Day 106 ~ We are all works of art

Day 105 ~ Shutterbug

For the past few days I have been walking around my house collecting as many items as I possibly can for The Betty Chin Sale. Betty Chin is this amazing local Mother Teresa/Angel who feeds the homeless. I’ve been feeling the need to really simplify for awhile now, so I have been putting items into the sale box that I never thought I would part with. It’s a very good good thing, but also somewhat bittersweet, because I have decided to donate my father’s camera. He was a great photographer of nature. I have switched to all-digital now, and I’ve just been hanging onto his camera out of nostalgia. I’d rather see it go to help someone than sit in my closet not being used. (My dad would have agreed) As I was taking out the last roll, the film got caught and I had to open the camera and expose it. That’s what I used to make today’s butterfly. I know it's not beautiful, but it got me thinking in new and inventive ways, and that's what matters.

Not to worry, the roll I used wasn’t the last roll of film that my dad shot! I found that one not long after he died. We talked a couple of times a month, and he was always telling me about the peleated woodpecker on his property. He was very excited about this woodpecker, because it was formally thought to be extinct. He kept saying he’d send me pictures, and he never did get around to it. But when I took out that last roll of film, there they were: about a dozen shots of the peleated woodpecker!

*If you live in Humboldt County and would like to attend the sale or donate items, here's the info page: http://www.facebook.com/betty.chin#!/notes/betty-chinn/bettys-garage-sale-fundraiser-saturday-april-2/211241365554843

Day 104 ~ Sticks and Stones

What do you do when someone you love knocks you totally off-balance with words that feel like hard slaps? You know, the kind of words that leave you feeling blue, like there’s something wrong with you?

What do you do?

How do you get through?

There was a time not so long ago when a situation like this would have had me running for a big old bottle of red wine. Last night I wrestled with that temptation big time. It’s been 6 weeks, and I really miss it. I pray a lot to get through one more day. I paint in bright colors to cheer me up, and say kind words to myself to ease the pain. This rock is a reminder that no matter what anyone else thinks of me: I Love Me! (If it makes me seem weird, so be it. I’m not here to win any popularity contests!)

It's tough and somewhat scary to admit these things...

We are all tender, fragile, and so easily hurt. Sometimes we hold onto those hurts for years and years. I prefer to let them float away on a river of my tears. My heart has been broken dozens of times, and each time, it just keeps getting bigger and wiser.

But first, my heart must heal yet again….

Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words can break my heart.

Day 102 & 103 ~ Tea for Two

Everyday for the past 10 years I have been putting my vitamins into a Chinese tea cup. Today, for the first time, I noticed that the tea cup has these beautiful butterflies on it. I thought I would create my own versions of them here.

Day 101 ~ Billieboy

This is my cousin Ursula's cat, Billieboy. I like turning him into art for her birthday, which is coming up in April, along with Aunt Claire's. But since they live in Germany and all, I have to mail out their gifts early. I'm mailing them their butterflies for gifts, which means light postage! Yay!

Day 100 ~ Aunt Claire

It seemed fitting to have my Aunt Claire represent my 100th butterfly for this project, since she's nearly 100 years old! She is the mother of Ursula (butterfly #99) and lives in Germany. But she used to live in Adrian, Michigan and was married to my dad's older brother, Ruskin. When I was growing up, we spent holidays with them. I think of all of our relatives, my dad felt most comfortable with them. He could be his eccentric self around them, and be accepted as unique instead of weird. He liked to do things the old way: making maple syrup from maple sap, making soap, growing heirloom veggies, etc. Back then, everyone thought he was quite an odd bird. (even me, I must admit!) But now I find myself trying many of his hobbies, like canning and making wine.
It's hard to believe that my Uncle Ruskin died almost 20 years ago. Aunt Claire moved back to Germany, and I haven't seen her since. I still remember her voice perfectly tho. It's funny, the details we remember about a person.
I know her outfit doesn't match, but I went with it anyway. I copied one of my dad's wool scarves to make her slacks. It's not our family plaid, but I hope it will make her happy. My dad loved his plaid wool scarves, so I hope it will bring her back happy memories of him, as it did for me too!

Day 99 ~ Ursula

This is my cousin Ursula, who lives in Germany. We rediscovered each other a few years ago after my dad died, and I am so grateful to have her in my life! She's a wonderful pen pal and sends letters, photos and lots of great art. We share a love and appreciation of art. I used a print by Ursula to create her butterfly wings.

Day 98 ~ Crafty Chica

I just had the distinct pleasure of working the dashboard for a class taught by Marney Makridakis of Artellaland and Kathy Cano-Murillo, a.k.a The Crafty Chica.
It was a wonderful class about putting more love into everything you do in life. If you would like to receive a recording of the class, you can sign up here:
http://www.artellaland.com/ARTbundance-Class-Wonder.html
Check out The Crafty Chica's website for her latest novel that's getting rave reviews:

Day 97 ~ R. Crumb

I am reading the very thick and interesting "R. Crumb Handbook," all about America's favorite underground cartoonist: Robert Crumb. I have always loved his style of drawing, so I thought I would try my hand at drawing him. He's also a blues man, and has a band called "Crumb and his Cheap Suit Serenaders." Here's an awesome video I found of Crumb and his band live. The slides are all drawings by Crumb of his favorite blues men and bands he is into. Check it out here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAdb8pCfk7s

Day 96 ~ Lil' Basket of Joy!

This is my friend Vanessa's lil' basket of joy! Aint she cute?
Speaking of joy, girls and butterflies, check out this amazing new program Vanessa has created here.
I'm so proud of her!

Day 95 ~ Spring!

I made this butterfly for the first day of Spring. It was inspired by Botticelli's "Primavera." Spring has always been my favorite season: the season of new life!

Day 94 ~ Sonya's Baby Gift

I made this really cool 8-pronged mobile for my BFF Sonya to hang over the bed of her soon-to-be 5th child. I used all of the butterflies I made of Sonya's family, plus one of me: the proud and blessed Auntie M!
Please say a prayer for Sonya and the baby. They had to admit Sonya to the hospital yesterday because the baby wasn't very active. This has been a very difficult pregnancy, but I have faith that this one will be as healthy and bright as his 4 beautiful siblings!

Day 93 ~ Velvet Border

I found these little canvasses with velvet borders at Michael's for $2.00 each, so I got several. This was the first one I painted.

Day 92 ~ Riverdance Rob

Today's butterfly is a collaboration between me and my good friend Bill Charlebois, who is an awesome digital artist, writer, and all-around Renaissance Man. You can see his cool creations here: http://wjcsdigitalworld.blogspot.com/
Bill created this image of our groovy Irish friend, Rob. It seemed so fitting to have him here for St.Patty's Day! Rob is a dancer, so I gave him moving legs for dancing jigs. Since his arms don't move, he reminded me of a Riverdancer, hence the name! I actuality though, he is a very vibrant dancer who moves his arms and all parts of his body. See him dance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIaxJgyQXgc
Enjoy this silly little dancing video I made of Rob, and have yourselves a safe and celebratory St.Patty's Day!

Day 91 ~ Hey Jack Kerouac

Tonight I listened to my favorite radio show: The Jazz Underground on KHUM.com (Tues. nights between 7 and 9 PM.) The DJ is the ultra cool Ryan Lee, who happens to be re-reading "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac, one of my favorite books. In fact, Jack Kerouac is one of my favorite humans, even though he's only here in spirit now. Tonight Ryan Lee played an hour of Kerouac-inspired jazz that I got lost in as I created this butterfly.
I discovered this awesome movie called "One Fast Move Or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur." I liked it so much that I purchased a copy. There's this clever little secret pocket built into the dvd case, and I noticed a piece of paper sticking out. It turned out to be a copy of a letter written by Jack Kerouac in 1961 when he was riding on the California Zephyr train from Lowell, Mass. out to San Fransisco. I copied the letter and used it for the wings.

Day 90 ~ Greetings!

Day 89 ~ Illuminated

I made this cool shadow box-type thing with parchment paper, a box and a candle. As you can see by the faint brown spot towards the top, it almost started on fire! So I will have to get some of those flame-free candles at the dollar store for this instead. Otherwise tho, I love the way that it turned out!

Day 88 ~ Matisse Mate

I decided that my female Matisse needed a mate offering her a star that he pulled down from the sky as a gift of love.

Day 87 ~ Matisse

I have been studying Matisse and learning so much! In the past I discounted him as overly simplistic, but I have a whole new opinion of him now. His daring use of bold primary colors, shapes and patterns revolutionized contemporary art. When Matisse was in his 80's he became very ill with cancer. While he was confined to his bed, he came up with a whole new art form: colorful paper cutouts which he would expertly shear from big pieces of brightly painted paper. I love that he kept creating right up until the very end of his life! His final project was a beautiful chapel which he designed for a nun who helped him while he was ill. I was so inspired when I saw the chapel, and I intend to visit it one day. Here's a video so you can see what I mean:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk0x0nFLH_U
I tried my hand at Matisse-style paper cutouts for today's butterfly.

Day 86 ~ Tsunami of Love

I started making these little encouraging angel dolls as a fund raising effort for Haiti relief last year. They are hand-stitched and stuffed with lots of love. If you would like one for yourself or someone dear to you, please drop me an email at artlovin1@suddenlink.net. For $30.00 (which includes US postage) I will send you an encouraging angel in the colors of your choosing, and half of all sales will go to the Red Cross Japan Tsunami Relief.
I also set up a fund raising page here
I titled this Tsunami of Love because, like the butterfly who flaps its wing and starts a tidal wave, the smallest effort of love can quickly gather with others and become a powerful force for good. We are all connected by the small acts of love we freely give, whether it be financial or just a simple kind thought. That's the kind of love I want to share with the world.

Day 85 ~ Kandinsky

The cool thing about this butterfly projects is that it's making me want to learn more about the artists I admire. I have been studying the art of Kandinsky. I love his childlike use of color and shapes. I'm inspired by this quote by Kandinsky: "The artist must train not only his eye but also his soul." I train my artist's soul by nourishing it with a wide variety of creative delights, colors and sensual stimuli. When it thrives, I thrive.

Day 84 ~ Mardi Gras

Happy Mardi Gras everybody! Let the good times roll! Laissez les bons temps rouler!
I listened to jazz and wished for mint juleps while creating this butterfly, and teetotal toasted my favorite city N'awlins!

Day 83 ~ Vision

I was in a wonderful class tonight taught by Marney Makridakis of Artellaland. The class was about the principal of vision. I was inspired to create this butterfly by a Thoreau quote that Marney shared: "The question is not what you look at, but what you see."

Day 82 ~ Origami Butterfly Mobile

Here it is all put together! I used chopsticks for the wood. The chopstick wrapper had the words for happiness, health, longevity and peace, so I cut out the words and strung them down the center. I love the way it turned out.

Day 81 ~ Origami Awesomeness!

This is the last origami piece before I put them all together into a mobile tomorrow. This one was even more complicated. Making these really did a lot for my creative confidence! Once you learn how, it's almost meditative. I can see why they teach this to kids in Japan, because it's very calming and soothing, as well as satisfying when you do one correctly.

Day 80 ~ Origami Four

For this one I was searching through my supplies for paper that had that Oriental look to it. The only thing I could find was card stock. I decided to try and see if I could still make origami with it, or if the paper would be too thick. It was a little harder to fold, but still turned out fine. I like doing little creative experiments like this.

Day 79 ~ Origami Three

This origami butterfly is slightly more difficult. That is what I love about learning something that I thought I couldn't learn. Soon I am looking for more challenging variations. That is one of the places where the seeds of ideas begin to sprout.
The paper I used is made from a cool camouflage creation by my friend Goody. Check it out:

Day 78 ~ Origami Two

For this origami butterfly, I used a copy of an abstract painting that my friend Kimmie created. The copy turned out pixelated because I was running out of ink. I thought I would try using it for origami, and I think it turned out pretty cool looking! I love it when you can take a mistake and turn it into a work-of-art. Don't you?
This is Kimmie's painting. Don't you just love it?

Day 77 ~ Origami One

I know I haven't posted a butterfly in several days. I've been in a funk and haven't felt inspired. It's been a productive funk though, because I am thrilled to say that I finally learned to do some origami! Many people have tried to teach it to me over the years, but like the rules of chess and euchre, it just never stuck in my brain. I got to a point where I thought I couldn't do it! I thought my brain wasn't wired to understand origami or something... So I decided I was not going to let origami get the best of me, and I sifted through many frustrating Youtube videos to learn how. Believe it or not, it ended up being a Japanese video that taught me! He made it so easy that I was able to make one after watching it once! So here is my first attempt. And here is the video that taught me how: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRAKSE7sJw0
My intention is to catch up today by making a bunch of origami butterflies, and then turn them into a mobile tomorrow!

Day 76 ~ Sweet Kimmie Blue Eyes

Today's butterfly was inspired by a small piece of blue velvet that I found in my sewing basket. It reminded me of my friend Kimmie, who has the prettiest blue eyes. When I held the velvet up to her photo, it matched perfectly. (see what I mean?)
Kimmie loves abstract art. Last year she sent me a beautiful abstract painting that she created. So I studied it and put on some jazz and made one of my own. (One of my favorite things to do) Then I used my painting to make her wings. I called the painting "Everything is Coming up Rosy."
I hope she likes it!