die trying

I never really intended to blog about (personal life crap) in this, but when it starts impacting my (creative work and such) it seemed worth mentioning somehow. 

It has been a very strange past two months. Celebrating family achievements with graduations, military commissioning, and birthdays all intertwined with five funerals of family members- with another this Friday.  One part or more of my family has been fortunate enough to be able to travel around the globe to say hello and goodbye.  California, Florida...Italy.

The first came as quite a shock, my grandfather had been suffering from dementia, and while disoriented, had a stroke and then quietly fell into our pool late at night.  Others seemed to come quite quickly afterwards. All different, all still shocking.  

From war photographers and farmers to business tycoons and foster moms- all individually unique and important.

In saying goodbye to their life lived, and celebrating it as well as one can, its amazing to finally find inspiration in this the oddest of places.  When you see that life can be so short, it makes you want to forgo insecurities about messing up or falling shy of the finish line or even finding yourself worthy of accolades- and simply do it regardless.   

"Its better to be a has been than a never was."

good morning everyone...

Wash away the sins of the world...

If you had skin the color of the sea, able to breath air as well as water, live on land and what lies beneath... Would you be a dangerous creature? Or a friend to sailors lost in a storm? Or rather lost to your own dreams, floating aimlessly in deep sedation forgetting all the past.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge,” Albert Einstein.

“What I am doing today surprises nobody more than myself”, Barbara Cole.

Barbara Cole is self taught photographer seen around the world as well as in Hermes and Anthropologie. More can be found on her website.

Insect-fabulous

Today I was outside in the blistering heat, which was well over 100 degrees. As I am about to zone out into la la land, an irritating little bug landed on my arm. After watching it for a few seconds, I realized that I really do hate bugs and quickly flicked him off my arm. Now most people probably share my annoyance, but as fabulous jewelry designer Yumi Masuda points out, "Insects are the ones that bring happiness to the earth." Just wait til you see these beautiful pieces she has created. It might just change your mind.






A little bit about her and the process...
Yumi Masuda was born in 1975 in Japan. After working for an advertising firm, she resigned last year to start her company Agri. Derived from the latin for field, Agri is a very fitting name for her collection of fabulous little bugs. Each piece is individually created from her handmade gravers that were heated and hardened to fit her specific patterns.


She has dozens of these tools. Aren't these awesome!? Each one is sharpened carefully on a whetstone to finish. Just think of all the possibilities with sterling silver pendants and other stamping projects if you had a set of these.



Once the tools are done, she gathers her silver and copper, oxidizing them to create Sasabuki (metal sv925. Then she hammers and shaves down each lump to a prototype of the insect she is working on. At which point, she then knocks her graver tools into the mold with a hammer called a Otafuku. This process is repeated for each piece, as no casting is done.

With fine, delicate legs, and soft, airy wings.
From leaf to leaf, from flower to flower.
They busy themselves in carrying pollen and seeds.
Insects are the ones that bring happiness to the earth.
That bring bloom and harvest to us.
Wishing to have these lovable insects felt much closer to you.

Give the gift of admiration...

A new award for your next favorite blog. I originally saw this as a book plate but thought it was much more practical and modern as a blogger award. {Click on image above for html link} It originally read: " Great men talk to us in good books."

Grey's Anatomy Finale

hmmm... I don't know why I am so interested in Grey's Anatomy. {And further more, why I am going to blog about it!} But for some reason this show has seriously monopolized my Thursday evenings. In fact I have recently converted, or run down, my hubby's stanch opposition and last night we gathered around the boob tube to gain some much needed closure to the lingering questions of what will happen to Izzy and George.

Sometime in 2008, I was in San Francisco for the 150th time and we went to Sears Restaurant (very touristy breakfast joint near Union Square that my mother loves) and as my family and I were being seated, I walked right by T R Knight. Although I frequently would meet celebrities while living in LA, T R Knight's presence surprisingly catapulted me into starstruck, giddy mode. I immediately whipped out my iphone to look him up. My family adamantly refused to acknowledge that it really was him. So my dad bet me 20 bucks to walk over and ask him! Normally quite reserved about meeting strangers, I was hesitant to comply. When it reached 80, I finally was compelled to go over to him.

The guy is so friendly and sweet. He introduced me to his entire table and his partner. And to rub it in to my family that it was actually him, he turned around and waved to them and said, "Yes it is me!" So, needless to say, I am invested into the fate of his character and I would just hate to see him gone from the show. Especially when he appeared in that Army uniform! wow...

Okay, enough about tv land.

creative inspiration

Sometimes I am creatively dead. Especially as of late. I look in the mirror and don't even recognize myself anymore.

Its also true that some days I have so much inspiration, that my Artsy-ADD mind goes on overload and I cannot figure out what to do first and then I am plagued with self doubt and sadly- do nothing. Its of no solace that perhaps we have all gone through this.

Happy Mother's Day!

While antiquing in Paris, I stumbled upon this lovely postcard. The children do not appear very awake, but the gentle way in which the mother is more concerned with them, than with the camera- caught my attention. How often do mothers put aside their own wants and needs for that of their children's? Although not a mother yet, I cannot but think of that relationship, as one of the sweetest and strongest bonds in the entire world. It is often said that a man dying from sickness or on the battlefield will cry out for his mother.

It wasn't until months later as I was searching for vintage millinery, I found this framed print. Very Art Nouveau (which I love) and although it is sadly warped, its words are so sweet. "Mother. No nobler thought my soul may claim. No softer word my tongue may frame. Than just that one word, "Mother". All of compassion, of goodness, of love. All of the sweetness of heaven above. God bless the name of Mother. " -J.B. Downie.

So on that note, I wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day. And now I am off to go wrap these lil goodies and go visit my mother.




The postcard and frame are my own pictures, but the rose graphic seen here is from http://ilovedesign2.wordpress.com


(Feel Free to download this and use in your personal artwork or collages. But please do not resell or commercially use this without permission.)