Cardinal Directions

As mentioned before I'm participating (in a small way) in the Project Spectrum Challenge on Flickr. The theme this year is the Cardinal Directions...

Thus far I've completed three (yay! ahead of schedual!)

To make it more fun for myself I'm using found objects as the base of the little totems. Stone, wood and metal were pretty easy to find, now I will need to find a chunk of glass that will work. I guess I will have to go back to the shore for seaglass, I doubt I can wrap a piece of sharp glass without injuring myself.

NORTH (March/April)

Color: Green

Material: Stones/Gems/Rocks

Season: Winter

Element: Earth

EAST(May/June)

Color: Yellow

Material: Wood

Season: Spring

Element: Air

SOUTH (July/August)

Color: Red

Material: Metal

Season: Summer

Element: Fire

Still to come

WEST (September/October)

Color: Blue

Material: Glass

Season: Autumn

Element: Water

Packing Orders

Hooray! I finally get to use my new stamp!

I've known for some time that putting some sort of design ID on my card sets was a good idea. Easier said than done though, even before my home printer crapped out I had a hard time printing onto card blanks without it coming out weird (tilted).

I finally got my act together and bought myself a stamp with my shop logo and info on it and now I have an order to try it out on so between that and the dojo I'm done for the night.

Attic Encounters

I spent another free day enmeshed in yard sale sorting and/or avoiding yard sale sorting. In the process I found a few old friends...

Some textiles bought in Africa for me by a friend from work who was born and emigrated from Guinea Bisai

A print I designed back in the 80s

A completly outrageous sequined top

I allow myself to save some old things not too many but a few much loved bits and pieces. Its always pleasant to reencounter them.

End of June

We have seen a bit of sun today! Now thundery weather is rolling through ...

Once again I find myself wandering in the garden for a recharge.

Tickseed

not much of this in the gardens this year, well there are plants but only a few are doing any blooming. I have an idea that this is one of those plants that don't recharge the way other perennials do they wear themselves out blooming and then come back with very few blooms.

Catalpa

This tree is a volunteer and I'm not sure if I want it or not. I like the graceful shape of the tree and the flowers are very pretty (like orchids or iris in shape)

however in the fall the leaves (which are large) turn toxic black and drop like dead bodies all over the lawn, plus I think the mature trees drop weird foot long bean-like pods too... I remain undecided about it in the meantime it is growing fast.

The Monty Python Rose

no idea what the real name of this rose is but it has earned its name from us and so it shall remain. It has begun its show of blossoms again.

The flowers seem to be zooming through their bloom times this year,I expect thats because we have been having unusually cool weather tis summer so it still seeems like we should be seeing early season flowers.

Taking Her Ease

The puppy went to the groomers today for the first time in a long time (we deemed her too weak for the excitement for the last few months). Now she is worn out and sleepy , I am feeling a bit worn out myself, this has been one of those "mentally taxing " weeks for me so tonight I plan to take my ease along with her... provided there are no thunderstorms in which case all bets are off!

Starting South

North is lookin a little blurry here!

Still trying to get the sorting done for the yard sale, it isn't leaving much time for anything else.

Hopefully I will be done this weekend!

Just a bit of beading before I'm off to the attic...

Turning East

Start of the second piece for the Project Spectrum challenge (I'm playing catch up)

Dark Droplets

Many days of drippy, damp weather, the moments of sunlight are to be treasured...

Droplets seem to condensed the light in the atmosphere into vivid points glittering on deep purple leaves.

The rose has bloomed softly radiating warmth in the dim light.

A sly welcome to summer

Starting North

The beginning of 4 directions for this years Project Spectrum.

Anniversary

I chose wisely.

Completed Sea Urchin

I'm still deciding what I think about this...

there is no doubt in my mind that I love certain aspects of it...

I think,

perhaps,

I have an idea of where I would like to take the concept further.

For the moment I will hang it up and consider while I work on other things...

I like the details more than the united whole and that is where it may change...

Avoiding

I SHOULD be in the attic tonight, sorting out old possessions and dealing with all of the emotional residue attached to them (which is why they are in the attic in the first place)

but I'm not...

sadly because I'm avoiding the task I'm also not doing anything productive either...

well OK I made apple crisp, and ate WAY too much of it. Does that count?

Maybe tomorrow will be a little better.

Urchin Beads

Still working on the Sea Urchin inspired piece. This is the last of the beading.

I chose the clear beads so I could focus on the form/texture rather than color. I think it might be interesting to try something else with emphasis on color but for this piece I wanted simple. I have a tendency to try to stuff 85 ideas into a single piece of work so this time I thought I would make an effort to NOT do that.

The heat set forms draw the attention in and as you get closer the smaller bead shapes become visible. It is tactile and sculptural but subdued... I think I like it.

Urchin Continued

Still playing catchup after this weekend, and its unlikely to get much better as the week goes on since there is a yard sale to prepare for looming in the not too distant future that I signed up for in a fit of lunacy...

But I am still mincing away on beading the Sea Urchin Experiment...

and I like this solution as a way to attach the gathered piece to the backing. This is more in the spirit of the urchin's textures than a representation of it which is cool with me. I don't feel any particular need to accurately reproduce the urchin (as if it would be possible) its already perfect... but I am enjoying using it as an inspiration or jumping off point and seeing where it takes me.

Green Walls

Here is the project that ate the weekend...

Brand new green walls in our bedroom.

I didn't even have to do the painting (L did) but somehow it threw the entire house into a state of discombobulation that discouraged me from being very creative...

However it was so worth it!

The feng shui in that room is tremendous now. Everything is clean and sorted and ever so spiffy. I reduced my wardrobe by a quarter, all that stuff I never wear is gone. Its all dust free and vacuumed. I think I will sit down and stitch for a few minutes now.

Light Touched

It was nice to see the sun today....

The garden welcomed it and so did I

Bejeweled

Busy prepping the bedroom for painting tonight, but I did find some time to think about adding beads to the urchin pieces

Early June Garden

Today's work is kinda the same as yesterday's so here are some garden pics...

Can you believe this hosta has flown on a plane? I brought it back from Wisconsin after a visit to my dad's. Its a powerhouse too, maybe I should get more plants from WI

Clematis, NOT the one I planted with the rose (which shows NO sign of ever appearing) this one used to be planted with the Monty Python Rose but never did well there as it was too dry, I moved it and I think it is much happier in its new location

Yellow Flags, these were dug out of a friend's compost heap where they had seeded themselves. I got a bunch of them that day, they too are survivors, growing in some tough areas in my yard.

Iris (store bought) not sure what kind these are, but I put in quite a few last fall, I swear to god they have had shoots up out of the ground since February, getting beat up by frost and cold. I wasn't sure how they would do after all of that (I told them to go back in and sleep a little longer but they didn't listen)

They are definitely fluffing up the Bird Garden where not much is blooming, except THIS....

My peonies! I have three plants (mail order dry root) which have suffered a few indignities (besides being mail order dry root) since I got them. They have been eaten by deer, brutally transplanted, and rather starved for moisture their first year. They seem to like the new location (moister and less deer prone) So much so they have put out four blossoms!

Tacking

I've started tacking the sea urchin samples to a flat background. The one that I thought would be the easiest to work with is proving to be the most difficult to attach without squishing the 3-d out of it.

Results Are In

Well here is what came of it all

this:

became this:

and this:

became this:

and finally, this:

became this:

Of course none of these really approach the complexity of the real sea urchin, however I like the results and I have a few ideas of what I want to try next...

Sea Urchin

I am fascinated with the patterns and textures on the surface of this:

so I tied up a couple of experiments based on the form...

I will find out tomorrow what I have captured