Last night a group of old friends met at my house for a craft evening – it’s an Herb Society subgroup called Lotions and Potions. I have not been involved for a long time because of commitments at school and studio, but it was great to see them all again. We did a project with dried herbs and printed backgrounds, all pressed under glass.
Each person brought the dried herbs and a short quote or info about the plants – there was a good assortment, done in advance-and then we experimented with fonts and placement for the backgrounds. I printed them out on my computer. Then the paper was dyed with tea or coffee. Great results! I found clip frames that worked perfectly for the project. See for yourself in the video:

I went to a bead show last weekend (wow – stimulus overload) and came away with some interesting beads for Kindle closures. On a whim, I choose four of them to represent the four elements (water, earth, sky and fire) and strung them together as a little protection circle charm for a Wiccan friend. On the card, I put some drops of Clary Sage essential oil for clear psychic vision! She liked it a lot.
*Bright Blessings*, MJ!

Today I took a new collage to the San Antonio Visual Artists ongoing venue at the Foundry Coffee House. Members can enter one piece at this popular cafe for a $5 hanging fee. I’ll go on Thursday to the opening, but I’ve never seen such an assortment of art – every size and medium. The SAVA website reflects this diversity. It’s as much a non-elitist all-inclusive super-eclectic arts group as I’ve seen in the area. I’m looking forward to seeing how it works and participating a bit more in the future. Today was a small start. Here’s the piece I took – it’s called Pearadigm – I almost didn’t have the nerve to use such a corny name, but I did anyway :).

There has been no real rain here since September of last year – today we got a wonderful rainstorm. It’s amazing how rain in a drought can make everyone feel happy and optimistic. There are no half-measures, though. Right now there are flood warnings, but that will pass. Hooray for rain!

It was a good night! The collages were nicely displayed- Matt and Carole do such a fine job. There was an annoying but interesting glare on the plexiglass framing, so you can see the outside street and the inside gallery reflected on the paintings. Layers of reflection. Lots of friends and good food and music. I sold three pieces, which was very nice. One of the best moments was when my former art professor, Bill Bristow, came by and discussed Art with me and some of my techniques in particular – that was perfect, things seemed to come full circle since I was in his class in the 60’s. Yay for art!

Finished this cover last night – it went together quickly, which is a good sign. I used a photo of Georgia O’Keeffe and in the process read again about the timeline of her life. What a remarkable artists’ journey she lived. Here are some photos – even the fittings and inside cover went together well. Woohoo 🙂

Here’s another cover that came together like magic – it’s called Seance. It made me think of Madame Blavatsky and her Theosophists, and that whole group including Yeats who studied religion, science and philosophy in the early 20th century. Wonder if Yeats would be surpirsed that people read his poems on a Kindle? Hmmm.