Dreaming Like A Child

My oldest son, Jared, turned 18 last week; and I had to cry a little tear as we sang happy birthday to him.  18 years went by in the blink of an eye.  I have such vivid memories of him as a toddler, a boy, an older brother.  I think I cried because I know he is heading out soon to find his own way, build his own life, pursue his own dreams.  I wonder if I have raised him well, provided a strong ground for him to stand on, loved him enough. 

Sometimes I feel like an 18 year old myself with childlike hopes for living an artistic life.  And then I think of how lucky I am to have an opportunity to do just that.  Jared is a blessing that I will have until the day I die.  Living a life full of goodness and hopes and childlike dreams is also a blessing I hope to have for the rest of my days.

Art Project from 2D Design class - A technique called rotoscope interpolated where use tones (in this case, colored paper) to create light and dark values. 

Collage and Assemblage Assignment - This semestrer at Glassell, I am taking Drawing II and Collage/Assemblage.  Our assignment this week was to take a box of 300 matches and "build something".  Wow, how wide open is that idea.  Holy Moly - I am so glad I quit court reporting school.

I recently read how moms are the only true super heros on the planet.  How do we do everything we do, be everything we are supposed to be -  love, nurture, discipline, keep a happy home and an open heart.  This little matchstick project is my homage to all the moms out there who stand tall on ever-shifting terraine and boldly face each day with super human powers.  Rock On Mamas!

I am starting a new lamp today with a lamp base from IKEA and paper from Texas Art Supply on Montrose.  Fun and easy and pretty and fun ;o)

Daisy Garden Stone

Crash Daisy grouted in purple grout - all done and moving on.

Crash Daisy Ready For Grout

The daisy rock is ready for grout.  I put crash glass over the paper and taped off around the flower with painters tape.  I am going to grout in dark purple; so, the tape will keep the grout from staining the rock.  

Purple Daisy

Purple paper and yellow crash glass added to the rock.  Little teeny tiny millifioris added around the center of the flower.  They may be too small to show up when it is grouted.  We'll see.

Crash Rock

Daisy Crash Rock - Getting rid of the last of my stash of rocks that I bought over a year ago.  Aren't New Year's resolutions great.  One of mine was to get rid of all the stash I have accumulated in 2011.  I used a very simple crossbar to center my flower and then used a measuring tape to mark the length of the petals so they would all be about the same size from the outer edge of the center circle to the end of the petal.

Starbucks Mona Lisa

Finished off the Starbucks Mona Lisa by adding two rows of tiny ball chain around the image.  All done and moving on.

Coffee Goddess

Coffee Goddess is almost done.  Since the cap is pretty deep, I filled it halfway up with resin, let the resin dry and then glued the text and the stars down.  More resin was added to fill the cap to the top.

Mona Lisa - Coffee Goddess

Mona Lisa is going inside my Starbucks coffee cap.  I printed the "coffee" text off the computer and found the word "Goddess" in a magazine.  I think she would have had a bigger smile if they had Starbucks back in the day ;)

Starbucks Pendant

After drinking your Starbucks deliciousness, save the cap.  They make pretty cool bezels.  Just drill a hole in the top and insert an eyepin.  I put a little spot of MAC glue on the inside of the cap where the eyepin came through to keep the resin from seeping out and to hold the eyepin in place while I am working on the inside.

Finished Valentine Pendant

The Valentine pendant is finished.  I drilled a hole in the bottom of the bezel to hang the drop beads.  I like the look with the see through back.  Next up - a pendant made from a bottled Starbucks Mocha Frappuccio cap.  Man - those drinks are good!!

Valentine Pendant

Today I started another demo for the pendant class.  I found some really nice printed transparancies at Michael's the other day.  You need a transparancy when working with a backless pendamt base.  You can also attach the base to packing tape before pouring in your resin if you don't have a transparancy. 

Collage Pendants

The first set of collage pendant demos are done.  I used ICE Resin and really liked it.  More to demos to come this week.

Collage Pendant Demos

Demo collage pendants going together.  Next step - adding resin.