Facebook "Contest" Now on our blog!!

I posted the following our Facebook page:


Kewish Designs Lisa wonders.... What kind of goals do you have for this year? I'm looking for themes. I'm EXCITED about working on a special project. :) A name will be drawn from those that participate...and that person will get the FIRST "special project." :) Deadline for submissions is....Sunday, January 17. Winner will be posted on Monday, January 18...and "special project prize" will be sent by the end of the month!

If you want to participate, but are not a fan of social networks...you can post your comment here...

Out and about...Sacramento's 2nd Saturday

Whew...what a great night. Headed out to January's 2nd Saturday Art Walk in mid-town Sacramento.
We've included as many links that we could to give you an idea of what art life is like around here!

First landed at Jason Thorpe's reception at The Denim Spot...check out what was going on early in the evening. (please forgive the strange ending to this vid...I'm still getting used to the camera and obviously have not checked into any editing software!!!)



We headed over to Crepeville for some food and while there, Lisa saw an ad in SN&R The Jammies.
Info on The Jammies
This is a great cause to support teenagers and music...we are thinking of going next Friday night.

We headed out of Crepeville and found ourselves in front of Jodette's Belly Dancing Studio. Here's what that scene looked like:



Jodette made her way across the room to hand Lisa a flyer with information for belly dancing lessons. (How did she know that I have been wanting to study belly dancing since I was ten????) hmmm $99 for 3 months, 3 times a week...and you get to learn Egyptian meditation... SIGN ME UP!!

Next up was the Sacramento Art Complex....
Stopped and chatted with Joe Tate - Lisa read the first line of his bio "I am from San Bernarndino, California...." and HAD to stop and talk with him (Lisa being from San Berdoo...). He's a very cool dude, here's his MySpace link: Joe Tate


Then we checked out some blown glass at the Los Rios Gallery in midtown.
Nicholson Blown Glass
Fire River Art Glass
...and yes, both places teach classes in blowing glass.
Yes...Lisa is adding that to her list of things to learn/explore.

Here's one of the shots that Lisa took tonight...

Mutual Support

Yesterday, Lisa and I went into a fine jewelry store called Designs by Mike Lim. We had noticed the place a few days earlier while walking around the Birdcage mall. Designs by Mike Lim had taken over the space formerly used by RITZ Camera. This establishment sells high-end gold and diamond jewelry, a bit different than our work, but very very nice.

We were a little unsure how to approach the store owner. Being jewelry designers ourselves, we had no way to know how Mr. Lim would react to us. Would he see us as a nuisance? Or competitors? Perhaps as fellow artists? To our delight he and his master jeweler, Rasmik Carapetian, responded with warmth and proved to be a wealth of information. They shared experiences in the retail jewelry business, providing several useful tips which we plan to use to improve our own business during the coming year.

They also offered their expertise in the event that we have jewelry designs that prove to be beyond our skill level. They were very willing to offer their services as jewelry designers (for a reasonable fee, of course).

It is great to know that people are still open to share ideas and offer advice to others in a similar line of work. Thanks Mike and Razmik!

Designs by Mike Lim info:
6123 Sunrise Blvd.
Citrus Heights CA 95610

www.designsbymikelim.com

posted by Joshua

Discovered in San Francisco!

San Francisco buzzes with creative energy. There are galleries everywhere with unique expressions of how to view the world. The City keeps my senses on point and my own creative ideas take on new forms...even things that disturb me, intrigue me. Like this window display. There was a lot more going on in the display - but this shot is the one that creates a whole new story in my head.

"Creepy Baby Doll Heads"

Photography by Lisa Kewish

Not only are store displays edgy and unique...there are also all the fantastic artisans selling their items out on the streets. Out of respect I do not take pics of the artisans work, however, I DO collect business cards and web site addresses and I enjoy mentioned them in as many places that I can just to support their work.

Jimothy is a leather worker with an amazing spirit. He has founded Chi Stylez, handcrafted leather goods made from recycled resources. Yes, I purchased a gorgeous clutch and a wrist cuff..and had a GREAT time chatting with him. He came up from San Diego...HE gave us the tip on how to apply to be a street vendor in San Francisco.

We discovered beautiful fine handmade silver jewelry by Emilio Sotelo...simple and lovely. Very elegant designs. We like.

ok...and some work that completely captivated me...(and woke me up a bit...I'll be getting real busy soon) is the amazing copper jewelry by Astrid Walther and Christian Gardelle. What they do with copper is incredible.
The prices of their pieces is ridiculous low for the quality and beauty of the work...but then, that is part of the gift of copper!

I did get one tip...peanut oil. Dip copper in peanut oil and then fire it...apparently amazing things happens.
I'm going shopping today for peanut oil.

(authored by Lisa)

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)

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)

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)