Happy Holidays!

 And Happy New Year. GOODBYE 2023!

Generally, I take this time now to spend with my family, relax and enjoy a few weeks before starting once more with art.

This year was a little stilted for me; not more than one sale for the entire year made me realize I really am making art just for myself. Guess what? I'm okay with that! I make some kind of art almost daily and it's the best life ever.

I do have a few things to share and will continue to do that next year as well. Whether selling my art or keeping it to enjoy here, I will do what I can to continue the art journey for as long as I can.

Now, there are a few things to post about this week:

First, is "The Tower of Now" mosaic shrine. Whenever I remember to use up the extra black grout I've mixed, I have been adding it to the tower. I built this in September of 2020. I'm finished with the mosaic part of it, so it's good to start grouting it.

It's been sitting in a corner of the Purple Palace for over a year. It's so very patient. The rest of the tower that's not got mosaic on it will be painted. I made this with bits and pieces of Styrofoam and lots of hand cut dish tiles, stained glass and mirror. Once it's completed, it's anyone's guess where it'll end up around here but the journey has been lovely.

I had a fun day on Wednesday, putting glass tiles on switch plate covers.

Aren't they cool looking?! These will be available once grouted and finishing touches done on my website and in the GoImagine shop next year.

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you may have seen the finished blue and white mosaic on canvas. I really love making these. Each piece is rounded using a diamond hand grinding tool and a wet stone. The process is time-consuming and wonderful. Zen time for sure as I study each piece, take the points off by hand slowly, plus I get to play in water. That's always fun.

Placed on the dresser leaning on the lamp base, it looks right at home.

We had a small family gathering this past Sunday and exchanged gift while enjoying homemade bread that my daughter made, as well as a lot of dipping things for it. It was delicious!!

I made a mosaic gift and gave it this week to my cousin who gives me a lot of my art supplies for free. This time around she brought me acrylics and markers, as well as a bottle of my favorite wine.

She also brought an MDF desk that needs repair and some not yet decided what kind of art love, which I hope to share the progress of as I work on it in a few months' time. And a slew of this and that's that I always love from books to teas. She's more like a sister than a cousin and I love her dearly.

I made her a small mosaic in a small dish. It turned out really well.

I gifted my Dad and Step-Mom the wine bottle I made in 2019 and had listed for sale for quite some time. It was meant to stay here with me until I was ready to gift it.

Does anyone remember it? It's been shared every now and then. I have about a dozen+ bottles waiting for mosaic treatment and I do believe I might use these blue and white flowered dishes on at least one more bottle. These come from my every day stash of dishes that I actually use. As they break, and they always do either by my own clumsy hand or with the help of a cat or dog, I seem to have a good supply of pieces ready to use. The blue and white circle I shared above was made using these dishes.

I'll share more art in a few weeks when I return. There's always something going on in the Purple Palace Art Studio!

I'm wrapping the last gift and getting ready for the laid back days ahead. Now that we have teenagers in the house, there will be a small gathering with breakfast foods and then a frenzied activity of paper ripping but never for very long - their gifts are usually game and/or clothes related. Lots of gift cards are given to them. Once the teens are fed and have gone through their pile, they head back to their rooms to enjoy their time off. Briefly we might have a visit from family who will bring young ones with them. It's nice to see them and for a little while, the excitement they bring with them is wonderful. It's also as wonderful to enjoy the quiet once they leave us at the end of the day. Life is filled with noise and quiet. A good balance for me.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! I will be back!!!

Enjoy the journey.

 Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!~Cindy, EarthMotherMosaics

Time Keeps on Slippin'

Hello there and welcome to the newest blog post. I almost forgot to write a post this week because the time just goes quickly some days. Other days I think time stops for a loooonnnngggggg time. This week it's going by at its usual fast pace. I have trouble keeping up with the muses in my head some weeks.

I've been working on a lot of things. Some will be gifts but mostly just what's in my head that needs to come out to make room for other things.

I finally finished the ornaments for the fam. I had many more than this and scrapped them all but these four. It just wasn't happening; the metallic markers dried up, the acrylic paints did too, the black alcohol ink marker wasn't black enough, etc. When I first had the idea to make the ornaments it was only going to be for the fam within the household at this present time. And that is what the Universe heard and what it allowed me to do.

Grouting wasn't hard. Small things take very little time. There's a few in this photo above that will not be gifted because when the final touches were made, all the bad art days arrived.

Here they are, ready to give and be hung on the tree. Beads and twine added a nice touch.

Meanwhile during the bad art days everything got ripped up if it was on paper. If it was on a board or surface of some sort in mosaic, it all got pulled up and put aside. Basically everything was garbage to me! Luckily I don't have those days very often and it seems to be gone now. Whew. I lost my identity when I lost my muses. I usually give myself time to rest and recoup and prepare for the next wave of creativity but this time the creativity dried up in mid-stream and I wasn't ready or prepared.

The best thing I did for myself was to relax and work on what I wanted to work on. Do my Zen thing. As I shared on my FB Page the other day: "I decided to switch gears and just focus on something I really am enjoying creating. Circles on canvas using pique assiette, grinding tools and water. One piece at a time, focused only on that one piece. Zen by definition: a state of calm attentiveness in which one's actions are guided by intuition rather than by conscious effort."

It worked. I feel energized and ready to do new things both in doodles, watercolor/acrylics and mosaic. Not necessarily in that order.

This is the beginning of something fun. I'm using marker pens on canvas. As you might be able to see in the background it is based on a photo I took many years ago of one of the trees in the area where we lived at the time. Spring blossoms are just starting. It makes me happy so far. That's a wonderful thing.

The other day I ripped up all the doodles I had done within the last few nights and kept them, as I always do, so that I can use them in some way or another in art. Paper mosaics are fun to do but I like to try new techniques as well. I watch a lot of YouTube videos on many different subjects.

As I ripped up the doodles that didn't look right to me, I cut the edges off and started doodling within these small pieces (shown on the right side of the photo below). Nothing fancy or complicated, just rounded petals. And that's what you see here.

I don't have any idea where I'm going with these. They could become tags for gifts or they could get glued down onto a canvas and become something ... it's okay that I don't exactly know just yet. It's more important that the wheels are turning again in the art brain.

Enjoy the journey.

 Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!~Cindy, EarthMotherMosaics

Purple Palace Art Studio - Time to Organize

Before I start a week long mosaic fest on a few gifts for my favorite people, I have to organize the glass, bits and pieces of dishes and tiles. Along with broken jewelry and other mixed media items I like to use. It all has to be within reach and somewhere I can find it easily.

 

When I spend time looking for what I need, the less time I'm at the table creating. Sometimes I keep things in the garage studio and spend a lot of time walking through it mumbling to myself. It's a bit more crowded in the Purple Palace, but if I know what I want to use, I can place it in the PPAS and not have to do more than stretch a bit. It's good to stretch.

 

Last week I shared a photo of the sorting I was doing on glass. It's almost all sorted now and back in the spot I like to keep it, in the Purple Palace art studio.

 

Beads, glass and mirror are in this little tower I've made. Next year shelves are going in here. That's the first on the "to do" list for 2024.

 

I'm, sorting the tiles and ceramic pieces now. The best "find" from this clean-up I'm doing so far is this little ceramic button in the photo above. I had it and quite a few other pieces made without button holes (years ago through beadfreaky on Etsy). This little disc has reminded me it's still here and ready for me to use. I'm thinking this might go on an empty wine bottle along with a broken blue denim mug. Creativity is blossoming!

With this clean-up comes some new glass from a favorite supplier mosaicsbymaria. There's my celestial colors right there. I have plans for these bad boys!

Meanwhile, I'm making wishes this holiday season for everyone to be safe, warm, fed, healthy and cared for and about.

It's also time for me to put out there what I'd like. It's real easy to shop for me. Broken plates and mugs, dark chocolate and red wine. What else?!

Enjoy the journey.

 Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics

 

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!~Cindy, EarthMotherMosaics