Humblearts Journal

Fun Days Ahead!

This has been an exciting week.  My mom and I have been planning a Bead Cruise and we just booked it today for April 2006!  It's going to be quite an event.  We have really spectacular beading teachers lined up.  I'll be teaching a polymer clay bead making class and a workshop for my sundry bracelet.  The other bead artists will each have a class and a workshop that they are teaching.  You can read all about it on my Bead Cruise blog.  We have it limited to only 50 people, so if you are interested, sign up for our mailing list.

The picture is from my last cruise, which was on Carnival, the next cruise will be with Royal Caribbean, okay, let's just admit it, I'm spoiled!

Hero

I find the way Jesus treated people to be heroic. 

He went out of His way to be with undesirable people.  The poor, the sick, women and children were all considered less in society at the time.  I like the story of when parents were bringing their children to be blessed by Jesus and his buddies were all upset, thinking the kids were bothering the LORD of all, but Jesus, said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Right before Jesus died he had his famous last supper with his friends.  While the evening meal was being served, Jesus got up and wrapped a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel he had wrapped around him.  After he was finished he said, "Do you understand what I have done for you?  You call me "Teacher" and "Lord" and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet." 

This blows me away, the Messiah, the King, as far as they were concerned, did the work of a servant, washing their feet.  He didn't demand to be served, but came to serve.  Jesus set the example for his followers to love and serve others.  It's also a symbol of the work of the cross, but I won't preach at you, you can email me if you want to know about that.   

This is my entry for Illustration Friday's theme, hero.  It's a little piece I illustrated a while back for the Bible story of feeding the 5000.  A boy shared his lunch, Jesus miraculously turned it into enough food to feed the masses.

And in case you are curious, these stories can be found in the book of Luke in the Bible. 

Good Sports

Come on guys, I live in San Antonio, how can I not mention the Spurs today!

You cannot believe how crazy this town goes over our team.  I could still hear them carrying on, screaming and honking their horns at 1 am and I'm about 10 minutes from downtown.  It's funny, I don't care for sports, but there is just something about cheering on for a championship that gets the better of me! 

I watched the game with Hannah, who loves the spurs.  And Jess, well he was out with the guys whooping it up at some unnamed location.  The game is interesting, but what I loved the most was seeing their faces at the time of victory.  Just pure joy.  Ginobili acted like a little kid at Christmas time. 

One of the clips from an earlier game had the coach urging the team to "win this game for each other."  I just thought that was so great.  And they were such good winners, the first thing Pop, the coach, did was hug the coach of the other team.  In fact, most of the Spurs hugged the other coach, I think he once coached for the Spurs.  The respect the two teams had for each other was amazing to me.

In an age where sports heroes are more often on the news for getting in trouble, the Spurs are a team that our kids can really look up to.  I think that's one of the reasons I like them so much.  Tim Duncan has a good citizen program for the public schools, each school gets a set amount of Spurs tickets to give to the kids who portray the qualities of a good citizen.  You know, kind, honest, helps others, etc.  Hannah was awarded it two years ago and got to watch a Spurs game live with her Dad.  That was so sweet. 

Now I guess there will be a big parade on the river for the team on Saturday.  More craziness, I'm sure.  Sorry to you Piston fans, I think they played a good game too.  But what do I know I only watch one game a year.

A heartfelt knit

This charity came via Lynn's Bloom and Grow newsletter.  You may have already heard about the Artists Helping Children Foundation.  They provide murals and art work to hospitals and shelters and art supplies, tote bags and stuffed animals to the children in these institutions.

They are in need of bags/totes to put the art supplies in, they are looking for sewn, knitted or painted canvas tote bags to send a little cheer into these kids lives.  You can help, even just sending in one bag would be nice.  You can order canvas totes for .60 a piece and have your kids and their friends paint happy little bags to send off.  They also have patterns on the site, or you could whip up something wonderful all on your own!

I'm going to work on a knitted bag today, I'm ready to enjoy another day off and just spend time relaxing for a good cause.

Here is the link with all the information. 

Oh, and if you have a blog that has anything to do with sewing or knitting, can you get the word out about this charity?  That would be so sweet of you!

Black & White

Finally, I get to submit to Illustration Friday again!  I am breathing a deep sigh of relief today.  I have been working nonstop for the last month.  It's nice to finally have a day off. 

This week's topic is black and white, and while this little pup fits the bill nicely, I also like the black and white idea of the unconditional love that he represents!  Unconditional love, love without requirements, love you cannot earn or lose, we love our family this way, our friends and yes, even our pets. 

Here is what unconditional love looks like:

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Recipe for happiness:  insert your name where it would read love/it and read the above paragraph.  Now that is something to strive for!

I'm going to gather the munchkins and head out to the pool, eat ice cream at Sonic, go buy a new book to read the girls and enjoy our day together. 

eye candy

 

Here is a sneak peak at a sketch from an assignment that I'm currently working on.  I'll post the finished piece for this week's IF theme, which happens to be black and white.

Inspiration this morning via eye candy, the fabulous Mrs. Amy Butler.  I'm not into sewing, so you all probably already know about her, but she's new to me and I love, love, love her color palette.  Yummy, summery goodness.

Cindy Woods amazes me at every post, but this morning, I took in the little visual treat known as her flickr slide show.  What colors, again, I stand in awe!  (hey Cindy, put together a slide show of all your illustration Friday entries, so I can go back again and again and admire all your work in one spot!  Like you don't have other things to do right?!)

and finally, have you seen Penelope's latest post for last week's summer theme of illustration friday?  I love this image so much, I hope she offers them in a print and they don't sell out before I can get one.  What to say, it's a perfect piece of art, I love the colors, the line work, the patterns, the mood of the image.  I was just reminiscing the other day about catching fireflies as a little girl at my Dad's house in the country.  Good times.

Life Lessons

Some little PMC houses that I whipped up on Friday with my extra bits of silver clay.  The house shape is a symbol Jess and I use in our artwork.  For us personally, it's the symbol our marriage, our life together.  Our home is filled with houses that Jesse made in art school, silver metal ones, wood ones, prints of house shapes, and so on.  They pop up in my jewelry every now and then.  I so badly want Jess to start making sculptures again.  I'm going to keep giving subtle hints all month, maybe he'll make some small jewelry boxes for the Gruene market next month.

Speaking of the market, it was so much fun.  I love meeting all the artists, some old friends and lots of new faces this time.  I hadn't done the market in over a year.  I also love meeting my customers, it's so exciting to watch someone fall in love with a piece. For me it's really the completion of the creating process, seeing it find it's way into the heart of the new owner.

Sales were good, despite the lack of people today.  Gee, you'd think it was Father's Day or something.  We'll be back in July, all you central Texans, make your plans now to come visit me!

I'm blushing, Luann put this on her blog about me:

Seeing the world as abundant, with enough room for all artists to be successful, is part of that outlook. And so is sharing the kind of information that helps other artists get their own original work out into the world.

I hope I can always live my life with such an outlook.  When I started selling my beaded jewelry, I did a farmer's market every week in our downtown area.  Mixed in with the produce and flowers were arts & crafts and baked goods.  There were always a handful of bead artist's there, but one in particular helped shape my career one summer. She was completely unique. Her style was so much a part of her everyday life, it just spilled over into her big and funky tribal inspired beaded jewelry.  I can remember when I first met her, I made a little joke about checking out the competition. She stopped me, looked me right in the eye and said you don't need to see me as competition, there will always be enough for all of us to go around. She had a way of making everyone around her feel welcomed and like an old friend.  That's how she treated her customers, that's how she treated other artists.  She was confident enough in her work to know that she would succeed, even while helping her "competition."

I decided that summer that I would not let fear shape how I treated people.  I wanted to making lasting friendships with other artists and you can't do that if you are standing at the ready, smacking other hands from getting a piece of your "pie." 

I really have to say, that I feel like my material needs are supplied by a higher power, I have never needed anything that has not been given to me. That frees me to create, to love and to know that everything does work out for the good in the end. 

Some comforting words: "Is not live more important than food and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

I have NEVER needed anything that has not been provided. I'm a happy capitalist, don't get me wrong.  I like money and I want money and more money would be nice, but it's not my motivating factor in life, if that was the case I wouldn't have chosen a career in art, or to be a work-at-home mom.  But life is full of choices, that's what makes it all so interesting!

a rainbow of sorts

I needed a break from beading, my eyes are starting to cross!

Here are some of the bracelets I made yesterday.  Each one takes about an hour and a half to complete.  I call them my Sundries Bracelets because they have a little bit of everything thrown in.  You saw the pink one yesterday.  This is how I work, I have a basic design and I work in the spectrum of my color palette.  Usually just one each, sometimes a few in each color, depends on the time of year.  I'd like to have a large inventory, more to fill orders, than just for shows.  So many things to think about and plan this year.  I'm looking forward to working on my marketing plan over the next month with the art biz coach.  And I found a really great message board this week.  It's all for creative businesses, check it out.

Right now, I have a few more earring beads to make and then an hour to put together a few great pairs.  And then some dragonflies to put together and I have a few precious metal clay little house pendants that I was working on.  I'm not sure if they will be for this weekend or the gallery show.  We'll see.

Happy Creating!

Oh, do sell jewelry at art fairs?  Here is a little article I wrote on jewelry displays. 

Pink!

 

I was making this bracelet this afternoon while I was talking to my Mom on the phone.

I never make pink things, so this is quite a surprise.  She made me promise to scan it and show it to her.  (I love that even though we are a state away, thanks to the ol' internet we never miss a beat or bead in each others lives.)

I'm busy as ever getting ready for the Gruene Market Days this weekend.  It's a monthly arts & crafts fair.  It's a nice little show.  Always lots of fun things to see and a good crowd. It's in a historic town, with cute shops. I never know how a show is going to go, so I prepare for the best, but know that it's always a gamble.  I've done the show in the past, sometimes it was great, other times I wanted to cry!  At least sunny skies are in the forecast and that's always a plus. 

Here is a nice site with lots of links to jewelry business info.

I know you are all waiting to see my studio, I'll post pictures on Monday. 

Enjoy your weekend!

hgtv behind the scenes

 

The spotlight has faded, my room is back to normal, (which means my desk is again covered in beads.)  I thought I'd give you a picture of the guys behind the scenes.  The ones, I completely blame for any foolishness that makes it on air!  My girls are next to me.  They loved being on camera. I'm sure they will be beside themselves when the show airs.  (Which will be in the fall time, I'll know in September what the air date will be.)

Behind me, the camera man, director, sound guy and producer.  All a hard working and VERY patient bunch!  (is it just me, Mom, or does that sound guy look like uncle Geary?)

Favorite lines from the day, "do that MTV camera angle."  "Smiles and Styles, Heather, smiles and styles."  "Perfect, now let's do it again."  and from me, "what do you want me to say again?" 

This is me putting my foot down telling the director I will not make silly faces into the camera.  Okay, that's what I wish I were doing!  More than likely, I was saying, okay sure, more goofy, no problem.  Whatever you say, anything to be in front of the camera!

This year has been filled with so many fun adventures, I can't wait to see what happens next!

tomorrow, the studio pictures...