Going into the studio Friday to make those little book pages got the ball rolling. Friday night and Saturday morning I started and then finished this little beauty.
As you can see in the top picture there was a lot of tiny paper cutting. When I started out I fully intended it to be aqua and rust. The piece decided that it wanted to stay mainly green blue, although there are tiny subtle touches of warm coloring here and there. It is now affordably available in the shop.
Then yesterday after reading about my sloppy studio woes, my sister came and took over in the Studio Re-Organization Mission of 2011. It probably goes hand in hand with her chosen profession in mathematics, but boy, can that girl organize and systematize. My studio is straight, and I’m more ready for Thing-A-Day than ever before. My rolls of fancy papers no longer need to stand in rolls, but can be put away flat on my big paper shelves, my resin materials have their own place, my zines have their own shelf, and the snozberries taste like real snozberries!
I think I’m back to creating, folks
Unieboek Mug, originally uploaded by robayre.
So, while I celebrate “winning” this mug, let me share with you a few other celebrations:
Thing-a-Day 2011 is coming up February First. It’s my fourth year participating. It’s always a lot of fun, I get really inspired and I always meet new creative people. Sign ups are open now until the First. Remember, your daily thing can be as big or as little as you want. Bake a new meal, knit a hat, sketch a doodle, or anything in between.
Rosa Murillo was interviewed by Artist and Author Summer Pierre on her series of Artists and Motherhood. Check it out here.
Tiffany Teske was published in one of my favorite magazines, Cloth, Paper and Scissors. I’m so excited for her. This is actually a goal of mine as well – to get printed in that magazine, but first I’d have to contribute ;) Read about Tiffany’s contribution here.
It’s the middle of winter. It’s freezing cold everyday. The sun is only out while I’m away at work, and then hides away the moment I get off for the day. I’ve been horrible about blogging, but only because I haven’t been working on much artwork at all, but being very crafty and domestic; Knitting, sewing, baking and the like.
Yesterday I saw this tutorial on Whip Up, on how to make patchwork potholders. In the kitchen I feel like I’m always desperately searching for something to pull out the hot stuff from the oven. The tutorial looked super easy and I was all excited to get home and start cranking these puppies out. Immediately upon starting I realized that it wasn’t going to be as fast and easy as I thought. I made the above potholder and it’s a real disgrace.
Frustrated I realized that there are probably TONS of crafters who make quilted potholders on Etsy. I was inspired to make this treasury with some that caught my eye. I’m usually all about DIY, but It was one of those times where I realized I would be thrilled to support a handmade artist, and buy my future potholders online, rather than suffer through making another. And boy are they affordable! You can find lots of them for $2-$5 range. For a handmade item, that someone lovingly created, that is amazing.
And, a special note, I found this particular shop, Vintage Armoire, that takes old quilts and turns them into potholders. I love that.
The holidays flew by faster than I could appreciate them. Have you ever seen that Adam Sandler movie Click? In the movie the main character gets a remote control that allows him to fast forward and skip through parts of his life. While he’s forwarding or skipping through events, his mind skips ahead while his body is on “autopilot”. It’s that feeling many of us survive on to get through hours, days or even whole periods of our lives. The movie was largely panned, but the idea and message has always stayed with me and I think that’s more important than the overall reviews. The end idea was that the remote was a bad thing. We should never want to wish away parts of our lives. Still, if only I could get my hands on one of those remotes! But, I feel like I’m already living on fast forward. If I had a remote I would use it to slow down time, appreciate the little things, live my life to its fullest possibilities, and be my most productive.
Here’s to a great 2011, where we complete all the things we have our hearts set on and appreciate and use wisely all the time we have.
