Another View of the Magic Mushroom

Thanks for all of your responses on my Magic Mushroom. I did it with Marilyn Radzat's class at my website but still have to finish it. Here is the outside view as it sits on my worktable. My plans are to finish painting the rock path and edging (sculpted from Apoxie Sculpt) and add reindeer moss to the gourd base between the paths. I also have some mini mushrooms going to put on the base. It measures about 13" high.

WIPs

Inside top of my "Magic Mushroom"
One of my Works in Progress

WIPs (Works in Progress)

This seems to be a common aggravation of many artists and crafters: We start many things that we don't finish.

I think that there are two reasons that we don't finish projects:

• The amount of work needed to finish the work is overwhelming. Maybe we didn't realize how much work would be required when we started.
• We have simply lost interest and love for the project. There are no points here for finishing for the sake of finishing. If you don't love it, you are wasting your time.
  

I have several of WIPs myself and I actually had to let a lot of the old ones go. I chalk those projects up to a learning experience. I had to come to terms with the fact that I didn't have the passion to finish them. There is nothing wrong with letting an old project go because you're actually making room for the new projects that you will create with your honed skills.

For the projects that you do still love and want to finish, my suggestion is this:

1. Make a list of the projects that you still love and want to finish. (If you have too many, try to let a few go. It feels good to give away or simply throw away things that you don't love).
2. Place a checkmark by the one that you want to finish the most or at least first.
3. Ask yourself what one small thing you can do to progress on that project. So many times we become overwhelmed by the amount of work that we must put into a work to finish it. We can go under the radar of overwhelm by thinking of one tiny, little step to finish. And only do that tiny little step.
4. Repeat step 3 until your project is done.
5. Repeat steps 1-4.

The Inspiration of Poppies

It was Georgia O'Keefe's work that led me into the dream that I could be a full-time artist. In 1989, I saw an exhibition of her work, my very first trip to an art museum. My head swam with visions of her art and I something in me harmonized with her work and led me to know that Art was my passion. Her Poppies paintings are particularly favorites of mine and inspire me to look inside to my own expression.

Beckymae

JammerDesignz

LisaCookJewelry

ElizabethBunker's Etsy Shop

Sabineajewelry's Etsy Shop

Sugarlid's Etsy Shop

HaileyLuDesigns2

CeeVeeArt's Etsy Store

Robin's Blog

My daughter, Robin, is a photographer and has started a blog. Please go and pay her a visit and see how she sees things through the lens of her camera:

And I leave you with a quote that I believe with all of my heart.

Back from my trip and new bracelets

I made it back home after more than a week away. I don't leave again until next Monday. I have a class to teach in Placerville on the 9th. This is the project that I'm teaching. It's made from a gourd and I call it the Jeweled Leaf Bowl.

I spent most of the first days in bed with the flu, along with my grandson and daughter. Good thing her husband was away and that her bed was big enough for us sickies. We did some art, Bubbies (that's me) got on the skateboard with the kids several times (no pics to prove it, though), and I hit up a neat craft store, a bead store, and a cool little gallery called the Shabby House.

Here are a couple of projects that I worked on: A Dogwood Blossom pendant

And one of the two bracelets that I finished in Boise:

Here's the promised picture of my niece, Teagan Rose, and also my grandson Jake.