Creative Life 2016 - Week 4

I've been trying to find small ways to channel my creative energy in this strange, cold and dreary winter. Most of my orchids left me this year after a nasty infestation of the dreaded mealybugs, so i've been looking for something interesting to grow that might also be functional, so i got a mushroom grow kit.

I was thinking my green thumb had left me, as it sat for almost a week with nothing happening. I went to Florida for work 2 days last week and when i got back on Friday, this had happened!

It was pretty exciting- they look totally different from what i was expecting- since they're white oyster mushrooms, i wasn't expecting the lovely colors. well- with mushrooms, things get interesting QUICK- because here's what they looked like 2 days after that 1st photo. 

And then this morning....

I think i'm going to feel bad about eating them now. Its been really cool to watch them change color and shape. The texture is so neat on them. :) and we all know i have a small obsession with photographing fungus... so this might turn into me growing all sorts of neat mushrooms just to take pictures of them. lol. I looked on amazon and i can get a kit to grow Morel and Shaggy mane mushrooms- those are some pretty cool textures and highly photogenic mushrooms. :)

Interestingly enough, this little bit of 'creation' in my kitchen has helped me get back a little of my creative mojo. I have been feeling like the artistic well has been mostly dried up and not seeing a way to replenish it. Cold, gray weather and i don't get along and i have just felt so weighed down by everything, but this simple project of growing something- watching it change and mature- it has been inspiring. The kitten sisters are interested in it too, though thankfully they have no desire to chew on the mushrooms or rub against them.. the just look quizzically at them and then at me. :)

UFO day at BMB designs on Saturday the 23rd was awesome. We had a lot of fun, enjoyed some great food and the ladies got a lot of projects finished. it was wonderful to see them come in with bags of bits and go home with several finished pieces. 

I finished up my samples from my Kitchen Table Silversmithing class back on the 16th and snapped a quick shot of them so i could feel accomplished too. :)

Creative life 2016- Week 3

I'm going to be gone on Thursday and Friday, so i have to get my weekly post in early, so i don't miss the deadline. :) Last week, i had some technical difficulties posting from mobile and i had to log in on a PC and rewrite the whole thing since the app was crashing. It was short, so not too bad, but i don't want to risk it again. Here's the woven wire band from the ring i made in my class on Saturday the 16th. i started the band in class to show how it was done and finished it up after class. I'm trying to decide if i want a black CZ or a purple one to be the big flashy stone at the top.. decisions.. decisions..

Creative life - Week 2

This year has started out much busier than i thought it was going to be. I've only been in the studio 3 times in the first 15 days of the year, and that's not good for my sanity or the safety of the people around me, lol. I did manage to get into the studio for a little bit in week 2. While i do not have any finished work to show for my endeavors, i do have a solid foundation for lots of finished pieces and i got to play with all of my hammers and make fun textures. Which makes me pretty happy :)

Living the Creative Life- Week 1 2016

I'm not necessarily starting this year off well on the maker front. I was in the studio for Open Studio night this past Wednesday and I worked on some fine silver leaves and some FS molded pendants, but I didn't finish anything and i didn't take any photos.

However, i was in Flint, Michigan for work the first part of the week and i went the the Flint Institute of Arts after I completed the on-site visit that took me there. I bought a gorgeous handmade craftsman style tile to hang in the living room and a Fordite necklace (i know- super nerd buying 'Detroit agate' jewelry *in* Michigan :)  ) and had lunch in their cafe before I had to head to the airport for 8+ hours of waiting, flights and layovers.

Wandering the galleries reminded me why i love art. It's an escape, a testament to the innovation and creativity of people, an attempt to communicate, to tell a story, to capture a moment in time forever, and it makes me look at the world with different eyes. Looking at the Inuit art, the African masks, the Renaissance paintings, the Baroque tapestries, the Tiffany window.. they all make me put myself into a different point-of-view. I consider what life was like at that time, for those people, and it boggles my mind sometimes. Like the tapestries- they were MASSIVE- and so detailed and finely woven. How did they do that all by hand, without electricity, without quality controlled dye matching? Ancient and medieval metal smithing is like that too- how in the world did they make *that* with the tools and equipment available... and why can't i be that cool? :)

So, here's some photos from my wanderings- hopefully they will inspire you, even if you're not an artists, to look at things a little differently and to appreciate the amazing things that people have done without smartphones, CAD, programmable kilns, etc. (i wish i could share the smell of the art library that was tucked away in the museum- filled with books on every type of art and every artist imaginable from modern all the way back to ancient, and tons of gilt leather bound books that i had to put my hands in my pockets to keep from fondling)