Technical Difficulties

This was a week of technical difficulties! Especially on my September BJP piece! After I learned my lesson with markers, I painted another base to start over.

Then I decided to learn from my new "Beading with Cabachons" book. It seemed to work ok, but kinda felt loose to me. So I ended up going thru' each row alot of times!

Then September 11th came and I had to do something. So I added 2 large beads to represent the Twin Towers. But I wanted all the families to be covered in healing blue energy. So I tried to do some netting over it. A new stitch and ALOT of do-overs & pulling out beads & threads.

After this, I was getting nervous. I'm really new to this improvisational thing, but having so many mistakes on one piece was frustrating me. So I decided to get out some big size 6 beads & make a path thru' it all. That was after I did one of those poems Robin talks about in her book! That seems to help me go on to the next step. So here's where I'm at now.

I'm really hoping this turns out ok...especially after this rough start. One day at a time we all move on!
With aloha!

Remember September

So it was September again. This year I read about the Remember September mail art project & at the last minute decided to send one in. I sketched the NY skyline on red mulberry paper & tore out the outline of the Twin Towers. I remember being there years ago. I added some words to the families & friends who lost someone, and here it is ready to be mailed on 9/11.

You can read about the project here if you'd like to have a go at this next year.

Creative Decisions

Well, it's been an interesting week to say the least! In the midst of working on some other projects, I came across an old sketchbook that got me interested in doing some figurative art again. Here's a few sketches after Gorg:

BUT...I've also been doing some fun watercolor & ink journalling! Here's a couple of those:

The thing is I like doing it all! Including all the mixed media art I do! I sometimes just wish I could stick with one thing so my studio wouldn't be so crowded! But whether it's fabric, paper, or beads, I want to be able to do it all! Is anyone else like this? :) And then there's all the crafts I make for Huckleberry Hut, and all the jewelry....and....Ack!!! My head is so full it feels like it's gonna burst! But at least it's full of JOY!

Huckleberry Hut

OK...this is MY art blog, but I'd be remiss if I didn't introduce my DH & our little cottage business. His name is Ron, & our business is called Huckleberry Hut. We celebrate arts & crafts~if it ain't fun, we don't do it! We make everything from baskets using invasive species, to handmade paper using recycled & natural materials, to greeting cards using that handmade paper to traditional crafts, to ornaments, to jewelry to...well, whatever we want! So here's a little pic of Ron with some of the baskets he made awhile back. Hi, honey!

Now, back to MY art! Which is a whole other thing! :)

Mango Season!

I wish you all could see the beautiful colors of all the mangoes now! Here's a shot of a few, but you really have to see them in person!

The colors seem to be all the colors of the rainbow! Yellow to violet! Beautiful! Now if I only didn't get "mango mouth" I could eat them! Ha!

Starting Over

OK...I learn by doing. I've practiced using markers on small pieces of Timtex so I'll be ready for the Bead it Forward project. So I decided to do my September page the same way. Well, I thought that if one coat was good for a tiny piece, 3 or 4 coats would be better for a larger piece. So on I went adding all the coats...forgetting to leave a border...and the results were this!

So I decided to wait 24 hours to see if it would dry. Guess what? It didn't!

It looks like next week I'll be starting over...this time I'll use paint or fabric!!! How many lessons are we all learning in this project??? ;)

Scattergories

OK...my pal Jo, had a challenge on her blog, & if anyone tried this, & sent her the link, you could win a piece of her art! So I plan to win! :) Of course our names are in a hat, but I'm sure I'll do fine at getting picked! :D

SCATTERGORIES ... and it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules:
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
*They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
*If you can't think of anything, skip it.
*You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
*If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!
My name: CC
1. Famous Singer/Band: Cher
2. Four letter word: Crap
3. Street: Cane Crop Road
4. Color: Cranberry (prismacolor pencils say so!)
5. Gifts/Presents: Candy
6. Vehicle: Chevy
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: Crafts
8. Boy Name: Christopher
9. Girl Name: Caren
10. Movie Title: Canadian Bacon
11. Drink: Chardonnay
12. Occupation: Carpenter
13. Celebrity: Charlie Sheen
14. Magazine: Computer World
15. U.S. City: Chicago
16. Pro Sports Teams: Cleveland Browns
17. Fruit: Cherry
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Cat ate my homework!
19. Something You Throw Away: Cans
20. Things You Shout: Ciao!
21. Cartoon Character: Clifford the Big Red Dog
There you go, Jo! Put my name in the hat!!! ;)

August is DONE!!!!!

Yea! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I'm not sure why, but this piece reminded me of tooled leather. Weird. Oh, well. Here's a couple pics:

But I swear, September WILL NOT have any long sticky outie things that get in the way!!! I hope I learned my lesson!

With aloha,

CC

First Aloha Doll done

OK...the first Aloha Doll is done & ready to be mailed to the Comfort Doll project. Here she is:

I hope whoever gets her knows every stitch sewn, & every bead added, was made with lots of love! And with belief for a peaceful, beautiful future!

She's gone batty!

OK...so dear husband thinks I've gone over the edge! I started this week just adding lines of beads in each of the sun's rays after finishing off the "good red road".

Then I wanted to add an edging, but didn't want to do a picot. Wanted to somehow get a flat line of beads on the edge of the rays. Well, the only thing I knew to do was try some things out on my sample work piece. Here's that:

I LOVE buttonhole stitch, but only used it within a piece, not on an edge. But I use it to make baskets & buttonholes, so why not on the rays? Mwah ha ha!
I asked DH his opinion & he laughed! Too much work! Too bulky! Too...OK...out of the studio with him!!! Ha! I just went along merrily on my way. It's taking time, & it does get tangled, but I like it! And I'm the only one that counts on this one! :) You can see it here:

Not exactly sure how it will all turn out, but it's my hot, heavy August piece & I like it! :)

BJP Update

Aloha! So I did get a little done on my August BJP. I'm really being reminded of all the rock hounding trips we went on as kids. I love rocks!!! They make me feel so grounded! :D I know, bad pun, but it's true!!! So I marked where I wanted some chips to go surrounding the focal nugget. Got them stitched down, & then started with the rough red seed beads. They remind me of Eastern WA, the Southwest, Kauai, & the Good Red Road we all are travelling on. The only concern I have is that the Timtex is bending a little at the point where the rays meet the sun. But once it all gets glued down onto my base, I think it will be ok. (Did I mention I'm thinking of painting some panels & gluing these all down? With the month & some sort of journalling below? We'll see how it works out!) So here's some pics:

Working on Aloha Dolls

Worked some on my Aloha Dolls for the Comfort Doll project. The problem I had was designing a doll that had to be only 6". But I did it...makes for tiny stitches & tough turning, but she's getting there....at least the first one is! :) Now I'm putting a picot edge on her. Think I'll leave her simple like that & just add a tag. Hope someone loves her. I really try to work on her when I feel peaceful & fill her with that same energy.

Hurricanes, Tsunamis & Earthquakes...oh, my!

OK...a little late posting this week! Hurricane Flossie decided to scare us, but fizzled out at the end. Then Big Island had an earthquake. Then Peru had their earthquake & the civil defense was called out here for a tsunami warning!!! For all the prep & warning...nada. Zippo. Poof. But better safe than sorry I guess.

So someone said they envied my neat or tidy work space. Well, that's 'cuz I usually only show the small clear spot I bead on. I decided to show what's really around & behind me. Yes, that's a chair full of handmade paper that I have no where to file...and I sure could use the top of that table to work on, but it's a "holding area" for now...so is what's under it! AND completely behind me is a closet I don't dare open for fear all my supplies will come tumbling out! I guess I've just learned to be able to create in the middle of chaos. In fact, sometimes it's the only thing that can keep me calm!!!

Cheers all!

You'd Think I'd Learn

OK...so what was my problem last month? Tall, long pointy things!!! Bead stacks!!! So what do I use as a motif for my August BJP? A sun with lots of long, pointy rays!!! AAAaaack! How many times do I have to learn that thread just loves to stick in those kinda things??? Oh, well. At least this one will be faster than last month!!! Plus I'm learning to bead with the project held over my head so that gravity can do it's thing! ;)

Here's the beginning....I decided to paint the motif instead of adding more fabric:

Then I chose the focal rock & other colors I want to use for this month:

If you look really close at the piece of turquoise, you may see what I do...someone sitting down on the ground or a blanket? Maybe Kokopelli? Well, anyway, the nugget reminds me of all the rock hounding trips we took as kids on summer vacations. The person/image reminds me of my pal, Canolli, & I going on our petroglyph trips & telling people we just came to the South West to "sit in the dirt"! :) See if you can find it:

So next I picked some matte Delicas to encase the nugget. Used peyote stitch around it & had a dickens of a time with the last tightening row. The nugget isn't a perfectly shaped cab, but I like things that aren't so perfect! :) So, here is where I'm at now:

CC Spaghetti signing off for the week!

Comfort Dolls with Aloha

So, I designed an Aloha doll for the Comfort Doll project. She's really simple. I'm using aloha fabric & beading a heart on her. Once she's sewn & stuffed, I'll decide if I want to add any other embellishments. Here's the beginning of 2 of them:

Oh, and a peek at my August BJP piece!

July is PAU!

OK...didn't have a chance to post yesterday, but wanted to reinforce those limp stacks anyway! So today I did just that. See here:

They're still a little bent, but that's ok!

Now here is the finished piece. After all the angst I had with the fabric, I couldn't cover it all in the end! I had to leave some, but how much? As I worked, I saw the outline of a bird. That made me think of an old pal who has passed. We called him "The Crow". He thought it was because it was his totem animal. Maybe he just squacked alot. In any case, I saw it & had to leave some color in it too. Can you find it? I have lots of good memories of The Crow in the summer time! :)

Now I'm on to August! I have my motif for the month ready to cut out...but this time NO FABRIC!!! I'm gonna paint the Timtex!!! AND...use rocks! Big ones! :D At least in comparison to this month!

Oh, & pau is "finished" in Hawaiian!

Happy Beading!

Bead Stacks in Need of Viagra!

OK...so I've learned my lesson...no matter what I want to do, sometimes it's better to wait just a bit! I was so excited when I started this month that I plopped down those tall stacks w/o thinking! So now, after weeks of working around them, they're all flopping over! See?

So, after I get all done, I'll go back & reinforce them so they can stand tall & erect again! :)


The next thing that happened was that I ran out of black seed beads! I have a "starry night" sky to finish here! Come on! So I took out my Delicas & started to outline all the "fireworks" with them. Tedious tiny little things! Then my pal, Azlina, sent me some black beads from Malaysia! So now I can work on filling in the background with bigger beads. See? The beads on the right are the Delicas & the ones on the left are from Azlina. Now, if that's not enough, well, then there's always the Ben Franklin craft sale tomorrow!!

So this is where I'm at this evening! Once the background is in, I'll put on a SIMPLE border & be done!

My pal sent me a card once that said, "You are a human sparkler!" It's how I've always felt inside! But sometimes I need to calm down. So I think you'll be seeing some ROCKS next month! Time for grounding!!!

Comfort Dolls & Bead it Forward

Hi all!
To the left I've added an element called Projects I'm Involved With. There you will find a project called Comfort Dolls. I have a personal interest in wanting to help this cause. It's just getting started, but there is no timeline. The link on the left tells about the project, but you can get to the updated info here. There's not alot of ways that I can give, but this is one way. Join in if you can.
You'll also see I added the info for Bead it Forward. This one is for you beaders out there. Check it out if you'd like to help!
Happy creating!
With aloha, CC

Just one other thing I learned

On our Yahoo group we were asked what we learned that week about our BJP piece. Well, I could write a book on this piece! Fabric choice, the weight of beads on a larger piece when encrusted, how impossible it is to know what colors you'll want/need when you are working improvisationally, harder to see dark colors as we age, do stacks last if possible so the thread doesn't get tangled in them, keep your needlenose handy for tight spots....ETCETERA! :) Whew. And it also comes in handy to also be doing something that you are familiar with, & has rules, so you don't feel like you are a totally lousy artist! Gotta remember this isn't about the rules...just gut & heart. So I finally just gave in & said, "I don't care! I'll put this here just 'cuz I like it! Who cares about the rules?" Ignoring that inner art critic, especially an Italian/Norwegian one, can be a tad difficult!

That said, here is my progress for the week:

This is head on

This is from an angle to hopefully see the height

One other thing I learned is that it gets heavy holding larger pieces, so next month will be a smaller size! Hopefully that will help some!

And...thank you Azlina for those black beads in the mail! How did you know I'd need them? ;)

TAG! I'm It!

OMG! I had no idea this would happen! I've been tagged & have been kindly coerced into answering some questions about ME! HA! Sue tagged Freebird, now I get to tag someone else. Hmmmm, wonder who I should torture? I mean tag! :)
So here are the questions & answers:

Five things to do before I die: (Who said I was gonna die????)
1. Own a studio separate from my home
2. Own my own home again
3. Make a great living from my art
4. See the Grand Canyon with dh & take road trips...living on an island makes you crave open road
5. Love my family & friends & create every day...those are the only 2 rules for my life

Five things I can do:
1. Create!
2. Love!
3. Have incredible sex with dh!
4. Listen to Jimmy Buffett all day every day!
5. Eat wonderful meals that my dh makes for me!!! :)

Five things I cannot do yet:
1. Overcome spastic colitis w/o meds
2. Eat ice cream
3. Eat lettuce
4. Control my astral projection
5. Have all my spiritual/psychic questions answered

Five things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1. Sense of humor
2. Very attentive to my needs sexually! ;)
3. Shows love in action
4. Is creative
5. Gives "kitchen kisses" & goosebumps! HA! :)

Five celebrity crushes: (I really don't have crushes, but I kinda like these guys!)
1. Wangari Maathai (I really like her!!!)
2. John Travolta (Smells like cookies!)
3. Susan Sarandon (Road trip with politics!)
4. Bono (Along with Oprah for good deeds)
5. Jimmy Buffett! ;) (It's 5 o'clock somewhere!)

Five people I would like to do this:
1. Jesus, Zoraster, Buddha, Ghandi, Aphrodite, Minerva, Socrates, Jung, Einstein...all religious, science & philosophical leaders!!!
2. All former & present leaders of the world
3. Jimmy Buffett! Ha! You knew it, didn't you? ;)
4. Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, DaVinci, Picasso, Frida, O'Keeffe, Gorg, & all great artists past & present
5. All my relatives who've transitioned to the next life!

If any of you have been tagged for this one already, just pass it on.

Teacher Mai-Liis Retires Class

Aloha, all!

I just found out that the woman who taught me the wrapped art doll class at Joggles is retiring this class. So if there is anyone who wants to learn how to make one like mine, or like this one she is now teaching, you can contact her at her website. http://mai-liispeacocknotes.blogspot.com/ I really enjoyed the online class & found it easy to do. This is her mermaid theme wrapped doll. And once you have the basics, you can go crazy with your own personal doll...like I did! :) Thank you , Mai-Liis, for your patience as a teacher.

Manic CC and VanGogh!

OMG! What a week! I was gonna post tomorrow but have to be in town.

I always knew (in theory) that color & pattern affect your mood...but I had never REALLY had a major experience with it until this week! I was beading along on my July piece when I started feeling really nervous! What? I kept going. But I knew something was wrong. I just felt too weird! I looked at the fabric I was using & thought that it looked like a painting by VanGogh! I was beading on what looked like a painting by VanGogh! No wonder I felt so bizarre! So I stopped. My pal in Malaysia had sent me a PPS on VanGogh, so I went to my computer & watched it. Sure enough there were those short, varied, colorful strokes! Aack! What to do? I thought, "Is this what he felt like?" OK, back to beading. I decided I had to calm myself & the fabric down. Horizontal lines! Yes! That will help....me anyway! So that's what I did. I immediately felt better! Amazing! So the rest of the week, I felt comfortable with the fabric. I didn't have to follow those lines & colors. Whew! So, in the mail comes some sequins from that same pal in Malaysia! I decided I'd just honor that old painter & put some stars in the sky. July, after all, is full of starry nights! Here's the progression:

Panic sets in!

Getting calm!

Much better...at least I am! Especially on starry nights!

Art Journal Swap

So an art pal & I decided we'd do a journal swap. Easy to say on an island! Ha! Just try to find a spiral bound watercolor journal! The pal beats me to the one craft store on the island & buys out the store! So by the time I get to it, there are only 8X10 watercolor pads. I buy them out (sorry whoever comes next!) & bring them home to make my own journal. The store is out of binder rings also, so I have to use 2 giant rings from tag swaps I've been in previously! I use the board the pads came on to make the covers. Covered them in fancy green & lavender paper. Then I punched holes in all & decorated the front. I also made a book thong for it. So this is how it will stay until I can get some smaller rings...or maybe I'll find some pretty ribbon! :)

Inside pages with book thong and one of the fabric beads I made as well as JOY beads

Completed art journal

Up close the crown says CREATE, & the fabric beads I made have CC beads added to them!

Now on to the first entry...we swap on Wednesday!!! Aack! ;)

Cliche, but can't resist

OK...so it seems cliche, but I couldn't resist! My shape for July is a flag. The material reminded me of fireworks. The paua shell reminded me of trips to the beach where we USED to find abalone & other shells. Then, the beading, well, it's kinda starting to look like seaweed! Now that's a mainland kind of thing, so I guess I'll have to add some of the tropics later...that is, if my insides go that way. Ya never know!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Had to post today 'cuz was gone all day shopping yesterday. Our island is so small, but only has a 2 lane highway. So it takes FOREVER to get it all done! Tried to find a spiral bound watercolor journal for a round robin, but I'm gonna end up having to make one! Ah...life on an island!

Here's the pics of the progress on this month's BJP!

Deciding on materials, shape, & colors

Starting to bead around the paua shell

Where I am as of this week...ways to go yet!