Crysalis, Metamorphosis, Transformation....a gift

The butterfly bush along our walkway is alive with caterpillars. I have been having the hardest time, though, finding the cocoons. Caterpillars and butterflies everywhere....but no cocoons.

Today as I stood there searching and searching....I found one! And right before my eyes, a new butterfly emerged! Wow! Metamorphosis! A beautiful monarch spread her wings slowly and then flittered in her first flight. What a gift to witness.

My work lately has been very much about metamorphosis....transformation....shifting shapes. Yesterday I found a monarch butterfly laying in the flower bed....her life spent.
I picked up the wings and have used them on a new piece that I'm working on. Her spirit goes on....

But today....today I found another amazing gift!
In my driveway....far from a bush, tree, or flower....was a green and gold crysalis!
Lying there like a piece of precious priceless jewelry!
It wasn't hanging from a twig...it was just laying on the cement. How did it get there....did a bird drop it for me?
I wonder....could a butterfly emerge?

New Online class site!

I'm very very happy to announce that my online class in creating a "Maryhoonie" has just opened up on a beautiful new teaching site called: A is for Artistic

http://www.aforartistic.com/maryhoonie.html

Have you ever participated in an online class?

I've been teaching online for several years now and I am
continually amazed at how fun and easy it is.
And how connected I feel to those taking the class.

The class is made up of 4 lessons and will run for 4 weeks, with a new lesson each week.
The first class will begin on March 22nd.

There is an online forum for any questions you might have.
Each class is full of written instruction and detailed photographs, so in the comfort of your own home, at your own pace, you can create away....using techniques that I have developed over my 35 year career. And if you have any question or wish to share, I'm here to guide you and I'm just an email away.
And...I love email! :)


And it's fun! It's so inspiring for me to chat with people all over the world as we sculpt together.
Ideas bounce back and forth and the wings of inspiration connects us all. I love that the internet has made our world into a community...a neighborhood.

Maryhoonies have been a real joy for me to create. They are funny little creatures that make me smile! If you click on this link, you can read about how I came to first create these little guys.
Once you begin, you will find all sorts of subtle little adaptations that will create new forms of Maryhoonies and soon you will have a village, as I do. :)

Come join me for lots of fun! The more the merrier!!
I can't wait to see what you create!
We all need something to make us smile, don't ya think? :)
If you do decide to take this class, please let me know........I just feel a sort of bond with those of you that read my blog and I'd love to know that you will be joining me.
I'm really quite excited!

"Milagro"

Milagro means miracle in Spanish.

Milagros are religious folk charms that are traditionally used for healing purposes and as offerings in Mexico, the southern United States other areas of Latin American. They are frequently attached to altars, shrines, and sacred objects found in places of worship, and they are often purchased in churches, cathedrals or from street vendors.

I came across a pod from some tree, in my studio...not sure where I picked it up....but it was thick and strong and looked like an opening heart...thus this became my interpretation of
a Milagro.

Along with the pod mounted on a piece of coconut shell, I used hand written french letters, tiny sea shells, red coral and a purple glass globe mounted within.

The Face of a Sea Urchin.....

A found coconut shell....antique lace....found dried palm tree pieces......shellpoints.....rhinestones....
fish bones.....and the head that I took off of "Seascape".....The Face of a Sea Urchin....

Products used: Kato Clay * apoxie sculpt * shell points * rhinestones * antique metallic lace

!

Off with her head!

I created the piece "Seascape" last year, but I never really liked the head.....so I lopped it off and sculpted a new one. I'm much happier now. :) I hope she is too.
Here is "before"...... and then "after".

"Seascape"

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"Crysalis"

"Crysalis"

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Still a question.....

Hmmm.....she rises....she stretches......she has unfolded.......a sea serpent? A caterpillar into a butterfly.....? Transformation...?
Metamorphosis....? Rising energy.....?

Red coral, butterfly wings, antique beadwork, French handwritten letters, bridal netting, mirror mosaic shards, fish bones, abalone pieces.

Tomorrow...full length photos......

Inspiration on the wings of bones.....

In putting together a grouping of new work for the Chalk Farm Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I find myself staying within a certain color scheme and palette. Instead of fabric and paints, my palette is fish bones, hand written French letters and mosaic shards.

Here is a new beginning........bones on her head and back...with the addition of red coral.....some sort of sea creature, perhaps.....

"Gestation"

I began with a empty coconut shell....mosaic mirror tiles on the inside of the shell...
Puffer fish bones on the back of the coconut shell...and a bird appeared. I added a beak of apoxie sculpt, some shell prongs and abalone pieces for feathers and of course, rhinestones for flashes of light.
I wanted to make a sort of embryo piece within and so I sculpted her attached to another bone piece and created the beak on her head with a crown of bone.
She sits on a nest of metallic wire with attached beads.

The Lightness of Being......

"The Lightness of Being"........transformation from Puffer Fish to Being-ness.

A fish into a bird.....anything is possible...

....my eye fell on a empty coconut shell.....and then onto a couple of Puffer fish bones.....
when I was playing with them and turning them this way and that, what appeared was a bird's skull. It's not a bird. It is a fish bone....but mounted on the coconut body a bird appeared.



This is just the beginning....mirror tile mosaic inside...shell prongs as feathers....abalone pendants as wings... and off I go....... :)































"A Lightness of Being" is finished. I will take more photos of her tomorrow so you can see her in full. She was really fun to create. I think she appears quite magical..... :)