Art Blog Entry #52

4th Of July Dandelion

Dandelion's: Small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. These florets have the ability to spread with the wind. Beautiful creations, able to duplicate the parent flower with ease.

While walking along a trail near my grandmother's new house I spotted this white wonder. This picture was done using the Self Portrait function on my camera...I chose to apply this since it was already dark out I was pretty much pushing the lens up against the dandelion.

Even though I took the photo on July 3rd I still decided to call it the 4th Of July Dandelion, because it was about three hours until the next day and it looks similar to an exploding fire work.

I consider this to be one of my more professional snapshots. Hope you all enjoy this fire-work lookalike, I know I did (mainly because I did not see the real ones on the holiday).

Number Of Shots: 4

Art Blog Entry #51

Cornucopia

When I think of Cornucopia I visualize Thanksgiving. This was the hardest latch hook rug I have ever made. It was not so much as how big it was but how many of the colors were so similar. When it came down to the colors tan, light brown, and beige I literally had to count one-by-one each of the yarn strings; just to be sure that I was going to use the correct color in the right area.

In the end it was well worth the project, it helped make the day go by much faster and kept me busy. Sadly this will most likely be the last latch hook rug I make from a kit...I'm becoming a big kid now and need to begin my own projects. It has not been decided yet, but I'm planning on creating a latch hook rug using an image that my mom recently bought on sale. Her framed picture is a Britto, very colorful and very hard to find (especially framed). Keep checking this art blog for it...in the mean time here's some information pertaining to Cornucopia.

"The cornucopia is a symbol of food and abundance dating back to the 5th century BC, also referred to as horn of plenty, Horn of Amalthea, and harvest cone.

In Greek mythology, Amalthea was a goat who raised Zeus on her breast milk. When her horn was accidentally broken off by Zeus while playing together, this changed Amalthea into a unicorn. The god Zeus, in remorse, gave her back her horn. The horn then had supernatural powers which would give the person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia. The original depictions were of the goat's horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, was depicted with the horn of plenty. The cornucopia was also a symbol for a woman's fertility.

Alternately, Amalthea may have been a nymph asked to nurse baby Zeus while he was being hidden from Cronus. Since she hid on Mount Aigaion, which means Mountain of the Goat, suppositions follow that she was either a goat nymph or a nymph who tended goats. Therefore, either her horn was broken or her goat's horn was broken while playing with Zeus. In recompense, the God Zeus created the cornucopia. Further evidence for this is that Amalthea is another name for the constellation Capricornus, the goat.

In modern depictions, the cornucopia is typically a hollow, horn-shaped wicker basket typically filled with various kinds of festive fruit and vegetables. In North America, the cornucopia has come to be associated with Thanksgiving and the harvest. Cornucopia is also the name of the annual November Wine and Food celebration in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. Two cornucopias are seen in the flag and state seal of Idaho. There is also One seen in the state seal of North Carolina, the state seal of New Jersey, the coat of arms of Colombia, Peru and Venezuela, and the Coat of Arms of the State of Victoria, Australia, symbolising Prosperity.

The horn of plenty is used on jewelery, as it is a symbol of fertility, fortune and abundance. Some evangelical Christians warn against wearing the symbol, or the similar Italian horn symbol of male fertility, saying it is actually demon infested or unlucky, and equating it to the "little horn", a figure described in the bible sometimes considered to be the Antichrist."

Found all this on Wikipedia.org.

Days To Finish: 9

Art Blog Entry #50

Angle On IKEA

Earlier this month my grandmother came to visit for my graduation. While she was here she bought a chandelier from IKEA for her new house. And last week my dad paid a visit to her new pad, offering his helping services. Putting two and two together you can tell that my grandma had my dad build her new chandelier.

Eventually my father pieced the "puzzle", as he calls it, together only with negative feedback. My grandma swears that the chandelier was built wrong. So while my mom and I were at IKEA today we took a snapshot at the hanging lamp the way it should look, hopefully we can undo the mess.

Coincidentally while taking photos of the lamp an unusual yet interesting shot was taken.

Number of Shots: 2

Art Blog Entry #49

Starbucks Collage

For years now my mom has been going to Starbucks every morning. And over the years she has developed a nice collection of their gift cards. Until recently I thought the whole thing was ridiculous...that is until I became addicted to coffee. The love for coffee opened my eyes to every aspect of Starbucks, including their gift cards.

Together we have a lot of these gift cards, but they're always hidden, stowed away for safety. But while at Michaels today we decided to buy a see-through frame, in order to create a collage. As a team we pieced this collage in dedication of Starbucks.

Time to Frame: 0 Hours 21 Minutes 18 Seconds

Art Blog Entry #48

Noah's Ark Rug

My second latch hook rug, finally completed! This rug was 20 times more difficult that my first one. There were probably 15 different colors to work with, many that were very similar in color. I enjoyed the challenge though, if everything was stress-free in life then life would be boring.

Here's a recap of the story of Noah, his ark, and the animals that accompanied him.

"The story of Noah's Ark, according to chapters 6 to 9 in the Book of Genesis, begins with God observing the Earth's corruption and deciding to destroy all life. However, God found one good man, Noah, "a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time", and decided that he would save him. God instructs Noah to make an ark for his family and for representatives of the world's animals and birds in "whose nostrils is the breath of life".

Noah and his family and the animals entered the Ark, and "on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights". The flood covered even the highest mountains to a depth of more than 6 meters (20 ft), and all creatures died; only Noah and those with him on the Ark were left alive.

At the end of 150 days the Ark came to rest (on the seventeenth day of the seventh month) on the mountains of Ararat. For 150 days again the waters receded, and the hilltops emerged. Noah sent out a raven which "went to and from the Ark until the waters were dried up from the earth". Next, Noah sent a dove out, but it returned having found nowhere to land. After a further seven days, Noah again sent out the dove, and it returned with an olive leaf in its beak, and he knew that the waters had subsided. Noah waited seven days more and sent out the dove once more, and this time it did not return. Then he and his family and all the animals left the Ark, and Noah made a sacrifice to God, and God resolved that he would never again curse the ground because of man, nor destroy all life on it in this manner. Man in turn was instructed never to eat any animal which had not been drained of its blood.


In order to remember this promise, God put a rainbow in the clouds, saying, "Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.""


Interesting...story provided by Wikipedia.org.

Days to Finish: 4

Art Blog Entry #47

Bart Rug

Over the weekend I was thinking and thinking of new crafts I could try out. To solve my problem I went over to Michaels to have a look at their beginner craft kits. Eventually I came across the sewing/knitting/crocheting/etc. aisle. All of those things seemed difficult for a beginner, I needed something simple for my first go.

Soon I spotted a Bart, from The Simpsons. A picture of his face was on the box, and the box was a kit for creating a rug using a latch hook. I briefly read the instructions and concluded that this would be a easy way to get started on this type of crafting.

Traditional rug hooking is a craft where rugs are made by pulling loops of yarn or fabric through a stiff woven base such as burlap, linen, rug warp or monks cloth. The loops are pulled through the backing material by using a latch hook mounted in a handle for leverage.

I worked feverishly on my Bart rug until it was finally done. To tell you the truth latch hooking is super fun and good at keeping me busy. Maybe now I can move up to harder crafts!

Days to Finish: 2

Art Blog Entry #46

Origami Phoenix

Phoenix's are described as sacred firebirds who are immortal. Today I was confident enough to fold my very first phoenix. I made sure to practice making it several times before I used my special gold paper. The best part was that I only used one gold paper!

And now for Phoenix symbolism!

P.S. - Please donate gold origami paper!

"A universal symbol of the sun, mystical rebirth, resurrection and immortality, this legendary red "fire bird" was believed to die in its self-made flames periodically (each hundred years, according to some sources) then rise again out of its own ashes. Linked to the worship of the fiery sun and sun gods such as Mexico's Quetzalcoatl, it was named "a god of Phoenecia" by the Phoenician. To alchemists, it symbolized the the destruction and creation of new forms of matter along the way to the ultimate transformation: physical (turn lead into gold) and spiritual (immortality - an occult alternative to the Christian salvation). The philosopher's stone was considered the key to this transformation".

Information given by: Crossroad.to

Number of Attempts: 8

Art Blog Entry #45

Origami Swallow

Swallows swallow seeds! I was flipping through my origami instructional book and found (yet again) another bird. I think this birdie has a weird name...Swallow, the verb to swallow. Eh, that's just my imagination running off again.

Here's the symbolic meaning of Swallows!

"-The return home after a struggle.
-A hardship survived.
-A victory gained".

Provided by Freetattoodesigns.org

Number of Attempts: 1

Art Blog Entry #44

Son Of A Grumm

Son Of A Grumm! This robotic monster of a paper toy was one son of a...bot. Matthijs Kamstra a.k.a. [mck] developed this design as the final figure for "Urban Paper". I had lots of fun building this one. At first I was confused whether or not the pieces would go together, but after a while I started to notice why it did not seem like they would go together; I realised that robots are very "cubic".

This paper toy concluded my experience with this book. If you like this or one of my other paper fold toys then head on over to Barnes and Noble, you should be able to find it in the craft section. I hope the readers who do buy it have as much fun as I did.

Time to Build: 3 Hours 51 Minutes 11 Seconds
Number of Breaks: 2
Break Time: 3 Hours 2 Minutes 8 Seconds

Art Blog Entry #43

Two Grasshoppers Climbing A Pillar

Once again the lotus' are invading! After zooming home from my awesome work out I spotted (again) my grasshopper friend. This time though he/she/it had a little baby grasshopper with it!

They were climbing up one of the pillars in front of my house. And like last time I dashed inside to fetch my camera. Also the bigger grasshopper (who I named Hoppy) would not pose for me again. I took multiple pictures and eventually got the perfect snapshot.

Number of Shots: 28