Dragon Energy

On January 23, 2012 the Year of the Water Dragon will begin.  A symbol of good fortune and a sign of intense power, in China the dragon is regarded as divine. It's the one animal in the Chinese Zodiac that exists only in mythology.

photo by chooyutshing

The color associated with the Year of the Dragon is golden and the energy sounds ferocious. This seems to me like it's going to be a creatively charged, high energy period. I read that it's lucky to eat Napa cabbage or similar greens. My decluttering will be finished too, so I can invite in the highest quality chi. I'm even toying with a major studio clear out. Instead of trying to organize my assemblage odds and ends so that I don't feel like a bag lady in there, I've decided that out they will go if they don't get incorporated into something by late spring. There!

And just so you don't think I'm too boringly virtuous, here's something delicious and decadent, so much butter and too much sugar, Cinnabon cinnamon rolls. Luckily my son is getting really good at whipping these up and eating most of them (the outer layer was eaten just as I was grabbing my camera).

Getting Ready for a New Start

The holiday season can be emotionally draining. I have a Christmas loving friend who suffers from “post-partum” every year once Christmas has passed. I enjoy the holidays but I often begrudge the time and work required—time that could be spent pursuing other interests (like making art!). That being said, the Virgo in me really loves the end of the year opportunity to clean out the old to make way for the new.

 5th Annual Good Riddance Day

My children are making something delicious and creative-- marshmallow treats using leftover cereals taking up cupboard space. Unsuccessful new cereals like High Fiber Low Sugar Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies Treats are good for this.

I like to toss old bill files into my attic archives under the eaves at the end of each year. In 2012 I’m going in to shred anything that’s older than 7 years, which is what the experts recommend. Yeehaw, I love clearing out!

Now I’m off to purge old documents and organize my computer for 2012. Wishing all my lovely blog friends a blissful, bountiful and beautiful 2012!

New Work and New Focusing Trick

 New holiday creation in my Etsy shop

Here's how I'm spending this chilly Saturday morning of puttering in my studio :
-listening to my Basic Italian CD to learn a new language
-thinking I have to burn the other Italian CDs to my ipod
-looking for a 90's bracelet from France that I just saw somewhere that I have an idea for altering
-noting a new idea of making some stars out of my new favorite material, cardboard
-looking for some interesting backdrops so I can start taking etsy photos of my newest creations
-checking etsy for keywords and tips so my listings can get seen, I'm still struggling with this since they changed the relevancy parameters back in September.

A larger version, available soon.

Some of you might already know about my quest for focus when in my workspace. There are just too many exciting things going on, all those found objects, materials, inchoate ideas... Today, as the ideas, or actually "impulses", started flowing, I got what turned out to be an insight--write down all the things I was trying to do at once. The act of putting it down on paper had the same effect as making a to-do list (which I do religiously, my favorite part being shredding it when I've done everything or transferred the undone things to a new list)--it put what seemed utterly chaotic into a manageable perspective. It really isn't that unsurmountable in the short morning. Sitting down and planning what you're trying to accomplish must trigger calming brain waves.

Three less Christmas-y looking options for making your gift card stand out under the tree. 

Good for repurposing later!

But I'm still looking for the bracelet...

Unsuccessful Junked Mission

The junk gods were not on our side today. It's never a good sign when things are laid out nicely, like the cool tumblr blog things organized neatly . 

 Well, maybe not quite as visually appealing, but it always means that the prices will be higher. In this case, ridiculously high for a "Podunk" sale, and men were just snapping everything up. If only more things had been as random and as reasonable as the potty chair above--only $10!

Stuff wasn't even that old, and there was no light (I always mean to take a flashlight to these things). Here you see cans of paint that were probably the same price as at the hardware store.

We had gone there to buy a lathe for Mr CWhirl. The friend who let him know about the sale found out the lathe was last seen in this shed--about a 3 minute walk across a chilly and windy field.
Here, at last, was Shangri-La--a large building with old wooden crates, bottles, debris. The perfect place to find things! The wire basket in the doorway contains 4 old hub caps and a couple other pieces of sculptural nirvana that I ecstatically scrounged in the five minutes the guys searched for lathe parts. But no, this virgin territory was not part of the sale--they plan to have another in several months and I'm sure that there, we'll find--THINGS ARRANGED NEATLY. The kiss of death to the treasure hunter.

Oh, and guess what--the lathe was stolen, so we didn't get that either!

100th Post!

 For my one hundredth post, I have some good news concerning my Etsy shop. I recently started it up again after changing the name from a silly mistake we won't mention here to "Collage Whirl", the name it would have had if collage whirl had existed back in early 2008, when I first opened an Etsy account.

Too bad I didn't put anything in the shop until July 2010... even then I never did much with it, so now I'm giving it another whirl--haha, get it? And I just got a new banner, created by my talented son. I may be cutting it a little close for Cyber Monday sales, but I'm over the moon to have a new look for the shop. Makes me feel organized, you know?

I've been making pillows--for some reason that's what the inner creative goddess has been dictating-- go visit to see some cozy little embroidered and vintage snippet appliqued goodies! (no pictures here on purpose)

Random Views of a November Afternoon

The leaves finally started to turn about a week ago.

Here's the view from my studio.

Inside my studio... the slogan was born when I was asked to dumb down my artist statement for a local co-op gallery. I took her advice very badly.

One of my plants has been losing a lot of leaves since I brought it in for the winter. I made this out of homesickness for all things tropical. Look at all the colors...

 Another glimpse of the late September bounty from France.

Just to remind you (and myself) that brighter days await!

Vegetable Envy

Since it's a cold, blustery fall day, a hearty spinach, feta and potato gratin sounds really good to me. One of the ingredients is shallots.

Here's what you get in Virginia for $2.99--three rather small shallots, which will probably be enough for one, maybe two dishes.

In France, one of these red bags filled with shallots--the yellow one is onions--is 10 Euros, about $14! That works out to 50 Eurocents a kilo although apparently in stores they're more like 5 Euros a kilo. My sisters-in-law have an amazing food network (and it's real, not a TV show). They each find the best deal on wonderful local produce, buying extra for friends and family in other regions. Then they trade!

 

It's all about the food. That's why I'm so comfortable in Europe.

 

Here's a sample of the goodies in my other sister-in-law's garage--all these artichokes were only 1 Euro at the co-op, because they weren't perfect! Here they would be considered just fine, to the tune of $2.89.

Each.