Two-year anniversary!
I've read these words on other blogs, but never thought I'd reach that point myself. What a delightful journey it's been! New friends, new inspirations and new challenges... I love it, am blessed by it, and thank everyone who has visited and generously commented on my posts!
How to clelebrate? Why not share a list of my most popular posts? OK... let's go! Of these twenty, the all time most popular post was
Glorious, Glorious Green Glass Beads. If these posts are of interest to you, scan through the titles below and click on a couple of appealing ones, or go
here to see them all.
June 30, 06
Confessions of a chocolate addict
July 2, 06
Bead embroidery in hand-made book ~ Wedding gift!
July 21, 06
D is for Dad
August 9, 06
What is Truth in Art?
August 15, 06
Yellow
August 30, 06
Totem animals (rabbits) | 
September 1, 06
Totem animals (tigers)
September 8, 06
Rabbits & bead embroidery
September 20, 06
B is for Beads
October 5, 06
5 wierd things about me
November 5, 06
Memory dolls - All about Dad
January 17, 07
Glorious, glorious green glass beads!
March 10, 07
Have you ever seen a bead quilt?
June 3, 07
Finger weaving - New work & tips
July 8, 07
Bead Journal Project ~ my June page
September 15, 07
Ripping out
October 9, 07
Beading for change ~ BJP August's page
November 14, 07
Improvisational bead embroidery ~ October BJP
February 1, 08
Bead embroidery ~ January BJP finished
April 2, 08
Symbols revealed
Writing this post brings back a lot of memories for me. Blogging and all of you, dear cyber friends, are a blessing. Thank you for being here with me!
 I wish you all could see this work in person! It's a testament to the value of those iddy-biddy size 15 and smaller seed beads, and to the detail you can achieve with them. (You can see more detail if you click the pictures to enlarge them!) The artist here is Janet Dann, a beady friend who used to live on Orcas Island (next "door" to me, as in just a 30 minute ferry boat ride away from San Juan Island where I live). When we met (10 years ago), Janet was making jewelry with beads. But when she saw some of my bead embroidery, she immediately got hooked on stitching. Now Janet and her husband are retired. They travel the USA in a motor home. While not out exploring, Janet beads. She still makes very beautiful jewelry, but the thing that makes my heart go thumpity-thump is her bead embroidery, especially her beaded bags. Let's put it quite simply... I WANT her to make one for ME!!!!! Also her work inspires me to try beading more realistically. Who knows, you may see some very different work in my 2008 BJP pages. Technical info: Janet uses inexpensive suede or velvet-like fabric backed by interleaving paper and nymo thread. She designs on paper using library books and the Internet for reference. When she's ready to bead, she taps into her ever-growing stash of the smallest seed beads. Sometimes, as in the bag below, the design grows somewhat improvisationally. In this case she has not yet planned the center of the design.  This will be the flap on an Animal Spirit/Medicine Bag made as a commission piece. She designed each of the animals to be surrounded by things the animal might enjoy in its natural environment.  The grizzly bear has its delicious berries.  The grey wolf has trees, a full moon and shares mountain lupin with the bear.  The mustang has a pasture of green grass, wildflowers and a tree for shade.  The orca whales have the aurora borealis in the northern sky. Janet has taught herself by trial and error how to make the bags (with lining and pockets inside) and to weave the straps using kumihimo.   Here is a purse she made at her Mom's request featuring a traditional Celtic boar design.  Here is a detail picture of the bag shown at the top of this post, made for her Mom. Janet welcomes commissions and works with her customers to personalize the designs, imbuing them with symbolic meaning, healing stones and spiritual energy. Her rates, in my opinion, are very reasonable. If you want contact information for Janet, lemme know.
 Bunny S. is a 2007 BJP member who lives in Bellingham, WA. She and two of her beady buddies have been doing the BJP all along. However, they aren't much into digital (except for cell phones)... no blogs, websites, flickr or even much into emails. A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of beading with them for a couple of days (a delicious retreat!) and took some pictures of their work. Since nobody in the BJP has seen it, I thought I'd show some of it here. (I'll show Tracy's work in the next post.) Sorry, I don't really know the stories or name that go with each piece. Yet, I think you can catch the drift pretty well! I hope Bunny will finish and eventually get her work in the BJP Member Gallery, as it's really wonderful... I love the mix of fabric, fibers, textures, thread embroidery, bead embroidery and mixed media. Note that some of them are works in progress... To my eyes, she really nailed the concept of "visual journaling." Don't you think? I'll let Bunny know I've posted these pictures, so she can check the comments and possibly even respond. Here's her work.... and I think it's all clickable!      
 April's BJP (detail above) began as March. I don't know what happened to March... It flew by so quickly and I seemed always to have a staggering "to do list" sitting on my shoulders. So, when April rolled around, I'd only put a few beads on my fabric. Although that dratted "to do list" is still a weight to be reckoned with, I've managed to carve out some time to bead this month. Gradually, the piece took shape. However, it didn't want to be March anymore. Nope, over and over it announced itself as New Beginnings, as April! Three days ago, Tuesday, our weather took a nice little turn from being chilly, nasty, windy, rain-hail-sleet-snow to being mild and somewhat sunny. My husband and I, on a rather spur of the moment lark, decided to take the ferry to the mainland (sometimes we call it going to America) to see the Tulip Festival in nearby Skagit Valley (1.5 hours north of Seattle). You can see some of Robert's tulip pictures from previoius festivals here. Once we got off our island, the weather didn't look quite so wonderful. Plus there was a chilly wind. I didn't really feel like taking tulip pictures (see one of the few I took at the end of this post). Fortunately, I brought my beads and found a sheltered table to work. Voila! Thanks to having that chunk of time, April is finished...  This one was totally improvisational... no theme, no plan, no pre-concieved concept at all. Now that it's finished, it seems to be all about rebirth, spring, a gentle movement toward something new... definitely transitions. What about my life is in transition? I don't know just yet. The bud is not open, yet I feel a wonderful sense of New Beginnings!  NEW BOOK UPDATE...My new book, Heart to Hands Bead Embroidery, is on its way to me! It is shipping out from the printer today. I feel like I imagine an expecting mother might feel as she's wheeled into the delivery room. Will it look OK? Will the cover flaps be folded correctly? Will people want to buy it? Will the color printing process handle all the color photos satisfactorily? Will I "get along with it?" There's really quite a lot of angst along with the excitment and pleasurable anticipation... more than with previous books, probably because this one really has my heart and soul in it... it IS my baby. To those of you who pre-ordered, thank you so much... your orders have kept me from tearing out my hair during this waiting time and helped to raise my positive expectations. The good news is... I should be packing orders and getting them out next week!
If you haven't already read this post, you may want to do that first so you can draw and rank these symbols before I reveal the meaning. Otherwise, read on...  CIRCLE The circle represents wholeness and completion.  CROSSThe cross represents relationships. In addition to relationships with other people, it may also represent relationships with animals, your work, your concept of a higher power, nature, etc.  SPIRALThe spiral represents change and growth.  SQUAREThe square represents stability and security.  TRIANGLEThe triangle represents goals, dreams and ideals. The rank you gave each of these shapes speaks to the importance and significance of the symbolic reference in your life at this time. As you will see, it’s not exactly what you might guess. #1The number 1-ranked attribute is your most conscious area of concern at this time in your life. It is the area to which you are paying full attention. Your awareness of this area is expansive and uncluttered. #2You are also consciously working, or you worked in the past, on this area. The work you are doing or have done in this area is related to and directly supports the work you need/want to do in your number 1-ranked area. #3The number 3-ranked attribute is the core of your unconscious attention. You are very absorbed in this area, but your efforts here are largely unconscious. Look for this area in your dreams. #4The number 4-ranked area supports the work of your unconscious attention (your number 3-ranked attribute). It may involve past challenges and tests or current issues. In either case, this area motivates and supports your current unconscious process. #5There are two interpretations for the number 5-ranked attribute. Either it is the area that interests you the least (possibly because it doesn’t apply to your life or you’ve already dealt with it) or it is something you are avoiding because you don’t want to deal with it. Examine your position regarding this area by asking “Is there something I might be afraid of here?” PAINTINGAs I mentioned in the previous post, my counselor used this exercise to open my awareness of what is important to me and how I might be dealing with the concerns I was facing at the time. It helped. It moved the therapeutic process along nicely. She also suggested that I “play” with the concepts on my own time. So one day I made a bunch of paintings. I just tucked the shapes in the back of my mind and painted improvisationally. Below is one of the paintings I did that day.  It’s quite interesting to me that the triangle, although I ranked it third, appears frequently and in several forms in this painting. Along the top and bottom, the triangle encloses circles and spirals, my two areas of conscious attention. In addition the triangle appears… upside down!... in almost every one of my Bead Journal Project pieces. I need to give this some thought… Why would my subconscious attention to goals and dreams be upside down? I don’t know the answer. I sure hope my unconscious is working on it.  In my June BJP piece, I used all 5 symbols. I made the "patchwork" square first. It reminded me of the symbols, so I decided to add them all. The "string" connecting them was an improvisational addition. I like seeing them connected, as in all aspects of my life, each of them important at one time or another. Made me appreciate the square more, which was my #5 ranked shape.
I’ve been thinking about Morwyn’s February BJP piece, called Imbolc/The Quickening Moon. She wrote this about the triangle shape in the center of her piece: I have an emotional reaction to triangles. Something about a good solid base tapering up in a symbolic reach to the heavens. Aspirations, I suppose. Her beadwork and her words made me recall a rather special appointment with a psychologist a while back. (I had about 10 appointments to work on my relationship with my husband and my changing career.) On this particular day, she brought out a large sheet of drawing paper and some thick markers. She asked me to draw the following shapes: square
triangle
cross (like a + sign or an x)
circle
spiral She asked me to pick the shape that seemed the most compelling to me at that moment and to write the number 1 under it. Then she asked me to pick the second most compelling and to write the number 2 under it. Then I picked the third, fourth and finally the least compelling shape, writing the number under each. Then she interpreted not only the meaning of each shape, but also the position it held, the rank I had assigned to each. She spoke of this test as the culmination of years of research into archetypal symbols and their psychological associations in our culture. It was fascinating! Want to try it?If so, draw and rank the figures. When you finish, check back here (where I have posted about the meanings) so you can interpret your own response. I've also posted a picture of a painting I did in exploration of the concepts (small detail from it shown above).
Here's the cover of my new book!  It will be sent to the printer March 22! (Finally!) It should be available to ship to you by May 1st, possibly a few days earlier. All the information and printable pre-order form are on my website, or you can follow the specific links below. Click here for more information about the book. Click here to see a few pictures from the book. Click here to find a printable pre-order form. Yes, of course, I'll autograph all pre-ordered books! If you're a participant in the BJP, please make note of it on your order form. Thanks sooooooooooo much for your support and encouragement along the way. You've been fabulous helpers, angels really!
Oh my goodness, this one was sooooooo much fun!
 Valentine for Little Robin
My very first thought, as I went to my fabric stash to pick out fabrics for my February BJP, was "It's going to be a valentine for Little Robin!" And so it is!
Who is Little Robin? I don't recall exactly when the concept of having an innocent, playful, sweet inner-being occurred to me. Maybe it was around the time I first read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron in 1993. At that time I began writing morning pages (journaling) regularly.
Being a former psychology major and trained counselor, I knew the value of role-playing. Somehow, I fell into the practice of written role-playing in my morning pages. I write long conversations with Little Robin. Because she always wants to play, paint, bead and have fun, she has contributed much to my life and my art. I'm a serious and responsible person, who can easily spend too much time working and get too stressed about obligations. In our journaled conversations, she helps me to lighten up a bit!
What do you think? Does she like the valentine I made for her?
As promised, here are pictures of Thom's recent BJP creations! All of the pictures are clickable.  July - Bombs Bursting in Air November - Can of Worms December - Unconditional LoveI love the size and textural quality to Thom's embellished quilts. He has quite a thing going with these, don't you think? Speaking of Thom (my brother)... He and Jennifer (his wife) are driving north from where they live in Santa Cruz (CA) to the Oregon Coast tomorrow. At the same time, Robert and I will be driving south. We'll meet in Reedsport, which is a town located in the heart of the Dunes. We have a vacation rental reserved for a whole week. Thom and I will be stitching away on our bead and quilt projects for most of the week, while Robert treks through the Dunes with cameras in hand. Jennifer likes to walk on the beaches and read. We're all chomping at the bit to get past the packing stage and on the road. Another perk for this trip, is that Thom and I will take a day to visit BeadBabe49 (Bobbi Kirk), also a BJP member... We get to visit with her, see her pages and shop at both her local quilt shop and bead shop! Wheee! ***** New book news! I'm in the final stages of proofreading and expect to go to print on about March 15. Cross your fingers that it will be available April 15th! How 'bout that as a way to celebrate tax day! The title is... Heart to Hand Bead Embroidery
Fresh Ideas and Techniques for Creating Art with BeadsThanks to all of you for all of your helpful suggestions regarding the title. As you can see some of them have found their way into my final decision. I'm beyond excited about how it's looking... Color pictures on every page... it's glorious!
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