Just Add Water

What I consider to be my normal artwork is extremely detail-oriented, planned, and somewhat precisely executed (previous posts below show seed bead work). In order to expand the other side of my brain - the right side as they say - I am practicing watercolor. It started when another blogger mentioned loving her watercolor pencils, which piqued my interest. I bought a set for myself - and love them, too! Although the first picture below may look detailed and precise (I indulged myself here), when adding water you only have limited control, especially as a beginner. The paint, water and paper pretty much have their own party while you swirl and blot and try to participate.
I copied this picture freehand from a traditional watercolor print, which was painted based on a photograph. After sketching with the pencils on watercolor paper, you are forced to let go during the water painting part. It's so fun. To stay right-brain oriented, I have committed only to practicing watercolor, never perfecting (kind of like yoga). As long as I don't get too uptight, it will always be fun!
Ever the multi-tasker, I am also practicing Chinese watercolor. A few years ago my parents brought me a traditional Chinese watercolor set from China. After watching a bunch of how-to videos online, I started practicing from books. It looks so easy, but even the simplest shape is hard (for me). Still fun and relaxing to just practice.

Spiraly Soul Circus

I hung my recently finished wall art Spirals at the top of our spiral staircase. Just realized that - about the staircase, haha. Inspired by Celtic spirals, including Triple Goddess (in both summer and winter sun spiral direction) and equinox spirals. Stare at this for a while, then you'll start seeing spirals everywhere. The winter solstice is upon us, where will you be?

This week I had the chance to attend another SoulCollage workshop. Very fun (meaning: outlet for creativity) and relaxing, with some wonderful people. So amazing to meet random people and feel such a friendly connection. This is one of the cards I made.

Last month I took my first class in circus! At the Kinetic Arts Center, or Oakland Circus and Fitness, you can learn various circus, uh, talents? In the intro class we learned rope climbing and acrobatics (not military style rope climbing, think pretty, glittery ladies twirling and writhing hundreds of feet up!) and static trapeze (as opposed to flying trapeze). It was incredibly fun, I can't wait to do more, like maybe aerial or tight rope! All those Pilates classes finally payed off - would have been lost without some ab strength. Yay Circus!

Finished First Beaded Wreath

This is one of the larger beaded projects I've done. A 12" wreath, completed just in time to hand deliver to my mother for her birthday, during my trip to Anchorage. My next wreath won't be so ambitious, although I am pleased with the results. In any case, I have a gourd waiting to be decorated - can't wait to get back to that. The weekend I was in Anchorage was also the annual gathering of the Alaska Federation of Natives. My parents and I went and browsed through dozens of skilled artists' and artisans' showcases of beautiful Alaskan artwork of all types: skins, bones, tusks, beads. So much skill and talent I can't begin to describe them here!

I just realized this wreath fits perfectly with my 2nd picture for this blog: my homework from Helga's Art Challenge #1: Everything Circles. Too late to enter for any prizes, but it's just for fun anyway. I hope to catch up by challenge #4 and get a chance to win some art booty.

Entered A Contest

From a sister blogger, I discovered a really cool blog with regular artistic challenges: Helga's Weekly Art Challenge! This challenge was to use an inchie on a small collage (mine are 4" x 4"). I started with some re-sized photocopies of sea life (from my college biology book) and a somber cherub from an old Daniel B. Merriam calendar. I love these images together, plus the gold and reddish washes, and ended up making a total of three. I believe only 1 can be entered per contest, plus I missed the deadline (fooey!!), so I'm just doing what I can at this point. I will mount them in a row for a tiny, bat-ridden if not weird, Halloween-ish tryptic.

My "regular" artwork is very planned and detail-oriented, so I find collage or altered art extremely challenging - but in a good way. If nothing else it was worth it to learn about inchies which, as far as I can tell, have taken off like wildfire in the artistic community. Anything and everything that is 1" by 1" qualifies. There are so many fabulously creative inchies and artwork with inchies - use your favorite search tool to find hundreds of pictures of beautiful inchie art.

A week before my birthday this month I picked up my box of braiding materials and immediately saw that I could make myself a present: Celtic knot with hematite ankh pendant! (top center necklace) Thinking of a photo op for my blog, I hunted down other Celtic-inspired jewelry I had made during the last 4 years. This is most of it - what a surprise that I had made so many! I taught myself Celtic knotting (also called Chinese knots) from 2 wonderful books by Suzen Millodot. I've also made several wall hangings using much thicker cord. Very fun, not hard at all using Suzen's books, most of your time (at least 85%) is spent tightening, re-tightening and straightening the cords after the knot is complete.

Couldn't help sharing another oncidium orchid I somehow managed to get to flower: Sharry Baby (hey - I didn't name it, I don't even like 50's music that much). Also known for having a milk chocolate fragrance (hey - I don't even like milk chocolate that much).
I don't consider myself an orchid person; my success probably has more to do with our 2nd floor southeast-facing window. Maybe also because this oncidium is considered a beginner's orchid. I bought it last year because I loved the flower and its fragrance. Never thought I'd get it to bloom, but it grew over 3 feet this summer before I clipped it - after adding an 8 inch extension to its post it kept growing taller, I got nervous and cut the top off doh! I only just found its name and signature fragrance after searching online and finding this funny (if you like plants and/or cornball wacky humor) blog PlantsAreTheStrangestPeople. Over a hundred little blossoms!

Oh! My Gourd.

I am so happy to have completed my first crafted gourd today! I only regret not taking its picture last fall when it was a bright green, spotted swan neck gourd. At that time I had no idea what this lil' fella would become. I only had an inkling when I was at the Alameda Holiday Bazaar in December and saw a fellow Alamedan and gourdista, owner of Studio Phoenix Gourd Art, display her gorgeous gourds. I promptly made plans to dry my two gourds and turn them into.. something, anything! Each gourd is so unique you just have to examine it and think about the possibilities a while before you know. This one, besides being an autumnal equinox celebration gourd, is inspired by Southwest gourd artist extraordinaire, Bonnie Gibson.
I copied her Hopi rain cloud design for the top woven coiled part, and added my own beaded design for the handles. The top neck part is still around for use in a future gourd art piece! I love that the materials are (almost) all natural, and I can combine gourds, beading, and basketry all in one piece. I have two more gourds in the works already, which makes me very happy.

By the way, just because today is the Autumnal Equinox DOES NOT mean that we have exactly 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. Look it up on a real website like time and date dot com why don't ya? If you have a science geek gene like me, you'll really want to read all about it. If not, well it's still the first day of autumn, and I wish you a beautiful fall day!

Happy People and Box Shows

We were lucky to be able to get out of town over the long weekend, and visit another town about the same size as Alameda, but much closer to the ocean and wine country: Petaluma! A charming town: river-front walks, great restaurants, large open space near river for migratory birds. If you like cheese, Petaluma is the home of Cowgirl Creamery and former egg basket of the USA. Surprisingly, our cheap hotel had a large, heated pool which we had all to ourselves one afternoon - even more surprising. The highlight for me, however, besides the peaceful scenic drive (happy cows, happy cheese, happy people), was our hike: Pomo Trail along the Sonoma Coast.

We started at Shell Beach (seals, cormorants), hiked up Pomo Trail (garter snake, turkey vultures), which thankfully wove through a small oak and redwood grove, to the top of Red Hill (kestrels, crows, stunning view), then back down (wildflowers). One of the many reasons I love living in California is the year-round hiking.

The other highlight was a spontaneous visit to Gallery Route One in the town of Pt. Reyes Station on Highway 1. GRO is home of the famous Box Show, which was just at the end of its exhibit/auction. Artists volunteer to create an art piece using a box, which is then auctioned off to support their community art programs. This is their 11th year, and the boxes were just amazing - much more than I can even describe here. The best part is that I was able to entry the lottery next year's show (demand to create a box exceeds their space, so a lottery is held). I'm feeling lucky, but still keeping my fingers crossed that I am chosen to make a box. If you know me, you know that my ideas far exceed what I have time to create. I can't help imagining what my box would look like, if chosen, or even if not chosen, so I am leaning towards making an art box just for fun anyway.

Sum Books

This is a detail from my almost-finished wall art, imaginatively called "Spirals". I'm very pleased with the way it turned out - mostly as I envisioned it! I love working with this material-which-has-no-name-but-I-should-name-it-something: acrylic paint-coated (many layers, textures) muslin fabric. Maybe libric, Libby's fabric? It's so easy to add texture to it and cuts like a dream.

I also love David Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed in Flames which came out ages ago in hardback and only recently in paperback. I'm not a big laugher in general, but his book had me giggling even days later. While I was reading it (and laughing), I realized I was tearing through it and would be finished too quickly. Book lovers know the self-control needed to savor a good book! So I looked over at my husband's nightstand and saw Sum by David Eagleman. It looked like a good brake book to stall the finishing of When You Are Engulfed.. so I started reading it. Wow, very interesting. The full title is Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, and consists of little vignettes about.. the afterlife. I'm not one to think about, let alone believe in or fret about "the afterlife", but I found the ideas in the book very creative and fun. I almost feel inspired to write my own tale.

More about Me

My second ever beaded project at left is a flowering dogwood branch. I am stunned by the beadwork I've found on other blogs I now follow, and especially some from Japan. Not just beaded flowers but food, too, like Chami's jello molds and corn cobs. Amazing. It's toward the end of my day today and I'm a bit tired from beading, gourd cleaning, gluing, yesterday's ballet class, and some collage work.

SoulCollage is another love (there are so many, I'm thrilled!) I've not had time to mention. SoulCollage is a unique process created by Seena Frost, combining personal work (some say it's worth 10 hours of therapy) + creative outlet + fun + relaxation. All cards are made using images from print media, so the ability to use scissors and glue are all you need. My perception of SoulCollage is definitely influenced greatly by Sandy Guderyon, a beautiful person and skilled facilitator of the process. I've met some wonderful people there, including another facilitator and fellow blogger across the globe, Imelda Maguire, in Ireland. It's hard to explain with words, you just have to experience it. I found Sandy's group through the ubiquitous social networking website, meetup.com. Contact me for more information, or find your local group and give it a try. I really can't say enough good things about it, but I'll stop myself now. Here are two of my cards:

Les Fleurs de Perles de France

Making French Beaded Flowers is something I started about 3 years ago, after a young, wise, dear friend gave me Carol Benner Doelp's The Art of French Beaded Flowers, and I promptly started teaching myself from it. I don't know why, but I love the planning, assembly of materials and tools, the execution (yes, an exercise in patience and painful detail), then the final product! which is surprisingly tough, delicate and heavy all at the same time. My latest creation (the first completely of my own design) is shown: framed pink flowers. The flower and leaf design are not based on any real flower, just something for fun and to see how well a wooden frame works to hold them (very!).


This is the front of a card I made this card for my father (a skilled and avid birdwatcher) last Father's Day. The bird - a belted kingfisher - is from a recycled child's book on birds (circa 1966), and the flowery part is from a beautiful book on Russian Textiles by Susan Meller. I accidentally found this book at my local library - the history is fascinating and the textiles (beautifully photographed) are fabulous. Interesting and exotic in a middle-European, 19th century, art deco, psychedelic way (and this unfortunately is not a good example of that).

"..and blog like nobody's reading it."

Well, hello there! I feel like a chick who just hatched herself out of a shell, and sat wide-eyed looking around. My first blog. Sure, I know blogger has been around 10 years already, but - did you?

Rough seque: Look, I found ancient Celtic spirals in Ireland at New Grange!

This is my place for sharing pictures, mainly of my artwork, but other beloved images will show up (like Celtic art).

Wow - this first one is really hard. It seems more like making that first smudge from a new paint tube or paint-pen: nothing to bring people into the room for, but still necessary, and also fun to see how the color looks and get a feel for the flow. (hee hee - amusing myself with my art geekiness!)

If you think the title is obtusely cryptic.. you obviously don't read inspirational quotes too often. Funny that the original (google "dance like nobody's watching") is credited to many: Mark Twain, the Irish, anonymous, and has evolved many different variations. Write your own today!