Felted Embellished Brooch

I took this class from Gail Crosman Moore (see links), a couple of weeks ago, at Bead Expo. She is a great teacher and fantastic artist. These little felted bits are very fun to make and embellish. Gail had quite a few of her felted pieces with her for Bead Expo and it was a pleasure to see them up close and personal. She will be coming back to Portland this fall for Art and Soul and teaching some very cool classes. I can't wait!

Life

Been away doing the things of life. Haven't worked on much art lately, except a Bouquet Swap for my PAC group. This is an example of the flowers for the swap. All made them out of recycled cans, copper sheet, beads and floral wire. This was a fun swap!

Sea Foam Necklace

These are pictures of my most recent necklace. I finished up this afternoon and took the pics between rain/snow showers. It came out exactly as I pictured it in my mind. Don't ya love it when that happens? I'm very pleased with this piece. It shimmers in the light and is quite captivating. I think I'll do a couple more of these kind of necklaces in different colorways. But...I have my commission to do first.

The center piece is a capiz shell, captured in netting stitch with clear seed and faceted beads. Nestled amid the fringes are freshwater pearls, crystals, opalized glass beads and two silver-toned starfish. The necklace is made of Druk beads and 8mm crystals. Price for this necklace is $225.00

Free Rice, Play a game and feed the hungry

I saw this link, to a very cool site, at Lisa Vollrath's newsletter today. www.lisavollrath.com You can increase your vocabulary and feed the hungry while playing a fun game.

www.freerice.com
FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, www.poverty.com

FreeRice has two goals:

Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.

Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.

Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.

Sand into Pearls II

Here's the latest necklace I've done in "The Sea" theme. I'll be starting another one tomorrow. I'm having a fantastic time with this theme. I keep getting all these really cool ideas while working on a current project. I recently bought some capiz shells and will be working those into some necklaces in different color ways. Because they are somewhat transparent, I might rubber stamp an image onto the back of the shell for a different effect. Which means I need to go shopping for new "sea" stamps!

I got a commission from wearing the first Sand into Pearls necklace into my local bead store, (Bead Happy)! Very jazzed about that. It was the owner (Debbie) who wants me to make her a new necklace and I get to play with her hand picked beads for her piece. I love that! Can't wait to get my hands on her stash, this will be fun!

This necklace contains glass pearls, bronze-colored pearls, amber, mother of pearl, coral and sead beads. It is priced at $125.00.

Sand into Pearls

This is one of my necklaces for my guild's theme show in March. The Sea is the theme this year. I'm not much of a beach and sea person, but this year the theme has me bubbling with ideas. I have at least another 4 ideas for necklaces and one abstract mixed media piece. As I finish them, I'll get them up here.

I even have an idea for a story to back up one of my necklaces. It's called "Curse of the Dragons Teeth". Based on a beautiful bead I bought last year, it has a King, a Sorcerer, Four Daughters and a Glass Dragon. I'm still working through some of the details, but this is really a cool story. I'm also thinking I may need to add a Pirate and I NEED to go get that pirate bead I saw at the bead store!

This necklace has some very lovely glass pearl beads in the necklace as a base for the sand colored coral fringe. Pearls, faceted pearls, glass pearls, amber and bits of coral hide in the seed bead fringe that surrounds a handcarved bone seahorse. This piece is priced at $175.00.

New Necklace

Here is a new necklace I've just completed. It has five "walls" covered with "vines and grapes". I had made up the triangles some years ago and didn't have an idea for them at the time. But...the ideas have been coming lately and they reminded me of walls. I had fun making this necklace and playing with my beads again.

This piece is made of five brickstitched triangles made with square bronze beads. The vines are a fringe stitch called coral fringe with Czech pressed glass leaves interspersed among the vines. The "grapes" are Wonder beads that have a fantastic inner light when in the sun. The necklace is made of Wonder beads and crystals with a button and loop closure in the back. This necklace is priced at $195.00.

And now for something completely different.

I'm very proud of my cat. She has caught two mice within the last three nights. She is also very proud of herself.

It's still snowing!

With the exception of about 2 days since Solstice, we have had snow/ice or combo of both on the ground. So far, we've measured 16" of snow at the deepest. (Not counting drifts.) For us, this is deep. I've been here for 17 years and HB for 29, and this kind of weather has only happened twice in all that time.

The Oregon mountain ranges have been especially hard hit with well over average snowfall. Great if you're a skier or boarder, but not so great if you try to drive there. Tractions tires AND chains are a necessity. Glad I'm not a trucker going over the passes. AND...more is coming. We're about 1,500' and I hope the freezing level will rise to at least 2,000', I have errands to run.

I've been hibernating since Christmas, but just this week my Muse came back from vacation with any number of ideas for projects. Just finished a necklace tonight and will start a new one tomorrow for my Guild's theme show. It is "The Sea" this year. Everything above, on, below or around the sea. That leaves a ton of ideas to work with. I'm pulling out the pearls for a couple necklaces and have an idea for an abstract collage of a beach sunset. I'm having fun with this theme, even tho' I'm a mountain girl at heart.

Solstice and Christmas Landscapes

A New Year of Art

It certainly has been awhile since I posted. The past two months have zipped by much too quickly. The art/craft shows I participated in went well. I didn't sell as many ornaments as I had hoped, but my earrings went like gang busters. Next year I think I'll make calendars, everyone needs those.

The holidays were quiet and white. I had my very first white Christmas ever. Granted, it didn't snow on Christmas, only Christmas Eve, but it did hang around for for the big day. AND....we've had snow on the ground in some kind since then. I'm getting really tired of it and it looks like there may be more coming. Since I've lived here (17 years) we've never had this many days of snow. I have some great pictures of Solstice and Christmas snowy landscapes. I'll put those up on the next post.

I'm oh-so-slowly getting the house organized for art and dustlessness. (I HATE, detest, cannot stand doing any kind of housework, so this cleaning thing is hard.) I'm finding it difficult to get movtivated when all I want to do is hibernate. And I don't seem to be in an arty mood either. It might be the winter doldrums. I'll just have to wait for them to pass, I guess. There are 6 books looking me in the face pleading to be read, perhaps I should just ignore the house and get between the pages. A yummy cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book(s) will fit the bill this season.

Books to read:
Leonard Shlain's -
Art & Physics
The Alphabet Versus The Goddess
Sex, Time and Power

Michael Scott's -
The Alchemyst

Lorna Landvik's -
Patty Jane's House of Curl

Bill O'Reilly's -
Culture Warrior

What I've been doing

Time has flown by the past couple of months. I've been getting ready for two arts and crafts shows. The first is December 1 & 2 and then one week later I have another. I'm making ornaments and beaded angels like crazy. Hardly have time for computer stuff, just barely read my email. Can't wait for these two shows to be over so I can get back to normal life...and then there's Christmas. *sigh*

Here is a picture of the ornaments I'm making and a beaded bowl I made for another Christmas Art show in Gresham. That show runs through December 14th. If I don't sell a lot of ornaments or beaded angels, guess what everyone is getting Christmas morning! I'll get a pic of the angels up by Sunday. I have to get them organized, carded and bagged.

I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

Home

Here is another piece that I've completed recently. It was an experiment with a technique from one of the art magazines I buy. I can't seem to find the article about this fun way to use cardboard. Anyway...I had fun and now need to frame this piece.

Awards for the Art Doll

I am SO PSYCHED! I didn't get a chance to go to the state fair to see my art doll exhibited. When I got her back on Thursday she was sporting these ribbons! One is a First Award and the other is Best in Class. I tried to call on Friday to see how many other exhibitors were in my catagory, but got no answer. I'll call again on Monday. This is the first time for more than a First Award. Can you see my smile shining over Mt. Hood? Yep, I'm psyched!

Scribbles

Finally got this up tonight. Been having a little trouble with the computer lately. Don't we just love all this technology? Enjoy.

Just a few scribbles

A new channel has popped up on DirectTV called Ovation. http://www.ovationtv.com It's all about art. All kinds of art and it has inspired me. I was watching Art or Not on Saturday night and saw an artist that uses just a line to make abstract work. Of course, his line is all over his canvas and comes in a number of colors. I should have written down his name because now I can't remember it. BUT...I tried my own scribble line and this is what I came up with. Using regular watercolor paper and 8 different colors of Sharpie Fine Point markers I had fun. After scanning it, I will be able to use it for backgrounds for other art I'll be doing.
(I also saw a piece on Jackson Pollock and that, too, inspired me.)

OK...I can't seem to download my picture right now. I'll try to do it tomorrow. In the mean time, go and check out Ovation TV.

Mona's Roosters

I finished working on Mona and her roosters. I needed a clock in my workshop, so I wouldn't have to be going in and out of the house to see what time it was. I trimmed down the picture and attached it with gel medium, after I had worked on the background on the canvas board. I fancied up the clock face, added some old CDs behind it, for depth, and put the clock together. For someone who is not a painter, except walls, I think this turned out very well.

Station 3

Here are a couple of pictures of another addition to the workshop. I used this dark green paint that I had planned on using for the bedroom. Then "papered" the wall with some wrapping paper that I had in abundance. The table and shelf are from my inlaws. I'm going to add an old mirror across the wall between the shelf and table. It should help add some reflected light in this space. I've been using my new workshop almost every day. It gives me an excellent excuse to avoid any kind of housework! At least until I run out of underwear or silverware.

Been a long time...

...since I posted. Can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks. I've been working on the workshop and in the workshop and getting some arty things started that are simmering in the back of my mind.

Here is one piece that I finished and will be doing more of in the future. It is a vintage button with "coral" beaded fringe spilling from the button holes. This is a fun way to use your vintage, or not so vintage, buttons that have holes through the center. The exciting part, of making this brooch, is shopping for or finding some unique beads to use in the fringe. Using the same technique, earrings can be made to match or compliment the brooch. I have a large antler button and smaller antler buttons to work on, so will be looking for beads that go with an outdoor theme.

Another View...

...of Sue's exhibit

If you have the time or are traveling down the Columbia Gorge. Take a side trip to walk through a bit of history and see some inspiring and intriguing art books.