Original poem written on the one year anniversary of 9/11 and posted here for the first time:
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Monday, November 30, 2009
WHEREYABEEN ????
Hmmmn, what's this dusty thing we have here? Oh, for shame . . . it's my blog !!! Maybe a cyber-Swifter will do the job and have it all looking shiny and new. On the other hand, a post or two once in a while would be better, wouldn't you say?
Lordy, when you fall off the art wagon (nod to Kate for that one), you fall hard. It's been forever since I've done anything and boy, am I rusty. Not promising any stellar art comeback, but I did manage to churn out a few ATCs due (overdue) for a swap.
The Tarot was the subject matter. My picks were High Priestess, Queen of Pentacles, The Moon, and Strength. Sounds like I watched too many Oprah episodes and then went to see one of the Twilight saga movies. In any event, my narrative prowess is lacking this evening, given the ungodly hour. I just had to make sure this bloggity blog stuff still works. So without further ado, here are the cards:
High Priestess ~
Queen of Pentacles ~
The Moon ~
They are all done in the same manner: gel transfers onto text, then layers of burned edge papers, burned edge transparencies, stitching and brass embellishments by Ashes2Beauty. The text is the significant factor. I tried to give some relevant meaning to the images and title of each card without reproducing the traditional interpretations. The pages were taken from a set of books entitled "The Light of Egypt". They were one of those obscure flea market finds you purchase and sock away for future use. The books are unusual and a bit cryptic, perfect for a tarot theme. The images are Rosetti women, some of my favorites. A bit more fun than the standard celestial-Mother Earth images typically associated with The Tarot.
Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and great start to the holiday season !! My apologies to all my blog buddies and cherished followers for being so neglectful and absent. I hope to be back at it soon and sharing comments with you all !!
Ciao for now,
Shelly
Lordy, when you fall off the art wagon (nod to Kate for that one), you fall hard. It's been forever since I've done anything and boy, am I rusty. Not promising any stellar art comeback, but I did manage to churn out a few ATCs due (overdue) for a swap.
The Tarot was the subject matter. My picks were High Priestess, Queen of Pentacles, The Moon, and Strength. Sounds like I watched too many Oprah episodes and then went to see one of the Twilight saga movies. In any event, my narrative prowess is lacking this evening, given the ungodly hour. I just had to make sure this bloggity blog stuff still works. So without further ado, here are the cards:
High Priestess ~
Queen of Pentacles ~
The Moon ~
They are all done in the same manner: gel transfers onto text, then layers of burned edge papers, burned edge transparencies, stitching and brass embellishments by Ashes2Beauty. The text is the significant factor. I tried to give some relevant meaning to the images and title of each card without reproducing the traditional interpretations. The pages were taken from a set of books entitled "The Light of Egypt". They were one of those obscure flea market finds you purchase and sock away for future use. The books are unusual and a bit cryptic, perfect for a tarot theme. The images are Rosetti women, some of my favorites. A bit more fun than the standard celestial-Mother Earth images typically associated with The Tarot.
Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving and great start to the holiday season !! My apologies to all my blog buddies and cherished followers for being so neglectful and absent. I hope to be back at it soon and sharing comments with you all !!
Ciao for now,
Shelly
Thursday, July 9, 2009
BANNER BLISS
It's been a long time coming, but finally . . . a new banner !! I am ecstatic over the results, thanks to the gifted and ever so wonderful Lori Bartel of Farm Girl Arts. Lori does fabulous digital work. Little snippets of paper, fabric, and vintage ephemera are subtely layered and compiled to create truly unique and beautiful collages. Give her blog a visit to view some of the ready made banners she has available or contact her for a custom made one. She is a jewel of a lady, makes heavenly handmade soaps and lovely mixed media pieces, too.
I also want to thank Kim Logan of ArT ALcHeMy for the wonderful gift of vintage ledger pages, bills of lading and especially the photo of the group of little girls which form the basis of the banner. Paper Mischief mascots. Kim has been very inspirational to me and if not for her words of encouragement, there would be no blog. Some time ago, she noticed one of my ATCs, commented and asked simply, "Do you have a blog?" At the time, the thought was incomprehesible to me. But eventually curiosity won out over hesitancy and a blogger I became. So glad I did. Although I do not post as often as I'd like, blogging has been a gift and I thank each and every one of you for stopping by, commenting, following and sharing your talents with me.
Hope your summer is well underway and that you are enjoying time with your loved ones and your art.
Ciao for now,
Shelly
I also want to thank Kim Logan of ArT ALcHeMy for the wonderful gift of vintage ledger pages, bills of lading and especially the photo of the group of little girls which form the basis of the banner. Paper Mischief mascots. Kim has been very inspirational to me and if not for her words of encouragement, there would be no blog. Some time ago, she noticed one of my ATCs, commented and asked simply, "Do you have a blog?" At the time, the thought was incomprehesible to me. But eventually curiosity won out over hesitancy and a blogger I became. So glad I did. Although I do not post as often as I'd like, blogging has been a gift and I thank each and every one of you for stopping by, commenting, following and sharing your talents with me.
Hope your summer is well underway and that you are enjoying time with your loved ones and your art.
Ciao for now,
Shelly
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
ALL POINTS BULLETIN
Recently, I had the pleasure of meeting a very talented and vivacious jewelry artist while in Asilomar attending Nina Bagley's jewelry and bookmaking class. Riki Schumacher fashions beautifully crafted, handmade, mixed media pieces . . . "wearable relics" as she calls it. Lovely, lovely vintage pieces with that highly detailed, ethereal quality that we all adore. Her work is so unique and breathtaking that I found it hard not to hover and gawk at her workstation in class !!
She and her family were in route from California to their summer home in Washington last week when their truck was broken into overnight at a hotel. All their belongings and her handmade jewelry were stolen. Countless hours and months of work gone in a matter of seconds. It made me ill to read her message and I cannot imagine how devastated she must feel.
So I write this post and ask all of you out there in blogland to please, please, please, spend a few moments visiting her blog, website and Flickr to familiarize yourself with her work. This is a small world and it is entirely possible that her pieces may show up at craft fairs, flea markets, pawn shops, eBay, . . . hell, even Etsy. You never know. Please be on the lookout and if you see anything that looks like it may be hers, drop her a line on her blog. It would be wonderful if she were reunited with any of her belongings.
Here are the links, and again, thanks for taking a look.
Blog: http://rikijewelry.blogspot.com/
Website: http://rikijewelry.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25817563@N07/
Ciao for now.
Shelly
She and her family were in route from California to their summer home in Washington last week when their truck was broken into overnight at a hotel. All their belongings and her handmade jewelry were stolen. Countless hours and months of work gone in a matter of seconds. It made me ill to read her message and I cannot imagine how devastated she must feel.
So I write this post and ask all of you out there in blogland to please, please, please, spend a few moments visiting her blog, website and Flickr to familiarize yourself with her work. This is a small world and it is entirely possible that her pieces may show up at craft fairs, flea markets, pawn shops, eBay, . . . hell, even Etsy. You never know. Please be on the lookout and if you see anything that looks like it may be hers, drop her a line on her blog. It would be wonderful if she were reunited with any of her belongings.
Here are the links, and again, thanks for taking a look.
Blog: http://rikijewelry.blogspot.com/
Website: http://rikijewelry.com/
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25817563@N07/
Ciao for now.
Shelly
Sunday, June 14, 2009
ART BUDDY
What to do ? What to do? My quest was to alter this little guy as part of the First Annual Art Buddies Invitational hosted by the energetic and talented Dayna Collins of Alley Art Studios. I was stumped for a while. The little guy is great fun to play with. His joints are articulated so that he is as flexible as a yogi. My first inclination was to paint him, but, nahhhhh, to predictable. Then beeswax, of course, crossed my mind. Nope. That would freeze up his movement. And he is such a pretty color wood. So why not leave that to shine through in some manner?
The decision was made to give him some tatoos !!! Transfers would have been impossible. And simply collaging elements onto his surface would have taken an eternity. Rub-ons were just the answer. 7 gypsies makes the coolest sets and the images and patterns just lent themselves to the idea of body art for the art buddy. The rub-ons went on perfectly. Now he sits on the edge of a collaged canvas with the words "Just Start" scribbled at the top as a reminder to myself not to overthink this stuff. Jump in and begin. It doesn't have to be perfect. Creativity comes in bouts, some more productive than others. But it is all a process and all in the name of fun. A good reminder from a little guy.
Ciao for now.
Shelly
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
TALES OF WAX
Finally. After waiting soooo patiently for the past five months (and patiently waiting is not my strong point), I . . . got . . . to . . . play . . . with . . . encaustics !!! My love affair with encaustic began when I happened across the work of two immensely talented artists: Sandy O'Brien and Bridgette Guerzon Mills. These ladies have vision and an eye for aesthetics like you wouldn't believe. The kind of art that reaches your soul and leaves you breathless.
And so I decided that I had to try it for myself. This would not be something I'd be content just to collect. The textures of wax are too enticing. The colors and depth, too tempting. I had to experience encaustic firsthand. Ordinarily, I'd jump in head first with an instructional book or two and a manic shopping stint through Dick Blick or some other on-line supplier. But after talking with Bridgette and the very gifted Judy Wise, it was clear that my best course of action would be to wait and take a workshop in encaustic. Very important to learn proper ventilation procedures and the properties of the wax. Didn't want to develop any bad habits either.
Thus, in mid May, I set out for the hill country of Boerne, Texas to attend an R&F Handmade Paints encaustic workshop taught by Gina Adams. Without doubt, it was one of the most enjoyable of my little artistic excursions. There were eight of us in the class, all from varied backgrounds. Gina is the kind of instructor you hope for. Warm, open, wonderfully humorous. Her laid back style greatly enhances the classroom experience. Her art is uniquely hers, deeply symbolic and imbued with personal significance. Take a look at her site here and prepared to be wowed.
I cannot even begin to tell you how these pieces were constructed. There are so many techniques and tools used in encaustics and I am but a wee beginner. Laying down the wax smoothly is extremely difficult. Good thing I like rawness, and edges, and brushstrokes because my first pieces are chock full of missed spots, overly scraped areas and heavy handed inscribing. But I loved the process, the gorgeous array of colors and the way the wax melds into each successive layer and leaves you to excavate, scrape and inscribe. The spell has been cast and I'll go back for more.
Ciao for now.
Shelly
P.S. Captions with titles and dimensions for each piece can been seen on my Flickr photostream. I got totally frustrated trying to center the captions under each picture. Blogger would not cooperate tonight.
And so I decided that I had to try it for myself. This would not be something I'd be content just to collect. The textures of wax are too enticing. The colors and depth, too tempting. I had to experience encaustic firsthand. Ordinarily, I'd jump in head first with an instructional book or two and a manic shopping stint through Dick Blick or some other on-line supplier. But after talking with Bridgette and the very gifted Judy Wise, it was clear that my best course of action would be to wait and take a workshop in encaustic. Very important to learn proper ventilation procedures and the properties of the wax. Didn't want to develop any bad habits either.
Thus, in mid May, I set out for the hill country of Boerne, Texas to attend an R&F Handmade Paints encaustic workshop taught by Gina Adams. Without doubt, it was one of the most enjoyable of my little artistic excursions. There were eight of us in the class, all from varied backgrounds. Gina is the kind of instructor you hope for. Warm, open, wonderfully humorous. Her laid back style greatly enhances the classroom experience. Her art is uniquely hers, deeply symbolic and imbued with personal significance. Take a look at her site here and prepared to be wowed.
I cannot even begin to tell you how these pieces were constructed. There are so many techniques and tools used in encaustics and I am but a wee beginner. Laying down the wax smoothly is extremely difficult. Good thing I like rawness, and edges, and brushstrokes because my first pieces are chock full of missed spots, overly scraped areas and heavy handed inscribing. But I loved the process, the gorgeous array of colors and the way the wax melds into each successive layer and leaves you to excavate, scrape and inscribe. The spell has been cast and I'll go back for more.
Ciao for now.
Shelly
P.S. Captions with titles and dimensions for each piece can been seen on my Flickr photostream. I got totally frustrated trying to center the captions under each picture. Blogger would not cooperate tonight.
BELATED THANKS
Woefully remiss on this front, folks. Kate and Diana recently each shared a couple of blog awards with me and I am very tardy with posting a mention. So many, many thanks to you both for your lovely thoughts and continued support. Your art and friendship brings me great joy. As for passing it on, any one listed on my sidebar is welcome to post the badge to their blog, too !!
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