Artistic Renderings: March 2013

Fused Glass Landscape Pendant

My friend Candace brought me the fused glass pendant back from her winter vacation.....and I love it.

A landscape fused glass piece that is just gorgeous. There is just a touch of a creamy yellow as if the sun is either rising or setting so I incorporated that color into the pendant necklace portion that I designed as I went along. I love the blue moon in the fused glass piece so I used one dark Swarovski crystal on the left side to duplicate the moon at the top right of the pendant.

The white pieces you see are frosted and floral shaped. I used 2 with a large Moonlight swarovski crystal inside to mimic the clouds in the pendant. The beads around the fused glass are 2 different shades of Swarowski crystals. Tierra Cast spacers were used and I have 5 tiny, triangular shaped, handmade lampwork beads up near the clasp.

Such a neat, special piece.

Button Bracelets

I just finished making these two coin
bracelets out of some large buttons that I love....

The top picture is mine as it was the first one, and not as nicely done ... but I will be making another like it.

The bottom bracelet has different buttons (the shank has been cut off and rough spots polished out) and I used stones inbetween the coins for a real rustic, steampunky, gothic, medieval look.

I will list the bottom bracelet on Etsy and if it doesn't sell in a week or so it will be headed to the Art Boutique back in Penna.

Hammered Iron links, jumprings. and clasps are high quality jewelry findings by Tierra Cast and sold by Dragynsfyre.

I can hardly wait to wear mine tomorrow.....

Beer Rings

Here in Oregon Craft Beer is pretty much a "staple"and I really wish I liked beer but I just can't get the "beer bug"..... Many of the breweries have a restaurant as well as the bar and all types of Tasting variations. The take home "jugs" are called Growlers....

I bought the ring bases about a week or so ago because I thought they were different....and unique and I knew that eventually I would use them....but was surprised when I found a way to use them as the base for "beer caps" = beer rings..

Then why not beer cap paper clip book marks?

Just quirkly little craft items that just might be different and unique enough to be a hit? Quirky can be fun....

Strawberry Blossom

I can smell the strawberries.....I wonder if anyone back in PA goes "strawberry picking" anymore? It was a big thing at our house growing up and I still have one of my dads berry pots. When my Dad would come home with the buckets full it was hucking the berry, strawberry stained fingers....but goodness they were delishiouss. Mom made strawberryjam that we enjoyed all winter long on our morning toast. There was also a strawberry desert she made that was out of this world but ooohhhh so fattening. I can remember my Dad getting stung by bees, shot at because he was "tresspassing" on their property, chased by a bear....and many other stories. Some seasons the berries were small and others they were large. He had his "favorite" patches and would head out every night after supper until dark....picking. This just might be a cool picture to paint with memories attached... Will be challenged with the shading, the soft fuzzy inside areas of the flower....and the green backdrop.
I think this will be one of my next pieces to sketch out.

Vintage Watch Rings

I really love some of the watches from "days gone by" and decided to repurpose them into one of a kind rings....and looked until I found ring blanks that would accentuate the watch faces.

The watches don't work but are still inctricately engraved, added features which are so pretty, and work well for "just" repurposed vintage items.

The top one (to the left) is going to the boutique gallery back in PA and the one on the bottom is mine. I am stilling looking for a charm that I can dangle from the watch.

I save the bands from both of these watches and I am going to make bracelets with them..and hoping I can get one done over the weekend.

Mixed Media Vintage Lampwork Designed Necklace

I bought the red, green and blue silvered ivory handmade beads from my daughter when she first listed them on her Etsy site. I wasn't sure just what I was going to make; but I knew it would be art related with the Primary Crayola commerical color beads.

Any time I see artistic charms, buttons, etc. I pick them up. Sometimes I have something in mind sometimes I don't...and I didn't when I bought the cup of brushes, easel, paint palette and larger paint tube.

The vintage watch has been a favorite one that I picked up somewhere....as well as the chain, and reticulated butterfly.

The silver wings above and at the bottom of the red lampwork bead are from Tierra Cast as well as the hammered antique silver clasp.

The bees around the green and blue beads are small Buzz buttons that I sell on my Etsy site.

The necklace has finally come together and all of the "I am not sure what I will do with it/them"; has come together into a neat artistic piece with a bit of a story too.

I am hoping that I have a 2nd assortment of the charms and tube of paint because I would like to do another one to put up for sale.....similar but different. I really do like one of a kind.

Different beads, different clasp, and it becomes another one of a kind piece.

How time flies when one is creating with the tools of an artist, inspired, sometimes going back into time and combining many pretties into just one delightfully unique piece.

African Violets

My mother had a low cupboard in our "pantry" at home where she nurtured her African Violets. I don't remember her ever replacing them...so they were the same ones for a good 20 years. Now I am going to see if I can keep just one alive and thriving with my greenless thumb......

I love the lost and found edges, the rippled edges of some of the petals, and eventually I will have to paint them....I love the furriness of the leaves and the definateness of the flower centers....

Statue

When I saw this statue at one of our local thrift stores today I had a "feeling" it would be going home with me. This isn't normally what I would say is my preference in art but the lines, color, detail, mixed media, realism and the possibility of it being hand made along with With a price tag of $5.00 -----------------I KNEW it was mine and I held it a bit tighter thrilled with the find...the treasure...

I LOVE good art pieces...and am not locked into any one thing any more than I am locked into just one medium when I work.

I am not sure what this is made of and there are no markings anywhere that I can see. If anyone knows anything when you come on and read this post please send me a comment.

The item has a drilled hole in the bottom and there is an area of hollowness on the inside. I am wondering if it isn't wood of some kind that has been colored with dyes or inks as well as being hand carved? I love the way it has been distressed and the blending of one element into another. In looking at it more I am wondering if it might be bone?

The statue stands about 16" tall.

The jewelry is simplistic wire, nothing fancy. ( Earrings and the bracelet.) The belt and the border design on the "cloak" looks carved and it is very precise and intricate. The light shines on the piece and the reflections are gorgous and when viewed at different angles you find that you can still see the entire piece...so the form is excellent in my opinon. There is not a blemish on the piece so it has been well taken care of which means someone liked it as much as I now do. It has found a home on the wall right beside where I watch tv, read, etc. and I KNOW it will be a source of inspiration...

I am hoping that I can find some time to do a bit of research and see if I can find anything on this beautiful piece.

This statue is not old and from my research the most I have found is that it is a piece which is resin... Old or new, expensive or not expensive, it is still a piece that I consider to be really special and well done which inspires me.... the blending, intricate detail, mixed media look, etc....

Out of the box

Most generally when I go thrift shopping, to a garage sale, etc. I am looking at things differently than most people as I was when I saw these delightful box shelves which were meant to be hung on the wall. I knew they would work perfectly on my drafting table where I work to hold items that I use on a regular basis..... I only picked up one but when I went to pay decided to go back and get the 2nd one...and I am glad I did cause they work perfectly.
One is at the top of my table out of the way...and the other one to the left edge of the table with items I use on a regular basis. They really help to organize my table so that everything is pretty much right at my fingertips.... The table is at an angle so with these little shelves and the rubberized shelf paper on the table things stay put.... A good purchase for $5.00.

When you see items think out of the box..... and you will be amazed at what you come up with.

A sign of Spring??

This was always a SURE sign of spring when I was little growing up in PA so despite the fact that my husband says it is going to freeze "hard" and stunt the green leaf formation for spring/ summer. I am choosing to believe that it is a SURE sign of spring. The pussy willlows are so big this year....fat and just as soft as a baby bunny.....

I like that the branch shows the pussy willows in different stages of growth/opening and how pretty grey, silvery white, and brown are together. Hmmmm. So many different forms of inspiration.
Size, color, context, technique(s) to achieve, medium to best use, etc. in everything we "see" and btw does copyright come into play when Mother Nature is the designer, the artist?

Speaking of copyright. Jerry Yarnell is always referring to copyright ..... and his take on it is much different from what others with less credentialing would like us to be scared into believing....and I feel with his being a professional artist and teacher, author of several excellent, excellent technique books on painting, seminaring all over the world, with his own tv show and online classroom that he is more legally adept at leading students in the "right" direction.

Mother nature is a great "teacher".... when we want to be taught. Sometimes far better than book learning and how are new things found if not through the "doing" process....the trial and error of discovery, and the finding what works best for YOU, the artist.

Sketch

I have wanted to do some sketching.... something I could never do before so it is an amazing feeling to see something happening on paper.... by me with just a normal #2 pencil which is really my favorite so far to use.

About a month ago I was gifted with a fantastic book of the works of Harrison Fisher so his book inspired this sketch. I have to move her chin out a bit but other than that I am delighted. I am anxious to try another.... I loved the Gibson girl hairdo's of the
60's (I was a hairdresser as well as teaching high style in a local Cosmetology School in NY state) but this was never the less a challenge to complete . I can just about visualize how this is going to look with a bit of color and sparkle. I have no idea who this woman is.....she came from within...

Somewhere along the line this year she will be done in watercolors and I have begun noting colors to use, etc.

I have also had a lot of fun sketching some unusual animals and experimenting with small....so many different avenues in artistic journeys....

I Wish I had JUST Known

This weekend I lost; through natural cause; a friend from my hometown in Pa.... It is a hard one for me for a lot of different reasons and I have spent my days since the call remembering...

I didn't know she was sick...this sick... although I questioned in my mind why I didn't get a Christmas card this year but knowing Pam as I do I know why I didnt'. Even if she had my new phone number she wouldn't have all, wouldn't have wanted me to know and she would have instructed her husband and family to "keep still". . As much as she "was" full of pep, jovial, etc. she was also very quiet....and she worked things out her way, always but not with a LOT of quite thought. I don't think she would have wanted me to know she was sick....based upon the friendship we had with one another so I must accept and understand.

We were always there for one another...and just "being there" was sometimes the way we helped one another. We both knew there were no words that would be understood, or that would help when we went through some hard times together. She needed to work things out her way....as SHE needed to and she knew I understood that and it required a very quiet friendship....

But still I wish I had JUST KNOWN.....

Even though we rareley saw each other, spoke on the phone or wrote letters.... (She is in PA and I am in OR) and in 34+ years we have only seen one another about 5 times...but when we did get together we were immediately transformed to the friends we were back in the 1960-1980's. It was if we still lived next door to one another and had seen each other just the day before and we were young and spirited. We got caught up on one anothers' lives, family, laughed, etc. enjoying our time together and making the most of the time.

Pam was 59 and crossed over much too soon agewise, but I know as much as she hated to leave....she
coped....she thought....and she accepted,, I thank God for the memories but I wish I had Just Known.

Love and Peace Pam.....I celebrate your life and I know "you know".

Roo

This is actually my 3rd rooster piece this month. (see archives for the other 2)

The feathers are courtesy of Ely at http://www.quillnaros.etsy.com and http://www.quillnaros.blogspot.com. Ely paints feathers and the black, red and white one (left) that I purchased from her worked perfect with this piece as well as some little fluffy feathers that her "birds" shed...or molted I guess is the correct terminology that she has sent me.

I used a photo of a canadian postage stamp and love the colors....so decided to do a mixed media rendition.....Note the zipper on the right which acts as the stem for the sunflower...and I have momma and baby ladybug buttons to carry on the color theme..... It is amazing how the pieces just kinda fall into "being". In the sunflower I have added different size swarovski clear crystals to give some glam and sparkle to the piece as well as my favorite Glamour dust Paints which I have added here and there. The painting itself was done using Liquitex soft bodied paints and the canvas is a handmade, handstretched canvas board that is an ATC. One it is matted, framed and the extra elements are added we have a neat, one of a kind, piece of art.

This one is titled just "ROO"

Artistic Renderings