Thursday, June 28, 2007

Favorite Illustrator


Lately I've been revisiting some of my favorite books, which I tend to gather for their illustrations. Did I mention this already?

Anyway, here's Kim Waters Art Gallery, where you'll get a nice cruise through her East Indian-influenced watercolors and line art.

I would love to get some of her altars -- I want the one with the monkeys and gopi girls!

My favorite things about her work are the clarity she manages to maintain, despite having a very decorative style. Very solid and balanced compositions -- I wonder if she sketches on a grid? I also love the pop and contrast she gets -- the little dots of white pop here and there.

Oh yes, not to mention the fact that she can draw. ;-)

Well, I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do.

And now, back to grad school studies -- course ends Friday! Woohoo! and then I'm free. Well ok not free. Just cheap. ;-)

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Vote for "Through the Looking Glass"

Check out these beadwork contest entries. The theme is from Alice in Wonderland and it's called "Through the Looking Glass," sponsored by celticat and the Bead Art forum at Delphi:

I voted for my favorite! Just click the thumbnails at the top of the page, remember their number, and then click the vote box. A bunch of people have voted so far, I can't wait to see who the favorites are.

Monday, June 18, 2007

Ancient Shell Bling

Seems we've been stringing bling almost as long as we've been walking... ;-)

And from that article:
From ancient Peru:
And here are some more links to pictures of old beads (think polymer clay, folks!):

Sunday, June 17, 2007

We made goddesses

The Victoria Hughes Class Report ;-)

I don't have pictures yet because I still have to paint, buff and polish. But everybody made goddess pendants, and we also made twisted trilobe thingies, and flat disk beads, and we did transfers onto cubed beads.

The goddesses? Not a major breakthrough for me, cause I make my own already, but Victoria has a different method of course, plus I got to play with adding a bit of Christi Friesen-esque doodads and decoration. One of my goddesses looks a little butch, frankly, and two are quite petite, so I'm calling it an alternative goddess family. ;-)

We had a lovely lunch at a cafe just down the street, and talked about developing your own artistic voice, acknowledging the history of your craft, and your teachers, the balance of influence vs. copying that will probably be discussed forever and ever and ever.

But I've realized recently that in both beadland and polymerclayland that there is a whole new "generation" of artists and crafters who perhaps don't realize that NONE of this -- the shows, the Internet groups, and many of the materials and techniques -- existed a few years ag.

So, in that light, here's a question for ya:

Do you know who originated the polymer clay
faux techniques such as turquoise, amber,
coral, lapis, and ivory?
If you guessed Victoria Hughes, you are absolutely right. Yes folks, many years ago, Victoria sat down with her own collection of antique and vintage gemstone goodies, and set about studying them, and finding various ways to recreate them through much trial and error. Then she taught the techniques all over polyclayland, and now, we tend to think of them as standard techniques, as though they were born spontaneously out of the clay!
And now, of course, people have expanded on those techniques and invented imitative techniques of their own. So, if you enjoy them, a tip of the hat to Victoria, PC Pioneer. Here's an article about her from The Crafts Report online:
Next week, how about Virginia Blakelock and Carol Perrenoud? Stay tuned, history lovers...

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

For Sunni -- class times

Oy, this is for Sunni ;-) No comment on whether you're confused, cause I would have NO room to talk. ;-) Hehe.

Here's a copy of my post to the NM Culture list, plus I'll add prices too since someone emailed me about that (it's in the Harwood newsletter... but what they hey) Note: kit fee is payable to instructor at first session).

I think this is the first time Harwood Art Centerhas offered bead art classes. Woohoo! ;-)

INTRO. TO BEAD EMBROIDERY
Thursdays, June 14 and 21, 6 to 9 p.m.
$50 members, $60 nonmembers, plus a $15 materials fee
~and~
MIXED MEDIA BEAD EMBROIDERY
Thursdays, July 12, 19, 26 and Aug. 2, also 6 to 8
$110 members, $120 nonmembers, plus a $15 materials fee
at the Harwood Art Center
1114 7th St. NW
Albuquerque
My portfolio & resume:http://www.flash.net/~mjtafoya/mary
To register, call the Harwood at 505-242-6367
Harwood's newsletter with class info:
http://www.harwoodartcenter.org/newsletter.html

Friday, June 8, 2007

Victoria Hughes Class yep yep yep

Woohoo! I just found out I can take Victoria Hughes' all-day polymer clay class in Albuquerque next weekend. Actually, I don't have any business taking the class -- I've got my own class to teach the following Thursday (at Harwood Art Center...hint, hint) and my kid has a martial arts demo that day, and...oh! did I mention I'm in grad school and in the middle of a month-long read-until-your-eyes-bleed course?

Well, no matter. That guy I married 21 years ago? He said "go for it" and you know I always do what he says, hehe. Plus as we were talking last night, someone bought a few cabs from my Etsy shop -- it seemed like magical confirmation in terms of the (very reasonable) class fee.

As busy as I am, I still get a bit of creative work done each day. Might not be the large scale months long projects I did until a couple of years ago, but it keeps me level. But this spring at OFFCenter I realized that time-wise, space-wise, and concentration-wise, at this time in my life I really benefit from leaving the house to work. No dishes, no phone calls, no hopping on the Internet to quickly check my eBay sales, etc. Just burrowing down into "what can I get done in 2 hours of glorious creative play time?"

So yeah -- it'll be just me, the clay, my tools, Victoria, probably Frank Sinatra if she brings her CD player, a cast of local PC artists and my creative muse, who is always on call 24/7. Woohoo!!!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Barbara's New Polyclay Tute

Here's a cool tutorial for lazy polymer clay women like me... and it happens to be called Lazy Woman's Mokume Gane. Barbara and I (and her family) had a chance to share a meal awhile back when she was in Albuquerque. I showed her mine, she showed me hers... what a great artiste. The polyfolks in FL are lucky to have her around all the time!