Rainy Friday . . .

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. . .and that’s fantastic! We’re in such a drought that no one is complaining. Rain is supposed to continue through most of the weekend – yes! Tomorrow Michelle Belto and I are collaborating in our Wax and Wings workshop. It will be a good day to gather around the Studio worktables, listen to the rain, and  talk about nesting and shelter and how we can create those concepts through collage and encaustic. I’ll post the photos from this first session later. Here’s one from my practice time in the studio this afternoon, just the collage “nest” part. Michelle’s in charge of the inside encaustic part – she’s so good. Check out her book.

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BUT WAIT, there’s more – (drum roll please) – I’m about to boldly go into cyberspace with a new series of video art labs. Zinnia Galliher, an amazing artist and techno-wizard , has developed two sites where artists can teach lessons and present projects. She invited me to teach a class on her Roses site, then I’ll be developing some longer classes for the 2014 Artful Gathering. It’s really exciting and a totally new adventure – man, all this and rain to boot! And it’s Friday!! Life is pretty darn good 🙂 Hope your weekend includes some rain and some art and a nice comfy nest.

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Photography vs. snapshotting (and a cool dove)

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Before he left San Antonio this afternoon, my friend Ramesh wanted to go looking for birds to shoot – with his camera. We went to the Judson Nature Trails, the place that Whiltley Streiber said he saw aliens. No aliens, and actually, not many birds, although we heard a bunch of them. I took a picture of some trees. Zowee. Here we are heading for the trail.

Check out Ramesh’s camera – he didn’t need to go on a trail to take a great bird shot. When we got home, he took a fantastic photo of a dove outside the kitchen window. Now that’s the difference between a photographer and a snapshotter like me – you can even see the dang dove’s eyelid, and look at those feathers! I love this photo. Thanks, Ramesh, and happy trails home!

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Tonight’s opening and a poem

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It’s  Fotoseptiembre  – and I’m especially delighted that my friend Ramesh arrives today for the opening of his photography show, TERROIR. His Oregon wines arrived before he did, and are waiting to be opened and shared with tonight’s guests. I’ve already purchased one of his spectacular orchid photographs. This one – wow.

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Each photo is printed on stretched canvas and other forms of prints will be available by special order. I love Ramesh’s work (and I hear those Oregon wines of his are pretty good, too!). Please come to the opening.

Anyone who creates anything know that it takes work, imagination and most of all, tenacity and optimism – so here’s a Friday poem to remind us all of that.

Optimism

More and more I have come to admire resilience.
Not the simple resistance of a pillow, whose foam
returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous
tenacity of a tree: finding the light newly blocked on one side,
it turns in another. A blind intelligence, true.
But out of such persistence arose turtles, rivers,
mitochondria, figs — all this resinous, unretractable earth.

 ~ Jane Hirshfield ~

Thanks to Joe Riley and Panhala for sending this along today. Hooray for figs and turtles and friends and art!

 

 

Small graces on a Sunday afternoon

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My next door neighbor, Elizabeth, just came to the door with these lovely fresh eggs from her chickens – she said she hoped the chicken scratching and cackling didn’t bother me, and I said, no,  that it reminded me of the farm in Louisiana where I grew up. What a thoughtful gift, even visually. It called for a photo.eggsliz
And I’d also like to share a note with you from a person who had bought my shard faces before on Etsy and was reordering some. I always try to add a little personal touch to the package when I send it, and I don’t think much about it,  but this brought tears and a smile – you never know, do you, how little things make a difference?

Dear Lyn, Time to order more of your lovelies for a workshop I’m hosting in October. I received my last order on January 7th, 2013 and have to tell you how special the timing was…the package arrived as I was getting ready to attend my husband’s wake…I felt I was surrounded by loving spirits and the sprig of rosemary that you enclosed went into his buttonhole for remembrance…thank you…that lifted a heaviness from my soul.

Wow. . . . I hope *your* Sunday is touched with small graces.

 

 

Air-dry clay

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If you read the Studio newsletter today, you’ll know that there’s a whole lot going on in September – if you missed it, click this link. But I’ve had some time to plan a new workshop on an alternative way to make shards and adornments even if you don’t have a kiln. Sherrill Kahn got me thinking about this (Hi, Sherrill!), and you know I’ve been playing with molding compound. Well, I’ve discovered that you can make molds with air dry clay which, with a few tricks, work just about as well as fired clay. Look at this photo and see if you can tell which ones are air-dry and which ones are fired.P1090280

It’s not easy to tell – and I used some air-dried clay buttons on the piece that I submitted to the juried FASA show (below). You can see how nice they look with an iridescent finish. So sign up for the October 15th workshop and learn how to do this stuff! TGIF, y’all . . . .

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Workshop Video: Spirit Boxes!

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Oh, my – Sunday’s workshop was great. I am sharing the video, below, because I loved each and every Spirit Box that was created, start to finish, during the two hours we were together. My pal J. Janak brought two of her foreign students, and their work reflected their cultures. One Spirit Box had Spanish nuances and the other reflected the Asian culture. It was very cool. Thanks to all of the participants. The next regular Sunday workshop won’t be till Sept.29th – it’s Collage on Canvas, but on the 21st, Michelle Belto and I are collaborating on a very special all-day collage and encaustic workshop called Wax and Wings.. More details about that later in the week, but email me if you’d like to join us – it’s gong to be an amazing experience. Anytime I get to work with Michelle is a very good time indeed!

Sunday odds and ends

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Celebration Circle’s Altar Show – my altar second from left

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A transformed treasure in progress to benefit the Salvation Army

It’s round-up time at the ol’ Studio – here’s a round-up of what’s been happening. This evening at 6:00 is the opening reception for Celebration Circle’s Altar Show at the Bijou.  Here’s a link to the article, and you’ll notice that my King of the Wood is front and center – yay! Come bid on one or several for a good cause.

Also coming up is the Transformed Treasures show benefiting the Salvation Army. I figure if one King of the Woods is good, two is better, so I used the same idea on the cabinet I’m transforming for the auction event later this month at Oak Hills Country Club. I found a blah cabinet at the downtown Salvation Army store and am turning it into a piece of furniture art. Here’s the top door of that piece, soon to be finished (I hope).

Other fun things – the Spirit Box article for Cloth Paper Scissors is out in the current issue and there’s a workshop on just that subject at the Studio this afternoon – yay!

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“The Cat’s Pajamas” Random dyed felted wool, feathers, cotton fabric with heat transfer, embellishments

The Fiber Artists of San Antonio are always huge supporters of the Transformed Treasures show. speaking of which, I finished a piece for their juried show coming up in October. I used an accidentally-felted sweater and turned it into a wall hung fiber artwork piece called The Cat’s Pajamas. I need to add a couple of silver fish to it, but it’s almost finished and I had a blast constructing it. Hope the juror likes cats and has a sense of humor.

And finally, I’ll be announcing the details about this workshop on Tuesday, but Michelle Belto and I are collaborating on a fantastic all day collage and encaustic project called Wax and Wings. It will be give twice, once on Saturday, September 21st and once on Saturday October 5th. Email me for Early Bird details.

Here’s a preview of Wax and Wings – and happy holiday weekend, everyone!

 

 

 

Little family things to share . . .

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Sometimes you just have to share with friends – that’s you – here’s a post that my son Rick wrote about his grandmother, my mom, who would have been 100 on August 26th. Dang, I miss her! If she were here, she’s be wishing me a happy back-to-school day tomorrow. If your mom is still around, give her a hug!

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Shards and Spirit Box Kit

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Congrats to Barb Wolfe, winner of the SHARDS subscriber drawing for the Spirit Box kit. Barb’s a good jewelry designer, can’t wait to see how she puts it all together. Speaking of shards, yesterday’s workshop artisans outdid themselves in quality and production. Take a look at some of their work – it’s very fragile right now while it’s waiting to be fired, but the pieces should be even more amazing once fired and finished. The last photo is a card of air-dry clay buttons that I made yesterday for fiber art enhancement – I’ll post directions at a later date. Sherrill Kahn turned me on to air-dry clay as a quick alternative to earthenware.Thanks for a great workshop, y’all – see you Wednesday to finish your pieces and put them together at Ann Pearce’s jewelry shop.

No-Fire Shard Faces – a how-to freebie

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So you can’t come to the workshop this afternoon? Darn! Well, never fear – here’s a how-to freebie on making your own shard faces and adornments at your own place of creative belonging. No kiln needed because this project uses air-dry clay, lightweight and inexpensive. I’m going to demo this process at the workshop this afternoon although we will be using actual earthenware clay today. But this is a fun option to try at home (yes, you can try this at home). Here are some how-to step-by-step photos. And if you click this link, you’ll get a printable one-page list of materials and directions. Happy molding! That sounds weird. Happy creating beautiful one-of-a-kind clay objects of delight!!