1-1-11

Inevitably a new year!  All those ones.  Welcome to 2011 and happy new year to all of you my blogger friends.  You inspire me daily, and I get excited when I find someone new to follow.  Today was a quiet day.  I played with my cat Bailey whose favorite game is "hide the cat in the bag."

He likes to hang out inside the bag, only parts of him sticking out.  A gentle poke with my toe on his hip makes him crazy as he scrambles to turn around in the bag to swat at me.  Usually my toe is long gone by then.  :)  He knows that... the crackling sound of the bag is what's music to his ears, go figure.  He also has a catnip ball that he loves, and if you toss that into the bag with him, he gets lively.  Mostly though, he's a super laid-back dude, like the Dude, minus the dope... :)

I made veggie soup for dinner with black-eyed peas.  Yummy, and I loved the colors!

 

It had red cabbage, onions, celery, garlic, parsley, balck-eyed peas, olive oil, and seasoning.

Then I finished a shadow box project that I've had sitting around for such a long time it had a 1/4" of dust on it.  I used an old hook rack that I painted and distressed, then filled with meaningful words and symbols.  Hearts are close to my heart, and also anything natural, like the outdoors.  I had glued on some bought eggs in the nest of Spanish Moss, but they were too big so I had to make some polymer clay eggs that I painted robin's egg blue with brown spatters. 

Happiness is NOW, look within for peace and love. (Rather than the outside where it doesn't exist.)

 I had a red plastic heart that I covered with paper from a paperback I wrote myself then glued inspirational words like "live your bliss" and "choose joy."  It is a choice, either we decide to dig for that good feeling inside or we spend the day being negative.  Gratitude is a good path toward feeling joy!  The twigs are from outside where there is no shortage of those! :)

 Nature has a thing or two to teach us, so I like to include natural elements to honor that.  I'm grateful that I live in the midst of glorious nature!

The whole piece is about 16" inches long and 8" high.  Lots of fun to make!

Bailey now fell asleep next to me.  He's dreaming and twitching.  I wonder what he thinks he's catching...  He was not happy during the fireworks last night.  It sounded like they were setting off bombs in the neighborhood...

Do you know what you want to accomplish this year?  On a physical level I'm sure what I want.  I know what I love to do-art and writing.  On a spiritual level, I want to follow my Inner Voice more closely and also find the bliss in every situation.  I don't want to waste any more time on letting things "happen" to me, or to wallow in pity parties, or dwell on the horrendous things we do to each other and Nature.  If I can be an inspiration for upliftment, I'm one less problem in this world!  So, I wish all of that for you too, savoring living in the moment and looking toward things that uplift you and make you happy!  Happy people make good choices that are good for everyone.  Happy people spread the happy bug around!  You know what I mean! ;-D

I wish you a GREAT creative year!  

Bailey is wishing y'all a Happy New Year!

Have a happy and healthy and creative and prosperous 2010 my dear blogging friends!  You are a continous fountain of inspiration. :)

It's hard to knit with a cat in your lap...

I spend some time every day in my favorite, super comfortable easy chair (in other words, my super ugly brown recliner) and knit. It's something I learned from my mother and other brave women in the generation before me. I didn't have the best of patience... This time I'm making a wool plus purse. It'll be felted, but the added fancy yarns will look the same since only wool yarn felts. I've made some of these purses in the past and I thought some friend might get this one for Christmas. I love the muted blues and purples.
My cat Bailey loves that chair as much as I do... So, there is this cat with lots of paws and claws and constantly moving yarn. You can imagine the action, or longing for action that goes through this (rather lazy) cat. He knows the word "NO" but that doesn't always work.
Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of him in my lap crowding out the balls of yarn, but he did let me take a picture on the porch this morning of my knitting efforts. The finished product will be posted at a later day.

Copper wire rocks!

I made a simple bracelet with copper wire and red coral beads. I just love the color combo they create. Check out the rock upon which I placed the bracelet for the photo. The rock is from Cayuga Lake in the Fingerlakes region of New York. I used to live by that lake and seemed to have a knack for finding rocks with holes in them. Ages and ages ago, there were creatures that got trapped in the forming rock and the softer part they presented got soaked away by water and time. That's the "scientific" explanation, but some believe the holes are magical. I've never had a magical experience with them, but they sure are beautiful! That's enough for me. I have a few I brought with me to Florida, where there are no REAL rocks, only soft sandstone.

Bailey was sitting on my table in my studio trying to get to this crazed bird that was pecking on my window every 20 minutes for the entire day. It's a Summer Tanager, native to Florida. I got a picture, but the quality is not good. It's been coming back now and again, pecking, pecking. I especially don't like the early morning pecking!

I have been lazy...

This blog is a good way to stay motivated. Usually I don't lack motivation for making art, but I only made two mosaic tile boxes this and last week. I've got a foster cat that I'll be taking care of for 3 months, so that has been an adjustment in the home. Fortunately Bailey likes her, but there's still some skirmishing going on, and some growling, mostly over my lap, or over food! She's a very sweet cat though, Tabby. I call her Tabby-too (don't ask me why...) She's a fearless, self-confident female, a great role model!

Bailey is in the bag...

Bailey in the bag going nuts with a knitted ball. Bailey out of the bag is marshalling the felt pumpkins on my porch. He thinks the small ones are fun to bat around. Sometimes I find them in the flower bed below, but at least he hasn't been CHEWING on them. Next, my fall wreath of silk chrysantimums in yellow, orange, and dark red, will come out of its storage bag, or maybe I'll go wild and make a NEW one. What a novelty idea...
Fall is coming even though we're still in the 90s here in Florida during the day, but the mornings are dewy and actully somewhat cool. Yay!
I've got my garden going for the second time this year. Will post some pictures of that later once the plants get a little bigger.
Keep on creating!

Maria

A NEW DAY, ANOTHER PIECE OF ART...

Hi, my name is Maria and I'm an artist (among other things,) like gardener, shop owner, and butler to His Majesty Bailey, the Cat. I could write a separate blog "by Bailey" but this is an art blog. I love to make art of all forms, but especially painting in acrylics, making mosaics on mirrors and boxes. I use stained glass tile, or polymer clay tiles that I have cut, stamped, painted, and embossed. It's a tricky and time consuming adventure in clay, but the results are always satisfying. As an artist you never know how a project will end. You might have an end result in mind, but halfway thru, the artwork takes on a life of its own... Every artist will tell you that they weren't sure how that dratted cat ended up in the dramatic sunset they were painting, or why the cat was blue along with the purple cat held in the mermaid's arms... Well, honestly, I never painted many sunsets... I have painted a pink beach on occasion, and admittedly a blue cat with white stripes once. If that Blue Dog could make it big, what the heck!

Maria