Going Flowery

Wintertime makes me want to make new things I've never made. Like these flowers.

Small, fun, and fast using materials hidden away in a far corner of my studio. 

Instant gratification.

What has the weather where you live inspired you to make?

Planting Seeds for 2013

via here

 “Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”
― Robert Louis Stevenson

I have decided to live one of my dreams and finally create a real cutting garden for spring flowers. This local farm tells how they do it, but my little plants are quite a bit younger than theirs. I was hoping they wouldn't come up at all until spring. But our weather got really warm and the poor babies thought it was time to sprout. They're so cute and green and we're getting ready to put them to bed for overwintering tomorrow. Spring pics to come.

On a less literal level, what artsy seeds have you planted lately? Or maybe you're prepping the soil for a fertile future?

Happy Solstice in a Sacred Place

"This is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be, This is the place of creative incubation. At first you may find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen."

Joseph Campbell, in a 1985 interview with Bill Moyers

Hope you have a wonderful solstice! It's a great day to get outside and enjoy nature, the ultimate sacred place.

Good Things are Happening

Brow Chakra (Third Eye) indigo, turquoise, mauve

Not sure if it's still available, but I'm doing this meditation series. It helps you adjust your expectations and understanding so abundance can come into your life. I've been working on this for several years on my own and it was really nice to have Deepak's take on it (as you see, we're on a first name basis). A little Deepak Chopra is never a bad thing!

This may have inspired me to do a new series based on colors associated with the chakras.

Root Chakra, red, mauve, brown

Crown Chakra, violet, white, gold

These are out of order as chakras go, and there are also a few missing. I'll have to retake the pics and get them into another post soon. Tomorrow's another studio day, for me that's bliss. What are you doing this weekend?

Sale in My Etsy Shop

Kayaking near my house yesterday, on one of the most beautiful and balmy autumn days so far.

The sky was absolutely gorgeous. Of course my camera battery died as soon as we got out on the water--I was lucky to get one picture (first one at top). But then my daughter let me use her Canon Rebel, which I may be inheriting:)

There's a 15% off sale going on in my Etsy shop through November 30. Pop on over there and use coupon code HOLIDAY15. 

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

Ephemeral

detail from Road Trip

This is a group of three sculptures from my Impermanence series. I finished them a few months ago and they're being shown starting next week in this beautiful space.

Road Trip by Deborah Jaouen

Upcycled chair, found road fragments, mirrors, phone part, vintage boat steering wheel

They're made from upcycled chairs, as well as other found things I have collected in the past year or so. I found actual pieces of the yellow line painted on the road--Highway 12 in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It gets destroyed regularly during hurricanes. The latest time was a couple weeks ago during Sandy.

detail from Conversation 

Conversation by Deborah Jaouen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upcycled chair, phone parts, 1900's ephemera, lace, vintage cart wheel

The newest finds inspired me and I was able to flesh them out with other things from my collections. Phones are ephemeral now, but they last for centuries in our landfills.

detail from The Naturalist

The Naturalist by Deborah Jaouen  Upcycled chair, bones, coral, shells, ceramic, birch, leather, rusty pitchfork

Do you get more inspired by the most recent things that find their way to you? Do pieces you've had for years become uninspiring, or maybe the longer you have them the harder it is to let go of them?

 

To NaNoWriMo or not?

Organizing October is almost over, and I feel much better since the "purge". I was starting to question the wisdom of making assemblage art, with the huge selection of spare parts we artists insist on having around. It's always a conflict, because I'm a minimalist at heart, or I just want to be.

Sometimes it seems like organizing is its very own art form. In any case it's satisfying. Is that the Virgo in me?

I'm toying with the idea of signing up for NaNoWriMo. Have any of you done it before? You have to write a 50,000 word novel start to finish in the month of November. That would be great, but I have gotten about 20,000 words into my first novel --!!!--started in late summer and I'm afraid of diverting my word flow, haha. Sort of like how I decided not to worry about learning Spanish when I was in Costa Rica a long time ago because I hadn't yet acquired  a solid base in French, which I was actively speaking at the time (still am). But it sure would come in handy to be fluent in Spanish, although now I'd prefer Italian and the Spanish would make that a cinch. All I'm trying to say is that there aren't enough hours in the day! So do I go for NNWM?

The photos are from our trip to Chicago in September. My first time there and I was astonished at the design and architectural beauty--love, love, love.