For this week, our assignment was to draw a pencil sketch using shading techniques. The hardest part of this lab was choosing what to draw. I decided to draw a pencil that I had readily on hand. I’m quite pleased with my efforts – I just wouldn’t mind having some assignments that involve color for a change:
I had planned to blog about my garden every month, but I missed last month… it was a bit wet and cold. There didn’t seem to be much going on(I’m sure my garden would beg to differ). Anyway, I went around today and took photos of my garden and grove. The Washington navels are just delicious right now. My other favorites, gold nuggets and tangelos are almost ripe, as well as the oro blancos, lemons, and calamansi. When we first moved here, I thought the calamansi were tiny tangerines. I tried one, and boy, was I in for a surprise. Calamansi look like tiny tangerines, but taste like lemons. They’re great for using in cooking. Things are just starting to grow in the garden. Last season we had a pleasant surprise when “volunteer” hollyhocks grew in the garden. I hope they return this spring and grace us with their presence. Here are photos from my front grove and garden:
And here are photos from my back garden. The local mountains are still snow capped. After some difficulty last summer, the lavenders are looking really good now. We had a few days of cold weather and the banana trees suffered. It’s nothing compared to what the rest of the country is experiencing, but for California standards, it was cold. I do a fair amount of planting, but more often than not, after I plant something, I forget their names. I’m afraid I’m not a very conscientious gardener. My dogs love to eat the fruits that fall from the Queen palm – they leave the pits scattered all over the patio. And here is our garden gnome “Harold” presiding over our little pond. His brother “George” presides over the vegetable garden, but I didn’t take a picture since the vegetable garden is a real mess right now :-). I had planned to make it a year round vegetable garden, but it didn’t happen this past season… maybe this season?
This week, I made a lampwork “Bluebird of Happiness”. A bluebird of happiness has lots of wonderful meanings and symbols associated with it. It is a widely accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird. This bluebird of happiness has been made into a pendant for a very special friend and is already on it’s way to her:
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This weeks drawing assignment was “Negative Spaces”. This one was hard for me to do. Drawing in negative spaces requires looking at and drawing the surroundings of your subject, not the subject itself. The hard part was that we were not supposed to draw any outlines. When I began this class, I decided no matter the results, I was going to post my work. So, here it is. I added some fun altered art type frames to distract from my less than stellar work(L-R: orange, goblet, sunglasses):
It’s that time of the month again. The theme for this art show at the RAA is “Faces And Places”. I made a beachy bracelet/earrings set using the bird a week bead from last week. I also made a Redlands Orange necklace/earrings set – I’m in the mood for oranges! The Washington Navels are ripe and delicious! the tangelos should follow soon. This is the best time of the year weather wise around here – the sun is shining, and the air is crisp and fresh. I love living in a citrus grove. My children are not so enamored with eating oranges, etc. but I’ll never tire of it. Anyway, here are some of the jewelry I will display for this month’s show:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” – William Shakespeare ~ Romeo and Juliet
I have had wonderful and overwhelming comments from bloggers all over the world by participating in the OWOH Event. One comment in particular from Mervi of Finland made me do a double take. This is what she wrote:
nice to meet you via OWOH,
your blogname sounds “very ugly” in Finnish,
never tell it if you visit Finland! (hint), but you’ve
done such a beautiful things!
Lovely gift!
greetings;-))m
Initially, I was like, “what the heck?” and then my curiosity got the better of me and I had to google the meaning of Lutka in Finnish. Well, here is a link to the urban dictionary definition (my daughter kindly informed me that the urban dictionary is not always right): Lutka in Finnish. Needless to say, I burst out laughing! I told my DH about it, and he also thought it was hilarious. So, I will now clarify the reason I named my blog Lutka And Co. My husband originally comes from Croatia where they call dolls Lutka. I thought it sounded cute, and back when I made dolls(nearly two decades ago), I decided to call my doll making business Lutka And Co. I embellished the logo with cartoonish drawings of two boys and a girl(for my children). Although I currently make jewelry, I kept the name Lutka And Co as a business name. I am now getting back into dolls. I am slowly but surely working on my Izannah Walker Doll, and have a new interest in Blythe dolls. So, Mervi, thank you for enlightening me on the meaning of my blog name in Finnish. I will heed your advice and not bring it up if ever I should find myself travelling through Finland. I hope that the blog name will not disappoint unsuspecting Finnish gentlemen looking for “ladies of a certain persuasion”. They will come to my blog only to find a happily married middle aged mom making jewelry and playing with dolls 🙂 Here are some of my “Lutka’s” that I made in the past:
Oh, I have had some inquiries as to what a cockapoo is. To the left is our temperamental tiny toy poodle Koko, and to her right is Hiro our cockapoo(cocker spaniel/poodle mix) with his favorite rubber chicken toy.
I am participating in the fifth and final One World One Heart Event. OWOH is a worldwide event for bloggers only. It gives all those who blog a chance to meet and mingle and form connections with those they may not have otherwise met from all over the world. For more information and/or to participate, click on the logo below:
First off, thank you for stopping by my blog! Now to introduce myself: My name is Linda, and I live in sunny Southern California. I have a wonderful husband, three wonderful children; two boys and a girl, and two dogs; one, a crazy neurotic tiny toy poodle, and the other, a bit of a fraidy-cat, cute and goofy cockapoo. My boys are both in College, and my daughter is in HS. I am a stay at home mom, “retired” from engineering. I love to try just about any creative thing that comes my way. Currently, I make jewelry, mainly from lampwork glass beads that I create myself. I also like to do needlework, sewing, knitting, crocheting, digital graphics/scrapbooking, photography, gardening, baking, sometimes rock polishing, and making dolls. I recently stumbled onto the world of “Blythe”. I also like vintage, retro, modern, the list goes on and on… This year, I decided to live an “artful” life; something that gives me pleasure, and nurtures my soul. To this end, I have joined challenges, an on-line art class, and sign up for classes within driving distance whenever I can. I came up with three “door prizes”. If you would like to be put in the drawing for these prizes, please leave me a comment with which(or all) prizes you are interested in, and also leave me your name and blog address so that I have a way of contacting you(if you should happen to be the winner) as well as visiting your blog. Thanks again for stopping by, and have a look at the following prizes:
Pink Rosette Spring Bracelet & Earrings Set: Bracelet and earrings made of my lampwork beads, light pink quartz rounds, etched light pink druk beads, green glass leaf beads, and sterling silver components. The bracelet fits wrist size up to 7 3/4″ in diameter. Can you tell I love pink? 🙂
Redlands Orange Set: A pendant necklace made with my orange lampwork beads on an 18″ sterling silver chain and matching earrings with sterling silver ear wires. I live in a town with a history in the Citrus Industry. In fact, Our home is nestled in a small citrus grove. A perfect description of our town would be “old craftsman homes surrounded by orange trees with a backdrop of palm trees and snowcapped mountains in the distance”. Ok, I don’t live in an old craftsman, and the mountains are snowcapped only in the winter, but you get the idea:
Blythe Doll Spring Ensemble: And finally, for the Blythe Doll enthusiast. As soon as I was aware of the Blythe Doll “phenomenon” I had to get one (two actually). My DH and daughter just roll their eyes at my renewed interest in dolls. My sons just humor me – probably because they are away at college, and do not have to deal with my sometimes quirky and everchanging “interests” :-). Anyway, I decided to sew a spring outfit, complete with a hand crocheted cap and genuine swarovski crystal earrings – in white and pink, of course! And here is Hanako(Hana for short) modelling the ensemble. Keep in mind, the dress, cap, and earrings are the prize, not the doll:
Again, thank you for stopping by! And remember to check back on February 17th for the announcement of the winners!
I attended a Photograph and Image Editing workshop today at the RAA. Our instructor was Lisa Mozzini-McDill. It turned out to be an informative class since I was never really aware of the optimum conditions for taking photos – I always thought more light the better. And, also learing about image editing techniques – I usually did the Ctrl-L, fix the brightness thing. As an example, I took a painting my sister did of me when I was a teenager. We took photos of our artwork, downloaded it onto our PC’s and went at it. Here are some examples of image enhancements and adjustments(the upper left photo is the original):
And here are a couple of shots of our instructor and fellow students taking photos of artwork:
I had a chance to get on the torch yesterday, so I decided to work out of the “box” and make a bead with a bird on it. I normally like to do florals, so it was fun but challenging. I TA’d in HS for a math teacher who taught bird watching. It was an interesting class to say the least. I remember going on early morning field trips with binoculars in hand looking for/at birds. I ended up making a focal bead in clear blue with raku and light blue frit, then embellished it with a bird that was meant to be a sandpiper, but ended up looking more like a sandpiper chick?:
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This week’s drawing assignment was Word Art. We were to start with the first letter of our name, and stack the rest in whatever fashion with block letters. We were then to fill in the gaps with doodle. So, here it is, 3 x LINDA:
I love making flowers, especially roses. The weather here has been sooo nice. The bare root roses are already lining up along the walkways at the nurseries. One day I would love to have an English garden with roses of every color. But, for now, I’ll make do with creating lampwork glass roses:
I met my friend Lorin in downtown Claremont today. We had a very nice outing going in and out of shops; the weather was great! Here is Lorin hamming it up for the camera – yes, I have a newfound appreciation/obsession for taking photos now:
There were a couple of shops that piqued my interest. Village Treasures was closed, but they had the prettiest window display. Barbara Cheatley Antiques & Fine Things was just wonderful! The shop is full of cute & whimsical treasures. I just love the stars they had encircling their pendant lamps:
Lutka And Co.
Cutiepie Misfits
lutkaandco.com 