Bliss & Blessings

Playful week inside with colorful art supplies while it was cold and gray outside!  Did an interesting little letting go and welcoming in exercise as part of Life Book 2015.  I had never done anything quite this elaborate setting aside conscious time for extra awareness like this before.  It was actually quite a nice experience. Initially, I was just going to do the basics on the messy table, but Tamara’s space looked so tranquil that I decided to take the little extra time to clear a small space and put down a piece of fabric.  Here’s a picture of my set-up and a picture of the message from the tea I decided to have after. 🙂

As part of the Life book week 2 project, I made some new (and bigger!) bliss and blessings jars.  I had made one for myself and for each of my kids and for gifts in the past and even sold a few at a local store with a similar idea as ‘gratitude jars’ that said ‘count your blessings’ and ‘give thanks’ on the outside.  I actually ended up giving the ones I made for myself and my kids away as gifts (since we keep gratitude journals and could part with them at the time) with the intention to replace them eventually and had been saving jars for the purpose.

So, the Life Book week 2 project to create an awesome jar was the perfect time to do so!  Another artist called it her ‘celebration’ jar.  🙂  These are much more colorful than the ones I made in the past (with fall/thanksgiving colors in mind at that time).  I used mod podge, though that’s not what Tam suggested in the Life Book lesson, because I had done so successfully in the past, I had plenty on hand, and it is much more affordable than the golden gel medium.  I found some lovely napkins that had been gifted to me in happy mail from the DLP (Documented Life Project) group last year and love the way they work similar to tissue paper in collage to give a translucent layer on top of the collage papers underneath.  More great tip from Tamara LaPorte! 🙂  The only one completely finished so far is mine.  I decided to leave the words on the rim of the jar because they reflect the words chosen for the year (thrive and harmony for me, health and happiness for my boys, and truth (purity?) for my husband).  I added the text ‘soul food’ to the bliss & blessings tag to tie the food reference together.  I added green tissue around the top and bottom in an attempt to create the look of colored green glass (I tried acrylic paint first and didn’t love how that turned out so added the green tissue paper over top of the paint layer).  I will enjoy adding papers with things/times that bring bliss to the jar to revisit at the end of the year. <3  The first thing to go in the jar was some incense in hopes of replacing the saurkraut smell that stuck with it even after being well cleaned!  The next thing in was the wisdom from a yogi tea bag that I had while making these.

The bird on the lid lost it’s tail in the process and that was really bothering me so I ended up giving it the tip from one our chicken’s shedded feathers so now it has a real feather tail. 🙂

While the messy supplies were out, I went ahead and made a few more to be candle holders with other jars that I’d been saving and a bottle that I just love the shape of.  I really love how the napkin looks directly over the blue glass bottle at the top. 🙂

As a bonus project for Life Book week 2, Roben-Marie Roberts Smith guided us in creating a fun tag.  I chose to use an old library catalog card (instead of a typical tag) that I had received in happy mail last year.  It happened to be from a ‘choose your own adventure’ book, which was about the only kind of book I really liked as a kid!  I became a true bookworm much later.  My kids also love these books and have even tried writing a few short ones of their own!  Due to the orientation of library catalog cards with the hole on the bottom to go in the old card catalog drawers and because I really wanted to keep the words ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ visible and prominent, I had to have it horizontal.  This inspired the idea of turning it into a little wall hanging for my room to remind me of the words (focus/intent/hopes) chosen for the year, ‘thrive’ and ‘harmony’.  It was fun to make… though seed beads may not be for me… wow, what patience and precision is required to work with those little gems!

A few days later, this just didn’t seem finished and wasn’t communicating the word/idea ‘thrive’ the way I intended.  I decided to add more color and more blooms, imagining our peach tree when it is covered with blooms and the idea of an abundant, fruitful harvest.  I’ve also discovered a new love for the white posca pen (ordered because it was on the supply list for class).  Finally, I added the word ‘play’ along the front side edge because this word has been in my head all week.  Though it was made to be a wall-hanging, it’s currrently keeping me company on the table where I’ve been creating.  I was lucky to salvage some more old library catalog cards from our local library recently so I might make some more to make available for sale on etsy and at local shops. 🙂

I also spent a bit of time this week playing in sketch book and having fun with paint.  🙂  I want to keep practicing the skills from both the year of painting course and Life Book 2015 and also acknowledge the idea that ‘play makes progress’.  🙂  Both teachers, Alena Hennessy and Tamara LaPorte, have helped encourage the playful attitude that I’ve tried to adopt in the last year when approaching art (and life!) and their influences have helped the critic in my head loosen up and laugh and join me in the creative fun.  I had a few lovely evenings sketching and playing games with my kids by the fire with the sparkling lights of the ‘winter’ tree (I’ve decided to keep the Christmas tree up a bit longer to enjoy the colors during this stark month).

Work/Play in progress: 🙂

If you ever wonder how I manage to fit time in for any of this around homeschooling and homestead chores, it’s because I leave a mess out ready to take advantage of any few minutes I can find to work on another layer!  (And, I’m not a great housekeeper!)  I usually don’t have any extended periods of uninterrupted time to devote to painting so things evolve in small efforts here and there.  The above piece ‘From Sunrise to Sunset’ started as the sketch at right and then had a poem written to go with it, which will be added back into the final piece (I think!).  I probably would have never actually tried using paper scraps to ‘paint’ the colors in if it weren’t for taking the Year of Painting course with Alena Hennessy.  Though this particular piece isn’t really applying the paper collage technique the way she describes it in lesson 1, it was inspired by that lesson.   I had a bag of scraps, a ‘crumb bag’ as one of my prior teachers called it, with lots of long strips of scrapbooking paper so it was perfect for using with the one above for waves and sun rays.  The word ‘play’ seems to have decided to join my others for the year (along with ‘open’ as seen on the top of the bliss jar) as a little voice inside keeps reminding me to open my heart and head to play while creating. 🙂 <3  Loosening up and playing more has been fun this week!

 
The painting above has been another one urging me to play.  It felt so good to make the big, bold flower bloom after the more detailed work of faces for past few months.  The free motion helped loosen up the tension that creeps in sometimes.  I didn’t really love the way the green lily pads looked so I painted over them.  Then, I wondered if I should add more layers to the solid blue water.  The scraps on the table seemed to reply with a resounding, “Yes, there’s a whole world in there!”  So using scraps of napkins and paper leftover from making the jars above, the colorful coral reef was born.  Am I the only one that sees coral polyps, colorful fish, sea weed, and such in these bits?  I LOVE it!  I spent part of my youth in the Florida Keys and this took me through some great memories with my parents on the reef.  Perhaps the idea/goal to ‘be present’ can include the good times from the past as well.  Time is a curious thing!  While re-living times on the water and imagining the little white ripped edges of paper as waves, my stomach even seemed to remember the feeling of being there and I started to feel a little bit sea sick… in a few ways!  Not sure how this one will evolve and whether the reef will remain as visible or if the bloom will move to a different painting to be the focus on its own… yet, I sure am enjoying letting the art lead and playing the whole way there!

Grateful for the bliss and blessings of being able to participate in these awesome classes, spend time at home with my family, have time to play with art supplies in the heat inside while some of the outdoor chores take a rest, for learning new techniques and technology (Loving Rd is now on instagram and I’m having fun sharing little bits more often there so if you enjoy the work in progress photos or like the photos the most and don’t always have time or interest in the long-winded (I mean detailed) descriptions, then you might want to follow there), remembering good times with family and friends from the past that have gone ahead of me into the mystic that is heaven, being inspired by so many other artists that are posting amazing work and embracing vulnerability with courage in the online classes,  for the loving energy that I’ve witnessed expressed for those that have been hurt, for possibility and hope, for hearth and home.

May your bliss and blessings be plentiful, too. <3