Originality...Authenticity....Creativity

I stumbled on this about a month ago and Catherine posted it on Facebook.....

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
— Jim Jarmusch

It's an interesting quote and one I would certainly like to see discussed at length....originality, authenticity, and creativity. .

I'm not sure I agree that nothing is original. Sometimes I see art work that blows me away and wonder.....where in the world did the artist come up with that idea. Were they inspired by something or did the idea just come to them. I once saw Yanni in concert....yes...I saw Yanni. During the concert he stopped and took questions from the audience. Someone asked how he composed his music. His answer stunned me. He said that the music would just come to him....complete. He could play it forwards and backwards in his head. Truely a gift....a gift that 99% of us don't have.

Me....I slog through the creative process and that's where I identify with the quote. There are things that make my little heart go pitty pat....ancient cultures, tribal cultures, iron work, rivets (oh the Eiffel Tower has 2.5 million rivets), industrial salvage ...and the list goes on. So I visit museums, read books, drive through Cleveland looking at old buildings and churches. Inspiration doesn't hit me like a thunderbolt but seeps in. Sometimes I have to take an piece or a technique and work it over and over again before it moves in a new direction. SLOG

So, here is an inspirational piece that I found in the Louvre...for the life of me I can't remember what it is but I liked the shape of it.


and turned it into this.....which I will use as texture for a tribal pendant.

Twisted Nursery Rhymes

These can in my e-mail at work today......Not quite like I remember them..... Simple Simon is my favorite.

Mary had a little pig,
She kept it fat and plastered;
And when the price of pork went up,
She shot the little bastard.

Mary had a little lamb.
Her father shot it dead.
Now it goes to school with her,
Between two hunks of bread.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To have a little fun.
Stupid Jill forgot the pill
And now they have a son.

Simple Simon met a pie man going to the fair.
Said Simple Simon to the pie man,
'What have you got there?'
Said the pie man unto Simon,
'Pies, you dumb ass' !!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the kings' horses,
And all the kings' men.
Had scrambled eggs,
For breakfast again.

Hey diddle, diddle, the cat took a piddle, All over the bedside clock.
The little dog laughed to see such fun.
Then died of electric shock.

Georgie Porgy pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry.
And when the boys came out to play,
He kissed them too 'cause he was gay.

There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good, she was very, very good.
But when she was bad........
She got a fur coat, jewels, a waterfront condo, and a sports car.

ARGH.............

Toilet seats. I know it's not what you tune into my blog to read about...but I'm frustrated with our toilet seat. We have been in the house for 20 some years and some things just never seem to get done. We are just too busy and let other things take priority. So it's time to change out the toilet seat...not that it's 20 years old...but time to change it. Even though the nuts are nylon, the still won't come off the rust bolts. The bolt heads are corroded and won't hold a screw driver so I've been trying to work from underneath using two sets of pliers. No luck....just alot of WD40 all over the toilet, the floor and me. The bolts are a little loose but not loose enough to get a hacksaw underneath them. I could just scream.

My plan was to do somthing small each night after work so the house doesn't seem like such an overwhelming task. So much for plans. HGTV....where are you when I need you....come over and fix my house.

Really....the weekend's over already

Where did it go?? I worked on Saturday...on multiple fronts....cleaning, cooking, and getting some time in the studio in-between chores. Had a family dinner today at Mom's house to celebrate my brother's birthday. He's old...LOL. I can say that...I'm the baby of the family.

Mom's having surgery soon and she's scared so I think this was also a time to be surrounded by her family. It's hard to be courageous going into something that scares you. There are a lot of quotes about courage to the effect that courage comes after you go through the think that you fear...the ability to be scared but do what you need to do anyway. I wish we could take away her fear but the best we can do is be there for her.

And tonight I am making Jambalaya for a pot luck lunch tomorrow. So I have to cut up veggies and meat and throw it all in the slow cooker over night. Luckily it is an easy recipe. I love slow cookers....cutting up veggies at 11pm....not so much.

So, here's to next weekend....hope it gets here soon.

It's Etsy Time

I've been busy putting jewelry on Etsy. My plan was to do this back in.....August. I'm just a few months late. This one will go up tomorrow. Then another round of photography and I can put up more.


I'm torn about doing shows in 2010. I relish the thought of a year of nothing but designing for me...but I have a concern that if I don't do shows this year, I won't be able to get into them next year. I think I will apply for a few and make the decision later. I got a promotion at work so there is an expectation that I will increase the level of effort I give there. It's always a balancing act. Where is a rich man when I need him....I just had to marry for love.....silly, silly girl (just kidding honey).

Red

The color of Valentine's Day.....and other things.....

Ring a Ding Ding

Earrings!!! Yum...some great colors on these. Every woman and handsome pirate needs a good pair of earrings.

More Jewelry Pics

Not stuff from the kiln...but pics of finished jewelry I'm taking for Etsy. It's such a long process. I take high res pictures, crop them, and then resize them. I want to save the high res pics so I end up with two sizes of each pic. Then over to Etsy to write a description, assign tags, upload pictures. There has to be an easier way...I suppose it's doing shows but that also has its drawbacks. It's amazing how much time an artist spends doing things other than creating art.

What do you think of the background?? I picked up a small matte black shelf at Target. It fits inside my light tent. As much as I love the old beat up piece of farm door that I have been using (it came from the milk house on the farm where I grew up) ...I think this makes the jewelry pop.

Peek into the Kiln

Some of the pieces that came out of the kiln. I'm working with more coin images. Last year at this time I was working with a Parisii coin that had an image of Apollo on one side and a stylized horse on the other. The one below is the Carthagian Goddess, Tanit. The reverse side has Pegasus on it. I haven't worked with that side yet.


I'm loving the script. It came from a picture I took at the Louvre. It was associated with a couple of bronze lions from Yemen that had been restored in Paris. I played with it in Photoshop to get the halo effect around the letters. Here is one of the lions. It was in pieces when they got it. They did an amazing restoration.

Snow Day.....Studio Day

It was a good day to work in the studio. Today I made molds. I had some African artifacts that I molded as well as some old medallions and coins. Two years ago I discovered a few ancient Parisii coins in a Paris art book. Last year I made tearaways of the images. Two of them were horses. Below are pieces that I made last April. Coin jewelry has always been popular. One of my favorite necklaces was one with coins. I no longer have the necklace but remember how much I loved wearing it. It seems coin jewelry is popular with other artists as well.



I am paritial to the pieces with horses because they played an important part in my life. I grew up with horses and even had a pony, named Katie, when I was little. She was a black Welsh pony. I should try to find a picture of her. I know I have one somewhere.

Snow Blowing into the Wind

We didn't get the snow that the east coast did...but still we had enough for Lou to use the snow blower. He hasnt gotten the hang of moving the chute so that the snow blows with the wind. I walked outside today to see him blowing snow into the wind and it was all coming back into his face. Of course after I laughed at him he tried to blow it on me.




The pictures are for my brother Dave....he keeps telling me to post a picture of the snow blower....he's such a guy :)

More Texture Sheets

Here are some of the texture sheets I made. The scripts came from photos of ancient text I took in the Louvre. I think it is South Arabian (modern day Yemen) and dates back to 500 BC.



And a picture of my little wooly bear...Sophia