Why I haven't been posting....

So sad but true - life is happening.  I work in the educational field and this year we started school August 16th.  Yes, 3 weeks before the Labor Day holiday.  Good thing?  Summer 2011 begins Memorial Weekend, but that doesn't help us right now.  So, I have been snowed under with getting the school year up and running.  With that said, I beg your pardon for the silence and no updates.  I hope by the middle of September to have plenty to post.  Please dear readers, keep checking in - who knows I may get a minute to breath and post something.  Blessings and many best wishes as summer winds down and autumn approaches.  Cheers.

It is the end of July! How did that happen?

Hello, it has been a long time since I have made any entries to this blog.  Many reasons:  I got focused on my other blog http://lachatelainechocolat.blogspot.com  This venue focuses on my love of history, historical clothing and domestic arts.  Yes, I got distracted.  In addition, work has been a bit of a downer and draining of any creative juices.  I am much more confident with my sewing and cooking.  I am still a fledgling artist - my 'rebirth' has not been consistently growing.  However, with a vacation - 3 weeks long thank God - I have begun to adjust my attitude and refocus on my art.  So, I worked on one painting thus so far:  Agapantha Collage

20" x 15" Image, text collage and botanical portrait

Detail of painting

I had been collecting images of Agapantha flowers and I wanted to develop a portrait that was not the traditional image on a blank ground.  I am trained as a botanical illustrator but I love to do mix media and collage work so I am developing a way to connect the two.  

I have other images in my head similar in process and hope to be able to work on them on a regular basis. 

I have been struggling to find time to be creative beyond my sewing and craft projects - not that I get them in that often either.  I guess it is about finding balance between what I should do and and what I want to do.  'Gotta pay the bills' my left brain whines, but I essentially don't want to sell my soul to a worker bee life.  So, my plan is to do something creative everyday. I have talked about this again and again with friends, family and in my journals but it never comes to fruition.  I am tired of whining about it, so in the effort to celebrate life in general, I will be working towards a 'creative' life - the life I dream about, think about and have been too afraid to attempt.  So, with that in mind, apologies for being away so long, I am back, ready to rock and roll with my art and will be sharing as often as possible.  Thanks for hanging in there with me.  Cheers.

Springing into action

The rain and cold continue but I am really loving  staying in doors playing with many creative endeavors.  One is the art journal I started at the beginning of the year.  I did intend to write in it but it has evolved into a place to play with collage and mixed media techniques.  From several resources I made up a list of techniques (packing tape transfer, rubber stamp, etc), themes (ocean, winter, etc.) and other ideas that would provide a jump start on each page.  I printed them out and then cut them into strips and put them in a jar.  I fish around in the jar and pull out the various ideas - about 3 to 4 - and begin playing.  So, here are some of my results, enjoy!

Collage and soldering

After a very long and hard week at work, I has two wonderful things to look forward to:  1).  The time change - yes, I love this time change because the days are longer and when it is as beautiful and sunny as it was this last weekend, it is a fantastic shift.  All winter I am getting up in the dark and going home in the dark after work.  As a visual-kinetic person I need LIGHT to keep my energy going.  I welcome spring with open arms!  2).  I took a class at Castle In The Air  http://www.castleintheair.biz  from Ulla http://ullam.typepad.com/ullabenulla on making ornaments and jewelry of small or miniature collages between glass and soldering them together.  Here are the ones I made:

The top piece is has lace sandwiched between glass that I had to circle cut. The piece to the left of center - are three 1 inch squares linked together.  The two to the right are made from microscope glass with the collages sandwiched between them.  The central  square on point was an exercise in adding the decorative wire at the top.  The 1/2 circle is not done but shows what the piece looks like before you solder.
Soldering isn't hard but it isn't easy either.  Well, not for me.  I am one of those crafters that swiftly works through projects.  With soldering you have to really slow, slow, slow down and methodically apply the solder so that it ends up smooth.  For my first efforts, I did pretty good and I really loved the process.  Ulla is a fabulous teacher and coach so it was easy to quickly get into the projects she set out for us to do.

I think I will do more of this in the near future.  Birthday presents and Christmas presents present chances to work on my technique.

A little creativity - Good medicine for the soul

Out of my sadness for what happened to me last week, I turned to a bit of creativity to heal and sooth my nerves.  So, for Valentines day I created little heart ornaments out of paper and added a few pink, red and white M&M's and sealed it in a bag.    They went over really well at work, everyone appreciated the gift of my love.

I have also been catching up on my art journaling here are some of the finished pages since January 1:

This journal entry isn't done but is reactive to my experience last week.  I will upload the finished week when I can.

In any case, for me art and being creative is very soothing and yet enriching.  It is meditative and yet instructive.  Art in its various forms and outcomes is just plain feeding of my soul and spirit.  When I get cranky I turned to something creative to do with my hands.  Cooking something can often fill the void, too.  Cheers!

From adversity comes healing through art

My week began beautifully after a great sunny weekend.  Yet, the unexpected curves in the road sometimes bring you right up to a challenge or obstacle before you have time to think.  For me it was having my laptop literally yanked from my lap and hands as I was sitting enjoying the sun and working on an email.  The attack wasn't expected of course and it leaves you feeling pretty low.  I was not hurt and though it made some problems for me at work, the computer is less important than my well being.  With that said, I stayed home from work and began regrouping with some art work.  I woke up and decided that I needed to be creative and get myself back to a centered way of looking at life and move forward, so I started working on valentine gifties for my colleagues and I also worked in my art journal. I cooked food from scratch and played with the cat.   No pics yet, but I hope to have some to post tomorrow if not Saturday.  There is a quote - which I can't remember who said it and the exact wording but it goes like this:
Forgive but don't forget.  If one forgets, one loses the lesson.   The lesson: being more aware of my surroundings.  Also, from adversity there comes a strengthening of the fibers and forgiving prevents me from stewing as I am sure they (my band of terrorists - there were 8 to 10 of them ) think I am doing.  I won't let them still my Joy.  Cheers.

Inspired

I am inspired by:

The natural colors of linen and natural fibers http://mci.blogs.marieclaireidees.com.

They remind me of a quiet morning on a winter's day and yet the crisp coolness we seek on a hot summer's day.  I have been living in my condo for two years and never did anything to personalize it - decorate it.  I have just been living in it, filling it to the rafters and now overwhelmed by the lack of space, too much stuff and just uninspiring to be in.  So, new year, new plans and new hope.  1st order of business - wreck and order - weed the garden of my groaning shelves, drawers, closets and cabinets.  2nd order of business - review my idea board I started last year for decorating the house.

Greys, neutral cool and warm colors keep showing up as my palette with hints of bright colors. I also like dark colors - rich and creamy.  I have an eclectic nature in that I love vintage and modern together.  I love the mix of shabby chic with Parisian urban styling.  I like mercury-like glass, china, sliver and pewter, dark woods and black painted furniture.  Yep, eclectic.    Now, how to achieve all this...on a shoe string?  DIY - most definitely on painting and crafting soft furnishings.

 

 

All of this will take some time and probably the whole year to complete but it will be a work in progress - an artistic endeavor and hopefully I will love it.  I am the worst about making decisions about colors on my walls.  I know what I want but will it look good?  Friends say - "You won't know until you get it up there and heck you paint over it if you don't like it."  Keep your fingers crossed.