Photos From Labor Day Weekend Trip

Early morning sunrise  

More sunrise

Sunrise over wave breaking

The beach in full sunlight

View from a bluff of Prouts Neck

Close up of a breaking wave

Footprints

Me very happy to be at the ocean

Art Museums: Renewal for the Mind's Eye

When I think about renewal, I think of what I can do to give me energy and creative ideas.  In a perfect world, I would live near the beach and go for long walks and look for seashells and interesting stones.  I did that tirelessly as a child and it was an important part of my development as a person  and artist.   Now that I live quite far from the ocean, I have found other means of renewal.  I go to art museums and look at paintings, mostly paintings since the  1850's.  Living as I do, closer to Canadian cultural centers than ones in the US, I often go to the National Gallery in Ottawa or the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal.  Once you enter these great centers you meet the most wonderful Canadian artists, painters especially.  Would I have ever heard of the Canadian Group of Seven, otherwise ?

                                                     Tom Thompson  Autumn Leaves

 Would I have ever seen paintings by the incredible Mark Aurele Fortin?

And how do I turn renewal into art beads?   I find color combinations I had not thought of before 

and paintings of trees that I feast on with my eyes.

I have found that these renewal experiences began working their way into my art work.

 I began carving tree pendant molds

And most recently I made two new molds from carvings and pressed them into stoneware clay, fired them, stained them, fired them again and tumbled them smooth.

I have always liked the expression, "the eye sees before the mind knows."  It seems that leaves, flowers, plants and trees have become my seashells of renewal in adulthood.

Art Bead Scene August Challenge

At the beginning of the month, when ArtBeadScene posted this wonderful painting by Jack Savitski, I was immediately inspired to make a piece of jewelry.  My first thought and one I carried with me until it came time to actually make the piece was to use one of my toggle clasps, the one in the pic below.  The sun in this painting made me think of it.

What I like about this painting, and many primitive artists' work, is the way it makes my mind think in universals.  I felt the sphere of the earth and the many trials and joys of life when I looked at Jack Savitski's painting.  And I felt I could make a piece that reflected that sentiment.  But I wanted my piece to be happier than Jack's.  It sounds as if he had a very hard life, with little to look forward to.   He had his art and that must have been wonderful for him.  But....

I decided to use words in place of the people in his painting.  I chose words that I thought I would like to have represent my life.  I chose to focus on a life span as the time frame instead of a day. 

When it came time to put the bracelet together, I had sold the toggle clasp that was my original inspiration for the piece.  I had another one sort of similar but the colors were not quite right.   

Then I happened upon the one I ended up using and it was great for the color scheme that was developing. 

 I found those rust gold jump rings when I was at the Bead show in Montreal.  I just thought they might go well with copper.  And in the end they went super well with the copper, I think.

This is one of the few pieces I have ever made a drawing of before hand.  The words were helpful to refer back to as I made the stampings over a period of several weeks. 

Again, when it came time to put all these ideas together into a piece of jewelry, things did not happen as planned.   I found that my piece  was not a bracelet at all-- it was uncomfortable and the words were not really readable.  So a necklace was born.  I decided to name it Life Rise to refer back to the inspiration title, Sunrise.

I have really enjoyed the process of making and creating this necklace.  It has been exciting to feel so inspired.  Thank you ArtBeadScene.  And thank YOU for reading my post about it.

Montreal, Quebec

I attended the Canadian Oasis Bead Show in Montreal, Canada over the weekend.  I think that was a good excuse to return to one of our favorite summer cities.  I took a class with Manon of La Perlerie Atelier-Boutique Inc.  It was call Inuit Chic.  You can see a sample of the necklace on the the white display.   She was a great teacher--very friendly and charming as well.  It was fun to be in an environment of French speaking people.  Although she always translated for me. 

I was especially taken with the necklace she was wearing.  She tells me it is made from circular brick stitch.  Each circle took about 2 hours to make.  She tells that it is not for sale.  She likes to wear it to start conversations.  She was happy to agree to me taking her picture and writing about her class on my blog.

You can visit her shop via the web here.  She is located near Montreal in St. Eustache, Quebec. 

Circular Brick Stitch Necklace by my teacher Manon

Montreal is especially fun in the summer since there are so many delightful outdoor restaurants, cafes and bistros.  We spent a lovely evening eating outside in a bistro just a few steps from our hotel.  The evening was warm and the food delicious. 

This peaceful and beautiful bovine model is in the garden of the Museum of Fine Arts.  We had a wonderful visit there.  I filled up on Canadian Group of 7  paintings and an artist I had not heard of before, Marc-Aurele Fortin  1888-1970.  He does wonderful landscapes with clouds pushed into the foreground.

Marc-Aurele Fortin

Front of the Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal

It was a wonderful trip.  We hope to return in early fall to see the Otto Dix show at the Museum of Fine Arts.

New to My Etsy Shop

Ceramic Heart Pendant Art Deco Style

Some new work on my Etsy Shop

Hints of Fall colors-- oh No, not so soon.

Small Ceramic Toggle Clasp

Small Ceramic Toggle Clasp

Many Little Hearts

I made some of these for an order and then just kept going.

I love making them.

Book Review Stamped Metal Jewelry

I preordered Stamped Metal Jewelry from Interweave Press last March when I first heard that it was going to be published. I was familiar with Lisa Niven Kelly from her website, Beaducation so I was sure it was going to be good. I also wanted the book so I could have it on hand for my Stamped Metal Jewelry Class at the Thousand Islands Arts Center Class in July. I knew when I ordered it that the publication date was probably too late for the class and I was right. A few days after my class, it arrived in the mail. What a thrill. It is such a great book. Wonderful illustrations, great projects, crystal clear directions and wonderful tips from an artist who is very experienced in this craft. And to top it all off, the book comes with an instructional DVD. You can order this book from Amazon.com, from Beaducation and Interweave Press.  This is one you won't want to miss.

Work of students in my stamped metal jewelry class at the Thousand Islands Art Center, Clayton, New York a week ago.

New on My Website

Clover Pendant in shades of blue.

Here are several new pieces on my website.

I love those tall clover pendants and above is a pic of a new color combo for me.  Pretty wild.

 

A new toggle called Wild Harvest in Plum and Teal 

A unique pattern of leaves and color in this Wild Leaf Toggle in Purple and Pink

A vintage color style toggle in pinks and teal

And my first oval toggle clasp

Tiny charms and connectors

These are some little connectors and charms that I made from a cool set of mircro cutters that I got at Michaels a few weeks ago.

They will be great for my bead work and I am thinking of putting some onto a thin leather snap bracelet that I have.  I have also tried them out on some metal rings. I love the size and the potential for them.

I needed a boost today

I needed a boost today to fill the gap here now that my son has gone back to his home.  So I went to Flickr and uploaded some photos and then made a mosaic with them for a post card.  I used Mosaic Maker.  It is a great photo tool/toy and can be set up so that it grabs photos from your Flickr photo stream.

One of the best ways for me to cheer myself up is to get busy making.  So after catching up, a little, on the weeding in the veggie garden, I went to my studio and glazed and glazed and glazed.

With the help of my wonderful husband and 3 dips in the river, I was feeling better.  And I have lots of fun memories from the visit.

New on My Website

New on my website

I had fun with the colors on this pendant.  I was really  pleased that it came out so well.

And this twin flowers blooming tomato pendant is also now on my website.

Love that branch toggle bar from Bello Modo.

A new toggle for me.  Wild pasture grass.  I like the brown and light green and copper together.

My son is here for just a couple more days.  We had torrential rains and lighting like crazy yesterday.  And today it is back up in the 80's and even though the river is rising, it is still warm.  We are going to go out in our canoe soon and just gets some of that lazy summer river sunshine.

This was take before the rain.  Now the river is a luscious brown color. And looks sultry and summery.

Happy 4th of July

                                                    Lady Liberty  

Have a wonderful 4th of July--lots of sunshine, good company, good food and an enjoyment of our many freedoms. 

I am having a great 4th of July.  My oldest son is visiting for 10 days and we are doing lots of catching up, computer talk and enjoying our river by canoe and dock.
He is the designer of my website, my computer guru, online business innovator and loving friend.  I am so lucky.