Presents!

I love presents. LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE! I love getting them (see the last few posts), I love giving them, and I adore making them! A few posts down I showed a WIP of a painting that I made for the wonderful Laurie, here is the finished piece:



I gave it to her last Sunday and I loved hearing her swoon. She was especially enamored with the little kitty and agreed that it looked like Minou.

For my friends Natalie and Cheeka I went a simpler route. I took store bought, plain wooden hearts and altered them. When I was done gussying them up I drilled holes in then and added a wire hanger. Here is Cheeka's (she is a self-identified jesus freak) sans drilling and hanger:



I love how the crackle paint turned out (an experiment really) and I love how the gold paint seems to be emanating from jesus's head.

For Natalie I went a little darker in both color and theme. Natalie is in to earthy colors and has dark sensibilities about her. Imagine hippy goth only way cool. Here is what I did for her:



The words say: Let the fire of my body propel and warm me and let each darkness reveal it's plentitude. I wish I had said that, but a poets whose name I forget said it.

As this season draws to an end I am thankful for the opportunity I took to make those I love something special. They aren't magnificent gifts, but they are a little piece of me. /cheesiness.

12 Days of Christmas DAY 3

WOOT! Amyfaerie you are a goddess! Amy's gift for us today is a wonderful funky, chunky bracelet. Made with game pieces, buttons, old jewelry and ribbons it is stunning! See for yourselves!

12 Days of Christmas DAY 2

OMG! Debra, AKA goatgoddess, really out did herself with gift #2. I am in love with it! It is a fabric wall hanging. She even downloaded pictures I have of my kitties in my gallery on AFA and used them on it! A picture will explain it much better than I can. Thank you so much Debra!

12 Days of Christmas DAY1

WOOT! Today I opened the 1st gift for the 12 Days of Christmas Swap. It came from Adriayna (Dana) in Indiana. Dana made a wonderful painting of an egg in a birds nest, with her gift she included extra fibers, a bookmark, and handmade papers. Thank you so much, I LOVE all the goodies!

Death

Awhile ago on Suzi Blu's site she held a contest for people to reinterpret a tarot card or make their own oracle card. I decided to go with the Death card. I have always been drawn to this card and to the idea of death and rebirth, to change. I think each and every second we die a little bit and are reborn with new ideas, new thoughts, new experiences. Death to me isn't so scary when I think of it in terms of growth and change. Even our literal death is merely a transformation. After all, we humans are quite simply energy and energy never dies but is transformed continually. I guess this is why I am also drawn to the idea of reincarnation, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

Anyway, I did a little research on the traditional symbols used in the Death card and decided to incorporate them into my card. Aeclectic Tarot is a great site to research tarot meanings and to look at the many different kinds of decks available (I am currently in love with this deck which retails for $75, yikes!). Through this site I found that the death card often has a skeleton type figure representing death walking on a desolate road. Also commonly featured is a sunrise and a child. To me this symbolizes the rebirth and change aspect of this card. I decided to incorporate these 3 symbols but with a Kati twist: Death would be dancing and happy and the child would appear to be happy too. This is what I came up with:



To me this card almost appears joyful, which I think death can be. And apparently it resonated with Suzi Blu as well since she chose my card to be the winner of her contest. Quite frankly I was shocked to win. I know this card is good, i won't hide behind false humility, but so many of the cards sent in were excellent! I was truly astounded at the quality of work that came out of this contest. Watch the video below to see all the cards entered in the contest and you'll see what i mean. Although the contest was over a month ago now the themes that my card represents seem to be weighing on my mind which is i guess why I am sharing this with you now.

Discombobulated

That's how I feel. My head is swirling a little too much and I feel close to drowning yet never so more alive. Sigh. I need out of my head. I need into my body. I need into my spirit. I need into my heart. I feel so many things yet can't tell the truth from the lies.

I have a crush. That sucks cause I know she ain't into me. Yet i knew that nothing would happen between us the moment I laid my eyes on her in The Accident Gallery over 2 years ago. I just can't help thinking she is delicious. I don't think that's my problem anyway. Or at least not entirely my problem. There's something else going on here. It's a mystery. Well, not really. But kinda. I know that my spiritual self is troubled. I want to believe so many things but can't. I know there is a truth bigger than you or I or anything breathing out there but I forgot how to touch it, how to speak to it, how to breathe it.

Anyway, in my search, in my longing, I have been reading books and creating art like a mad fiend. I'll share the art someday, but I'll tell you the books now: 'Something More' by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I don't know where I got this book, it just appeared in my collection not too long ago. I though it would suck, but it didn't. Not entirely anyway. the book is obviously aimed for women in their forties and fifties as if the search for more only becomes apparent then. That assumption annoys me. The other 2 assumptions that annoyed me are: all women are mothers and all women are straight. She talks way too much about getting a man. Not that I don't like men, I do. They are luscious and fab. But so are women. I like to keep my options open in that arena. And the whole kid thing, ugh. To be perfectly honest the only kid I truly like is my niece Thea. But she is pretty exceptional. She is 6 and has a mohawk. Truly. She does. And she is an artist. Takes after Aunt Kati! But other kids I am not so much into. I am good at pretending I like kids, even the kids are fooled. But I don't really like them. They zap my energy. OK, back to the book. Ban Breathnach relies quite heavily on quotes to make her point, but I don't mind that. I now have a sourcebook of kick ass quotes. And the truth is, what she does say about this 'something more' we all search for resonates with me. The other book I just bought. So I can't go dissecting it for you just yet. Titled 'The Red Book' by Sera Beak, it is described as a "deliciously unorthodox approach to igniting your Divine Spark'. Sounds pretty rad to me. I will update you later on whether or not this radness is fact or fiction.

Anyway, so this is where I am at today. Crushed out on someone not interested and spiritually searching. You may think the 2 are unrelated but do not be fooled. I'm not.

They're Here!

The 12 Days of Christmas Swap gifties have arrived! I am drooling over all of the delicious packaging. Our host Annie (also known as curbsidetreasure) was smart enough to include an extra gift that we could all open immediately--that way we are less tempted to open gifts early! She gave us tons of paper ephemera and little bobbles, perfect for this motley crew of altered artists! We don't get to open our 1st gift until Sunday and I have to practically sit on my hands to keep away from the little basket of treasures!

WIP

Taking the mixed media class with Suzi Blu has been a real eye opener for me about my abilities to draw and make art in general. In order to continue practicing and developing my own unique way of making these 'pretty girls' have decided to make paintings for some family and friends.

Currently I am working on a painting for my dear friend Laurie. She is someone that has stuck by me through a lot of BS and I know I can count on her to be steadfast and true. We don't see each other often these days even though she only lives 2 blocks away due to conflicting schedules. She and her husband are planning to move away in a few months to the Bay area and I am dreading it! I wanted to make her something she could take with her that would always remind her of me. The girl in the painting looks nothing like Laurie (although with her ever changing hair color someday it might resemble her a bit more!), but I did make sure to add a silver kitty to represent Minou, Laurie's beloved familiar. The painting is not quite done, I would like to add a few more layers and I need to finish painting her face and clean the piece up a bit. I am also looking for a quote I can stamp on it that would somehow be meaningful to Laurie and our friendship (suggestions welcome!). So here is a look at what I have done so far:

Coming of Age

I was recently commissioned through etsy to create an altered cigar box for a 14 year old girl. I sent out my standard questionnaire but fount that the response didn't help me much. What I learned: she loves soccer, vintage, her dog, her brother and jesus. She also likes green and purple. She did add that she has big blue eyes and brown hair. I decided that rather than take all this info and try to squeeze it onto a box I would instead use her her colors and start with the theme of of coming of age. If I could get some of her other likes in there all the better. I figured that her parents chose to purchase this box from me for a reason so I went with my instinct. Here is the result.

Marianne Williamson is a genius.

Our Deepest Fear
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.

We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us;
It's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we're liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.