Recent Endeavours

I have not yet done this week's C of C challenge. Lots of collections around my house but how to chose one, what to do with it for the challenge, how to depict it, I keep going round and round. Hopefully something will jell. Meanwhile here are a couple of other recent endeavors.

C of C Challenge: Inspire

I have been diverted away from doing my art by other life demands... the new semester began at the University and I am teaching 2 classes... but I am back! Yeah!

I am inspired by so much of what I see in other's work; two things I am longing to try when I get my official art space set up are female icons and little shrines in Altoid tins. Meanwhile tho, I have been recently inspired by all the beautiful Valentine projects I am seeing on the blogs. So, I pulled out some supplies and tried my hand at it. I plan to surprise a few folks with these in the coming week.

Cabinet of Curiosity- Prompt #3

The Cabinet of Curiosity Prompt #3 was based on the idea of dreams. Not the night-time ones but the ones that encompass things we dream of doing or accomplishing.

This time of year is when I starting dreaming of the warmer, longer days of Spring when I can get my hands back into the dirt and the perennials begin to show their heads once again. This year I am also dreaming of the things I have planned for the new gardens I have been establishing: the water feature, the expanded beds and more.

Here is the 4x6 collage I created with this dream in mind. I'd love to just wander down the path, enter through the tiny gate and wander into this dream.

Cabinet of Curiosity- Prompt #2

Prompt #2 for the challenge was "Curiosity"

(( Sorry. I scanned and re-posted this. It is properly rotated on my hard drive but not here and no matter what I do I cannot get it to rotate horizontally))

The challenge was to create a piece using a several step process. In this challenge the steps/ process and sequence was determined by drawing word cards with directives, such as "paint' or "pen" or "paper." I found this was a real challenge for me b/c I usually create my pieces beginning with one idea (picture, word) and flow from there spontaneously. I also ended up with a piece that is fuller and busier than what I usually find myself doing. So, I have mixed feelings about the outcome. That being said, it was a good exercise for me to stretch, and to seek ways to integrate many steps and processes into one piece. So, here is the product of what was truly "experimentation" for me.

I chose the word "Create" as my starting point and my inspiration piece (colors etc) was a picture of a bouquet of pansies. I included a picture of Luther Brubank fairly predominantly. He embodies the word create; he is responsible for the hybridization and proliferation of the Shasta daisy in the late 19th century.

The words on the 4 x 6 piece (in case you cannot read them in the digital pic) are:
"Create" "a five day conversation piece." And: "diverse, interesting, experimentation prevents decay."

Cabinet of Curiosity #1 - EXPLORE!

Something new for me: I am going to try my hand at an art blog challenge - Cabinet of Curiosity. I am a week behind but here is my response to the the first prompt: Explore. This is a 2 piece card set (4x6 each) based on old photos and maps of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil -- dissected and re-configured and then embellished. I had the opportunity to explore there, for just a couple of days, many years ago and just maybe I will return to explore some more. If I do I would like to more exploration of the beaches (hence the emerald sea reference) and the botanical gardens.

This is a digital pic of my piece, as my scanner is not set up at the moment. The pic doesn't capture it all... the chalk embellishment for instance, just doesn't come thru. Hopefully it will give you the idea.