We Can't Make It Here Anymore - by James Mcmurtry

I'm feeling sadness and grief on this anniversary. This music and video say a lot and I'm sure that there are many who strongly disagree with the sentiments. I appreciate that there are many differing views... after all that is one of the things I love about our country. I hope that all who suffer may have peace.

Abundance and Sun Salutations

I have been busy playing with photoshop lately but did take some time away from the computer to work on some non-digital art. I'll post some of the photoshop stuff when I have something interesting. This first piece is an affirmation that I have been thinking about, talking about and living for a while now... probably the last seven years. It started when we bought our first home and I felt so unbelievably blessed with good fortune. However, I was also a bit afraid that if I really enjoyed the abundance in my life, that it would somehow be taken away. So I started working on believing that there was enough abundance for everyone and getting rid of my "scarcity" mentality... thinking that there was not enough to go around. One of the most amazing things to come out of this shift in being and thinking is that I have my own studio to create and play in. It is truly a dream come true that I know many artists can relate to. I remember being 14 years old when I claimed myself as an artist and first dreamed of having a studio to work in. Aside from my fabulous art place, I have tons of other wonderful reasons to believe in abundance so this piece is like my offering to the goddess of Abundance. I think she might feel honored by the making of art. This next piece came out of my yoga class. We had a substitute teacher which always puts me in a bit of a snit because I love my yoga teacher and tend to idealize her - thinking that no other teacher has anything to teach me - which I know is just plain wrong. Usually the class is almost over before I can manage to stop the judgemental chatter that I have going on inside my head about how much better my teacher is than this sub. At the same time I am actually grateful that the sub is filling in so that I can attend the class. In this particular class we were doing a lot of sun salutations and I was getting cranky about it since I am very familiar with this series of postures and tend to do them on my own when not in class. Fortunately I was able to come to my senses and realized that sun salutations are beautiful and that my being familiar with them does not diminish that. I realized that this series is like a moving "thank you" to the sun for rising everyday and especially when practiced in a group setting like my class, it is a wonderful experience. It actually cracks me up now to think of how silly I was being. I'm also grateful to have come to the realization when I did so that I could actually enjoy the experience instead of being so cranky that I missed out on something sublime. I think the "come to your senses" fairy bonked me on the head in that class and I'm glad she did.

The video below is my entry for the GPP Street Team Crusade #11. The song is "Lived in Bars" by Cat Power aka Chan Marshall. I love Chan's lush vocals and the video has such a friendly feelin'. Cat Power is often playing in the background while I am creating art in my studio. Her music is inspiring to me.

a Strong Organically Grown Woman

Here are 2 more mail art pieces. I like them so much that they may not make into the mail and might just become part of an art journal instead. I loved this woman and had her on the collage first not knowing what I would add. Then I looked at my apple and the lovely pink tape that was wrapped around it caught my eye. I carefully positioned it and realized how fitting the words "organically grown" were then added the lettering after. The silhouette of the warriors in the sunset seemed to want to be on this page because of the background colors. Next the totem image said "me too." When I was looking at the images the idea of all of us coming from Africa came to mind and I added the lettering. I'm very happy with both of these pieces and find that I really enjoy this process.

Mail Art & a Tape Journal

This is the front and back of an art postcard also known as mail art. I did the backgrounds in Kelly's class this past weekend. She taught us lots of different painting techniques and we ended up with lots of large pages full of color. Afterwards we tore the large pages down into postcard sized sheets. I left some of my sheets large in case I want to do something in a bigger format. Then tonight I added collage and words. I'm off to mail it tomorrow to a dear friend who needs some reminding of how awesome she is. It was really fun to make and since I have all these great backgrounds from the class, it was quick as well. This is the journal that I made in the class on Sunday. We learned even more painting techniques to make lots of 12"x18" sheets. I liked working in such a large size - it loosened me up. Once we had 6 beautifully painted sheets, we added some plain white ones and stitched them together using a pamphlet stitch that Kelly taught us. Then we used tape to reinforce the front and back covers including decorative tape. The strip along the right side is camouflage tape that hunters use. My dad would like it. The top and bottom is small skeleton tape and the spine is tribal/tatoo tape. Now I plan to cover the rest of the white pages with art papers to create more backgrounds to collage onto. Although painting in the large format was exciting, I'm a bit timid about adding the collage since I am used to working in a smaller format. But it will be a good challenge.

#912 out of 1000

Here's what I did this weekend. It is an art journal spread from the 1000 Journal project! I attended a workshop at Sanctuary Studio that was taught by the fabulous Kelly Kilmer. While at the studio we were given the opportunity to add work in one of the original journals from the project. They are no longer in circulation so it was a great opportunity. The project was recently featured in this ABC News webcast. So this is what I did! The left side is a collection of decorative tapes that we used in one of Kelly's classes. I loved them, especially the Jesus tape! Now I am on the lookout for cool tape. The other side is collaged papers and a bit if tape (in black). That was just a smidgen of what came out of the workshop. Next time I'll post some of the work from the classes.

Starry, starry night

This piece includes etched bronze and copper tubing. I drew the image onto the bronze and etched it in a light acid bath. Then encased it in silver and soldered it in place. The side bails are copper tubing. The sun and flames were inspired by one of my favorite paintings "Starry Night" by Van Gogh.

More copper

I got really excited about mixing metals in my jewelry making and this is what happened next. I lightly etched the copper to give it some texture and added carnelian, garnet and peridot gemstone beads.

Redux

These 2 pendants are do-overs. I made the silver pieces almost a year ago and was not happy with them then. I felt they were too small but decided to hang onto them to see if I would be inspired to use them in other pieces. I am really happy now with the incorporation of copper. The one on the right also has garnets. I like the industrial look that the copper gives the pieces. Check out the post from June 14, 2006 to see what the silver looked like on its own.