JULY FULL MOON #6

..I've been gone for almost two weeks in Idaho helping with our daughter's wedding.

This month's project was a little challenging but I was able to put together a couple of things that, I feel, relate to July.

I wanted to make something that we might all see at some point in July namely: balloons and lavender!  I made a little line of balloons on a string and a little packet of lavender from a bush that grows in our yard. This month's project is going to Gwen.  Happy July everyone!


Lou

JUNE MOON #11

Yes, it is true….I am late!! 

One month to be exact!  We were gone in France and I really didn’t have the chance to work on something plus I was waiting for inspiration.  We had a great time and for a while my head was chocked full of ideas…unfortunately many of them either fell out – or were washed away with the good French wine!

While traveling we visited many typical French marketplaces – the ones that travel from town to town bringing great fresh produce and products.  Every one of them had several “honey” stalls and as we drove through the country side we also saw homes with different types of bee hives set up.  We also did one of the flea markets in Paris and one of the travelers found a great heavy brass mold with different figures on it.  The closest we could figure out was that it was for making marzipan.  But it had a great bee and the word “Miel” which means honey in French.

I had been wanting to get out my paper clay and use it for something so I used the paper clay to make both the bees and the little pieces saying miel.   After it dried I had to file it as the clay was pretty rough trying to get it out of the meatl molds.  The paper clay was then colored – and I had to try a variety of things on it as it did not color as easily as I had anticipated.  Probably acrylic paint would have worked the best but I didn’t have any of it around.  There are three of each style and they can now be used to play….Tic-Tac- Bee!

So enjoy your little miniature game!

Kathy

JULY MOON #5

Hi Peg,

 By now you have received your “stick” and “leaves”.  It was fun to put these together.  I’ve hoped that the stick would find a home in THAT Little Altars spot since the beginning.  I’m kind of a sucker for beads on sticks – well for beads in general, I guess you could say!  And the leaves were begun last year as I looked through one of those Japanese beading books.  Even though I’m not the world’s biggest fan of beaded wire flowers, these were totally fun.  I chose linen fabric to mount these on because I like the texture, and because you could put an awl through it and the hole would just heal up!  Enjoy!  Nancy

JULY MOON #4

July Altar Project

The Bag of Possibilities!

We are enjoying a glorious summer!  Home from our trip, working in the yard, enjoying company and soon to be off to work the Bellevue Art Fair with my good friend, Maggie Meister.  If you are like me, I think of great ideas for projects when I am involved with other projects (like weeding the yard), but when it comes time to sit and create I come up dry.  And I seem to say to myself…I’ll do that tomorrow…and then other things get in the way and I don’t seem to make the time to sit and create or play with ideas.

So I decided for this month’s little project I would try to do something to help me focus and yet be motivated to do something!

I was intrigued several years ago by the “inchies” that Peg talked about.  So I made little fold over almost inch size cards and started a list of ideas and things to do.  Initially I will have 52 – one for each week – but I expect the group to grow.

I hand stitched a draw string bag (no sewing machine readily available) and then glued it in place over the two “F” sections.  Inside the bag is a place for the “inchie” ideas to be done and the other side is a place to put the things that I have done.  So hopefully this will inspire, motivate and goad me into doing something different each week!  The first one …was play with paper clay…– which I did in creating my little Tic –Tac – Bee game for Lynn for the June project which also just got finished.

I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else has done with their 2 “F” spaces!

I hope you are all enjoying your summer- it is going by too fast!

Kathy

JULY MOON #3

Hi Peg,

I hope this finds you well!

This month the Altar project was for myself and as you know the spaces in my box are long and narrow.  I decided I wanted to experiment with Viking Knit.  I created my own mandrels with different sizes and numbers of holes.  I then worked with both colored and sterling silver wire.  I worked through several variations of the Viking Knit process and transitioned some of my samples through all three in one piece, single, double, and triple.  I also used various gauges of wire.  I found the process VERY relaxing and enjoy doing it while I sit with my husband watching TV.  

Many months ago my son-in-law asked me to make him a Mjolnir and I wanted a handmade chain to go with it.  I am carving the Mjolnir out of wax and will have it cast for his 29^th birthday next month so figuring out the right size for the bail was important to know before carving since the chain will be an integral part. 

I’m very pleased with my Viking knit skills!  Tried once before years ago but had a mental block.  I think I’m over it now!  =)

Many blessings to you my dear!

 Lynn Vernon

JULY MOON #2

Have you heard the news? The forest is all a twitter with excitement! Down past Wise Old Oak, over Giggling Creek through Clover Meadow just a hop, skip and a jump to a patch of toadstools right there on  your left is 28 Lindsay Brown! A delightful Faery Couture shop is about to open it's doors!! All the faeries have been so anxious for the lottery drawing to see if they will be the lucky one to receive the very first appointment with the proprietress and grand seamstress, Miss Lynn. Who will be the lucky one? It truly is a grand day in the wee forest!!

I have to say I had so much fun with this month's altar for Lynn H. And was delighted that it was the 2 tall narrow spots perfect for a wee shop and Faery home right next door. In the tree 2 bluebirds of course! We all know what wonderful bows they can tie. Oliver Owl is the ever faithful nightwatchman. Made out of polymer clay and a wee bit of whimsy.

Cheers,
Cyn

JULY MOON #1

Here is the July space that is for BETH.  It is a clay piece I did many years ago, but did not like the color, so I re-painted it.  Embellished with fabric, ribbons, wire and some of my glass beads.  The piece of glass is so Beth can write her favorite word, or a word that will prompt you to go create!  Hugs,     Marilynn

JULY MOON

Hello Summer
















 And away we go.................................................................................................... Sunshine, hat nights and melted ice cream on the sidewalk. Summer has finally arrived in the Northwest. Out come the fans and sleeveless shirts, flip flops and giant sized weeds. My gardens demanding water and beautiful blooms everywhere.
 For me it is also the time of outdoor shows and getting ready for my Fall shows. so I am trying to spend as much time as possible in the studio. How about you what does summer bring to your schedule?

I bring these  things up as I know each of the 10 other artists are over their heads in demands  and  never ending chores from very busy jobs,family,gardens,travel and last but nit least that artist muse buzzing around screaming "INSPIRATIONS LOOK HERE< OVER THERE< CREATE NOW Who cares if the dishes are waiting"
 There may be a few swear words thrown in and always the slightest fear that your muse will give you the silent treatment and slither away never to inspire you again, then you would have to become....normal!!!!

 Ha ha ha ha that is never going to happen to this group of "Artists" in fact they seem to have the opposite problem. Not  enough time to create all of the ideas that are doing the boogie dance in their active brain matter.
 You will be delighted by the delightful offers of this July Full Moon, she was a beautiful bright one and blessed by bedroom windows with her cool silvery light. Hurrah no cloud cover this month and I even found a few moments to simply gaze at the wonderful night sky.

This month was a particularly interesting challenge as the spaces ( yes I said   spaces 2 in fact) were sideby side and long and narrow.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Happy Summer nights, enjoy them while you can bug bits and all!
Cheers Peg

June Full Moon #10

"Dude... Give 'em to me, I'll clear your obstacles. No worries man." -- Ganesha 


I sculpted this wee art doll from polymer as I continue to work with and meditate upon Ganesh. He is known as the Remover of Obstacles with the head of an elephant and body of a man. His legend is quite interesting. 

In this 4" tall version of him for the Little Alters 2013 project, he is happy, at peace and holding the rudraksha seeds, in a golden offering bowl, their natural blue form he was given by as an offering from visitors who wish his help. Thanks to all the instagrammers who visited the Kauai Hindu Monistary and posted all the gorgeous photos. Without those, I wouldn't know of the rudraksha seed existence or know that there were such brilliant blue pods out there! 


May Ganesh bless all who see him and help the Lynn H. who is getting him in this full moon's exchange.


Light and Love,~GG~

JUNE FULL MOON # 9

June inspirations started with the explosion of plant life in the garden. The weather cannot decide if it should be hot or cool, Rain squalls have played  tag with a day or two of summer-like  heat, meanwhile rain batters the flowers.

Moss has really taken hold and I find it fascinating to see all the different varieties in my garden. Using the moss as inspiration I created texture plate from moss I found in the rainforest  of the Olympic Peninsula. It has a zigzag shape and that is what I used to create this tiny kimono in copper. I added the full moon in the background of white glitter paper on a background of felted velvet and red wool .

 The tiny butterfly came from my Susan Clarke Button collection and there is a tiny star caught up on the bottom of the dress. The twig is from my contorted hazel shrub and I added a wee pink pearl flower I hand wired in place.  I searched far and wide through my stash for just the right word to finish off my piece for Marilynn and after many distractions (ohhh shiny things, hmmm I forgot I had this….) I found Summer!  

Perhaps it will appear now???

JUNE FULL MOON #7

Greetings from Portland OR

My muse this month was a song called "Bird on a wire" by Joe Bonamassa. Took a silver annealed piece that I pulled through a mill press with lace to give texture to the metal. Put bird template on with rubber cement to hold in place and then used my jewelry saw to cut birdie shapes.

Painted with water colors on stiff paper to create a morning sunrise background for my birds; cut to fit square back & sides. Worked copper wire to make the setting for birds to perch on. This piece pops in place and somewhat hovers above the space.

Took a tiny Phillips screw driver and filed the top off. Used this tool to stamp design on birds and finished with colored pencils to give individuality. Tiny holes help secure birds on wire.

Think of me singing early, in the morning light!

Lazy K

JUNE FULL MOON#8

This month I was inspired by a few things:  An earring that David found on the road on our morning walk.  It had obviously been run over, and though the wire was mashed, the main part was in pretty good shape and seems to be well made. I like it!

I’ve also been inspired by some collage art work in my dentist’s office.  I’ve had the opportunity to see it a few times (!), and he’s got good taste!  I haven’t tried any collage for decades, but this work made me want to approach it again.  My project this month looks nothing like the piece by Carrie Kaufman, but the mounted copper wire attachment is a pretty direct inspiration.  What I’ve found on-line by Carrie is not as delectable (to me) as the large piece I saw in person.

Lastly, it’s summer.  The hand and basket remind me of gathering flowers and harvests.  The warm colors of the basket, and the branch covered with moss tell me it’s inviting to go outside.  It’s Easy Time.  We are enjoying fresh greens, and radishes from the seeds that Peg sent. They are delish!

JUNE FULL MOON #6

Fairies Wings and Magic Things…

Expose to day light

Look at in dark of night…

This is a fairies' vessel that is kind of magic!  You can also look at it under a black light.  Put your favorite fragrance in it to help you think of magic and creative things!

Hugs, Marilynn

p.s.  yes it is a

Marilynn original.  ;-)

JUNE FULL MOON #5

Hi Peg, here's my Little Altar for June. This one is Beth's!

Here name is Beth as is our daughter's name. I wanted to create something that would celebrate the first letter of her name, so I chose to make a little picture of our humble but beloved bumble bee!

This little bee has been very busy and found a little flower to pollinate...it's also a pin Beth can wear if she'd like to. 

Love, Lou

JUNE FULL MOON #4

Hi Cyn,

I hope you like my little creation.  I just spent the last two weeks in Italy and a good portion of that time on the Amalfi coast in  a very small town called Praiano.  We stayed in the old part of town in a small two bedroom Villa that could only be reached by foot.  No road traffic at all.  No Wi-Fi, no TV.  The main road was an actual 350 steps down from where our little villa sat on the hillside.  Another 400+ steps and many more feet of switchbacks led to a beautiful beach area called La Sibilla.  A small tiny cove where fisherman tie their boats to buoys and row in to shore, water taxi’s depart for various attractions, and I dug for gold – well, maybe not gold but pottery, porcelain, sea glass, and tile shards!  Your creation this month should fit nice and snug in your box.  I would glue it in if you like it so that it doesn’t fall forward since it is slightly front heavy.

So, the story of its creation:  I took beautiful brown sea glass that was collected on a trip to Hawaii and used that as a mosaic for the back.  I then chose to use copper to mirror the beautiful browns in the shard itself.  I corrugated the copper and cut it into a shape that mirrored the shard.  I faceted the sides of the shard because I needed something for the wire hold on to and liked it so much I continued it down the side.  The sole factor driving the creation of the piece was something to highlight the shard and leave its origns to the imagination.  Just think about the very rocky beach it was found on, in a far off land.  Who knows what life it held before I uncovered it by digging in the rocks with a stick at the waters edge.

Have a wonderful month and thanks again for my installation last month.  I really do like it.

Warm Regards,

Lynn Vernon

JUNE FULL MOON #3

June, the month when summer arrives and thoughts turn to the beach. Well for me the beach is always in my thoughts, it's my happy place! The Super Moon brought with it low tides which makes for wonderful beach walks and treasure hunting.

This month I created an altar piece for Kathy. From my beach to hers, "Gnoming Coastal" came about. Using polymer clay, perfect pearls luster dust and a wee gnome whispering in my ear a gnome sand castle came to life. Calvin, the Camano Crab does a fine job as sentry.

So the next time you're at the beach listen closely you may hear the giggling of sand gnomes and perhaps come upon one of their sand castles. They will gladly accept gifts of small shells with much delight!

Happy Summer!
Cyn

JUNE FULL MOON #2

Hi Peg -

 Here in sunny HOT Tucson AGAIN! 

Moving Mary to Assisted Living next Wed then home for our

4th of July Family Reunion in Oregon.

My inspiration for this month's project was Beth herself. I always think of flowers when i think of Beth. 

I made a basket of flowers for her with copper and wire!   

Hugs to all! Lynn

JUNE FULL MOON #1

Here is my altar piece for Lou. It is about Beauty, the letter B, the color Blue and Butterfly wings, all favorites of mine! I found the quote and that started the process. The figure is one of Tim Holtz's and started out bright white. I painted it with three earthy colors and then spritzed it with gold glitter. I cut out the wings from a butterfly sticker and then added blue glitter (more the better!) It all stands on an antique letter B which I have been saving for a long time.
I hope it will bring beauty to Lou's world.... Hugs, Beth

Tell me that you love me Junie Moon

Welcome  

June Mead Moon 

A Super moon  with plenty of hype but alas my friends what it brought to the Pacific NW was jaw dropping rain squalls. Saturday was glorious Sunny  Hot and the bees were buzzing and the hummingbirds humming.(cause they forgot the words don'tcha know). I was busy drying rose petals and lavender ans anything else from the garden thank agreed to become part of my blessing jar.

 I even went to the local nursery to find a princess vine and was feeling a bit whooshy strolling along. But I bought my plant returned to my car and saw the temp gauge, my car registered 105 and when I got home the gauge registered 95. So excited couldn't wait to see the moon,should be great clear sky...... move ahead to 8 pm Cloud cover and humid, decided to place all my flowers into the back of my car for safekeeping over night in case the nocturnal critters  decided to have their own Summer Solstice celebration.

 As luck would have it  it was the clouds who decided to party and left evidence of large puddles behind to let me know a good time was had by all those of the cloud people.

 Sunday remained a bit dim  ( I think the cloud people had hangovers) and as it was getting dark the surprising downpours started again.  So I have been dreaming about what a cool moon it  must have been as I fluff the drying flower petals in the back of my car.

It is my pleasure to upload everyone's delight little altar projects for the month of JUNE.

 You my fellow artist's ROCK!!

Enjoy and please leave a comment or three it is really nice to get feedback

Bright Blessings 

Peg

May FULL MOON # 10

Here I am once again late - :( - sad face, best laid plans that go a stray. My little piece of art goes to Gwen and it is being posted today.

My inspiration for May was the little piece of enamel work I did with my sister in law Terri. The piece always reminded me of the Full Moon shining on the beach. Going through my 'po' I found these little turtles. I then thought of a novel I read years ago set in S Carolina and related as part of the story about the turtles that come ashore at night to lay their eggs. So I Googled Carolina and turtles. Sure enough there was the story about Logger Head Sea Turtle that lives its life in the ocean, only to come a shore at night to lay their eggs. These turtles will lay eggs at 2-3 year intervals and 3-4 clutches may be laid in one season at 12 week intervals.  Clutch size will average around 115 eggs.

Lynn Hranach