Autumn Light Designs: November 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Spoiler Alert: 12 Days of Christmas

On the CC Swaps group, we're doing a 12 Days of Christmas swap. We each made 12 items and gift wrapped them, mailed them to swap hostess Sweetpea, and then we'll get 12 different goodies back.

I got out my neglected melt pot and made these faux dichroic pendants (a la Tim Holtz). Very fun, easy but time consuming, glitz and shine to spare!

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Me, Me, Medusa

I've had some folks ask what became of the snakes & headband project, so here's a photo of me as Medusa.

I learned some interesting things about Medusa. She was originally a Libyan goddess whose name meant "sovereign female wisdom." Being African in origin, she may have had dreadlocks.

When the Greek patriarchs incorporated her into their pantheon, she became an ugly Gorgon with snakes on her head, whose look could turn one to stone. Those Greek patriarchs were rather frightened of sovereign female wisdom, so they had to turn her into a baddie. Gee, I bet that's never happened to women anywhere else...

In any event, you could call this a mixed-media project. I gessoed the snakes, then painted them with various metallic acrylics and wired them onto the headband. I was proud to stand for female wisdom, and I happen to like snakes. :)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Mixed Media Artists of Northern California Zine

I was recently invited to join the Mixed Media Artists of Northern California, a group that meets monthly. Our membership is quite diverse in terms of geographical location and type of art. I'm quickly realizing how much I have to learn, and excited to be in such wonderful company.

Right off the bat, I learned the group was doing a zine with the theme of "Me and My Art." I love how everyone interpreted this very differently, and it was fascinating to learn about each person's artistic journey.

We each created a font and back page, and then made enough color copies for everyone's zine.

I asked if I could share the pages here, as inspiration for others, and the group members were kind enough to say yes. These first two photos are of the front and back covers, respectively, and then each woman's pages (17 artists participated) follow, front and back respectively.

A special thanks to Janene, who invited me to join, and who did the covers for the zine. Because I've kept these in order, you can can see each artist by following the numbers on the covers.

Enjoy!