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!