A Tea Leaf Blog
Sale! * SALE! * Sale! * SALE! * Sale! * SALE! * Sale! * SALE! *
Perfect for those last minute Christmas gifts!
I'm having a Holiday SALE for a limited time! SALE ends this Friday, Dec. 18th. Click on the link below to check out all the handmade goodies.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ATeaLeaf?section_id=6068942
Rural Oregon photographs
Weeping Willow vinyl wallets
Standard Movement Series necklaces
Standard Movement Series Greeting Cards
Sale! * SALE! * Sale! * SALE! * Sale! * SALE! * Sale! * SALE! *
Tinymeat™ and I have united our creative powers to bring you...
Weeping Willow Wallets!
They are now in the Etsy Shop for only 15 buck-a-roos.
Exterior
The wallet's exterior has my 14th work of my Standard Movement Series, 00014 - Weeping Willow.
Interior
The wallet's interior is antique ledger paper. Coffee ring and scribbles included! Sewn by Tinymeat™ himself! How cool is that?!
It's Friday and you know what that means... new arrivals in the ATeaLeaf Etsy shop! And I have a special surprise for you all. You can now choose the artworks you would like for your wearable. It gets a little bit sweeter too: not just one side, but two!
Standard Movement Series Pendants
Choose your favorite front and back and I will personally custom make your new necklace!
Head on over to my Etsy shop and get the ball rollin'. Hope you all have a long and lazy weekend lovelies!
Here's to a brand new week! *raises latte*
I'm excited for this week, though it's not much different than the others. I'm just looking forward to what I'll accomplish this week with my art and with my design work. I've been working on a few projects for some time... wedding invitations... baby announcements... wedding website, etc. This is the week that I'm wrapping these projects up. I'm also planning on finishing the backs of my latest wooden block creations. Did you think I forgot? Nope!
Did everyone have a good weekend? Mine was pretty spiffy. Yes, spiffy. Justin & I visited the Tinymeat™ warehouse sale & Sausagefest! We munched on lil' smokies and pickles and chit-chatted with Tinymeat's owner Michael. To fill ya in, Tinymeat collaborates with artists making wallets, passport cases, and business card cases. Do check out their Etsy shop here! It was such a challenge to narrow down my wallet purchases. After going back and forth, I decided to purchase this fun goat portrait done by Ryan Berkley.
I thought this would be a great birthday gift for one of my best friends. Since she doesn't read my blog, I don't think I'm ruining the surprise. Ha ha.
More ramblings about the weekend... I watched the movie Capote. A - m - a - z - i - n - g. Philip Seymour Hoffman is becoming one of my favorite actors.
One thing I enjoy while working on my art is to watch movies. To say the least, I didn't get much accomplish while Capote was on. It's that good.
Lastly, I would like to present to you... my new batch of pendant necklaces creations!
Nurture thy Mind No.3 Pendant Necklace - Weeping Willow - purchase
Nurture thy Mind No.4 Pendant Necklace - Box Elder - purchase
Nurture thy Mind No.5 Pendant Necklace - Cherry Blossom - purchase
They each include drawings of trees that I have come across in Portland. This batch I added a pearl to each chain... for lil' something extra. I'm pretty happy how these turned out. It's going to be a little tough to give them up. He he. Kinda a bitter sweet thing... I love knowing that they are headed to a new home and again I like to think they keep happy thoughts close to one’s heart.
After three attempts, my 14th work of the Standard Movement series, titled 00014 is finished! I am more than happy to share this bundle of joy with you on this sunny afternoon.
Bike riding down the Eastbank Esplanade, I discovered a magnificent Weeping Willow. A willow with catkins, might I add. These cylindrical flower clusters are why it took me three tries to make this artwork, I was being a lil' picky of how they were drawn on a page torn from a bookkeeping & accounting study guide, which was once in the hands of a lady named Ava. The drawn raindrops and globe-like orbs faintly blend onto the page.
Within this 5" x 7" filigree frame, on the bottom left-hand corner, I included a snippet of a 1980's Kansas City, Missouri map, once owned by my mother & father. On the top right I included a snippet of a fellow’s charming message that was written in a young lady’s 1976 yearbook, which is also prominent in my 13th work.
You can vaguely see catkins drawn on top of the yearbook signature. They hide around a torn piece of a black and white photograph. I plan on using more remnants of this photo in future pieces. A b&w photograph of what you ask?
It's of an elementary class, adhered pretty darn well to a piece of worn matte board, with no date present. I purchased this photograph along with some report cards from a flea market. I love the idea of using bits of something that was once together, that has created something historical visually, that once had an impact on more than one individual. I like to compare these bits to pixels, which I also love drawing with brown ink sporadically in my artwork.
I also worked in a piece from a hard cover book about astrology that's full of tables. One thing that I think is thrilling about using used books is that at one time in it's life it was owned by someone else and it had a particular purpose. Years later it's now having a new purpose, a purpose that it was not intended to be used. I love flipping open the cover of old books and finding the previous owners name and address written by their hand. I question if they are still alive; do they still live at this address; did they read this book all the way through; did they read this book more than once? I don't believe too many people write their name in their books in this day and age. In today's culture it seems that we go through so much information, that it's easier for us to do away with books after a short period of time. Websites like half.com and Amazon have encouraged this. I find this interesting.
I'll stop there with that thought, I could go on and on but I need to continue working on some graphic design projects! I hope everyone is enjoying their Friday. Also I hope you have a swell weekend and get around to doing something creative! I'm really giddy about tomorrow & Sunday, I'm going to be spending many hours working on a new batch of miniature artworks for new pendant necklaces! Weeeeeeeeeeee!
Saturday and Sunday's weather was glorious. I very much enjoyed my time outdoors. Especially when I was able to hang out all afternoon on a picnic blanket in the park, reading. I picked out a book from the library called Plastic Culture, How Japanese Toys Conquered the World. It's a very delightful read! I'll follow-up with you all with a summary when I finish reading it.
Over the weekend, on my way back from doing a lil' bit of dog sitting, I visited the tallest bridge in Portland, the St. Johns Bridge. I don't make it around these parts of Stumptown often, so I had to take a snap of it's Gothic towers for my photo collection. Maybe some day it will wind up drawn in my art.
Speaking of drawing, I worked on my 14th work of the Standard Movement series, titled 00014. To be honest I wasn't too thrilled of how it was panning out, even after two attempts. When it came to drawing up the Weeping Willow's catkins, I guess I was a little persnickity of their final look. So hopefully by the end of this week I'll have something complete to share.
