Baubles and Orbs

I haven't done much puttering in my studio lately....I know more creative time will come after Christmas and I'm looking forward to that.  Right now...I'm choosing other things. But yesterday I was compelled to make a simple little tag to honor the season.

I cut these little baubles out of a catalog several weeks ago and they've been hanging around the studio ever since....pun intended.  I appreciate the non traditional colors....and they remind me of the bowl of ornaments at Margie's.

I knocked down the sheen on the image with matt medium and used metallic paper strips for the background. I glued on the baubles and added a little texture with a tiny bit of white paint. It's bright and happy.

Speaking of baubles....I thought I would re-share a project I did a year ago during a free class by Esté MacLeod called Creative Circle.  

I wrote about my process here:

https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2022/12/layered-bauble-wreath.html

I had a lot of fun making this wreath....and now that I look at it again....it reminds me of the colors in Margie's baubles too!

I do love baubles....but I think marbles are my favorite orb....and the subject of Christmas Moment #17.  

Every winter I put lights in my bowl of art marbles....and they come on every day from 4:00 to 10:00.

There are some beautiful handmade marbles here...one has a silver star in the center...and one is filled with liquid and has colorful bits and bobs floating inside.  

I'll enjoy this non traditional Christmas Moment glow all winter long.

Pausing and Shifting

"Winter Solstice is the great stillness before the sun's strength builds, and days grow longer. It can be a time to rest and reflect."  Found here

Today at 4:48 Eastern Standard time was the moment when there was the least amount of daylight...and the most amount of darkness.  The solstice is sometimes described as a time when the sun pauses for just a moment....then shifts in the opposite direction.  

I love the idea of pausing...and shifting.  A practice I need to do more often as I need to.

I took this photo of the southwestern sky exactly at 4:48. And although it's hard to see....I love the little glimpse we have of our neighbors Christmas tree from the patio.  One of the things I love about the darkness....is I have more appreciation for the special glimpses of the light.

Today for the solstice I'm celebrating this beautiful wreath Tracie painted using stencils she made starting with the number 3....and based on a lesson from the Creative Circle class.  I think it's beautiful. 

Happy Winter Solstice! Remember to pause....and shift...as often as you need to.

Tomorrow there will be a little more light. 

Layered Bauble Wreath

There are at least a dozen things on my to do list the next few days...but I couldn't stop thinking about the final project for the Creative Circle class with Esté MacLeod.  

So between my chores and Christmas prep I finished project #5....a layered bauble wreath. It's a bit of a watercolor explosion of color....but I just couldn't help myself.

The very first task at the beginning of this mini course was to paint circles. 

Lots of circles....and they became the foundation for our baubles for this final wreath project. I painted several pages....but this is the one I used for the project.  And late last night I started decorating them....turning them into baubles. 

After doing a little watercolor embellishment....I used gold and white paint pens for the details.  I knew I would be cutting them out so I didn't worry at all about staying inside the lines.

We were encouraged to use numbers again as a starting place for our decorating.....but I just stuck with lines and circles and I'm feeling a bit guilty about that.

Esté suggested we use a discarded watercolor piece for the background...or the leaves in my case.....and it was a game changer.  It was fascinating to watch her turn a discarded paint project into her wreath base in her video.

I had done this rainbow grid a while back...then never did anything with it. (This happens a lot....by the way.) It was colorful....and seemed to coordinate with my baubles.  Was it possible for this to become leaves???

I had already started to wash over it in green before I thought to take a photo.  I was skeptical....but I kept going adding in several shades of green in the white spaces.

I cut out as many leaves as I could from the piece....added some gold embellishments and covered all the edges.  The leaves ended up being quite magical.....I'm now a believer in the process and I loved how the different colors all came through. I did cut them in half to make them easier to tuck in...and it also gave me twice as many to work with.

I even used all the little cut-offs from the leaves and made little berries to tuck in. 

I got everything cut out....embellished and edged in gold and last night.....staying up way too late for me.  

This was my colorful little pile....all ready for my layered wreath.

After a productive chore morning I took some time this afternoon to assemble the wreath. I cut a circle base out of heavy cardboard and just started layering and gluing....no plan....just an image in my head and Esté's lesson as my inspiration.  

I used little cardboard scraps as spacers to lift some of the baubles.....I wanted to be able to tuck the leaves in and around and this left spaces for that. I used soft gel medium to glue...it's thicker and just a dab will do.

The wreath was hard to photograph.  There are lots of gold accents that are hard to see....and colors always look better in person.

But if I held it at just the right angle I could capture the light. It's all about the light.

This little mini class was just what I needed this holiday season....and I'm appreciative to Esté for offering it for free. It got me playing with shapes... numbers and paint....and reminded me how important it is to make time for art.  Even when I'm busy.

4's and 5's

The 4th project in the Creative Circle class was to make a round stained glass piece inspired by stars made starting with the number 4.  We were also encouraged to add circles/berries made using the number 5. 

I added the gold dots with a paint pen.....and had to photograph it at an angle so the dots would catch the light.

Using numbers as a starting place has been so interesting.  It forces us to be a bit wonky....and less predictable. No two stars turn out the same. 

I hooked all the 5's to the stars....and added a little green triangle to give a nod to a little leaf on the berries.  Then I just kept adding lines to connect all the stained glass pieces. It was a lot of fun to paint.

A few days ago after writing about the project going on my dining room table....I got an email from Susan from Scotland with what she's been doing on her table. Susan belongs to a textile group and they have been exploring birds.

Susan also signed up for the Creative Circle class....and this is her stencil wreath using the #3...which she used to frame her cross-stitched bird.

And we both signed up for the same little mini course on making Beautiful Books by Gina Ferrari (I haven't started yet) and Susan made a little book to house all her birds.  Her cover fabric even features a duck.

Here are a couple more birds in her book. Well done Susan!!! Thanks for sharing what was on YOUR dining room table!

I also just got a fabulous card and gift in the mail all the way from England.  After expressing interest in my torn paper flowers I sent a set of directions and a little pile of painted papers to Kate.

She...in turn sent me this lovely JOY card.....  

....and a fun selection of momigami papers she made. Momigami paper is paper that has been kneaded with starch making it soft....and almost fabric like.  It feels incredible. The colors are bright....but muted....and will be fun to find a way to incorporate into an art piece. Thanks Kate!  I love them.

The Number 3

I'm channeling Sesame Street....where each episode was brought to you by the letter B...or the the number 10.  So this post is brought to you by the number 3! 

3 is my favorite number.  

Esté's day three prompt for the Creative Circle class was to use the "3" shape as a starting place to create foliage stencils.....then use the stencils to sketch and paint a wreath. 

I'm not a painter....and I don't play one here on the blog....but as the saying goes...if you can't paint...then by all means PAINT!

I highlighted the original three on the stencils....it was such an interesting way to start a drawing. And using stencils was a brilliant way to sketch a wreath....moving and rotating the stencils to create repeating elements.  It made is so much easier.

I made several others stencils....but these were the ones I used in this wreath.

I painted in short little chunks of time today in between finishing my decorating....and that gave each element time to dry. It worked well because I'm usually impatient when it comes to drying time.

I could have done better with the outlining and accents.....but I'm thinking of this as a practice round. I'll most certainly be painting more wreaths with stencils.  And maybe I can even improve this one a bit. But this is where number 3 landed today....and it felt good to paint.  

And I've watched the day four video lessons....and guess what?  It features the #4!

Today's decorating moment is the shelf in the living room. I edited a few things out....and tucked a few Christmas things in.....little moments....most of them in sets of 3.

 

One of my favorites on the shelf is the tiny little wooden Nativity made by my sister Angie.  I think it was a work in progress....but LaVonn found it when they were cleaning out Angie's house...and sent it to me. I absolutely treasure it. Angie was such a talented artist.

I also love this Christmas cross stitch I found ad a thrift store....and the best part is that Margaret....a blog reader stitched the same one.  It's a small creative world!

My decorating is pretty much done....

and the Merry and Bright puzzle is definitely done.

And this sweet city scene is up next! Pure Joy!

The Number 2

I'm almost done with my decorating....and I'll give a little tour over the next few days.  We had some friends over to play cards this evening....so I'm getting started on this a little later than usual. I'm tired.....in the best kind of way.

I unpacked this little elf today....and she found her way to the puzzle table. 

She's one of my favorites....in one of the favorite spots in the condo.     

And this Joyful Santa is another favorite....from Paul years and years ago.

    

I spy a reader in the corner....and the Merry and Bright Puzzle is getting close.

As I mentioned in my initial post about the free Creative Circle class I'm taking, Esté often used letters, words and numbers as a starting place for her art. 

The second lesson (from yesterday)....was all about using the number 2 as a starting place for a doodle. I was skeptical....but gave it a whirl.  So I settled in late last evening and doodled with 2's....and it was more interesting than I would have thought.  This was one of the doodles....and I took photos along the way.

The photos aren't that great...lots of shadows because it was evening....

but it will give you an idea of my process.

And these were a few other little bauble doodles and some of them 

ONLY used the number 2...over and over.  Today's video lesson was all about the number 3....my favorite number.  But the lesson is more involved....so it will have to wait a few days....but I'm intrigued!

Baubles and Balls

Knowing when to stop is not my strong suit....and someone probably needs to hide my white Posca pen. But this is where I landed today with my Creative Circle project inspired by Esté MacLeod....a joyful abundance of baubles and balls.  I started with watercolor circles in the background....than added embellished gelli print circles on top.

I'll have to think of something fun to do with it....it was just the project I needed!

Thank you Esté! And...there was another lesson today I didn't get to.

It  reminded of this wreath I made back in 2020 which took on a "life of its own"....as I wrote about back in 2020.

I wrote about my process here: https://joyfulputtering.blogspot.com/2020/04/life-of-its-own.html

Back to baubles and balls....I made good progress today with the Christmas decorating.  And some of my favorite tree decorations continue to be my collection of felt garlands.....many of them balls. (Don't judge me for my storage method.)

I have the base layer on the tree....tomorrow I'll hang the rest of the ornaments.  And these little guys continue to have a spot in my heart....and they are perfect on the puzzle table. I can keep an eye on them....and they on me.

And also on the puzzle table...is my tower of Christmas boxes....

with all kind of fun little things I haven't unpacked yet.  But that will have to wait....tomorrow is another Joyful Puttering day with more baubles and balls!

We spent happy hour this evening with Dana and Anne at The Top of the East in Portland. We had a great view of the sunset....the Portland skyline....and Portland Harbour.  Good time...with great friends.