Ikebana- Japanese flower arranging

I went to an ikebana exhibit a couple years ago in LA. I had never seen anything like it before. It wasn't until I took my 3-D design class and was doing research on flowers though that my interest in this particular type of flower arranging sparked. I made one for my mom for mother's day last year but I don't think I took a picture of it. I think it would be really fun to take classes someday :) 

There is movement, fluidity, grace, simplicity, elegance and beauty in ikebana. It is a living sculpture.

I put an * next to links that have images of other arrangements.
For a brief history and evolutions of ikebana: http://www.ikebanabyjunko.co.uk/history.htm
For more info on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikebana

Enjoy! :D
-M

Source: http://rexwordpuzzle.blogspot.com/2012/04/japanese-flower-arranging-art-wed-4-18.html

*Source: http://lotushaus.typepad.com/lotushaus/ikebana/

* Source: http://ikebana2.cgdays.com/?cid=4741

Source: http://www.marcmoll.net/ikebana.html

*Source: http://girlunstoppable.com/2010/02/discovering-ikebana/

Source: http://www.rosesarered.co.nz/Resources/Ikebana+Flower+Arranging.html

Source: http://tx.english-ch.com/teacher/bien/home/ikebana/

* Source: http://www.zuzafun.com/ikebana-art

*Source: http://www.ikebanabyjunko.co.uk/history.htm

Source: http://www.flower-arrangement-ideas.com/art-of-ikebana.html

*Source: http://zen-images.blogspot.com/2009/04/ikebana-120.html

*Source: http://www.proflowers.com/blog/japanese-ikebana-flower-arrangements

Source: http://www.utahbrideblog.com/flowers/flower-tip-friday-ikebana/

*Source: http://mochimochiland.com/2007/06/ikebana-is-awesome/

iPhone Flowers

I was sifting through my iphone pictures and collected some of my favorite photos of flowers I've taken over the last few years. There is so much beauty in nature :)

Orange and Beignets

Today is going be a mix of little bits of creativity. We'll start with clothing.

 I recently bought a green and black patterned shirt at Cotton On for $10. It has a a silk appearance with a bit of shimmer giving it a polished look. Not only was it affordable and elegant but most importantly it was Comfortable!  I'm usually hesitant about buying looser clothing afraid it will swallow up my short frame but I couldn't pass it up and figured it might work with some skinny jeans or leggings. So here is the outfit I put together for this shirt.

 Here is a close up of the shirt so you can see the pattern and also a side view since it changes lengths.

 Here is the evolution of the look.
1) I chose white pants because the shirt is already dark. Also it was a sunny day today so white pants fit the mood of the weather.
2)Since it's long and baggy, I wore heels to give me some height :)
3)Next I added a bracelet and necklace. I chose a necklace with a hint of bright colors to lighten up the look. The contrast in color makes the necklace stand out. The bright colors add another dimension to the look. I also chose a v-shaped necklace because it make the shirt looks less wide. Visually speaking, lines direct our eyes. The V of the necklace directs our eyes downward which visually cuts and narrow the width of the shirt. This is why horizontal stripes usually make us look wider. They direct our eyes outwards horizontally.
4) I added a orange bag to add some color and brightness. A little POP action with color.

Today I made some French doughnuts calls beignets. A friend gave me this mix as a gift and it expires November 1 so this was my last chance to use it before it was too late. Once the work week starts I know I won't have time to be deep frying these guys. My friend told me that you can actually get them in downtown Disney. I'll have to go try it sometime. I had some stumbles along the way but in the end my friend and I figured it out. It's all about the process and adventure. :P

 Lastly, here are some orange flowers I arranged. Something simple but I love flowers so I wanted to share them.

Cupcake Card

It was a friend's birthday this week so I decided to make a simple birthday card with the materials I had at home. I used stickers, tissue paper, felt, pillow polyester filling, and a cupcake liner. The fun thing about the card is how it sticks out from the surface and looks like a fluffy cupcake. I stuffed filling under the layer of pink felt so that it would fill the shape of the cupcake liner.  I tried to capture the perspective in the second picture. Then I used some word stickers and used that for the inside of the card. The words happened to be really fitting so I didn't have to think too hard to make them work and was still able to communicate my genuine thoughts and feelings.

Start of the Mourning Doves

I have been wanting to make a wall piece to fill the empty space above my bed and I've finally started! Other than my dandelion piece that I made awhile ago this is one of the first big projects I've done on my own that has not been a class assignment. 

I've had a vague feeling for a long time now of what I want to make but haven't really been able to envision it. I've spent this week trying to articulate my feelings into colors, shapes, forms, textures. I drew a few simple sketches of designs.In the end though, there was only so much I could do without actually playing around with some potential materials I had bought. Here are the sketches: they're VERY simple :)

I wrote down my thoughts, feelings, images that I had in my mind that I wanted to capture. This is what I started with:
PASSION. Dark red. Life. Nature. Graceful. Peaceful. Life-giving. Brown. White. Textured white acrylic paint. A hint of metal- something man-made. Contrast of natural and mechanical. Delicate. Soft. More white. Flowers. Movement. Growth. Energy. Nurturing. Uplifting. Details.

I am someone who likes to plan ahead. It makes me nervous just venturing into the unknown, uncertain of where exactly I'm headed. But I learned from my art classes that art is going to require some uncertainty and spontaneity- some going with the flow, riding the wave. I looked at this white canvas. Focused my internal eyes on the words I had written above. Took a deep breath and dove in. Here are some photos of what I ended up with today and some of the process of getting there.

 

I glued together sticks I had collected into a shape that captured the feeling of gracefulness, energy, movement, growth. 

 

 

Next, I used wire, a textured paper, and Mod-Podge to make a flower.

 

As I was arranging the branches, I had a defining moment. I realized that I wanted to put birds in this piece. It felt fitting and slowly I started to get a concept in my head of what I want to do with this artwork. I had wanted to somehow incorporate wire in it, so I decided to attempt to make a wire bird. I had never done this before and it was actually really scary starting it. I watched a youtube video to get an idea of how to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJsEV0sLoWQ

I researched mourning doves on google images and observed its basic shape. I printed out some photos of birds in the actual size I wanted to make the wire bird...about 4-5 inches and then I just went for it!

 The other challenging part other than just making the bird is that I only needed half a bird because it's going to protrude from the canvas. I needed to add a tail though because when people see it from the front view, the bird will need to look like it has a tail.

 And so...this was the product for the day! I spent maybe4 hours on it today. I still have quite a ways to go but I think the hardest part is done- starting it and having a vision. :)

Thanks for reading!

-M

Snidbits

The last month has been full of a lot of changes and I haven't had much time or energy to post anything but I do want to stay in the habit of sharing at least some bits of creativity and art. :) This will be a post of random collections of things I've been doing here and there. Nothing grand but just some everyday creativity that feeds my artist soul.

Texture and patterns. There is so much visual information that we take in as we go about our every day lives. One of the things art does is that it takes something simple, something we take for granted and barely even notice and draws our attention to it. It shows us how intricate and beautiful the world is.

Painting. I bought a little set of animals to paint with some friends. Here is the before and after. I was going to add some more designs on the shell but haven't quite gotten to it yet.

Photography. Beautiful Blues.