Making Changes

Always good to make changes and here at Blue Sky Dreaming I'm preparing to step away from the flat surface for awhile. I'm putting together three dimensional shapes and using my stories, fabrics, beads and stitching in a different way. Not altogether new for me but with a fresh approach. I've written some of my stories and some working titles such as 1. Caravans 2. Healing from within 3.Magic and incantations 4. a favorite of mine, Abandoned elements. I am featuring a mask I created a long time ago (in the sidebar, click to read) as a reminder to  myself of the fun of changing things up! I had also added some interesting thoughts and quotes...worth the read. What are you tweaking, changing, altering in your art making? New Year is a good time for some off road play in art making. Wish me luck and tell me of your plans!

Carnelian Night Garden

8"x10", black burlap, bleached fabric, beads, cotton backing, machine stitching.

My original intention was to begin new work with pale desert colored cloth and then this little black unraveling piece caught my eye as well as the remainder of my carnelian looking beads. So one thing led to another and I paired this dark cloth with cut out shapes revealing bleached printed floral fabric. These blossoms took on a moonlight glow for me. I added the beads in a splayed out fashion and added a red backing. I quickly ironed and photographed this piece as it was really difficult to hold together...like a dream.

The photo is of a silver and carnelian ring I've had for well over thirty years. I was told at the time it was old and possibly created in Morocco. Its design resembles the old poison rings and has always brought up
romantic desert tales for me. The stone is found in India which makes me believe it could have easily found itself on a caravan as a trading item. Carnelian is considered a joyful stone with calm energy. I wear it often stacked with other silver bands...fun!

Blue Sky Unmasked

This is so exciting for me! I am going to be interviewed by my favorite, Willow of Life at Willow Manor. I will answer her five questions and then I will invite you, my blog friends, to be interviewed as well. The instructions are at the end of this post.

1. What one thing most fuels your creativity?

If it were just one thing then I might then turn it on or off but it's everything in my world...it all seams to ignite my creativity. My imagination, the natural world, ancient history, my dreams, my spiritual inquiries ,all speak to me and urge me to self expression.

2. How long have you been painting and what spurred you to start?

I began in kindergarten at the easel with poster paints. As an adult I would take art classes, craft classes and later college courses and workshops. I studied other artists and I painted. My family spurred me on, as my father was an artisan, my mother and sister taught me how to use my dreams and imagination. All my life my mother insisted on dream recall and discussion. My sister had a childhood game of imagining whole lives in our minds, sitting very still and living in another realm. My first husband encouraged me to rent studio space and in the 80"s take my art to the next level. I've always had friends and support groups for encouragement.

3. How did you and Pablo meet?

My name on Yahoo personals was "leap o faith". Yes, Pablo and I met on the Internet. We began as strangers meeting for coffee at a coffeehouse in Santa Cruz and after two hours talking , we moved on to dinner. We met in Jan and we began living together in June. I had been a widow from a 26 year marriage and he ended a 34 year marriage...we were looking for our last best love. I will get his permission to post his poem about our first meeting.

4. If you could chose just one historical figure to have dinner with, who would it be and why?

Wouldn't it be great to ride in a wealthy caravan on the Silk Road?! A caravan with Marco Polo! I would like to step into that time, walk and ride with the pampered women, wearing silk and gold. The music, colors of the tents, fire torches, wine...I would eat the delicious food, listen to the stories, I would see first hand the craftsmanship of the time and be there to witness the great religions being born.

5. What do you consider your greatest extravagance?

I have lived a gifted life, receiving gifts of rings, stayed in a castle in Austria, ate wild extravagant dinners in both New York and LA but they were gifts, extravagant but gifts. My greatest extravagant gift to myself was to buy for cash a small home here in Santa Cruz...all mine! On a lighter note, I bathe everyday only with Vita Bath for the past 30 years. It is a European shower gel $100 for 128 oz. and it feels wonderful everyday!

If you would like to be interviewed by me, leave me a note in the comment section. Give me a day or two to send you 5 questions. Read below!

Here's the instructions:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me".

2.I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

art work is a mixed media collage inspired from a vivid dream.

Back to the Caravan

Enough with the birthdays, time to return to the dream images, the caravan. This is the 2nd of the small pieces dealing with dim light of night. I wanted to express the feeling of moving on sand in darkness. The sounds, smells of the slow movement past the sleeping structures. It measures 8"x8" on foam core, collage, acrylic, joint compound and lino cut stamp. I like using what I have and breaking some rules. Below is a photo of my small collection of plates for this series minus the potato cuts. I added wine corks for handles and made the stamps.

I'll be picking up my four larger pieces on Wednesday from the photo lab...sounds silly but I've missed them!