The color trend of the most recent decade struck me as somber and muted and so dreary but I kept creating with the vibrant, crisp colors I love; colors such as mango and orange and hot pink and red and… Well, the list is almost endless. Now, I am excited because those colors are back in style. Fashion has caught up to me, for a while anyway.

Some examples of color that works for the 2010 Spring season can be found in many of my and other indie artists’ works and I will fill the rest of this post with images for your enjoyment.

Seaside Sunrise by Patricia C Vener

Pink Champagne Beaded Brooch by NJ Designs1 on Etsy

Made to order 2-tone suede fringe clutch purse by stacyleigh on Etsy

Hand Painted Shoes by norakaren on Etsy

So now you can be all set for Spring accessories!

I love to talk. My family nickname when I was very small was CRJ, short for Constantly Running Jaws. I’ve always had a lot to say. As an adult, little has changed; I’m opinionated, verbose, and fond of the lilt of language, (not to mention the allure of alliteration). Finally technology has caught up to me! The Weblog has been invented! Of course I have my blog here on my website where I share not only my work (some in progress), but interesting tidbits of artistic information with other artists and art aficianados. Then there is my facebook Fanpage (are you a fan yet? Here’s the link: Silver Dragon by Patricia C Vener fanpage) where I am beginning to interact with more people who are interested in me and my work (I’m slowly building albums and followers). Of course I also have a LinkedIn account for professional interactions (where I’m known both as an artist as well as a teaching astronomer).

It’s not enough, apparently, so now I am also writing (one article published, two articles in progress) for the artist group Indie Smiles. I’ve had articles published at another entrepreneurial site, Home Jewelry Business Success by Rena Klingenberg and in a local advertising paper.

I love working with words as much as I do working with paints and beads. Art encompasses so much more nowadays than it used to and there are as many ideas, opinions, and opportunities to explore as there are artists and people who are fascinated by the arts. If you have a special fascination you’d like me to write about, just send the request to me and I’ll see if it’s something that gets a rise from my passion. If I do use your idea or suggestion, you will receive a gift coupon for a discount against a future purchase from one of my online shops.

Let art be part of your life everyday!

I promised I’d keep you in the loop on the creative process of my opus, “Oceana,” and so here is my latest update. Originally I had intended this piece for the Etsy BeadWeavers’ February challenge, but the piece has had other ideas. It was only recently I have been able to get the center put together as you can see below:

The central part of my bead woven necklace, Oceana

If you look back a couple posts ago to Oceana and the Tree on the House you will see some of the components now pieced together. I am presently working on the extension for the wave and following that will be the neckband and closure.

Art is easy, instinctive even, for me. Time management and other business processes are come less easily for me. These require me to engage in a different kind of creativity. Time management is a tool to make it possible to spend more quality time in the studio and less worrying about tasks I’m not crazy about doing. Time management can probably also help me manage all the different and varied artistic projects I have either already begun or am mentally constructing.

Two books that are making the biggest difference right now are Alyson B Stanfield’s “I’d Rather Be in the Studio” and Brian Tracy’s “Eat That Frog!” Both of these deal with procrastination and getting things done.

“Eat That Frog!” is focused on the psychology of procrastination in general exhorting one to tackle the most hated of the most important tasks first. “Eat the ugliest frog first,” he says. Interestingly, I sometimes procrastinate on tasks I actually do find enjoyable mainly because I find them enjoyable I think of them as a reward. Which, really, is silly.

Alyson’s book gives very specific guidance for very specific situations. “I’d Rather Be in the Studio” is a reference I will be going back to over and over again for she covers everything from maintaining a mailing list to planning for an opening to writing one’s bio to so much more that we artists need to address in order to seriously negotiate our ways through making a living through our art forms. Her book is very much “hands on” and “how to.”

In a way, these books complement one another, (though I have to admit I would never have found “Frogs” if it wasn’t for the New Haven County Women in Business – Marketing Strategies meetup group). In the end, I am finding that I am beginning to juggle pretty well even if not expertly yet. Creativity makes both my art and my ability to use the business skills I am picking up with others’ help.

Creating a new major work takes a goodly amount of time, from the initial idea to designing to choosing the materials to actually getting started. And there’s the restarting – at least restarting parts of the thing. I suspect this is the case for many art forms, not just bead weaving. Since showing the initial sketch and then the tray of possible bead candidates I have begun working on the actual weaving.

Worked in sections to be later sewn together

On the right of the snapshot you can see the sodalite cab, now bezeled with beads and sporting a trapped set of dangling fringe. On the left is a flat piece which will be formed into a rolling wave and in the middle is a piece that represents swells out in the ocean.

The necklace will include more fringes, a band, and embellishments. I don’t want to give away too much yet. Countdown continues as I have tomorrow and part of Friday to get the piece finished, photographed and listed.

As for the tree on the house part of this post: I can now report that the tree has been removed. Now we are waiting for better conditions so the insurance adjuster can climb up and ascertain the damage done by said tree when it fell.

I’ve been reading a lot lately about goal setting, planning, management and while most of the advice is all pretty similar, pretty much the same thing said in different words, one topic does not find agreement by all the experts. One expert says get the small stuff done, another says the opposite. A third says to finish a big job in as much of a single sitting as possible, another says do it in bites as much as you can spreading it out as long as you must.

Why do they disagree? Psychology. And the fact that no two individuals react in exactly the same way all the time. We don’t procrastinate the same way or for the same reasons so why should anti-procrastination techniques be the same. Clearly, then, they should not. Moreover, even as individuals our procrastination habits vary. Sometimes we are afraid to tackle something and sometimes we just don’t want to do it. Procrastination as avoidance. Procrastination as after-effect.

A tree fell on my Mother’s house. Normally the idea of having to call up the insurance company would have me procrastinating in terror. But because I had earlier approached a lead without putting it off I was riding a high of self-confidence and I was able to call them right away. Of course I’ve still had to make a dozen other calls (to tree removers, back to the insurance company, going over to the neighbor’s whose tree it is – was, now, since the poor thing snapped itself in two, back to the insurance company…) and it’s not over yet. But the thing is, I didn’t put it off and things are actually moving along more smoothly than I anticipated.

It was an important and huge task. The do it first and get it done people were wrong about this one though. I had to have breakfast and get a few small things done before I could tackle it. On the other hand, they are right in that it makes no sense to only do the small things. For me, the best solution is to start off by completing a small task then I can assign myself one of the larger ones.

Do you procrastinate? If so, what do you do to fight that inclination?

It’s Chaucer’s fault. Or maybe the ancient Greeks who celebrated Gamelion, a season dedicated to the marriage of Hera and Zeus; or the ancient Romans who observed a complex rite of fertility between the 13th and 15th of February. Or it could be an evolution from Lupercalia, another fertility rite specific to Rome.

In any case the Greco-Roman fertility festival was initially replaced by a Catholic holiday which has since become a mostly secular holiday celebrating more than just romantic love. Indeed it has become the habit that children exchange tiny cards exhorting the recipient to “be my friend.” Gifts get passed back and forth between people who share strong emotional attachments of all kinds. It is a holiday for lovers but also a holiday to celebrate friendship.

You can make this year’s Valentine’s Day especially memorable with an especially memorable gift; something that is unique in the world or in some way shows just how special the recipient is to you. Since jewelry is the one most traditional of gifts I am going to begin by introducing you to jewelry that is far from common or ordinary, created by artists whose work is exemplary and extraordinary.

Bracelet: Something pink and red and wonderfully frilly:

This lovely work of art was created by MaryLou using the Oglala bead weaving stitch. You can find this bracelt in her Etsy shop, Time2cre8.

Necklace and Earring set: This set features a Cherry quartz faceted pendant and sparkling crystal bicones. I used a very lacy variation of the Ruth’s Twist spiral bead weaving technique.

This set is available from my Etsy shop, Silver Dragon Creations by Patricia C Vener on Etsy.

Brooch: Silver is one of the most dramatic jewelry elements and this brooch by Wired Elements demonstrates this beautifully.

Visit the shop, Wired Elements on Etsy to purchase this and see more of this artist’s work.

One good way to shop is to look for local artists and artisans. Spread the love at home and buy from the talented people in your area. You will likely find everything from jewelry to pottery, furniture, toys, chocolates and maybe even locally roasted coffees. Etsy offers a search by location option and if you don’t see what you want, you can quickly expand your search parameters.

Garnet is well known as January’s birthstone because, unlike many other stones, it is the birthstone for both traditional and modern lists as well as for the lessor known Ayervedic list. But it is not the only stone associated with the month. Bernadine’s entry for January lists 12 birthstones!

Even as garnet itself comes in many colors, these 11 other stones are not confined to simple red either. Besides garnet these are emerald, ruby, turquoise, agate, onyx, lapis, amethyst, opal, and jasper (which is really another form of agate and both are quartzes!).

I say it’s nice to be able to choose alternates and agates and jaspers are so plentiful and colorful and a lot of fun. Among my favorite agates are Botswana agates for their rich, carnelian and sunny colors. Some time ago I was asked to create a necklace for a wedding gift and I found a most remarkable teardrop shaped cabochon of this type of stone. The name of the piece is “Barnaget Sunrise” for the couple hail from that exotic island and the necklace depicts that time of day.

Barnegat Sunrise

This necklace also includes two faceted carnelian beads and four honey amber chips. These play the role of early morning sundogs, an astronomical phenomena of great beauty.

If you’re a January baby you have choices! What stone would you pick for your birthstone?

In last Wednesday’s blog piece, Horizons 2010, I introduced you to may latest Masterwork in progress, Oceana by way of a faint sketch in pencil. Of course in my head it’s completely finished but before I can show you that, I have to do the weaving of teeny tiny beads and a few other components. Of course I love to have choices and so I pulled out a much larger variety of beads than I’ll probably use.

The Many Beads and a Cabachon that Might Be Used in Oceana

The small tubes on the right contain very tiny 15/0 seed beads, in the center are tubes of slightly larger 11/0 seed beads and there are bags of 5/0 Japanese triagle beads, some 8/0 seed beads, more 11/0 seed beads and three sizes of bugle beads (these are the ones that look like long tubes). There are also small freshwater pearls in their own bags, and larger dyed freshwater pearls and a sodalite cabochon which will be part of the embellishment.

Sodalite Cab and Dyed Freshwater Pearls

The sodalite cabochon is especially important to me as it is one of the stones I polished while I was still a young woman living at home. My father really enjoyed trying new things and one of his hobbies was rocks and minerals and he had built a small polishing stand in the cellar (near his darkroom so water could be run to it as well). I have a few small stones left and lots of rough. Sadly, I have neither the time nor, any longer, the cabbing machine.

Next step: start beading the bezel around the cabochon.

As I understand the theory behind the process, acupuncture allows energy to flow more freely along one’s meridians. Modern physical explanations referring to stimulated internal electrical currents and oxygenation aside, the traditional Chinese imagery is one that resonates with my imagination. My creativity can be likened to a not very classical river that however it moves and meanders is nonetheless subject to being blocked.

The clutter of my workspace has finally become such a distraction that my creativity had become stifled, dysfunctional even. I wanted to work on several projects but I held back from pulling out yet more items that would add to the disarray that had already moved to other areas and living spaces. I tried attacking it all at once.

What folly!

After several false starts I zeroed in on one representative of all this disorganization: my desk top. If I could get that cleared off might that not be the impetus to tackle other areas? Today I did tackle it in earnest and after clearing it, dusted it. And now? Now I can see the old wooden surface! Huzzah! Next are my smaller work tables and they are scheduled to be finished tomorrow.

Yes, the key is scheduling. And not scheduling too much. True the desk top took more than I anticipated but while I was doing it I also noticed other things that I need to get to and I noticed them in such a way as to be able to break them down. For example, as I put away some sterling silver scrap I found piled in a dish I thought, “Oh, I have to inventory my silver findings drawer.” Not, “I have to do my inventory.” See the difference?

Small steps. Now, after cleaning off only one surface, I was able to attack some old repair projects and start some new ones for my Valentines earrings designs that had been only vague musings in my thoughts.

Tomorrow it’ll be those small work tables, vacuuming and then more jewelry and who knows, maybe I’ll get more done on that Orchid painting.