Oiseaux

Do Not Wait

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 29

A Surprise Publication and an Interview

A surprise came in the mail yesterday: one of my collage pieces has been published in Volume 7 of HandCrafted Magazine, the Best of Stampington & Company. I had no idea until I received the issue!

I can't wait to spend some time with the magazine, it looks wonderful. It'll be on newsstands soon.

Also, the lovely Jessica of Cursivearts has a little interview with me over at her blog. If you're interested in reading about my vintage bookplates and how I got started in all that fun, please come visit.

Today's art to follow...

More Art Tags

Well, Beau and I had a go at some more art tags today, do you remember when we made them last?

I often forget how fun it is to just play with art supplies instead of trying to make something significant/interesting/beautiful.

It is so great to just slap stuff on. Beau lost steam after two tags, but I kept at it for a bit, using the colors she had chosen and the scrappy leftover cuttings from my previous projects.

This is such a great exercise in "whatever-ness".. and yet, I found myself getting some ideas for future works because of little things I was doing.

And lastly, here are Beau's: that one on the left is the best of them all, I think!

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 28

 

Day 27: The Luxury of an Education

It's been pretty challenging coming up with a new piece of art every day (anyone out there done it? if so, for how long?) and since I work mostly with collage materials, I'm finding that I'm running out of interesting things to work with. Luckily I have stashes of papers and old things, and today I came across of materials that I used in a commissioned piece two years ago.

The piece was honoring a woman named Wahida Begum, the principal of a girl's school in Pakistan's Swat Valley. When extremist laws were passed that girls weren't to be educated, Wahida showed up every morning at a table in the courtyard of her bombed-out school, waiting for any girls who wanted to learn. She risked her life to teach the several girls who would show up. At the time of my commission, Wahida had been missing for some time and was presumed dead.

As I was sifting through the papers and materials that were left over from the commissioned piece, I ended up creating something new.

With my little girl in school, thinking about Wahida Begum's bravery is pretty poignant. Watching Beau bloom this year in Kindergarden has been beautiful: she can read, write, and her resulting confidence is astounding. I grew up taking school for granted, but what a blessing it is, what a luxury.

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 27

(The commissioned piece I made honoring Wadiha Begum is hanging in the Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland, CA. I'm thinking about donating this piece to them as a companion piece.)

 

Filled With Grace

I'm a little behind in posting this weekend's Daily Creativity, this piece took two days (am I the only one who can stare at something until you can't see it anymore?) and I need some help: I can't decide if I prefer the version above with the darker pink type, or the version below, with the paler pink type.

Thoughts?

This piece is rounding out a greeting card series which includes this piece and this piece. There will be set of six, I have three more to go.

A Month of Creating Daily: Days 25 & 26

October

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 24

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 23

Please excuse my time away: our electrical re-haul turned out to be a two-day experience with all of our perishables in ice coolers, and no internet for two whole days. But I must say: it was lovely. I worked by sunlight instead of lamplight, and I honestly felt like I was on vacation without my computer pulling at me from across the house. 

Here's a little trinket I came up with for Day 23. I used a chain from Michael's Crafts intertwined with embroidery floss that I finished up with two silver beads. The mexican silver locket came from a necklace I was given as a child, and the beautiful brown "stone" came from a necklace I got at Target. All these bits were sitting lonely in a trinket box, and now they are a necklace. Yay!

Summer In Iowa

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 22

:::

I was born in Iowa, and moved to California when I was six. I have very few memories of Iowa, surprisingly; I have many more memories of Nebraska since that's where I'd go back to visit both sets of grandparents. In my mind Nebraska is a lush and saturated place, while Iowa is pale and bright. There are wisps of things that come to mind when I think of my childhood there: the buzz of cicadas, houses that sat far away from each other, and a sun that was everywhere in the sky.

(Update: I forgot to mention there's a chance I might not get to post Day 23 tomorrow. We're having major electrical work all day, which means no lights, no scanner, no internet, no opening the fridge. I will probably be back Friday, see you then!)

A Little Bowl of Hearts

I've been doing so much mixed media work lately that I thought I'd try something different today. I was in the mood to make something small, pretty and shiny.. maybe something I could give away as a present.

I found some clay in my art cabinet, and made four hearts and a little free-form bowl

which I painted with white acrylic once the clay had dried. (I used a fan to hurry things up)

I used several layers of acrylic gold paint on the inside of the bowl and on two of the hearts

and look how happy and glow-y they look together. They're fun to play around with and feel good in my hand. But my favorite part is:

they all stack up!

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 21

Old Quilt (I Might Have Walked)

"Don't think about making art. Just get it done! Let everyone else decide whether it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."  -Andy Warhol      

(Quote via Orly Avineri)

A Month of Creating Daily: Day 20