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Cows or no cows, creativity finds a way

October 23, 2018 4 Comments

At the risk of repeating myself, running a farm takes a lot of time. I’ve been pulled in so many directions this year that I’m not creating wire art as consistently as in 2017.

Here’s the amazing thing. When you’re creative, you almost can’t help but make things no matter what is going on. Whether a giant tree comes down on the power lines or a cow ends up in the neighbor’s pasture, creativity finds a way to keep flowing.

This post is a show-and-tell to share ways art is still finding a way into my life.

Creative outlet 1: Moodboard

I’ve been creating my own Project Runway. Design your Fall Collection, a class on Seamwork.com, helped me identify my personal style and inspired me to create a turtleneck dress. This is the 38-piece printable pattern I’m working from (invisible tape not included).

Although it’s been years since I sewed, the creative muscle memory from Home Ec in 7th grade is still there. Sitting in front of the machine, I know what I need to look at, where things go, and it’s like riding a bicycle. I love it!

Creative outlet 2: Beads

Just because my studio time is limited doesn’t mean I stop looking for new inspiration. My love for lampwork glass beads is unending. This recent arrival from Russia (by artist, Olga Vilnova) inspires me. Just look at the detail and colors!

Creative outlet 3: Shows

Ask any artist. Having a deadline to show your work is motivating. I was thrilled that my In the Doghouse piece was juried into the Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts event last month. While I was finishing that for the deadline, another piece was brewing. For now, it’s resting (that’s an important part of the creative process), but I love it.

My vision is of bees flying their curlicue path among the flowers and barbed wire around the farms where we live. It might become a display with a wearable art pendant, but since the “Ag Show” is here and gone, I’m thinking about next year’s Blossom Trail art events. Sneak peek! Here’s what it looks like so far.

Creative outlet 4: Quilting class

Invited by my dear creative friend and artist, Kathleen Mattox, I’m taking a quilting class and have already started on two pieces. The first is a baby animals quilt. Of course there’s a calf in it.

The other is a fun and colorful birdhouse quilt. Here it is, laid out in pieces on the kitchen counter (because where else would you put it?), ready to be sewn together.

Creative outlet 5: Knitting

At night while we relax in front of the television, I’m knitting with fibers I love for their texture, color, and variety. My hands are on the go! This lovely gradient shawl is one of my works in progress.

When you love color and texture, all the sparkly, colorful, and shiny things just work their way into your life. It’s fun to show you what I HAVE been up to creatively and see it all in one place. It’s a reminder that even as farm life happens around me, being creative is just who I am.

2017: A year of art jewelry (and inspiration for 2018)

January 5, 2018 Leave a Comment

Off the charts creativity

2017 was an incredible year for my art, inspired by the many shows where I was invited to participate. The amount of new pieces grew all year. In celebration, I’d love to show them all off here!

In early January, I participated in Madera Circle Gallery show called A New Journey my wire sculpture piece entitled, “Same Ocean, New Tide” otter piece. Little did I know then that this year would have many animals in it!

2017 was also the Year of the Tiara. It all started during bloom season with the pink princess party—a fun, playful event at Mixed Messages Gallery in Fresno–making sparkly tiaras on headbands. I loved it! Of all the jewelry I’ve made over the years, creating crowns and tiaras was a completely new outlet for my wire art and design skills.

This one-off princess project sparked new enthusiasm and creativity. I designed well over a dozen tiaras that honor the many roles that women play in their lives.

My intention was to bring pride, joy, and playfulness to the ordinary, making the wearer feel like the queen of her life. I even submitted a trio of tiaras to Bead and Button.

My tiaras went on tour as I participated in the Circle Gallery’s “Reflections” show in March.

In spring, I participated in Fresno Artist’s Gallery show, Bead Dreams, Chris Sorenson’s Gallery, Vintage Market at 601, and Mixed Messages Gallery’s spring-themed event.

Here’s “Golden Microcosm” in the Landscape Show at Sorensen’s.

Recognition for my art

One of the stand-out events of the year was receiving Honorable Mention for my submission to the Celebrate Agriculture with the Arts show—and the piece sold too! I really honed new small-wire skills to create this barn structure.

My other huge project was to participate in Mixed Messages’ Baker’s Dozen show, each artist featuring thirteen original works featuring animals. Because I had a great stash of animal bead options on hand, I produced a lot of new pieces on a very short deadline!

Reflections on the year

From animals to tiaras, shows to events, it’s been a year of producing a lot of new work, new skills and connections. Having shows throughout the year helped create a flow of opportunities to make things I won’t normally try. I love the challenge and variety!

I feel good about the art I’ve created and stretching my creativity in new directions. What a blessing it is to do what you love and share it with so many people.

In 2018

With the new year in full swin, I’m thinking about what I hope to create in the months ahead. While the creative muse won’t allow you to push her, I am looking forward to several shows to spark more creativity. After 2017’s experiences, I have discovered how much I enjoy that regular intensity to inspire me and create new inventory.

Whatever happens in 2018, I’ll be sure to share about it here. Feel free to follow me on Facebook where I share lots of photos from shows and works in progress.

Wishing you a happy new year!

Art stash: How I choose my beads

September 8, 2017 Leave a Comment

The drawers and trays in my art studio are brimming with colorful, glimmering treasures. It’s a delight just to open them and peek in. Every time I do, I gasp with excitement about all the beautiful potential they contain.

Although my medium is wire, practically every piece I make features exquisite beads. People ask me all the time, Where did you find these?

I’m drawn to the unique and unusual. Original lampwork focal beads made by hand by talented glass artists are my first love. (There are too many to name, but if you follow my work, I always credit the bead makers!) Lampwork beads are heavy and solid, like wearing a sculpture on your body.

I also adore big, chunky, colorful Lucite beads. While most people shun plastic, Lucite is a really beautiful material that adds a bold brilliance to my work without adding weight.

My other favorite material is silver beads by the amazing silver artists in Bali and Thailand. One artist, Niki Passenier, designs the beads herself and has them made in Thailand.

The biggest struggle I have in using those simply gorgeous beads—especially Niki’s—it that I love them, and they’re not replaceable. Sometimes this makes a bead seem too beautiful to use in a piece. I have to stop and ask myself, “Are you going to save the special thing or are you going to use it?” I have to fight the urge to save them for the most special most right thing.

How I select my beads

I like to look for beads everywhere. My favorite is to go in person to bead shows—BABE in Oakland, Bead & Button (can you say overload?) and locally, Heart of California Bead and Adornment Expo. At events like these, a lot of vendors are represented, and you have have tons of variety to choose from. In person, you can touch the beads and trust your eye.

There are great places to buy beads online, and I use Ebay for Lucite and vintage and Facebook groups for lampwork (Lampwork Bead Market and Artisans Lampwork, among others). There are some vendors I go back to a lot because I like their aesthetic, selection, or quality (on Ebay I like ellielantern, bykayo). The biggest challenge with buying online is that you have to know your sizes. When you look at big, detailed photos, 6mm is not as big as you’d think. Ask me how I know!

It also helps to have color palettes that I really like and am drawn to, and I tend to buy beads in those shades. My favorite colors are pink and silver. Outside of that, I go in waves and cycles from cool to warm. Outside of the rainbow, I also have a lot of white, milk glass, opalino, clear–all “neutrals” that work well with silver. I’m not big on yellow—the closest I come to it are butter, citrine, cream, and bone—otherwise I stick with oranges and reds. In the photo below, I have collected a coral theme for an upcoming piece.

On the whole, I tend to like monochromatic color schemes in my work. A lot of artists use contrasting or complementary colors, but I tend to do sister colors. That’s my own aesthetic. In my classes, participants ask me about colors, “Does this work? Is this good?” Sometimes it doesn’t and breaks a color rule, but for the most part, it’s an Artists Choice moment. Art is subjective. I can tell you what I like, but I can’t tell you what you like. That’s part of what makes it so fun.

When I select beads, I use a lot of intuition. I like to imagine what they would be when they’re in a finished piece. Picturing them with beads I already own also inspires my creativity. Talking about my beads makes me want to get back in the studio!

What do you look for when you’re selecting beads or jewelry?

5 benefits of collaborating with other fine artists

July 3, 2017 Leave a Comment

I’ve been collaborating with two local fine artists, Kathleen Mattox and Paul Parichan, for over a year and co-creating art together in special seasonal collections.

It was specially exciting to take the collaboration further as a guest blogger on Kathleen’s Mixed Messages Gallery website this month! I’ve written about how this collaboration began, how we work together, and five benefits of getting out of one’s artistic comfort zone.

Come see fun photos of what three unique and creative people can do together!

Mixed Messages guest blog post

Spring Fever: Using springs in art and art jewelry

March 29, 2016 Leave a Comment

Why I love springs

Along with unique beads and jewelry-making tools, wire is one of my most important supplies.

Although I often work in sterling silver, I use springs to add color, texture, and volume to a piece. My art wire comes from Parawire, and I love their enamel over copper. Their gorgeous lighter shades are silver plate to make the colors true.

I have a tackle box full of pre-coiled springs, always at the ready. They’re fun to use just like beads, and their bendy-ness creates endless options and combinations for my art.

Using springs in art and art jewelry

Springs create the illusion of bulk without adding a lot of weight. Because wire comes in so many colors—copper, sterling, and myriad rainbow shades–you can introduce color into a piece without using beads.

You can bend them through or around a piece, or use them structurally. I sometimes use contrasting wire inside the spring for peeks of color when it is coiled.

“Iris” — wire embroidery sculpture

How to create your own springs

There are lots of ways to make springs, and the two I use both start with a mandrel. Almost any cylindrical, hard object will work, but mandrels used by lampwork artists are great; they’re sized and have finished ends. For a long time, one of my favorite mandrels was a pen. Just be sure that the mandrel ends are the same diameter or smaller—otherwise you’ll be the proud owner of a wire-wrapped object, rather than a spring.

The low-tech way is to wrap the wire by hand around a mandrel to the desired length, the same technique as making jump rings by hand.

A faster alternative to making springs is using a hand drill. You insert the mandrel, crank the handle, and the wire twists around the mandrel. Because it’s so much faster, you have to be careful of the ends so they don’t cut you. At this speed, wire can get hot, so you can protect your hands by using a polish cloth or a glove.

Starting a spring with a mandrel and hand drill

Wrapping a mandrel with a wire spring

Finished springs

Things about springs

Think before bending: Like other wire, springs are not very forgiving—especially once you put a sharp bend them. If you take your time and are patient bending them, you’ll get great results.

Shaping tips: I find that starting to shape them is hardest part. Put a wire through the core and the spring follows the curve of the core wire. To start bending a spring, bend a small tail (1.5″) of core wire at a right angle to the spring. Then hold both the end of the spring and the core wire together as your pliers begin to bend the whole coil. Take your time and it will come together.

Making adjustments: When you bend springs, they don’t always fan open nicely. If this happens, you can carefully use round nose pliers spread the spring open on the outside edge. This makes spaces along the outside curve. You can also adjust these spaces to look even and pretty.

Watch this space

I’m working on a yet-to-be-revealed piece that uses springs. Although I can’t say more about it yet, details are coming soon.

In the meantime, try out some curly wire in your work and, before you know it, you’ll have spring fever too!

Asleep at the Switch? Remembering What Works

May 20, 2009 1 Comment

Sometimes I forget about things that work well for me, those pesky, basic life skills. Seems silly, but I muddle along wondering why I am in a funk. Don’t feel quite right when nothing is glaringly wrong. Then I stumble onto one of the things I used to do regularly and get that energized, inspired feeling. Why didn’t I think of that (strikes forehead with heel of hand muttering “doh”)?

How do you keep track of what works? Wouldn’t it be nice to go there before the funk?

Here are a few I consider important:

Spend time with like minded people

Get a new perspective or some outside help in the form of coaching or classes

Practice the skills you want to acquire and keep practicing if you want to own them

Take care of yourself

Do what you are supposed to be doing (I know you know what that is)

Write it down: goals or a journal or an inspiration notebook

Do it now

Be persistent and don’t take rejection personally

Check the list and do it again

Some days I think I need to have these tattooed on my forehead, but mostly I just need to keep them nearby so I remember.

Bead Star

May 15, 2009 Leave a Comment

I am really excited to share with you that my design, “Two Part Harmony”, was selected as a finalist for the for the metals category of Bead Star. This piece was originally created as a class sample to show an interesting way to incorporate jumprings into design. After I finished the class, I found myself wearing it frequently. When one of those just-for-demonstration pieces ends up in my jewelry rotation, I know I’ve got something interesting.

Beading Daily in conjunction with Step by Step Beads put out a call for simple designs in eight different categories. They narrow the field of entries to 20 finalists in each category and then you get to vote. The top 5 in each category are published – in a special edition magazine called Bead Star.

Want to see instructions for these wonderful designs? You need to VOTE for your favorites.

Get a preview of some of the other Bead Star finalists at Humblebeads blog. Humblebeads proprietor, Heather Powers, had more than one entry published in the 2008 issue of Bead Star. She not only blogs for her business, Humblebeads; she also writes for Art Bead Scene a blog “celebrating art beads and inspiring those who use them”. The Art Bead Scene contributors provide lots of ideas for unique beads to use in your special designs. The also host a monthly challenge (pssssst… with prizes!); a good way to sharpen up your design skills for next year’s Bead Star.