Love of Words

I love to write. I find words so beautiful. When I pick up a pen to write or when my hands are clicking away on the keyboard, I feel like a painter with a paintbrush in hand sweeping my hand across the canvas.

This week I decided to get creative with words. It's a simple creative activity that you might want enjoy if you have time. I gathered a few magazines and started to cut and paste words that stood out to me. I tried not to think too much about it. I let it be more of an intuitive thing. Sometimes I picked words that I thought described me. I picked words I hope to be. I picked words that give me a warm comfortable feeling. I picked words that challenge me. I picked words I wish I knew more about. I scanned through texts, letting my eyes flow over the pages searching for treasure- words that triggered something inside me. It's truly an amazing thing that a simple word can trigger such emotions and memories within us.

I used a variety of magazines: a program for the Hollywoodbowl,  a fashion magazine, and an Ikea magazine. It was fun to see what kind of words I found in each. The program had very artistic phrases such as "emanating elegance and class" or "climbing out in triumph." The fashion magazine had lots of words like "affordable", "sexy", "chic". The Ikea catalog has words like "pillows" and "comfortable." I have to say I enjoyed the Hollywood bowl program the best. I picked up words like resonates, vibrant, sacred, blossoms, distinctive, and dynamic that I hope to add to my simple writing vocabulary.

I've finished my page of words and I've started to see the interesting combination of words I got from randomly pasting them around the page.

 

This is my favorite so far: "beloved mood-setting unforgettable cheeses" :) 

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful week!

-M

Dream-givers

A few years ago I decided to go back and read some children's books I had read many years ago in elementary school. I remembered reading The Giver but I couldn't remember the story so I borrowed the book from the library and when I finished it I decided to go read other books written by Lois Lowry. As an adult I now found it interesting to see how someone writes various stories. A book reflects the author and by reading various book by the same person I could get a fuller picture of who they are.

One of the other books written by Lois Lowry is called Gossamer. It is a story about these little creatures that come out at night.These creatures go into a person's room and run their fingers over items in the room, picking up the scents, sounds, stories, and memories of objects. Once they collect enough they combine them together creating dreams for people which they then bestow onto the sleeping people.They are dream-givers.

I found this concept very interesting and it brought to light something I already knew but had never articulated. Objects are often not just objects. Objects carry memories. They tell stories. They can bring a flood of emotions whether pleasant or uncomfortable. One simple item can become a symbol of many things. We may pick up a toy from childhood and suddenly remember the many times we played with it as a child. We might remember the childhood friend who joined us on our adventures. We might remember the sound of our mother's voice telling us to clean up our toy and come eat dinner.

The human mind and heart is such a beautiful and complex thing. My eyes see an object but consciously or subconsciously a million thoughts and feelings are triggered. When I think about home part of why it feels like home is because everything is familiar to me. I am surrounded by things that carry stories, stories that are hidden to someone who might come to my place for the first time. Last night I decided to capture this thought by taking pictures of some things that you would see in my room if you came over. Some things don't have elaborate stories but are nonetheless familiar to me. Some of my stories I post here may only be part of the whole story. I hope that this experience will open your eyes to look at the things you see everyday in a new light and bask in the stories they store.

 

 

For those of you who want to know what kind of things you would pick up if you were a dream-giver running your finger over these items, here are some memories...

Eiffel Tower: I bought this souvenir when I went to Europe exactly one year ago :) I traveled to 13 different countries in Europe and my last stop was in Paris, France. I got to go up on the Eiffel Tower and look over the landscape of Paris. This is the scenery I saw...

Do you know the Eiffel Tower has a light show every night? The tower sparkles with lights for about 10 minutes.  I think it was at 10pm and 11pm.

Flower: The flower piece reminds me of the trips I took to many antique shops looking for items for my room when I was redecorating a  few years back. It brings back fun memories of possibilities and exploring. I had never really been to antique shops until then and it was definitely interesting to see what kind of stuff was out there.

Wine glass: This was something I brought back from my first official wine tasting adventure in Temecula. Beautiful weather. Wonderful company. Friend passed out from too much wine in the backseat of the car. And my favorite thing from that trip? It started me on a cheese tasting craze!

Clock: I brought this clock back from Europe last year. We stopped by a clock store in Germany in the Black Forest. They specialize in cuckoo clocks.  I found this clock there and knew I had to buy it even though I would have to lug it around with me for the rest of the trip. The price was so affordable and it reminded me of a clock my parents have that make me think of my childhood and the house I grew up in.

This turned out to be a long entry, but if you made it this far, thanks for reading and I hope it was interesting :) Have a wonderful weekend. It's almost Friday! 

-M

Origami

Have I mentioned that I love working with paper? I don't know what it is. I love the crisp feel of it in my hands. I love its versatility. I love how it's so common yet it can be transformed so many ways to create really interesting shapes. It is bold in shape yet so light when we hold it. I think what draws me to it the most is that it is strong and delicate at the same time.

Last week I decided to pull out an old origami book I had lying around the house. I flipped through the pages and decided I wanted to make the brontosaurus dinosaur at the very end of the book (the book calls it a diplodocus but back when I was in elementary school we called it brontosaurus). It was always one of my favorite dinos. They seemed so gentle and graceful with their long necks and smooth curves. Did you have a favorite dinosaur? Anyway I figured out pretty quickly that the book gets harder as it gets to the end. I had been a bit too ambitious...but I had started and I decided I wanted to finish. Folding the piece itself wasn't so hard. If any of you have tried to learn origami from a book, you know that the bigger part of the challenge is trying to decipher what the book is telling you to do. It's like cracking a code. It was definitely a test of patience and perseverance. The end product is my little green bronto...he is a medal of hard work and determination. Guess how long this little creature took to make? A good 4-5 solid hours. 62 steps. Yes, it doesn't look like much and he's not perfect but he's a trophy to me :)

There are some really amazing works of origami out there. Here are some photos you might enjoy. :) There are also Youtube videos under origami artist if you're interested.

http://www.mostamazingnews.com/art-and-design/amazing-origami-art-works/437

http://ezylook.blogspot.com/2011/04/amazing-japanese-origami-art-works.html

http://www.unicorn-pictures.com/origami-unicorn

http://thereisnosuchworld.blogspot.com/2011/10/origami-paper-fold.html

http://www.ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/weblog.php?/weblog/eric_joisel_origami/

http://www.drollthings.com/?p=770

Day and Night

 How has your week been? It has been a long work week for me and I finally have some time to post up some entries! :) This entry is about how to create a different feel using the same dress. I'm no guru on the topic of fashion but hopefully it'll give you some ideas on changing up a look of an outfit or at least make you more aware of how what we see affects the way we feel. There are a few pieces of fashion that I love- some being scarves, cardigans, and handbags. I have a variety of scarves that range from light weight to heavy, bright to dark, and plain to patterned. I wore a turquoise dress today. It was a warm sunny day with a light breeze during the day. Towards evening it got cooler as the sun went down so I switched to a warmer scarf and added a light jacket. Here are the two looks that I got by changing up a couple items.

Let's look at the effect of color as well as pattern. The coral/orange scarf felt more appropriate for the day. It matched the sunny weather. I added a bright yellow bracelet to create more visual interest, The scarf and dress are both solid colors (no patterns) and the outfit looks simple. By adding some sparkle with the bold yellow and gold, the outfit seems more complete. It has more energy. There's more to catch our attention. The bold bracelet wasn't necessary for the evening because the pattern and  bright colors of the scarf added enough interest to the outfit. The light color of the jacket contrasted with the color of the dress and scarf, creating another contrast in color and value (dark and light) making the outfit more interesting to look at. If I wore a dark colored jacket such as navy blue or black, it would have taken away from the beauty of the scarf. If I wore a bright colored jacket  such as orange, the outfit would have a whole lot of energy (which could work) but I was going for a more relaxed and subdued look so I went with cream. 

Maybe you'll find some ways to mix and match your outfits :)

Bridal Shower Creativity

This weekend I flew out to Oakland for a bridal shower. All the bridesmaids had delegated tasks and one of the tasks I had was flower arranging. :D I got to go a farmers market in Oakland to pick out some beautiful flowers. We first chose sunflowers because it's the bride's favorite flower. Then we needed to choose some complementary flowers. We went with a bright orange-red color to add some POP and added some splotches of white to balance out the bright colors, creating some space for the eyes to rest. $15 dollars for three large bunches of beautiful flowers! I need to go to farmer's markets more often!

Once we got back, I filled jars with river rocks and began the task of cutting and arranging. It was so much fun! I tune my eyes to create balance as I space out the colors around the bouquet. I've learned over the years that it's best to cut stems short when putting them in a vase or jar. When the stems are too long the flowers lean out in all directions creating too much airy spaces. Cutting them short squishes the flowers together and making the bouquet seem full.

In general when arranging flowers I think of these main things:
-Placement of the big flowers and colorful flowers spreading them throughout the bouquet. In general, the bigger flowers stay in the center.
- Adding a bit of sparkle with flowers that are small and bunchy giving the bouquet a delicate feel
-Shaping the bouquet into a sphere making the flowers on the outside shorter than the center

This was the final product. We had a total of three arrangements that we put on the various tables. Some of the tablecloths were yellow and green which matched well with the arrangements. It gave it a harmonious unified look.

  

The other things I used my creative juices on this weekend was finding a way to accessorize my dress. It's a very simple patterned dress and I knew it needed some tampering with. In the end I added it with a white short sleeved cardigan and a brown thin belt with gold pyramid studs on it. This isn't the best picture but it's the only one I have. I was happy with how it ended up. It added just enough energy and interest to the outfit. :)

My weekend was full of meeting new people, spending time with the bride-to-be and her fiance, and little moments of joy and thankfulness. It's nice to be back home in Orange County though!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well :)

-M

Lips Lips Lips!

I have found an inspiration for an art project!

When I had displayed my dandelion piece I made at our school gallery many people came up to me asking how I came up with the idea or why I decided to make it. I couldn't really explain because the idea just came to me as I lay in bed thinking of how I could stretch my creativity. It came from inside me simply because I like dandelions and I like the lightness and versatility of paper (which is what it's made from)...and I always liked seeing items thrown out of scale. When I used to play Super Mario Brothers on the old school Nintendo, my favorite world was the world where things got really big. I thought it was cute, although it was really frustrating playing it because the bad guys were so big too!

Remember this? :) Anyway, maybe that's why I made a huge paper dandelion?

That aside, I learned  that people want to know the story behind the artwork and want to know what inspired a piece. So let me first give you an idea of what I'm going to do and then I'll explain my thoughts behind it.

I am going to need 20 participants who are willing to take a picture of their lips :) and also put in some effort by measuring the width and height of their lips. The end product will look something like this:

I haven't quite decided yet I think it's going to be a two part project. One set of lips will be not be smiling and the second set will be whatever you want to do with your lips without any props. It will be monochromatic meaning only black and white. I will be using either pencil or charcoal. This was the best sample I could make out of a self-portrait I've done in the past.

These pieces are going to be about uniqueness and individuality, but it's also going to be about a couple other things. It is going to be a way to remind us of the many details in our lives that we filter out. It's a survival skill that humans have to simplify and filter the massive amount of information we encounter, but sometimes we filter out too much. There is a time for everything. A time to filter out and a time to pay attention to detail. I want this piece to be about recognizing the overlooked.

 In combining a collection of different lips I want to also capture a sense of unity among the variety. I recently watched a video on Youtube called Where the Hell is Matt?. As I watched my heart was warmed and excited as I watched this guy and his crew get people from all over the world to dance together.  He brought together all these people with this one video. I can imagine people who participated watching this video for the first time waiting to see when they will show up and then experiencing the sense of connectedness they would feel to all the other people around the world who were in it. There is beauty in seeing unique individuals come together to accomplish and be a part of something bigger than themselves. And so the idea of this project was born.

I think one of the hardest things for me to reconcile about art with my life is that sometimes I find it is a bit lonely. I don't have much of an art community and so doing art can feel isolating. By having 20 of you participate, it is my way of combining my love of connection and my love of art. I'm hoping that I won't have to go hunting for pictures of people's lips, but I might have to ask family or close friends if I can't get enough people :P So don't be shy. You get to be a part of something that brings people together!

So, if you're interested, please comment on the facebook post or this blog and I will send you my e-mail address and we'll go from there. I will be asking you to send me two pictures of your lips (serious and one that expresses you), dimensions of your lips because I want to capture size relative to each other, and send me one word that describes you or something that you value (I am thinking of inscribing the word with it's paired lip in one of the sets I'm going to do).

Yay! I hope that some of you will be as excited as I am! Looking forward to some responses :)

-M

Fashion is Art

As I've incorporate more art in my life, I've picked up an increased interest in fashion. Being someone who used to always go with the neutral colors such as black, gray, cream, and pastel colors I always have to challenge myself to add color to my wardrobe. I always think "oh, I don't look good in this color" but some friends of my who are supporter of me venturing out of my neutrals, assure me it doesn't look as horrific as I think. Their assurance and encouragement has gotten me to browse stores for brighter colors and my closet has started to bloom. Looking at fashion blogs has inspired me as well. I'll see outfits that just *pop* and *dazzle*, not necessarily with shiny diamonds but rather the combination of contrast, emphasis, and uniformity.

I'm going to get a little more artsy technical here. While there is variety in personal taste, there are some basic concepts that generally apply as far as what our eyes are drawn to. Our eyes are drawn to areas of interest such as bright colors (which is why safety signs are red and yellow. Black and gray probably wouldn't work as well :P ).

We are also drawn to contrasts- contrast in color,  contrast in pattern, contrast in texture. With clothing I like to have something bright but also a neutral color that balances it out. I personally don't want to be a walking wild explosion of colors. I like balance. Our eyes also notice contrast in pattern. If everything I wore was all polka dot- shirt, pants, jacket- my eyes would be overwhelmed to say the least. Balance is key. Something patterned, something plain. Sometimes two patterns can look good together when they contrast each other, but it can be a bit tricky. I have yet to challenge myself with that. Contrast in texture is another thing I'm learning from the fashion blogs. One of the reasons why I enjoy the look of a tweed jacket is the contrast of the coarse bumpy interesting texture against a simple smooth shirt.

Emphasis is something that is more eye catching than the rest. Usually using bright colors creates an emphasis. Our eyes like to see at least a part of a picture or part of an outfit to pop out. For those musicians, I think music is a great example. A great piece of music flows- it takes you on this musical adventure where part of it is more quiet and slow and then BAM you get to the chorus and volume gets loud and upbeat. Same thing with our eyes. We like it when something goes BAM. Contrast also creates emphasis. If I had a red necklace against a red shirt, yes, I'd be a whole lot of emphasis but if I wore a white necklace against a red shirt, the contrast in colors would be an emphasis that makes the look more interesting. Sounds a bit confusing huh?

Uniformity is also important. We need to find a way to tie together the many different things we've put together. A well chosen outfit it one that looks complete because it has been unified with something, often times the use of color. In general I'd say I like to have 3 colors in an outfit. All of them don't need to stand out but they just need to be noticeable. For instance, maybe I will complete a look with by wearing orange earrings that match with an orange bag. Maybe I'll wear a necklace with a cobalt blue color to it to match the blue stripes on some shorts.

Well, I hope this was interesting and gave you a little insight into art- everyday art :) Here are some outfits I wore recently. Maybe you can identify some of the concepts I talked about :D

Happy Sunday!
-M