Bones...and more bones....and look what shows up!

My children think I'm weird. I suppose many people would agree....
but I am so inspired by these bones. New bones.....shall I tell you the animal or would you rather not know?

I just think that using bones...feathers....and such, honors the spirit of the animal.
I don't see anything morbid about it. It's not like I killed it. I just saw beauty in the essence of this little animal. I believe it's really another metamorphosis...transformation....from one energy into another.

Could this little animal have ever considered that it would transform into a pixie?

Here are the beginning stages.
This piece is sooo much fun to create!
It's really creating itself.
I took the little skull and turned it on it's side and there it was...
a darling body just waiting for a head, hands and feet.
The legs are bones too. The arms are the bone area around the eye socket.

Creating a Shrine......

I am offering an online class on creating a personal
"Shrine". These are wonderful pieces to create.
You can create a Shrine for many reasons...you can use it as a focus of your intention to create art...or to honor another...or yourself.

You will learn mosaic and embellishment techniques using apoxie sculpt and glass tiles. Also taught will be my step by step techniques for sculpting and painting the face and for creating a really unique
"soft and other-wordly" finish to that face.

In this class, you will have an opportunity to create a work of art that is beautiful, meaningful and very personal.
To read more on the Shrine class, go to That Creative Place.
Hope to see you there! :)

Making little hearts.....

I'm making little clay valentines for 7 little girls.....

Little polymer clay hearts that fit into a larger heart.
The inside heart will have a little loop and ribbon on it so they can wear my love around their necks.

"Star Song"

This piece was sculpted upon the return from a trip that I took recently to Africa. The beauty and bone structure of the people inspired her face....
the uplifting of her arms spoke of the rise and determination of their spirit and the grace with which they move. Her hair is created from dried seed pod clusters gathered near my home...preserved and dusted with copper powders. The use of delicate fish bones on her head piece looked like a sprinkling of stars and within her hands, a star was placed, building on the star theme. Rhinestones were applied over her gown of antique silver metallic lace, again building on the feeling of stars falling from the heavens..... and in reading her expression, I believe she is hearing the song of stars. A mosaic of tempered glass runs down her back like a river of starlit skies. Antique hand written French letters from the 1800s have been applied to her base. Abalone shards form the edges of the flow of glass. Monarch butterfly wings complete the feeling of being uplifted...of reaching and the rising of vision. "StarSong" is about the wings of hope, inspiration and the grace to move to the music we hear calling to us.

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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