On My Work Table

Do you recall the sneak peeks I gave you of these on facebook back in June?

I was able to finish up this past week but I needed Randy's help to come up with a way to be able to hang the pieces that would allow them to still move! Why? I wanted them to retain some of their original intent. Do you know what they are now?

THAT'S RIGHT! OLD VINYL LPs!! They were beyond use from scratches but they sat still long enough to get paint on them! I have 3 that are with two each and one that has three. Every one still spins! They are able to be hung on the wall in this vertical position. They have a protective matte finish on them as well and as you turn them you get ever changing art! I would recommend limiting the amount of handling if you want them to last YEARS. Oh and yes the grooves are still visible. They also have a decorative bead in finish the center. 

Dreaming of Lantana

Stepping out of my favorite color palette and into green, orange, pink and yellow brought memories of Lantana flowers to my mind. Does it conjur up something else for you?

Exploring Aboriginal Art

Since I posted about this art challenge I have been playing with this art form and am thoroughly enjoying it! For me, it includes many of my favorite things, dots. circles, symbolism and my focus for this year - mandala.

I have not decided if I am participating in the challenge yet (based on some travelling coming up and time issues) but am still creating some pieces for my own enjoyment (and possibly selling if you are interested!)


So I shared this sneak peek the other day on facebook....

Here's the entire piece and an explanation of the symbolism for me....

If you are a regular reader ( and I hope you are or will become one!) you know that I have chosen "complete" as my word for this year. This is a representation of that word. The very center image indicates a camp or home with symbols for people surrounding it. I chose one male and 4 females since that is what our family consists of. From there, the blues represent water with the final outside row being tracks that people would make on a journey. After traversing the world for 30 years, we are about to come full circle in our journey to create a home for our family in the islands later this year. I think this says that rather nicely and I can't wait to hang it in our future home!

Today I have been working on something less "personal" but still within the art style of Aboriginal Dot art. But I will only give you the sneak peek from facebook for now...and say I am thinking of lantana.

Mandala Respite

Just two sweet little hand drawn and water colored mandala I painted last night waiting for Randy to come home from class.

Deep Observations or I Am Kinda Strange

While working on mandalas the other day, I began to think about things that I am attracted to and love to draw, collect or am just purely interested in. This prompted me to look at a few of my pinterest boards (and this is why I like pinterest) in order to gain some perspective. I began to notice some connections and as I did things began to become more concrete in my mind. I see a long time pattern of these things that weaves through out my life time. In reading this you may discover much about me including that I am big geek.

Now remember, my word for this year is "COMPLETE" which is what gave me the idea for CIRCLES or MANDALA. I have always been intrigued by KALEIDOSCOPES, STAINED GLASS, ZEN GARDENS AND ROCKS. I love to do CROCHET and have made numerous DOILIES. I can spend hours looking at JAPANESE DESIGN PATTERNS, KAMON (family crests), COLOR WHEELS, LEAVES, SHELLS, PINECONES, CLOCKS, GLOBES, COMPASSES, TREE RINGS. I am fascinated by STRING ART, SPIROGRAPHS, NAUTILUS, FIBONACCI, THE GOLDEN SPIRAL, ORIENTAL CARPETS, POLISH POTTERY, PLANTS, HENNA, TATTOOS, ABORIGINAL ART, AND ZENTANGLES.

Take a look at my boards and see how many times these things are pinned to numerous ones. These types of things are all over my house and included in my sketchbooks regularly. My husband informs me that no, not everyone collects this stuff and has boxes and jars and bowls and shlves filled with them. Hmmm. But its not just the circle that reappears - its the patterns. Though I do not know what it is all about I do know that I draw comfort and peace from these things.  Has anyone else ever seen this type of connection in your art, personal preferences, collections etc?  I would be fascinated to hear about it. If no one else does then it gives credence to my alternate title choice and I readily admit I am kinda strange.

BTW...I have one daughter who loves triangles.
I am not quite sure what is wrong with her.

Just kidding you crazy-bohemian-artsy-fartsy-hippie-weirdo-wild-child-of- mine!

Note: I know for many mandala, circles, etc are a spiritual symbol and it is for me as well. I welcome others to share their beliefs but please do not debate or disrespect any one else's beliefs or values if you choose to comment here. This space is not to bash any one or convince anyone they are wrong and you are right. Just like in my home, all are welcome here!

For what its worth: I am a Christian and just like Jesus, I hang out with everyone! Otherwise, who knows? I might miss out on making a great friend.

Sea Turtle Mandala

This is from Guada's year long challenge and I couldn't have been happier to see that the first one was honu! If you know me you know these are special creatures for me. I miss my time with Malama na Honu and hope to pick it back up once we return! Until then, I have this (and at least a thousand photos of the basking gang) to remind me of wonderful friends and precious memories!

If you are interested in mandala in general see this post for more info!

Initially I thought I would do this in color pencil but the paper was too slick to get the effect I was hoping for. Plan B - pull out my copics and see how that goes. Much better but not perfect. I didn't like all the circle lines that showed up so I chaned my technique from the normal suggested one (make tiny circle and get coverage then reblend) and was able to get a smoother finish on the orange areas and did a more marbled effect with the rest of it. I hope you can see in the jellyfish (and yes I know jellies are not usually green but that was the color scheme I wanted *S*) that I simply placed the tip of the copic down and lifted it without making a stroke to get a water like effect. I think it shows up okay? If you want to see other sizes click here. 

And just so we are clear - I only did the coloring on this - Guada provides the template in her challenge and collaborated with Jay on the design!

mandala 1

mandala 1, originally uploaded by Trish Nonaka.

As I mentioned I am going to try and improve my skills in creating mandala. This is a rather large one (it has an effect added to the photo) and done on sketch paper that I truly do not like (daley-rowney 65lb 11x14). I chose this paper because I really just want to get a feel for the design process and don't plan to do much more with these particular pieces. They may end up being designs that I use in future works but for now its the the exercise of creating mandala that I am focusing on. 

Do you draw mandala? If so, what is your process? Do you use ruler, compass, etc or free hand? Pencil or paint? I am really interested in knowing how others approach this so please - comment!

Completing a Full Circle

So before February gets too far along I figure I best post about resolutions, goals, etc. I don't do resolutions as most of you know and I don't do too much specific goal setting but I do choose my One Little Word for the year and determine certain focuses for the upcoming year.

First, my One Little Word for 2013 is "complete" (along with other forms like completion, completing, completed - you get the point) I mulled over "finish", "ending" and some other similar words but didn't like the feel of them as well. 2013 is truly going to be a year of completing things. For me it means a ton of projects I have had for a while now. Its time to either finish them or toss them. Over the holidays I did complete about 6 of them and was pretty happy with that.

(Celtic Heart)

Scrapping Focus - The main thing is to continue using the great plans I already have in place and keep moving forward in my scrapbooking. Although with 40 plus albums I am not sure how much more I need to document! *L* I plan to keep going with Library of Memories for storage, do another section in my OLW album (for now I keep a few years worth in one album), pick back up with creating my  Monthly book, and doing all this using the plan from Twelve! There are a few specific albums and projects I am either completing or tossing. 

Art Focus- This year sort of came about after my OLW was decided. I decided I want to work on mandalas/zendalas this year since they are usually circular and remind me of completions. I've attempted them before and have never been happy with them. It seems they are not as perfectly geometric as I think they are intended to be. I am excited to see if I can either improve them or find peace with them as they are. Expect to see a bunch of them. There are other things that will pop up as the muse and mood strike me so be on the look out for those too.

(mandala for my olw "complete")

Life Focus - The biggest thing that we are working on completing is our life in the military. After 30 years in the Air Force, Randy is set to retire at the end of this year. Hence the need to complete as much as I possibly can. At this point we are "staying fluid and keeping our options open" which can be translated to mean we have no idea what we are doing when we grow up. I do know we will be moving again but to where, remains to be determined. 

(USAF Chief's Creed and Insignia - done for Randy's office)

Health Focus - Now this certainly will not be something I complete since it is an ongoing lifestyle! I have not shared this directly with most people but I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes late in 2012. It was not a total surprise since I had gestational diabetes with all three girls and it got progressively worse with each pregnancy. I have seen figures ranging from 20% to 60 % of women develop Type 2 later on. I have worked very hard to keep this from happening and did quite well until my fibro hit and I became less active. I need to work even harder at it now. I am trying something different for me and that is to incorporate my reactions and emotions as I deal with this in my art journaling.