Art Doll

This is Agatha Aqua who made her debut at the Bunkhouse Gallery Show.  She did not go to a new home but other dolls did.  Several Spirit Boxes also went to new homes!  Unfortunately, I was not present at the time and so know nothing about their new owners.  

As I write this, I feel quite crazy because I'm thinking that for me, this was the perfect show.  I received many compliments, including from artists whose work I admire, I had good sales, but still got to bring back enough of my favorite pieces.  I question my sanity because my delight in keeping them and in selling them are equally balanced.  Perhaps, this is because I now spend more time as a holistic coach than as an artist......so I have less time for art.

 

 

 

Art People

I lined up my art "people" before their journey to the Bunkhouse Gallery.  They looked so happy to be together!

Art Show!

I am honored to be invited to join a group of wonderful Texas painters for a two week-end show.  My art dolls and Spirit Boxes will be exhibited and, of course, for sale. Please come and enjoy  the hill country setting, the music, and the art!

It's All Art

Choose to decorate our life just as we do our homes.

There are few things more thrilling than having a new house or an empty room to decorate. Our imaginations soar as we consider the many possibilities. In the same way, our lives offer us the opportunity to express ourselves within various contexts, to ask ourselves questions about what we want to see as we move through our days and how we want things to flow. Some people do this instinctively, moving through the various environments they inhabit and shifting the energy with their presence. These people have a knack for decorating life. This can be as simple as the way they dress, the way they speak, or the fact that they always bring a bouquet of wildflowers when they come for a visit.

As we move through the world, we make a statement, whether we intend to or not. We shift the energy one way when we enter a room dressed elegantly and simply, and another when we show up in bright, cheerful colors and a floppy hat. One is not better than the other. It is simply a question of the mood we wish to create. What we wear is just one choice we can focus on. The way we speak to people, or touch them, shifts the energy more profoundly than almost anything else. The words we speak and the tone in which we say them are the music we choose to play in the world that is our home. Some of us fill the space with passionate arias, others with healing hymns. Again, one is not better than the other. We are all called to contribute.  Madyson Taylor

Many artists overlook that their home is also their canvas....so are all the surroundings, actually!

Staying in Passion

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up & get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part & a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you". ~ Chuck Close

I agree with Mr. Close that art flows more easily if we just keep on doing it, but for many of us that results in the same work over and over.  We all have seen others do this.  It's not for me because I have other equally pressing interests, and I lose my passion when I work on the same idea over and over. 

New ideas and new inspiration reignites passion, and the "work" creates itself as expression of that.  I am gradually coming to accept my process.

Spirit of Light

My latest work is about the lightness of being, the soaring of one's spirit, when all is well with the world and our light shines for all to see. I think you will find this Spirit Box very uplifting, certainly something we can all use.

SALE!

Here is a Win-Win!  You get my art at marked down prices.  I get space and motivation to create more.

Please go to "Buy Art Goodies".  Everything is one of a kind, and when gone....really gone!  Contact chaska@ix.netcom.com to let her know your choice. 

An Ornament Tutorial

You can make this! I have used crinkly gold paper to cover the cardboard heart, then added a cut out of St. Francis, my favorite Saint.  The heart is further embellished by parts of a Dresden star, a bird charm, a red glass heart, a red & copper glass tassel and glitter glue for outlining. The other side of my ornament is an exact duplicate of the side you are seeing.  I only wished that I had had more animal charms for this piece, as I wanted to fill St. Francis's arms!  Spray the finished work with a couple of coats of polyurethane.

Almost all the "makings" were purchased from Silver Crow Creations, my favorite online purveyor of interesting, fun dodads!.

Always

I have never been particularly drawn to angels-- perhaps, because I associated them with organized religion with which I do not have fond associations.  Recently, when I was receiving an energy healing, angels "appeared" and did some surgery on a part of my body which I had not mentioned, but with which I had had trouble for thirty years.  My rational mind wants to reject this experience, but the fact is that I have had no more trouble with this body part since. The healer knew nothing about my condition. Equally strange is that while this "surgery" was in progress, I heard a distant men's choir! 

Angels began entering my artwork.  Could be that they are making their presence known to me....could be anything.  However, this is the second Angel Spirit Box that I have been inspired to create, and a third is almost completed, as well--all within a short period of time. 

I have named this one "Always", based on my current belief that angels are with us always whether we acknowledge their presence or not.

What???

I find the most interesting images on Pinterest, a Facebook application.  I chose to share this one because I like it and because my art does make itself...almost.  The more I am in that famous "flow", the more free of conscious thought or struggle my work is.  

What's funny about this "making itself" thing is, is that I have no control.  No matter how colorful or "wild" I am feeling., my art comes out looking the way IT wants to!  I have no say-so.  And, even though I long to do large, bright and loose crazy splashes of color, or funky, gritty gray and black compositions,  I can't.  I'm just not willing to make this a forced process.  My intention is to be REAL, to be in alignment with my soul.  So, I get what I get, and I feel blessed.

Blessings of Abundance

Newly created Feng Shui altar features Kuan Yin and many ancient wealth and abundance symbols.  On the top is a large cluster of jade with a koi and elephant to attract abundance. 
Most of us could use this!  

It's a Joyful Celebration!

This colorful shrine box is whimsical and and light-hearted. Believe it or not, I was singing most of the time that I created it, and now just looking at it makes me smile.  This art piece is now offered for sale.  You provide the music.  Please e-mail me for more information.  Chaska@ix.netcom.com

SaSu's Essence

I created this box for SaSu English, a powerful spiritual healer in Austin.  She tells me I captured her essence perfectly;  therefore, the name  I wish I could as easily settle on a name for my art!   They have been called "shrines", "box shrines", "altars", "altar boxes", "prosperity boxes", and...lately...."spirit boxes".  If you, the reader of my blog, have any thoughts about this, I would so appreciate your input!

Calling Everyone in the Cleveland, Ohio Area!

I feel honored to have six of my box assemblages included in this show! 

Day of the Dead Dog

I do an annual Day of the Dead altar box, and this year I am actually early!  My incentive was wanting to include it with works I sent to a show in Lakeland, Ohio.  Although the title sounds somber, the altar is very light-hearted, just as the dogs when they were alive.  Here we are celebrating their return, with St. Francis looking on.

What is a Fair Price to Pay for Original Art?

You are buying a piece of the artist's heart.