Celebration Circle’s Monday preview opening of its annual Altar Show was great. I’m always amazed at the way artists’ minds work, and this is the place to see that in action. You can access a digital catalog all of the altars here on Celebration Circle’s website. Among my personal favorites – Deborah Keller-Rhin’s altered (no pun intended) photograph which was presented on the back side of the wooden structure. It’s delicate and strong and totally engaging. Deborah consistently brings a spiritual component to her photography – you can learn more about her in this video.

I also loved Jane Dunnewold’s for its simplicity and elegance. Jane is a consummate  fiber artist, teacher, and author and her work has hidden depths. When you visit her website, you can catch a glimpse of the many influences that inspire her body of work. The title is “Fragile Illusion of Containment” and it’s such a strong visual metaphor for our illusion of safety and separateness – artists like Jane have such a way of expressing complexity with ordinary objects and materials.

One of the cleverest constructions was Mark Kohnitz’s Bad Cats. I had a entertaining  conversation with Mark at the opening – his altar celebrates all of the kitschy cat figurines that are found in collections (“Oh, let’s get that little white china cat for Grandmother”) and end up at garage sales. BTW, the wine glass belongs to some wandering artist and is not part of the altar 🙂 Mark said he had a fine time collecting these little felines and actually has some left over from his cat quest that he will offer in an “adoption basket” during the silent auction gala. If you can’t make it that evening, I’ll pick up one and offer it as a Friday Freebie. Meow.

Here is the Celebration Circle Altar Show information – go visit the Bad Cats and the other altars (including mine) in person and bid on YOUR favorite.

September 1st through 30th
One People, Many Paths: The Sacred Art of Altars
Celebration Circle’s 11th Annual Exhibit and Silent Auction of Handmade Altars

On display for viewing and bidding in a month-long, silent auction that is open to the public during normal business hours in the Art Gallery at the Bijou Cinema and Bistro, located at Wonderland of the Americas.Closing Reception and Movie: Tuesday, September 30, 6:00 – 9:30pm, $15 in advance (sign up now)

Pueblo – 5×7″ collage – Lyn Belisle

Think of one of those art workshops that features fantastic artist who show you how to do cool stuff and charge you a ton of money . . . now, forget the money part. At the second Show and Tell from 2-4 at the Studio tomorrow, you’ll get to see some amazing demos and tips from artists who are sharing with all of us just ’cause they love it! If you need further encouragement, here’s a video from the first S&T last month.

Sherry Christensen, Fiber Artist – wrapped and sewn construction

At that last Show and Tell, I learned so much about Citra-solv papers from Bonnie and Rosemary that it inspired me to try some new collage techniques. You can see the results in these pics – I love this altered paper. Bonnie will be back tomorrow, and so will Michelle Belto, Sherry Christensen (detail of her beautiful work in photo on left) and other super-creative people to show us lots of new ideas. And even I will demo – I’ll show you the simple transfer process that we did in the last workshop. It involves nothing more than wax paper and an inkjet printer. Honest!

Strata – 5×7″ collage – Lyn Belisle

Come to the Studio from 2-4 p.m. tomorrow to get great ideas, network with other interesting people, or bring ideas of your own – it;’s very informal. There will be refreshments and info on upcoming events. Email me with questions (especially if you want to bring something to show). Yay for Show and Tell and the generous artists who are sharing with all of us!

Shards of wisdom, free of charge – these two five-minute practices will make your  life much happier. They are little gifts to yourself.

WASH YOUR BRUSHES
No matter how tired you are, wash you paint brushes before you go to bed. And do not even *think* about leaving them in the water because “the paint won’t dry and I can do it later”. You *know* it will ruin the bristles eventually. For you non-painters, this means straightening up your mess, however minimally – line up your tools, put the top back on the glue – YOU know what I mean.

MAKE YOUR BED
No matter how rushed or sleepy you are in the morning, make your bed. Tuck in the sheets, fluff up your pillow. You’ll get on with your day and forget that you did it, but at night when you’re ready for bed, you’ll smile and say, “I loved me enough to prepare a smooth and comfy place to sleep.” If you have had a bad day, you’ll appreciate it even more. And you’ll sleep much better.

Just to show you that I practice what I preach, here’s a photo of my brushes that I washed last night, almost didn’t, but did it anyway – boy, was I happy this morning when I went into the studio (after making my bed) to see clean brushes ready for a fresh start! It’s the little, free things in life that you do for yourself that make you want to make others happy. So, Happy Wednesday! 

Actual clean brushes in a semi-clean mason jar

Happy New Year, everyone! What a year of adventure and discovery. I thought I’d round up a few of my favorite semi-random mostly-artful surprises and discoveries from the past twelve months to share with you – I’m so glad that you were part of my 2013!

Art Material: Model Magic Air-Dry Clay

Yeah, I know – that purple dragon on the package put me off, too – but when I started playing with this stuff, I found that it has amazing possibilities, some of which I’ll share in upcoming workshops on air-dry clay. You can stamp into it, make molds from it, and imbed stuff. Stay tuned . .  . I’ll be teaching an online workshop at Artful Gathering featuring this clay and similar media this summer

Cheap Art Tool: Dental floss

Another discovery from the Exploring Air-dry Clay workshops – it cuts clay beautifully and can also be used as super-strong, thin cord for stringing beads. I have a bag full of little sample-sized floss at the Studio. Oh yeah, and if you happen to be eating corn-on-the cob during a workshop, it comes in handy there too.

Art Tech Tool: Evernote

I’ve had Evernote on my phone forever but never knew how to use it until I downloaded the desktop version, too. Now I can save short memos to myself (my memory is fading fast) and I can clip notes and ideas from the web and save them in folders on my phone and computer. It’s free and seriously easy – you just have to remember that you have it. That it doesn’t do for you.

Art Process: Encaustic on Watercolor paper

It was an “A-ha!’ moment when Michelle Belto showed me these new wax on paper panels she’d been creating on #300 watercolor paper. They are small jewels of layered translucency and mystery. She demonstrated this in our Wax and Wings workshop – my attempts are still pretty pedestrian, but hers soar!

Studio Gadget: My Dymo Labeller

I took a very helpful online organizational course for artists from Alyson B. Stanfield in November, and of all the good suggestions, this one I actually put into practice almost immediately. It really helped me separate stuff and think about how I used it. For example, I realized choose beads mostly by color and not by size or material, so that’s how I separated and labelled them. Plus you can print out goofy labels for your own amusement 🙂

Website: Pinterest

So, mabe I happen to be the last person in the world to discover Pinterest. I knew about it, but now I understand its usefulness for artists. It’s not so much about finding products or outfits, but it’s about inspiration. I have a Pin Board on ideas to steal – anything from the designs on a Masai headdress to a giant abstract painting by DeKooning. It’s also fun to see what other “pinners” like.

Art-Idea Book (rediscovery): Griffin and Sabine

Nick Bantock is a dang genius. I found my copy of Griffin and Sabine and the sequels just a couple of months ago – there is inspiration on every page, both visually and literally. It may be one of the most beautiful small books I’ve ever encountered. If you’re not familiar with it (because it was published over two decades ago), take a look. Nick Bantok’s website is pretty awesome as well.

Art Process Book: Wax and Paper Workshop

Again, I thank my lucky stars (and Carol Mylar) for introducing me to Michelle Belto. This is her book, and it is a wonderful example of how to teach a complex process in an engaging and approachable way. It’s also a stellar example of organizational model for an art process book. Gorgeous photos, too. I can’t wait for Michelle’s next book – she is a master at her medium.

Natural Material: Cactus skeletons

I love these netted plant skeletons! They are lightweight and strong and infinitely varied. They can be painted and used as stamps or just used by themselves. A workshop student from Floresville brought me some recently. Why are they so hard to find around here when the land is loaded with prickly pear cactus?? If you have a source, send it my way! Will trade for shards.

Art Store: 10,000 Villages

This is not the place you go to buy acrylic paint, but the ideas are rampant. Textile patterns, wood carvings, incised silver – and all made by craftspeople from across the world in a fair trade environment. It opened at the Pearl just a couple of months ago. If you need some fresh ideas and an optimistic look at the state of human creativity, go here!

Please send along your favorites from 2013 – I’ll pin ’em on my Pinterest stealboard, put ’em in my Evernote file, and post them to SHARDS! Happy New Year, dear friends – be safe.

I hope y’all are still basking in happy holiday vibes – my quick Christmas trip to Boston was delightful. Of course, observing that the grandsons have become over six feet tall (and whiskery) almost overnight reminds me that life is a zipline ride, flashing by faster and faster as you get to the end – sigh. So I was very cheered by this post on Open Culture this morning. It’s a letter (written in 1988) to Ingmar Bergman on his 70th birthday from his Japanese director/auteur counterpart, Akira Kurosawa, who assures him that his best work will begin at 80 (see below). I like the notion that artists need to age out of all adult baggage and preconceptions and become clear-eyed babies again. After all, Picasso said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.” So happy weekend, All – I’m off to find my creative blankie!

I love that quote – It sums up my first year at the Studio pretty well. I’m just lucky I didn’t dance off a cliff since I had no direction or experience! You guys were the ones who helped me keep my feet on the ground by coming to workshops, giving me hugs, furniture, encouragement, soup, chocolate, arty treasures, inspiration from near and far, and so much more. Thanks very, very much for everything. I wish each of you a new year of dancing and adventure, the inside kind and the outside kind. Just don’t dance off any cliffs.

Save the date for the Lyn Belisle Studio First Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, January 19th from 3-6 p.m. We’ll share food and libation, little gifties, conversation, and fantastic music by the wonderful Classical guitarist, George Gaytan. Please come! Just for fun here’s the old invitation from a year ago – time goes fast when you’re dancing! I’ll send out the new “official” invitation after Christmas. Happy holidays, everyone – I am so grateful for you.