New Moon in Gemini Triple Artist Feature

New Moon in Gemini
May 24
5:11 am PDT

Plan on play and witty verbal exchange during airy, communicative New Moon in Gemini. This is a good time to put energy into friendships, to attend meetings, or to study something of interest. Let your curiosity keep you on the move and in the moment. Excerpted from the We'Moon Journal & Datebook.

This month I'm featuring lots and lots of Gemini artists because, well, Gemini does like company! Also interesting to note, is the fact that it was Gemini jewelers who responded to my call for Gemini artists. You'll understand more after reading their stories explaining how jewelry making just fits so well with a Gemini personality!

Spotlight on Gemini Jeweler Meredith Lasko
"First time customers at my jewelry booth often ask, “How many artists are represented here? The styles are all so different!”

As a Gemini artist, variety is my raison d’etre. I exist to create. One day I’ll spend six hours on an uber-meticulous wire-wrapped and crystal piece, and the next day it’s chunky gemstones and wood. My display is brimming with jewelry, and no two pieces are identical. I call my style “Zen jewelry” — whatever the inspiration of the moment is, I flow with it.

I also built my display booth - modular wooden stands that can be set up quickly, and fold down neatly at the end of the day. Geminis are good at working with their hands, and I equally enjoy stringing beads or assembling wood. Art and craft are a continuum — I think of an idea and create it with my hands, whatever the medium. I’ve made acrylic paintings, wire puppets, and wall hangings.

Geminis are known as great communicators, and I communicate most clearly through writing. Whereas visual art expresses one side of my creativity, written art — poetry and essays — gives voice to both my intellect and emotions.

So many ideas, and only (I think) one lifetime to go. I have been blessed."

You can find more of Meredith's jewelry online at:
Writing: http://www.meredithlaskow.com
Jewelry: http://www.meredithbead.com

Spotlight on Gemini Jeweler - Carla at Twilight Designs
"I am a Gemini. I love shiny things and little things. My work is forever evolving as I lose interest in one thing and then gain it in something else. I began making jewelry because I was interested in lampworking and chain maille and wanted to teach myself how to do it. Somehow, that has evolved into making jewelry from wire and glass, stone, and shells. Lately, I've begun making wire and glass trees like the one featured here. I think my Geminian analytical brain leads me to a style of working that is very detailed and intricate (although not the kind of detail that would require an excessive amount of patience!)

I love making jewelry because it allows me and my short attention span to focus on multiple things at once. I usually make jewelry while watching tv or listening to the radio or talking to friends.

You can find more of Carla’s jewelry online at:
Etsy: http://DesignsByTwilight.etsy.com

Spotlight on Gemini Jeweler Diana
"I am a Gemini and I do think that my work reflects that. For one thing, I don't have 'a look' mainly because I get bored doing the same thing over and over again. I need variety, a very Geminian trait!

Also, as you can see I have lots of styles of jewelry, one for each of my sides I guess! I can also say that I don't make anything unless I'm in the right 'mood,' because my moods do rule my life.

What I find so intriguing about making jewelry is that it keeps me interested because there is so much to choose from: gemstones, findings, colors, shapes, textures; they all keep my brain engaged and excited - you know how quickly we get bored...

What I think is interesting about me personally is that I have a very analytical job which I love that totally feeds that side of my personality, and then I feed my creative side by doing jewelry - so it balances two aspects of my personality that are important to my well-being.

You can find more of Diana's jewelry online at:
Web: http://www.dr-beaded-jewelry.com/index.htm
Blog: http://drbeadedjewelry.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Desert-Rain-Jewelry/80017356412

If you are interested in delving into your own New Moon influences to be prepared and get inspired for the month ahead I offer a New Moon Astrology and Soul Reading here (scroll part way down the page.)

To read more New Moon Artist posts please click here.

New Moon in Taurus Artist Feature

New Moon in Taurus
April 24
8:22 pm PDT

The New Moon in Taurus slows us down, letting our roots grow deeply. It is a stubborn, creative, earthy and sensual time. So get inspired, get a massage, make art or make love. Notice the things that endure; the feel of wood and rock, the smell of a home baked bread or Russian tea. This fertile sign encourages strong, slow growth. (Excerpted from the We'Moon Datebook.)

The Taurus artist featured this month is an Etsy online friend of mine and a wonderfully talented Australian artist.

Spotlight on Taurus Artist, Susan Rodio

"Being a Taurus, I think I display many of the typical Taurean traits when approaching my art and creativity. Firstly, I just LOVE beautiful things, whether those beautiful things are art objects, paintings, flowers, photos, or anything in nature and I can be quite obsessive about things I am interested in.

Also when I get started on something I can be slow and steady or cautious about it at first, but once I'm stuck into something I get this intense determination and become very focused about it and it can be hard to tear me away from the object of my attention (my partner finds this most frustrating.)

For example when I start a painting I am a little tentative initially, but once I feel connected to the work and in a flow I generally can sit for hours at at time painting away and I find it hard to actually get up and do anything else as I don't like to lose focus, often 6 - 8 hours can go by and I haven't moved from my chair, which I think would be hard for most people that aren't as fixed in their nature."

Website: http://www.SusanRodioArt.bravehost.com
Etsy: http://SusanRodio.etsy.com
Blog: http://SusanRodio.blogspot.com

To read about more New Moon artists please click here.

New Moon in Aries Artist Feature

New Moon In Aries
March 26
9:06 am PDT

The New Moon in Aries gives us access to our fire and our spark, but temper, impatience and passions run high. We’re urgent to get back on track and re-center in our selves, but the challenge is to maintain our compassion and our sense of empathy. It’s time to do what truly makes us feel alive; initiate projects, set boundaries and buffet our temper. Many new beginnings are hatched now, making it a good time to try new approaches and discover new outlets. Spirit is moving, so channel Moon in Aries with your vital willingness to be and to do.

I originally met Dianna in the forums on Etsy, in my search for an Aries artist who could articulate the connection between being an Aries and being an artist.
Here is Dianna's story.

Spotlight on Aries Artist, Dianna

"In response to your post last night, here is my take on being an Aries in my art life.

Being an artist is somewhat of a new adventure for me. I have always been creative but I found an outlet to express that through my occupation as a high school ESL teacher (English as a Second Language.) It was not until two years ago that I began to paint and a whole new world opened up to me. In many ways it's been what my soul has been searching for and I just never knew it.

In November of 2008 I sold my first painting at an art auction. It was a life-changing and inspiring experience. From that night on, I have been able to change my thinking from being someone who likes to paint, to saying that I am, in fact, an artist.

Since then I have focused more on creating and pushing the limits of what I thought I could do. I am constantly looking for new ways to think about my artwork and pushing myself to turn those new dreams into a reality. I enjoy the challenge of working all day only to come home and work another full day in my studio - there is nothing that makes me happier, and on the days I cannot create, I feel incomplete. As such, this leaves me up until the wee hours of the night (and I am not one that does well with incomplete paintings!), often coming to school the next day with bags under my eyes and paint marks decorating my hands due to the blur of getting ready in the morning. My students never fail to comment on it, and in many ways I am glad that they notice. It has given me the opportunity to discuss my passion with them, in hopes of encouraging them to follow their dreams. I fully support my student's desire for an education, but I want them to understand that life is more than that.

I am thankful that my painting has helped me not only tell them that they should find their life's calling, but to actually show them. In my heart I know this is what I am supposed to be doing, both teaching and painting, and I feel that my experience as an artist has not only helped me uncover who I am at the core, but has also helped me to be a better teacher as well. This time of my life is exciting, and even stressful at times, but I know I am finally listening to my inner being and in doing that, I am finally finding peace."

After emailing me the article above, Dianna sent me another email that I felt needed to be included in this post: "What a cool thing for me to sit and acknowledge my feelings in a way that I could put my thoughts into words. It has brightened my spirit and given me a new sense of courage. Thank you for your post. I can't say I would have taken the time to voice this otherwise. Regardless of whether or not I am chosen, I am glad that I came across your thread and wrote a response. "

You can visit Dianna's Etsy store here.

To read about more New Moon Artists please click here.

Art Heals

"Looking for Etsy artists recovering from a serious illness" - I posted this shout-out for artists with illnesses in the forums on Etsy and within 24 hours there were over sixty-five messages from artists all over the world. Stories and emotions were shared ranging from broken legs to brain surgery to multiple sclerosis.

ART CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!

Art-making takes courage and it can change the world. In the process of looking for artists to interview I discovered a fierce battalion of fighters determined to stay alive and fight the good fight, but with art, not weapons.

COLLEEN'S STORY
The first artist I interviewed was Colleen Stevenson and this is her story.

After sixty years of not knowing or caring if something was hand made, Colleen Stevenson is now passionately playing with beads and making jewelry all day long. At this stage in her life after facing death several times, “it’s not about work, it’s about being happy.”

In her previous life as a bookkeeper and mother to three children Colleen had no time for creativity. In 1999 at age fifty-four, Colleen was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and given a 50/50 chance of surviving, but survive she did through multiple chemotherapy treatments, and surgeries up until 2006. That was when Colleen lost her bookkeeping job, and she thought her world was over, "It was like a death sentence,” she told me. She had worked all her life up until now and at age 60 she felt she couldn’t compete anymore, she was unmarketable. It was time for her to stop, and think, and smell the coffee.

"I COULD DO THAT!"

During her many days in the hospital Colleen started noticing the cool and ‘different’ earrings worn by some of the nurses. "I could do that," she thought and she started buying supplies like wildfire; learning about jewelry making from books, magazines and online tutorials. In 2008 she joined Etsy, the largest online marketplace for handmade arts and crafts, and opened her online store called Designs by Colleen. The first time she made a sale to a non family/friend and they wrote back to say they liked it, well, she explained, “There is nothing quite like that feeling.”

SELLING ON ETSY

Colleen is usually the oldest member in the online chat rooms of Etsy but she feels right at home. She’s made real friends here, one of whom she calls regularly on the phone. Colleen had previously tried Ebay, Flickr and MySpace, but felt that she was spending too much time keeping up and not enough time creating jewelry. Colleen is constantly learning new things and ideas come to her from all over; in dreams, from magazines, catalogs, and on television. She spots a piece of jewelry she likes and figures out a way to make it look better, and then put her own twist on it.
In her newfound home of San Francisco where, there are no misfits and difference is accepted, Colleen has become a jeweler, and she will not allow cancer to define her. Colleen has learned not only to accept imperfections, but to love them with a passion.

You can visit Colleen's Etsy shop here: Designs by Colleen

This interview with Colleen Stevenson was originally published on The Maude Blog, July 19, 2008.

To read more stories and interviews with artists who are coping with serious illness please click here.

I'm in a Treasury!

Keltia, one of my Celtic mermaid watercolor paintings is featured in this Treasury of Arts and Crafts on Etsy (third row down, in the middle.) If you want to help promote this Treasury just click on the Etsy link and then click on each image you see in the Treasury and leave a comment too!

I also discovered a very cool website that allows Etsy artists to find out if their art is featured in a Treasury - Craftopolis.