Street Art

Creating art in a more public manner, has been on my mind a lot lately.

I live in a relatively small upstate New York town.
It's technically deemed a city, but..... really, its just a large town.
And as I drive around town, I often see spots where my mind envisions murals or sculptural installations. I see splashes of colorful designs wanting to be laid out on bare concrete, as I wait at a stop light, or pass under bridges.

It's the way my brain works. I often remember sitting in the backseat of my parents station wagon,  as a kid, watching the trees pass by one after another, after another and so on. And I would start to draw imaginary lines connecting them all, doing loops and words and touching down on the trees as they passed.

Placing more art out into the tucked away spots, or some old sign post crying out for some beautification is a wonderful thing. How could something like that not enhance the community in which we live?

The above picture was snapped on a day's wander through Lima Peru in early 2011.
Walking down towards the cliffs that overlook the Pacific Ocean.
I love the way the mouse's umbrella catches rain from a cloudy piece of paper already there.
And how the cats paws leak onto the sidwalk.
Or even the way the blue was painted onto the metal window grate.

Secrets

Secrets {illustration friday's theme}

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Craft shows and waterfalls

This weekend was a full one. Saturday I set up my booth all day at Art on Lark in Albany, NY.  And though it remained mostly gray, the weather was good to us. No strong gusts of wind and bouts of hail like the radio forwarned, thankfully. The day instead went well......met some new folks, sent many a piece of jewelry off to good homes & had delicious Indian food to boot. 

Then this afternoon: 

a mini adventure to a special new spot we've found. Heavenly, really. 

It is like resetting your internal clock to go commune beneath the waterfall on a warm, 

early summer day.  Reestablishes balance.

Pablo, king of the backyard

Another beautiful May evening in upstate, New York.

Today was a beautiful day.....

Native Design Necklace Collection

I have been quite inspired lately by Native American teachings and design. And I've recently finished a book called The Wind Is My Mother, by a Muskogee Indian Medicine Man, one of the last "trained" as such. His wisdom often insightful, speaking to a knowledge that lies within all of us. One of respect & awareness of the world around us.

Native teachings often remind us that we need to live in harmony or balance with nature and it's creatures. Not constantly polluting & disrespecting the earth on which we tread, the air of which we breath, the water that we drink.

And in tandem with this I have felt the pull of geometric design, of repeating patterns, but then I have always been drawn to pattern. Perhaps it speaks to the connection in all things,  a universal thread of sorts.

I hope to list these in my shop, unless they find their homes at a craft show first!

Sunny Days

Made these this week:

and

am enjoying this video: