Susan Tuttle over at Ilka's Attic posted a photo last week and a challenge to create something with it. I used it as my canvas per week photo.

I decided to give the little girl a happy face, that of my little Laura. I guess as she will be hanging in my house I wanted to have someone cheerful to look at!

SPC - Momma me

This is the real me at this 'mother of young' season of life. Everything I do is done through the filter of my children. It is a time of constant movement, with no time to linger on my thoughts, I am pure action.... where's the Ergo?, do you have your shoes? no, you must wear real clothes, just a minute kids, momma is checking emails, here let me help, bedtime, storytime, Latin songs, time for math, have you done your literature?, lunch, no we are having turkey/cheese today peanut butter tomorrow, where is Laura... please get down from there, do you need to go potty? 'I need you momma', Mom Matthew won't let me have it, share please, do I have clean socks?....



Through all of this noise I have had to steel myself to get art done. There is no time to think. I have to be ready to craft when the time comes... usually late in the evening or perhaps a half hour in the afternoon. I can't do research, I just jump in. I can't plan the perfect collage, or pendant... I just do it. This is a good thing, I am really being me.

More SPC's here.

I usually paint my backgrounds, so this is a little new angle for me - I used a photo that I worked on in photoshop as the 'art' in this pendant. My son took the photo a while back and I played with it in photoshop.

I am pretty happy with the image, but not so with the solder. I have determined to try yet another type of solder, the one Sally Jean Alexander recommends... Canfield Silvergleam... if I could only get my hands on it.

More Somerset Studio

A while back myself and 4 other artists were sent a stamp and asked to make some art work with the stamp. It was a stamp of a woman by Paper Artsy Stamps. I had such fun with this project. I made a bunch of stuff, but sent Somerset the 9 pieces that I had completed by the deadline. They have included 6 of them in the March/April 2007 issue of Somerset Studio. I am so excited! (Look out for the May/June issue, I have an article in that one, and one in July/August... but I am getting ahead of myself!)

Many artists create best with freedom and openness. Art can come when we are free to choose any theme, any color, with tons of free time to do work. I can do that when I just want to enjoy the creating process and am making something just for me. But I also love to create within deadlines and rules - such as use 'just this stamp', or 'use just this color' or 'illustrate this idea'. Sometimes my creativity is squeezed just right by parameters set by others. A blend of both is what I seek and at the moment have. Some days I make whatever I want, other days I work on the specific deadlines I am facing. It is a good balance.

Other artists who's work I admire are in this issue are Lisa Guerin and Claudia Roulier and Kristen Robinson is on the cover. Enjoy! And Pam Garrison has a great article on arty blogs. I am going to check her site out this weekend.

Beading

Joyfully Home asked me what do you need to start beading. I am by no means a professional jeweler. I use stuff that I find at the craft store, nothing fancy. I the same beads & tools for my necklaces and for my canvas wall hangings.

Here are some suggestions:
This is a great starter tool set: the 3 Piece Mini Tool Set . It includes a Chain Nose Pliers, Round Nose Pliers and Wire Cutter. It is around $10.

Wire comes in different gauges, the smaller the number the thicker it is. I use 20, 24, 26 and 28 gauge the most, they are about $1-2 a spool. You can get wire in different colors, but I like the silver the best. Wire is good for making individual parts for a necklace, but if you want a full beaded necklace you will need Nylon coated stainless steel stringing wire. It is tough like wire but very flexible.

You will need what is called 'findings'. You can get a starter box of findings for about $6-8. Findings are the earing wires, clasps, spacers, head and eye pins - all the bones of making jewelry. You will also need crimping beads if using the stringing wire.

Of course you will need beads. Beads of all sizes come in little packets, on strings or in boxes usually in coordinated colors. Fancy beads are more expensive and you don't get many in the packet. Beads are often glass, stone or plastic. I like glass beads best, they are bright colors which appeals to me. I like to buy beads in assorted packs, which are good for finding random beads, but not so great if you find a size/color you want to repeat in a necklace.

You may need a bead storage tray once you get lots of beads. They are about $2 a piece. I buy the little packets of beads and then pour them into the trays, I am up to 5 trays! Buying beads can become an addiction :) When I am about to bead I pull these trays down and spread them around the table with the lids up so I can see what my choices are.

If you are working with wire you need First Aid tape to protect your fingers :)

I am sure there are lots more tools and supplies you can buy, but this has worked for me so far.

Just my cup of tea

Somerset Studio has a new book coming out, one I am definately going to buy. It is called Somerset Life.

Here is the by-line:

'The publisher’s dream for Somerset Life, a new annual publication debuting April 2007, is to encourage readers to make every day extraordinary: by infusing daily life with simple pleasures, art, romance, creativity and beauty. It will capture the imagination with stunning photography, insightful and entertaining articles, and imaginative ideas. Somerset Life will show readers how attention to the little things in life can lead to an inspired and artful way of living.'

Today I stayed home from church with a sick child. Mark took the others, so in the quiet of my house, in the daytime, in the real daylight :), I always do art things at night, I painted papers.

I covered bunches of white paper in Golden's gesso, which dries super fast, and then slopped on the paint - crafty, cheap acrylics and Golden's expensive fluid acrylics. I made monoprints of the sheets, let them dry and then painted over them. I sketched fruit and hands and eyes and painted over them. I scraped the paint and splattered the paint. I stamped with some of my new stamp carvings. No direction, no project in mind, just paper covering for the sake of it. It was fun and now I have over 40 new background options. Yeah!

Self Portrait Challenge - Black & White (2)

SPC 'Give and Take'. This represents to me the relationship I am building with my friends and fellow artists. I have given and taken from some special girlfriends these past few months. We are together in this life to learn from each other, to share ideas, friendships and inspiration. It is how we were designed to live. We give to eachother, we take from eachother, we are in community together. It is a beautiful thing.

Creating with kids

This book is a mother daughter collaboration! My almost 5 year old, Lily, decorated all the pages (9 pages per signature, 3 signatures) over a number of days. When the signatures were ready I sewed the pages together and cut out the cardboard for the cover. Lily chose the cover paper and glued it on. We used rubber cement for the binding.

Lily was so proud of her little book, she put it beside her bed so she could look at it. (I messed up a little by scoring the cover paper, so when it folded around the backbone the paper tore. I have to work on it some more).

We followed the direction for bookmaking from the book 'The Essential Guide to Making Handmade Books' by Gabrielle Fox.

Soldering

Turquoise Cro asked me if soldering is easy. Well, here is my long answer:

When I first started I was delighted with the process, as it is a pretty fast learning curve. You can make soldered pendants the first time you try them that look pretty good. I couldn't believe how awesome it was to watch the solder melt! It truly felt like I was making something from nothing.

But now I have been doing pendants for 7 months I am struggling to get better at it. I assumed that I would improve, that my pendants would look like they do in Sally Jean Alexander's book 'Pretty Little Things', all shiny and smooth. But they don't. They don't really look much better than my first attempts. This is frustrating.

My pendants have grit or little black burnt bits and sometimes seams. (I made this tonight and am unhappy with it)

I have attempted to solve my problems by buying better/different tools & supplies:

1) I have tried 4 different solders. Jean recommends Canfield Silvergleam. I have not found it in the store, but I have Canfield Lead FreePewter, which of course won't be shiny, but still is not smooth. I have tried Mastercraft 60% Tin/40% Lead. I tried Oatey Safe Flo Laed Free Silver. I tried DGS Lead-Free solder. None of them have been any better than the other. I guess I will keep hunting for Canfield's Silvergleam.

2) I have used different gel fluxs, made no difference.

3) I have bought 4 soldering tools, 3 cheap ones, the last one was $70. Each tool was awesome the first 3 times I used them, but then the tips got dirty and put little black burnt bits on the solder that I can't remove. I don't know if it cause the glue from the copper tape is burning, or if my tip cleaning methods are poor.

4) I have tried using a sal ammonic block. I followed the directions, but all it does is leave a sandy grit on the tip that then gets left in the solder on my pendant.

5) I have tried wiping the tip on damp paper towels and on a specially designed sponge. Neither kept the tip clean after 3 uses.

Well, on the more expensive tool it looks really clean, but still there are burnt bits, grit and rough seams.

6) I have tried cleaning the tip frequently and infrequently, neither made any difference.

7) Temperature control - I thought that the cheap tools were getting too hot, so I got one with a temperature gauge. Doesn't help.

The only thing that helps is changing tips or getting a new tool, as I said the first few pendants I make with a new tip or new tool look great - shiny, smooth free from burnt bits and lumpy joins. After that they look rough. I can't keep buying more tips.

Should I try different copper tapes? using more solder? using more or less flux? give up? Relax and live with it? What would Sally Jean say?

Art scraps

I like to keep my scraps handy and somewhat organized.

It may not look like much, a pile of scraps with paint. But these are invaluable to me actually getting anything done!

When I have lots of time/energy to do art I can paint & stamp bunches of papers & alter lots of photos. I keep all my scraps & stuff I couldn't use in other projects. I throw them into a few old cigar boxes, a large one for bigger papers, medium for mid size ones and small (you get the picture). I have these boxes open and sitting at the edge of my painting table. So then other times when I need a background for a pendant or a card or a bit of color for a collage but don't want to get out the paints and make something up, I reach for my own ready made papers. And it beats using pre-printed store bought papers.

Thinking ahead, being organized and not throwing any papers out helps me fit some art into my busy schedule.

Self Portrait Challenge - Black &
White

It took 3 children before I felt the depth of the challenge of motherhood. Laura... "how do keep a wave upon the sand, how do you hold a moombeam in your hand?" She is one of those people born with a force of will that means she must be destined for something great.

She scared me, she rattled every selfish bone in my body. I didn't want to have to work at being a mother, I wanted it as easy as it was with my first 2. I have tried to run from her, but when I did I made it worse. I am no longer running, I am embracing and the more I indulge in being her mother the more her great sweetness is emerging.

This is a peek at what I have done for the Nature issue of Somerset Studio. It is called, unimaginatively, Nature Girl. This is not a great photo of it as I can't photoshop it due to the pine needles sticking out. I like the painted stick :)

It is due February 15 and it is for the July/August issue. Somerset must see a ton of art, I would love to go to their office to see how it all happens. I have sent them bunches of stuff and so far everything that was published has come back intact. Can you tell I am a big Somerset supporter? :)

I got this book 'Art Stamping Workshop' by Gloria Page after reading it again and again in Barnes and Nobles. I felt a little guilty enjoying it for free so I put it on my Christmas wish list. I had thought about one day carving my own stamps, but felt so daunted by it.

The day after I first read this book in the bookstore I was in Michael's craft store and I saw Speedball carving tools and the rubber Gloria recommends on sale. I bought a bunch of it. But it has been sitting in my workshop for months. On a whim tonight I decided to try it! Wow, it is so much easier than I could have imagined.

The first thing I carved was the eye (Shannon, I was thinking of your awesome collage today... apple and the eye!), then the spiral and then I launched into my self portrait, might as well go for the big leagues now I am feeling bold. Of course, that took a while to do and my shoulders hurt from the tension. But I am so pleased with it that I had to share. I wonder where this new technique will lead me?

Self Portrait Challenge. I resolve to be sweeter to my babies. Sometimes I get hung up on the to do list and am something like a drill sargent telling them to put on their shoes, load in the car with an attitude of 'do it now, get a move on'. I have read lots of parenting books that tell me to keep my kids on strict schedules and to obey my voice first time. I have found myself almost resenting their moments of disobedience, not because I am worried about their character but because I thought to be a good Mommy they should obey me and if they disobey it reflects poorly on me (now there is a confession!). I use to resent them waking up in the night as baby sleeping all night was a badge of motherhood honor... Oh Matthew has slept through the night at 10 weeks.... I see now that there is a little more grace in motherhood. Annie is still nursing at night, Laura now comes to our bed everynight. I am welcoming them. They are only little, they need my love, kindness and guidance.... not just my orders.

Here is a piece I did for the 'With One Stamp' section of Somerset that should be out in the next issue. Somerset mailed me and 4 other artists a stamp and we had to make art with it. I did 9 different pieces for it, I don't know yet which ones will be published. I am so excited to see what the other artists have done with the same stamp.

An update on this piece - it was purchased by Jenny Doh for a gift to a friend! What an honor.

Self Portrait Challenge - New Years Resolution: Create More.

My time to create starts at about 9-10pm, when my house is in order, time spent with my husband and my kids are in bed (minus Matthew, who is a late nighter like me… I have tried to fight but lost the battle, at least he does his own thing in the evening). I stay up to 1-2am. So that is a long time to myself, 3-4 hours. Often by 10pm I am tired and just want to check emails, read blogs of other creative folks or watch a DVD…. I am resolved to try to do less of that and more in my project center. I have no excuse… I don’t have to go all the way outside to the workshop anymore, as I moved everything in. So…. Yep, more art here. I met every Somerset Studio theme in 2006… and thanks to in the interest of Somerset editor Jenny Doh in my art I have more deadlines to meet in 2007… Yeah!

But more than just doing more creating, I resolve to keep it balanced with the rest of my life. To be ready to create in the evening I have to think a little about it in the daytime. But I can't let that focus lessen my joy in doing my daytime stuff. My friend and artist Shannon Mucha and I have been talking about the balance between art and keeping focused on home/kids/school stuff (not forgetting keeping my husband a happy man:) I am not in a season when I can just do my own thing. Mark, Matthew, Lily, Laura and Annie are HUGE in my life. The flame for both worlds must burn brightly. With prayer and re-visiting my goals and not getting sidetracked into entertainment and laziness I believe I can do this. I am doing it. Little sleep for me!

I am finally all moved and working in my new creating space. I love that everything I need is right here.

I am working on a stuff for a new section in Somerset Studio called Somerset Workshop. This department started in the current issue (Jan/Feb 2007), where the artist, Connie Govea Stuart shows you step by step how she makes a collage piece. I am working on an altered photo with a stamping technique for a journal cover. I have a deadline of Feb 1 for mine, but I don't know which issue it will be in. I have just finished my submission for the Nature Preserved theme for the July/August issue of Somerset, which is due Feb 15. And after the workshop stuff is done I will turn my attention to Somerset Home. I had 4 pieces in the last Somerset home so I am hoping to do as well again. Work, work work. I love it!

Oh, by the way the hat is covering unwashed hair. Some mundane things just don't get done with 4 kids and lots of art to do. That reminds me... gotta do some laundry also.