We used to have the whole Santa collection on the sideboard in the living room. Then as you may have guessed, the collection grew and grew until it didn’t fit anymore and had to be moved to the front door entry way. Of course that meant we had to move quite a few elephant ornaments out once a year but it was all worth it.
Now suddenly I had a whole new space to play with. So the first year I decided to do just a little angel ornament display. Just a few white angels, I thought, and then that idea just went completely berserk and the next thing I knew I was in my studio, fishing out anything that was white. The display became a sort of an over-the-top, (just the way I like it) crazy, exuberant display that had angels, Buddhas, geese, geisha ornaments,white swans, white grapes and even quite a few white rabbits! All of it recycled finds for my mosaics.
It was great! Friends came over and carried on with the outrageous creation and we added gold accents, the antique gold framed mirror, white doves and even a glass tray in the background in the shape of a snowflake ( a great 25 cent garage sale find by the way ) and golden Christmas globe ornaments.
This year I decided to use all the sparkly fruit I collected at thrift stores and garage sales a few years ago when I did the entire tree in sparkly fruits. I’d spent the whole summer before collecting it all and had a whole box full of every kind of glitter encrusted fruit from grapes and apples to pomegranates. Kind of obvious I’ve got Christmas on the brain way before December eh?
Last week Will and I went out to our favourite stroll, The Gorge Walkway, and collected lots of evergreen windfall.
This was all saved in buckets in the back porch until we had time. Then yesterday, the start was made. Will created the beautiful lush and lavish wreath integrating all the fruit and evergreens. Of course I couldn’t resist putting in my two bits worth here and there.
And I created the extravagant display on the top of the sideboard. It was supposed to have candles in repurposed globes from a junk find chandelier but that just didn’t work and finally we settled on the two matching lamps shown here.
It’s a bit more traditional looking than I would usually have done, but if you look carefully you’ll see the old glove stretchers poking up on the left. To me these displays are all about a exuberant sense of Abundance. Well, you must admit both displays are definitely a feast for the eyes!
The other day I wrote about my abundant Christmas Music collection, almost all found used at garage sales and thrift stores. To me there is just no reason not to have it all when it comes to Christmas, especially when there is an abundance of everything available second hand. It’s guilt free Christmas, it’s recycled, it’s green and hey it’s fun.
Most of our ornaments and decor are recycled goodies. Every now and then I find some great things that I just can’t wait to use, something in an old fashioned box, something just a little bit different. I just loved these little ball bobbles still in their original box with the little Santa and sleigh, so small and cute.
And I had just the right little tree in mind for them! Perfect!
And then there were these wonderful drop ornaments, all in colors that I love, old and maybe collectible and definitely a bit “used”.
They fit right in with the old old ornaments from the 40’s or 50’s that were passed on to us from Will’s parents years ago.
You can just see on the left one of the ornaments that Will and I adorned with gold leaf and gold paint years ago.
But all is not used. I do make exceptions to the recycled/used rule. And, as you may have surmised, I don’t like rules much anyway. Last year I found these wonderful ornaments at a sale in January. The colors were perfect with my big orange globe ornament with the glitter circles that I found at a garage sale one summer. It all looks great on the garland (yup it’s used too).
Will took one of the green glitter balls and strung it on a curly red ribbon from our paper umbrella light shade. I like it so much I think I just might leave it there after Christmas.
Way back in April when I started this blog I wrote about abundance in a recession. And today, thinking about Christmas, my fave time of year, I’m reminded of abundance. Our Christmases are full of abundance! As I always love to say the world is an abundant place as long as you like second hand.
Just the other day I was again reminded of groups of people taking a pledge not to buy anything new for a year. And I even looked at a few web sites and blogs about it. And although I applaud the enthusiasm, I also noted how difficult they made it for themselves. No bending allowed on the pledge. And it seemed as though the pledge was abandoned after the year was up in a few cases. Everyone tired of the sacrifice, maybe?
This is just not the way we approach it. What started as way to survive tough times as students in the 60’s and to get us through other bouts of tough economic times, has now become a way of life. But it’s really not difficult for us, it’s fun and easy. I really believe that anything we do to be a little greener is helpful. So every effort counts. If we absolutely need to get something new, and after trying to find it used, well ok, buy it. No guilt. But this is so offset with all that we buy used, we feel ok with it. And anyway, part of our plan is to buy new stuff from artists and others who produce hand made and original when we can, as well.
Which brings me to Christmas. The cost of Christmas, the news is full of it, credit cards maxed, too many presents, worry over money and all that that entails. But why not resolve to have some of your Christmas recycled and reused?
So I thought as well as sharing my obviously “abundant” collection of thrift store, garage sale Santas I’d also share some of the other things we have in abundance for the season. And one of the best is music. We have a huge collection of music mostly because we still have our turntable, and our tape deck as well as a couple of used CD players. So we can buy all the good old stuff and now we’ve amassed a pretty eclectic and funky collection of Christmas music. At the top of this post is a great selection from Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole and Gene Autry, all actually a gift from our great friend Hart. Don’t you just love that Gene Autry album cover? And as I bake for Christmas I love to play the oldies from my childhood like Perry Como, Bing Crosby which we heard always for Christmas. Would you believe most of these records and tapes we bought for anywhere from 25cents to just over $2?
How much more eclectic can you get than this selection of Loreena McKennet “a Winter Garden”, “A Very Special Christmas” which has the most wonderful piece by Sting, “Gabriel’s Message”, The Masterworks Dinner Album and even Connie Francis who has “Christmas in My Heart”?
And we’ve got some odd stuff too that we’ve found over the years like “A Reggae Christmas”. Always good to listen to while baking Christmas goodies.
And then for those classical moments we’ve got Luciano Pavarotti with a boys choir with my favourite Panis Angelicus. A real treasure found at the local second hand store was Christmas in Venice, full of just gorgeous classical favourites.
We always find CD’s when we’re out garage sailing and all of our collection is used. And then there are the ones I’ve collected just for fun like “Christmas at Liberace’s”, Or the “Doris Day Christmas Album”. Then a real fave is Boney M Christmas Album with Feliz Navidad to really get dancin’. So far my all time fave CD is World Christmas which has not only the Gypsy Kings on it, and Deep Forest but also Papa Wemba and Mono Cinelu.
So what am I saying here really? Christmas can be about abundance with out spending lots of money. And boy have we got an abundance of music! And it’s all used, recycled and we’re feelin’ green too.
Last year, for my birthday, Eric gave me a Bonsai tree, a really cute little Ficus. Growing Bonsai was something entirely new for me. Everything about growing a Bonsai is quite contrary to my experience with houseplants. My aim with houseplants is to get them to grow as large as possible, have lots of leaves, and live in ever larger pots.
Bonsai, on the other hand, are meant to live in small pots, get pruned a lot and stay small. Hmm. I have problems pruning bushes and trees outside. I’ve lived most of my life in Alberta, where you stand back and cheer if things grow and you hardly ever have to, in my opinion, prune. Now here I had a plant that you actually had to not only prune stems but also roots! I have to admit that to me it seemed cruel and nasty, unnatural, sort of like foot binding. But having one of my own, has made me start to appreciate the “art of Bonsai”. That is creating the look of a large tree in a small pot, a vignette so to speak, of a larger natural beauty.
But the time came when I realized that Bonsai or not this little plant needed a bigger pot or needed to have it’s roots pruned. My way of doing anything new is to look up everything at the library. So off we went and back we came with lots of books on Bonsai, care of and growing, pruning, training, etc.
Now this poor little plant was so root bound that my method of checking to see if it was watered enough was just to pick up the plant, roots and all, out of the pot and check.
Between the three of us, Eric, Will and I, it was decided after much studying of various books, that rather than attempting to prune roots, that it would be better to move it into a larger bonsai pot. Luckily, as garage sailors, we had a little supply of recycled bonsai pots. After a bit of consideration, one was chosen.
Eric, took on the task of loosening the old dirt from the roots with a little bamboo skewer, amidst worried remarks from me admonishing him not to tear the roots or hurt the poor thing. Eventually it was ready to re-pot.
Eric also trimmed the roots from a little lower root that would become a root feature near the bottom of the trunk. Following instructions from our many books, the scissors had been sterilized with alcohol.
At the Glendale Garden Show, on one of my many jaunts around the other exhibitors, I‘d picked up a bag of Bonsai mix at a Bonsai Garden Exhibit. This was basically a mixture of bark mulch, turface (still don’t know what that is), sand, gravel, grit, vermiculite and perlite. To this I added a bit of regular bagged houseplant dirt. This was added carefully around our little plant in the new pot.
Then our little plant was watered and the new dirt gently tamped down around it. It has, for the last few weeks, resided happily in it’s new pot on the sideboard in the living room. I’m happy to report that it survived the move to the new pot very well.
New leaves are coming and only one leaf was lost. And doesn’t it look very very Japanese with it’s display of Japanese coasters, also a garage sale find, set prettily but minimally, of course, in front?
How often is it that I’ve seen something wonderful and not run for the camera to snap a shot? I’ll give myself a mental reminder to get back to that soon but then,distracted by all the stuff going on in my life, I forget. Don’t even want to estimate an answer. And I know that I can take all the mental snapshots I like but I am NOT going to remember that moment in a few years or even days, or let’s face it, even a few hours later.
Thank goodness every now and then, something just catches my eye and makes me get up and get that camera. This happened the other day as I sat reading on the couch one morning. I had the front door open and I glanced up and saw the sun streaming in on the Christmas Cactus in bloom. Now, I’d known that it was full of blooms for a few days and even had a plan to take a photo, but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. But at that moment, it was a plant suddenly aglow with each magenta flower outlined in light. It practically screamed at me to get off the couch and take a picture!
And also caught the other little starters also in bloom. Did I tell you I have a hard time throwing out cuttings and tend to pot things up till I have too many plants?
Which of course led to me noticing that I had a few more flowers in bloom around the house. The African Violets on the kitchen windowsill were also strutting their stuff.
I’d just recently changed the windowsill ornament collection from cats to dogs to set off the plants and since I already had the camera out, well, here they are. Pretty aren’t they? Such old fashioned flowers, hardly trendy, but I never care.
Today, as I post this, the Christmas Cacti are already over their bloom time. They always seem to be a more of a Remembrance Day Cacti anyway. But they sure did put on a show for us and I’m glad I caught it on “film”.
The Buddha Shrine is finally done. My little Buddha, rescued this summer from the back of a truck full of junk, now sits in splendor, cross legged, quietly contemplating the lotus flower I have bestowed upon him. Will is sure his expression is now one of serenity with just a hint of a smile. All problems have been solved, all has come to it’s inevitable conclusion, all is as it was meant to be.
Well that’s pretty well how it seems to me now, now that it’s all done. The dishes I thought I needed, I didn’t need. The dishes I had and the decisions I made now all seem right, destined even.
I suddenly came to a conclusion about the back and just filled the space with green and blue turquoise dishes. Dishes, I might add, that were in my kitchen cupboard all along. Sometimes I use dishes meant for mosaic for a while and I’d totally forgotten they were there to be used.
The color fit well with the front of the shrine and it also leant a quietness to the design. So another problem solved with no effort.
The edge was done with the little scraps of gold tile I had left and the skinny little pieces seemed to be the right design solution after all.
So yesterday, Will and I donned our rubber gloves and slathered on the grout. The grout color was somehow fittingly called Green Tea, to which I added water colored with just a bit of Phthalo green paint. I wanted the grout to be more turquoise. Oddly that didn’t work either but the color actually became an almost exact match for the Buddha’s antique finish. Another strangely perfect conclusion. I was actually quite pleased when we finally glued him in place and grouted around him, just how well the grout color fit so well with the Buddha.
So here it is, all done. Candles lit. Shown here as he is in daylight.
And then here as he is at night with the glow of the tea lights flickering on his meditation.
Now all I have to do is find a spot for him or a new home where he will be appreciated, where his serene meditation of a lotus flower in front of the tranquil green rippling pond will remind an onlooker to slow a bit and quiet their thoughts. And realize that everything has a way of flowing, just as this little shrine did, to it’s inevitable conclusion.
I started this blog with the idea of just doing a few photos of fall colors. Who can resist, right? But then, as I was getting the photos ready I just couldn’t help playing in Photoshop.
I am hopeless when it comes to color. The more color the better. I also like to play around with things. Ok, so I’m an artist, we like color and we like to play. So now I’m going to treat you to my version of Fall Color, but with a twist. First I’ll show you the regular Fall color, which is good, but then to contrast that (and yes, I did have fun with that Contrast setting in Photoshop) I’ll show you my version…..oh oh.
The first is a photo of a manhole cover that I came upon while out strolling, covered in leaves. Now, I love abstraction which is probably why I also like close-up, flat pattern shots. It has something to do with my way of seeing that I suppose has been heightened by all those years in art college. Ok first the regular color which I only slightly goosed up with the contrast setting.
Next is my high contrast shot. I love it! It takes the color to another level, the manhole is now bluish and the leaves shocking. The pattern glows.
I love an all over pattern on a flat surface and what better than leaves on pavement? Ok first the usual ….
Now the souped up color. I love how it creates an even flatter surface, accenting the shape and color.
My windmill palm after the rain, close up, face right in the leaves. The “normal” version is for me wonderful, love those lines and patterns!
But then with the contrast boosted, oh my, it takes on a whole other feeling, the pattern is the focus!
The grape arbour was a wealth of color, almost too much color in fact.
But then I played with it a bit. I wanted to create even more of a contrast and bring out the purple of the grapes and the beauty of the leaves.
Next is a mistake, I suppose. The shot naturally came out with this odd intense blue in the upper corner which I loved, of course.
So also of course, I just had to go with that intense blue. And look what happened. I love the look of it.
OK one more please…
This last one was also a mistake, the flash went off which of course flattened the whole photo. But, me, who loves flat pattern, it wasn’t so much of a mistake.
The next version is my attempt at taking that flatness even further. To me this now looks like light coming through glass, stained glass?
Ah, me, I just love Photoshop! Don’t you? Too much fun.
One of the things I enjoy doing every summer, besides working in the garden, or garage sailing is teaching mosaics. This summer was no exception. I love mosaics, especially pique assiette which is making mosaics with broken dishes and found bits and pieces. And along with that, I really enjoy getting students hooked on mosaics too. So every summer I take a few people through the journey of not knowing much about mosaic or their own innate talent, to going home, four weeks later, with a beautiful finished piece all of their own design and inspiration. Can’t have more fun than that.
Now usually, because I have a very small studio, I only teach one or two and in a pinch, three students at a time. At the end of the summer, when everyone is now curious about what other students have done, I usually have a party/show of work. But this year it was not to be. I got hit with a flu bug at the end of the summer and along with that and other reasons the party just didn’t happen. So instead I’ve decided to post everyone’s work on the blog today. Sort of a mini show. The party would have been more fun, with lots of cookies and iced tea, but hopefully this will be ok too. There will be a couple of students that won’t be included this time, because they haven’t been able to finish their pieces yet. But for now I’d like to present my Summer of 2009 students.
Rahni is, like us, a real recycler.
Rahni with her inspired piece
Her piece has as it’s base part of an abandoned table that she found. She loved the color of the wood which was weathered and gray and quite wonderful. Now the only rule I have is that when we shop in the first class, the Shopping Class, everyone’s favourite, that you can only buy dishes you actually like. And in no time Rahni had found dishes that were absolutely perfect with her weathered table.
Rahni’s table mosaic
From there, with her very strong sense of color and style, it was a wonderful journey for her to the finished piece, a striking and beautiful cityscape made completely from broken dishes.
Everyone who takes my class is encouraged to create their own project. Sometimes, it’s not clear what to make till the shopping class, when suddenly the dishes you find and the objects that you want to mosaic all come together. So it was for my next students, close friends, Jane and Lisa who were a hoot to work with.
Lisa
These two had me laughing constantly. Jane found the perfect mirror frame and Lisa a pot. Both worked in an entirely different manner.
Lisa’s finished piece
Lisa, who had done quilting, zoomed through the dish breaking and worked intuitively, creating a lovely “crazy quilt” of texture and color on her pot.
Jane’s mirror frame completed
Jane, on the other hand, worked in a more deliberate manner and carefully, cutting the dishes into quite small pieces, created a beautiful watery flow of color diagonally across the frame. Their different ways of working were a constant source of fun to them. And you must admit the pot and mirror frame are gorgeous!
Jude came to my class excited that she was finally going to do mosaic. She’d been inspired by a trip to Italy and maybe that was why I found that the dishes she chose just had a bit of a Tuscanny feel to them.
Jude working on her mirror
Together we came up with the Fan design as the base for her mosaic. One little problem was in finishing the corner where all the pattern converges. But serendipitously, she found a little brass fan that just finished that corner perfectly! The result was this almost antique looking piece, striking with it’s blend of earthy tones.
Jude’s finished fan mirror
Now, hopefully, Jude, who I think is going to continue with this new art form, has created a new place to work. I don’t think her husband is going to allow her to keep using his pool table as a work area…
My last three students, were Susan, who’d done a bit of mosaic back in Australia, and her friend Kathryn who had brought along her mom Glenna, both new to mosaic.
Susan, Glenna and Kathryn in the studio
I always encourage everyone to decide on their own project. Susan had sort of decided on a mirror, Kathryn wasn’t sure and Glenna kind of liked the idea of an umbrella stand. Off we went shopping at the Thrift store that evening and Glenna actually found an umbrella stand! Now that was lucky! Kathryn decided to use a pot she found with just the right shape.
Some students need more help, encouragement and direction than others. Susan, was not one of those. She preferred to quietly work on her own.
Susan with her finished mirror
And delightfully came up with a wonderfully flowing design composed of oriental dishes. Quite fabulous.
Kathryn got right into breaking dishes and soon got the knack of intuitively placing all the different designs to create a great overall texture and pattern. She loved the suggestion of creating a new effect around the top of the pot with linear lines from plate edges.
Kathryn’s pot before the grout
The pot was transformed into something quite beautiful!
Glenna had the biggest project and thank goodness was a hard worker. She had been so sure that it would be a complete disaster that I even worried a bit that she would give up before it was done. But in the end, with just a bit of direction and some renewed faith in her choice of color and pattern, the stand was a complete success.
Glenna’s umbrella stand before grouting
A beautiful mixture of greens and blues and yellows that totally transformed the stand into a work of art.
The finished, grouted mosaics! Pretty wonderful eh?
At the end of the last class, we all sat back and surveyed their finished and grouted mosaics from the couch. All had to agree that they had done a wonderful job!
All in all, the summer was a success, I think, for everyone. Everyone had fun. Each had a wonderful piece to add to their homes and for sure, as they all told me, none would ever look at a dish or plate the same way again. From now one they would all look at a dish and wonder how it would look…..broken.
What is it about this little shrine that makes me think that it is becoming a string of problems, one thing after another? Why does it seem like every dish I planned to use on it is either wrong or I don’t have enough of it? Decisions I make and try out, turn out to look all wrong. Frustration is becoming a constant visitor.
Oh, of course, here’s me trying to be as serene as the Buddha, but I can’t. No, it’s not going to happen. No serenity here today. Ok, Helen, Breathe.
I started on the back of the shrine the other day. I thought OK this lovely little plate and this lovely little edge will be perfect. And that part of it is. I’m happy, I’m serene, even, with that. But then I needed to fill in the space. First I just was going to do a mixture of turquoise, bright green (the same plate as the lily leaves on the front) and yellow. This would be picking up the colors in the pattern on the central area. Then I got the bright idea of having a starburst in yellow and then filling in the spaces with greens.
Well, after spending almost a whole afternoon at it and then looking at it again the next day, I decided it didn’t work. Too bright, too whatever, at any rate, I removed it.
Since then I’ve been checking out thrift store dishes every chance I get and nothing, nada, I haven’t found anything that is just right….yet.
Ok never mind, I said to myself. Work on the front.
First, I needed to make a little stand for the teacup that I plan to use for a tea light holder. Will, thank goodness, found the perfect solution, a little piece of dowel, now covered in gold tile.
As you know, I’ve been looking for more of that lovely dark green malachite looking plate. Again, no luck. I used almost every little scrap of the dark green plate to finish the pond. I wanted to rim the pond with it too. So, ever the problem solver, I decided to go with using my tiny cache of gold tiles to rim the pond.
Each little piece of gold had to be cut from an inch square tile, and individually glued on. At last, something that just required some time doing tedious, repetitious work. Strangely, this became an exercise in becoming calm, focusing and patiently working.
Last night, after I glued on the last tiny little bit, I stood back and enjoyed the almost finished front.
But then today, out on my walk, I quickly nipped into the thrift store across the street, looking for the perfect plates to finish the back. Again, no success. OK Helen, Breathe, Relax and Know that you will find the perfect plates yet. They are just still on their way. Be Serene.
One day this summer, on a whim, Will suddenly built this driftwood chair. It’s not exactly sit-able so I think of it as being more of a sculpture. I’ve put off posting it because he keeps adding to it. But for now, it appears to be done… at least until he finds something new for embellishment.
The seat creates a nice spot for my little dish of Hen and Chicks.
Right now we are trying to decide if his latest embellishment, a spiral hanger attached to the back, should be painted something colorful. I’d like that since it would relate to the mosaic chimney in the herb garden.
More color, I always say.
We have these bits of found art all over our garden that, to us, add a great sense of whimsy to the place.
We found the old basin at a demo site years ago, and it’s nicely weathered. It’s a great place to grow succulents and we love it. So do the succulents.
One day, while out walking, Will found this rock tangled up in a piece of rusty wire and it hung on the wall for a long time before we found the perfect circle of rusty wire from an old pot, to pull the whole thing together.
The chime came together last year, oddly enough just before our wedding anniversary. The silver goblet found that day at a garage sale, where else, celebrated some other couples long ago anniversary.
Will put the whole thing together that day as a special gift for me. Friends and relatives have loved it too and he’s made quite a few now from bits and pieces. Seems we’re always looking for good old silverware for another one.
Some of these serendipitous sculptures never really get finished. Will just keeps adding to them.
I like to call this one his bird playground and one day he added this rusty colander to it. Just the right addition.
