Grow Your Blog, 2014! Welcome!

Hello friends! I'm so excited to participate for the second year in Vicki's 'Grow your Blog' party! Many thanks to Vicki of '2 Bags Full' for hosting this amazing opportunity to meet and greet other artists here in Blogger-Land! And yes... I have a fabulous give away you'll see at the end of this posting! In the mean time...

You're invited to relax and take a look around. Oh, first... let me introduce myself. I'm Chris Flynn, well into my sixties (even I have a hard time believing that! Long live the class of '65!!). I live happily with my husband, Molly, our Saint Bernard, Lulu, our Basset hound, three cats, and a bunch of lovely Redwood Trees, nestled here in the Santa Cruz mountains.

My husband helps me run our Antique and Arts collective in nearby Boulder Creek. Here are just a few of our 30 dealers.

I'm lucky to have a studio to play in! It's the pink building in the back of our cottage.

Currently my creative Muse has directed me into two specific areas... making Lace Books and Spirit Dolls. First I'll show you a few of the Lace Books...
 This one I made for a dear friend who suffered a serious broken elbow. It's full of pockets to store her get well wishes and prayers in.

 This one was dedicated to the women who paved the way for us today....

 This one is just plain silly... and sometimes too close to the truth!

 Yet another, filled with lacy goodies....

 

 In the last six months my Muse has guided me to making Spirit Dolls for healing and blessings.

I mostly stick with organic materials, keeping them as close to Nature as possible. I use natural terracotta clay for the faces and adornments. Pieces of Nature, branches, seed pods, Lacy Moss are gathered from Monterey to Yosemite. All of the clothing has been pieced from silks and designer fabrics that have been saved from ending up in the landfill.

 I enjoy creating their faces and embellishments from terracotta clay. I sell lots of these on Etsy.
You are welcome to browse through past blog posts to see some of my previous work.

The fun part of this blog-hopping party is not only making new friends, but many of us are hosting give-away prizes too!  So, I decided to give away a Spirit Doll Kit! This will include everything you see here....

Plus some Lacy Moss for your doll's body, and a selection of silks for her clothing. I've posted a tutorial on how to make a spirit doll (click here).
So you can make something like this...

How can you win, you may ask? Just leave a comment! And I'll be EXTRA happy (hint hint) if you become a follower member and follow by email! The winner will be chosen on February 15th.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed your visit. I'm really hoping to connect with you, especially if you enjoy a spiritual dimension in your creations.

Thank you for visiting. I'll be hopping over to your blog soon too!
Sweet Blessings, Chris

A Creative Day...

I felt the energies of these two Spirit Dolls calling out to me. so I spent the day in my studio, and look who turned up!

Terpsichore
In Greek mythology, Terpsichore ‘delight in dancing’ is one of the nine Muses ruling over Ballet and Dramatic Chorus. This Spirit Doll was created as a tribute to my new friend Brigit, to remind us to continue to dance through life, no matter what life brings us. No matter what we must do, we can allow the Grace of Dance to influence our thinking, to move through the challenges of life.

Terpsichore was crafted from a river washed branch found in Yosemite Valley. Her body is molded from Lacy Moss collected in Monterey Bay. Her clothing is crafted from recycled silk scarves and decorator fabric samples. Her face and breastplate are molded from terracotta clay, embellished with African trading beads and Czech Glass beads. The purple leaves are from a vintage flower corsage.

Emergence
The Re-emergence of the Goddess...
 She is awakening;
She is opening;
The veils of illusion have lifted.
She is here to remind us to lift our own veils of illusion and to embrace our passion & purpose.
 ‘Emergence’ was created from a mere Monterey Bay Cypress branch, already covered with lovely Lacy Moss. More moss was added to her body, along with torn strips of Thai Silks. Her head piece and Brooch are vintage. Her face was molded with terracotta clay and painted with many layers of  Byzantia glazes.

Guest Artist! Brigit Snyder

Good morning dear friends.... I'm hosting a guest artist today. Brigit has been making beautiful Spirit Dolls for some time and just recently purchased a few of my Spirit Doll faces. I'm so proud to introduce her work to you. You can find her blog here.

And this is her lovely creation: MOTHER OF TIME

I am the Mother of time. Immortal and infinite I gave birth to the past, the present and the future, simultaneously. I am a sacred Goddess, cradling the innocence of all things; all universes. I am the Essence of Love. Beautiful Faces Made by Chris of MyIrishGypsy on Etsy. Doll Inspired by Grieseda Tello of Awesomeart on Etsy.

Do stop by her blog and leave her a comment!
Sweet Blessings, Chris

Newest Spirit Doll Faces...

Okay.. I keep jumping from one side of my studio to the other, from the sewing center to the crafting/painting area. So yesterday, while I finished up the 'Gathered Prayers' lacy book, I also painted the finishing touches on the group of newly molded Spirit Doll faces and listed them in my Etsy shop. Customers have asked for more specific colors. So using my wonderful Stewart Gill paints, this is the result. Each face has at least six layers of color glazing, all rather iridescent, with greens, blues, purples, and golds showing through. I just love making them, and I love the way they turn out.

I'll tell you more about this last grouping later in the week. (hint, hint: I'm giving them away!)

 

One last thing... I've decided to sell my set of Copic Markers. They are pretty high-end for my graphic art or journaling needs. They are for sale on Ebay if you're interested.

'Gathered Prayers' A Lacy Book Album

Hello friends... Have you ever wanted to create something for a friend who is ill, injured, or hurting? I felt a deep draw this week to create this Lacy Book for my friend Sue who broke her elbow, has had surgery, and will be months recuperating. She is part of a huge Christian Church, I know she'll receive many, many get well cards. So this is a Lacy book that is full of many, many pockets for her to keep her cards in.  She's one of the dealers in my shop, so we'll all write little notes on some tags I've yet to make.  This whole process was such a 'feel good' project to do!

My kind of vacation....

Ah... after the over-the-top month of December, both for creating art and SELLING art in my shop, Boulder Creek Antiques and Art, hubby and I are here at Angels Camp, enjoying five days of just peace, quiet, and art work.

 I just started another of Joanne Sharps Journaling classes. "My Awesome Life, 2014". A year of journaling. This page is off topic, but my intention is to create art, not to sell, but as an act of prayerfulness. Thus I decided to do a layout of the Buddhist "Loving Kindness" meditation.

 I LOVED picking up the watercolor brush! It's been about two years since I played around with watercolors. Ah... the delicious feeling of a brush loaded with drippy, saturated, color!

I started out yesterday by sketching and painting the undercoating of a sunflower painting in acrylics. This is a painting I'm doing with the intention of selling.... but, I'm trying to get away from the push of producing 'sale-able' art. The Art Journal is dedicated to ME... just for me... for my own pleasure. (Not sure I'm all too comfortable with that concept.)

 This is just the under-painting.... much more to do. But I got kind of bored and switched over to my art journal. Is there a message there? hmmmm