Shedding Season Has Begun!

Lydia has begun shedding earlier this year.  I don't know if that is a reflection of the harder winter this last year.  Or if it is a warning of the hotter summer to come.  I hope it is more about the winter passed than the summer coming.  We have a brushing session like this daily now as I attempt to save my carpet from looking like the yard.  But the funny thing is the clumps in the grass don't stay long.  The birds think Lydia's hair is lovely for nest making.  I imagine little baby birds all snuggled up in white blankets of Lydia's winter coat.  I wish I could be in just the right spot at just the right moment to get a picture when the birds come to gather.  They look so funny as they fly away with tufts of white hair hanging from their beaks - kind of like little Santa Birds.    

Wind and Honey Creations

Learning to Draw with Wonderful Pencils

This fat little bluebird is the drawing I will be teaching in The Artful Gathering 2011 this summer.  The class is entitled An Enchanting Bluebird.  He was drawn and shaded with a Derwent Graphic pencil and then the color was added with both Derwent Inktense and Derwent Watercolor pencils.  Derwent has left their competition in the dust in recent years as they have repeatedly introduced new and wonderful lines of high quality art pencils.  There seems to be no end to what they imagine you can do with a pencil.  You will find that the Inktense are no exception to this.  The colors are intense and beautiful.  And the possibilities are wide.  I hope you will join me for this Artful Gathering class.  You'll see what I mean about these pencils.  Prepare yourself to fall in love with them!

This little girl and her friend the swan were also done in a combination of Derwent Inktense and Watercolor pencils.

Wind and Honey Creations

The Artful Gathering

Join Me July 17 - August 20 for The Artful Gathering - an online art retreat.   I will be joining 15 other talented teachers to bring you a wide variety of classes.  I am teaching a drawing class that incorporates both graphite pencil as well as water based pencils for color.  This class would be suitable for beginning artists as well as intermediate level drawers.   Just think.  You don't have to wash clothes, iron, pack, schedule a flight, reserve hotel rooms, eat fast food, or even get someone to sit with your pets.  Instead you can sit on the couch in your jammies with the cat in your lap and the dog on your feet.  And you will be joining artists from all over the world to take a wide range of art classes.  What fun it will be!  Check it out at The Artful Gathering




Wind and Honey Creations

Easter Thoughts in a Room Made of Clay

My daughter, Kate is about to graduate with a Master's in Fine Art.  (Yes, we are quite proud, thank you.)  Her Master's Thesis Show has been this month.  It is something quite different than the traditional paintings or sculptures all lined up on display.  Her studies have been in the area of ceramics and she has been especially intrigued with the interplay between fiber and clay.  With that in mind, her show was an installation of a child's room.  Kate is not fond of talking about the details of her work while it is in progress.  So we were not quite sure what we were going to find when we arrived at the reception.  (You can see many more pictures of Kate's show and pictures that show the room as a whole by clicking on the 2 links in this paragraph.)

I walked in and saw the bed she had grown up on and I remembered that as sweet as those times were, she was grown up now to live her own life.  And as I noticed the happy delightful scene in "The Dream" set just outside of the bedroom, I smiled and was reminded of the many times we read The Velveteen Rabbit and how very alive Kate's stuffed friends always were (probably still are as they grumble about being crowded in those packing boxes in the closet). Taking in the room as a whole, I was impressed by how very much work it had been.  As we were complimented repeatedly on Kate's skill and artistry by those that were in a position to know, I joked about hanging a sign around my neck that said, "Yes, I am her mother!"  I looked around at the separate pieces made with such creativity and I was reminded of the innocence of childhood and how precious that is. 

After the initial "cuteness" had sunk in, I began to notice other things, the spring coming up out of the chair with torn upholstery, the broken shoes, the less than perfect forms of the stuffed friends.  The beautiful, yet very heavy quilt made of clay tiles hand crocheted together.  A depth in the work started to emerge showing that life, even childhood, has both the good, the smiles, and the comfort as well as the torn hopes, the stains, and the weight of brokenness.  

The more I thought about this the more profound I found it.  Like the clothes made of clay as thin as the fabric had once been, we are at times quite fragile and in need of special and extra gentle care.  Kate covered the white fabric on the corner chair with clay that covered all the stains from its previous life.  But as the clay dried, the stains reappeared showing that in life, stains must be removed rather than simply covered up.  That is something we are unable to do for ourselves.  We don't have a stain remover strong enough that we can remove the stains of life that are on our souls by ourselves.

I was intrigued with the process Kate had for creating the stuffed friends and the pillows.  After searching and saving them at thrift stores, she saturated the fabric with clay, and like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, she threw them into the oven.  As they were fired, the fabric, the stuffing, and all that we knew them to be before was burned up forever.  They were no more.  What was left was a new self - the clay, hardened and in the perfect form of the object it had covered.  Where it had once been worn and dirty, it was now clean, solid, and strong.  It had been made new.  

  

The Poet would quickly remind me that this analogy doesn't fit completely.  And I see that.  But I just couldn't help but be reminded that this is what Easter is all about.  We are less than we were created to be.  The brokenness and tears of life have distorted us from how we would like to imagine life.  We are worn out and have tried to cover our stains, just to have them resurface.  That is the message, the hope, of Easter.  If we will cover and saturate ourselves with the One who died and rose again, all that is less within us is removed.  And we are made new again to live new and stronger lives.  He is our hope.

Wind and Honey Creations

The Benefit of Fun

What difference does it make to have fun?  Well, kids could answer that in about 2 seconds.  It makes ALL the difference.  If a lesson plan isn't fun, I've lost the students almost from the beginning.  And that's even true of the adults, too.  Their heart isn't in it and soon their concentration won't be either.  They stumble through the activity with only half the effort.  And the 'less than wonderful' results at the end of the project prove this project was not fun enough.

I know that life isn't all fun and sometimes one must do tasks that are simply necessary and not so pleasant.  But what if we began to look for ways to put more fun into our lives?  If we smiled more, if we laughed more, if we had more fun, wouldn't those unavoidable less fun things be more tolerable?  Doesn't the chocolate pudding at the end of the meal make the brussels sprouts less  unpleasant?

The Fun Theory by Volkswagon is a site dedicated to the idea that simply adding fun to our lives can make a difference for us and for the world around us.  Here is a video of an experiment proving this theory.  When the only way to get from down to up was a flight of stairs and and an escalator, the stairs were a lonely place.  But after a piano keyboard was added to the steps, thereby creating instant fun, the stairs became a much much more popular route.

Wind and Honey Creations

Sharing Backgrounds

Here are a couple of images taken by my son.  These could be used for mixed media collage or for digital backgrounds.  I even tweaked the barn wall a bit for you so you could see some of the possibilities.  Feel free to use these images in your art.  Then come back and share your creations with us all.

Wind and Honey Creations

Matchbox Swap

In February I participated in the Petite Inspiration Box Swap an art swap event sponsored by Speckled Egg.  This swap featured altered matchboxes.  We were divided into groups of three.  Before mailing our artfully decorated boxes, we filled them with tiny vintage goodies.  I absolutely love both of the boxes I received.  I thoroughly enjoyed this event and getting to know my two group members.  Here are pictures of the wonderful boxes they sent to me.

Jan of JaN'sArTyJouRney sent me this great box of goodies.

And Jen of On a Journey created this beautiful altered matchbox.  Look at those cute little shoes.  Love 'em!

And here are the boxes I sent to them.  I forgot to take a picture of mine with the goodies showing.  So, you'll just have to imagine these boxes filled with itty bitty great stuff.

This little bunny box is decorated with a digital collage that I created months ago but had not used yet.  This box went all the way to England to Jan of JaN'sArTyJouRney

And this peaceful little girl was sent to Texas to Jen of On a Journey

Did you notice what I did?  We didn't plan what we would be sending.  We talked about color preferences and style.  But made no particular plans.  Do you see that Jan used music on my box and I used it in hers?  And Jen used white textured embossed paper on my box and I used it on hers.  Isn't that interesting?

Now I have something funny to share.  Lydia and Bo have a DogIt water fountain.  The reason they have such an elaborate water bowl is a long story that I won't get into.  But last week the Poet was helping me out by doing the weekly cleaning of the dog fountain.  It is not exactly the most pleasant thing to do as there is usually a pretty generous quantity of slobber involved.  However, this time the reservoir was abundant with crumpled leaves and dry grass.    ---  huh?!!?     You have to wonder if Lydia is trying something new, carrying grass and leaves around in her big lips like chewing tobacco.

I have to admit that I felt a certain degree of relief that I was not the one cleaning the fountain on this particular day.  I left the room intent on another task.  Later, when I returned, I found this not-so-poetic note written to Lydia and Bo and taped right at their eye level above their water fountain.   LOL!!!

I'll let you know if it works!!!

Wind and Honey Creations