Sheba Kitty Productions

Today’s Word is “CHERISH”

To meet today’s word challenge I started by thinking about what things I cherish. (Treating something as an object of affection or as valuable.) 

One of the things that I continue to work on throughout my adult life is the idea of cherishing MYSELF. Why is it so many women find it easy to put everyone else ahead of ourselves when it comes to love and care? I am spending a good portion of this summer doing things for my self-care. Eating right, making art, going on long bike rides, learning new recipes to explore new foods.

Other things that come to mind quickly that I cherish is my dogs. They usually make it easy.

I also cherish my family, my home and garden and the fact that I have a great job that allows me to be artistic and creative.

Blue is the color that jumps to mind for this word… but I will see what else grabs me in the studio.

What do you Cherish?

The word I drew from my word jar yesterday was Cycle. I started by pulling a bunch of green fabric scraps. The idea of “cycle” just made me think of green for a bunch of reasons. For one, when I am out cycling these days there is SO much pretty green trees and plants. My allergies don’t care for it much but I love  looking at all the beautiful green. As much as it rains here, and I get tired of all the rain, it still makes our area so lush and beautiful. Another reason that green came to mind is the idea of cycles meaning growth and the seasons. Right now we are in the growing, green season. My garden is filled with green.

Then I cut all the green into circles. Circles make me think of my tire wheels… that are part of my bicycle. Also the idea of a cycle is that it comes back around from start to finish, so a circle is the perfect symbol for it.

After I laid out the circles I decided they should become pea pods. The peas are one of the main crops I can harvest right now so there are lots of them around. But I was also thinking about the protective shell around the peas. I am in a fun, but sometimes difficult cycle of my year right now. As a teacher I have the summer to reflect, relax and rejuvenate. But without any structure I tend to get lost and antisocial and even depressed. This year I am  working on creating a protective shell around myself and my goals to provide some structure.

Using beads, ribbon and trim I grouped the circles into some pea pods. I added some buttons too as little peas within some bigger ones. I also like how the white trim with the green sequins ended up looking like a bike chain.

I meant for this to be a quick one day per word type challenge. More of a doodle art starter type thing. But I really enjoy hand sewing/beading work, which takes a lot longer. I am thinking actually that this might meld into my Beaded journal Project piece, since I am behind on those and really this is pretty much the same idea as the BJP.

Sometimes it is hard for me to decide when a piece is done, when to stop adding to it.  But I feel good about this one. Although I still have to figure out how I want to ‘finish’ it for display purposes. That part seems to hold up a lot of my pieces, so they end up just sitting around in piles in these not ready to display states.

For the summer I decided that I NEED some inspiration to get myself into the studio and creating. I put out a call to my friends for some inspiring words. The idea will be to grab a word, randomly, and then go create a quick and small work of art based on that word.

Here are the words I am choosing from so far:

• Suggested by Lisa: Moonglow, Pensive, Stretch, Wander
• Suggested by Judah: Invoke
• Suggested by Jen W: Saunter
• Suggested by Geraldine: extravagance
• Suggested by Old Halloween: Passage, Nowhereness, Blooming,  Everlasting,  Euphoric, Remorse
• I also grabbed a bunch of words off this site.

If you have a word to add to my word jar, please drop me a comment with your ideas and I will add them. If I pick YOUR word I will send you some art based on that word.

Today’s Word is “CYCLE” (from the inspiring words site)

This is a great word for me right now! For those that don’t know I am working my way to a 100 mile bike ride by the end of this summer. So far my longest ride has been 60 miles. If you want to read more about my fitness and cycling adventures, that is on my Sweat 365 blog here.

But CYCLE also has a number of other meanings too. Every summer is the beginning of a new cycle for me. The time of renewal and reflection as I decompress from the past school year and prepare for the new year. It is also a time in the growth cycle of my garden where things are starting to fruit and flower, with early crops being harvested and more planting for fall. I am also in a renewed cycle of health and weight-loss as I refocus on my food and fitness. I have extra time to explore with new recipes and foods.

Now with all these thoughts in my mind I will head up to my studio and look at fabrics and papers, colors and trims to see what I can create for this first word. Pictures soon!

(An example of some of the art I do for my classroom, a FUN line doodle assignment. This one is with oil pastels and water color paint on water color paper.)

School is starting to wrap up and I will finally have some time to get into the studio to make some art. But I am still struggling with inspiration. SO I am asking for YOUR help!

Starting on June 28th I am going to do 30 days of one-word prompts. I will pull a word from a hat and then make a small fabric or paper art collage related to that word. The goal will be for the work to be finished within that day, but I will leave work open to additional time if needed. The main goal will be to get into the studio and work for a solid block of time each day during my summer vacation.

Send me some words! Looking for things like concepts, places, and emotions. This year my guiding word is “journey” so I would be happy for any of the words to fit within that theme, but that is not required. I haven’t decided what I will do with the work once I am done, or if I will keep to a standard size. BUT I will do a PRIZE drawing from all the comments on this post for ONE of the finished pieces at the end of July.

Post your words in the comments section below.

thanks!

The Beaded Journal Project has begun again. The third round of this amazing project begins with January 2010 and will end in December. The goal is to make a beaded work of art that is a visual journal representing that month. You can read more about the project at the website. This year there are hundreds of people participating. I am part of blog #3 along with 100 others.

So this is my January page in progress. Last year, I did alter style pages that were big (8″x 10″) and an odd size, which is making it difficult to finish them off in a professional looking manner. But it will be done, eventually! Meanwhile I move on. This year I thought about a doll shape either flat or 3-D. But I decided that would be pushing it again. Last year was really my first exposure to beading and it was a wonderful challenge. I decided on a small (4″x6″) size and a basic postcard shape. I learned quite a few things from Robin in her class, so these are not multiple layers with batting (like last year’s, which added to the complication of finishing.) Instead just a simple piece of paper backs the fabric.

I chose “Journey” for my guiding word for 2010, so these pages will hopefully be in tune with that word as well. But I have also been very interested in the tree as a symbol lately. I like the idea of growth, the protection of bark, the stability of roots, and even the element of annual life, death, hibernation and rebirth. This month’s page represents that symbol.

I still have quite a bit that I want to do on this page, but it is moving along smoothly.

I was recently reminded, by my friend Jen, about the guiding word method of setting new year resolutions. Last year in addition to a number of fitness and art goals, I also picked a word that would be the focus of my year.  Vibrancy was my word for 2009. I will admit that I forgot about this word towards the end of the year here, but I did have it in mind during a number of art projects throughout the year.

I had considered it the year before that, but didn’t end up picking a word in 2008. Some of the words I have considered in the past Growth, Health, Action, Adventure, Discipline, Artfulness or Creativity, Immersion, Journey, and Interact.

The words I considered for 2010 include Aspire, Forward, Journey, Resplendent, Transformation, Triumph.

I went with the word Journey becasue I feel like that is really where I am with my life right now. I have a lot of life, fitness and health goals set for this year. Dealing with food issues has been a life-long struggle and I acknowlege that it will continue to be a life-long journey to improve this part of my life. I feel like I have accepted this, there isn’t going to be one thing that I do that magically fixes my food issues. I will need to continue to live and work with it for the rest of my life. And it will be a journey that I am finally looking forward to.

There are a lot of artists that set the tone for their year in this one-word manner. DaleAnne is going to be in Action for 2010, Jen is looking for the Light, Cyn is going to Manifest this year into something wonderful.

2010 is the EBSQ 10th anniversary year

Without further ado, the schedule you’ve all been waiting for:

January:

• Foodporn: Photographing Food as Art
• Barnyard Animals
• One-Word Concept: Grey
• Flower of the Month: Orchids

February:

• Candy: An EBSQ Juried Exhibit *
• Art for the Heart: A Benefit for the American Heart Association
• One-Word Concept: Music
• Flower of the Month: Roses

March:

• Pen & Ink
• Sinners
• One-Word Concept: Beverage
• Flower of the Month: Daffodils

April:

• Saints
• Repurposed: An EBSQ Juried Exhibit
• One-Word Concept: Precious
• Flower of the Month: Tulips

May:

• Nursery Rhymes Illustrated
• Fractals
• One-Word Concept: Green
• Flower of the Month: Irises

June:

• Plein Air: Architecture
• Redux
• One-Word Concept: Heavy
• Flower of the Month: Pansies & Violas

July:

• 10th Annual Ripped Off
• Rodeo
• One-Word Concept: Horizon
• Flower of the Month: Poppies

August:

• 9th Annual Pet Portrait Swap
• Still Life w/Lemon
• One-Word Concept: Jagged
• Flower of the Month: Echinacea

September:

• Spam & Trout Biennial
• Shut Out: What you’ve missed since the gallery world shut its doors *
• Dead Poets
• One-Word Concept: Bokeh
• Flower of the Month: Sunflower

October:

• Think Pink: A Fundraiser to Benefit Susan G Komen
• Dia de los Meurtos
• One-Word Concept: Hope
• Flower of the Month: Cacti

November:

• 10th Annual Portrait Swap
• You Just Haven’t Urned It Yet, Baby
• One-Word Concept: Despair
• Flower of the Month: Waterlilies

December:

• Annual Better Late Than Never Show
• Let It Snow
• One-Word Concept: Classic
• Flower of the Month: Mixed Bouquet with Vase

* Denotes a brick-and-mortar offline art event in association with this online exhibitSo–which shows are YOU most looking forward to in 2010?

I was afraid that an 8 hours beading class would be WAY to long. and on some level it was. By the end I was making lots of mistakes. But on the other hand the time flew by quickly and we learned a TON. The techniques for beading with Robin had the goal of making a little sampler. we were given a 3″x3″ piece of fabric, basted to (acid-free) paper! this was new to me but a technique she stands by and it did work well. Gave the fabric a little stiffness while working, but not too stiff. Plus as you punch it with a needle over and over, it becomes supple.

There were only 7 people in the class. The lady next to me came from Spokane and is a crazy quilter. Her work is wonderful and she is not a newbie to beading. We did have a couple VERY new beaders but the rest of us were experienced enough. Robin is a strict but patient teacher. “both eyes on me” meant you better be watching and not trying to sneak in a few stitches. But her directions are so clear and her drawings make something difficult to understand very easy to create. I love her drawings! There wasn’t much talking among the students. We were very focused. Beading take a lot of concentration. It is not a chatty type craft. You could hear our pins drop.

The conference provided each work station with an Ott light, which I now realize is a necessary item! The room was well lit, but freezing. Which can make it harder to bead!

We started with the basic stitches. seed stitch, then lazy stitch and it’s many vaiations, then a couching stitch and finally back stitch. I have done all of these. out of common sense and just figuring things out on my own. but the variations were mostly all new to me. All of them I have seen in RObin’s work and after we learned each one we were challenged to start identifying them in her work. For each stitch she brought around her work to show examples and variations. It was lovely to see all her work in person! Pictures online are interesting, becasue they can be in such high definition that you see them in more detail than you can in real life. but you can’t really see the texture unless you see them live.

We also learned edge stiches and dangling stitches. ALL of the work that we did is in her book that I already had. BUT it was opportunity to ASK questions while working through the stitches. and clear up some of the things that weren’t working for me as well as try ones I hadn’t been brave enough to explore yet. Learning the edge stitch and seeing her work in person to really examine HOW they were finished was the best part. It is where I have really been stuck with my own work so far. and now I have the solutions! I am excited to finish up my bead journal pieces from this year and move on to some new ones! So I have officially joined up again for Janurary. (Robin did sell us all on joining!)

She also talked about her process which helped me too. At first I used the printed fabric and beaded ON the pattern, following it like a paint by number. I love those pieces but I did move on to more solid colors and became more improvasational. As I gain more confidence I continue to get less literal. She talked about what she does when she gets stuck and how she starts out pieces. All this was very helpful.

It was a long but wonderful class and I am so glad I took it.

I  had quit on several months of my Beaded Journal Project pieces, leaving them semi-finished. I had not been able to figure out ways to make the backs look good, I had run out of steam and ideas on the beading on some of them and just called them finished. and I still have one month that has been sewn but not beaded yet.

BUT after this class I have been totally re inspired. I learned so many new techniques. and all the variations of them. I have been beading almost non-stop since I got back. After finishing the sampler, I revisited some of my journal pages that I had previously thought was done. I have been working on some wonderful additions to my December page. I feel like I see the fabric in a whole new way. Getting unstuck is just a bugel bead pathway away.

Also seeing her work in person turned on the light bulb for how to finish my own and ways to display them to really show them off. Now I just need to get some book board and foam core to get them done. I was also excited to share my work with Robin (which she seemed to enjoy!)

I got another one of her books (I own 3 now) and I highly recommend them!

So I signed up for another year of the beaded journal project. I plan to take on a smaller size this time! but thinking about going 3-D and making them dolls.

Sarah, originally uploaded by Angeliska.

I love these costumes and make-up. This is what I want to be for Halloween next year!

Angeliska, originally uploaded by Angeliska.

Chesley, originally uploaded by Angeliska.

Mack, originally uploaded by Angeliska.

Shawn would look great like this too!

Being an art teacher I have the opportunity to go to professional conferences each year. There is a local one, and a national one. The national one a few years ago was in NYC, which is the only national conference I have attended. The 2010 one is going to be the first on the West Coast and will be in Seattle. So I am pretty excited about that. This year’s state conference was in the art heart of Tacoma.

Attendance was extra special this year, as I found out the Monday before the conference I found out I would be receiving a great honor of being selected “Middle School Art Teacher of the Year” for the state of Washington. Winners are nominated and selected by our peers within the organization. I was nominated by one of the other teachers in my district.

Ok so I drove down Thursday night to my parents after frantically getting together my stuff including still trying to get my presentation together. I stayed up till past 11 still trying to edit the video I made. It is really cute. I need to double check permissions, but then I will probably post it.

Up early Friday and into Tacoma, quickly. Much better than the crazy long drive it would have been if I had driven from home. Some coffee and muffins and chatting with new people. Great opening Keynote speaker gave a complete local look at all the recycled style artist in Tacoma, Seattle and other great parts of Washington. I have all the names written down and I will be doing some web research and getting a slide show together for my students, I will share with you all too once it is done. AMAZING stuff and very interesting how these artists all seem to gravitate to one particular type of trash that they collect and create with.

Next was the sessions, I went to one about Tattoo art that was really great. It was a complete detailed history of tattooing and the different styles and methods. But when someone asked how to related it to the classroom, and what to say when a kid asks about a career as a tattoo artist, the two guys doing the session showeda bit of tattoo elitism. According to them kids today should just forget about being a tattoo artist. For one the market is saturated, also there is no good path or school to train you to become a tattoo artist. Basically you have to be a tattoo customer and get lots of ink, draw your own designs to get done, fall in love with having tattoos; meet and hang out with tattoo people, and completely enter the ‘world’ of tattoos. He talked about how the latest tattoo TV shows are ruining the art. He added that, “kids shouldn’t be taught the history of tattoos because they can’t handle it“. WHAT?  I am sure these guys realized that they were speaking at a teacher’s conference. It seems odd that they would share, and not be willing to provide any good classroom applications?!  It was kind of funny how snobby they were. But I loved their art and ink, and found their history presentation excellent and fascinating.

Then I went to lunch and crossed the street to check out my free admission to the glass museum. They have a hot shop that displays live glass blowing. A wonderful exhibit of contrasting glass objects from the collection, some birds and some native American styled glass work. I only had 30 minutes, but it was a lovely short visit.

After lunch sessions included some book making and some collage creation related to art aesthetics. I met some new people and took some pictures around the Tacoma UW campus where the conference was held. There wasn’t really enough time to go back to my parents before the awards ceremony and they weren’t home anyways. I had some dinner with a book at the Spaghetti Factory. Then I worked on my presentation a little more.

Finally the evening finished off with the awards ceremony. I wasn’t sure what to expect because in the past I had not stayed for the evening event. Apparenlty MOST people don’t stay. There was really only the winners and their personal cheering sections. My parents and my principal came to see me win the award. A lot of really wonderful things were said about me. It was really an honor to be nominated and then selected.

Back home after the ceremony I worked on my presentation a little more before I went to bed. The next morning we had another great keynote speaker. Ken Veith. He told a lot of funny stories about teaching and showed some great projects that he has done with his students. The first session after that was supposed to be on “online galleries for middle school art.” I always hesitate going to technology sessions because I am a leader in that area so I  am usually already beyond what they are sharing. BUT I always home to learn something new too! The descriptions are limited to 30 words, so it is hard to get across your idea or plan in that few words. So needless to say the session was not what I was expecting or hoping to hear. I started getting a headache towards the end and snuck out early.

Unfortunately my headache got worse and by the middle of lunch it was proving to be a migraine in training. My session was immediately after lunch. I went to set up and got some help from a couple of other people. The migraine got worse and worse, to the point that I am not even sure how coherentmy presentation was. By the time I was done I was completely nauseous. There were 3 more sessions that I wanted to go to before the end, but I wouldn’t be going to any of them. Luckily I was meeting Shawn for the ride home, so he was able to drive us home while I curled up in the back seat with the dog blanket over my head. It was hours before I was able to sit up and contemplate what to do with the rest of my weekend. I am so disappointed that I missed some great sessions and a trip to the Tacoma Art Museum too. But over all the conference was great, in fact better than the past few years.

So that’s my award winning weekend