eclectic, eh?

It's a blog carnival. And the question is: What makes you an eclectic artisan?

According to wikipedia, eclecticism in art "describes the combination in a single work of a variety of influences..."

Interesting. My first thought about the word eclectic was of various media being used to create. But in doing research (you know, my usual five minutes worth) the connotation as it relates to art, architecture, etc., is more related to historical and/or cultural influences. So, for instance, a building designed using elements from various centuries might be labelled eclectic architecture.

So, to answer the question, what makes me an eclectic artist, I would have to say it is the combination of old ideas with a new medium, for example, my tarot art.

The tarot and its well-known icons are centuries old, but the materials used here are very new, specifically the polymer clay.

Another example of old concept, new materials is the rainstick. This style of instrument is one of the oldest, but polymer clay is new and modern.

So, how are you an eclectic artist? Or an eclectic whatever you are? To join in on this blog carnival, visit the EART etsy team blog.

tarot card of the day

Tarot Card: Page of Pentacles
Character: Gwendolyn Post
Upright Meaning: Someone who works hard to get ahead and achieve goals. Sometimes overzealous.
Reversed Meaning: Unwelcome news. A hoarder. Mean and greedy.
Question: Are you hoarding materials or power?
Advice: Don’t be a control freak. Someone else is working just as hard as you are to achieve an opposite goal. If it’s a situation of two different but viable viewpoints, step back and let the other person succeed. If it’s clearly a matter of right and wrong, go ahead and pursue your goal ruthlessly.

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Note to self: If you try to control every bit of every thing, you will become evil.

4 down, 74 to go...

This is the fourth piece in my tarot art series. The empress is an earth, motherly figure surrounded by green, growth and abundance. Here she is among water, wheat, flowers and fruit. This piece is made primarily of polymer clay, including three canework patterns, with embellishments of raffia, ribbon, yarn and paint.

gettin' things done

I'm feeling industrious this week! So far, I've

• sent out a choir mailing to 100 people
• updated my lessons website
• finished a custom bud vase
• completed tarot card #2, the high priestess

The high priestess is a woman of mystery, abundance, femininity and love. This piece is made primarily of polymer clay, along with ribbon, beads, lace and wire. She has many of the symbols connected to the standard high priestess representation, including the scroll, pomegranates, pillars and crescent moon. This one took a long time, and I almost started over a couple of times, but now I think she is my favorite. Today I will sketch the next card, the empress.

the magician

Here's the second card in my tarot series - major arcana #1, the magician. It measures about 7 by 10 inches and is made primarily of polymer clay with a bit of fabric, felt and wire. The magician symbolizes a person in control of his surroundings, a manipulator, someone who's able to influence his environment to suit himself. He holds the wand in his hand and has the other three suits, or elements, laid out in front of him (sword, cup and pentacle). I'm pleased with him and have already started working on the high priestess.

This weekend, I also finished another gaggle of 10 goddess pendants in all sorts of crazy colors (they're in my shop if you want to look at them) as well as my first ever pair of goddess earrings. Look how cute!

tarot of the day

Tarot Card: Three of Pentacles
Character: Jesse
Upright Meaning: Appreciation and success. Good constructive work. Approval of others. Carefree confidence.
Reversed Meaning: Mediocrity and half-hearted efforts. Perpetual fear of failure which makes change difficult.
Question: What is currently causing your insecurity?
Advice: Be a little wiser and a little less impulsive. Stop trying to attain the impossible and work instead toward the practical.

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I'm working on the magician. It's very slow going. I'm having trouble deciding on the other materials. I do have a wonderful bit of ric-rac for the table, though.

tarot of the day

Tarot Card: Major Arcana, 10. The Wheel of Fortune
Character: Kendra
Upright Meaning: Good fortune and sheer luck. A temporary gain. An opportunity to be seized now before it disappears. Unexpected fortunate coincidences. Positive upheaval.
Reversed Meaning: Bad fortune. Missed opportunity. Needless risk. Resistance to chance. Unexpected interruptions. Difficulties and delays.
Questions: Are you taking advantage of the good things that pass your way? Are you ready to accept an unexpected boost, or are you too bound by routine to notice?
Advice: Accept luck as it comes to you. Seize opportunities, but avoid foolish risk-taking. Realize that whether the luck that just arrived is good or bad, it is almost certainly temporary, because the wheel continues to turn.

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My hand is finally feeling OK enough that I can do some cross-stitching without intense pain, so I started working on the Buffy extravaganza again. What, you say? My entire life is a Buffy extravaganza? Well, some days. Anywho, there are twelve pages of pattern, and I am working on the fourth. The little bits hinting at a face on the left there will eventually be Xander.

tarot of the day

5 of swords, ace of staves, justice - all inverted - oy.

the fool is done

The Fool is mixed media tarot art. He (or is it she?) is made primarily of polymer clay, but also has wire limbs, a hand-sewn pouch of all his earthly belongings, and a jester's hat made of felt, stuffed with felt scraps and sewn with embroidery thread. The face is hand-sculpted and made metallic with embossing powder from the stamping supplies pile. The piece measures about 7 by 10 inches.

So, one down, 77 to go...

The Fool

I've started my tarot art. This is the fool - not finished yet (no, my tarot people are not going to be headless). I decided to start with the major arcana and go in order, because I tend to work better with an organized plan. I plan to make them all go together so they can eventually be printed as a deck.

• Traditional elements of the card
• Mixed media, predominantly polymer clay
• About 7 by 10 inches
• Name at the bottom in stamped letter tiles
• Number in top left corner
• Element (earth, water, fire, air) in top right corner
• Very colorful and whimsical

This is The Fool. It has the common elements of the card: a person at the edge of a cliff with dog, sunshine, and knapsack of belongings. The air symbol in the top right corner can't really be seen well yet, because it's mica shift and will need to be sanded and buffed to show up properly. The fool's body and the cliff are canework, the water is made with individual snakes of clay, and the background is marbled clay (about 7 colors) with some light texturing.

Still to be completed:

• The head (see photo below), which is hand-sculpted and glazed with fine gold embossing powder. I wasn't sure if the powder would get all melty and disastrous, so the head will not be going in oven. Fortunately, the rest can be put in the oven more than once, so pieces can be added, and the whole thing can go back in for baking.
• The knapsack, which is going to be a drawstring bag sewn out of fabric with actual stuff in it.
• The hat, which I think will be a jester-type hat. I haven't decided on the medium yet - fabric, clay or felt, or some combination of those.
• And probably hair. I got some wonderful, colorful fibers but am still pondering the hairdo. Bad hair can ruin a whole piece of art, ya know?

positive thinking

It's Thursday. Or it was 40 minutes ago, anyway. Things I choose to be excited about today:

• The weather is supposed to be great this weekend for Harrisburg ArtsFest. My choir is singing, I love my choir, ergo excitement.
• My students are doing a great job preparing for their recitals (one next weekend and one the following weekend).
• I started making my Fool tarot art. More on that soon.
• So You Think You Can Dance started tonight. Woot! It will be stupid for a few weeks, but it's OK, because the real dancing will start soon. I'm grateful that I had a childhood just privileged enough that I was able to take lessons, all sorts, including dance. I'm hoping to dance again some time in the next few years. Don't laugh - it could happen...
• Grey's Anatomy was awesome tonight. It's the first episode I've seen of this season. I probably won't watch any more - I'll just wait and watch the whole thing obsessively when it comes out on DVD because that's what I do.
• We will have a new president soon. I don't care if it's Clinton, Obama, McCain or my neighbor's dog. OK, I care a little. But it will be better than now. And there's hope, and the attitude of hope is catching on. This is a good thing.

tarot of the day

Tarot Card: Two of Pentacles
Character: The Bringers
Upright Meaning: Financial or other problems. Warning. Imminent change. Blindness to coming change.
Reversed Meaning: Recklessness. Debt. Inability to complete a project.
Questions: Are you having difficulty making ends meet? Would it be better to increase your income or decrease your expenditures?
Advice: There’s something, probably in the financial realm, that you are not seeing. Try looking at things from another perspective or asking a friend for advice.
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Sigh.
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In brighter news... I've made my plan and my first sketch for my new tarot cards. They're going to be primarily polymer clay with other media and items included. I'm going with mostly bright colors, because that is what draws me, and I'm not really stretching outside the norm as far as components of the cards. I'm going to use the traditional elements, such as the pack of belongings and the dog for the fool card.

tarot of the day

(my card)
Tarot Card: Knight of Pentacles
Character: Jonathan
Upright Meaning: A tenacious person who always finds a way. Someone willing to use brains or brawn to achieve goals.
Reversed Meaning: Someone who lacks commitment and gives up easily. Unwillingness to work and laziness.
Question: Are you still searching for a solution or are you spinning your wheels in futility?
Advice: Be yourself. You’ve got resources right now – use your intuition, logic and hard work together to get this done. Beware of falling in with the wrong crowd. While they may increase your success in the short term, they will eventually lead directly to your downfall.


(K's card)
Tarot Card: Major Arcana, 14. Temperance
Character: Olivia
Upright Meaning: Balance and harmony. Cooperation and diplomacy. Successful negotiations. Ability to adapt to changing circumstances.
Reversed Meaning: Imbalance and disharmony. Over-indulgence. Over-emphasis on one aspect of life. Restlessness and instability.
Questions: Do you currently have a balanced life or are you obsessing over one aspect while others suffer neglect?
Advice: Strive for balance. This may mean taking a step back and spending some time in self-analysis. Keep in mind that once achieved, balance requires constant work and adjustment.

tarot of the day

Tarot Card: Two of Swords
Character: Pat
Upright Meaning: Friendship. A true friend who shines through in a tough situation.
Reversed Meaning: Falsehood. A friend who fails you at a critical time. Dishonesty.
Questions: Who is your best ally in this situation? What are his/her motives?
Advice: Be careful not to take advantage of a relationship for your own personal gain. Take the advice of a friend or give a piece of good advice to someone who needs it.

Well, the question of the day is sort of a "what now?" Pat. She's a busybody for sure. She has so much going at a time that one assumes she's trying to hide from real life in empanadas and The Deep End of the Ocean. But she has a good heart. Too bad she ends up a zombie demon and gets taken out with a shovel.

What struck me, not surprisingly, at first glance was the necklace. Here it is. I wish I could find a better photo.

I love big jewelry. I think I will go make some.

tarot treasury

tarot treasury, originally uploaded by divadea.

I just made this treasury on etsy, after looking at practically every listing with the "tarot" tag - there aren't actually that many. There are only a few tarot artists on etsy, but the ones who are there are amazing. Anyway, you can click here to see the actual treasury for the next few days until it disappears.I am really itching to make an original tarot deck.

I mean an actual art one (though I do love and adore my own personal Buffy tarot deck). I have all these ideas and I can't decide how to begin. The options are polymer clay canework, polymer clay not canework, flat collage, 3-d collage-->photos, drawing/painting, all of the above... I also like the idea of making a photographed deck, perhaps out of modern urban-type images, but I am no photographer, nor do I even own a decent camera. I have never in my life experienced a shortage of ideas. Often, though, I have so many that I become paralyzed and have trouble figuring out where to start! Plus a project that's likely to take years rather than hours is a bit daunting. Why make them? Not because I think I can divine my future. I think it's because, first of all, I love things that come in sets, especially art things. Plus, each card (in the making and the interpreting) is like responding to a prompt - yes, there are rules and definitions, but the actual interpretation is up to the artist.

tarot of the day

Simple reading: situation/me/outcome
Hmmm, all three minor arcana, all inverted.
Page of Swords: imposter, spy, betrayal
Six of Coins: selfishness
Eight of Cups: fulfillment, moving on

This sweet bag by faeryspellcreations is where I keep this particular tarot deck.