Bodhisartva ..... Art/Spirit/Life

"Re-Bound" Book Signing

Don't you find that you get an extra charge of energy just being around creative people?  The Santa Monica Barnes and Noble store was full of creative energy today for Jeannine Stein's book signing.

Jeannine is an incredible book artist, journalist and teacher.  I've learned a lot from her and was honored to be asked to contribute to this book.  Tons of people showed up for her talk and to see and handle the projects in the book.  Everything was made from recycled materials, repurposed into book structures - and what a variety!  Several of the artists from the book were there. 

Jeannine signed the book and I was able to get the signatures of a few of the other artists, including the every wonderful Marcia Moore, the phenomenol Richard Troncone and Charlene Matthews, proprietor of Charlene Matthews Bindery. Some of Jeannine's colleagues from the L.A. Times and other newspapers were there as well.

I tell you, this woman is a class act.  Not only did she tell everything about how she made each piece, but she demonstrated a very cool book and prepped extra copies so that people from the audience could make it along with her.  I'm not going to say anything else except that my family members will be seeing this particular project in their Christmas stockings.

On top of that, she brought refreshments and everyone received a goody bag with all the makings for one of the projects in the book.  And when I say ALL, I mean ALL - even a glue stick and a needle and thread!  Of course, the package itself was as cute as can be.

PLUS, this lovely little gift, made from an old math flash card.  Jeannine's packages in her classes are equally wonderful.

 

All in all, a great day with a great lady.

My flea market addiction

It's official.  I am hooked on the PCC flea market.  I go every month and have a routine.

Get there early.  Park and Pay.  Admire the view.  Walk over and stop for a piece of german chocolate cake that I will regret later (I know that sounds like a weird breakfast, but you'd have to be there).  Do the northside outdoor first.  Do the southside outdoor next.  Go into the parking structure booths to escape the sun.  Have great conversations with favorite vendors.  Go home.  Gloat over my treasures.

 

The cake is from a wonderful family of three generations who cook up a storm.  While they have more "breakfasty" things, the german chocolate cake is their absolute BEST, so once a month, I have cake for breakfast.  So there.

You can get anything at the flea market - succulents in snail shells,

 

Vintage glass in amazing colors,

Repurposed vintage clothing (the green velvet jacket was supposedly from the Wizard of Oz and then newly embellished)-

But, I bought none of those.  Here's what I got -

Caution.  Items appear larger than they are in the mirror.  This "chest" of drawers is about 8 inches high.

And the big find of the day

I have no idea what I'm going to do with these, but I couldn't resist them.  The boxy silver things are capacitors and I am assured that there is nothing toxic or explosive inside.  I'm thinking a bracelet...

While you're thinking about that, I'm going to go to bed and tomorrow I will post details of the other goodies.

Hmmmm....next Sunday is the Rose Bowl Flea Market and there's a Somerset gathering....hmmm....

One Year Anniversary!

It really snuck up on me!  I'm about to start my second year of blogging.  I'd like to post more often and with more art.  That's my resolution, anyway.

So, it's another Halloween.  I've been so busy at work and traveling that I wasn't able to do it up as exuberantly as I like.  I did do one fun thing.

 
I love this black feather wreath, so this year, I balanced it on the candelabra with some orange candles. 

My daughter thinks the jar of skeletons is creepy.  Good. I have succeeded.

Last Day in London; Ready to Go Home

The bells of St. Pancras church are tolling and I am relaxing before heading out to a pub with my colleagues.  The meeting was very productive and, even better - it appears I will be back in London in a few months!  This is a wonderful group of people, truly dedicated to helping those with vision loss and eye disease.  I'm glad to be a part of it. 

The only "touristy" thing I did was one for which I will always be glad.  I took a private tour (well, there were 19 of us) of Westminster Abbey, with an hysterical verger who was, I swear, Mr. Bean.  No kidding.

 

It took over 90 minutes and then I went back in and walked through again.  The sense of history and the shadows of all the people buried there, crowned there, married there...it was palpable.  Of course, there are a lot of quite unpleasant stories that go with most of these kings and queens and statesmen as well and there was a bit of an ick factor.  You know, things like beheadings and locking little princes in the Tower and what happened to Cromwell's corpse.  But.  I digress.

I will never understand how these edifices were built hundreds of years ago without our modern tools.  The height of the ceilings and the complexity of the design are mind boggling and awe-inspiring. 

Dashed around the area for a few quick sites but did not have time to linger.  But, now I can say that I saw Big Ben, Parliament, Whitehall, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, the Queens Horse Guards and Victoria Station.  Whew.

 

 

So that was my touristy few hours in London.  My favorite part of the trip was just walking around and one magical serendipitous experience which I will share later.

The joys of travel

Egads and gadzooks!  I am in London.  How did that happen?
I arrived at my lovely hotel around 3 p.m. yesterday via Kings Cross Station and no, I did not see Harry Potter nor his luggage cart.  I walked and walked and walked the neighborhood to stay awake for London time.  By 8 pm, I needed this bed.

I had the whole next day free and wanted to see the sights.  Alas, the first sights I saw were not the ones I had hoped to see.

Stopped to get some pounds and my ATM card would not work - in several places.  Hmmm, well, that could be inconvenient. I had a few scary hours while I waited for Los Angeles to wake up.  Finally decided to place an international call to the Credit Union and indeed they had blocked it. Problem solved and thank the lord.

 I bought a voltage converter in the US.  I brought the UK one with me.  But there was no USB end to stick in the magnetic slot.  Figured I had left it at home, so off to Apple at Oxford Circle for a replacement.  Wandered the wrong way, asked directions and couldn't understand them, finally found it and a lovely young man who listened to me v.e.r.y...h.a.r.d. and looked exceptionally confused.  This dumb and jetlagged American woman had completely confused him because it turns out that I had exactly what I needed all along but didn't know it!  Problem happily solved; hours sadly wasted.  Next stop...

The Apple converter only works for the computer, so I had to find one for my curling iron.  Last trip over, mine sorta sparked and melted, so something may have been wrong?  Decided to get one here to be safe.  I have not tried it yet, but I will let you know :0}  Had to search through three Boots before I found one; fortunately they are all over. 

At last!  Time for fun.  Wandered through Covent Garden and found 2 bead stores and some lovely people.  Had fish and chips for lunch in this cool/funny place and watched the world go by.  The London Bobbies set up a metal screening station right across from me and were stopping passersby to walk through it.  That made life interesting. I think they were training and using pedestrians as guinea pigs.  I walked in the other direction.

I'll tell more later, but for now, I leave you in Covent Garden and a special treat for my daughters and a certain niece of mine.  I did not, repeat, did NOT go into this store.

  

 

Sweet Goofyness

The little gestures are all the sweeter when they are unexpected and come from someone you love.  The lovely Tamara from Zinnia walked into my house with this charmer for no reason at all (that is, there WAS a reason for her to walk into my house; but no reason for the gift, except that she is thoughtful).

It was so cute that I hardly wanted to open it, but since I knew I had to do something with that cute vintage hankie, I was forced to unwrap it.

 

I've been admiring these little ceramics since she got them into the store.  And now, it's just in time for Halloween!  This one is called "Horace", "...he was just a bit too much in the OCD department.  Not only could he not walk by a microwave with leftover minutes, but he had to count each kernal of corn before and after it popped.  He died from choking on an old maid."   Hmmm...is there a message there?  I'm a bit OCD myself...

Tomorrow, I will have to pull out the Autumn decor from the garage, just to keep Horace company. Thanks, Tamara!

Flea Market Obsession

Really, this can't be good, can it?  When the PCC Flea Market is coming up on a Sunday, I sort of discount everything that happens on Friday and Saturday; I just want to get to the goodies.  I am officially addicted. 

It was a good day, a very good day.  I had wonderful conversations with the vendors and learned a lot.  I wish I had taken pictures of what I DIDN'T get, but here is what I came home with on Sunday.

Hmm.  Seems that I brought home a train case much like this one before.  Can never have too many, though, right?  This one has cool metal corners and is just right for storing....something.

The leather case is labeled "handkerchiefs" and "flat collars".  I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it was too cool to pass up for $5.  I seem to be collecting these Lipton tins - they're great for holding doo-dads at the workbench.  Don't let my husband see the celluloid tube; I have WAY too much celluloid, but they're like potato chips, I tell ya!  I'll try to get a closer shot of these lovely wooden boxes; again...great for tools and whatnot.

 
Not a great picture, but I was so excited!  I got two wooden trays with handles; this one is pretty small, but just perfect for holding jewelry projects in process.  For one dollar, I bought a ghastly 80's necklace made up of those bone discs, silvery tiny beads, and the big silver beads at the top.  It really was terrible "Dynasty" stuff - yuck.  But, aren't those big beads fabulous?

I am not sure what I'll do with them as they are really huge, but I love them. 

Found some metal buttons to use as clasps for my books. 

 Is there some limit to the number of photos on Typepad in one post? 

I'm just asking.

Is this not the coolest thing?  I'm told it was a decoder - see the squares are labeled with numbers 1-26?  Letters of the alphabet.  The hole in the middle held a spinner.  I'm going to use this on a book cover, if I can bear to part with it.

And speaking of cool....

If anyone knows what these are, I'd like to hear it for sure. 

 

The vendor is pretty sure they are some kind of token for rationing.  They are made of some dense fiber and are much redder than this photo.  They are about the size of a penny.  I don't know what I'm going to do with them; see if I can drill a hole for jewelry, I think.  I see a pattern here - so many things I buy that "I don't know what I'm going to do with this". 

Speaking of which, did I tell you I collect brushes?

Is there anything I don't collect?   Here are other goodies.  Now, let me think...this is Wednesday night....Sunday is the Rose Bowl Flea Market, next week is the Long Beach Flea Market....oops, I feel that obsession coming on again.

 

 

Crazy for Metal

I had longed admired Tracy Moore's metal journals and wanted to take his class.  So, when he finally came to Southern California 2 years ago, I was in heaven.  First, he is a great teacher.  And second, these metal covered tomes are addictive.  I'm having to remind myself how to make my own rivets, but otherwise...

This is the one I made in Tracy's class.  I made a similar one for my brother, but did not photograph it.  Oh, I did mention how often I do that, yes?

I love copper.  This one is a little plain, but I'm just getting back into the groove.

This one uses a technique I learned from Stephanie Lee.  The color is really blackish silver like the side view.  You melt solder all over the metal and let it go where it wants.  Do you know how hard it is to drill through a layer of solder?  Next time, I drill first, solder after, let me tell you. 

Here you can see how fat that soldered one is - I love the way it feels in the hand.

The pages of these little books are made from a handmade Japanese paper I got at Hiromi.  I ripped it down and then dyed them with walnut ink.  The are all splotchy and look like they are ancient.  I wanted the books to look as if they were remnants from some forgotten civilization.  As they are exposed to air, they become more aged. 

Joyful Events

One of the benefits of living in Southern California is the vibrant and extensive community of artists and the availability of events.  To top it all off, Stampington and Company is headquartered nearby and all sorts of great things are always happening around them.

To whit - the launch party for all the new Stampington magazines and calendars at the ArtBar this week. The mags are amazing of course, and the new calendars are exceptionally lovely.  Nicole at the ArtBar hosted and it's always fun to hang out with her and her staff. 

Jenny Doh introduced all the artists and editors and had them say a few words and then demonstrations were done by Kristen Robinson, Lisa Bebi, Lisa Guerin and Ruth Rae.

Is there anything more cute than these two?

Kristen and Ruth Rae are fairly bubbling over with joy and enthusiasm.  Here's Ruth with her treasured old Singer. I can't believe it's portable; the carrying case is almost as luscious as the machine.  Lucky girl.

The crowd was mesmerized by Lisa Bebi's demonstration.

So mesmerized in fact that I forgot to take any pictures of her working!  I love her technique and would love to take a class with her someday.  It was inspiring to watch her work so confidently and loosely. I should be so relaxed. 

I met the charming Orly and think I have found a new friend.  She will be teaching at Journal Fest this October.  I'm not going, but she also does classes here in SoCal, so maybe I will be lucky enough to join her one day. 

And finally, if you have any idea who this beautiful woman is, let me know.  She reminds me a little of my sister Chris and her daughter Katie.  I took this picture specifically to turn it into a painting, but didn't catch up with her to ask her permission. I understand that she made that gorgeous shawl and flower.

Surprise Revealed

Somehow, when I make something, I always give it away before I take a picture of it.  I've got to get over that bad habit or I'll never have a record of my work.  Fortunately, the gift went to Gina, who is a great photographer. 

You know the way you acquire special things and never get around to using them because they are so precious?  That's another bad habit I'm working towards breaking.  About a year ago, I was in Vancouver and found this amazing handmade watercolor paper in a very loooooong format.  I pulled it out last week and folded it in half and the rest of this just sort of happened.  As it evolved, it became clear that it belonged to Gina, my own true friend, who just happens to like turquoise and has a thing for feathers.  Synchronicity, I tell you.

I love the way this beat up piece of leather looks, with all it's scars and scrapes.  The flap was just exactly like this; I didn't do a thing to it. I've pulled out all my leather now and can't wait to make more.  But I know that none of them will be as special as this, first one, for my "own true friend".