Love is… the February Component of the Month reveal!

February 28, 2017February 28, 201711 Comments

This month I had the pleasure of creating pieces for the Component of the Month at Art Elements blog. While February does bring hearts to mind – mine were “real”. They were damaged and repaired, they bore their scars – yet maintained their beauty. Or at least that was my inspiration.

I am thrilled to see what my team mates and out guests have created! ( Links at end of post) But let me show you what I did:

Follow your heart.

I HAD to put a heart and a compass together. This was a bonus cab, simple crackle without the tear and stapled repair that the larger hearts had… I wanted a follow your heart meaning. The heart cab is bead embroidered on Stiff stuff with a loose representation of flames, and a toy compass. Then it has been stitched onto a new messenger bag I am altering. I want something that can get dirty at the studio. I plan to embellish it with patches, paint and stitches. A chance to wear my heart on my ~~sleeve~~ shoulder.

Starting to make my statements…. The butterfly is a shaped beaded pin. Shaped pieces are on my “to-do” list. The hand is from the AVAM.

So then I was thinking… I guess I should work with a heart like the components I mailed. So I took a small stapled/crackle heart and created polymer wings. The wings are cut to fit exactly with the small cobalt heart. The piece is rather large for me – and brings to mind Egyptian scarabs… which I was ASLO working on for themed challenge at Art Elements. Phew. I’m not sure how I will finish this – silk? chain? gems? What do you think?

Take flight heart

So – thanks for stopping by and thanks to all who participated this month! I think I will keep making hearts and share the love even though February is fading away…

And now without further ado:

Nevertheless, She Persisted

February 17, 2017February 17, 20172 Comments

*Disclaimer – While this IS a political post, I am not trying to initial debate here on my blog. I respect diverse opinions, but please keep it respectful as you are in MY house.*

I needed to DO something. I needed to refocus as I was feeling depleted, and overwhelmed. I read the articles on self care, breathing, keeping the resistance efforts maintainable to persevere for the long haul. And I was stunned, horrified, and angry.

So I started pounding on metal.

I make jewelry with meaning; sometimes symbolic, sometimes overt. I make talismans, and I make them with intention. SO I made “Resist” “Nasty” and “She persisted” necklaces. Then a friend suggested “Beautiful Resistance”.

After posting these on Facebook – I was thrilled with their response – because, you see, I pledged $5 of every necklace to the ACLU. And my friends responded in kind to support me and a worthy cause.

In a week I have made 19 necklaces and am sending $95 to the ACLU. I am also getting a “Nasty Woman” ceramic mug from Dancing Pig Pottery.

“Nasty” necklaces – $25

“She persisted” and “Beautiful Resistance” – $35

Necklaces are 18″ in length and come with gemstones/crystals colors of your choice.

TO ORDER:

Email me at jen.davies.reazor@gmail.com with the subject line “ACLU necklaces”
Request style/colors/length. ( 18″ unless otherwise noted)
Your PayPal address/email address linked to your PayPal account. I will send you a PP invoice, which facilitates shipping for me. (There will be a $3 domestic shipping charge. )

I will be accepting orders for another 24 necklaces. First come first served. After that – we shall see… Until then – stay strong, stay informed. Support each other and take care of yourself!

January beaded journal

February 1, 20171 Comment

This year I decided my monthly beaded “journal” would be inspired by the hand motif. The January hand holds an antique skeleton key.

The key represents the Roman God Janus. Depicted with two faces, he looks backwards and forwards in time. He is often shown with keys, and associated with time, gates, thresholds, etc. This Janus tile is part of my Mythic Nature line.

For the beaded pices this year I am incorporating fibers, especially felt. Felting really satisfies the painter in me with the range of colors and blending possibilities. The series this year will be uniform in size ( app 3 x5″) and framed in stained birch frame boxes. And without further ado- January.

Thank you all for starting this journey with me. I would love to hear your thoughts….

January Component of the Month reveal – Winter Woodland

January 31, 2017January 31, 201717 Comments

Welcome to the first Component of the Month for 2017. The Art Elements team is a depth of camaraderie and inspiration: this month the shaped leather cabs were contributed by our own Lindsay Starr of Phantasm Creation. You can read all about her process on the Art Elements blog.

I received the green and blue cab on the bottom far right. I love the shape – and although it was a little darker once sealed for protection – it had me thinking deep ocean. At first. Then this happened – The colorful ceramic plate is the work of Clarice Cliff. A British pottery designer of the 30’s, Cliff is well known for her colorful Art Deco style. It was the tree shapes that got me…

The cab became a tree top scattered with flurries of snow. I cut a leather trunk and know one of Rebekah’s sleepy critters was going to be incorporated. The owl? The badger? As you can see here the fawn won. ( Rebekah/Tree Wing Studio on Etsy)

I needle felted the landscape onto a piece of “pre-felt” and had to add a few curly locks. Because curly locks are like felt candy! I am really pleased with the sky colors. Here in Delaware it is so often grey when it snows, so its artistic license!

And now – to bead. Here is the finished piece. It measures maybe 4 x 6″? I haven framed it yet…

Winter Woodland mixed media tapestry

I feel that I have captured the silent serenity of a woodland snowfall. It was a pleasure to work with both Lindsay’s piece and Rebekah’s!

Please stop by our blogs, and our guests this month! I look forward to hearing your impressions on this piece.

Guests:

AE Writers:

Jenny ( you are here)

Susan

Niky

Sleepy critters by Rebekah of Tree Wing Studio.

Love is all we need.

January 27, 2017January 27, 2017Leave a comment

This week I was working on a new beaded tapestry for a members show at my local gallery The Palette and the Page. Although February and Valentines is approaching I was more inspired by the news. The Women’s march, the coming together… a need to express my feelings and fears in a positive way. Because-
Love is love is love .

Here is a time lapse of sorts of this newest beaded tapestry:

Polymer heart by my friend Staci Smith. Finished size 5×8″. Total time- conservative estimate is 8 hours. This piece and others can be seen at the “Convergence” show at The Palette and the Page in Elkton MD.

And be kind to each other. No matter what.

A year of Goddesses: part 2

January 11, 2017January 11, 20173 Comments

For the first half of the year – go to this original post.

It started out as challenge to myself. Inspired by artist/beader and now fellow Art Elements contributor Cathy Mendola. It turned out to be educational, inspiring, and very, very fulfilling. Here is the remainder of the 2016 beaded goddess tapestries:

December may be my favorite. Mandala and snowflake inspired shapes crown her head.

November – with a nod to Thanksgiving – rooted, holding wheat, recalling the harvest.

October brings Dia de Los Muertos. The color palette and designs inspired by sugar skulls and talavera tiles.

September/Virgo is my sign. I wanted her to reference the Zodiac a bit with the plenty/harvest that adorns the frame.

August – the ocean. Cresting waves, sandy neutrals.

July – the summer sky and a hint of swirling fireworks.

I am beginning work on a series for this year. While I had intended to take a smaller seasonal challenge this year – I had a great idea…. Stay tuned! Pictures coming!

Draconic inspiration: the theme reveal at Art Elements!

January 7, 2017January 7, 201710 Comments

Here be dragons!

When Niky posted the theme for December it was instantly inspirational! I count myself lucky to have many visual artist friends and I shared some of my dragon favorites earlier on this blog. I love dragons versatility. They are creatures of air, earth, fire… They appear in myriad forms across all world cultures. For this month I worked with a vintage image and one of my original carvings:

First up – this archaic watery dragon pictured on the top right. I cast a vintage button – and cast these in porcelain. Infinite possibilities.

Below ( bottom right) are mu original hand carved dragons. These are cast in stoneware and I was really delighted/surprised with the intense colors! They were fired to ^10 in a gas reduction kiln – known for earthier tones, not usually such intensity. (This is one reason I love AMACO velvets. )

Last but not least I pressed a few polymer dragons. The one pictured here feels Art Nouveau – and I love the copper patina paint finishes.

Dragons are available in the Art Elements Extras destash group on FB.

The polymer dragon I kept was treated with Swellegant paints/patinas. I used an iron base with a rust patina and color accents. It makes me think of sunken pieces of eight recovered from a deep ocean wreck. I beaded the bezel and then was stalled: tiger eye vs tiger iron? Both colors in the cab, but which to accentuate?

The finished pendant – with pearls, citrine, goldstone, tiger iron.

The finished piece! Beaded… I added citrine and copper pearls since I had chosen the red tiger iron. I am really pleased with the results – and I love the effect of the red-orange lined yellow seed beads.

Details of the crusty patina and the gems.

Bonus dragon: vintage image, applied as an image transfer to a polymer cab. (Banner photo: includes red City of London dragons and the Welsh flag. )

Bonus dragon: image transfer onto polymer

Thank you Niky for setting us of on this path! I have more dragons flying around in my head. But for now – please join us in this reveal blog hop!

Guests

AJE Team

Playing hooky at Jerry’s…

December 30, 2016Leave a comment

old journals end. new journal’s beginning. plans and goals.

Jerry’s ArtARama to be precise. Its the end of December. I made some progress on a commission and learned the deadline was less tight than I had thought. I decided to play hooky for a few hours. I have been cleaning and organizing, reflecting on 2016 and setting art and business goals for 2017.

I needed glazing medium. Yes, really I did. I will be doing Journal 52 again this year. I participated this year, and created about half of the weekly art journal entries. This year ) hope for an even higher percentage. The art journal gives me a place to play, and to meditate, and to experiment… without all the pressures of producing art for a show, for sale.

What I came for…

Why are brushes so delightful to look upon?

This store has character and pizazz.

I am lucky that there is a Jerry’s in Wilmington. I usually order online, pay shipping, wait, and wait… I was browsing Dick Blick online when I realized – support local! And I am so glad I did! The store has great art and murals throughout. The people were friendly and helpful. The whole store is a visual treat; eye candy. I treated myself to some Golden acrylics, and a new deep panel “canvas” to try for a new mixed media idea…

So many pencils, makes my hands actually itch to draw? Really?

Yes, please. One of each.

I dont even like working with pastels. But be still my heart.

This summer I was doing a little printmaking when my friend Lesley was over from the UK. I do have plans for more in 2017. Some prints to accompany tiles, drawing on my personal and mythic symbology.

mmmm. printing inks. Delicious.

Art is fun. Art is serious. Art is serious fun.

So I spent a few hours out of the studio! And I have some yummy new inspiring supplies! And the loyalty program at the store saved me money! And I supported local! Win Win. See you next year, Jerry’s…

Here be dragons…

December 12, 20162 Comments

This month – over at Art Elements blog, our theme is dragons. Create art around that theme and share it on your blog… This is not a challenge for me – if anything the challenge lies what to do!

I made these dragon cabochons this summer – they would be perfect beaded or bezel set. There are a few currently available in the Art Elements Extra sale page on Facebook.

My current dragon tile design is being retired. It was a Welsh dragon.I have plans for a new
one – I am thinking inspired by the City of London dragon. This one has held a very dear spot in my heart since my student undergrad days living there are going to school in the City each day. The photo below was taken on my 40th Birthday trip.

City of London dragon.

And I have a tribe of talented artist friends. I count myself lucky to know them. SO let me leave you with a few dragons from friends and fellow artists. (All images remain the property of the artist. )

A miscellany by Meredith. All images available as prints on her site: MeredithDillman.com

“Draco Lucis & Draco Noctis”. Art by Meredith Dillman. These are favorites of mine!

Jane Star Weils is a dear friend and an insanely talented woman. Here: “Summoning the Elemental Dragons & Dragons Wine”. Prints available at her site!

4f82059370caeaa9-dragon-coverfinal-flate1detail

The prolific creative genius that is Cory Godbey.

And last, but definitely not least: Charles Vess. Charles is currently working with Ursula K. LeGuin – yes. THAT Ursula K. LeGuin – on an illustrated Earthsea. She is the original Mother of Dragons. You can read her thoughts on this complete, illustrated Earthsea collection here. And see Charles sketches as he works on this lifetime achievement type job… he shares them on his FB page.

Earthsea title page (c) Charles Vess.

Earthsea title page

So here is to draconic inspiration in its myriad forms! Me? I’m off to bead.. .or sculpt… or collage… Until the reveal!

Dia de los Muertos – our Component of the Month reveal

October 30, 2016October 28, 201616 Comments

Time flies so fast in the Fall. Shows, nice crisp weather, classes to teach… and Halloween. This month at Art Elements blog (formerly Art Jewelry Elements) We have a super cool lamp work glass skull! These are the creations from Jen Cameron/Glass Addictions. And they are wicked cool.

Aqua to bring out his eyes…

I knew I wanted a necklace, something colorful and festive. I was actually trying NOT to do too many flowers – like a self imposed regulation to make it harder? Who knows. I have been beading skulls and flowers a lot of late and was trying to do something different.

Creating the wire wrapped bail gave me more color – and a hanging mechanism that created a strong statement to set the skull off.

I used recycled glass/bottle beads, carnelian, Czech glass: anything and everything in my primary color palette. The back section is three strands: cobalt glass, seed beads and braided sari silk handspun yarn! I know – there IS a lot going on, but the colors played well and it created a volume that balanced the focal.

I DO have a second skull, staring up at me from the work table. The primary colors are so out of my usually palette – but I think these links will be in there somehow… The hoplite was a maybe, but the scale was wrong. We shall see!

On deck. Rainbow eyes!

My Dia de los Muertos mantle.

I do hope you celebrate the holiday – and the blog hop with us! Have a pumpkin spice something and check out these great designs from the team and out guests. Until next time…

Guest Designers

Staci Louise Smith

Karin Grosset Grange

Solange Collin

Art Elements Team