Simplified Hogwarts Crest Stamp

 Hogwarts Stamp, hand carved.

In preparation for my son's upcoming Harry Potter birthday party, I made a stamp to make things "official" and Wizardish.  Now really, I made it for the invites, but I think I might be able to use it for lots of things, paper cups and potion labels and napkins and favors and ... oh who knows.

This crest was actually inspired by this tattoo, that I found on pinterest. The real Hogwarts Crest is quite involved and detailed and the stamp I needed was about an inch high. So all that detail wasn't going to happen.

Here is what it looks like when stamped.

I used red, green, blue and yellow colored pencil to color in the appropriate house colors and I think it came out pretty well.

I'm trying to remember that this Harry Potter party is for 7 year olds and I don't have to go at it as if it were part of a movie set.

Sometimes I have a tendency to go overboard and want to make everything perfect, but one of the keys to being successfully creative is to understand your constraints. Also, simplicity is best.

My constraints are that it has to not cost very much, and that it has to all be done in the next few weeks without me going crazy.   The last part of that is the one I have to be the most concerned about. That is why I am looking for simplified versions of many Harry Potter crafts and decorations. OMG. I totally forgot about decorations. Sigh. I'd better re check my to do list and double check it up against the calendar, and decide where I can cut things and what things are necessary.

Remember, simplicity is best. Some snacks, some games and some favors, and every thing else is about kids running around like lunatics. Now remind me not to escalate this party with my must-do creative brainstorms so that I overburden myself in the coming weeks and are then left exhausted and burnt out in the wake of what was supposed to be fun.

Blue Girl of the Wide Open Skies

Blue Girl of the Wide Open Skies
acrylic on watercolor paper
3" x 4"

Sometimes I want to experiment a little. The other day while I was painting, I liked a stage of underpainting. I have often been attracted to an unfinished looking painting or sketch, there's something about the "developing" feeling that I like. So when I started a new little portrait, I decided to go all the way with the underpainting, allow the off colors to come through... well, no, not come through, to be the painting.

This is part of what it means to me to be free in art. I get a whim, a feeling, an urge, and go with it, even if it isn't the way you're "supposed" to do it.

I feel that this is one way to discover who you are as an artist. I believe that this is what it means to push boundaries or think outside of the box or be creative.  When you get a "what if?" question, you try to answer that what if. What if I left off the finishing touches that make it all pretty? What if I let the insides show? What if I didn't use traditional colors. What if I didn't already have the answer?

Another experiment I tried here was with the color.

When I first started my painting every day exercises, I would often reach into my art bag and pull out three paint tubes, and whatever I pulled out would guide my painting for the day. It was fun to just go with the flow  and see what would happen when I put the random colors together. Sometimes it was a disaster, but sometimes, using colors that were not my "usual" color preferences opened up whole new worlds for me. It was almost like speaking another language.

I took a chance with the random colors I first pulled out of a bag with this painting, and came up with the blue and a bright yellow. It reminded me of when I was in school and the teacher gave us the challenge of painting only with complimentary colors and white and seeing what we could come up with. So I added orange to my painting and the titan buff.

I like the freedom this experiment gave me. The freedom to break away from what it's supposed to be and to explore exciting interactions of color. The freedom from my usual solutions to representation.

There is a paradox in this freedom I experience, because I have actually set myself up with very tight constraints.  I am allowed only four colors. I am allowed only 3" x 4" of space.

And yet, despite the constraints, my imagination is free to try new possibilities, new strategies, new paintings that go beyond where I was before.

Oh, I like this idea of limiting where I can go with a painting. At least until I find myself in a place where I have something definite to say, until I am ready to go deeper into something.

Give it a try. Create based on a narrow theme or with few materials. Try small things, or time limits, and within those constraints, see where your imagination and ingenuity can take you.

What do you want to make of this world of yours?

colored gel pens, ink, sharpie marker, recycled menu

4x8"

What DO you want to make of this world of yours?

It is possible to make it, did you know that?

That's the first step to changing your world, to creating something new, to transforming yourself, to breaking out of your rut... believing that it is possible.

This is where art can help with transforming your very soul.

Art makes things possible. It creates them as a reality, even before they are a reality. As humans, when we imagine something, when we ponder how it could be created, when we mark down the boundaries of something, we are taking steps to make the ideas real.

Sorry to sound as if I am a text book, but I myself am trying to create something in my life. And I know the first step is to imagine it so clearly I can see the steps to take to make it real.

This very drawing/doodle/sketch I posted above is an exercise in creating what I want in the world.

Facing the empty page, I said, "what do I want to make in this world? what do I want to have? what do I want to see?"

What I wanted was positivity. What I wanted was energy. What I wanted was about giving, not taking. It was about belief and personal power. So I drew it.

And look at me here, today, the very next day, being positive, energetic (yes I washed the dishes before sitting down), sharing, and believing in the very possibilities I am creating.

Make the world you want.

Imagine it.

Believe it.

Take the steps towards it.

Live it.

It could be about a personal mindset, a zen belief in life, like here. It could be about creating an etsy shop. It could be about writing and publishing a novel. It could be about making an ice cream cake when you never have before.

See. I did that too. It was pretty tasty, although not perfect, and not without troubles in the execution. But I did it, and I could do it better next time.

Creating is about making the world you want to see, and it is about standing in your own power.

You can do it.

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid-- Halloween, The Living Dead and Nanowrimo

Cemetery in Michigan (oooooOOOOOOooooooooOOooohhh... creepy...)

I am getting ready for everything.

Getting ready for Halloween. Goodness, these kids take a lot of work. Vampires and princesses. Witches for me. That reminds me, I have to make another version of my mini witches hat for my costume, because the one I made looks like... well... a mess. Maybe I'll photograph this version, and you can follow along.

Getting ready to finish my first novel. I need to take a break on that, but I'm still sending out copies to readers and receiving feedback. Thank goodness for google documents.

Getting ready to start the next book. Research research research. Outline outline. All in the few moments in between living life.

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo. Sorry if I talk about it a lot. Talking about it gets the juices flowing.

Actually that's true of all creative projects. Immersing yourself in the world of your project gets you excited to get going.

And another thing about nanowrimo... it's not just the deadline that gets you writing, it's all the months (especially October) where you aren't allowed to write according to the rules. And the anticipation of writing starts to build, and you think about your book and write around the writing (outlines, character sheets, research etc) and all of that serves to deepen your book and your thoughts and your entrapment in the world of the book, so that when you FINALLY start, there is something rich and deep and alive.

I am a big proponent of the "holding" stage of creativity. That's when you DON'T jump in to your creative project at the first urge of inspiration, but you let it live inside of you, in the darkness of your subconscious, growing like some sort of fungus or root system or larvae. Only the really strong ideas will last. And they will attract other strong ideas. And they will all grow and transform with the close proximity and the heat of your attention and the magic of your imagination. And then you will have a living being and when you finally start, you have already done so much inner work that the writing part takes on a life of it's own.

So with nanowrimo, on November First, (not coincidentally the Day of the Dead) your novel is ready to rise from the darkness and take corporeal form, like all sorts of uncontrollable frightening beings--ghosts, zombies, vampires, novels.

Are you scared yet?

Baby Birds and What Grows Inside

Yesterday, Gabriel found a discarded birds nest on his nature walk. He brought it inside, I glued a felt circle to the bottom so it wouldn't fall apart, then made him an egg.

Robins egg blue felt right for the season. Then he demanded another egg and a baby bird hatching. Oh yes, and a mother robin, but I haven't managed that yet. The birdie looks a bit duckish with that bill. Maybe I'll try snipping it smaller. That's a fun thing about felt, you can do that with it.

Why am I doing soft sculpture lately? I don't know. It just feels like what needs to be done. So I do it.

This brings me to the previous mystery.
A felt house. Look through the windows and doors.
There's something inside of that house. Is that a...
tree?
Why yes it is. A tree growing out of the empty shell of a building.
and below it, is a carpet of grass, or maybe it's moss. And the insides of the building are the color of the sky. Hmmmm...

What could it all mean?

Perhaps that things grow even when you think it is all wreckage. Perhaps that life will find a way. Perhaps that creation comes out of constraint. I don't know. I felt the need to make it, so I did.

And yes, it does fit in the palm of my little hand.

I'm not sure if it should also have a box/diorama kind of setting, or if it stands on it's own. Or does it need to have something added to it? A miniature something inside? One that you can't see until you get right up close to it and look through the window? I do like that sort of intimacy with art. Maybe I should make a shadowbox frame for it. How would one go about doing that?

Or is it time to stop. That's one of the things about art, you have to figure out how far to go and when to stop.

Flying Girl and the Moon, or She Holds The Light Within

Flying Girl and the Moon, or She Holds The Light Within
Golden Fluid Acrylic on Moleskine Paper, 8x5"

It's been a long time since Flying Girl has made an appearance, but here she is. It's also been a long time since I posted in my cool stuff blog, small & heartfelt, but there's a new one up there, too.

Here's the thing about that light that we all seem to be reaching for, the moon that we aim for-- when we persist in thinking our dreams are OUT THERE, in the ether, we forget that we already hold our dreams within ourselves.

Our dreams, our goals, all that stuff we are promising we will do or promising we will stop doing, most of that is incidental.

We want to be our best us.
We want to be happy.
We want to be creative.
We want to be loved.
We want to be satisfied.
We want to be complete.

I can plan and organize and write ToDo lists and calendars and meal plans up the wazoo, but the truth is, sometimes I think it's just me trying to fix the things that I perceive are wrong with me. It's me trying to get somewhere other than right where I am.

Sometimes it seems like all that busy work of being busy and productive is the easy way out. I know other people who drink or self medicate to forget that they are not who they want to be, I focus on finding away to get to be who I want to be. But the similarity is still there. I am dissatisfied with who I am, where I am, what I am.

I use being productive to make myself feel better. It is as if when I DO things and MAKE things I have evidence that I am good, but when I don't, the bad feelings well up and take over.

Maybe my creativity addiction is less self destructive than a drug addiction, but it comes from the same place.

What would happen, though, if I didn't need to paint to be someone? What if I didn't need to hold onto those titles of artist/writer/teacher/mom in order to be someone? What if I didn't need to figure out how everything works, to understand everything, to be in control of my personal being in order to feel okay?

What if I accepted that I was okay. What if I accepted that I was great. Heck, what if I accepted I was miraculous, a being not unlike a god, perfect in my imperfections and holding as many possibilities as I can conceive? Just like every human being on the planet, and a few orbiting the planet. Miracles, all.

What if we didn't have to lose weight, eat better, finally get published, quit smoking, get a new home, keep in touch with family better, make new friends, grow our own herbs, take up photography, meet a new mate, or whatever yearly goal and resolution we are always promising? What if we could just be awesome the way we are?

Bumps and bruises and stutters.
Mistakes and coarseness and slobbery.
What if we could accept that we were lovable?
What if we could love ourselves?

Imagine a world where everyone simply was. And we accepted everyone for their beingness. And we accepted ourselves, too, just for what we were. And we loved.

Wild Mermaid Princess Thing in the Jungle, and Me

Jungle Royalty (in the garden) What I Wore Today
September 17, 2009
pitt artist pen, pen on paper

So I've been absent for a while. Turns out that I was far more productive when I was in the middle of the flu than I was after I had been through the worst of it. For the last week or so I have just been exhausted and too tired to do much of anything but moan. So I thought I'd spare you all posts saying how tired I was and I didn't do any painting, anyway, because I kept pooping out once I made lunch for the kids.

To tell the truth, I'm not 100% right now, still a little achey and headachey. BUT only Ivy's high pitch squeal or a brass band can still split my head open, not normal music or the boy's shouting... so it's an improvement. And I still have a little energy, so before it runs away, lets get this post going.

Wild Mermaid Princess Thing in the Jungle

Ivy has been obsessed with Mariana the Mermaid Princess' magic crown (from Dora the Explorer). She has been using her plastic cereal bowl as a crown, and it inevitably slides off of her head and crashes to the floor with a ringing clatter, bringing on that split-open head feeling in mama. So yesterday, I'd had enough and took out a cereal box, cutting it into a crown, then painting it with gesso. I told them they could paint it when it was dry, but Ivy loves hers white.

I've been trying to capture a photo as she runs around the house, saying she has to bring the crown to Mariana. When she ran outside with it this morning, I ran after her, trying to catch the Wild Thing in her native habitat. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I got this one, but she spent most of the time ducking between hanging vines and overgrown elephant ears or tall swaying ferns. The little dickens. She also doesn't think that anything bad will happen if she falls into the pond, because, obviously, she is turning into a mermaid.

So after a few weeks of inactivity and exhaustion from the flu, here's three creative projects in two days. Photo, drawing and crown. Not bad for She of the Flu.

I feel a headache sneaking up. Sigh. I was hoping I could get a little packing down... that's still coming up on the horizon. Just taking things one step at a time, I guess.

Traveling River and City

Traveling River and City
47/100 in 100 Creative Challenge
Golden Fluid Acrylic

Have no fear, faithful readers. I have not been swallowed by the rising tide of new paintings.

We have shifting situations as my kids hit new stages of development (here we call it affectionately "you-have-got-to-be-f***ing*kidding*me twos",) and I have started the process of job searching and resumeing and thinking about what I have to pack for the move.

I've been exhausted and very busy with little time or headspace to get all the paintings and photo-shooting and uploading and posting together. Yipes.

But I got some business done so hopefully I can get on a roll again.

Do you see this painting? I do not know how I feel about it.

I wanted to use smoky grays and purples, after seeing some beautiful things on line, and yet it came out this intense color. And the clouds skipped away from foggy and entered dramaville. It reminds me of standing at this little park in Williamsburg, looking across the East River at the sun going down. We can just pretend it was during the most recent blackout and that's why there are no lights over there. I'd like to say that when that blackout happened, after 9/11 and after all of NYC changed over night, everyone was so worried that there would be crime and looting and madness. They thought it would be full of danger and fear.

But what happened that night was kindness and laughter, music on the sidewalks and restaurants giving away free barbecue. Neighbors who barely spoke invited people to garden parties and people who walked miles and miles to get home stayed on friends' couches until the electicity came on once again.

When it's dark, you wouldn't believe the power of the stars.

Flying Girl is Many People, or Sketch Faces Pattern

Flying Girl is Many People, or Sketch Faces Pattern
012/100 in 100 Creative Challenge, 6/12/09
Golden Fluid Acrylic and Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils on Moleskine Watercolor Paper, 5x8"

This is only two colors of paint and a sienna pencil. I like the interplay between paint and pencil, how it changes the color of the paint. I painted outside of the face sketches first, and then the inside, because I didn't want them to blend too much. I didn't want to paint over the drawing, I wanted to incorporate the drawing. So there are still edges. Still places where there is only pencil or only paper or only paint.

Is this creepy? The ghosty little half formed faces? I still like it.

Sometimes I feel like we are all made up of a million different people. A million different choices. A million different personalities. A million different answers.

Then we do something like paint pictures or write stories and those people show up. Made out of nothing but imagination and some paper.

Sometimes I am amazed that paintings I do today weren't there yesterday. They weren't just unformed, they didn't exist. It's not like they grew out of something else. They weren't anything.

Afterwards, sometimes, it feels like they have always been there. Like they are significant or familiar. Some gain in importance, some fade. My first flying girl was way back in 1992 in college. I did not know that she wasn't just an expression of my anxiety and excitement over my upcoming graduation from college. I did not know that she would reappear in various forms over the next 17 years. I didn't know that she would become significant again almost two decades later.

Where do these mysteries come from? Who are these mysterious selves we hold inside of us, and in what form will they show up next?

I Love You Anyway, or The Girl Makes Peace with Herself

I Love You Anyway, or The Girl Makes Peace with Herself
Golden Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor Pencil on Paper, 6"x9"

This is her! The Inspire Me Prompt winning prompt painting.

The winners (I told you it was two people's who got the wheels turning) are:

Lissa!
who said:

2 girls/women
representing the light and dark
for it resides in us all
back to back or attached in some way-maybe hugging the moon.

(Can't help it-for I am a Mermaid Moon Goddess-searching for her lost soul twin)

and

Leah!
who said:
Here's my prompt, based on my last blog post: A dialogue with your inner critic through art.

If you can see, Lissa started the thoughts going and when I read Leah's it seemed to give it context so in came my two strange circus girls. Or is it just one girl?

I really like this painting. I do not know if it will be a start of a new series, or a stand alone piece, but I don't think it needs to be set and defined so clearly.

By the way, I loved all of your ideas and many of them are starting other things bubbling, so we will have to see what happens. Sometime this week, I'd like to talk more about the prompts and all, but right now, I have to finish up and get the kids going.

Ladies, thank you all for your lovely prompts. And I do have more to say, I am just limited in time.

Lissa and Leah I will be getting in touch with you shortly to get your information.

Uh oh, kids are up. Must skedaddle.

She Remembers the Fire Inside

She Remembers the Fire Inside
Acrylic on Paper, 8"x10"

This painting is from the Thursday Sweet Treat prompt, "the warmth of the fire inside."

I know it's odd that it isn't all warm shades. You think warmth and fire and you think red and yellow and orange. But I was laying in bed staring at the shadows on the ceiling, and all of a sudden saw patterns of peach and blue. It reminded me of paisley or chandeliers.

And then I thought it also reminded me of reflections, of smoke, and said to myself, there's the prompt!

I like also how the fire is hidden in the subtlety of the colors. There's a pale fire, too. A white fire is hotter than the red one. And I like the veneer of sophistication here, but the hint that there's something burning inside.

I don't know how much meaning this painting has in my life... it kind of looks like it has nothing to do with my life, although I usually take lessons from whatever I've learned or experienced lately. It almost seems like I am making up a life, a hollywood life of glamor.

Eh, whatever the meaning, I still think it's pretty. And everything doesn't always have to be meaningful.

Flying Girl and the Soul Moving, or He Says It's Ten Mile River

Flying Girl and the Soul Moving, or He Says It's Ten Mile River
4/23/09
Mixed Media, acrylic and collage on paper, 7"x10"

When you do the things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.
-Rumi

I've been seeing Rumi quotes all over the internet. This one just happens to match this picture.

I did this for a Thursday Sweet Treat Prompt-- the landscape of the soul. Really, that's what all the Flying Girls are. They are a dream moving through that landscape. Sometimes it's dark, sometimes it's light, sometimes it's urban, sometimes rural. Sometimes it's completely make believe or sometimes it's a place I clearly remember.

This one was kind of based on some dreams that I have sometimes, of floating down the river. This river here is made of words, if you can see them. Cut out of a book that I altered many years ago. In my dream, the river is usually the Hudson, but when S saw this painting, he said it was Ten Mile River, which I think is in California. It's a place I've never been, but he insisted I put Ten Mile River into the title.

I don't know. Is the landscape of the soul a place I've never seen? Maybe there are connections all throughout life that we don't understand. Maybe important things resonate.

Sometimes I think about places I've never been that someday I'll call home. They are strange now, but when I look back, they will feel very right. Journeys are like that. They change who you are.

(I don't know what I'm saying here, but I know it's right.)

Flying Girl and Moon Rabbit Take Off, or Fleeting

Flying Girl and Moon Rabbit Take Off, or Fleeting
4/16/09
Golden Fluid Acrylic on Watercolor Paper, 7"x10"

Inspired by Illustration Friday's prompt, "fleeting" and my 2 year old daughters statement that I needed to add a moon to the rabbit and girl.

Because childhood is fleeting. Because whimsy is fleeting. The phases of the moon are fleeting. Home is fleeting. Balance is fleeting. Struggle is fleeting. Joy is fleeting. Sorrow is fleeting. Youth is fleeting. Time is fleeting. I am fleeting, you are fleeting. Everything around us is just a moment.

The only thing is now.


You can get the print of this on etsy.

Goddess Inspire, or Flicker of Imagination

Goddess Inspire, or Flicker of Imagination
3/23/09
Golden Fluid Acrylic and Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils on Paper, 7"x10"

Goddess Inspire came out of nowhere, and yet she is all around.

In fact, don't you think you know her? Wasn't she that girl down the block? Didn't you see her in that place the other day?

She's so familiar.

Say hi.

The flicker of this painting came when I realized the next Thursday Sweet Treat prompt was "Flicker of Imagination" although, I think I thought it was Flicker of Inspiration. Either way, I imagined a girl looking out at us. Maybe also seeing a couple of portraits in and around blogland had a portrait happening in my mind.

But what was really interesting was what happened when the drawing (with watercolor pencils) was covered with paint. Things happened I did not expect and her face changed as I painted. When I added the hair/shadows even more happened. And I left the edges bare mostly because it seemed to want to be unfinished.

This girl really did come out of nowhere, and I really do feel like I know her, but she doesn't match anyone I know. Do you know her? Can you place that face?

I think she is a goddess. When you let your inspiration take over, do you see a face of the goddess, too?

To purchase a print, go here.

A Banner Day (and routine difficulties)

Yesterday, I spent some time working on my etsy banner. Yes that's right. For my shop that is still not opened. Which is the part of my Portfolio Project that was supposed to be easy and quick and finished first. (hahahaha)

I sketched out the initial idea and then just dove in. I painted it and got it the way I wanted to and then edited it on picnik... which I think might be the solution to my tech-idiot problems. I like the way it came out. I like that it is so obviously made my hand, not technology. I like the sketchiness of the paint, which goes along with my speedy painting a day/every other day thing. Even the lettering is hand done. And I like it. Did I ever say that my job in college was making posters for events? Not a bad part time job. I wish I had figured out this style, because it would have been so versatile. Anyway, that was 18 years ago. Today is today and I am figuring everything out all over again. It seems on a daily basis, sometimes.

I realized that I had to actually set aside time to get this done, instead of just assuming it would happen in the upswelling of my days. I have been trying to build a routine into my day for writing and for painting and for blogging and for dinner and for bedtime and for getting up and dressed, but there was nothing for getting business done.

Have to say, there still isn't. My blogging time went to this, but perhaps what needs to be done is the time needs to be divided. Every other day going blogging and/or business. Or I don't know, maybe it just needs to be switched up a little. Or maybe I need to let go of this idea that everything needs to be done every single day and find a sort of rotating schedule that allows me to incorporate all the things I want to do.

I don't know yet. Still working on this.
But I wanted to show you my version of playing with words for creative everyday's February theme of "words." Oh wait. Last month was "play." I seemed to have combined the two. Oh well.
This was one of my first versions. Then I shifted the words around, trying all sorts of other compositions, trying to keep in ming the whole time that it was going to have to be very long and narrow to fit in the banner space.
So I just flipped and flipped the letters around, too many time to show here.

I just entertained myself with the different variations.






I came in close for a different purpose and feel. I like the little flowers/lollipops this way, too.





Wheeeeee!






Woo Hoo!








Ivy is still mightily entertained by the "popsiples" as she calls them. And spent some time drawing her own, or asking me to draw some "popsiples" for her to practice on.

Anyway, it was fun. And I could really use any words I wanted over the popsiples. I could do a new Warriorgirl banner-- the whole idea was inspired by the banner I have up now-- or make a poem or whatever I want. Almost like refrigerator poetry, but on a painting.

Christmas Magic Continues

Ivy's fairy flower crown and fairy wand.

This was fun to make. I figured out how to do the flowers while making the fairy doll and her crown. A series of little circles in coordinating colors and various sizes, small, medium, large, and extra small. In some of the circles, I notched the edges with my scissors all the way around. Sometimes I trimmed the notches to look more like petals, sometimes I just left them.

Then I glued the circles together, using various colors and different color combos. Then I glued the flowers on a strip of felt that I measured to fit the girl's wee head.

I did lay out the flowers before gluing them down, so that I had a good assortment and could make sure that all the pieces had somewhere to go and I didn't end up with circles that were too big or too small for their parts. Sometimes a flower consisted of only two circles, sometimes three, sometimes four. Then I laid the flowers out on the crown, with the largest in the center and the mediums spaced out and the smalls scattered between them. If I'd had a light green felt square, I would have added leaves, but I didn't.

If I had more time or were better with a needle, I would have stitched them. It wouldn't have been that hard to tack them together in the center. It might also have been interesting to embroider or bead the centers of the flowers. That will perhaps be a different fairy crown for an older Ivy.
Gabriel's "Disappear-Appear" Wand

Here is the boys wand. I made one for him too, even if he's not getting a fairy crown. I am still debating the rest of his dress up costume. Not sure how I can make a robot costume, but I will figure something out in the next two days. Maybe I can do a superhero thing instead. Or maybe I'll do a super-robot thing. I have no idea.

How did I make the two wands?? They were pretty easy. I took four pipe cleaners in coordinating colors (matching the fairy stuff for the girl, and something a little more Harry Potterish for the boy) and bent the ends in then twisted them together until they were spiraled. Then I cut out two felt stars... I did free hand because I like the wonkiness of it, but you could do them with a pattern. A star shaped cookie cutter would be a good pattern to use. Then I glued them together on the end of the pipecleaners, using enough glue so they would stick.

Then they got different treatments. I took my silver embroidery floss and split it into three strands (so it would fit through the needle) then sewed it through the center of the blue star, around the pipe cleaner end and back through the center. I tied the ends of the floss together with a double knot. I repeated that on the other side of the star, so both sides would have the silver rays.

The girl's wand wanted thin green ribbons to match the tutu I made, and I couldn't sew that through the star, so I tied two ribbons just underneath the star and knotted them on. Then I did the same for two pieces of silver floss, making sure that I knotted one strand each on each side of the star, so the silver and green rays would spread out evenly from the wand. Magic is even, you see.

I decided on the pipe cleaner in the first place because I didn't want any hard sticks in there to whack people with. I don't know how long these will last... it depends on how hard the kids are on them... but they were so easy and cheap that it's okay if they get messed up. I think making these wands would be a pretty good project for kids to try, but not really ones as young as mine. The crown would be fun for older girls to make, too. Making felt flowers is pretty easy. You could do anything with them.

Two Robots

Good Orange Robot with Bubbles
12/8/08
Golden Fluid Acrylic on Paper

This is the continuation of the Boy's present. The Robot Christmas. This will be his painting, and it will go along with his stuffed doll that I am making. I did not get orange fabric, so, either I will have to use some old kids clothes, or make it blue. Or black, but then I wonder about the "goodness" of the robot. Maybe blue.

Yes. Many presents to make. All children? Why is that Rowena? Well, because children don't have the capabilities of turning on a computer and checking out mommy's blog. Don't want to give any secrets away, now, do I?


Robot Prototype
12/9/08
Home Made Play Clay

This was not part of the Robot Christmas... or it wasn't planned that way. We (the kids and I) were perusing etsy, looking for robots and dogs and cats. Lucky us when we found them at the same shop.

But once we saw them, and someone made the connection between robots and the balls of play clay in someone's hand, there was nothing for it but to make a robot out of play clay. Perhaps I should get some Sculpey and make some that will last and not crumble into flour and salt dust. I haven't made anything with Sculpey in a long time, but I used to love it. Figurines, jewelry, beads, assemblages. I once made a box with an antlered deity bust on top, and a flock of blackbirds inside. Man. I wish I had a picture of that one, but it was pre digital cams for me, and I gave it away... as a Christmas present.

Anyway, I still have (for the kids) a fairy crown, a fairy wand, fairy wings, robot mask, robot chest plates, laser gun, Robot doll, Fairy doll, felt cookies....hmm. I think there's more, but the boy just woke up, so my blogging time is up.

Imagined Still-Life, or Garden with Gabriel and Ivy

Imagined Still-Life, or Garden with Gabriel and Ivy
11/25/08 AEDM #25
Golden Fluid Acrylics

I went a different way last night. No oracle, no Flying Girl. No. The kids playing in the garden with their uncle's dog. Balls, sticks, tempers flying. This could be a picture from life, those are the clothes they were wearing. They are standing next to our fish pond. But they are not allowed to stand so close to the pond, the grapefruit tree is on the other side of the garden, and, oh yeah... these kids are never this still.

If they were, G wouldn't have strands of hair sticking up all over the place that I was unable to snip during his hair cut. Oh well. I look at his hair cut as a rough draft of what will be, after I next get him to stand still for two minutes. This painting, too, is a rough draft. Or, at least it isn't quite finished.

I don't particularly like the background or the composition. I've been looking around at other artist's websites, and paying attention when they share their process. It is fascinating. I think I was particularly inspired by Amanda Blake (whom I adore) and how she created Norma Always Wore the Perfect Outfit. I never went to Art School, although I majored in art in High School. I got the basics, but I never got the chance to explore art concepts and techniques with other people when I was mature enough to go deep. I know there are benefits to being an autodidact and going on your independent inquiries into life, but sometimes I wonder what I missed. That's why I really enjoy when artists share what's behind the magic curtain.

I'm still learning about painting. I do a lot of experimenting, and the more I do, the more I learn. I guess any good artist will always be learning about their craft and their creativity. It is so much about the process. I believe that. That's why I share my process here, sometimes. But sometimes it's also about the product. I'm working on that, too.

Maybe I should stop painting everything in my journal, and start painting on proper paper... or canvas even. *gasp!*

As for writing, it's very interesting. I never show anyone the process of my writing. Nothing that's not perfect. No one has every read the first drafts of my novels, but I've posted my process of painting everyday on the world wide web. Go figure.

And yesterday, I watched Anne of Green Gables on PBS instead of writing furiously, so only managed 440 words.

nanowrimo total: 45870

This is the last day for the Flying Girl giveaway, so post before midnight if you want to be in the drawing.

The Magic Maker, or A Spoonful of Sugar

The Magic Maker, or A Spoonful of Sugar
11/24/08 AEDM #24
Golden Fluid Acrylic, Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens

She blows in when the wind is just right and everything becomes magic. She is the heart of a song. The fall of a golden leaf in autumn. The scent of cinnamon rolls in the oven. She is the one who makes every day into pure magic. Some think she is Mary Poppins, practically perfect and something not quite human, but that is not true. The Magic Maker is inside of you. She is the part of you that says "yes." She is the part that pays attention and hangs up the colored glass to shine in the window. She encourages beauty and joy and wonderful things, because these are the things that make life better. These are the things that make the necessary bitterness of life palatable.

It doesn't matter how difficult your life is. There is still a sunset or a song on the radio or a piece of chocolate with pomegranate and chili filling. Whatever your magic, entertain it. And through the magic, make it through the tough times with your soul intact.

An interesting thing about The Magic Maker... she does not make the hard time disappear. She does not bring love where there is none. She does not give you gifts that you do not already have... she makes magic of what IS. Listen to old Mary... I mean Magic Maker, and catch that rainbow while it hovers above your rainstorm.

PS She also wishes to say that laughter makes you float.

In the reverse, the magic maker is here to say, you've got to get out of your gutter. There's a whole sky above you twinkling with stars, gleaming with sunrise, dotted with puffy clouds, swirling with energy. Look up from your grind. Look up from the gloom that the bitter reality has left you in and pay attention to the good things. Only seeing the possibility of doom is a good way to walk straight into Doom Street. Stop searching for signs of disaster, signs of what is wrong with the world, and look instead for the directions in life that are pointing towards a better world.

My suggestion, begin to keep a list of the things you are thankful for, the things that bring you joy, the things that are beautiful. No matter how small or how large, pay attention to the little things. It takes time to change the habits of negativity. It doesn't happen over night. And there is no magic pill, either. But the plus side to this is it doesn't take some inborn magical ability to have a positive attitude, it just takes work and retraining.

If you want it, you too can have a life full of magic.
***
Interestingly, I was sitting at my desk, finishing up some touches on The Magic Maker, and G came up to me, with some markers, and said, "Magic!" Then he went "POOF!" and he made them "D'appear." He did this for a half an hour, making all sorts of things disappear and reappear. Waving his arms dramatically, being suitably pleased at my amazement at his magic making abilities.

Did it have to do with the magician on Sesame Street? You bet it did, but it's quite a coinkidink. Or, perhaps a simple case of synchronicity. You know that's always popping up. It's no coincidence that we watched Mary Poppins yesterday, and she shows up today.

And I went on with my own magic making today, giving the kids their first taste of the joy that is refrigerator cinnamon rolls. I was going to save them for Thanksgiving morning, but I decided to do them today. I love those suckers, although I limit their intake for obvious reasons. They've always seemed kind of magic to me. A little bit of sugar frosting makes everything magic, right?

We also built a little pillow fort in the play room, a nice place to eat their lunch while I take my photos, upload the photos, write my post and say hi to you guys. Pillow forts are full of magic, and so is sneaking in time to write.

Maybe the magic there is I'll be able to use nap time to catch up on my writing and even some chores?

nanowrimo word count: 45430. (1322 yesterday-- boy woke up from nap early. writing session interrupted.)

The Dragon, or The Creative Fire

The Dragon, or The Creative Fire
11/20/08 AEDM #20
Golden Fluid Acrylic

This image is the Dragon. He represents all that is in us and can be set free. He is the fire of inspiration. He is passion. He is imagination made real.

Dragons are interesting. They don't exist, but they are a world wide concept. Or do they exist? Are they buried in the past, leaving only shadows of themselves for us to interpret? Dragons, dinosaurs... it depends upon your point of view and the stories you want to tell.

Dragons point to the unimaginably powerful force that is the human mind. What stories do you want to make real? What possibilities do you want to create in this world? If you can imagine it, you can create it. The dragon gives us the drive to do so.

The dragon represents fire. Fire represents the life force, the will. Take this image as a reminder that you are capable of anything. You have the passion. You have the will. You have the ideas. Jump, and you will fly across the horizon with the strength of the dragon, inspiring all who witness your transformation.

But can the concept of Dragon be all light and goodness? No. Fire not only makes civilization possible, but it also is an elemental destructive force. Is your passion ruling your reason? Is the fire out of control, getting in the way of manifesting your own dreams? Is your anger keeping people and opportunities away? Are you in danger of burning out? Burning up?

Reversed Dragon serves as a reminder that the fire that can warm can also burn and you need to get control of that fire before it rages through cities and destroys the population.

***
I am looking at this dragon as a sign that it is time to manifest my dreams. I am on the verge of getting my tech together to open my etsy store. I know I have been talking about it forever, but I am almost there. What is the difference between now and before? Is it The Dragon that says it's time to take things out of the realm of ideas and into the realm of reality?

I am still interpreting this image. Could it also have to do with the discussion I had with my cousin about some other family members where in we both released some of our own anger? Hmm. We talked on the phone instead of me doing my writing for the day, so it interfered with my creativity, but I don't know if releasing that pent up energy was a negative in the larger picture.

That fire element is pretty powerful stuff, but it needs to be taken care of, both the passion and the anger, or it can get wild and backfire. Perhaps it is better to let that kind of stuff out, and transform it into creative energy, than to hold it in and until it burns like a wildfire and you have to stand on your roof with a hose, lest it take your whole house. Much better to channel that fire into fireplaces, ovens, refineries, kilns, novels, paintings, dance, music, etc, than to let it go BOOM.

Nanowrimo total: 41480. 2662 words yesterday.

Oh yeah, and if you haven't already, come on over to my Giveaway for the chance to win one of my original Flying Girl paintings. Please leave a way for me to contact you.