Pick a Favorite !!!

the PCAGOE October challenge theme is "favorite artist "
voting begins Oct 1 Check out the members great entries !!!
you could win prize just for voting !!!
http://pcagoe.com/

Picking an artist was all BIG challenge for me !
I have a favorite soft drink ,a favorite laundry detergent ...even a favorite brand of peanut butter .
But , a favorite artist ???
Some art makes me think ,some inspires me . Sometimes I wonder at the skill of the artist . Sometimes I wonder at the artist's vision . Art can elicit strong emotion . Art can even entertain. I believe valid art can be pretty for just for pretty's sake . Art can tell us about the world ,the artist, ourselves . All that is ... all that can be imagined .........

Should I pick a great master, a contemporary artist ....maybe a folk artist ?
A painter ,sculptor...maybe a jewelry designer ???

Impossible !!!! I could NOT pick a favorite artist !!!

In the end I decided to make a tiny ballerina pendant inspired by Degas
One of his sculptures stood in the entrance hall at the Baltimore Art museum when I was a child .
That little Ballerina pointed the way to my appreciation of Art .
My entry is tribute to her as well as her creator, Degas.

Who my favorite artist is seems to depend on time, place and my mood
At the present one of my very favorites is my 5 year old granddaughter,Caroline .
Her art brings me great joy !!! Below her portrait of me!
Bead Happy , m.e. :)

Water Therapy

I am busy ,busy ,busy with Holiday clay!!!!
I do find clay very relaxing. But, sometimes I even need a break from that !

For me Scuba diving is a way to restore myself. Submersing myself the ocean seems to clear my mind and bring me great peace. I only am able to dive a few time a year and the memories do sustain me. But, I have made a great discovery !!!
"Teens 4 Oceans " is a wonderful conservation group that has placed 2 live underwater cameras in the Florida Keys . I can sit in my living room and watch the fish !!!
check out
http://www.teens4oceans.org/webcam/ggrp/camer1.html
you may have to scroll down a bit to see the cameras. They are working on a better web site layout ...just take a minute to look around .
Depending on the time of day and how recently they have cleaned the camera lens you can see the real time world under the Bahia Honda bridge and the Dry Tortugas dock .
The only problem is, just when I decide to stop looking , something really cool swims by !
I have seen turtles on several occasions and once a shark!
Very exciting !!!!!
In fact ,maybe the site is not so much relaxing as mind clearing .
Give it a look, if you need a moment to refresh or perhaps some fishy inspiration!

Bead Happy , m.e. :)

* photo by Annie, taken on our dive at Looe Key in June

beyond color...

Recently I completed a piece that will appear in a clay calendar .
All the calendar photos will be in black and white.
I'm all about color ! I love it !
In fact one of the things I like best about polymer clay is that I can
mix my own shades . Then there are Skinner blends , Mokume gane ...
no end to the color !

However ,this project did make me step back and think
How dependent is a design on color ? Will a shape stand alone ?
Things just don't look the same in black and white .
Annie's photo of a local stream ,lets me concentrate on the shapes of nature rather than the shades.

Last week I thought about color combination's.
This week I'm contemplating black, white and the inevitable shades of gray......

Bead Happy !
:) m.e.