Inspiration and influences

Number 2 in my  series  on inspiration and influences. From time to time , as I had stated in a past  post   I want to feature artist that I am inspired by and as before  if you feel I have overstepped my boundaries let me know . I just want to say very few of us have an original thought yet in that  all of us are original !! Life, nature, society  are all  influences. This is good and unavoidable if you are a visual person. This post is dedicated to the the artist Elizabeth Frank ( her esty). I first saw  her work at Sequoia, a  unique gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico . I lusted after this Angel  for 6 months and then I took the plunge and had to have it which meant a special order from her as the piece I had original saw  was long gone . . . 3   years later when  working on some pieces to teach at Hacienda de  Mosaico  I  put my influence to work along with my other techniques to create my pieces called "Someone  to Watch Over Me". Here we go....

Elizabeth Frank's work

My Angels 

Tunnel Vision

What do  you see??? I took this shot on a recent road trip .  I thought it was very thought provoking .  I would love to hear your  thoughts???

Somtimes you have to risk everything for art !!

 Lately I have been giving a lot of thought to my art direction and asking a lot of questions. It has left me rather confused and without motivation, as I question what I am doing,  what are  my goals, am I enjoying it, do I have what it takes to make it and what is making it , am I using  my talents  to the best of my ability . And the  biggest of all... how do I do this and try to deal ( yes I will say it) with my  bipolar  mood swings. Moods  that can sometime bring me to my knees with deep depressions, severe  social anxieties and then the hoping and waiting for that manic high when one can succeed at everything one dreams of!!!!   Well, this morning  I woke up and went to my  list of blogs I follow and  Angela Racada had posted this moving  UTube short ,it just touched me deeply . I have to share it too. Thanks Angela . 

And the winner is ......

Cranial Purge!!  Thanks to  all who joined in the  fun and  visiting my site and reading  my ramblings !!!  Here also  are the pictures of my little garden ( always a work in progress) but the little tiny pond is up and working !!!You can hardy see it because I love to garden and  clutter the garden with plants and rocks  In a few years you will not even see the rocks as  "hopefully" they  will be covered with the mature crawling type plants a scattered aournd  the rocks. I have posted the last water feature I did in the graden of  our last house we moved from last aug 2009 . It was on  much bigger scale, but I loved it!!! The birds did  too and the dogs and the cats .In this  new one  I created a small little rock steeping stone for the birds  to land on as  they can  fall into the water  and drown , did you know that ?? Well  enjoy!! hugs Julie  ----and for those how did  not win the spoon  I hope you can make one !! And I will keep the kit up for a bit longer  and the post will asawys be in  my old post for review . Oh and I can  make one for anyone who wants to order one . But I am as slow as a rock.

Before May 2010

After , Aug 2010

After , Aug 2010

 Aug 2010 The tiny new pond . It is deep and can keep fish all, year !!! But of course we will keep a heater in it for the birds and fish!!

Old garden, 2008

Old Garden ,2008  I have to say I miss this garden the most about the old house .but hopefully the  little  new one will look like this on a small scale in a few years too and a lot   less work !!! I hope to plant lots  of bulbs  this fall.

200th post!!! A Big thanks to all who stop by!!

A Spoon Full of Stars 

It's my 200th post and in honor of that I am doing a free little tutorial called "A Spoon Full of Stars "  . With this post I will also  be giving the finished piece away, picking randomly from those who   leave a   comment . If you feel like making this whimsical little piece but want to make it easier I am also  selling kits  ( see the side panel ) . But most of you may have  the  supplies for this piece  hanging  around  your studio and in this case maybe your kitchen. Hey!!!all of us  know we have far more "stuff" then most of us will ever use in our creative life time!!!  So here we go !!
Materials Needed.
1=wooden spoon and wooden knob
2=19 gauge  annealed steel wire ( ace hardware -it is bascialy a blackened  wire that is heated /annealed  so it bends easily)
3=silver and gold paint
4= 3 colors  of glass glitter, gold, clear and silver
5 =Paper Clay
6=white glue optional Mod Podge
7=drill and small bit
8=Paint brush
9=Exacto knife and pencil
10= Lettering stamps black ink and charcoal
11=sand paper med. grit
12=clay roller
13= paper for making templates and scissors
14= needle nose pliers and wire cutter 

Step 1= Roll out Paper Clay to about 3/8 " thick( I use a piece of plastic plumbing pipe cut to size). 

 Draw 3 different stars sizes  on paper and cut out for templates  . Place  you star templates on the paper clay and cut them out cookie cuter style with an exacto knife. Set them aside to dry . Paper Clay is an air dry clay and so it does not need to bake  in the oven  but you can  speed up the drying time by heating   in the oven at around 225 degrees .

                              
Step 2= Roll out another sheet of Paper Clay  about 1/2 " thick and then make a banner shaped template from paper . In the same way you cut the stars out,  cut  you banner shape  out too. I  then bowed it and set it under pencils to dry.

Step 3= When the Paper Clay stars and banner are dry, sand then and then paint  the spoon and the stars . I painted  some  stars gold some silver and left several white .I  glued a fun wooden craft store knob on the end of the spoon  and painted it with  silver and  2 types of gold paint.

Step 4= Drill  2 tiny holes through  the  edge  of the  banner and 2 holes through the spoon . These will be for the 19 gauge wire hanger so you will need to  use a dill bit big enough for the wire  to pass thorough. Make sure the holes on the banner line up on the holes on the spoon.

Step 5= I took the sanded Paper Clay banner and rubbed charcoal on the edges and smeared it with my finger . I then took lettering stamps ,black ink and stamped the words " A Spoon Full " on the bare Paper Clay. If you make a mistake simply sand it off and start over . You can also cut the letters out of paper and glue them on to the paper clay or hand write them onto the Paper Clay.  When this was done I sealed it with matt  spray fixative . You can use regular hair spray if you do not have spray fixative .

Step 6= Using matt Mod Podge as glue I added 3 colors of glass glitter to the stars and spoon . I used clear , gold and silver glass Glitter. If you do not have Mod Podge you can use watered down white glue . I like Ultimate  Glue .

Step 7= Now it is time to take  the 19 gauge annealed steel wire and  wrap it around a pencil, making a curl for the wire hanger . Insert the ends into the holes you drilled in the spoon. 

Step 8= Run the end of the wires thorough the holes you drilled in the banner and with a pair of  needle nose pliers  add curly cues to the ends . Snip any excess wire off with wire cutters. 

Step 9 = Drill two more holes . One through the spoon bowl and one into the edge of one of your larger stars. Wrap  a  short piece of wire  around a pencil again making a curl and insert one end  of the wire  into the star  adding  bit of glue . When the wire in the star is dry, make a little hook with the other wire  end and  insert it into the spoon bowl so that it  creates a hanging star.

Step 10= Now just glue your stars in the spoon and add a ribbon to the knob . I then   glued some german gold dresden paper to the spoon handle . When all is dry you can hang your finished  piece.

Now once again if you feel like making this little bit of whimsy yet do not want to gather all the stuff . You may  buy one of my pre made kits!!! They come with everything pictured plus written instructions.

1-spoon and glued on knob , pre drilled

2= pre-made paper clay stars( one with drilled hole)  and  one drilled pre-made paper clay banner.

3= 3 bags of glass glitter- gold ,clear and silver 

4= ribbon and german dresden paper

5=Ribbon and wire 

6 = gold and silver "Golden" brand cups of paint.

You will need the following supplies with this kit..........

1= white glue and optional mod Podge

2= needle nose pliers and wire cutters

3= paint brush ,pencil for twirling wire

4= Charcoal , lettering stamps  and ink pad or just cut your words out of old books 

and glue on to the banner .

Kit is $25 and includes  shipping . There  is a Pay Pal, " Buy it Now" button on the right side panel if your wish to purchase a kit. Thanks and hugs, Julie 

An evening at the Thompson's

 Our little Scooty is addicted to TV. Favorites are of course "The dog whisper" any add with dogs and any show with animals. . Then  of course animation !! The Chipmunks movie was a huge success. . When the tv is off and we are just enjoying the quiet  he will run over to the blank  tv and jump up and whine. Well here is a photo documentation of a TV evening with Scooty. Is this normal or is he just a product of the new generation of dogs? Of course there  had to be the quik  break to sniff Peanuts butt and then Peanut had to get her 2 bits in !

15 minutes later

yet even later .....

and then later agian ( horses )

And even  later !!!His attention spand goes all night long!!

a break for some play time with best buddy Peanut !!

 

 and love from Pappa for "Daddy's little boy"

Wheee can we go to bed I am exhasted !!!

Ice cream tasting spoons and progress

 The answer  to last post question... Ice cream tasting  spoons over a hundred years old !!! So------
 I thought I would show some progress pictures of spring  and summer projects .In our spare time we have both been working to add  personal touches to our place to make it  more "home" . This spring I tackled the first phase of the  tiny yard  it is coming along I only lost a few plants . Next up is the small pond with a  fountain.  Cal has to dig the hole. Hopefully this weekend !! I can hardy wait to add fish .Scooty will get a kick out of them!

May 2010

Aug 2010