Memorial Day

"It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."

- Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

Catrina Tequila

It's been a while but starting to get around better although not yet 100%.  I made Catrina Tequila some time ago for a bottle doll challenge and finally getting around to posting her.  I re-purposed/upcycled a Pepe Lopez Tequila bottle.  It had some cool raised artwork on it that I highlighted with glass paint.  Then made a cloth style head and body which I attached to the bottle and hand sculpted the head and neck area with clay.  The arms are also cloth style and hands are hand sculpted.  After painting and sealing her, I made a dress to fit her form, attached it and added a small black paper rose to her hand.  The first picture is the finished result and then a couple of pictures of the work in progress.

I should have an update on the studio soon.  There have been a few things done but right now we are concentrating on working on our yard/landscaping while the weather is nice.  Although it is Spring, hot weather is right around the corner so we're trying to get as much done as possible.  Then we can work inside where it's nice and cool. 

I'm also trying to get caught up on numerous unfinished projects so I will be back at visiting blogs etc soon.  I've been terrible at trying to keep up with internet life and social media but there are more important things than that like real life which should always come first.

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Broken Heart Mixed Media Swap

I just recently participated in a swap through the Mixed Media Art group.  The challenge was to make any mixed media art that would incorporate a face and a broken heart to be exchanged with another artist.  My swap partner was Janet of Honey from the Bee.  I received a beautiful wall art creation that will be proudly displayed on my wall.  She created the face, made the heart background (which I love) from recycled wool strips on burlap and added some cool embellishments, one of them being an owl locket that can be opened to add a photo.

For more info about Janet, check out her blog Honey from the Bee.  She is a jewelry artisan and you can see some beautiful nature inspired items in her Etsy Shop and her ArtFire Shop.
Thank you so much Janet!! 

My creation for the swap was an altered art/assemblage piece that had a tad bit of darkness to it.  I made it using the bottom of a tin can, added many layers of different paints, made a face using polymer clay that glows in the dark, a broken heart made from Paperclay and added embellishments.  The background was made with Apoxy Clay, has layers of different paints and some texture.  I also made a little tag that says the heart was made to be broken.




















On another note, health-wise better but not back to normal so working on the studio is still somewhat on hold.  We have managed to get a few trim pieces up, and when I say we, I really mean hubby.  Once a few more things are done I will post an update with some pics.  Also slowly getting back to creating and will post about that soon.
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Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy New Year along with some inspirational words.  I was never a follower of Apple, their products or Steve Jobs but found this quote from him and really liked it.  Working as an artist or at least trying to this makes a lot of sense.  Actually no matter what you do this is something to keep in mind and maybe start out fresh with the beginning of a new year.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

~Steve Jobs~ 

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Happy Festivus and a Merry Krampus!

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