I am about to embark on a new AB round robin, under the broad umbrella of ‘the dark side’. By that I don’t mean stanic rituals and child sacrifices, but an exploration of the sort of themes we might not ordinarily be comfortable exploring in art. However, given a ’safe’ environment, we might welcome the opportuity to do so.

I quite fancy something along the lines of themes associated with death, including

• expectations of ‘life after death’ - heaven, hell, nirvana, reincarnation, ghosts, spirits, angels etc.
• cemetary art
• exploring loss
• cultural customs, rituals, such as colours of mourning
• death in tarot

Not knowing a lot about Tarot, I was intrigued when Miles told me that the Death card in Tarot signifies change, the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Wouldn’t that be a fascinating book? Sharing spread on our feelings about change, the emotions it evokes, positive and negative.

I also quite fancy exploring loss, putting feelings onto paper can be difficult in itself when using a pen but sometimes using a paintbrush or scissors might be liberating.

There are so many different angles that might be covered, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the group comes up with. I think the round robin will be a good opportunity for reflection on self, and could be very personal, perhaps exploring our own ‘dark sides’, the sides we don’t always expose to the public.

I think this will be a challenge for me as I haven’t delved into these areas art-wise for a very long time. I think the nearest I came was painting my feelings when I ran out of words. but I think it it’s always good to extend ones comfort zone, it gets the blood pumping that bit harder.

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I was just on the ‘phone to Cath at Katy’s Corner and telling her about what I had made with the canvases I bought from her a while back, I told her that there was a picture on here, if she wanted a look. So, I went to look at it myself, and was shocked to realise that I had forgotten to upload it. Quel horreur! I couldn’t believe it, but then I realised that since the person I made it for, reads this blog, I had decided to upload picies after Chrimbo, and then promptly forgot. Duh….

Here’s my ‘Noel’ master-piece (LOL!). It stands 10cm tall, and I used natural beeswax (so it smells scrummy) together with some coloured wax. The brass stencil ‘O’ you might remember from here. I am about 90% happy with the way it turned out, obviously, in hindsight there are changes I would make to my process. Fortunately the person who received it was very happy with it, which is what counts.

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I often struggle with the idea of making art every day, well, not so much the idea of making art every day but the actual reality of making art every day. You know what that means don’t you? It means I don’t make art every day. Creatively speaking this is a bad move, it’s important to create every day, whether you’re a writer or an actor, or whatever. Stephen King, in his fantastic book On Writing, said that if writers don’t make the time to read, they shouldn’t even attempt to make the time to write. So what does that mean for artists? Maybe it means that we should absorb art by seeking it out, reading about it, looking at it. Well, at least I know I do that, you should see the list of blogs I subscribe to!

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I joined a kilt pin swap on a Yahell group, and finally got round to making a mock-up pin.
The colour in the photo looks a bit dodgy but you get the idea. It’s not great, as I think I should maybe have gone for more variation in the charms I used, but I think I managed the connections and the jump rings a bit better than I thought I would. I will keep on practising though as I’ve got a few weeks before I need to send one out.

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I signed up for an AB round robin on ANUK before Christmas, each player has to choose a favorite childhood book. I chose Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, I was given it as a child, together with Good Wives and Little Men. My own copy has been well-loved and I didn’t want to alter it so I set out to find another. To cut a long story short, I somehow managed to end up with 5 copies. I re-read most of the book, at once falling in love with it all over again. I remembered wishing that the plot had taken a different turn so that my heroine’s spoilt brat of a baby sister didn’t marry the ‘hero’, but then, that’s a different book.

Here are the two spreads I completed in the book that I finally settled on. On the first spread I used micaceous iron oxide paint, which is an odd paint (?) because I’m not sure what colour it is, exactly. In the jar, and on the palette it looks sort of grey, on the page it has a sparkley quality, which I assume is related to the mica content, but it can’t seem to decide if it is grey or brown.

I used natural beeswax on the second spread, to coat the elements, and as an adhesive, which gives it a glass-like texture and the sweet aroma of honey.

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… with creativity, inspiration and tears.

I thought I’d share a few cool blogs that Idrop in on from time to time. The first is Belinda Spiwak’s blog, obviously an arty one. Belinda oozes creativity, and has just recently covered a lot of fun background techniques, which I think she read in Bernie Berlin’s new book Artist Trading Card Workshop. Speaking of which, as I have been typing this, the doorbell just rang, and the postman delivered, guess what, Bernie Berlin’s Artist Trading Card Workshop! (and Terry Taylor’s Altered Object). I think I have taken a break from buying art ’stuff’ and am instead spending all my shekels on buying books, which is no bad thing by my reckoning. After all, books can’t go ‘off’ can they, unlike some paints I know of. I’ll let you know how I get on with Bernie’ book when I’ve had a chance to read it properly, but flicking through it, it looks like there are some great background techniques that are simple enough even for me to master.

I saw a post on Jesus’ Favorite which really touched me. As I read on I felt moved by this woman’s experiences, and I was overwhelmed by a familiar aching. It never fails to surprise me that reading about or watching someone else’s loss can trigger such extreme reactions in me (and probably im most people). You should have seen me after the Asian Tsunami, I was a regular train-wreck. I literally sobbed all day; on the ‘phone, during meals, you name it.
Aaaanyway, back to creative blogging. Now, I have a few of Nita Leland’s books (surprise, surprise) and I really like her style of writing. Her blog is really interesting, covering art-things plus related topics. This quote made me chortle:

Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work. –Gustave Flaubert

I can think of more than one artist who may benefit from applying a little order to their lives - you know who you are - ROFL! Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure anyone who walks over my threshold could say the same for me, mea culpa!

One creative blog that I drop in on from time to time is Kelly Angard’s. Although Kelly’s blog initially turned me off with the ’scrapbooky’ element of it (nothing against scrappers, it’s just not my ‘thang y’all’), she works through her book, Creative Collage for Scrapbooks, shares of herself in it, and asks the readers to expect the same from themselves, in a way. Not having read the book, I can’t comment on it, but I do enjoy reading the blog.

Moving away from creative blogging again, here’s Neil Gaiman’s blog. I first came across Neil, maybe fifteen years ago when I was devouring Terry Pratchet’s books. Neil co-authored (I think that’s the phrase) Good Omens which I absolutely loved, it was SO funny. Anyhooo, didn’t really think of him again until shortly before I got married, when the photographer, who was a bit of a name-dropper, told me that Neil Gaiman was his cousin. Then maybe last year or the year before, Miles started reading illustrated novels (which, as far as I can tell, are comic boks for grown-ups), and bought me one written by Neil Gaiman, which is really good too, but not funny like Good Omens. This leads me to last year when I found Neil’s blog through Wil’s blog.

Phew, that all folks!

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I don’t really make New Years Resolutions, as I invariabley don’t keep them, and then end up guilt-ridden. However, I have made a mental ‘to do’ list, which, in itself is quite extensive, but here is an art-related exerpt:

• complete an AB just for me to keep, not a collaborative project
• make art for me rather than just for swaps
• be more confident about my art
• create a piece of art every day
• try to sell just one piece of my art (yikes! can’t believe I just said that)
• work through one of the many ‘creativity boosting’ books I have on my shelf

I think that’s got to be it for me. There’s no point making a HUGE list and not completing any of the items, that’s my thinking.

The rest of my list contains the ‘usual suspects’, losing weight, exercising, reading more etc., so I won’t put you to sleep by listing everything….

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