Rainy Gray Day on the Farm

Well I just logged onto my blog this afternoon and was stunned to find I actually have 3 followers. Yipeee, someone to talk to besides myself at last! Now the pressure is on to actually say something...

I have been doing some very serious soul searching of late as I am sure you have noticed by my recent topics regarding the reasons behind creating art. It has made me rethink my goals for the rest of my life now that I am on the other side of 50, to question what really matters to me. I have read that this stage of our lives is one filled with questioning and a feeling of needing to do things but often we are not sure what we want to do so we end up trying everything all at once and kind of spinning our wheels. What is really needed is some quality quiet time filled with non-movement and reflection.

I have always been an eclectic artist, well, and person, with my fingers in new mediums all the time but that has not lead to any real self-satisfaction , really it has only lead to feeling overwhelmed. There was always something missing and I now think what was missing was I was simply working in the wrong mediums. My passion has really always been paper, ink and fiber. I have been a quilter for 20 years and have made handmade books, journals and albums embellished with hand drawings for 40 or so years. Some how I strayed and that is when I got lost...and began to feel unfullfilled. So I am on a new quest, or should I say my old quest to create within my own parameters. Stay tuned to follow this new journey...
Ciao for now,
Beth

Spring Sale at Crazy4Art's Etsy Shop

Just a quick post to alert everyone to my spring sale at my Etsy jewelry shop starting today March 17 -
April 2. Everything is 50% off or better! I shift gears every season, or so it seems and jewelry making is done for the winter season. Now I need to make space for other items. I am also destashing my quilting fabric, lots of quilting kits and a large portion of my beading supplies. Watch for the destashing items to start appearing on my Etsy site soon, and you can be sure there will be some great buys there too!
Happy Almost Spring!
Ciao for now,
Beth

Just for Inspiration...

"Olive Goddess"

Cruising around YouTube today rather depressed with all the snow/ice/rain/snow I ran across this very talented book artist and just though I would share a link to one of her YouTube videos of "Heriloom Journals". MoxyLyn  - hope you find some inspiration for your creative book muse - I know I did!

Ciao for now,
Beth

Why Do We Create Art II

Continuing on the theme of why we make art the question also begs another question that tends to haunt many of us,"are we any good at our art?" I wander in and out of working with different mediums but then I see someone's work and think "now this is a real artist"! How do we connect with our inner soul to speak in different words that have never been spoken quite that way before; to express a beauty of a kind not quite like any other ever seen? It is there all locked up inside of us, we can feel it, we can almost touch it but...something is keeping us from being able to turn the key to open the door. Art of course comes from the depth of the soul of the one creating the art - so what stops at the door - is it a fear of others seeing who we really are? Our perhaps our own fear of seeing who we are? Or the fear of rejection of not being good enough? This morning I ran across the work of a book maker and photo artist (picture above -website http://www.theblackspotbooks.etsy.com/) and was instantly struck with,"now this is a real artist." The perfection, but not, but somehow is - expressing a depth that has no words but meaning is clearly expressed. Here is an artist that has found her medium of expression. I then look at my work and it is a mere shadow, trite eye candy but no more.
To be continued...
Beth

Why Do We Make Art?

I know, I know...this is such an open ended question it almost begs not to be answered. However, this is a question I have been plaqued by for a long time. I know I have an undefinable inner need and drive to work with my hands and create things that are pretty, well, at least they are to me but as an anthropologist as well as an academic reference librarian (note: not employed in either field-just thought I should say that for the record) I feel like I should have a more sophisticated answer. I read other artists biographies or resumes and am awe struck by how well they define what their art stands for and therefore how well they know themselves.  Is that part of the equation? Knowing yourself - that is also a problem I have been plaqued by - defining who I am. Mostly I am like a little kid excited with the prospect of what I will find around the next corner, or the discovery of how something works, that probably explains why I am interested in so many different things. My art though, is just something that comes from inside of me and I am not sure why, just that it does and I have to make art...hmmmm that was a complete circle LOL!  Anyone care to chime in with their thoughts? (Oh and if you are wondering why I have a picture of an alpaca up with this post it is because I think he is absolutely adorable - he belongs to a freind, Pam at Dream Come True Yarn and I just couldn't resist sharing Monte Cristo with the world!)

Would love to hear other thinking besides my own...
Ciao for now,
Beth

Attempt #1 at Drop Spindle Spinning

Yesterday my drop spindle and roving arrived in the mail but I didn't have time to get to it until today. Wow, this is going to take a little bit of practice to get good at, as all things worthwhile they exact their initial toll in time and the humbling process! When my spindle arrived the roving had been started for me on the spindle by the wonderful shepherdess, Pam from http://www.dreamcometrueyarn.com/. When I had finished watching her video on YouTube for about the 9th time I decided it was time to stop being afraid and plunge in...so I did. I had to lol when I wrapped my first bit of spun yarn around the base of the spindle for storage. Up against the few wraps Pam had done mine looked like a fat lumpy bumpy strand of brown and cream striped string! I felt oh so guilty about the beautiful soft alpaca and babydoll sheep wool I was, in my eyes ruining. By the end of 3 hours I had spun the roving and was once in a while feeling what it is supposed to feel like when you are doing it right, I said once in a while with large interludes of sweaty out of control feelings overwhelming me all the other time. All in all I would say my first foray into the spinning world was not a total disaster as I had feared, only leaving me with aching shoulders from the death grip I had on the roving and humility toward those that make it look so easy! Tomorrow is another day and I really can't wait...I think this means I am hooked (no pun intended)! Hmmmm, I wonder if you can unwind spun wool and respin it?

Well, off to soak in a nice warm bath and then read about spinning...
Ciao for now,
Beth

Spring is On Its Way

It has been too long again since my last post - time just seems to slip away! I have revamped my website (http://www.crazy4art4u.com/) and am likin' the new clean lines take a look and let me know what you think. I am expecting new orders to come in around the end of March and the beginning of April so come by and look around then to see all the new goodies as they arrive!  I have been working on my links page and have added a free tutorial page you might like to visit (www.crazy4art4u.com/freetutorials.aspx) - there are tutorials for beadwork, wirework, knitting, spinning (one of my newer projects to learn, which seems to be a natural evolution of learning to knit) and last but not least lampwork (another new medium I'm learning - just couldn't resist those glorious little pieces of glass art any longer). I have also finally taken the plunge to join some of the artist studio sites out there and put some of my jewelry up for sale on them - I guess only time will tell, patience young grasshopper!

I have two etsy sites one is for jewelry (http://www.crazy4art.etsy.com/) and the other is for knitting (http://www.definitelyewe.etsy.com/) where I have some lampworked stitch markers listed so far . I have to admit although all this website designing and blogging is an awful lot of work it does have its own creative side that is actually fun! I just wish people would find me so I am not just talking to myself *Sigh* I guess that will happen in time too, darn that patience thing...

Come back and visit again - I will be adding links to some of my favorite free knitting patterns soon.