clockwork earrings

I was inspired by the work of Deryn Mentock and Dr. Insectus to dig out my jewelry projects and complete this pair of earrings. I absolutely LOVE steampunk style. These earrings have identical clockwork mechanisms, with lapis chips and small bulbs.

Whew!

I finally managed to look at all the incredible bloggers who are part of One World One Heart this year - all 911 of them. At least, I think I got them all and didn't miss any. I was worried that I wouldn't get through them all before the February 11 deadline because the dial-up access was crashing every three pages. I didn't take a lot of time to investigate all the blogs, so now that I am done the quick pass through, I am going to go back and take my time looking at all the new blogs this wonderful event has introduced to me. I know, it means more time spent surfing and no time creating, but there are such a lot of inspiring blogs on the list, and a bit of inspiration can't hurt, right? If you haven't done so already, take some time and check out some of these blogs. The range of items that people are giving away is amazing - there are even things like personal coaching sessions, and books written just for the winner. There are some amazing and generous people out there.

One World One Heart

Congratulations to the winner of this giveaway:

Cindy from Ohio http://www.oopsdesperateblogger.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to play. This event was a great way of meeting new artists and seeing a lot of great art, and I know I will be spending the next few months spending more time perusing the sites included on the One World One Heart list.

I am so excited to participate in the One World One Heart event this year. If you want more information about the event, click the logo below:

I have visited all the sites of participants in the past, but this year I am able to play along. I will be giving away this stone goddess pendant:

She is carved from teal colored grout, and feels like real stone. Leave a comment on this post, and I will draw the name of the winner on February 12th.

Abstract made with interior housepaint

This is a painting made with a bit of leftover paint from the recent reno project. It isn't stretched yet, but will be about 2 feet x 3 feet when finished.

Finally, some sun

It was wonderful to get a break in the cold weather today. The sun was shining, and the temperature actually reached somewhere in the region of +8. There were lots of people walking around in t-shirts and short sleeves.


I always get into a slump after Christmas, and don't get a lot of art done, but I am feeling a bit more inspired the last few days. I have been painting a bedroom, and chose a dark raspberry color. I haven't painted a room that dark before, and it has been a lot more work that I anticipated. I had to paint the walls with a tinted primer, and it has taken 4 to 5 top coats to get the color to look even and not streaky. It looks pretty nice, although I'm not sure I would ever choose to paint such a dark color again. I still have to finish the ceiling (I am planning on using a heavily textured wallpaper) and touch up all the trim, but I will post pictures once that is completed. I thought I had an idea about how to furnish the room, but now I am not so sure, and will have to give it some thought. It was supposed to be a pretty girly room for the two granddaughters to use when they visit, but I am also trying to make it a bit more mature so that I don't have to redo the whole thing in five years.


I also used some of the wall paint to make an abstract painting, and I will post pictures of that as soon as it dries.

watercolour landscape

Here are a couple of more paintings I completed while taking the watercolour course. The first was an exercise in painting clouds, and the second was foliage. I haven't done a lot of landscape painting, so I quite enjoyed painting these and I think they turned out well.

miniatures

I haven't been doing any painting for a few days, because I have been remodelling a spare room. The room has been used for storage for all my artwork. It has been piling up, but I hadn't realized how much there was until I had to move it all out of the room.
Some of it is quite difficult to store, like this 1/12 scale room I built many years ago. It is an alchemist's studio, and the alchemist has mysteriously disappeared.

There is a map on the table, spread out for close study.

One of the bell jars on the shelf even has a little fetus. There is gold and silver spilled on the floor, and glowing coals in the brazier.

It was great fun to make but now it just takes up room.