Saturday, Paints and Colors

It's Saturday - I love this day! Not only because I get a slightly shorter work day, but also because I get Italian for dinner - love that pasta!

I indulged in some watercolor paints on Wednesday. Watercolor is a paint media that I've never really played with. I know a lot of visual journal-ists will use watercolors over their inks to bring their journal entries to life. I'm drawing more and using my carry-journals more, and I thought it might be fun to have a small watercolor kit to carry along (one more thing for overstuffed pockets or purses). But I've never used this media before, so I've been reading up on it. I did purchase a larger watercolor pad to go along with my practice pieces, so over the next week or so, I'll play a little bit and try to get a feel for a media that requires it's base to be wet before applying the color. It seems a bit backwards to me, but the effects that I can get through the transparency should be a lot of fun...or a lot of muddy brown.

And I was thrilled that my old article, "Bead Torture", was once again revived - this time on-line. I originally published the article in Beadwork magazine in 2000. Since then it has been republished in a later issue of that magazine once, and now they have reprinted it as an E article on Beading Daily. I'm amazed at the longevity this article has had, but if you want to get the free download, click on the link. It's only downloadable for the weekend.

Games People Play

I have never been much of a game player. Although I can play a very strategic and good board game (everything from Risk to Life), they generally bore me. My DH, on the other hand, really loves games. We have to thank computers for the breakthrough in gaming for both of us. Interactive on-line games have taken over and are the main recreational occupation for my DH and a secondary amusement for me. I don't have a lot of time or energy to devote to my on-line multi-player games (and I really would rather read, paint, bead, etc.), but I try to devote my Friday and Saturday nights and part of Sunday to play with him. It makes him happy and allows my own characters to continue to progress - important in a game where my girls always seem to be hanging at the median range. For instance, in the current Lord of the Rings Online that we are playing, the maximum a character can develop to is level 60. I have one player over 40, and two in the upper 30's. He had a character maxed out within the first week after the new release upped the level to 60.

Differences in approach. Each night I sit at my computer and read my Email, pet my SuperPoke Pet, and read fan fiction. These are enjoyable computer activities for me. My DH, on the other hand, opens his Email when I tell him to, hates to read on a computer screen, and has no other on-line interaction outside of a gaming format. Even in-game he will rarely play with other players, preferring instead to slog through things on his own no matter how many times he may get killed by monsters and baddies. It's a different perspective.

And now I have a project bug in my head for a very complex item that will require gearing. I really don't understand a lot about gearing. And this needs to be hydraulic - driven by a fountain motor. I'm not sure I'll be able to pull this one off, but I did spend my lunch yesterday sketching the basics out so that I could see it on paper instead of just in my head. Now we'll see if I can "Da Vinci" the components so that this will actually work. I think a couple of years from now if I look at my current line-up of projects pending and gaming obligations.

Progress!

Wednesdays, as always, was my Studio Day. I actually accomplished a lot during the day, even though I forgot the milk at the grocer and had to return there later in the day (sound of head hitting desk). I indulged in a visit to Barnes & Noble since I had a 15% off coupon that would have expired by the weekend. I picked up several new magazines and a wonderful instructional magazine on digital art - something that I really want to understand more about. One of these centuries I'll even have time to play with it - all I need...more time spent at the keyboard - LOL.

When I got home, I threw the first load of laundry into the washer and tackled my cloak. I had picked up snaps and hooks at the fabric store and I wanted to make sure that my shoulder darts (small folds of fabric that allow for a more tailored fit) were spaced where I needed them and matched from side to side. I was successful in getting them even and I will finish the basting and work on the final neckline. Then I can actually figure out the hood and get it cut from the good wool and satin. I was also looking for an appropriately colored ribbon for the leaves and stems of my ribbon embroidered roses, but since that is still in the future, I have time to get that nailed.

After load 2 was in the washer and load 1 was in the dryer, I indulged in a quick trip to Dick Blick Art Supply. Again, I had a coupon that would have expired and I've been wanting to try some watercoloring - a media that I've never used. I picked up a watercolor pad, a portable pocket-sized multicolored pallette, some brushes (because, after all, one can never have too many brushes), and they had a "spin the wheel for a possible free gift" wheel. I won a sketchpad - too kewl. I can always use another sketch pad. I was very happy and will play soon.

Then it was home to the kiln and I got a lot of enameling work done on my color strips. I am unwilling to enamel the 3-D flowers that I need for my project until I have finished my color samples and figured out exactly which colors I want for the flowers. Next week I apply the final color to the strips. I'm happy - I accomplished a LOT and had a wonderfully happy day. I hope you have an equally happy day today - you're one day closer to the weekend, so that's got to be good!

Favorites? - Carnival Blog

This month's Carnival Blog asks the question "What is your favorite technique?". Now, I do have to state up front that I am a completely unofficial member of the Carnival Blog. The Carnival Blog is a small group of jewelers and metal clay fabricators who answer a posed question once a month. It is an interesting group of creative people, and more importantly (for me) the questions are usually of interest.

I have a real problem deciding my favorite technique. It's probably the major reason that I have enamel and BronzClay on my workbench in-process, a painting project in my carryall, a cloak on my mannequin, an etching project to the left of my computer desk and a beading project to the right of my computer desk. The problem is that I love all of these items, and I also love metal fabrication which takes place at my workbench at the shop since I need the torch and the flex shaft (as well as other tools) for that. In the past I might have been considered a type of "Renaissance Man", but looking at myself I consider myself more of an undecided voter - LOL. I do see all of my artwork consolidating to two major platforms, the use of color and the use of light. I combine these two elements in my use of glass in glass beads and glass enamel. The use of enamel requires a metallic platform for the glass and some way to display the finished items - thus the benchwork metal fabrication in sheet as well as metal clays. My painting is a bit odd man out, but I use those techniques in my enamel work also. The cloak? Well, I will admit that the sewing is most certainly not part of my artwork. But it is something that I have done on-and-off for most of my life and I need a new cloak for this season's Renaissance Festival. I will never stop beading - I have done it for more than 40 years, am an accomplished and recognized artist in the media, and I enjoy it. But I don't pick my needle and thread up as often as I used to.

So what is my favorite technique? All of the above. Playing. These are all components of Sandi's sandbox and I'll sit there with my shovel and pail and a little water and build the most wonderfully colorful translucent sand castle you'll ever see :-) Give yourself permission to play today. Drop by the park, swing on a swing, play on the merry-go-round, or indulge by visiting a Carnival....a creative carnival.

Musings

Today as I awakened, I had been dreaming of standing in the center of a night-time garden, looking at a vault of luminescent stars above while the scents of flowers surrounded me. I didn't want to wake up. I wanted to turn 'round and 'round, getting dizzy with the awe of the beauty of the night sky. It is a sight that I have only seen a few times in my life. Where humans go, light follows, and light is the enemy of the nighttime sky. Without a doubt there is something wonderful about cresting a hill and looking upon a sea of colorful lights below where the city lies. The nightime views of Los Angeles that have been imprinted on generations of movie and television viewers are wonderful - the gridlines of white and red lights that appear on the freeways, the pools of vertical lights where the skyscrapers thrust high. I grew up with a similar vision when we would pull away from the western Rocky Mountains to enter the Denver area. It always took my breath away. But man has nothing on the stars.

So, in this time when Stephen Hawking is seriously ill, I will celebrate the stars. I am always amazed that there are so many of them. Millions, billions, trillions, and more. And how often can we really see them in all of their glory? So rarely that we have shut ourselves off from them and forgotten their glory. We have hidden away from the night in fear and have tinged it with the touch of evil. It is not the night that is dangerous and filled with evil. It is that we are creatures of the light. I adore the light and need the sun to be happy. But I forgot that the night also has its' charms - that I can look up and see the most tremendous lights of creation above me in wide swaths across the sky. I hope that someday, before I die and go to dance with the stars myself, that I can find at least one time when I am in a locale without light pollution and with a cloudless sky where I can just lay back and immerse myself in their song. Can you hear it?....

Color My World

While my BFF digs out from the snows in Denver, I had the opportunity to spend hours wandering the aisles at the American Craft Council show on Sunday. The show opened at 10am and we were there shortly after opening. I had a $1 off admission coupon that I used for my DH's admission, and I decided to join ACC (after many years of vascilating) so my admission was free. We wandered down the stairs and dove into beauty. What a wonderful time. The jewelry was wonderful, I ran into several friends who had booths (Shoshanna, Noel and Kate) and looked at absolutely everything. Although there was some jewelry that I wanted, I actually ended up with a wonderful large handbag/laptop bag/briefcase from Greg Roche. I had been looking at this for several years and he offered me a deal on it - more than $70 off. I couldn't resist and handed him my debit card.

I actually saw the handbag fairly early on, looked at it (and alternatives) very carefully, and continued to walk the show. We watched demonstrations on wood turning, talked with friends, had coffee, and tried to re-find a couple of jewelers that we wanted to look at more carefully. Then, since I was still thinking about the handbag, we went back, evaluated once more, and I went ahead and purchased it. I had thought about purchasing this particular bag for more than two years. When something rests on my brain that long - I probably should just dive in and buy it. I am not regretting this purchase at all - Greg makes outstanding items and backs them 100%. I love supporting someone who truly loves his work.

As we wander into another work week, I hope that you also love your work and allow that love to come through in the finished product and in your interactions with others. Today I also will turn my thoughts to my friends in Denver and Littleton on the 10th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre (victims pictured above). Mitakuye oyasin.