art junk girl

filling the well and finding home~

Dear Friends~
I know I've been quiet the last week or so. I've been quite busy with the fam, quick trips as well as my mother's return. da da. But, I've also come to a point where I really feel I need a time to rest, relax and "fill the well" again. "Filling the well" is a term coined by Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way (one of two instrumental books on my creative journey). I was introduced to this book by a blog led by the wonderfully talented, gracious (and newly married!) Leah of Creative Everyday. She gathered and nutured this wonderful group a few years back. This helped me grow my wings and fly. The words of this book have been etched in my brain, and in my heart, as they resonated with me so much. I seriously don't think I would have worked through my fears and continued to give myself "permission" to art had I not read this book and met this supportive group of women online. So, where was I?
Oh, yes, "filling the well"...well, there comes a time, where you give and give, til you are empty....then it is time to fill the well. I really just need some time to clear my mind. Have no committments....breathe. I want to just fill the well with beauty and not spill out a single bit of it...not yet anyway....just save it up...chew on it....ponder it....savor it.....dream about it.....hug it...cradle it....baby it....Time to go back to that little place I call home. If only in my mind. xo Lia

p.s. I've been wanting to say all this for two weeks or more.....this is my one thing brave for today. Thanks Jessie.

art junk girl~

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” ~e.e. cummings

She's goin' in again.....

Yes, it's official, I've put on my hardhat and entered the studio re-do again. I'm "goin' in"...but this time, it's into the "dungeon"...remember? I'm movin' stuff down to the unfinished laundry room area as it was taking over hearth and home upstairs. Yes, I was spilling out everywhere, and that's ok, but we need somewhere to eat, and once more, my Mother is coming back from Greece next week, so my days are numbered. If nothing else, that is putting a fire under my you-know-what. Ok, so where was I?
Yes, so, those of you who have been following my mischief and sidetracked musings know I started this project earlier in the summer and it's been sitting while life goes on it's merry way with all it's myriad of interruptions. Anyhow, in the meantime, I got "stuck" in the process. I was bringing stuff down in bins, stacking it, organizing a few shelves with baskets, arranging and pulling a few old bookshelfs together and making a sort of "sectioned off" area for myself. I'm going somewhere with this...so hang on. Each time I'd go down, I'd narrow my space more and more. I'd want to block the area so I wouldn't see the washer and dryer....I layed down some of these interlocking rubber tiles I got at lowes to section off my work area. Well, last night, as I was in the "back" storage area behind the "studio area", it occured to me that I had "boxed" myself in...I was like, "why"...this back here is perfectly usuable. Right now it's "dead" storage space. I've simply divided the room with bookshelves and made it into 2 rooms which is totally unnecessary. The bookshelves can cover the ugly, unfinished silver wall insulation! So, I went around to the other side, looked at the tall bookshelf that divide the two sides and said to my husband, ""Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!!"..He, of course, looked at me and laughed...knowing full well what I was talkin' about, because after 22 years of marriage, I require NO explanation. So, down it went and the rearranging has since ensued. You know what I will be workin' on this week!
So, my friends, this is a metaphor for my life, and perhaps I offer it up for anyone who may identify. I see now how often I tend to box myself in when the world is wide open to me...full of possibility and ready to embrace me, not constrain me. I'm ready to knock down the walls. I will not be restrained any longer. I want to see the world with eyes wide open. Are you with me?

The pictures you "WON't" see in an issue of "Artful Blogging" Magazine....

A table that looks like this......

Yes, this is what the kitchen table looked like after a flurry of swap project activity, jewelry, paperdolls, etc.. It is now cleaned up (I'm happy to report)....but I have the pictures to remind me...lol....

And, what about this one....

Like, HELLoooO, look at the feet.....I, like, stood up on a chair to get a picture standing over the charms (literally). WEll, the camera does not lie, folks. Can you say pedicure? Do I know what one is you say?....yeah, I think it's time....sheesh....I look like the sasquatch in those shoes.....not to mention the fact that I could have tripped off the chair, hit my head and not been able to blog or make art for days....oh, the sacrifices I make.....(insert olympia dukakis sigh here).

Ok, well, I gots to scooot (obviously)....Country Living called and they want to come for a photo shoot (just kidding). Lol. But seriously. I should go get the family room cleaned up and squared away. Oh, I think I just made a funny. he he...talk soon friends. xo Lia

Charmed, I'm Sure...

Ok, so this is what I learned after making jewelry charms for my first jewelry charms swap. (I've made fabric charms, but not jewelry one's). For this swap, I used existing charms in which I inserted and glued copies of my "inchie" collages. I then added some glaze on top. Here's what I learned from my brief experience with charms~

1. You have to really, really pay attention to fine
detail. You have to use such things as exacto knives.
You have to risk, like, cutting your thumb. I need my
thumb. I can't have a bloody thumb because I cut
paper. I cut pretty paper all day. I need clean thumbs.

2. You have to have really good eyes. If you need
reading glasses, and consequently (don't have them,
erm), you will have to take them on, and then take
them off, and then work some more, and then look for
them, and then put them on to see if what you did look
right, etc. etc.

3. If you are OCD (which I am not, cough, cough), and
that little, itty bitty hairline imperfection bothers
you....well, it behoooves you to 'leave it alone'.
Either that or go try to fix it, fritter the
imperfection away to nothing and ruin the good part
and have to start all over. enough said.

4. epoxy smells. have a window open.

5. tools have to be *clean*. if your hoosband does not
clean his tools, do NOT go get them from the garage.
If you do, first clean them thoroughly with a scrub
brush, brillo pad and gunk scrapper tool.

6. Last but not least, I learned that if I count a set
of charms once, and then count it again, they won't
magically double in number. I will still have to make
more charms than I think.

7. I'm still not very good at math.

8. The good news is that I can use all those inchies I
made for charm making. I think I want to learn to
solder though. I wonder what my list will look like
then?

stay tuned.

xo Lia