geraldine newfry

beauty in nature

i can not believe what a gorgeous day it is here in chicago!  my mac tells me it's going to be nice all week.  thanks mac!

the theme for november 4 nanojoumo was beauty.

sorry about the shadow.  it seemed like a good idea to photograph it in the sun.  you can barely see, but i stenciled dots all over the page.  i used stencil creme and a foam brush.  not nearly as satisfying as spray paint.  i might be able to get in some more spray paint this week if the wind stays calm.

this spring we bought a beautiful little bush.  it's called an itea.  we had this hideously ugly pine tree bush that wasn't too awfully hard to remove.  the thing i like best about the itea is so far it looks beautiful in every season.  here it is when we planted it.  it's covered in sweet little flowers.  in the summer it was green and it's height complimented the other plants.

this is what it looks like now.

i love the colors.

i have some catching up to do for nanojoumo.  solitude, felicity and compassion.  but i did work in my journal nonetheless.  i needed some black gesso in there.  i'm finding it's hard for me to complete a journal page in one day.  they seem to turn out too simple.  but it's good practice to go down to the studio at the same time every day.

off to the studio now.  taking a walk when the bears game is over.  i'll be bringing my phone for the camera, even though i have yet to figure out how to get the pictures from the camera to the mac.  i'll have to explore the verizon site a little bit.

have a great day!  i hope it's beautiful by you too.

inspire journal page and seed stitch clutch

the nanojoumo journal prompt for november 3 was inspire.  i thought of a lot of different people, and different artists, but settled on buddha.  the way he lived his enlightened life is an inspiration to me.  i have to continually remind myself to be more compassionate, kind, centered ....  to just be in the moment.

i'm sad it's not showing up, but the rectangular strip above the dalai lama's image was from a parking receipt.  it included the date and time.  poo.  you'll have to use your imagination.

i wanted to share some other work besides the nanojoumo pages.  this is a seed stitch clutch (rav link) that i made for my friend's birthday...which was in april!  i think i did the knitting in march.  plenty of time, right?  but then came the parts i didn't know how to do: crochet, line the bag and add a zipper.  the pattern pictures included a lined bag, so i was disappointed when the pattern merely said something like "so you can line it and add a zipper if you want."  the whole process intimidated me.  i set it aside for a long while.

my friend was planning on moving away from chicago.  i was determined that the bag should go with her.  so one day i just finally decided to get serious.  i looked at a lot of websites, read the happy hooker, looked at more websites and just got to work.  i made a lot of mistakes, and i would probably do it differently were i to do it again.  but i accomplished it!  i was able to give her the bag at her going away party.  only 6 months late (i've never been that late before).

 

here we are together for the last time.  francine and gerri.

celine's inspiration tuesday

i just came across celine navarro's posts called "inspiration tuesday." scrapbooking isn't usually my thing, but reading between the lines i got tons of ideas for journaling.  and supplies!  i haven't been in a scrapbook store in ages, but celine made me want to go.  oh the paper!  the chipboard embellishments that could also be used with spray paint!!  the fun stickers!  perfect for my style of journaling.

see for yourself.  here.

ipca retreat, the work of ponsawan silapiruti

i had the pleasure of meeting ponsawan silapiruti at the ipca retreat.  she had lovely mosaics for display.

each tile was made with a different polymer clay cane.  such work!  but beautiful results.

 

this was ponsawan's first retreat.  and a big step for her to spend some time creating for herself.  her daughter was hit by a drunk driver last year and sustained a traumatic brain injury.  ponsawan writes about her daughter's progress here.  and you can see her write up about the retreat here.

ipca retreat, the work of debbie jackson

debbie jackson is the author of polymer clay jewelry.  She was also one of the attendees at the ipca retreat.

i really like some of the cane work in the pieces she had on display.  my pictures aren't the best here because i had to use the flash.  but i think you'll get a sense of what i mean.

 

 

 

the canes have a more organic feel than i usually see with swirls and bulls eyes.  and i like the monochromatic nature of the pieces.

here are some pictures from debbie's website.  they demonstrate more of the ethnic nature of her jewelry, as described in her bio:

"Her work has an 'ethnic energy' that shows when using cowrie shells, feathers, African brass and glass beads, Japanese papers, fabrics and cord."

 

i really like these cane elements too.  the grouping is called "mud cloth trio."

there was a lot of inspiration at the retreat!

ipca retreat, the work of leslie blackford

at the retreat, i was absolutely blown away by the work of leslie blackford.  you must visit her deviant art gallery.  you will be blown away as well.  she has a website too, but it looks like it's under construction at the moment.

i took some shots of her work space.

 

 

isn't her work amazing?  here's a gem from her deviant art.  "can't see forest 4 the trees."

 

i had bookmarked this as a favorite inspiration piece, and had completely forgotten about it until i saw it on the deviant art site.  now i wish i had told leslie how much i had liked her work even before i met her at the retreat.