I've come out of the closet

I have now become a minister of the Universal Life Church, a non-denominational ministry.  Though I am not Christian in the traditional sense, my sister asked me to officiate her wedding and while doing research I found this site and decided the time had come for me to join my calling. I am a healer and why not take on this form of vestment.  Please do not think for one moment that I am making a joke, as I am very serious about the responsibility of this title.  According to the Universal Life Church web site, I am now legally able to officiate at weddings, funerals, baptisms and absolve sins.  This last part seems intriguing as I am not a proponent of "sin" certainly not the "original Sin" as I was not brought up with this sort of dogma. However, I am aware that there are many people who have been brought up to believe in this idea, and if anyone wants me to help them feel better about themselves in the face of God I am happy to help.  And though I write here that I was not indoctrinated into a religion that expounded on "Sin" per se, I was brought up in the US of A and one cannot help but have a helping of sin laid on one's plate.  For me the work of absolution comes in getting to know one's self, deeply, so deeply that you discover the source of any dis- ease you feel in your life.  We are our own best prosecutors and persecutors, the inquisitor in our head is alive and well.  Until you are ready to meet it head on with honesty and integrity and a lot of forgiveness and love, the inquisition lives on!!!
The following is a practice I have been doing for quite some time which helps me to feel strong and vibrant everyday:

 I state over and over this affirmation:  I am perfect I am whole, I am strong, I am powerful, I am loving, harmonious, happy and healthy.

Say it at least 15 times and then through out the day anytime you are feeling low energy.
They say that we think over 60,000 thoughts a day!!!!  And a lot of those thoughts are negative, so I try to put this little jingle into my mind for those moments when I am not consciously aware of what I am thinking.  Over the years it has become a mainstay in my extraneous thoughts.

When people ask me the question, " do you believe in God"? I say, absolutely, but my concept of God is not the traditional.  I believe that God is all things, the all creative force.  Therefore, we are the experience of God.  Here is a utube interview that I truly resonate with as he his saying things that I have thought for years.  Check it out here 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrwtAnY4o_8&feature=related

Painting with Enamel- faces

I have been learning how to enamel. 

 

These faces are created with enamel paint and a torch.

                                                       Now I am working on making bezels.
                                                                        More soon.

goddess worship through jewelry, roman glass, resin, collage, too much fun!!!

 

I have been taking a jewelry class in Santa Barbara at Adult Ed. in order to improve my soldering skills. Above is a Sterling Silver pendant I made with Roman Glass beads.  Forgive the bad color as I left my tripod (that my hubby gave me for xmas) at the Art Clinic.  I will take a better picture but wanted to add it here tonight.  The spiral has been soldered to the bezel, which I made (tra la) and the cool textured background is made with a tool in class, which I do not know the name of, but it is like a mini pneumatic hammer which leaves a small pit in the silver which picks up the patina so nicely.  Oh, and those are roman glass beads that come from an excavation site in Afghanistan- those beads are about 2000 years old!!!  From some old garbage heap I bet.

  

I just recently purchased a video from Interweave publishing on Resin by Susan Lenart Kasmer.

she is very creative and although I have been using resin for bottle caps for awhile now, SLK takes the product to another level.  Above is a piece of paper that I coated with resin on a silver open bezel.  When I trimmed the resin, the paper fell off so I stitched it on with ss wire, an idea I will explore more.  Below is the backside.

  

Below is another lousy picture- this is a bezel I made to house this goddess collage.Originally I was not going to use resin but got carried away when playing with the other pieces.  This was supposed to have a mica top with a ss frame cold connected together so that the shells and gears inside could move freely.  I will make another later. I do like this composition, non the less.

  

Below is a save job on a bezel I created in class.  Both of these have texture on the back by the way.

Only the center of this has resin.  That way the little spokes of silver can move.  I really like the way this turned out.  Behind the paper collage is copper mesh.  That egg shapes houses the tree of life, in case you didn't recognize it.

 

Remains of the Day Journal and printed fabric

Below is my cover for a book I made in an online class called,"Remains of the Day". The Cover is made from Fabric scraps and the pages are made from paper scrapes, all of which i have a lot.  I could make hundreds of these journals if I had the time.   The teacher of the class is Mary Ann Moss and you can find her here, http://dispatchfromla.typepad.com/  While I was on her site watching the videos for the class, Mary Ann mentioned some beautiful hand printed fabric on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/maramiki whose site I promptly went to and bought some of her scraps (Syd and I shared the remnants, one of which you can see just slightly on the far right of the open book cover, little red leaves), and since I had been printing paper I thought I should try to print some fabric.  That is the pomegranate surrounded with words that you see on the left and below and the silhouette of crows on the top.  You can also see an example of my printed fabric on the page below, the bird in a nest being held up by a woman's arm.  I have been working on some small zippered pouches in my spare time.  I truly loved making this journal though I didn't follow directions very closely as May Ann works more in production line and I filled in the pages as I went. The beauty of this journal is that you use up all of the stuff you may not ever use otherwise but hate to through away.  Hence the name, Remains of the Day. I have not,as yet written in my journal nor finished filling all the pockets.  Soon I will.

Thanks Mary Ann.  I truly enjoyed this odyssey.

Zen Habits: loving-kindness meditation from the Dalai Lama

I just got this email from a site I subscribe to, Zen Habits [zenhabits@gmail.com] and had to share it with you:

The practice of loving-kindness can knit us together.
Loving-kindness is an ancient spiritual practice. As Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield says, “Love and compassion are not the possession of any group or religious system. They are woven into our human spirit.”
I want to share with you a very simple loving-kindness meditation which the Dalai Lama teaches:

As you breathe in – cherish yourself.
As you breathe out – cherish all beings

If you find it difficult to cherish yourself, lay a hand gently on your heart as you do this meditation.
This is my back-pocket meditation. It’s the one I pull out at odd moments during the day. When my alarm clock goes off in the morning, or when I’m waiting for the water to run hot in the shower; when I stand at the window looking out at the rain, or walk under tall trees. Breathing in, I cherish myself; breathing out, I cherish all beings.
It’s simple. But it can transform life.
This meditation will make you happier, especially if you make it a daily practice. As your heart’s capacity for love and kindness grows, you’ll find a great fullness of being, and discover a warm kinship with all beings.
Mary Jaksch is a Zen Master and writer. Read more on her blog Goodlife ZEN and join her free Virtual Zen Retreat The Miracle of Kindness.

Crow's intelligence

If you know me, you know I love crows. Often I am asked why I love crows so much  and what is their significance.  Crow represents creation, intelligence, tenacity, adaptability and survival. One of my favorite stories about crows comes from Ted Andrews in his book, Animal Speak, in which he explains that his Grandfather told him "Crow was the smartest of all birds. What's more, it even knew it was the smartest bird and enjoyed it to the fullest. In fact, it was so smart it chose to stay a crow, rather than move onto some other area of evolution." This link to a presentation on TED is very telling in a scientific way for those not inclined toward ancient knowings.
http://www.wimp.com/intelligencecrows/   It will be well worth your time.

Penelope's face and some crows

They have changed my blog page so I'm having trouble arranging images and labeling.  I've run out of time to begin again,so these are some of the work I've done these past few months.  As you can see, the Bagby inspired woman, Penelope has a face and a dress though she isn't finished.  I went to Boston before Halloween and wasn't able to finsh this project (is that suprising), and as soon as I got back from Boston, I needed to work on jewels and books for up coming shows.

Inspiration from Anne Bagby and Gustav Klimt

Today I watched a video by Anne Bagby   http://www.annebagby.com/Anne_Bagby/home.html whose work reminds me of Gustav Klimt (one of my very favorite artist -he was a Viennese secessionist of the early 20th c and a leader of the Symbolist and Art Nouveau, The Kiss probably the most recognized of his work-his Father was an engraver of gold an silver and no doubt that attributes to Klimt's ease with gold-he was also trained as a decorative artist).  But I digress-Anne Bagby is a meticulous artist whose work has always captured my attention as she creates the most beautiful images full of texture and faces.  above is the beginnings of painting deli paper on which I will stamp.

I used hand carved stamps as Anne does, though she is much more careful then I. She is very precise.

Above is what she calls complicated papers.  I have collaged a bunch of papers onto deli papers.  She uses the stamped paper as well as others to create these unique papers.  I will slice mine up and use it to create a weave.

 

This gets pretty busy but I have never been a minimalist.

Above I laid out 5 canvas within which I will find a figure by painting in an abstract manner until I see a one.  I got one out of five the first round (these canvases started as white).  One has to adjust one's mind to paint the negative shapes to create the positive.

This canvas has a few layers of black and then white and then black to find this "Olympianesk" figure.

You can see how I have started to collage the negative space.  The papers on the top half are the ones I created with the stamp on black.  I have begun to glaze over them with copper. I'm loving this process!!!

These papers that I have collaged with are from the fine paper section of any reputable art store.  The spiral is very Klimt.  I got a lot done today and can't wait for tomorrow!!!

EFT and tapping yiour way to emotional happiness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoSzivsQkVI&feature=fvw
check this out.  Start your day on with positive energy and thoughts.  Emotional Freedom Technique is fantastic.  I've been exploring this modality for a few months now and have had tremendous results.  This link offers is a fun way to start the day.