Creativity Evolving...changes coming!

Tree spiral by Sylvain Meyer

You will notice a small, yet wonderful change coming soon to this blog. As some of you may or may not know already, I maintain and write three blogs and a website along with keeping myself busy utilizing other sources of social media and networking like Facebook, Twitter, and my MeetUp group (Let Nature Be Your Muse)--just a few of the sites I touch base with on a daily basis in order to maintain an online presence for the work I love to do.

But trying to juggle fresh posts, articles, my art, my precious almost-5-year-old-on-summer-break, workshops and the like,I found myself muddled down in a slow-spiraling whirlpool of transition. I have been wanting to streamline my efforts for a more focused presence. I want to create more time for keeping up with and pursuing important creative goals I've set for myself. In order to do this more productively, it's time I've combined my efforts and said good-bye to certain "hats."

Taking this step has been difficult for me. It was energy and time tempered with fear and insecurity-based procrastination. I kept feeling like I wasn't handling things or failing at my work. I took a long nap in limbo and overwhelm. But after about ohhhhh, say nearly a YEAR of letting this paralyze me from taking the leap, I'm ready. Let's face it, I get annoyed with inaction and now opportunities are presenting themselves.

Turns out it's not such a huge leap so much as a little hop now.

That's where the exciting news comes in to play! I will be breathing life into the Mouse House ART blog by integrating all of those wonderful creativity exercises and insights inspired by nature that I share on my sister blog. I will eventually be phasing out that blog altogether. I find it quite appropriate to sprinkle in those resources here because these are ideas and expressions that inspire me and turn up in my own work that I share here already--and will continue to do so.

I will continue to keep things personal, definitely continue to share my art, along with creativity exercises to get each of our creative juices flowing. You'll also get a variety of prompts to add to your creative stash plus updates on my upcoming workshops along with the goodies that participants create--which is always fun! My goal is to make Mouse House ART more valuable to you as a creativity resource, with more interaction through these changes.

So...I hope you will embrace this change with me and enjoy what I share with you, and hopefully we will get to know each other a little better too :)

Now print out this long *ss post and create a black out poem!

Paranormal Inspiration

I found these great velum tags in the $1 bin at JoAnn's Fabric & Craft store and liked them, so I bought them. At first I thought I'd use them as price tags, but soon did not like that idea. I thought they would make a neat addition to something else. But what it was, I wasn't sure. I liked the idea of painting an image on the backside to create a velum film, or placing it over images for a neat affect. 

Fast forward to an evening catching up with my favorite ghost hunting and paranormal shows. Inspired by the shows I decided to experiment with using the tags as a window. I didn't want to pull out all the paints, so I grabbed my Micron ink pens to see if I could get something ghostly and distorted, something creepy to emerge in the spirit of the paranormal. This is what I ended up with:

I kinda like it, I wish I could do creepier but I like how it came out. I drew directly onto one velum tag, turned it over, then placed a second velum tag over that, bending the first tag (the one with the drawing underneath) just slightly to give a little space in between the two tags to blurr out the image to the degree I wanted. I wanted her fingertips to be against the window, so I enhanced them a little on the top tag, to match up with the hand underneath. I added the wire to hold them together and in place, but also to add a chaotic trapped feeling, I like how the wire shows through a tiny bit from the other side too. 

Here's the backside:

Backside.

Front, with a little backlight.

Junk Drawer Art

This past weekend I was treated to a fantastic 2-day workshop called Junk Drawer Metalsmithing, taught by artist Stephanie Lee. It was a great experience to indulge in such creative play in the pines at the beautiful Idyllwild Arts Academy campus. I learned plenty of new techniques I've never tried before and instantly became hooked on more than a couple! I only wish the class was more than two days...

One of my favorite little pieces I made beginning with a brass

plate I cut & prepped then flooded with solder, followed by a

simple stamp while still molten. Eyelets added for a more finished

look.

The class was actually for creating jewelry, but I (along with a few other participants) had other applications in mind as well--like found art assemblage ;) The etching and solder-stamping techniques I learned will definitely show up in future art pieces of mine. I REALLY need to practice some of the other techniques she taught (like flooding solder for bevels, to hold resin pieces), but either way I will be exploring and tweaking metal, junk and resin in a whole new way for a while as I came home completely inspired to try several ideas, and to continue creating with the tricks Stephanie shared with us!

Below are a couple of pictures showing our starting materials (along with rubber stampls, etchant, patina solution, a mini-torch, soldering, hammering/filing and resin) and the little pieces I created. The junk-drawer items I ended up using were a small toy dinosaur (skeleton), a piece of ball chain, a glass pebble, an art coin, and a Sharpie:

Our starting metals and scrubbies for burnishing. The second

image shows my cut and shaped pieces along with my first

attempt at creating a piece for casting resin (I also patina'd).

The little dino-skull was made from creating a mold in Sculpey

clay & dripping solder into it, then removing.

My first piece with patina & now a resin pour,

the clay is there to protect my seam.

My haul! This is what I was able to complete during the two days. Half will end

up as jewelry pieces--particularly that etched rabbit! The rest will find homes

in assemblages. (Click photo to enlarge for better details)

A Little Creative Flight

Recently I experimented with adding feathers to my pieces. I have added little found feathers every now and then, as an added detail to a piece or in a journal, but I had yet to use feathers as a focal point for a piece. That all changed one late night while I was cruising around on Etsy. I ended up buying some beautiful creamy white goose feathers I had come across that would be perfect for a mandala/found art piece (I am still working on that one). To me, they were the perfect addition that really gave this part of the piece a nice, dramatic statement. 



My first three pairs.

Since then, more feathers have been dropping into my life. I take these things as a sign. Feathers are full of symbolic meaning and I have a few interpretations of my own :) Then one day recently, a fellow creative asked if I'd be interested in making some feather jewelry. I've never done that before, I thought. Sure, I'll give it a try (with all of these feathers coming into my life, it seemed the appropriate thing to take creative flight with). My friend was looking for a dramatic look. These were for an upcoming website that will sell unique, edgy items and art. Sounded right up my alley...although I've never thought of myself as "edgy." But that's exactly what intrigued me. I like edgy. I'm not edgy. I want my art to be edgy. It just seems like my work doesn't come out "edgy." I thought, this could be my chance to dip my toes in an ocean of edgy. An opportunity to experiment with something outside the box for me. I started with three pairs of earrings, using some of the feathers she provided for me to play with--I kept her request of something dramatic in mind and ended up with the three pairs above, ranging from about 4" to 8" long.

After some encouraging feedback, my friend asked if I would be willing to go "edgier" with designs for just one super-dramatic-feather-earring. Sure! Then I thought how about making them an asymetrical set with a matching "studdish" earring that would still make it a pair? An edgy uni-set. She liked that and so I got to play around with more feathers and tap into my inner edgy-drama queen and came up with these three "uni-sets" and a couple of matching pairs (click for larger image):

 

"MOON DANCERS"

  





 

  

"WHITE KAMA SUTRA"

This was an artistic challenge that really tapped into something inside me. I feel like I opened a door somewhere, for something new and different in my creative direction. Maybe not necessarily in jewelry, but definitely through some new expanded expression. I feel like I'm about to embark on a new twist in my creative journey, deeper wells :)

Signs of Spring ATCs

I just participated in another online ATC swap (via CoachCreativeSpace), this swap's theme being Spring Celebration. The recipients have received my three ATC's (artist trading cards) so I can now share this latest batch :)

I was inspired by all the spring activity here in the desert, more specifically all the critter activity that signals spring has emerged here on the desert floor. At around the same time I came across a paint chip color named "Cottontail" which inspired the first card I made (second image) as cottontail and jackrabbit abound during this time of year with plenty of succulent plants to feed upon. Also, our desert tortoises come out of hibernation, a sure sign of spring in our household :) I wanted to celebrate these animals, they are three of my favorites. Hope you enjoy:

 

Brother Jackrabbit

Cottontail Maiden

Grandfather Tortoise

Squash Blossom Maiden

A couple of weekends ago I participated in my first art show as an artist. It was such a great experience for my first time out, and I was very happy to share it with two other artists from my meetup group. The event was wonderful, the site was incredibly inspiring--a treasure of a nature preserve as part of the Wildlands Conservancy. This first annual Art Celebration Benefit was a fundraiser for this fantastic organization. It offered a great chance to get public, face-to-face feedback on my art and to meet fellow creatives. As part of the fundraising efforts, each artist was requested to provide a piece for the event's auction. I donated Squash Blossom Maiden to the preserve in hopes to help them raise money toward their goal.

If you're in the Whitewater/Palm Springs area, you can go see this large piece and bid on it while donating to a great cause--the Whitewater Preserve and the Wildlands Conservancy. A place that has forever made its way into my heart. Below are the dimensions and description of the found items I used to create one of my favorite pieces, now up for auction :)

SQUASH BLOSSOM MAIDEN

72” x 27"

Made with found materials: locker door, metal panel, wooden hanger, can lids, seatbelt buckle, light bar, wall lamp plate, metal gages, other scrap metal pieces

Other materials: green acrylic wash, glass beads, stone beads, bone beads, copper wire, baling wire, duck feathers (Etsy), wooden spool (swapped material)

Moon Maiden

I’m in the process of creating 3 different “dolls.” One is a kachina, the other a Medicine Buddha (again, east meets west in our home!) and this one, Moon Maiden is the first to be completed. The inspiration for her was definitely the night sky during the last couple of full moon meetups with my Let Nature Be Your Muse group. I feel so peacefully at home sitting quietly under the silvery spell of a bright moon. I can (and have) spent hours gazing into the night sky. This is one way I wanted to celebrate this muse.

Moon Maiden is made from a 19th century organ key, painted a coppery purple and finished with hand drawn embellishments. Also a bone bead moon face, a can lid adorned with blue sequins (which I acquired from an artist’s recycle swap) and wrapped with glass beads, arms are bone and metal “twig” charm beads, and finally a raw quartz crystal point wire wrapped with glass beads.

Feminine

Undeniable
Luminous
Liberating


Moving
Omnipresent
Opalescent
Night

She is a Moon Maiden…