Creative Life 2016- week 15 part 2

Spring is in the air and i've had monkey brain most nights, leaving me groggy in the morning and grumpy in the early afternoon.

However, since the night time is my-time, i have been getting some work made and i have a slew of sketches that i can't wait to get started on. I'm trying to make work in cohesive 'collections' now, for a few reasons-- 1- it makes my work easier to display as things go together and make sense instead of being a visual testament for my artistic ADD and 2- it makes it easier for me to enter into competitions, scholarship opportunities, etc because my work makes sens to a juror, judge, etc.

I'm still focused on my fold formed pieces, but i've branched out into enameled fold formed pieces over the past year and now i'm adding enameled beads to my fold formed focals. this lets me pull my enamel only work seamlessly into my current offerings also.

I'm really wanting to get back to my enamel 'sketch' work- where i actually draw on the enamel with a graphite pencil and fire it all together to create a permanent 'doodle' on jewelry. i have a giant focal i did almost 2 years ago that i love, along with my smaller pendant pieces, and i think there's some great possibilities for me there- both in the finished work and in the artistic process.

The other 'line' i'm working on is a narrative set of pendants inspired by words from http://other-wordly.tumblr.com/. The first in the series is Werifesteria (to wander longingly through the forest in search of mystery) and has a dendrite stone as its focal.

Here's what i finished last night- it's the only one i have right now in silver. While i love copper and i love working in copper, i love silver too, and sometimes something a little fancier is needed. :) the chain is random lengths of this lovely twisted figure 8 link connected by hand wrapped links with tiny labradorite. The focal is dauphine and harvest blue enameled pieces with organic wrapped sterling bits and a big chalcedony tear drop (i've had these in my stash for *years*- they were one of my first big splurges- i paid more for the strand than i was normally spending on a whole order of other beads. I've slowly been adding them to special pieces and this was a match made in heaven!)

Don't forget to come by and see me at the East Buntyn art walk this Saturday from 1pm-6pm! The commemorative glass this year is a pretty red and once you buy the glass at headquarters, you can get pours from all the artists around the neighborhood as you browse and buy one-of-a-kind art!

Creative Life 2016 - week 7

BOOM! Finished piece. finally. (other than the competition piece and class samples). Indian Kammererite, Australian mint chrysoprase, sterling silver. hand made matching, removable chain. Satin finished. 2/2016.

That's the positive- what's below is the whiny, emotional, artsy-fartsy stuff that goes through my head all the time. If you want to skip it, that's fine. Scroll back up and look at the pretty. :)

2016 has been a rough year, creatively speaking. I am realizing that I need to take some things off my plate in order to be more effective at the things i need to keep. I got distracted by the 'business of art making', the networking, the groups, the functions, and forgot that at the end of the day, i need energy for the actual art making. It always gets hard during the winter months, when the energy is scarce to begin with. I'm sure by late spring, i'll be back to my old self, getting involved with this guild, or working with that group for a show. and i'll be delighted by my connectedness, my sense of belonging to a bigger community, and my ability to make progress in the 'art world'. Right now, i just want to curl up under the blanket with the kitties and sleep.

There have been a lot of external circumstances that have made me feel less than my normal self over the last few months. I have looked back over my writing, my sketching, my finished work (what little there is) to see how my state of mind has been going. the lack of content speaks volumes. even my blog posts have been of lower quality and certainly less frequency. I really hope Blogger gets their app fixed soon so i can blog from my phone. I spend most of my workday on the PC, and honestly, getting on it when i get home is one of the last things i want to do. (also why i have a pile of invoices to enter into QuickBooks.... hmm... )

I think i just need to hibernate from like December to April. come out for food and showers and then retreat back to the blankets. if i live tweet it and cast it, does it become performance art? { sarcasm }

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. :)