Monday, December 28, 2009

Doodles and Dreams

A frequent question we are asked is, "Where do you get your inspiration?"

Anywhere! After almost back-to-back viewings of "Avatar"... I have walked away with TONS of ideas! We have a vine growing around our front porch that has these spiral tendrils...I've made lots of spiral tendrils out of wire! Leaves are another favorite of mine...plenty of those blowing around this time of year! I look at a lot of pictures on line. I like to do a google search on different pendant images. I keep my favorite ones...I don't copy those pieces, I just study them for my own ideas...here's an example from my notebook...



Another source of ideas are from my own doodles...mostly done during meetings at work! (I'm listening...really!!!)



Another source...my dreams! In the image below, there is a sketch of a broken wine glass with wine flowing out of the break...the wine becoming a chrysanthemum on top of a snake spiraling around the wine glass. I drew that sketch the next day at work...along with some other doodles. The wine glass/snake was actually a tattoo on a woman's cheek in my dream. Don't know what any of that means...but the image was so powerful that it stayed with me and even translated well to paper! (sketching is NOT my strongest skill)



Last night I was having another dream. In the dream I was opening a jewelry box to show a buyer an amazing piece I had made. In the dream I had the awareness that this piece was outstanding and demanded a very high price. I was opening the box for the buyer to see it one more time before it was sealed for the recipient. As I moved the lid of the box to the side, I caught a glimpse of the silver with a spiral...and then...

one of my cats FREAKED OUT AND SCAMPERED ACROSS THE BED...waking me up before I could see the entire piece.

DERN CAT!!!!

The frustration of not seeing the entire piece is about as frustrating as the time I dreamed I won the lotto...and was staring at my winning ticket...and could not read the numbers!!! ARGHHH!

Most of my waking hours today have been trying to remember what I knew in my dream. :)

Anyway...inspiration...comes from anywhere... from anything... at anytime. The artist's goal is to catch it when it happens...and in the meantime...always be working...sometimes it can be an accident while working on something else. You just never know.

(authored by Lisa)



Friday, December 11, 2009

Pulling an all nighter

The nights preceeding a craft fair tends to be chaotic in our house...a'hem - studio. Ok...house. The kitchen is a mess...what used to be the dining room is ridiculous and the dining room table, which is in the living room is covered with product.

The reason why its so chaotic is because we have had back-to-back weekends of events. We will be selling our jewelry this Friday, Saturday and Sunday...and doing the same next weekend as well. And then...we both agree that we are going to take some serious time off and during that time off to slow down and create more complex pieces. We have pages and pages of ideas, just not enough time to bring them into this world.

Despite the chaos, there are moments of fun and frolic. It gets a little scary when the dining room table is covered in product and the frolicking begins...it looks like this...




That is Tarzan-the-monkey-cat above there demanding some quality time with his peeps. He is accustomed to "TV" time, and when that doesn't happen, he finds other ways in which to get attention.

In the shot you can see the backside of some of our new work...here's a front view:



Nice table, huh? We eat out a lot when we are prepping for a show!

Ok...how about a closer look and a sneak peak at some of my new designs:




I've been having all kinds of fun with alcohol ink on copper. Oh yeah.

The next piece was inspired by a recent full moon rising over the hills...I have a thing for anything Luna...and have been trying for some time now to capture it in jewelry. (And even a longer amount of time trying to capture a picture of a full moon!) I spent several HOURS tonight trying to put this piece on a beaded cord, but a beader I am not...that is, not yet. However, I am really liking the results I'm getting with the ink on copper series...

This one is called "Full Moon" -



And here is one more piece "The Rising Moon" -



These pieces and many others will be making their debut in about nine hours from right now (1:00am). I'm excited to see how they are received!

(authored by Lisa)

Sunday, December 6, 2009

You Never Know

A few weeks ago Josh and I were doing some thrift store hunting. We didn't have an exact shopping list, more of a "let's see what we can find" general/vague idea. Usually that is a dangerous mind-set to go shopping with (!), but for artists out and about it creates an open-minded adventure!

We became fascinated with boxes and were opening them, checking to see if they were usable as booth decor and storage, when I open a long flat box and saw that it was a backgammon set I realized the potential sitting there! The round pieces were smooth and just about the size of a small pendant. We bought the set for $3.50. I figured, drill even one piece, decorate...sell the pendant for $10. The entire backgammon set is paid for!!

Now with all these black and white pieces, I have to admit I've been a little overwhelmed with all the possibilities...but two pieces have turned out quite well. I hand-painted a dragon fly on one, and an abstract spiral snake like thingy on another. I thought that perhaps a teenager would be attracted to these little pendants.

The dragonfly and abstract snake spiral made their debut this weekend at the craft fair at Nimbus.

There have been many teenagers looking at our work.

No one had been noticing either little pendant!

hm.

And then...look who found it, loved it, bought it, went to the ladies room, put it on, and came back to show us....


Yes...that is one happy and delighted customer. And I learned my lesson that all I can do is make and put the work out there...and just not get too caught up in the who's gonna want it game.

(authored by Lisa)

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Getting ready for Day 2

One of the things I love about vending at fairs is meeting other artists. Spending hours alone in the studio can give me tunnel vision...and be a rather isolating experience. Getting out and about and seeing what other artisans are doing is a very gratifying experience. Artists feed off of each other and, while work is not copied, after a while one can see the influences. Nothing wrong with that. Everything influences something else...we all touch and bump against ideas all the time.

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
~Scott Adams


The conversations that occur and fun...stories are shared about successes and mistakes. The mistakes are really interesting. What ends up being sold...always a surprise. You just never know what the public is going to respond to - everything you make is a risk. Little pieces of your soul out on public display. Artists seem to have a bond because of this. We know we are all putting ourselves out there, and we need the support from each other.

Over the next few weeks I am going to share some of the work of the vendors that are showing at the Historic Nimbus Winery (Hwy 50/Hazel in Rancho Cordova, CA).

I'm all about helping other artists be seen and known...supporting the artist, revealing their work.

Check out Mary's work with Sunburst Clay and Glass.

(authored by Lisa Kewish)