have the time to do "properly" - with genuine reflection and effort. Does "properly" mean that we need to get it RIGHT? Goodness, there seems to be so many things that can stop us dead in our tracks because we have this perception that we must get it right.
I think of that quote...."boldness has genius in it...", you know it:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.” - Goethe



So with that abandon to action, I attempted a self portrait that became a wonderful exercise in letting go and surrendering to the process. Surrounded in a variety of papers I found appealing, magazines I love reading, pages from old journals, and a current writing on Gratitude, pictures of family and a selection of my own artwork that had some meaning for me, I let loose with scissors and gel medium. The process of collage was completely absorbing and enlightening as I watched myself be moved and inspired by certain images, colors, and words.
The whole process was inspired by the book Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts, so I can't take credit for the idea. I can however own the courage it took to jump in and allow myself the gift of engaging in the process. It's hard to give ourselves permission to take the time for these things most of the time....so for this I am grateful - to myself.
In the end, it was very moving, enlightening, and fascinating as the painting spoke to me on it's own as I worked. Only one brief moment felt frustrating...when my critical brain (left brain) piped up to observe that my facial features were out of proportion. I was both amused and grateful that my Wise Woman (right brain) very quickly quipped back..."that's OK, it's SUPPOSED to be like that!"