It's Those Ornaments Again

Last Christmas (or was it the Christmas before that?), I was fascinated by small "collage sandwiches"...two pieces or glass: either microscope slides or a couple of the sizes offered by Ranger and Tim Holtz...with small vignettes that we now call 'inchies, twinchies and moo's'...or a rough approximation...the 'sandwich filling' told a story, a theme or a moment in time &/or imagination. These later grew into the Laura B that I posted below, and a series of other 'sandwich people'.

This year, spurred on by Sue Shotwell, I began a new appreciation for the silhouette. I have begun to see the woods around me, full of winter tree branch and bird silhouettes, as rich food for my artistic soul. The devil is in the details, as they say: I found it was a little more difficult than I had anticipated, in that tiny silhouettes are not all that easy to find for this application. I had no difficulty with the Christmas sheet music background, as old discarded hymnals abound in thrift stores. I looked at diecut images from a few of the cartridges available on the market, rubber stamps in silhouette, and, finally, hand punches. That still gave me only a limited number of options, so it was a choice whether to go with what I had, or spend studio time tracking down these pesky sized images...laziness and high fuel cost (and the cold!) made me use what I had on hand. (I have roughly a year until I need them again next Christmas!...Plenty of time in January and February for cyber wandering and searching!).

These, then, are two different types...one, retro with a hand punched pine tree: I embossed the rubber stamp, then, as I was melting the pseudo-soldered sides, managed to remelt the embossing powder...now on the inside of the sandwich. The other, with handmade fusion paper (by me!) and another tree from a hand punch. I finished it all off with a blurry and full of light reflections series of photographs...arrrrgggghhhh....

So, with full apologies for technique, etc, here goes...at least I am sticking to my resolution to continue to blog!!! (Patty, I ache for your proficiency on so many levels!!!)

Peace on the Mountain

It is true! The last "Christmas for Retail" package was sent out for the holidays and I am without the pressure (self-imposed) of having a Thanksgiving deadline looming. My box today went to Kim Robertson at Pea Island Art Gallery. I was soooo hoping she'd say, "Dude, I gotta have this stuff ASAP....drive it down today!"...well, that's the difference between reality and imagination. (sigh) It would have been nice to see Kim, her beautiful gallery (soundside on Hatteras Island...it looks like a historic building, and is one of the most wonderful galleries I've been in. All kinds of art, crafts, jewelry, fine art, well, an entirely wonderful world) and had a cup of hot tea and gossiped. We were all stranded on the island for a day or so last September and it was a very cosy place to be in a tempest and a good time was had by all, as well as bonds being formed. Art provides shelter from the storm! Please visit her website and see what the collection of artists' she has assembled from all over the world are doing. Ahem...and I...Lanise...have been shown in her gallery with my piano hinge books since September. My new card series is due to arrive there perhaps tomorrow. I am so proud to be shown in this beautiful gallery and thankful to Kimmie for having faith in my art...and, dude...she is a windsurfer as well! My cards are also sold this season at Food for Thought (thanks to Julie Thomas) in Griffinsburg, Virginia (on Route 522 between Culpeper and Sperryville) and 24 Blackbirds (formerly 'Four and 20 Blackbirds') in Flint Hill, Virginia (on Route 522 between Route 211 West and Front Royal). Vinnie DeLuise at 24Blackbirds has just the coolest and cleverest in art, providing a feeling of Manhattan in Rappahannock County and his wife Heidi runs a lunchtime tea room that is up to high gourmet standards (how 'bout homemade ice cream with the local flavors of the season? homemade soup?yummmmm...)and the Washington Post reviewers think so, too!

Anyway, all Christmas is now home-centered...our first with no children coming home. I wonder how we will choose to celebrate?

Bowing to Pressure

Sometimes New Year's Resolutions are left from one year to another: that's where I am here on December 1st...Blame it on Barack Obama. Our next president is organizing a government, prioritizing the needs of a nation and still has time to be a parent...surely I can exercise some modicum of coherence by keeping up with a blog! My good friend Patty (at http://bitze.wordpress.com/) whose blog is wonderful beyond belief and who keeps up with art and blogging, has urged me (nicely) to get my act together and begin anew to post some of my creations. I yield and will accomplish my first do-able goal: minimum of one posting each month...if I can't do that, I am a sorry example.

So, I first post some of my examples of Inchie Ornaments. Patty was the perpetrater: she discovered the template on a website by Shelley Rae (?)and then set off a world-wide phenomenon! Be sure to go to her blog, look at her absolutely stunning examples and follow the links to Margaret in Zurich, Switzerland and Gia in Rome...my, my, my. Absolutely marvelous!

That being said, here are 3 that I have done...keeping in mind that these tiny canvases bring out the 'all thumbs' aspect. Balance, scale and tiny tabs for gluing...all a challenge for moi...have empathy! I have a couple of more irons in the fire, Christmas ornament-wise, but will await whether or not I have achieved the desired goal: a successful posting of text and photos...Welcome and wish me well! Here goes...