New kiln brings a new adventure for the new year!

I'm an art dabbler -- painting here, beading there, and a million other art forms in between.  Working with glass is one thing I've always loved though, and I've been lucky enough to take courses in fusing, lampworking (making hot beads), stained glass, flameworking and glass blowing.  But fusing glass in a kiln....my favorite!  I love to make jewelry, and the few candy dishes I've made were so fun and a chance to stretch my creativity.

This Christmas, my husband surprised me with a kiln that gives me the chance to fuse glass to my heart's desire, as well as work with ceramics.  It's a Paragon Janus kiln, which has a switch, allowing you to use different coils in the kiln for different types of materials.  I never dreamed I'd ever have one, and it was an amazing surprise.  He did his research over the past few months, had an electrician in to give it a specific type of outlet and had this heavy sucker delivered on a big truck while I was home and I still remained clueless!

These are the only two that kinda worked out of my first batch

Yesterday, we tried it out for the first time, since we've had to spend the previous 3 days applying kiln wash to the shelves to prevent glass and paint sticking during the cooking process.  It also gave me time to visit my wonderful art-partner, Pat, who lovingly lent me a newer cutter, nippers, a couple of molds, some kiln paper and some research books.


Unfortunately, the only glass I had on hand at home was my stained glass, and the pickin's were thin!  We tried a few things with an open mind and here are the results (good stuff above, bad stuff below).  Only one or two things are good enough to wear -- I discovered the opaque glass had too much lime in it and it developed a detrification, or milky coating.  I also tried to slump a piece of glass before fusing it, even though I knew you were supposed to do this in a two-step process.  Can you blame a girl for trying?    It took about 7 hours for all the steps in the kiln, and we let it cool while we slept. We checked it constantly throughout the afternoon-- hoping for good results and making sure there would be no fires.  I have complete confidence now in the process, and look forward to purchasing nice, compatible glass, stringers etc. and try again, learning more each time!

These are the ones that didn't work, however, I know where I went wrong now!

Cement Becomes Artful

My husband, Jan, has a recent obsession with concrete.  He's begun doing some artful things with it....we now have a gorgeous new coffee table, which he made with Australian walnut and brown-colored cement. I love all the little pits and natural look of it.

His latest piece of our new bathroom countertop.  We purchased an old 1960's cocktail cart and he made this top out of stained concrete for it.  He has sealed it and it shines to a gloss, still retaining its cement character.  The bathroom is almost done now -- just need to place those tiles as a backsplash, and we've created a new look for it for very little.

Glass Blob Magnets Always Useful, and Sometimes Sentimental

I love a good glass blob.  I put them in vases, surround my candles with them and I like to make magnets using them.  I remember the first time I ever saw a glass drop being used as a magnet -- my uncle, who I adore -- gave me a simple, small glass blob magnet with an image of an Orca whale on it for Christmas years ago.  I treasure it not only because it reminds me of him, but it reminds me of the killer whales I used to see growing up in British Columbia.

I've been making the magnets for fun ever since.  I usually buy the blobs and magnets at Michael's -- usually the 1" ones, and have fun leafing through my magazines for images to put underneath.  Occasionally, I will also paint pictures underneath or find an image on google as well.  Unfortunately, I sold all my magnets at that holiday faire a few weeks ago and completely FORGOT to take photos of them before I brought them to the show.  One of my favorites was the Yoda magnet, which  I think I embellished with a little sparkle. (Martha Stewart has a thin-line glue pen that allows you to draw with, then apply sprinkles on top.)

Here's what they can look like, and an accompanying "how to," should you decide to try it yourself!

http://www.notmartha.org/tomake/marblemagnets/

Getting My Blog Through Facebook

I don't know about you, but I enjoy Facebook.  I like to read about what's going on in my friend's lives and catch up on my favorite blogs.  Some of these are: What I Wore, Budget Babe, Art With Kids, and My Frugal Adventures.

If you would like to follow my blog, "The Art of Being Creative", on a regular basis, please click on the Facebook icon on the far right column and "like" my page when it brings you to Facebook.  You will not only receive on your Facebook all my posts from this blog, but also other artistic ideas I do not always duplicate on my blog.  Don't worry about being overburdened with posts....like all of you, I have a million things on my plate and usually only do something creative enough to blog about once a week or so!  Thank you again for your interest, and keep those creative fires burning!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaths-Artworx-The-Art-of-Being-Creative/322976415341?sk=wall

Love,  Kath.

Music to my Eyes

Christmas is fast approaching, and I was running out of ideas of what to get a lot of people.  My child's music teacher is one of my favorite, so I thought I'd make him a painting that would come from my heart.  When I create a piece of jewelry or painting for someone, you can bet I have given it everything I have, with them in my mind the entire time.  I really hope he likes it!

Success Selling my Paintings!

It can be kinda scary putting my art out, and although I enjoy sharing my art with you on my blog and corresponding facebook page, asking someone to purchase one of my works is something completely different.

My girlfriend encouraged me to do a holiday craft boutique with her on the weekend, and I made about 12 mini canvasses, several earrings and necklaces for the event.  I can't say the jewelry was as glitzy as hers and it wasn't my best, however, I did work hard on the canvasses, trying to enjoy the process for what it was instead of concentrating on what would sell.  I made small 4X4 wide-edged canvasses, as I felt I could offer a more affordable price for them  -- I sold them for $30 a piece.

Here's a photo of me with some of the canvasses -- I managed to sell 5, along with a few other jewelry pieces, so I'm fairly happy.  It was fun.  Not in a big hurry to do it again, but I'm glad I stretched my neck and got out there!  Many thanks to my friends who came to check out our creations!

Lovin' My Messenger Bag Embellishment

I was at Pottery Barn a couple of weeks ago and saw this really cool messenger bag on sale.  I don't normally go for these things, but the price was right, the fabric was a wonderful thick felt, and it had an irresistible seatbelt strap.  How could I NOT pick it up?  Anyhoo, I decided to embellish it with some colorful felt flowers and birds and I'm loving the effect.  I think it really changes the look to go from serious to quite whimsical now.

Finding Creative Time in a Busy World

Today, I had a friend ask me how I coped with all the craziness that goes on in life.   The first thing I told her is that I do the best I can, and sometimes, it's not enough, but each day gives me a new chance to try again.  Then, it occurred to me that when I'm creative, I'm at my best.  It fuels my passion, and let's me cope with the drama and negativity that sometimes can drive my days.  Being creative gives me a positive, happy outlet and puts a smile on my face.

The days I paint, or make a pair of earrings, or even dream of the next project I'm going to work on is always good.  I've accomplished something, I've done something for myself and I've put something artistic into the universe.

I am extremely grateful for those of you who read my blog, who may be inspired by my creative endeavours, and hopefully, do more of your own thing as a result.  This blog has been really good for me, and thank you for sticking by my side days are challenging and the creative muse does not show her head.

Thanks again, and stay tuned as I post more of my art as I get ready for a holiday art boutique coming up!

Love,  Kath.

Zen Tangling Brings my Doodles to a New Level

The other day I took a workshop in multi-media art (more on that later) when one of the artists mentioned she taught a course in zen tangling.  Now, I had never heard of this before, but when she showed us an example, I instantly recognized it as doodling and was entranced!  How beautiful!  When I got home I dug out my best line-art pen and reached for a small canvas to try out "zen tangling."   It was a relaxing process, and although it seemed to take forever to create, it is one of my favorite new pieces.  

Dripping Crayons Adds a Splash of Color

I've been wanting to try dripping crayons on a canvas for quite a while now, and lately, I've had so much creative energy!  With this holiday boutique coming up, it's been the impetus for me to get cracking and try some art projects that have been marinating in my brain.

I hunted down these crayons and tried to arrange them in a color order, though I'm not sure if it really matters. I used hot glue to attach them to the canvas and went to town with my heat gun. God I love that thing.  Gets red hot in seconds and dries and heats anything in its path immediately.  The wax had a mind of its own when it was dripping, but I managed to get it around the edge of the canvas so that every angle had something interesting on it.   I enjoyed making this canvas so much, I'm excited to try it again with a new set of crayons.

Forlorn Cat -- an collage in orange

Strangest thing.  I woke up this morning feeling like I had to create a collage with a cat as its centerpiece.  In orange. And I don't even really like cats.

I began with a small 4X4 canvas and gave it a background of orange and gold paints, layering with tissues and a receipt along the way.  The cat and butterfly were added toward the end, and finished off with my new India ink pen.  I call him "Forlorn Cat."

Tiny glass tree baubles make a cute necklace

My mom was visiting from Vancouver last week, and two of my favorite things to do with her are 1) shop and 2) make jewelry.  We took a walk through Crate & Barrell while she was here and came across these cute little glass drop ornaments, meant for one of those mini trees.  As soon as we got home, we got to work coloring some of the ornaments with my vitrea glass paint, baking them for a half hour to set the color. When those were done, we strung an assortment on a chain, and finished it off with a suede cord.  I really like the glass, chain and suede combination together -- it's unexpected and I think it works with any kind of outfit.   I've got a craft faire coming up next month, and I'm thinking of making a few more of these in different colors, and stringing the balls on chain and leather as well.

Day of the Dead earrings my way of honoring the past

Mexico is gearing up for Day of the Dead celebrations, a time when they honor those who have passed on.  I was inspired to create these colorful "Dia de los Muertos" earrings for the 3 days of festivities.  

Probably the hardest part of creating these earrings was trying to figure out how the color photo copier worked a the Fedex store.  Once I had printed out my "Dia de los Muertos" images, I modge podged them onto Scrabble Tiles and poured a layer of resin on them.  From there, I strung beads onto silver wire and made them into these delightful dangles, more than enough to wear during the Nov. 1 & 2 festivities.

It occurred to me that one of these days, someone in the family is going to open up the Scrabble box and discover there are no longer any letter tiles, thanks to my little jewelry obsession.  Until then....enjoy the bling!

A Little Flamingo in My Life

A few weeks ago I attended a local church's giant garage sale.  There was used merchandise from all its parishioners strewn all over the lot, but inside, was a room full of used books.  I was in heaven!  One book that caught my eye was this giant Audobon's Encyclopedia of North American Birds.  $5!  It had photos, drawings and descriptions of every bird imaginable in it and it begged to come home with me.

A few days ago, one of my art students says, "Ms. P, can we do some paper mache?" and an idea was born.  I haven't done paper mache for pleasure for ages, and this bird book was the perfect inspiration for the project.  I made a batch of flour & water paste and ripped up some newspaper, then put together this flamingo I shall call "Percy."

Pink Flamingos aren't something I normally think about, but when I saw it in the book, I couldn't turn the page.  It seemed to want to come alive, and so I did my best.  Painting it was an adventure as well.  I went into painting thinking I was going to go as life-like as I could, and then my brush took over and next thing you know, we've got swirls, stripes and dots going on.  It happens.

Soccer Ball Painting Dares to Leave my Garage

Whatever activity my kids are involved in, I try and help out in any way I can. Madi's new soccer team is having a fundraiser, so I painted this soccer ball for their auction.  I used acrylics and molding paste for texture, painted on a 12X12' canvas.  


As an artist, I find it scary to put myself out there.  Few of my paintings find themselves outside the garage simply because I am always scared that everyone will think I'm a terrible artist.  I'm always telling my students to embrace their unique artistic style, and I really have difficulty trusting in my own.  Having this soccer ball go out to the public and have people silently bidding on it is "ballsy" stuff for me, and I'm hoping SOMEONE will want it!!!

Bottom line, I wanted to give back to the organization, and I am hoping this gift will be well received, and maybe a baby step for me to start being more confident in my art.

Drawing fast and furious

Every time I go to a teacher's training seminar, I leave inspired and eager to try new things.  At the last one at CSMA, one of the art teachers was modeling a class in line art drawing.  She gave each of us a photograph, and asked us to quickly sketch the outline in pencil, then work the details in black sharpie -- and there was only about 10 minutes left!  My life is about rushing around half the time, so I relished the challenge, and drew this seal within out time constraints.  It felt so good to be drawing again, and I am definitely going to not only try this again myself, but pass this lesson on to my students.

A distressed tile makes an interesting plaque.

I went to one of my favorite art venues, A Work of Heart, in San Jose. It's a wonderful shop stocked top to bottom with craft supplies, papers, stamps, glues, ribbons, cutters, paints etc. and has tables in the middle to do your favorite projects.  My daughter chose to make a textured mug and necklace, and I made a pretty glass pendant and this old-looking tile.  The stone tile is beige and pitted, and to give it a design, I stamped onto white tissue paper, then used a white paste over the tile and then the tissue paper to make it translucent.  Finishing touches included clear acrylic spray, and a ribbon held on the back with a two-part glue.  Not sure where I'm going to put it, but it'll find a home soon, as it's growing on me.

Jewelry display a true art form

I am blessed to have such creative friends.  My friend Sherie works full time, runs a big house and still manages to find time to create the most beautiful things.  For my birthday, she made this beautiful shadow box jewelry display for some of my necklaces and earrings.  It's such a piece of art, and I'm proud to hang it on the wall for my favorite pieces, many of which I made with Sherie in previous years!

She tells me she was inspired by some she saw in a high-end shop in Santa Cruz, and then she went about rummaging for hooks, vintage jewels and a shadow box and drawer pull from Ikea, and special paper from a specialty store.  More photos will follow of the other gorgeous boxes she made, but in the meantime, I will proudly show you my gift and hope you are inspired as well.

Doodling on Rocks

This craft reminds me of beach-lazy days of summer, and it's so easy and fun, I thought I'd pass it on. Take some beautiful rocks collected from the beach, give them a quick spritz with white spray paint, and use a thin Sharpy marker to do your doodles.  For my daughter's birthday, I left some spray painted river rocks and a marker out on the table for her friends to write on, and now she has a pretty plateful of messages and doodles as memories of her special day.

Encaustic Playdate results in Waxy layers of Whimsy

When you were a child,  you called your friend to arrange an immediate playdate and fun was ensuing within the hour.  As an adult, I find my friends to be as busy as I am, and sometimes our playdates are made weeks, even months in advance.  This is the case with my friend Pat with whom I first played with encaustic medium.  I went over to her house, and we watched a "how to" video on encaustic, laughing at the presenter's obvious need for getting things exact and keeping things clean.  It was hilarious, as one of the things Pat and I have in common is a fearlessness in getting down and dirty in our artwork.  The video, however, gave us the push and inspiration we needed to get to work on our new piece. This latest artwork is much larger and I was much more confident and relaxed in making it.  I layered the pattern papers, self-made watercolor paper and homemade flower paper on the canvas, spreading wax on as I went.  This time, I finally felt I was master of the heat gun in making the wax flow!  Stay tuned as I learn to improve my technique with this waxy medium!

"Yarn Bombing" is my kind of creative statement!

I'm always on the lookout for ideas for art projects, and although I've never really taken to knitting, I am now scheming to try this "yarn bombing" idea. Very "Christo" like.

Creating Jewelry with Silver Metal Clay - Kath's Daily Bling Fix

Up to the time I moved to the U.S. and had kids, I loved metal-smithing.  It gave me a creative outlet as well as allowed me to make jewelry quickly and often.  I admit I wore far more than I sold, but I have always loved creating my own silver jewelry.  Recently, my friend Pat introduced me to silver metal clay which allowed me once more to create silver jewelry a different way.  Silver metal clay reminds me of a gray Fimo or Sculpey dough, but it's really silver grounds mixed with an organic binder and it's sooo easy to work with.  I just rolled out a small bit, stamped it and shaped it into whatever I wanted.  After that, it's fired overnight and tumbled to make it shiny, and ready to wear within 24 hours!  Here are two pieces I made earlier in the week: one is a pair of triangular earrings I stamped with a bubble-shaped texture, then cut and dried over a folded piece of cardboard.  The necklace, I LOVE!  I used liver of sulfur on top of the bird to make it contrast more with the silver background, then shined it up.  Can't wait to create more bling soon!

Graduates Celebrate a Year in Art

For the past year and a half, I've enjoyed teaching at a school for teens who are trying to get their lives back together; they've dropped out of school, done drugs, got into gangs or any number of things that got them kicked out of the school system.  My job is to teach them art every week while they try and get back into school.  It's my favorite job, and the kids really work hard for me to open up and let their creative juices flow.  This week was the graduation of 11 of the teens, and a bittersweet time for me as a teacher.  It's hard to see these kids blossom over time and then fly away to different schools and different lives.  Here is some of the art they created over the year, as well as our reward recipient -- a young artist who really worked hard and put his own twist on everything he did.

Bottle Bird Feeder Gives Me Bird Fix

We've been enjoying our finch feeder for some time now.  At any given time, there are a few yellow, green or red beauties out there nibbling.  The problem is, the little buggers go through a bag of bird seed every three weeks.  This last time, my husband offered to buy a bag and got wild bird seed which the finches don't seem to like.  Haven't seen a bird in four days.  From 20 an hour to nada.  So today, I scrounged around in my recycling box and got myself a guava juice container to use as a different kind of bird feeder that MAY just attract different birds.  I must admit, I got a lot of satisfaction from carving out the holes on each side with a knife -- must be holding in some stress there...be warned!  Stuck a couple of chopsticks in, and viola!  a make-shift feeder to get rid of this giant bag of seed!  Looking forward to seeing what comes a-feeding.

Poppies Spring Up From an Unexpected Hour

I find this blog is really great for reminding me to nourish myself artistically.  It is so true, as the poet Maya Angelo says, "you can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."  I find that the more I paint or craft or sew, the better my work tends to get and the better I feel about it.

Yesterday, I brought my car in for an oil change, and had expected to stay at the dealership for the hour it takes and read.  I was surprised when I was told that it would take over two hours, and they offered to drive me home right away and pick me up when it was done.  This meant two hours of unexpected time spent at home, and I had no intention of using it to pay bills or clean!  I took the opportunity to break out my watercolors and paper and try something springy and bright.  I saw something similar to this on a website that inspired me, and I was excited to translate it, using a different medium and a little salt for effect.

So Many Possibilities to Create in a Candle Holder!

 

I ordered this candleholder from Partylite because it had so many possibilities.  I picked up some pebbles from Ikea for this look, and at Marshall's, found a big back of seaglass for another look.  I can totally see myself changing this with the seasons, the holidays and frankly, anytime I need a little change of surroundings.  

Something Bold and Blue: A Skateboard Top Inspired By Haring

One of the artists I have long admired is Keith Haring.  Before he died of AIDS in his early 30's, he was known as a street artist, a young man who was energized by the New York street and subway scene.  He painted on street walls with his brush and spray can, and his work was always bold, his characters without much detail.  Haring's work has pop influences, with the bold colors he used and the black outlining he often did to give his work a distinct cartoon-like appearance.  My skateboard painting is a nod to Haring, and I'm really liking the bright colors and movement of my piece -- something a little different for me!

Folk Art Bird

Seems I've got a thing about birds lately.  It seems to be cropping up in a lot of my artwork, and the other day I even bought a finch feeder.  I have always been fascinated by folk art, so it was very natural for me to choose a bird as my subject for this piece.  Folk art has it's roots with the common people.  It's usually decorative, and done with recycled, found materials by locals with no fine art training.  The bird is cut out of cardboard that I pulled out of recycling, and all the pieces are from bits that I found around the house.  I placed an old skewer to hold it up, and stuck it on a block of wood that I found outside.  To give it an older, distressed look, I used white, dry paint with my favorite fan brush, which is usually put aside specially for painting clouds.  When I showed the kids this particular brush, they were so excited -- it looks so different from their usual brushes, and they each wanted a chance to try out the dry brush technique.

Ted Harrison Inspires me with the Sunset

One of my inspirations this week is Canadian artist Ted Harrison.  Harrison is best known for his colorful works that involve curvy lines, white or black lines separating each color, and his depictions of life in the Yukon.  When I was working with my younger students, I challenged them to try a Harrison-inspired work and I was thrilled by where their swirls took them!   

Pinterest Peaks My Interest

Like many of you, I have many blogs and websites that I check-in with, for creative ideas that will spur one of my own, for art lessons for my classes, for personal inspiration.  My uber-creative crafty friend Pat just turned me on to another site that I am sure to check out on a regular basis.  It's called www.pinterest.com, and everytime I've checked it since I heard about it, I have the overwhelming urge to run to the garage and start some creative project!

 

Check out these adoreable umbrellas in a wreath.  I happen to have a whole box of these left over from a party a couple of years back....you can bet next time I'm heading to Michael's, coupon in hand, I'm going to head over to the foamy section and get a wreath to do this fun project.  Hanging on a door, I think it says, "you are heading into the fun zone." Poifect for my next wild shindig!

A LittleWine with my Resin to Celebrate my Birthday

“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”

I had a group of my girlfriends over last night to celebrate my birthday with margaritas, a party-lite presentation and a craft.  I really enjoy working with resin, so I designed a basic necklace using bezels, beads and images cut from my mountains of magazines.  The bezels, and leather cord were from Michaels, and the beads are from an Indian importer that I purchase by the 6' string. Can't believe how the necklaces turned out!  I was soooo proud to have such a creative group of girlfriends, and how blessed  am I to have spent the evening with my favorite people, doing my favorite activity.

Watercolor on unusual surfaces

 

My sister Dee knows my really well.  My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and when I flew up to visit my family, she gifted me with a course we could take together.  It was called, "watercolor on unusual surfaces."  We took blocks of wood and smeared them with a sandy acrylic compound, and another with  thick, gooey, modeling paste.  When they were dried, we painted on them with basic watercolors and wonderful chinese bamboo brushes.  What a wonderful time to spend both with my sister, and doing something I love.  Neither of us have much experience in watercolor, but it was fun to try something new, and we both decided to try our hand at trees for this particular piece. 

Ancient Egypt Canopic Jar....for guts or in my case, extra change!

 

In ancient Egypt, the lungs, liver, kidneys and stomach were placed in canopic jars right before the embalmers began the mummification process.  I thought it would be a fun project for my class of Goth teenage boys to try with clay.  Usually the Egyptians chose to recreate the head of the dead to put on top, but they also put in other protectors such as the cow, ram or hawk.  I chose a cow head, which I'm sure will look much better once I've painted it.  Not a true work of art, but I really had fun, and I know the boys really enjoyed making these jars too.  Looking forward to getting these fired painted...think I'll use mine to hold spare change that I find in my jeans occasionally.

birds on a wire

 

Please excuse the fact I am so inept at turning photos around, so you get to see my artwork sideways.  I bought a ton of maps at RAFT a couple of years ago for I dunno...like .50 or something, and ideas have been perculating in my brain as to what to do with them.  This is what I came up with.  I'm thinking of making it a magnet for the fridge.

Scrabble Pendants for Teacher Appreciation Day

I've been playing around with scrabble tiles for a while now, but have never found real success in a way of presenting them.  Either the glaze on top bubbles, or the silver foil doesn't stick, or I keep running out of bails to hang them from.  The other day a teacher was wearing the most adoreable of scrabble earrings and they simply had holes in the top to hang them with.  So simple!  Why do I always take the complicated way out?  I tried it out with these samples, and I think it looks not too bad...good enough for "teacher appreciation day" gifts, I bet.

I did buy a new soldering iron today, hoping to recreate the glass slides of a few weeks ago, but it's just not working out for me.  Either the solder, flux or the iron isn't working and I'll have to figure out the answer.  That's enough crafting for today. Happy I had success with a little drill hole!

A burst of sewing creativity with an Infinity Scarf

 

My daughter's friend, Elena, came over for dinner last night and she was wearing this striking infinity scarf that she received for her birthday.  It was wrapped 3 times around her neck, made of a cotton knit, and I'm thinking to myself....hell, I can make that!  Today, I went to the fabric store to buy some fabric to make some for myself.  Got a little shock when I arrived, though, as I found that the knits at Joanne Fabrics were more expensive than what you can buy a ready-made one at many stores!  I went for a patterned knit, hoping I'd feel better if I bought fabric that isn't available in scarf-form.  Didn't take me long to whip this baby up, and I'm quite pleased with it!  Looking forward to wearing it to work tomorrow!

Encaustic Play: a fun, hot mess

A friend of mine travels all over the United States teaching classes on metal clay, fused glass etc. and had mentioned she had purchased at cost some encaustic supplies.  I leapt at the chance to share them with her, as I had been wanting to try this art form for a long time.  She arrived with a bunch of colored disks of wax, a heatable stylus, a mini iron and some brushes.  We watched Youtube videos on how to do it as we explored, and really enjoyed ourselves figuring out how to make an encaustic painting.  It wasn't as easy as I thought making the wax move where you want it to, but it'll be a work in progress.  Here is my result of playing around.