Where was I in October?

The fall seamed to fly by.  My dearly beloved and I left the Bay Area on the last day of September and traveled through the Southwest on and epic journey.  We drove 2800 miles through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah to New Mexico and back.  All in 16 days!
We visited friends and favorite haunts in Santa Fe, hiked a little of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and saw some of the most beautiful skies and mesas imaginable.  There was searing heat, thunder, hail, rain and cold, followed by more heat.
We were blessed to see the aspens turning in the forests outside of Santa Fe. To say it was beautiful doesn't even touch the emotions I felt while hiking through a rain of golden leaves.  The wind sounded like water and the white of the aspen bark was ghostly.


And oh yes- the sky, the sky, the sky!

Here are a few of my favorite photographs...

XOXO JB

Washi Tape Special Delivery

Thanks to Kelly Kilmer and Gina (sweetsistergina blog) I have discovered the delights of Japanese Washi tape.  I ordered some from Karen in the Etsy shop Washimatta and received the most beautiful package of tape.  In the charming tradition of wrapping everything exquisitely, my package of tape arrived in beautiful style!
Take a look-

I felt like it was Chrismas.  Thanks Karen!

I have already used several colors in putting together my Song of the Sea Journal in Gina's online class.

XOXO JB

Half Full

I've been meditating on where I am in my life quite a bit lately.  After all these months of illness the fog is slowly clearing.  Is my cup half empty or half full?
Or does it go deeper, that feeling that I no longer have a cup at all.  As my dearly beloved and I like to say about Lyme Disease "every thing disappears".


When I saw the light on our barbed wire wreath it made me wonder..Is my life half full?

One thing I do know, my sense of gratitude needs a wake up call.  I have begun journaling about what I am grateful for each day.  Small or large I need to remind myself how blessed we are.


The following quote is my daily devotion-
Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild & precious life?
- Mary Oliver


XOXO JB

Watery Bracelet

A sweet little bracelet that is all about the ocean and the watery way it looks on my wrist.  I love the Peruvian opals, moonstone and pearls with silver.  I was playing with making something not so symmetrical.  
If I were a mermaid this would be in my treasure chest!

XOXO

I Need Wings

Slogging through the last few months I realised I needed wings.  Wings to lighten the load or make me laugh or just to get above the fog.

When I walked up to my studio loft this morning I was thinking... I need wings....

There on my jewelry worktable a small set of blue wings have sat for many months now.  They were purchased from the cleaver, creative Llynn Davis at another time when I needed wings.  But in all this time, I've looked them over time and time again. They've been lost and found again, still I just couldn't picture how I should use them.

This morning was different.  I HAD to make something!  So I started and imagined and wrapped silver.  Putting pieces together and taking beads away.  Ohhh..  I liked where it was going.

In the end it turned into a lovely necklace, wings and all.

Sky colored ceramic beads, clear for the rain, pearls for clouds and dark blue and shiny silver to set off the sweet mood my wings put me in.

XOXO

Song of the Sea progress

Since the online class Song of the Sea opened I have been working a little each day on my vessel.
My vessel is the journal we have been creating.  Gina is a wonderful teacher. I have been inspired to stretch and work outside of my comfort level.  I'm learning new techniques and watching the videos again and again.
We began by painting background papers on large sheets of watercolor paper.

I also chose a book to transform into my journal. I found a wonderful child's book on the sale table at Borders.  The book is called Sea Stories compiled by Cooper Edens.  He used his vintage image collection to illustrate the book.  The images are so wonderful, it has been a little difficult to rip pages out and gesso over others.  But I am keeping in mind this is my vessel and my story of the sea. Right now the cover looks like this:

But not for long.  The back cover has already been altered.  It too, will be different by the time it is finished:

The thing that is really cool about this whole romance with the sea is that over on Creative Every Day site the theme for September is water!  Right now I am all about water.  Since the beginning of the month I have walked on the beach.  Thought about the beach, stood on the cliffs in my little town by the sea and gazed out on that vast Pacific.  I've walked the studio pug through the harbor and on the sand.  My life revolves around the sea and it has for as long as I can remember.  My life by the sea has never seemed so present and blessed.

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it -

we are going back from whence we came."

-John F. Kennedy

It's back to the studio for more gesso slapping, ripping and tearing in the name of art!

XOXO

September possibilities

September has always seemed a little sad to me.  It signals the end of summer, school starting and thoughts stray toward the holidays and the end of the year.  Too much to hang on such a simple month.

The positive side of September is the sun.  This is the time of the year when the sun finally comes out from the blanket of fog we call summer in my little coastal town.  It was even hot for a few days this week.  This year it was more than seven weeks fogged in and dripping wet.  Our vegetable garden even molded this year.

September 1st I spent with my beloved son Skyler.  We spent the day in San Francisco and started at Dynamo Donuts.  Had to have the Bacon Maple donut just to get our day going.

Then we hit the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park.  Skyler is a Biology major at University of Oregon and is passionate about botany.  He shared all kinds of wonderful facts about the plants and flowers.  After a while one of the docents began to ask him questions.  That seemed so funny, but his love of plants and life was so present for everyone to see.  What could be better for a parent to see than her once child, now man growing into dreams and passions of his own.

This weekend I will be working on jewelry, my Song of the Sea journal from Gina's online class and since it is Labor Day Weekend we will be having BBQ with friends and family.
XOXO