Of Hearth and Home

Phshew!  I am pleased to announce that I've found the floor in my studio!  Whenever I'm involved in a major art project, I completely trash my studio, to the point where I move out of there and start messing up other parts of the house.

I'm happy to have my project finished and very happy to be able to turn my attention towards the Creative Every Day theme of "home".  I love home.  Home is my very favorite place in the world.  My favorite concept.  It's not just a place, or a pile of bricks and planks of wood.  It's a feeling.  It's the safety and security, the bliss, the nurturing mental and physical space.  I am always amazed that here, after half a century on this planet, in this very strange world called Utah, the house I live in is finally a place I can truly call home; it's finally a place I feel safe.  There is no one yelling here or being mean or passive aggressive.  It is a peaceful place that I love like another being, because these walls of stone do shelter me from the storm outside, and enclosed within these walls I find love and warmth, a happy marriage, and freedom to be.

While playing around on the internet this morning, I found this Flickr pool called Home as Art.  As I intend to approach my home as a work of art this week,  I will find a lot of inspiration in these photos here.  While they may not all be super professional photos, they do show that loving attention to detail that we give our homes, sort of in repayment for giving us shelter.  I find the act of running a dust cloth across the mantel, or arranging my bric-a-brac just so, to have a feel of spiritual practice.  Sort of a chop wood/carry water thing.  It grounds me.

Up above is a new addition to my home this week.  My friends and I made corn dollies on Saturday.  Gathering with friends to make things with our hands is another interpretation of the feeling of home.  I had such a pleasant afternoon with my girlfriends.  My dollies will be placed in the kitchen to remind me of Brigid, the Goddess of the Hearth.  And hopefully she'll watch over some good meals being prepared in there.

And on that note, I have a kitchen to clean and some aromatics to saute in preparation for a soup.

It Is Done

I'm feeling the empty nest syndrome.  My little birds flew away today.  It was really hard to let them go;  I've really become attached these last few weeks.  They are very much filled with my soul.

 I promised to take you through the process.  I've left out a few pics, but you'll be glad, because this is going to be a very looooooonnnngggg post.  I started with this sketch, and these shoes.   I started the process back here, and next I put on several coats of Lumiere paint.

I pierced the front of the shoes and inserted copper wire that served two purposes; it formed the beaks, but I left it long to use as a hanger during drying times.  I used Delight Paperclay to form the front of the face, moving into the beak area.

Before I ever started and as I went through the process, I spent a lot of time simply thinking about it.  Most of my work is two dimensional, and the process is entirely different. The 3D requires more thinking ahead and planning; each step builds on the one before it.   When you are making a painting, if you put on a layer of paint that doesn't work, you scrape the paint off, or paint over it.  You can even start with a totally blank canvas and just start painting to see where you end up.  But if you are making a sculpture and you suddenly realize that you've been sewing all the feathers on a wing in the wrong direction... well you have to take every single one off and start again!  That whole abstract thinking thing can be difficult for me at times.  If I had any ability to think ahead, I never would have married my first husband.

I cut out feathers from pages of an old book, and I painted them.  I made piles and piles of feathers.

I started gluing them on the shoes and I would soon run out.  So I would make more piles of feathers.  It was like they were disappearing or something.  I kept having to go back and make more and more and more.

I originally was going to sew every feather on.  I was able to think ahead enough to realize that that would hurt.  It also would be fairly impossible to sew them onto the front part of the shoe, as it's made with several layers of paperboard pressed together to make the shoes hard.  So I used E6000 glue, which is a good glue, but can be frustrating.  Especially when the back end explodes and shoots glue all over your favorite sweater.  It may have been an old crappy sweater, but it was my favorite.

I started at the back and worked my way forward with the feathers.  I took them most of the way towards the front of the shoe, then used paint and Golden heavy gel medium.  I think there is some light molding paste in there too.

I decided to use an old book for the base.  I couldn't find a blue or green one like I wanted, so I painted the red one blue.  Then I used Mod Podge to seal it shut.  Oh, and I didn't like the title, so I put light molding paste of that and wrote my own title in it.

For the wings, I used the Paperclay to make, more or less, a bone.  I covered that with a piece of silk dupioni (you can see it up above in the picture with all the paper feathers).  I sewed the wing feathers onto the silk.  I sewed the wings onto the bodies (it hurt), and used more of the silk to cover the shoe opening.  I had some silk fiber that I used to embellish that area and added it to the wings for downy feathers.  I drilled a couple holes in the book, filled them with more E6000, and inserted the shortened beaks.

Creating these birds, especially as I sewed the wings, I could feel them taking on life and personality.  I had to be so careful while I was sewing, because the paper feathers were very delicate.

Finally, I added a big red flower that I sewed from silk, with wire inserted to give the petals some form.  I used yellow silk fibers for the center of the blossom.

And there they are.  I must say I am quite pleased with myself;)

it keeps going and going.....

 think I've O.D.'d on E6000 glue.

ook what I found!  This was so much fun I just had to share.  Go over to Daily Drop Cap.  Everyday she has a new handcrafted initial capital for you to use.  I want to think up all kinds of excuses to insert them now!

Sneak Peak

The deadline looms and I am buried in little paper feathers.  I'll be back soon with a step-by-step!

!! Could it be????

Why yes it is!!  It's the elusive sunshine, coming right through my kitchen window and landing on my breakfast!  I think a walk is definitely on the agenda for today:)

As I write this, my six-toed cat is sitting behind my head snoring like an old woman.  I wish I could record the sound and have it play for you while you read this post.

I am in so much trouble.  It's not even February yet, and I have cabin fever so bad.  If I had wallpaper, I'd be peeling it off.  This is what our skies have looked like forever.  Even when we went to Park City last week, we got some clean air, but the skies were still grey, because it was snowing.  And the air down here in the valley is so foul, I choke when I go outside.  But go outside I did.  Let me take you on  a little walk around the yard.

The snow has been melting, and I found this guy poking through.  Mmmmmm sage!

My yarrow appears to be preparing for Valentine's Day.

And this one too.

Even the Blessed Mother is waiting for spring and light.