A Bucket of Fun!

Last week on Crafting Tuesday you barely got anything, because I had a tough week and didn't have much time for crafting. This week you are going to get some links! Why so many links? My amazing friends shared the with me when I was having trouble deciding what to do with all of these pine cones! So let's get started!

Martha Stewart

Craftaholics Anonymous

A Fanciful Twist

Why didn't I do any of these amazing things? Because they all, everyone, require more than just some pine cones and some ingenuity. Did I try?  Yes.  Did it work? Nope. Why no pictures?  Because I am too lazy to go into another room to get my tablet and photograph crafting disasters. I have some nice painted cones that I will probably mix with the lilac scented wax ones from last week into a bowl for decor in a bathroom this winter. Other than that Operation Bucket of Pine Cone was a total meltdown.

However, I did do a thing! Last weekend I purchased a hand drum. Similar to a tambourine but no cymbals. This one boasted a natural skin that I was dying to paint.  A field of grass and a field of stars with borders painted in red and yellow for fire and air. The paint improved the tone of the drum and now I have to decide if I want to play it or sell it.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be highlighting some amazing folks who do crafts.  One or two of them are much more than crafters, but would never see themselves that way. Love what I am doing and want to see more?  I am now on Patreon.

Three Weeks in and some Random Photos

So, we are three weeks in and I think you are seeing the trend.  I am trying to have a conversation with you, the reader. I am keeping my posts short and posting daily to keep the conversation going.  Please feel free to do more than just read!  I look forward to answering questions and even dealing with topics suggested by readers.  If you don't like what I am doing then unless you are related to me, by blood or marriage, why are you still reading?

Now onto our 3Ps....today we will post some lovely photos and discuss! Yay photos!

Wood Dragon

The Big Top

Camouflage

Canyon Wall

I love taking photos from an unusual perspective.  Wood Dragon is not from that unusual a perspective, but from the angle I took it I emphasized the log's resemblance to the dragon with it's mouth open.  This "trick angle" is a common photographic trick and is why you see us wandering around in circles for hours before we take a photo.  Okay maybe not hours, but you see what I mean.

The "Big Top" is not actually a tent, but a wooden picnic area that had the most amazing angles and arches.  This was taken in natural light with a zoom lens helping the shadows do those amazing things they do.

Camouflage is the reason I want a macro/micro lens when and if I ever get a camera again. The ability to see this gran daddy long legs up close and personal without walking out into the lagoon, is well worth the lens!  Okay, I admit it, I have lens envy.

Finally "Canyon Wall"  is no more and no less than it's title.  The colors, angles, and crop all come together to make you ask which way is up.  Taken in New Mexico this photo shows the stark beauty of the desert and the persistence of time and water.

Photography is a joy for me and one I have missed for the last two years since I had to sell my camera.  I am hoping to get back to it soon.  There is water calling me!

Love what I am doing and want to see more?  I am now on Patreon.

The Elements and Artistry

I finished them and got photos!  Whoot!

EARTH

AIR

FIRE

WATER

I am exceptionally excited to have finished this, as it has been waiting for almost 6 months due to lack of funds.  We are still lacking in funds, but in the cleaning to find things to sell or pawn Sar found the Christmas present he had forgot he had purchased for me...so new paints!

Today we are going to talk about something on topic, but not related to these pieces specifically. 

 What makes an artist an artist?  

Short answer?  They do.  Long answer?  Fine, I'll do it.

An artist is an artist when they say (or admit-I have known several who deny it-they are normally the best, by the way) they are.  The viewer of the art can determine if they like it or not, but they shouldn't try to determine whether or not it is art.  Anything we are passionate about can be art.  Yes, anything-ask Don Juan and Casanova, better yet, ask the women they were with; whether or not they were artists.  You are a house painter, a plumber, a secretary?  You love what you do and you do it well?  Then YOU are an artist.  

That begs the question though of "do it well."  How do you determine that?  That depends on the criteria.  Secretaries should be able to type, file, search google for the boss' lunch again and many other things and they often have to be extremely flexible in what their day is going to be like (and I know secretary is passe. I don't care. I was one for years, I know what it takes).  At the top of their game there is some serious artistry involved.  There is also very little subjectivity to it.  A painter, a writer, or a poet though? Someone like me who claims to be all of the above and more?  There is a lot of subjectivity there.

So how do you know?  How do they know? This is the ephemeral part.  Art is art. Or is it?  My paintings would be considered "modern," but many people know 1st graders who could finger paint "better."  What makes one art and the other not?  Answer:  I do.  Art is the creation of work for the appreciation primarily for the appeal to the emotions or senses.  A small child creates to please yes, but seldom are they creating it as art.  An artist is expressing, sharing and giving you a part of their soul.

So I am an artist.  Are you?

Love what I am doing and want to see more?  I am now on Patreon. Personal appearance this weekend in the Shadoe Stones booth, at the Indy Pagan Pride Day.

OMG There was a sale!

I enjoy many crafts.  This post however, we are going to be talking about my Painting (remember MWF 3Ps).  Why? Because OMG THERE WAS A SALE!  We were out shopping, getting sand for bonsai trees and food for humans.  Crimson wanted to go to Sally's, Sally's is next to Michael's.  I wanted to price canvases because blogging has put a project in my head.  Crimson dropped me off and what to my wondering eyes should appear?  But a 3 for 1 sale that made my brain turn completely off and I went giddy.  I stopped thinking until we were back in the car.  You will be the beneficiaries of this as you get to see the six paintings I will make. I have three large and three small canvases and a new palette knife.  I also have two to finish.  Did I mention I am a little giddy about this?

I am currently working on and can now finish an elementals series.   Below you see "Water," when I have finished all of them I will show you the set.  The three larger pieces are going to be more mixed media then any thing else I have ever attempted.  I am quite excited to see what happens.  Here is "Water" on the wall.  You can see the bottom of "fire" and the top of "Earth."  "Earth" and "Air" are the two that need some work.

Like my other creative endeavors, I have not been working on my painting.  To the point that Sar didn't even know I painted...Whoops.  Crimson says I should sell my work after I get so many.  I say...eeek!

In photography I am looking to get something from a new perspective or to take the beautiful landscape in such a way that it has never been seen before.  Painting, though, is more like my poetry it is the process of putting my emotions on paper (or canvas).  Photography is bringing the external to the internal.  Painting and poetry are bringing the internal out to play in the external. What some see as paint smeared across canvas, I see as waves, raindrops, puddles and bath tubs.  Water isn't passive resistance it is passive insistence.  The things that do not give way to water are slowly worn down until, once again, water is getting what it wants and needs:  a place to go and gather together.  Water is joy in being while it is also strength in not giving up.

Hopefully I will have the rest of the series done next week and you can see the whole series!  Love what I am doing and want to see more?  I am now on Patreon!    Thanks for listening.