Summer Online Workshop

Hi hi!!

It's the time of the year again for my Summer online workshop at Artful Gathering Online Art Retreats. This year I will again be teaching a mixed media project, only this time, it is inspired by the Elves of Eryneth ...

A long long time ago ... in a land beyond our imagination ...

“The Lady of Eryneth cast one final spell. Slowly but surely, the enchanted Elven Kingdom of Eryneth shimmers into oblivion. The forest returns to its original form as if nothing has changed in nearly a thousand years. The soaring glittering Elven trees have all but gone, the towering archways carved out of the ancient forests' canopies are no more, and the Great Hall of Eryneth is now just a bare meadow in the shadows of the forest.

The Lady of Eryneth cast her eyes down to her hands, which bore a box, not too large. This box was created from the strongest white stone she could find on this land. The Lady lovingly touched the ElvenTree carved on the cover of the box. It reminded her lovingly of the ancient trees in her Kingdom, the Kingdom that is now no more. She slowly opened the ElvenTree window and peered inside. The Lady sighed. She then walked towards a large stone boulder which used to mark the gateway to the Kingdom of Eryneth. The Lady closed her eyes and chanted something under her breath. With one simple spell she hides the box within the large boulder, unseen by common eyes, but will reveal itself when the time comes. One day, perhaps a thousand years from now, someone shall find the box and its secrets within. For now, the box sleeps, and waits … for the Chosen One.” 

Registration is now open at www.artfulgathering.com

Join me this year between June 6 - July 17,  for 6 weeks of creative fun in the realm of mixed media, and maybe at the end of my class, you'd be the lucky winner of this pair of old-world bohemian earrings too!

A bloghop is now happening at the Artful Gathering with $500 worth of prizes to be given away! Sign up now and enjoy all the wonderful doorgifts waiting for you :)
HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!!

Stepping out of the box

For those of you who have been following my work will notice that I am pretty neutral when it comes to colors. I confess I'm not great with strong vivid colors. However, when a kind art sister Heather Tracy of Thicketworks helped buy some molds for me, I decided that since I'm trying out a new tool (yup, never used molds on my work before, but these Iron Orchid ones were just irresistible), I might as well step outside my neutral box a little to spice things up. And I didn't regret one bit of it!

Introducing my IMAGINARIUM series. 'Series' being the lack of a better word to use, mine is hardly a real series since I only have 2 pieces at the moment :)

My first try is on a box.

Imaginarium of the Weird & Wonderful : A Mixed Media Box

Just LOVED the 3D effect and the colors! OMG ... I never imagined I could pull something like this off.

And of course, what kind of a steampunk-time-traveling-rock&roll-alternate-universe box would it be without a tattered old journal ready to house all your deepest darkest secrets!

And then I got very excited and immediately started on another piece.

 Imaginarium of the Weird & Wonderful : A Journal

I love how much these IOD molds added to my work! They are such great tools to include in your arsenal of must-have arty stuff!

Somewhat reminds me of a carousel, only this one has no horses.

I am certainly looking forward to more colors in my future work. Now they don't feel so scary anymore. This stepping out of the box was certainly a good move. Being on a roll, I decided to return to my past in my next piece. Some shabby chic called out to me and yes, it has been years since I pulled off a shabby chic. So I guess this is also stepping out of the box in a different sense.

I called this journal 'French Romance'. The chalky destress feel, the old letter print, the mail stamp and pink romantic roses, a far cry from my Imaginarium series. And to think I made all of these within the same span of time. My brains must have been departmentalize big time!

Honestly it's been a long time since I painted roses. I use to do folk art and painting roses using the one stroke technique was my favourite thing to do. Thinking back at how many things I had painted roses on ... I'm feeling just a little queasy LOL!

Finally, I completed a commission too. Woah ... haven't I been productive! Doesn't always happen tho, maybe once a year I'm this productive!

The commission is another journal, and the brief was Old Norse Mythology.

And so,  Mjolnir, Book of Thor  was born.

That is the symbol of Thor's hammer with a touch of Celtic Knots design in it and flanking the Mjolnir are Odin's Battle Ravens.

And that, concludes my productive stint for the year HAHAHAHAHA!!!

I will leave you with this group selfie of the Imaginariums - A box, a book and a necklace.

A brand new year

Can you believe it?? It's already March of 2017, first quarter of the new year is nearly over. Time really flies. I read a quote on facebook the other day ... Is it scarier that it's been 7 years since 2010 or is it scarier that in 3 years it would be 2020?? UGH ((O_O)) 2020 ... I remember this was the year I thought of when I was a kid in primary school. I remember thinking ... wow 2020 is so far into the future I cannot even imagine it, and I counted, in 2020 I will be 51 ... oh my ... that's older than mommy, more like gran. It seems like only yesterday I had this thought in my little head.

But today, as I was walking back from lunch, a stranger called me from inside a shop, "hey girl!" and then proceeded to ask me a question. After that, I had a grin taped on my face until I reached home LOL! Dang ... how long has it been since someone called me "girl" (besides my mom of course! she always calls me "girl") Now that ... made my day :)

Ok enough of silly musings ... I know haven't been the best of blogger, so Here I am once more to share some photos of my work with you. I missed out posting quite a bit in the years past, so let me see if I can retrieve some of my favourites.

First of all, I am so pleased with my new set of postcards-cum-business cards. The printer did a great job this time :)

It came from this shot I took when I had quite a few of my pieces in hand, usually I don't have so many pieces. So I took the opportunity to set them up nicely and take a good product image. Nice huh?

I still really love my steampunk travel theme books. Here is the trio.

Sometime last year I decided one day that I would try my hands on altered bottles :) These 2 were the result! These were ex-gripe water bottles from my second born's time as a baby. I must have kept the bottles for 5 or 6 years.

Somewhere along the line, I managed to slip in a wrap bracelet too, which I named "Very Frustrating Bracelet" hahaha! which is the fact, cos it took me ages to wrap it round my wrist while I was trying it on :)

And then, I also made an Elven inspired Box of Curiosities :)

The box (only the box) has now been made into a workshop called "the ElvenTree" which will be coming up in Summer over at Artful Gathering 2017!

Registration is open as we speak! So if anyone is interested in this online workshop do pop over to the link. There is also a blog hop going on with $500 worth of prizes sponsored by Jerry's Artarama. To enter the hop you can go to this link : http://artfulgatheringshops.com/artful-gathering-blog-hop-2017/

By the way ... yours truly is holding the key to the secret word this week ;) Go search for it!! (it's not far away ;)

Also ... my DVD from last year's workshop is finally out!! Whoopeeee!!! For those of you who have been writing to me asking me when "The Looking Glass" workshop from 2016 will be out, here it is :)

Here is where you can get it :
http://artfulgatheringshops.com/product-category/luthien-thye/

Moving on, I use to love to play dress up when I was a kid. Always makes me feel like someone else. But as we grow older, grown up things take over our lives or perhaps grown up 'thoughts' take over our lives, and we either don't have the time or feel too embarrassed to play. So we don't play anymore, which is a pity. One day I decided heck ... I'm not getting any younger and I'd like to create some harmless memories for myself, plus I can use them to sell my stuff! HAH!! why not? So when the kids were at school, I quickly dashed on some makeup and stood in front of my bedroom window where the backlight would make any flaw melt away :) and snapped some photos.
And it made my day :)

I tried my hands on some different things last year, bottles, bracelets, boxes, rings ... which I don't normally make. It's like breaking away or just stepping out of my comfort zone a little. Anyhow, I hope everyone is having a great year so far. Don't forget to check out Artful Gathering ... lots of new instructors, lots of new artforms for you to step out of your box :)

Aha!! You found it!

A Year of Learning

This year has been a year of learning. I taught myself how to draw as you already know in my last post, and I also taught myself how to play the guitar! I went back for ballet classes and took up yoga. Goodness! I'm nearly 48 and I still feel like a kid when I get to try out new creative endeavours, all excited and wide eyed. This year has also been a year of mischevious rule breaking. I've always wanted copper hair and I got it done! Muahahahaha!! All in all it has been an eventful year and I've been stepping out of my box a wee bit more.

I shall not bore you with lots of rambling, but instead show you some of my work in the past months. But before anything else ... here is me and my copper hair :)

This is a picture of me modeling one of my more recent pieces called Oculus : Naga, because we haven't got the resources to hire real models all the time LOL!

And talking about Oculus, lately I've been a little intrigued by the symbol of the Eye. As such I have made 3 pieces of mixed media art jewelry inspired by the Eye.

The first one I made was for myself, and I simply named it "Oculus"

Oculus

And then I went on to create 2 more,

Oculus : Ajna , where "Ajna" is the Sanskrit word for the Third Eye Chakra.

Oculus : Ajna

and Oculus : Naga , where "Naga" means Dragon.

Oculus : Naga

Besides the symbol of the Eye, these pieces are also inspired by the fantasy realms that I love so much ie. steampunk, alternate reality and time travel. In this last piece, Naga, the aura of energy and majesty which resembles the gaze of a dragon was the very thing that gave it its name. The sun window in the center of the eye allows light to shine through, not only adding otherworldliness to this piece, but also transforms the focal from being an eye to something that resembles the inner workings of an old clock tower. Here is a close up look of the inner realms of this piece in its Work-In-Progress stage.

One of my favourite images, and some of my favourite pieces :)

This is another group of art jewelry I made prior to the Oculuses (if there is a plural to the word!). Some of them are still in my shop Altered Alchemy @ Etsy  amongst other pieces :)

Just before I pen off, here are 4 of the latest drawings I made. I am quite a movie buff and definitely a fangirl at heart. I'll probably still be fangirling when I'm 80!

Tom Hardy as Mad Max

Ian McKellen as Gandalf

And then there is this odd one out. Not from the movies, but from the English Premier League ;) Can you guess which football club I support now?

Jurgen Klopp

THIS!! This is my latest piece, hot from the oven not 48 hours. This man has just become my  favourite actor-thespian. He must be one the most talented actors of his generation! From playing a real life physicist with ALS to a Danish transgender woman who is also an artist to a magizoologist wizard ... what can't he play? And what can I say, I LOVE FANTASTIC BEASTS!! It's been a long wait to go back into the Harry Potter Universe but it was worth it all. Sigh ...

Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone!

A surprising endeavour

For a long long time I have always thought, or assumed that drawing would be something out of my artistic range. In school when we had to draw a scenario with people in them, I would always dread it, simply because I can never draw a realistic looking person. They would be out of proportion, had a funny face and what nots. And I have always envied those of my friends who can draw. So from that time on, I have never had the inclination to sketch anything that's human or animal. I only drew motifs and tattoo-like designs.
However, since last week, everything I thought about me+drawing, changed.

I don't know what exactly inspired me to pick up the pencil and start sketching dragons. Maybe it was my 5 year old who gifts me drawings after drawings of wonderful girls in motion (she loves to draw, unlike her mommy). Or maybe it was a message in etsy where there was the mention of a Phoenix, or maybe it was the really amazing artwork I saw on a friend's facebook feed. Something triggered me, or rather, they ALL did it because one morning last week, I woke up and all I wanted to do was to learn how to draw a dragon. And so I researched on the internet (Youtube) and started devouring videos after videos on dragon drawing. I googled dragon artwork and tried to decipher what constituted a dragon since it wasn't a real creature that one could observe in the flesh. After a day, I made my first dragon. That was on the 10th of May. In the subsequent 5 days, I had made 6 dragons heads.

Here are the first four dragons I sketched ... No. 1 being Tatts. That's my first dragon drawing.

And then in the next three days, I drew Smirk, Al and Cocky.
Of course, I was hooked by now and I drew another two.

Bucky, fashioned after a Komodo Dragon.

Freckles

I was genuinely surprised that I could draw a decent looking dragon. Nothing like those fancy ones I see on Deviant Art, but they were decent. And then a rebellious thought came to mind. What if ... what if I tried drawing faces. Like human faces. I still had a little phobia with drawing humans, but I just needed to know if I can, or cannot draw a proper face. So I made my first human face on the 14th May. Since my daughter really fancied Sebastian Stan after watching Captain America : Civil War, I used one of Stan's photos as drawing guide.

I actually did two Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier. The results looked nothing like him, but it was an encouraging start for me ... I can ACTUALLY draw a face! A human face!! Yipeeeeee!!!

I couldn't stop there knowing that I can go further. So I relentlessly drew. I haven't stopped drawing until today. Here is a chronology of the faces I drew and the dates I drew them. I still cannot believe the progress I am achieving. It shows that nothing is impossible if you put your heart into it. And I really put my heart into this.

Sebastian Stan (again) - 15thMay

Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr Strange - 16thMay

Aaron Taylor Johnson as Pietro Maximoff - 16thMay

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers - 17thMay

And then by now, I am as smittened with Sebastian Stan as my daughter is LOL!! So another one of him on the 19May.

Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes - 19May

Today is the 20th May. It's been 11 maybe 12 days since I decided to learn how to draw ... dragons and humans. I don't know when I will make myself stop drawing, so that I can go back to my other art forms (I do need to make some books and jewelry soon!!). But to top this journey off, I made drawings of my daughters today :)

This is Llara ... she's 11

And this is Maia ... she's my 5 year old drawing princess!

I never thought I would enjoy drawing so much. I am so glad I gave it a try again after 30+ years.

2nd quarter

How quickly time passes. It was like only yesterday we turned 2016 and now we're already in the 2nd quarter of the year. Anyways, I'm taking a break from the bench so that I can blog for a bit as I have some exciting news to share.

First off, my interview with an art and design blog from Germany just came live, so I cannot wait to share it here. I've been lucky enough to be in several interviews but never one from Germany. I'm delighted to say the least and really honored that the owner of the site, Cirsten Dieckmann, wrote to me. The site is call ArtMercato and HERE is where you can find the interview. The first part is in German but there is also the original English transcript below. Please do pay a visit if you have the time! A very interesting site indeed!

Next exciting news brings me to the online workshop that I'll be teaching at Artful Gathering Online Art Retreat. Registration opens on May 1st, so for those of you who are interested in taking art classes but cannot make it to physical venues, this summer online retreat is a great place to be. This year I will be teaching a Mixed Media Book Making class call "The Looking Glass". My class is in session ONE which will run 6 weeks from 6 June to 17 July 2016. I am so excited about this class and I cannot wait to see you all there. You can visit HERE.

Every year I try to think of something different to introduce the workshop that I'll be teaching at the Artful Gathering over summer. This year I made a short video using a technique that really excited me when I first saw it. This video was made using a simple form of Projection Mapping and I totally love how it turned out!

I will leave you with the video, I hope you like it as much as I liked making it!! Until next time ...
xo