I have this category, somewhere over there on the right in my little cloud of categories, that I rarely ever use, and I want to dust it off, and see the cloud increase the size of the category: Women Who Make Beautiful Things. I am guessing by the size of some of the other categories - like Colour Colour Colour - that the size of the type is based on how many times you use the category. Make sense? OK, so I want to increase the category size, and in order to not get caught up in the too mathematical I will not digress too much and I give you: some Beautiful Things from some Beautiful Women:
Alex of Gypsy Girl's Guide blog and etsy shop is having a Sale AND a Give-Away. Above is an image of hers that graces my home, called Sweet Frangipani. I find that there is a magic and a delicate sweetness to her work that intrigues and calms me all at the same time. Alex is a world traveller and an extraordinary writer and thinker, and her photographs tell their own stories of the beauty and fragility and glorious mysteries of being alive on this planet. Visit her etsy shop, give her some love, and give yourself or someone else some beautiful, soul-filled photography.
Liz of Be Present Be Here has a shop where she sells her amazing wares, it's called The Little Room and many wonderful things happen in this little room of hers. She pairs fabrics and colours and threads and creates the most amazing scarves and aprons and bags, and has just added jewelery maker to her list of talents. Above is a scarf that she made for me, which I have gotten only one chance to wear so far this year. But it seems that 80 degrees and sunny is finally leaving town (it is after all mid to late November, and we are, after all in Northern california). Seems that 50 degrees and cloudy is moving back in, and man I can't wait to get some use out of this amazing scarf. I showed you all the pendant that she made for me, special-like (yes, she does custom orders!), but in case you want to see it again, here it is. I wear it everyday. Everyday. And sometimes I find I need to wear it to bed and have it on in my sleep too. Liz is also selling her aprons and bags at Artstream Studios shop.
There are so many women out there creating amazing things, and creating amazing lives, and sharing their beauty and their wisdom and their own unique voices with us as they go. Celebrating all the creative and beautiful women out there is so very important for all of us who are creating a life as we go, and needing to know there are other kindred souls out there doing the same, and so my small contribution, growing the cloud category: Women Who Make Beautiful Things.
o-pen [oh-puh n] adjective*
The other day I heard myself say "I never win anything", when talking to a friend on the phone about the merits of buying a lottery ticket, and what our chances would be for winning. I think the topic began with politics, moved onto the economy, and you can see where the topic of lottery tickets might have come in.
She said: "oh, I think of you as being very lucky, I bet you would win something." To which I replied: "no, I never win anything." But I woke up this morning with a thought: that's not so true.
A big part of my life is spent in my little studio, and a good part of the time that I am here, there is music playing. I will be the first to admit (read: confess) that I get a little obsessive about my play lists. I find a new album, or a new artist that I love, and it's all I want to hear. Anyone else do that?
Don't you love that phrase? It is one of those "sayings" that always has captured my imagination. Out of the Blue, like someone popped down from the sky to say hello, or emerged from the water fully formed.
Well, today this lovely turn of a phrase, is all about 5 amazing artists who have their work for sale on Etsy.
Rien n'a de sens sans toi (or Without You I am Nothing) from Lush Bella is a dreamy and evocative image. She says about her work: So one day...not very long ago, I began pulling a bunch of trinkets together and arranging them on our too tiny coffee table, and then left them there for days because I didn't want to put them away, but a little problem I have is running out of space and then piling and piling, to the point where I can't find anything, and then all I do is spend time looking for this or that, so I decided to photograph them, so that I wouldn't forget what they looked like together." Her work is immediate, emotive and full of memory and vision. I go back again and again to look at her collections, and find things in all of them that bring me back to my own memories. This piece moves through a range of blues, winding around from lighter to darker, leaning towards yellow and then back to a pure blue: magical.
Joan at Simple Modern creates art pendants, among other things, that I could gaze at forever. The piece above, Blue Garden II feels like a modern take on the Pennsylvania Dutch style of painting. Her motifs are beautifully rendered in that bright clean cerulean, and accented with the deep navy, creating a beautiful contrast, all in blue and white.
Linda at Yellow Monday creates beautifully modern, quirky images. I love her Ballerina I, so Gorey-esque, and still with her own style, and her own energy. I love the balance this piece holds, with the clear light blue top, above the more green-y blue skirt and background. Also, her print Caravan I might need to be purchased and added to my own art collection. Please visit her shop to see more than just the "blue" pieces.
Shelley at Albertine Press runs a custom design and letterpress shop, and has note cards to inspire the emerging-letter-writer in all of us. Above are her World Notes in Blue. I was so taken with these because of the pattern and colour tones, such a feast for the eyes, all the different blue tones and hues are so mesmerising and each of the patterns has a different cultural feel, and all the cards reiterate that meditational blue, too lovely.
And we end the Etsy journey into Blue with the powerful photography of Alicia Bock. She says of her own work: "My photography is the search of light and shadows, pretty things in pink, the feeling of the ocean, and a blue moon. I strive to create photographs that evoke memories of our favorite days." This piece Incomplete reminds me of being a kid near the end of the summer: all the days of freedom and wide open time winding to an end, and laying on the grass watching the birds and wishing I could fly away with them. That clear, deep blue sky, fading into a light billow of clouds, so precious.
As ever, thanks to all the artists who allowed me to use their work to look at Blue in so many different ways.
Over at Purl Soho, they are celebrating the release of Joelle Hoverson's new book Last Minute Patchwork Quilted Gifts, and this project from the book: the Colour Wheel Quilt.
I am not a quilter, but have been a sew-er, and I was so captured by the colours and the patterns of the fabrics she chose for this quilt, as well as the "pie slice" pieces that make up this gorgeous coloured circle.
IF you haven't seen this already, make a visit to Purl Soho, and check out the Colour Wheel Fabric bundle they have put together for [you] to create this amazing piece!
Green is the intermediary between yellow and blue. Green is one of the secondary colours, it is produced by mixing two primaries - blue and yellow. Mixing blue and yellow to make your green can be a precarious balancing act, and most mixes lean toward one or the other of the primaries. . . and the character of your green will change dramatically if it contains more yellow or more blue.
Do your tastes run to the spring grown lime/yellow greens, or more toward the watery teal or turquoise/blue greens?
Blue Seedlings IV by Erica Vess of Bees Knees Studio is a beautiful illustration of using a yellow/green hue. She has paired it with a soft blue, that leans just ever so slightly toward a teal (and contains a touch of yellow). Erica has some beautiful modern work in her Etsy shop, and there is lots more green to be seen.
Sea Sisters by Emily Balivet at Mythological Goddess Art is a gorgeous blend of limes and olives and golds. The greens in this piece all speak more of yellow than blue, and create a moody, mysterious piece. Emily's work is reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites with a modern twist - her use of pattern and texture is truly lovely.
Curly Vines 3x5 Notepad Holder from Stephanie at Beetlelady Books has some wonderful journals and other paper product designs. I loved this piece in particular for the way she used her colours. The paper cover with the lime and brown and the red berries, with the red echoed in the solid spine colour, and then topped with the elastic closure with a green/blue bead on it. The green/blue bead somehow speaks to all the colours in the piece, and sets up a little colour surprise.
Let Yourself Bloom by David of David V. Moore on Etsy is a glorious grouping of greens (now that's an alliteration....). Olive, lime grass, forest, dare I say chartreuse? all of these beautiful hues make an appearance in a piece that feels more about the hues than the subject, and yet, the whole thing works so beautifully. Make a visit to his etsy shop or his blog and see the variety of his work.
Landslide from Auburn Crimson Studio is a study in green/blue, mint and silver. The aventurine stones go from a deep carribean green/blue to a soft and feather like silvery-green. She's combined the stones with a tangle of silver chains that makes the whole piece feel like something made especially for a mermaid. Beautiful and dreamy greens.
Watching the World Outside from Annie at Curbside Treasure is a green study. The contemplative side of green is highlighted with some accents of a bright new spring green. I love the movement of this piece, the way the variant greens move your eye around the piece.
There are so many faces of green: fruitfulness, contentment, hope, tranquility, life, and faith. Green is the colour representative of the plant world: the mysteries of our green plant friends, the relationship between light and water that creates all the green growing around us. Verdant, flowing, bejewelled: I find green one of the most magical colours.
Thanks again to all the Etsy artists who allowed me to use their work to talk a little more about green.
[i]love life is the blog of designer.:.artist.:.photographer Kal Barteski.
She has this book she published, called, Love Life, which I recently bought as a present for me myself and i.
It's a beautiful journey in paintings, pictures and words through her life, through all of our lives, through the world, through thoughts and through the commonality of all of us human beings. If you are looking for the perfect gift for yourself, or for someone you love, seriously check this book out. . .
it is a Joyous thing, to celebrate living!
One of the things I had wanted to do with each one of the colours, was to show work of artists I am loving, who are selling their work on Etsy. Yellow is the first colour I was organised enough with to get that part of things going... so without further adieu .:. art featuring Yellow:
Irene Suchocki creates the most amazing worlds in her photographs. This one is called "Yellow is a Primary Color". I could look at her work forever, oh to live in a house on the edge of a yellow field where the clouds ribbon themselves just for you...
Studio Lyon contains some wonderful mixed media pieces, and this "Yellow Warbler" is one of a series of bird prints from Christina's original mixed media work. Is he singing to welcome spring, or to say good bye to summer...
yumiyumi created some amazing illustrations and sells prints out of her Etsy shop. She has created some wonderful figures, and also check out her birds and botanicals. The girl here is called "Make a Wish", I just love her whole essence.
Today's last image is from Amy L Burns. Her "Sun Rays" are so warming and brilliant and touching. She captures the essence of light and warmth so wonderfully in this image.
artist • designer • writer • hairtwirlet • over-achiever
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