Busch Gardens tree unveiled & alcohol ink addiction...
I f
orgot to post a photo of the completed tree at Busch Gardens where we celebrated an unveiling. Many of the teachers involved attended and were excited to see the name of their schools listed on the tree's base, along with a little write up about the project. It is so gratifying to hear how much the students enjoyed working with the plastic. Many of the schools are using the techniques for other projects. Below is a tree topper I mailed as a final touch. I was tickled to think of adding clear unpainted bottles for some sparkle. I built it on an old lampshade topped with a light-up acrylic ball. I love using stuff up that I have around the house! 
My latest obsession, another adventure in color :alcohol inks! They behave very much like liquid watercolor, but can be applied to all different kinds of surfaces. Here are some ornaments I made along with a ceramic jar I found on clearance at the craft store. I think the colors will be enhanced once I apply the sealant. It's like getting to make my own granite! I wish I could have a counter top in these colors
Happy earth day...
I've updated my home page to incorporate more of what I do. Maybe I should just have stolen an image from Ringling Brothers! I've left out my direct sales ventures which I find addicting ,completely embarrassing, and unbecoming of an artist. But I love my Miche bags and my Jamberry Nails, so what's a color obsessed woman to do? (Not to mention it helps pay the bills and maintains my already healthy sense of self-loathing.) My Miche summer collection is on the FedEx truck as I write. I often say that they should have their own brand of paper bags for me to breathe into.
I am working on a jewelry exhibit, pairing my glass jewelry with Susan Steele Meyer's amazing paintings. We will be at a gallery on the beach the weekend before Mother's Day. Tomorrow, we go to get a feel for the place and work on the display, unless the migraines I have been suffering loom too large.
I continue to tweak a little slide show I put together to document my 10 years in recycled plastic bottles. It's been a fun ride and I am amazed where this project has taken John and I. I'm looking forward to more adventures to come.
I'll attach the slide show of the plastic and a photo of my dad when I gave him his birthday poodle. On the back-burner is a book "Never give a poodle to a sculptor," my proclamation when my mother told me he kept trimming her. He was so funny, when her first trimmed her feet, he told me with gleeful eyes that she had such 'dainty little toes.' In the slide show I mention that he showed me how he cut 2 liter bottles and warmed plastic to make little armatures for manta rays he was making. That sent me on a train of thought that led me to making sculptures out of the bottles themselves. I think of it as part of his legacy to me, a sort of inheritance.
Funny papers, Turkish lanterns, Pharell Williams and big dreams...
I was dizzy for a week, even after medication, so my doctor took a cautious road and had me go to the hospital. So far, all that has turned up is my EKG not being up to snuff. I told my nurse all about my projects when she came to collect my water bottle, so as soon as I got home I was dying to try out some new ideas. Thankfully, I had a rogue bag of bottles in the garage left from one of the dozens of 'good fairies' that collect them for me. I often come home to a sack of recycled bottles on my doorstep.
Today, I played around with Sargent Art's glitter glaze and peal medium with the comics or 'funny papers' as my mother calls them. They took on a mosaic glass look, especially the crossword puzzle!
I also filed my nails because my Jamberry nail kit comes tomorrow. In my enthusiasm for color and OCD over having all the colors in the crayon box, I signed up to represent another company that offers the opportunity to pop a surprise of color in my outfits. Prepare for Miche/ Jamberry pairings in my wardrobe though I resisted the beanie I found on eBay even though it is very fashion forward as I discovered this morning when I watch a lovely interview with Pharrel Williams. The best part was when he was asked how he feels about being the 'happy' music guy. "I feel blessed" was his reply and in the course of the interview continued to attribute his success to all of the people in his life that supported his dreams. I've got a lot of those folks too, and some big dreams brewing so hold onto your hats friends.
Small dream: Make 2 liter bottles look like this...
a bridge over water that looks like this : or this:
And someday, somewhere, a fair trade workshop that looks like this:
My artistic process: Dizzy decaf delirium...
I used to tell my kids that boredom is a gift because it drives you to find something interesting to do. I've been holed up not feeling well all week and coming down with an acute case of cabin fever, so I delved into some ideas for my recycled work that I've had percolating for quite some time.
I want to do a landscape using the recycled plastic bottles and to experiment with texture, so, taking the paints and leftover bottles I had on hand, I started 'quilting' a landscape. I am loosely following a Van Gogh study I painted years ago that hangs over our fireplace. I probably wouldn't have chosen this particular painting, but was too tired, lazy, and/or caffeine deprived to hunt down something else. I know it is going to evolve into something completely different . (That is really a disclaimer since the panel of bottles doesn't look even remotely similar to my painting. )
Above is a photo of bottles done in different cuts that I am hoping will yield interesting texture. I'm envisioning something along the lines of a weaving done with different types of yarns and materials. (Note: I don't like Lipton tea but I've been dizzy so don't want to drive to the store to get my P&G Tips. We are also out of coffee which could explain the dizziness and my use of the word 'percolate' in my first paragraph.)
Here's my painting on the mantel I was too lazy to clear off before snapping this photo, so you get a glimpse of my daughter and son-in-law at their wedding and Danielle's screen print bebop of color she gave me for Christmas. 
This is the beginning of my plastic interpretation which I will manipulate further with a heat gun. I am contemplating making a large branch across the view using bottles wrapped in newspaper before they are cut.
Also on the back burner: cloudy white gallon jugs and texture made by soldering iron holes, but it's all over if I run out of Lipton.
Cherry blossom season and the meaning of spring...
One of the best things about my work in recycled plastic is hearing from people all over the world who are using my tutorials. My favorite thing is to receive pictures, but I always get side-tracked and forget to share them here. The latest is from a woman who visited me at AnnMarie Garden in Maryland. She gave me permission to share her photos. Her hanging baskets reminds me that it is cherry blossom season in DC, not too far from where she lives.
It makes me smile to think of all of the thousands of bottles that now happily litter the landscape across the planet, not as refuse, but as art. Does it get any better than that? Psalm 103 describes God removing our transgressions as far from us as the east is from the west, and the measure of his mercy and loving-kindness is as high above the earth as is the sky. I think that might be the same distance as that of trash to treasure.
Fussy chair...
The Mustard Seed of Central Florida has an annual fund-raising event for which artists decorate chairs that will be auctioned off. Here's my entry. I was thinking about the mustard seed story in the Bible. Even though it is a tiny seed, it grows into a plant that offers shade and becomes a home and shelter to birds and animals. The chair I used is wooden, originating from a tree, and then found it's way to The Mustard Seed's thrift shop. The plastic bottles are a lower material than that, our community going to great lengths to dispose of them. Combining them with the chair to create something beautiful, reminds me of the hope of renewal and the work at Mustard Seed offers as they seek to rebuild lives that may be broken or even discarded. Hope is an amazing source of transformation. Their event is tonight at 6 pm if you want to see the chairs in person and put in a bid for this lovely.
Paints, paper, pens, and purses... grab color wherever you can!
Sargent Art sent me a big box full of paints to play with before I present a workshop for them at the National Art Educators Association conference in San Diego next week. When I started doing my bottle installations I dreamed, even prayed (which is probably the same thing), that I could go around the country creating collaborative projects. I forgot about that prayer until recently, after having done installations here in Florida, in Michigan, Maryland, and now in California.
I'm obsessed with Sargent's liquid water colors called Watercolor Magic. I realized that playing with color cheers me up so I played on paper:
I love taking a fine point permanent marker and outlining all the little archipelagos the salt blooms create. (far right) Watercolor with salt on good paper can be torn into what ends up looking like little landscapes, then attached to create mini landscapes on note cards. I want to do a workshop on this! By the way, I love Arches paper because it is gorgeous, French, and it has a long tradition ;the company was established in 1492.
I played on the computer:
Made this postcard to take with me to NAEA with my artist statement and bio on the back. Maybe I'll pick up more gigs!
I played with painting tissue paper and newspaper to create a new technique:
Last but not least, I played with purses! I'm so excited and thankful for my 15 member team and am proud to display this killer collection.
Pour me a mint julep, it's Kentucky derby time!
I'm loving fascinators as a medium for expression! Hat making party the horizon...
Tuning into channel Van gogh running for the roses...
All of this plastic work motivated me to finally finish what began looking like a Lorax. The more I worked on it, the more it began to look like a landscape on its side. Above is an image of a Van gogh study I did years ago. It was in the next room and helped me finish my panel which tucks tidily into a niche on our back porch. I imagining my friend Vincent working in recycled plastic and finished up the piece, which is about 10 feet long, singing Starry Starry Night and then the subsequent Killing Me Softly, the song about Vincent hearing Don McLean sing his Starry Starry Night.
I could hardly wait to cut up some bottles I sprayed lightly with the new striped method. The blooms are blowing me away! I'll be greeting the postman (we have a man) every day until my haberdashery supplies arrive. What a great word, haberdasher.
Getting ready for the run for the roses...
Earth Day, Arbor Day, Peace Trees, Happy Trees...
I love the yellow tababuia behind our tree. It was in it's prime on Earth Day/ Arbor Day. For those of you who aren't familiar with the tababuia, the yellow blossoms don't last long and when they fall, they rain down, making bright yellow petal puddles on the ground beneath. Our realtor's daughter named them 'happy trees' so that's what we call them too.
We had quite a show of helping hands from the Multi-faith Education Project and ArtReach Orlando. The bottom tree blessed Winter Park City Hall with it's presence until it joined the other three trees at the Winter Park Chamber of 
Commerce. Go visit them there!
The trees will bring some festive color to Winter Park's Kentucky Derby event next weekend. I've been commissioned to make another fascinator for one of the hosts. Now I have the fascinator bug and ordered a book, fabrics, and lots of feathers.
I have been making plastic bottle forms since 2004 and I thought I had seen every idea. I should have known better since every group I work with brings new ideas. On Earth Day, a volunteer brought Sharpies so that participants could write messages of peace on the blossoms and I love the Chinese dragon that one gentleman created, more interested in the engineering than the final product. It is pictured next to a blossom a woman made that I think looks just like a bleeding heart bloom. My former student, Hugh, discovered a striped painting technique I am using for the derby project.
I am so grateful to The City of Winter Park, ArtReach Orlando, and the Muti-faith Education Project for doing so much prep work and making this installation such a success.
a touch of panache...
I found another model that works for free. She's green because she doesn't get to keep the fascinator. Found some plumes and veil netting to add panache!
Birthday Caking and my Fascinating fascinator!
My friend Harriet Lake asked me to make a fascinator for her Harriet's Favorite Things event on Thursday. Here's what I have so far... thinking of adding some netting.
When Danielle turned 8 or 9 we had a big garden birthday party. I made a crazy 3 tiered cake and kept adding decorations to it. Danielle pronounced it finished but I couldn't resist adding some candied violas I had made and I overworked it. So Danielle recently coined the expression: "Don't birthday cake it..."
Thankfully Harriet loves my crazy over the top birthday caking!
Earth Day this Saturday in Winter Park...10am-2pm
When did this five-year-old art student turn into a young man? I am working with ArtReach Orlando, the city of Winter Park, and the Multifaith Education Project to create an Earth Day installation on Park Avenue in Winter Park on Saturday, April 20th from 10-2.
On Tuesday and again today I joined Jewish, Christian, and Moslem students and their families to do some prep work for the big event and ran into former students who had miraculously grown-up. Before I even arrived they had collected and prepared 1400 bottles! We painted them in advance for Saturday's celebration and students learned the process so they can help teach the public how to cut and glitter the blossoms.
In my tradition, the Tree of Life has leaves for the healing of the nations. I am so honored to get to take part in this interfaith collaborative project which adds a layer of meaning to my tree project. There will be four trees, one for each school that participated and one from ArtReach Orlando, that will bloom on Saturday and then be on display in various places in the city. Stop by and see me and make a blossom!
Thank you Sargent Art and M Jacobs and Sons for again donating supplies. (Please 'like' them on facebook to thank them for me!)
Earth Day colors, crossing my fingers, and a bored dog.
Finally catching up on my bottle cutting! Zuzu was no help. Note her boredom. But how could you be bored with this palette?
Tomorrow I go to a panel review for a grant I have applied for to do an Earth Day installation in Winter Park. Wish me luck!
On a roll...
My roll of wonder is finally losing the Lorax look that was stressing me out.
Ad hoc studio, taking it to the beach...
Actually, I'm takin' it to the back porch, but 'beach' sounded more like 'streets' as in "Takin' it to the Streets." I am feeling cooped up, so I moved my beads and bottles out onto the porch to create an ad hoc studio, as though I haven't taken up enough of the house already. I'm guessing the only thing I will get accomplished is a tan. 
Roll-of-wonder 2 at break of day... got bottles?
I found a bag of bottles in the garage and got busy on my second roll-o-wonder. I could hardly wait to get some daytime pictures of this latest piece in process, but even these photos don't do it justice. It's pure yummy.
Water bottles anyone? Send them my way! Recycling day isn't until Tuesday and I can't drink water fast enough to supply my habit.
Roll of wonder, take 2....
It was getting dark so the photo isn't the greatest. Starting a new panel.
Washington Post... wowza!
Just received this e-mail from the Director of the garden:
Greetings Friends!
Just spreading the happy news that our bottle blossom trees were the feature article in the Sunday print edition of the KidsPost of The Washington Post. There was a large photo on the cover of the pullout section showing one of our colorful bottle blossom trees at Annmarie -- with a nice caption that mentions us - and then inside there was more about how to make bottle blossoms.
If you didn’t get a chance to see the print version, you can explore the online version by clicking on one of the links below – there are three different online articles that refer to the bottle blossom project……
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/turn-plastic-bottles-into-beautiful-blossoms/2012/07/26/gJQARHL3DX_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/making-bottle-blossoms-at-annmarie-garden/2012/07/26/gJQAket1DX_story.html
Here's a snapshot of the wedding couple I stole from facebook...
Pretty dreamy!