pLAyINg WiTh PhOToShOp

So I should be doing something productive, perhaps outside in the sun weeding my jungle yard, But I am not.... I am playing with photoshop textures and layers... Want to see?

SoME ReLaXiNg fUn!

Ok! So I got Tagged with this game awhile back and have been meaning to play my part. The last three weeks have had very little room for frivolous fun though as they have been filled with deadline driven art making. *Big Sigh* I am back from the U District street fair and it was a glorious success, which I will blog more about. Now there is a little time and space for game playing, relaxing, and fun. Not too much but a little. (You know no rest for the wicked!)

So I got tagged by a fellow artfester Heather at Paper Follies with the task of sharing seven weird or random facts with you about myself. I am not sure you if really what to know about the depth of my weirdness. *wink*

1. I gave the introductory speech for Orville Redenbacher to 3000 people at a national 4-H conference when I was 13. (there's one for the resume)
2. I firmly believe most savory foods can be improved with the addition of feta cheese and sunflower seeds. Stir fry, tomato soup, pizza, baked potatoes... try it!
3. I had one of the most "spiritual" experience of my life in a vodou temple in New Orleans surrounded by dusty icons thousands of coins and so much reverence.
4. If its old, the paint is peeling, its rusty, its dirty, its broken down, I am guaranteed to love it.
5. I was crowned the Ferry County Fair Queen in 1987 and also was a member of the *gasp* cheer leading squad for my high school. "I have came along ways, baby!" From fair queen and cheerleader to tattooed, pierced, queer alternative artist!
6. If it's what most people would consider gross I will probably like it. I tried to bring home a petrified ran over rat home from New Orleans, but my travelling companion wouldn't let me.
7. The picture of above said rat is one of my prized possessions!

LOL! at myself...

Ok now my turn to tag some wonderful people. So the deal is you link back to the person that tagged you then do the assignment (Which in the name of creativity, I am going to alter a bit) and then you tag seven new people and leave them a comment letting them know they have been tagged.

Assignment : I want to know 7 weird or random things about you but instead of writing them down I want you to express them through pictures. Happy playing for all..

My tags go visit them...

http://www.bluewaterwings.typepad.com/ Colleen, dear artfest friend and serendipitous maker of goddess with wings also.

http://www.pookieville.typepad.com/ a fellow artfester and flicker contact with a sweet blog

http://littlesomethings.blogspot.com/ Kim, takes the most beautiful still life photos of flowers.

http://dollfacedesign.blogspot.com/ Layla of Dollface designs check out her amazing vintage collage prints on etsy

http://theartdreamer.blogspot.com/ also an artfester who I didn't get the pleasure of meeting but loved her fatbook page so much I had to tag her.

http://lanipuppetmaker.blogspot.com/ loved her trade from artfest and check out the video on her blog of Jill Bolte talking about her spiritual experience of having a stroke

http://melissamanleystudios.blogspot.com/index.html fun fabulous artfest instructor that introduced me to the fabulous world of gut.

Happy playing for all..

hugs and peace ClAriSsA

Artfest Projects/ better late than Never

So I have been pretty lax in keeping up to date with my blog. See I am in crunch/deadline mode getting ready for the University District Street Fair on May 17, 18. The picture to the left is my booth from Anacortes Arts festival last summer. Just reminding myself what a full stocked booth looks like. I am down to the wire with just a couple of weeks to go. So I am feeling the stress, but I kind of enjoy the stress also. I often get more done with less internal critiquing when I am up against a deadline. The Virgo part of me would love to fuss and redo and pick and fuss till things were just "perfect", but when there is a deadline looming the firey Leo takes over and things just get done.. lol at myself.

But I did want to post some more pictures of my Artfest projects. I have also been "tagged" by someone sweet and I will get to that lil project as soon as I can breathe a bit..

These are the projects I did in Susan Lenart Kazmer's class on rivets and relics. There wasn't much time for refining the details of the metal work (sanding, filing) but the concepts and designs were amazing. I am not much of a ring person but I think I can modify a lot of the ideas to work as pendants or pins. I used one of my handmade ceramic faces as the center piece for this first ring. It is held in place by the copper prongs which was a baffling complex experience.

This piece is my Burlesque inspired ring. Definitely not the most practical piece of jewelry but I love the whimsical nature of it. It is a asymmetrical copper and brass discs sandwiched with feathers, ribbons, and pieces of Susan's resin paper.

This was the first ring we worked on with beads or stones held captive between the metal band. I wish I would have gone for a narrower band that was a bit more refined, but next time. I do really like the way the sea glass juts up all wonky and asymmetrical..

Ok.. back to work.. I will post the projects from my other classes soon... hopefully..

peace and happy creative lives!