Monet is in Town!

I can't wait to check out the Monet's Water Lillies collection now on exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Going on "art" trips is an excellent way to keep your own creative juices flowing. Today I took a break from writing and worked on some wonderful jewelry pieces. I was very happy with my hand-wired clasps. I did not realize how much fun they could be to make. I love the idea of using totally original clasps in my designs!

Little tiny paintings.

Old books- fun to collect as well as use in mixed media art work.

Oil pastels

There is nothing more beautiful than the blue of apatite beads! They look so...french!

Sneak Peek- something new coming soon!

Fun with watercolor and pastels...

Blue,blue,blue...I can never get enough.

Book Review- Book and Art

What have I been reading lately?
Anyone who loves book binding, art journaling, mixed media or photography will absolutely love Dorothy Krause's new book entitled, Book and Art- Handcrafting Artists' Books. I can't seem to put it down. This wonderful book covers my favorite things like how to age paper (I'm always aging something), working with images, gelatin monoprints (this is extremely cool), transferring text and how to create scrolls!! It is packed full of information (extremely comprehensive) and if I ever find some time I am going to sit down and craft a few books of my own. I encourage you to check it out.

Remembering

I finally learned how to make a collage with the free Picasa editing tools. It's downright fun. Reading Book and Art inspired me to pull out some old photos and books. My dad past away quite some time ago and I thought creating a collage would be such a nice reminder of him.





How many of you save your art inserts from your Somerset magazines? I have been guilty of leaving mine inside the book so one day I decided to pull all my favorites and now I have a ton of images for future collage work.



More Mixed Media Elements

Update on my book

This past week has been a blast! I mentioned many moons ago that my book proposal on jewelry design was accepted by North Light Books (that in and of itself is amazing). Last week, for the first time, I had the opportunity to meet face to face with my editor, Tonia Davenport, who is just wonderful. I also worked very closely with Christine Polomsky, the photographer, who is so patient and made what I thought would be a terrifying experience so much fun. How does she do that?

I was awestruck by the design photographs and the potential cover. They are so beautiful…definitely a personal surreal moment. Could this really be true? Am I dreaming? The official title for my book is…drum roll please…A String of Expression- Techniques for Transforming Life and Art into Jewelry. I just love it! I look forward to sharing more information about this adventure very soon. Here are some pics of the photo shoot.

I carried 33 lbs. of art supplies with me to the shoot.