Category Archives: Inspiration

Simple altars and luminous objects

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The completed piece

“The Guardian of the Golden Bough” – Altar Assemblage, Lyn Belisie, 2013

Celebration Circle’s “One People, Many Paths: Sacred Art of Altars” exhibit opens on September 1st, and I am ready! Last year, when I was invited to participate in this wonderful event, I struggled with several ideas, including putting a Spirit Doll inside the box, which, unfortunately, made it look like a coffin. Yikes. My (finally) finished altar from last year was called The Guardian of the Golden Bough (left). It was a good solution and popular with the silent auction bidders.

This year’s altar, “Luminosity,” came together almost all by itself – I found a small branch in the driveway as I was bringing in the bare altar box and propped it against the side. Perfect – and after that, everything just came together, including the quote mounted on plexiglass which says, “It is when the ordinary becomes luminous that we are transformed.” The altar is white, simple and luminous, made from ordinary objects.  Simple is good. I am happy!

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“Luminosity” – Altar Assemblage, Lyn Belisle 2014

But I often wonder why some pieces, such as last year’s altar, are such a struggle to make, and others, like this year’s, seem to fly into your hands as if they knew they were supposed to be there. It’s a mystery. Let me know if you have the answer.

DSCN3240PS – No Friday Freebie this week, but if you are around, don’t miss tomorrow’s Show and Tell at the Studio from 2-4 – it’s definitely free, and you’ll get all kinds of free tips and techniques from the participating artists. The resident chef will be there, too, to show you a cool culinary trick. Hope to see you at Show and Tell!

Workshop wowsers with household cleaner

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That Citra-Solv stuff just keeps on giving – it cleans up cat barf (personal experience), it’s organic and smells good, and it goofs up old magazine pages and turns them into art paper. I learned about it when artists Bonnie Davis and Rosemary Uchniat demo’d it at the first Studio Show and Tell (the next one is this Saturday, 2-4, so be there). Two workshops later, we’re having a great time combining Citra-solved paper with impeccable composition and inspired vision and turning it into lovely small artwork. Here’s a short video from yesterday’s collage workshop – look what these guys did!

If the altered paper process intrigues you, here’s a great tutorial from good old Cheap Joe featuring Cathy Taylor, who really specializes in collage with Citra-solv papers. It’s a lot of fun to play around with.

Franni and me and tea . . .

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It would be nigh impossible to pry my hand from my Diet Dr. Pepper, but my artist friend Franni Farishon may be changing all that – she visited me at the Studio a couple of days ago, and boy, did I learn a lot about the Joys of Tea. The Good Kind. Franni brought some mind-blowing loose tea samples from Discover Teas in Virginia (which is owned by her daughter Chris) to share. Here’s a delightful picture that Franni drew of our tea-for-two party.

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Drawing by Frances Farishon

Some things that surprised me – first, you can brew a fabulous cup of tea in just three to five minutes – and you don’t have to use boiling water. We had a delicate Cream Earl Grey that tasted like vanilla bergamot blossoms and brewed in practically no time – it was fun to watch it steep, and it really did taste creamy and silky without anything added. I also learned about Puerh. It’s a fermented tea that can be steeped over and over again all day long, and will yield new and different flavor notes with each steep. Wow. Finally, the aromas of the different teas are practically hypnotic.

So I ordered some teas from Discover Teas along with a Tea Press (who knew?) and when they arrived, quick as lightning, I brewed up a cup of Tropic of Jasmine – swoon. The cup came from Franni, who asked her daughter to include in the package it as a gift for me. Tea drinkers are so nice! So, OK, all you tea drinkers out there in SHARDS Land – why didn’t you tell me what I’d been missing?? This stuff is amazing! Thanks, Franni and Chris!

Here are some more photos of Franni’s Tea Tutorial (she brought cookies, too- yay!):

PS – speaking of SHARDS Land, the winner of the Friday Freebie gift certificate to Mulberry Paper and More and a Lotus Book kit goes by the email of  “clayartist@cox.net” – congratulations! I don’t recognize your name by your email, but thanks for subscribing and I’ll send along your prize as soon as you are kind enough to send me your name and address. Thanks, and happy Monday to all!

 

 

Friday Freebie – pretty paper prizes

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You know how sometimes you recommend sources just because you like their stuff? That’s the way I feel about Mulberry Papers and More – I’ve been ordering from them for a long time and have their link on my sidebar. Here’s an example of the kinds of papers you can order from them for about $5 – a giant (2’x3′) sheet of Marbled Momi Paper.

 

Anyway, I got a nice email from the president of the company saying they’d gotten some traffic from SHARDS and were sending a $5 gift card that I could use as a Friday Freebie. Pretty cool!

That’s half of this week’s Freebie, and the other half is from me – a kit to make your own Lotus Book (with directions, of course). So one lucky SHARDS subscriber, new or old, good or bad, will be in a drawing for a $5 gift card to Mulberry Papers and More plus a Lotus Book Kit from yours truly. Thanks, as always, for subscribing to SHARDS and supporting what goes on at the Studio. Good luck, and happy weekend!

Lotus Book with pop-out pages

Lotus Book with pop-out pages

A wordle-y diversion

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You’ve all probably seen word clouds, those designs that are made from a selection of words in a paragraph. There’s a free online program called Wordle that I use with my students on the first day of classes at Trinity as an introduction. I have them write a little bit about themselves, then transform it into a design. You just paste the words into the Wordle window, choose your colors and layout, click Create –  and voila! Here’s one of my favorite Mary Oliver poems, Wild Geese, as a Wordle word cloud (the poem itself is underneath the design).  Give it a try, and have fun Wordle-ing!

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Wild Geese
 
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
 

from Dream Work by Mary Oliver

Serenity and Serendipity

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Michelle Belto and I spent a serene and serendipitous day with our workshop group making and celebrating happy artistic accidents (and a few on-purpose creations). We constructed book/boxes with rich collaged exteriors and a space for our Yupo inspiration cards on the inside. We also built a sense of community and retreat as we worked in the Studio space together. One participant said, “I haven’t thought of the outside world all day – I’ve been so focused on my work here.”

When Michelle and I plan workshops together, we want to bring this sense of retreat and contemplation to the experience as well as ensuring that everyone has a finished piece to take home with them as a celebration of their accomplishments and growth. And it worked again with our Book of Serendipity workshop – take a look at the video!

Report from Beacon Hill

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The gorgeous weather was the star on Sunday in Boston – what a fabulous day for the annual Beacon Hill Art Walk. I set up my work in the same courtyard as last year, only this time I had the invaluable help and creative eye of my daughter-in-law, Becky, who is an artist and photographer. As she said, “It practically set itself up!” What a team! I shared the space again with printmaker Dominique Lecomte, whose appealing woodblock prints, charming accent and genial manner makes him a perfect exhibit partner.

This event brings out the most interesting people – my first sale was to a fellow artist, Fran Busse, who has a studio in Concord, MA. We decided that we explore a lot of similar themes in our work. Another interesting person named Dave noticed my reference to “shards” in my artist’s statement and told me about a German proverb, “Scherben bringen Glück”, which means “shards bring luck.” It must be true, because right after that, a judge came around with a second place ribbon for my work! Woohoo! Sales were good, I had wonderful help from Rick and Becky and our friend Danny, and was even able to walk around a bit to see the other work. I really can’t wait till next year – if I’m accepted again, Dominique and I have a deal to set up at the same lucky place on Beacon Hill! Here are some photos (thanks to Becky for some of these – the good ones!)

 

ArtTech Networking at the Studio

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monaipad_edited-1Here’s part of an email invitation (below) that I sent out last week to the Studio “regulars” – and the response has been amazing. About 20 of us are getting together tomorrow @ 5:00 at the Studio to discuss how we can best network together to learn new skills in social media and digital imagery – like giving the Mona Lisa an iPad – it’s easy!!

“Dear All – Just in the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a number of requests for help with tech issues for artists, such as learning Photoshop, creating on iPads, blogging, and using other social media for art promotion. There’s a huge need for this these days, and I am “lucky” enough to have been forced to learn some of it when I started teaching at Trinity ten years ago. My idea would be to discuss what the needs are and then possibly set up either individual sessions or a small group workshop or two during the summer (these would have a small tuition charge), but then we would go further than that – you could partner with a tech buddy (or several) who is interested in the same things you are and you could help each other when I’m not available. It would be like a learning circle. I can give you all kinds of links to resources and tutorials so you could learn on your own in the direction that best suits you. What do you think? ~ Lyn”

I expect people will want to learn new things in two areas – how to work with digital images in Photoshop and other editing programs, and how to get more exposure for their art via the Internet. We’ll see how it goes, and I can set up some classes to fit the needs of my fellow artists. Come by if you’re interested and share ideas with us. It should be fun. If you can’t make it in person, do read Alyson Stanfield’s book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio. It’s a great guide to promoting your art. And if you’d like some free (free is good) beginner Photoshop Lessons, here’s a link for you.

We’re all in the together – might as well share what we know!

Visiting Pablo and Beverly Solomon – an astonishing art space

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Rarely am I totally enthralled with a place the way I was with Pablo and Beverly Solomon’s ranch and studio. Just outside of Lampasas, Texas, the Moses Hughes Ranch is graced with Pablo’s sensuous stone carvings and whimsical art objects. We spent last Friday there enjoying the art, the spring weather, walks along the stream, and the entertaining conversations. At the end of the video, you’ll see a small bench in a tree that Pablo and I put together from shards and tiles (Pablo had already done the heavy lifting, thank goodness!). You’ll also see a series of enchanting small sculptures that Pablo presented as a proposal for the Houston Jardin de Dance. Each is a maquette which can be cast into bronze either at original size or scaled up. The best news is that Pablo will visit the Studio on June 20th with 15 of these figures as part of his Summer Solstice show and sale (and they are amazingly affordable for any collector) – save the date and stay tuned for details. You will love meeting Pablo and Beverly – they are both so gracious and fun to be with! And they welcome visitors!

Klimt-ing Mother Earth

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Yesterday’s workshop celebrated the archetypical woman as Earth Mother through influences and interpretation from Gustav Klimt. OK, *enough* art jargon – we had a blast. Two parts worked really well – drawing the faces in a lesson that showed how the face works on the entire head, and making our own pattern stamps using foam shapes.

The face-drawing lesson I’ll share in another post. The stamps are easy – take 1″ sections of a large dowel or 1×2″ board, trace around any outside edge onto a sheet of sticky-backed craft foam, cut out and adhere, then add a second layer of foam in any shapes you wish. Stamp away. We used tissue paper, mulberry paper, foil and construction paper and applied cut and torn pieces to painter board. Here are a couple of photos of the stamps and the patterns.

As always, even though we all started with the same premise, each artist’s style shone through in the finished works. I’m anxious to try the same kind of pattern building in another project – still thinking about possibilities. To all who came, thanks for sharing Sunday afternoon with me at the Studio! And I’m especially excited about the upcoming drawing workshop on May 25th. If you don’t think you can draw, you have another think coming – I dare ya to sign up – LOL. And now, for your viewing pleasure, here’s a video of yesterday’s diverse visions of Mother Earth.