winter alchemy

Well, here she is. I can still hardly believe Somerset Gallery has published three of my icons. If you are searching...they are in the Winter 2011 issue most often found at Barnes & Noble or Michael's. The ladies came home last night. I was amazed to see them again. I sent them off without frames or glass, the better to be photographed by Somerset's legendary photographers. The colors were richer than I remembered, the surface more layered. Not surprising, as I hadn't seen them for almost a year !

My dear family ran about the East coast searching out their very own copies. Readers, I am referring to men who are police officers, Marines and retired Air force officers...searching for the alchemy of Icons. I can't stop smiling when I think of it.

More sweetness: One of my students gifted me with a framed photo of me holding the copy of Somerset Gallery, grinning like a mad woman. I love it. We celebrated with cupcakes and coffee before getting back to our art journals. I did tell the tale, as I will tell you now: I have been an avid Somerset fan since 1994...owning issues back to that date ! I watched with excitement as the publication grew from a rubber stamp how-to into a magical family of magazines dedicated to wonder, creativity and artful living. Each month I stretch my beleaguered budget to buy the latest and the greatest. I loved their featured artists, followed their growth with inspiration and great admiration. On one desert day in the wilds of Las Vegas, I doodled my own name on a tiny post-it and placed over the name of the featured artist...and smiled. Could I really be a "Somerset Artist"? In my mind, those folks were wondrous artists, masters of their trade. I knew I was an artist, a watercolorist of some renown, but a "Somerset Artist". Hmmm.

But you know, I kept that doodled on issue. Hauled across the deserts and rivers right here to Middle Earth. It was carefully kept in a stack of very favorite issues that seemed to grow like Jack's Beanstalk over the years. That was until last Winter, on the cusp of Spring, when everything was still frozen and grey, I finished up a series of paintings , icons actually, that I knew were very special. They whispered urgently in my dreams that they needed to go off on a journey back across the deserts, the rivers, the mountains, back to the land of sand and surfers, to a place where wondrous issues of creativity and artful living came from. So I carefully packed them up, wrote a tale of their birthing and sent them of to California and the Land of Somerset.

And, oh they had a magical time. They posed prettily, glowed gorgeously and told their tale in pages of Somerset. I am so grateful to the folks at Somerset, to my ladies, to a darling mate who proof read many drafts, to the angel friends who celebrated with me.

I am grateful.

So, for those who may want some inspiration to do a bit of icon making of your very own, I will be teaching a workshop in the Spring here at the St. Louis Artists' Guild...an entire day of medieval golds and rich reds.. Do join us...there will be cupcakes!

Lost angel

Please meet Fleur. Obviously she is a flower angel. You know, the one who stands over the plants and whispers "Grow". She is also a lost angel because today the temperature here in sunny St. Louis is -10 degrees with the wind chill factor...not exactly flower weather. She came to visit my studio to remind me that there would be flowers again, but not for a little while. she brought a few with her to cheer me up , which she was quite good at. I loved her colors and bits of glitter and shine.

The inspiration for this piece came from a demo class by Pam Carriker through the Crescendoh site. It was a real change for me in that it was very sculptural and encouraged me to dig through all the goodies I had stashed about to create something lovely. I have been busy with a few other angels I will save for another post.They came about as donations to the St. Louis Artists Guild's invitation to their artists to create Christmas ornaments to be auctioned off this Wednesday evening. All of these lovelies have faces based on my studies of sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci. What could be more inspirational than Renaissance Angels ? I have been sketching away on thin, thin paper that lets me slip and slide my pencil around and create very painterly drawings. It's a lot more fun to paint with graphite and charcoal than to try and actually draw with them. I am not linear in my thinking or my art and get much more enjoyment from softening edges and brightening shadows. That would be my philosophy of life and art. What are we here for except to soften the hard edges of of life and maybe bring a little brightness to the dark places. That may be a bit simplistic to some, but it seems to serve me pretty well most of the time.

Playing with these little angels along with some very non-traditional materials is leading me down a new road. In proofing a freshly carved stamp a few days ago, I realized to line of stampings just needed a little more attention and they could be the body of yet another celestial being and so another lovely appeared a top a stack of stampings. The greatest part of being an artist is that you never cease to be amused. There is always another rabbit hole to tumble down and meet new creatures. A wild tea party can happen any minute. In a chilly December, you tend to get a lot of angelic beings at your tea parties. That may mean you have to be on your best behaviour, which isn't a bad thing either.

Garden Magic

When the weather turns chilly and grey, bright magical things can still be wandering about. You just need to know where to look. A certain owlie bird still visits and I give him a greeting of appreciation each time I see him tucked up into the corner of our roof. My wise owlie has given me eyes to see things in the garden that other might miss in their daily dailies, such as the mystical creature peeking out of a mass of frosty fronds above. She was most happy to have a friend to chat with one dreary afternoon, though, like a certain Cheshire cat, she tended to fade in and out of view. She told me the most wonderful tales regarding other fine sights that may be about and I thanked her for her time. I do believe she was the one who told me about a Secret Garden..a real one..or at least it is a place where I can sit in the sun and contemplate the wonders around me. I must have passed the place a hundred times last winter and never saw a sign of it, though as I walked its paths, it appeared to have been there for a very long time, as is true of most secret gardens. They seem to be forever, but like my plant girl, they wink in and out of being like mini Brigadoons!

Tucked into an autumn nest, this perky girl has made her home. Doesn't she just look as happy as a clam. come to think of it...clams are one of her favorite foods. She must have hung out with the Seagulls too long. Anyway, she has created her tidy little nest out of favorite quotes and incantations to keep her safe and warm. Obviously she loves all winged things as the butterflies and birds visit her regularly. She loves company and good jokes. She had me giggling for an entire morning.

Ah, this watery dream scene may be one that can only be viewed while you are napping. An sunset in Autumn shades and fading light is enough for me to hold in my heart of hearts. A water girl am I and I do love it so. With just the right eyes, I can be there this minute!

All these wonders are pages from my journaling class..either demonstrations or creations that needed to be created. There is a tale regarding angels that whisper great concepts into the ears of artists and draw great paintings in their dreams. If the artists creates the thing, the angel's work is done. If they ignore it or never quite finish, the angel takes it back and delivers it to the next person on her list. I try to keep that angel close and listen well.

Booo-tiques and such

Our Halloween came early and eerily with scratchings and groanings in the darkest hours of the night. DH and I both heard all manner of strange sounds coming from a high corner of the bedroom and immediately guessed we had squirelly co-inhabitants in our attic. so the local pest control was duly contacted and a handsome young prince was sent out to do battle with whatever furry monsters were lurking above our heads. he climbed into our attic and found.......NADA......NOthing....NoONE and no signs of any mortal creature. Hmmm.

So DH led the befuddled prince outdoors to show him some other beasties that were nesting under the eves of the winged kind. All of sudden they both charged into the house begging me to join them to view a wonder of sorts..they had found our noisy beastie. I wish I could have gotten a photo of him, but he was pretty much tucked under the edge of the roof peering out at us weird Halloweenies with his great big owlie eyes. Yep, we have the most gorgeous gold and cream colored Owl living up under our roof edge, right over the bedroom window. I was so excited that I immediately gave him permission to stay with us and eat any verminous characters that might threaten our castle. so between some late season spider webs draped delicately around the roof edge and our new guardian, we are all ready for any tricks that might appear on Sunday evening!

So what do these images have to do with Halloween..um..nothing...They do, however have a great deal to do with the Unique Boutique I am participating in just three weeks away. ARGH !!!!! I decided after being accepted to sell almost exclusively prints and reproductions of my favorite works..keeping the originals for a future and as yet unscheduled exhibition. I used the folks at moo.com for postcards, greeting cards and mini business cards. They do a great job and are really fast and affordable. They use recycled paper and the results are just wonderful. The art prints I had done are all on the highest quality paper and high quality inks. I love the way they came out and have mated some of them and then mounted a few on art boards so they are ready to hang.

All of this ordering, mounting, packaging and planning has kept me insanely busy. I feel like I am whizzing through the days with scarcely a bit of time to visit with our new feathered boarder. That said, there have been some lovely Autumn-y moments of deep appreciation for the softer fall colors on the trees this year and a few moonlight wanderings with my faithful studio dog, Demi. I get the sense of year running down... a year that has been a bit if a roller coaster ride emotionally. Losses and gains seem to balance in the long run. the pleasure of playing with glitter charmed little girls is a definite salve to the grief of losing a parent. Not a replacement by far, but a smile to the promise of future wonders. One business is slowly replacing another, this place becomes more of a home. Change is constant , balance is there if you look for it. In yoga, one can only hold the delicate balance of tree pose if one concentrates completely on focusing attention on a single point. The trick is choosing a focal point with benevolence and wisdom

The Butterfly Project

I have a special favor to ask. I know many of my artist friends read this blog and even those who are not artists can help on this one. The Holocaust Museum of Houston is sponsoring a very special project. One I intend to join in and I am asking you to join me, too.

The museum is dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust and remembering the six million Jews murdered as well as honoring the survivors. Using the lessons of the Holocaust, they teach the dangers of hatred, Prejudice and apathy. Their banner line reads "STOP HATE. START NOW"

The Butterfly Project is dedicated specifically to the 1,500,000 innocent children who perished as a result of the Holocaust by collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. In Spring of 2013, these butterflies will become part of a breathtaking exhibition to serve as a memorial for these children. The project is based on a poem:

I Never Saw Another Butterfly

The last, the very last

So rich,brightly, dazzlingly yellow
Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing
Against a white stone.

Such, such a yellow
Is carried lightly 'way up high.
It went away I'm sure
because it wished to kiss the world good-bye

For seven weeks I've lives here
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.
The dandelion call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.

Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don't live here in the ghetto.

Written by Pavel Friedman on June 4, 1942
Born in Prague January 7, 1921
Deported to Terezin Concentration Camp April 26, 1942
Died in Auschwitz September 29, 1944

Join me in creating a butterfly...you can go to the website for the Houston Holocaust Museum and get more details but all you need to do is create a butterfly about 8 X 10 inches and send it off to the museum. They have a submission form you can print out.

It won't take much time or effort, but the gift would be great. I am told it is a great mitzvah.......

New Dreams

A Thoughtful Cup of Tea

I was in a very thoughtful frame of mind this past week. A dear friend lost two of her furry friends in three days. My father's headstone was set and photos sent to me as family is so very far and away. Labor Day week-end became a few days of remembrances. Though this piece was actually begun well before. The cup is collaged with an image from one of my art journals, the handle formed from a small portion of some chip board shapes I have had forever. The opened envelope just appeared as I was finishing. funny how the painting can tell you what it wants. I didn't even think of a sealed envelope. This one has had its secrets revealed, as all secrets come to be revealed. The heart seal is broken..and perhaps another heart , also ? The painting is on heavy watercolor paper and mounted on half inch deep art board. I scanned this piece instead of photographing it and the color and detail is wonderful. It should be available in my Etsy in the next day or so. Or I might decide to ship it of to the wilds of California and see if they would like another article !!!!!Recycle your art images !!!! Yee=Haaaaa.

Other projects are swimming along. My Art Journaling class starts again next Monday and I have enough students to make it a go, so I am very excited about that. If you are reading this in St. Louis, you can jump in over at the St. Louis Artists Guild on Clayton. Final drafts on my Somerset Gallery article are off and getting their professional treatment. I am so excited about being in a Somerset publication. Of course, now I will have to try for a few more !!!! I have just invested in some special art quality printing paper to begin experimenting with making prints from my artwork, which will provide my Etsy shop with some more affordable images. Keep your fingers crossed on that one !

Fall is barely here and it seems I am scheduled to the minute. What a whirlwind life can become if you don't take some time out to breathe. I will attend a yoga retreat in October and I am already wanting to fast forward to days full of downward facing Dog and Warrior II. I see candy corn and marshmallow witches have already shouldered aside the summertime treats. Now don't get me wrong...I am a huge fan of candy corn and chocolate witches, but I am still mourning the weariness of my tiny garden patch which is almost empty. Guess I'll have to put up a scarecrow and a few pumpkins and get with the program.

Gratitude is a major focus in my life these days. Perhaps I am warming up for Thanksgiving. I am grateful my work is finding an appreciative audience. I am grateful to be teaching art again. I am very grateful for this corner of Middle Earth I abide in with its changing seasons and mercurial weather. I am grateful beyond words for the friends and family that inhabit my little world. They are truly the best of the best. There are days when I am grateful for every cell in my body...even the funny looking ones. There is an art to extending your gratitudes..by telling folks how important they are to you, by giving lots of hugs and by baking up some coconut zucchini bread or shortbread cookies and delivering them in your brightest basket.

What are you grateful for? Let me know. I would love to hear !