Last week a group of us met at an artist friend’s house to discuss an upcoming herb garden tour. Marty, the homeowner, is a multifaceted furniture designer (check out the arrow table/bench), painter, and cactus sculptor. His garden is a fascinating mini-botanical  arboretum with cactus and succulents and raised beds and structures. If you look at the last photo, you can see that he cuts stars on some of his cactus plants and they continue to grow like that as they reproduce. Wow. Marty has a new gallery in Wimberley, Texas – I haven’t seen it yet but I imagine it’s as interesting as his house.

I needed a way to display my Shard pin collages to make them look like works of art as well as personal adornment, so here’s the first idea: I used a Lucite picture frame from Michael’s, the kind that stands on its own. It has a second layer folded over the back to hold a photo, but that made it too thick to hold the magnet, so I snapped that layer off. It breaks very cleanly, thank goodness. Then I crafted a paper “sleeve frame” from good drawing paper with a circular cut-out – easier to show than to describe! See the photos:

 

Something new – a friend at the Open Studio choose two small earthenware faces from my collection and asked me to build a collage pin/pendant around them – here are the results. I really liked working like this.

The studio was open for visitors, but the action was in the living room where my friend Jan and I set up our work – it was a cold gray day, but brave friends came out to eat and visit and shop. It’s such a good, low-pressure way to share and sell art. Jan and I both did well. Her work is gorgeous, especially her metal clay creations. Surprises for me were the pins and the little cards, which sold out quickly – lots of scent shards sold as well, so the event was successful on all levels. Here are a few photos – my house *almost* looks like a real gallery! Jan and I are planning another sale in April – hooray! I may be recovered by then.

I’d hoped to get more done, but ran out of time – these are such fun to make, especially since I have a stash of new beads from a friend’s studio. These are lots of scent shards and votive cards, and my friend Jan Longfellow will have her glass jewelry, so we should be fine.

Sometimes you have to go with your instincts, and I had a strong nudge from that good old inner voice to have an open studio this Sunday. After all, we’re in the doldrums of winter, it’s almost Valentines Day, and I needed a reason to get going with some new art. Also, the new cards I’ve been working on would be perfect small gifts. I invited my friend Jan Longfellow, a wonderful glass designer and jeweler, to join me. It should be informal and fun – hope people show up!

In a roundabout way, I found an artist whose work I really find fascinating and influential, especially for his idea of layers and power based on his interpretation of cave drawings. His name is Marshall Arisman – I’d seen his work for years without knowing his name. You will probably recognize images when you visit his website. This is from his Divine Elvis series:

Here’ a short video explaining why Arisman thinks shamanic artists painted over others’ work on the walls of caves even thought that notion is generally regarded as taboo. It’s thought-provoking, as are his paintings. And . . he encourages other artists to steal techniques from him and anybody else, and make them their own. I like that.

I had lunch last week with a friend who is a Professor Emeritus of Architectural History. She has made a lifelong study of French cathedrals and is a wonderful designer, traveler, and beadcrafter – she’s the kind of person we want to be when we grow up. When I walked into her house just south of downtown, I was overwhelmed with the sense of form and space. Her interior colors came from an African bead necklace she found on one of her trips – her plant room soars at least twenty-five feet up in the center of the house and includes a very tall cat tower for her four cats. It’s an amazing home, small and perfect, like a Shaker jewel box. Here are a few photos, which don’t do justice to the flow of the space and the lightness of the design.

Look at this wonderful little card I made yesterday – it opens up to become a votive candle holder. It folds flat to fit in a envelope. I fund the pattern in a half-price book about garden cards (seed packets and markers) but this is a gem! It’s made from one 9×12″ sheet of construction paper with little round windows cut out for translucent paper. This card could be a present all by itself, especially with a little votive candle added.