Foxfire Daily: Onward and Upward...

Also known as: a step in the (hopefully) right direction.

Dragon has gotten a job... 45 minutes away. Prohibitive on gas, but at least he's working. Potential for great things, but also potential for this to be hugely wasted time. We're tired of the knife's edge... we're ready for something stable to stand on. We are both hopeful and discouraged. The oldest child is being overly teenager-ish, and the youngest is potty training. The middle child is wholly and uniquely herself in the midst of all the chaos, bless her. And in the meantime...

Dragon's creativity is being given an unexpected outlet at his work, which he's discovering he is both good at and enjoys - event organizing. Who knew? Parleying that into something greater... looking into it.

I have gotten my first official art commission in years... from a local church member, of all things. (insert absurd giggles here) It's giving me fits, but what does one expect? Church art. Creative brain does not want to even...

One step. Find gratitude. Another step. Synchronicity. Keep walking. Intention. Never stop moving.

This has been just a quick update; this blog and Twinflame Studios in general has suffered over the past few (very) busy months, and I'm feeling the call again, so... one small step. Etsy is no longer a viable option for us due to disagreements with their policies on certain things; Amazon's marketplace is untenable for the same reason. So we're looking for alternate options. Artfire requires a subscription of sorts, which is also unworkable right now. Fox's jewelry is up in several art galleries, including our FB gallery, but it's awkward to arrange purchases. Local craft shows cost money we don't have. It feels like there's too much take and not enough give, but I'm not sure where to prod to get it to come back into balance.

One day at a time. Breathe. Center. Believe. Intend. Small mercies. One step.

Blessings...
-your Artful White Fox.

Gratitude by kattything on deviantART

Foxfire Daily: Art as a Business

A friend and I were recently having a (slightly) heated discussion about to sell or not to sell art. It got me thinking...

He made a simply stunning butterfly-wing rose trellis, which I spotted pictures of on his Facebook, and then he made a comment that he has a problem with charging people for his art. "It's a moral dilemma," he said. "...the Greek word for art is tekne. The Greeks never separated art from technology, so as I see it, whether I'm machining, welding, wood working, fitting pipe or otherwise, as long as I put love in it, it is art. The things that I make at home, I make out of love and share with love. If you want me to post pictures fine. But I don't like selling art."

I love his perspective. I love his attitude about it. He's right! We shouldn't (have to) charge money for our art... but this is the world we live in. It is unfortunate. It's a hateful thing. If I could, I'd give away every piece I make. But I can't afford that. I have to buy materials. I have my family to think of. I'm slowly building a reputation as an artist, both in the artistic community and with those who enjoy our art from the other side, customers and fans. And I respect other artists, who *need* the money their art brings them, enough to support the idea that artists should be paid for their art.

We deserve it.

Now, I have to say this... I do *not* disagree with his viewpoint, nor is this an attempt to rant or argue in response to his opinion, but as I said, it got me thinking.  And we all know, when something gets me thinking, I have to write it down. And I love finding out what other people think. I think there are a lot of things we don't think about when deciding whether or not to sell our art.

Namely, that there are other things to consider as an artist besides having a fundamental personal issue with selling art, or even whether our art is only supporting ourselves. I make gifts for Christmas or birthdays, or because I think someone needed a pick-me-up; I have donated to giveaways. I even donated to a friend's church's charity silent auction. However, on a day-to-day basis, there's also the artist/artisan/crafter community at large to think of. Gifting to friends and family is one thing. If you give away art as a rule, then someone who might have given money to another artist will come to you instead, and that other artist may have needed that purchase to pay rent, or buy food, or... well, you get the idea.

And, there are certain fundamental rules to follow as an artist. Some are more important than others.

My #1: Always document your work. The reason? It's *your* work.
::Use the pictures to mark your progress, improve on old mistakes, and discover how to make new mistakes work for you. I have kept every sketchbook I've ever doodled in. I go back and look through them sometimes, just to see how far I've gotten. It's one way I encourage myself to keep improving.
::If you ever get commissioned, you're going to want examples of your work to show your customer.
::If you ever get employment as an artist, you need a portfolio.
::And God forbid anyone should ever steal your work. But someone else claiming your work as their own and/or making money off your work, (whether you do or not) without your permission, is illegal, immoral, and just plain hurtful to us artists. Always, always, always have dated & signed/logo-ed/watermarked pictures of your work. Always.

If you do or don't sell your art, remember that you are a representative of thousands and thousands of other artists across the globe. Many of them make a living off their art. Many of them have a day job and use the money from selling to put back into their art - materials, tools, etc. Some few are successful enough to be able to quit that day job and pour every waking minute into what they do. Many of them trade on a well-earned reputation as much as, if not more than, how attractive their art is to their customer base.

A lot of people don't think art should be a paid occupation. There is this societal stigma that we're lazy, that we're superfluous and even shallow for thinking we deserve payment for making someone's life prettier. A lot of people see artists as stuck-up hippie/hipster/high-society pricks. (Let's be honest; some of us are. Many of us are not) A lot of people don't understand how much work it is, being an artist. We put blood, sweat, and tears into our work. We put love and sorrow, grief and joy into our work. Heart and soul are etched and soaked and carved and painted and melted into every line of our work. Our works are like our children... beloved, worried over, sometimes wayward, but always make us proud when they go out into the world.

We deserve it, as much as the power line worker or forester or construction worker or farmer or any one of a thousand other professions that keep our lives liveable. Yeah, so we're not necessary for survival or even for you, as a customer, to be successful at your life... but we make things prettier, brighter, and what is so wrong with knowing what our hearts and souls are worth when plastered on your wall, or worn around your neck, or adorning your yard?

Live, Love, and Make Art
-your Artful White Fox.

Foxfire Daily: Fox and Dragon

A conversation with a friend on Facebook sparked (pun definitely intended) a thought process in your Artful White Fox's mind (while I was trying to do the first wirework I've been able to do in almost two weeks because of the sickly in the house).  It's part of our tagline - "Foxfire and Dragonfire come together and a new era of creativity is born" - but what does it mean?

The common element is Fire. But what is Fire?

Fire burns.
Fire melts metal.
Fire creates ash, from which green things grow.
Fire creates power.
Fire warms the cold nights.
Fire is passion.
Fire lives, breathes, grows, and procreates.
Fire is creation and destruction in the same heartbeat.

And both are required for life and growth.

Now... Fox and Dragon... where in the world does that come from?

I, the White Fox, and my partner, the Black Dragon, recognize the fire burning in each other, and it burns brighter, hotter, and stronger together than it could apart. It runs like liquid stars in our veins and pours from our hearts straight into our hands and mouths, where we can share it with the rest of the world.

Fire is the forge and hearth of our life together.

Dragons are fierce, proud, loyal when you've earned it, and deadly when you've not. Dragons hoard what is precious to them, and that is not always gold and jewels. Sometimes a dragon's hoard is a little less tangible... like knowledge or wisdom... or a little less cold, like friends and family.  They can be greedy, but if one is greedy for the right things... well, let's just say there are some things I don't think you can have too much of. And if one turns that greed to thoughtful purpose, instead of mindless acquisition, then it becomes passion. And God help you if you mess with what is precious to them, because they will eat you.

Foxes are wild, shy, gentle, and clever. They are great parents, and good at making safe, warm, cozy dens. They can be loyal companions when they learn to trust. They are often mischievous and love to play. They can and will vanish if threatened. They are strong-hearted and adaptable, surviving where others might not. They're ethereal, hard to grasp, like the wind... but if one comes to stay, treasure it and treat it with respect, and it'll stay with you, and work hard to make your world as bright as it knows how.

I am his White Fox, his kitsune - his bright, wild, magical, overly outspoken and often troublesome creature that comes to his call and stays by his side by choice.  He is my Black Dragon - fierce, proud, loyal, protective, and passionate, who spreads his wing so I may shelter in its shadow.

Foxfire Daily: Documented Life Project, Chapter 2

Week 4: Write a secret message and paint over all but one word.

Ok, so I cheated slightly and painted (colored-penciled) over all but 4 words. But Artistic License is what it's all about, right? And I do love me some artistic license... I look at this and see amateurish work - too many angles combined with the organic look of other parts, crappy color combnations, and let's not even go into the "doodles" on the left-hand side of the page - but then I remind myself that I'm out of practice. And I don't have a lot of materials to work with. The only part of this I'm really pleased with is the message I chose, and the Celtic knotwork at the top of the page. 

 Now, next up, for your perusal... remember those leaves from my last post? With no glue, no fancy-pants gouache or any other such thing, I found some gift-wrap tape at the bottom of a box and went to town. You can barely tell where the edges of the tape are. (I hope.) I'm just glad my Bic markers actually stayed on the tape.

Thirdly, my initial (official) attempt at the Week 5 Doodled Border, which mutated into something with no border as of yet, but... well, see for yourself:

Week 6: Open Your Pinterest Board and be Inspired. The lotus has been blooming in my mind lately, as you can see in this in-progress pic. My inspiration was not any one board or artist, but antique Chinese jade carvings. I actually went a little hog-wild for a couple of days straight, obsessively collecting pictures of various and sundry jade sculptures, urns, jewelry, etc and pinning them to my board. You can see the WIP results:

This last one... the flame and the lotus roots... was in part brought into being due to my uncle's touching tribute to his father, who went on to the Summerlands very recently. He was a sweet, darling man who inspired his sons and was greatly loved. His passing came just after a trip with several family members to Panama, where he had done psychoanalytical work with dreams with a tribal chieftan. The chief actually came from several islands away to visit with this man during the vacation. The photos from the trip were a beautiful tribute to my uncle's father, and such a blessing that he got to have that adventure with his family before taking a path they couldn't follow. May we all be so lucky when it's our time.

Live, Love, and Make Art
Ever Yours,
-the Artful White Fox.

Foxfire Daily: Documented (Artful Reader's) Life Project

Your favorite Artful White Fox Has begun some new personal projects on top of and working around studying up on her new wireworking technique books, and so I thought I'd share some pix of the work:

Documented Life Project, a community effort where members create art journal pages based on weekly prompts from the organizers. Here's some of my efforts.

My journal, acquired years ago, never used until now, and wrapped in an OmegaWolfe Designs leather case:

You can also see my Week 1 project on the right, which was to photograph or draw your front door. Since my front door is not technically -my- front door, I decided to draw what I'd like it to look and feel like someday.

My Week 2 project, "selfie":

I've been tired, stressed, and worn out lately, with good reason. But, I'm also clinging to some last vestiges of hope and looking up...

Week 3, incorporating envelopes from the mail into the journal:

The leaves were collected here in Albemarle this past Autumn, as were the flowers. The yellow one is from the flowers my Dragon planted in secret one night for me, spread all over the other side of the road... The envelopes with the flowers and leaves scrawled on them are keeping my dried leaves and flowers safe until I can come up with a way to incorporate them in my journal. And you can see the Dragonling bombing my project with her own leaf.

Week 4 is "Write a secret message and paint over all but one word" and I'm still deciding what my message should be...

And this is where I realize (and panic) that amongst all this, I've been neglecting my Artful Reader thing. Well, maybe if I miss January, they won't hate me. Maybe I can double up one month. Or... oh, hell, I'll come up with something.

-your Artful (busy) Fox. 

Foxfire Daily: Zentangle, and a note on Artist's Sunday

So I didn't post on Sunday. I know, I know, your dear wildland Fox promised a scheduled post every Sunday, paying it forward to other artists' works, but I was at my mother's on Sunday, with my computer... but without a power cord. (And the battery had done its slow-motion-explosion thing for the second time since I have owned my Mac, and I can't afford to replace it right now... argh...) So there was no Artist's Sunday because I am a forgetful Fox. My apologies. The regular scheduled Sunday will resume this weekend.

Zentangle by Khuce on deviantART

With that out of the way... Zentangle!!! What the devil is that, you ask?? Well, I asked the same question. Turns out that a lot of the pattern doodling that kids just *did* in class when the teacher wasn't looking is now considered an abstract artistic therapeutic expressional technique for men, women, boys and girls of all ages and all walks of life. But Fox, what does that mean in not-artist and not-therapist language...? *ahem* It means that it's an art form that is now used by therapists (and parents, and kids, and... well, you get the idea) to draw out things from the subconscious. Call it artistic meditation, if you like. Turns out there are special techniques and methods, and you can get certified as a teacher of this Zentangle technique, and there are special kits you can buy, and all sorts of money-making mumbo jumbo...

It's also *just* an art form, but then aren't most art forms more than one thing anyway?

Frame Scape by gisellemendes on deviantART

And here I thought it was just abstract pattern art that I (and everyone else in my class) doodled as a kid. It's turned into its own art form, much like the classical styles, and people are making money off of teaching other people how to do it, and selling "kits" to "tangle" with, and...

I suppose my point is, I don't know how to feel about this - the moneymaking part of it, anyway. I loved doing it as a kid, but I feel like I've lost the trick of it... but would I pay someone else to help me re-learn how to do it? Would I spend money on a "kit" to teach my kids how to "tangle"? As well ask if I feel it's necessary to go to art school to be an artist (but that's a whole other post...)

kalabalik by peymane on deviantART

Now, don't get me wrong; I've seen what people are doing with these techniques and some of it is absolutely fantastically awesome. But I find it hard to believe that it's necessary to charge for learning this sort of technique. Do a Google image search, and I bet you could learn just as much...

So what do you think? Is Zentangle legit? Is it worth spending the money on classes or kits the same way one would spend money on, say, a chainmaille weaving class, or an oil painting seminar, or a sculpting class?

Paisley Peacock by Ladyegg on deviantART

Foxfire Daily: Worktable

 Fox's work today: some crystals, a chunk of raw (unpolished) amber, some painted bone bits, an ear cuff, and a delicate little labradorite pendant. Still practicing the basket-weaving technique. Better photos coming, I promise!

And a Wyrmling Interlude... the 2-yr-old decides it's time to practice her color words with Mommy's pens. This is what homeschooling looks like for an artist.

Foxfire Daily: Paint the Runes

All painted up and drying. The other bone bits will become pendants and earrings. Now's the time to weigh in if you want a custom piece. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Foxfire Daily: Cut and Shape the Bones

Fox is working on a new Rune set, cut from whitetail deer rib bones. It's a pain in the fuzzy tail when all she has to work with is a hand saw and some detail files, but the bones whisper and sing, and she works until her hands ache and her skin is raw...

She forgets, while she works, sometimes to breathe, or eat, or drink. She communes with her materials and mediums, and they nourish her, body and soul, until she doesn't need anything external to sustain her...

And then when she finishes, and comes back to herself, she realizes she's ravenous, and thirsty, and aching... but it was so worth it.

And as a bonus: a 10-song excerpt from Fox's Muse Playlist, as she works with the bones today: 
The Root of All Evil by Abney Park
Berlin by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Blue Alice by Ayria
Anthem of Our Dying Day by Story of the Year
Joy by VNV Nation
Black Sheep by Metric
Skin is Burning by Burlap to Cashmere
The Wrath of Fate by Abney Park
The Living Daylights by a-Ha
Savin' Me by Nickelback.

Foxfire Daily: Imagery

Sorry, I don't have sources for these - they've been sent around 

Facebook so long I don't think they have original sources anymore...

Foxfire Daily: Fox's Dirty Little Secret

We all have them. Sometimes as artists and/or geeks, we either have more of them than normal, or fewer, depending on how "out there" a geek/artist you are. If you're both, well... you're just screwed. Like me and my Dragon, for instance. Sometimes it's something we hope and pray that our fellow geek/artist friends, acquaintances, and/or family never find out about us. Say, a secret obsession or passion that would quite possibly destroy one's "geek cred" or forever alter others' perceptions...

My dirty little secret?

I love fashion.

There, I said it. I love seeing the latest stuff coming down the runways. I love seeing the gorgeous (and not so gorgeous) styles on the red carpet. I love seeing the new designs for wedding styles. I adore what some people can do with a piece of fabric and a handful of beads or a buckle or two or... well, you get the idea. I love clothes and shoes and accessories... however, I like to think I'm a little more picky about the things I obsess over than a lot of "fashionistas" as the vernacular goes. It's been hard over the years to downplay it, especially when the season's fashion turns to something I actually like...

Let me clarify. I am not the "OMG I MUST HAVE THE LATEST IN SPRING FASHION EVEN THOUGH THE COLORS CLASH HORRIBLY AND THE STYLE NEVER LOOKS FLATTERING NO MATTER WHAT MY BODY TYPE!!!!" kind of fashionista. I know what I like; it's a very specific set of styles. I know what looks good on me, which is not always the things I like. I can appreciate a good design without it being something I would ever wear. And I know the difference between something actually wearable, and the purely artistic pieces coming out on the runways so very often. I know that there are some things that should never see the light of day, and I know there are some things I will never be able to wear no matter how much I like them. I enjoy shoes, but my taste in shoes is governed by the same sort of likes and dislikes as my taste in clothes.

So this is my "coming out" as it were. This is the one dirty little artistic secret I have hidden all these years. I didn't feel that a fashion designer could, or should, be taken seriously as an artist. I hated listening to all the girls in my school blather on about clothes and shoes and hair and blah blah blah. I was very cerebral when I was younger. I wore t-shirts and whatever jeans my parents bought for me, and never thought twice about it. Pretty clothes were for people on tv, or people who didn't have anything better to do with their time. And then I started to discover that I could be one of those pretty girls with just a few small adjustments to my wardrobe, and I discovered that there were a lot of things that were pretty and also comfortable, AND looked pretty good on me... and then I figured out I could make my own jewelry...

And the rest is history.

To me, for a long time, the fashion world was shallow, pointless, and often harmful to women who couldn't live up to its images of beauty. I still think the world and industry can be like that. But I can also appreciate the artistry and work that goes into the creation of new styles and discovery of new materials and new ways to use the old materials. Some of the major designers today are absolute geniuses... and some of them I wouldn't touch with a thirty-nine and a half foot pole. I don't want to be counted with these women who obsess over the season's new shoes, or the latest in ridiculously expensive jackets that will never look good on anyone. To me, fashion shouldn't be about status symbols. Clothing should always reflect the person who wears it, man or woman. You can tell a lot about a person by what he or she wears. You know when someone doesn't care about their clothes. You can tell when someone's got an instinct for  It should enhance the wearer's natural attributes and downplay whatever the wearer feels uncomfortable with. Human bodies are not vessels to show off a designer's latest. We should not feel we have to conform ourselves to what the designers' ideas of beauty are. (Has anyone paid attention to the runway models in recent years? Who in the nine hells decided that anorexic models were a good idea!?!?) The designers should remember that it's the consumers whose hard-earned cash (or not so hard-earned, depending on who it is) keep them in business. Creating designs that are only good for their artistic value and then expecting real, normal people of greatly varying shapes and sizes to actually wear them is simply... well. There are better ways to run things. Everyone knows that one person can often pull off a look that another would look clownish trying to wear. And everyone knows... or should know... that there are some outfits that look clownish no matter who tries to wear it.

I find that the most beautiful clothes are the ones that flatter the person wearing them, without regard to what's in style that season. And that, my friends, is heresy of the highest order.

Mostly because it's true.

Foxfire Daily: Ostara

Happy Oestre. The time of the waking of the world, of the return of green and growing things, of fertile fields and rich, warm earth. Here's to the return of the sun, the warmth, everything bright and beautiful. Here's to the old ways, the celebration of virility and fertility in this time of year.

Here's to a blessed Spring Equinox.

(image from: http://retremeco.deviantart.com/art/Death-and-Rebirth-288809968)

Foxfire Daily: Say No

"We need to find the courage to say NO to the things and people that are not serving us if we want to rediscover ourselves and live our lives with authenticity." ~Barbara De Angelis

Foxfire Daily: Partake

"There is only one valid way to partake of the universe -- whether the partaking is of food and water, the love of another, or, indeed, a pill. That way is characterized by reverence -- a reverence born of a felt sense of participation in the universe, a kinship with all and with all matter." ~Larry Dossey

Foxfire Daily: Happy news, and a Bonus Quote

I've managed to re-acquire a good portion of my materials and jewelry pieces that had gone into storage last summer!

What does this mean? It means I've got new(old) stock available that will be up on deviantART and Etsy soon. AAAAAANNNDDD it means I have new(old) beads and stones to play with!

I'm a very happy Fox right now.

Further details on what's in stock again soon as I go through it all.  <3


Also - Fox's Quote of the Day:
Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other.  It is the place of confidence.  It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts.  It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule.  ~Frederick W. Robertson

Foxfire Daily: Materials, Price, Design

I was browsing some of the jewelry pages I watch, from Facebook to deviantART, and began to hear the rant muse in my head. I notice the differences in style and materials and workmanship... and then I start to twitch at the terrible disparity between cost of materials and what the so-called artist is charging for a piece made from three-dollar faux-bronze components, or fake pearls that should only be worn by a six-year-old at a fancy church function, or... ah, well, the list goes on.

Steampunk style seems to attract a large number of people taking pre-made elements of a brass or copper color, sometimes silver, and stringing them together and calling it jewelry. Now, while I do a lot of beadwork which, I'll admit, is essentially the same thing, I have to protest when someone goes to their local Michael's craft store, picks up half a dozen cheap metal findings, and slaps them together in a majorly haphazard fashion... and then has the guts to put it up on Etsy for 3-4 times what they paid for materials! I know, I've done the research.  And I'll admit, I've gone to Michael's and picked up some of those bits and bobs to make some things, but I don't generally sell them in my shop or at shows - those, I play with for fun, or use as inspirational ideas for some of my other design elements.  Those little components - the keys, the birds, the gears, the vintage-style filigree - can be gotten for a few bucks, and people sell pendants and necklaces of these things for upwards of $40. The best work I've ever seen done with these was a little shoddy solder-work to affix two or more pieces together that really don't match in the first place.

Now, there are a good number of steampunk jewelry artists that do actually work at their product. Many of them hunt down their components with care. They typically use authentic watch gears and actual vintage or antique bits in their work, and most of them tend to be very fair in their pricing, AND they are careful as to their materials - a lot of the cheap little components you get at craft stores are who-knows-what kind of alloy (in other words, you don't know if that pretty little bronze-colored pseudo-vintage style pendant you picked up at Michael's the other day contains lead or other toxic metals. No offense to Michaels - you can actually find quality components there for decent prices).  My big complaint about these cheap little pieces that hobby-crafters expect you to wear, is that they can often contain sufficient amounts of toxic metals to make a measurable impact on your body, and these hobby-crafters don't always do their checking, or even know that they should be.

Personally, I try to make sure that the components I use in jewelry are lead-free pewter at the very least.  Excepting that, I use sterling silver or jeweler's brass or a true bronze.  Yes, it makes them a little more expensive, but it should be worth the extra money to create something that is actually safe to wear.  This is one of the reasons I haven't done much "steampunk" jewelry. It's damn hard to find components that are steamy AND safe, for a price that isn't ridiculous.

And what about some of these sixty and seventy dollar pieces (or even the forty dollar ones) that are made from haphazard lumping-together of random beads that may or may not color match?  Or people that don't realize that their lovely beaded strand is too much for the pendant they're trying to put it with.  Lack of design sense applies to the crafter AND the customer.  Something is only worth what a person is willing to pay for it, right? Too often, it proves true in the most wrong of ways. I see true artists put heart and soul into their work, only to have it passed over for a hobby-crafter's cheap attempt at making something to sell.  The problem here is that the hobby-crafter often makes more money than the true artist, unless the true artist is very, very lucky.

Now, I truly have nothing against hobby-crafters. Some of my best friends are hobby-crafters. But they enact their hobbies with sense. And that is what I'm getting at... be a sensible hobbyist! 

It's a ridiculous world. If I could make one request to the handmade community at large (to both hobby-crafters and professional artisans and everything in-between) it would be: Please, please consider the true worth of what you're trying to sell.  Don't undercut the artists who spend hours and good money perfecting one piece, but don't overcharge for a piece that cost you virtually nothing to make, either.

And don't underestimate yourself, either. 

Foxfire Daily: With the ebb, with the flow

Fox here, again, with a few thoughts.

Learn to count your blessings - before you know it, you may end up with fewer than you expected.
Take stock of the people who say they care, who say they love you no matter what... and then think real hard about the ones who actually show you that they mean it. (I want to give my mom a hug when I think about this one)
Don't worry, be happy; if you're not happy, maybe it's time for a change.
Good things don't come to he who waits.  Good things come when they want to, and bad things do the same.  The trick is recognizing the difference and holding on tight when the good things show up.

Take the bad with the good and come out smiling on the other side, because neither lasts forever but that's what life is about.  The only lasting good comes when you find someone to walk through it and come out on the other side with you, hand in hand.

It's all about circles and cycles.  Up and down, back and forth, round and round.  This, I think, is the deepest secret, the best wisdom Nature can teach us.  Follow the cycles, the seasons, the natural ebb and flow of life, of everything that is good and right and true in the world.  Every person has their own natural ways.  Take some time to be silent, be still, and listen to your inner seasons.  Is it your Winter, when your trees and flowers sleep? Summer, when everything is warm and maturing towards harvest?  Is it time for your soul's Spring Equinox, when everything starts to bloom again?  It all reflects back and forth, the large mirror and the small, macrocosm and microcosm.  From the smallest cell to the galaxy and beyond, everything in Nature follows its own cycles.  Humans are the only things that fight these natural inner impulses, our inner cycles and seasons, and that is our greatest... and perhaps only... sin. 

As it was
As it is
As it shall be
Forevermore...
With the ebb, with the flow
-Celtic blessing

Foxfire Daily: a Word on My Art

a friend on dA (deviantART for those of you unaware of the site - where I keep my galleries) posted a question asking whether it bothered her watchers that she was moving away from pencil & paper towards a crafting style.  It got me to thinking about my own art, and how I move from medium to medium...

I've found that my art runs in cycles, from pencil & paper (and/or digital) mediums to "solid" mediums (aka my crafting) and back again, and every time it cycles I find myself better at the one I'm coming back to than I was before. I feel, for me at least, it's a natural circle that my artistic self has to make in its own season.

When I get stuck in one medium I move to something different, maybe something new.  For a long time all I did was draw; mechanical pencil and paper.  It was the art class at my middle school that really got me to expand my sights to new avenues and new techniques.  There are things we did that year in art class that I would still love to try again, and other things that I still use.  We learned various inking techniques; I think the one that stood out the most for me was stippling.  I don't use it very often (read: never) because my style doesn't really work with it right now, but I did enjoy it.  The other two art projects we did that stand out are papermaking and batik.  One of these days, I will (I hope) have a chance to try those again.  They were fun, and different, and unique. They weren't as complicated as I expected them to be... even if the papermaking did stink to high heaven!  It was still fun.

Later, I had the opportunity to go to Art of the Carolinas, a huge art convention largely sponsored by Jerry's Artarama (my favorite art supply store... shameless plug!).  I took classes mostly in oil painting, which was my favorite medium of the time, and the one skill I really wanted to expand, but I also took a silk painting class.  Aside from the abstract oil painting class, which was incredibly amusing thanks to the teacher who had a very cavalier approach to his art, my favorite class at that event was the silk painting.  Again, it's something I want to try again some day.  There were techniques discussed in that class that I want to play with and see what I can come up with.

As for my jewelrymaking, I've always loved gems and metals, for as long as I can remember, so it was as natural as breathing for me.  When I was 12 or so, I first started playing with scraps of copper wire (my dad was an electrical engineer and had gobs and gobs of the stuff lying around) and rock crystal found in the driveway. Then I got a book or two and it just kept going from there. I've taken classes in chainmaille, Precious Metal Clay, and lost wax casting, and I've got so many books sitting on my shelf on so many different jewelrymaking techniques that I may never get to try them all.

But isn't that what being a crafter, an artist, and/or artisan is all about?  Finding new ways (and revisiting old ways) to let the muse out to play?  For me, that's exactly what it's all about: letting my muse out to play.

I -like- changing mediums every so often.  The inspirations are the same, no matter how they manifest.  It keeps me from getting bored or frustrated.  And it keeps me learning new things. If you're an artist or artisan and feeling the need to change up your creative routine a little (or a lot), I say go with the flow. It's that inner nature, inner self, instincts telling you what you need and perhaps what the world needs to see from you.

Foxfire Daily: Quote

A thought, a quote, or a word that inspires. Today's Foxfire (at least for the moment):

Approach love and cooking with abandon. - the Dalai Lama.