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. : About me : .
 Name::Sapphire Dakini From::Santa Fe, NM, United States "The secret of life is in art." - Oscar Wilde View My Profile . : Artist Statement : .
My art is an exploration of the importance of change and releasing the past, especially the people and situations
that hinder personal growth, empowerment and transformation. The utilization of mythic figures, archetypes, motifs
and themes allows me to explore letting go of the familiar, safe and secure in order to travel to the dark, often
frightening, places of the soul. In this way, I've learned to trust my inner voice and honor my soul's need for
expression and challenge. . : Recent Posts : .
Words of Wisdom from the Daily Om . : Archives : .
May 2005 . :Blog Rings : .
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. : Portfolio : .
www.flickr.com
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. : Printmaking : .
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Artists Foundation . : Yahoo Groups : .
Art Dollz . : Blogrolls : .
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Sunday, December 31, 2006Book Roundup for 2006One of my greatest pleasures is to climb into a nice hot bubblebath with a glass (okay, sometimes the entire bottle) of wine & a good book. Here's what kept me company in 2006 (fiction recommendations in red)... FICTION
I have a very short list of authors all of whose books I would highly recommend: Carol O'Connell (the Mallory series), Phil Rickman, Tim Powers (thanks to DebR over at Red Shoe Ramblings for her recommendation of Anubis Gates), Alice Hoffman, & Elizabeth George. Non-Fiction
Labels: books 
Saturday, December 30, 2006Final Project for 2006 This is a small shrine with a spirit doll created for a friend in Dublin. The image on the top of the box is J. W. Waterhouse's The Magic Circle."A magic circle is cast to purify & create a perimeter of space where evil magic can't enter. Goddesses & good spirits are invited into the circle, which often has powerful, protective stones placed at the North, South, East, & West points. Each point is associated with the Four Elements. North is the most powerful direction. It represents the element of Earth, the celestial bodies revolving around the North Star, & encompasses all secrets, darkness, & the unknown. South is the element of Fire & therefore associated with the sun. This point signifies the meeting of East & West - intuition, insight, reason, & logic - & the channeling of the powers of intellect, clairvoyance, & nature. East is the direction for the element of Air, symbolizing clarity, spiritual awareness, & mysticism. West represents imagination & inspiration, as well as emotions & reason. The circle is a mark of infinity & eternity."  Inside the shrine are images from Ireland's countryside, as well as the following runes:Ken - fire, vision, light Ur - endurance, power Eoh - excellence, strength Os - harmony, wisdom, love  The spirit doll is a small felt doll embellished with a dichroic glass cabochon for the face, seed beads, bugle beads, rhinestones, brass findings & czech glass beads. Labels: shrine
... & there's another bright shiny object! Ack! I just took a look at what I accomplished in 2006 & I've been all over the place. No wonder I feel as though I haven't accomplished anything. I think the only term that adequately describes the situation is "art slut". Work Completed:
Okay, I guess the amount of work completed isn't too bad considering the number of classes I took, the number of hours I spent on pro-bono work for the Business Volunteers for the Arts & TransCultural Exchange, & the fact that I work full-time. Shows:
I had planned to enter more shows & submit work to select publications in 2006 but I just never seemed to have the "right" pieces ready at the right time. Newly Discovered Resources:
Classes:
Well, at least there was a bit of continuity with the classes that I took. And they did give me a chance to experiment & learn what I don't want to devote time to, as well as what I do want to focus on. I delayed submitting my application & portfolio for the 4-year diploma program at the SMFA until 2007. I just didn't feel as though the work that I was submitting was an adequate representation of my vision & what I could really do. Memberships:
I know, there's a lot of organizations listed. I maintain memberships mainly so I'll have access to their publications, etc. And last, but definitely not least in my world... Art Books:
I should probably seek help for my book addiction. But, I guess there are worse addictions to have. I have to say that for a year that started off with such promise, 2006 wasn't really a great year for me. But, lessons were learned from the battles fought & I've come out the other side a stronger person. Unfortunately, I think the chaos in my life contributed to the lack of focus in my artwork. Here's to 2007 being a better year. Labels: life
Thursday, December 28, 2006Addition To My Art Library "This timely project guide concentrates on 2 of the key materials being newly incorporated into textiles & fiber arts today — paper & metal. Both media are covered in separate sections that describe the unique properties of each, as well as textural methods, adding color, & embellishing with stitches. Paper can be molded, formed, cut, torn, embossed, & stitched; metal adds a new gleam; & additional dimensions of the material are explored with soft sheet metals, meshes, wires, & coils. Concepts build through each section, starting with elemental embroidery & basic, texture-building steps, & moving to exciting finishing ideas for combining & mixing techniques for original & innovative results."Labels: art books
Sunday, December 17, 2006Move Along... There's No Art Happening HereBut I have been spending a considerable amount of time making plans for 2007. There's just something about the holidays that seems to suck the life right out of me so I tend to hibernate & plan. I'm off to my mom's for a week next Thursday so I won't be starting any new pieces until I return. She's just informed me that I'll be spending time in her studio while I'm there getting her organized for 2007. This time of year always seems custom made for organizing art supplies & cleaning up the studio... for cleaning up computer files, blog subscriptions, Yahoo groups, email lists, profiles on assorted sites... for organizing the shelves of art books, taking out books that I might want to refer to for upcoming projects & putting away books I know I'm not going to need for awhile... for catching up on the art magazines that tend to pile up around here... for reviewing what's been accomplished... for deciding which direction I want to go in next year & getting everything lined up so I can "hit the ground running" on January 1st. 2006 was about getting settled in my new studio, taking a number of different classes & workshops, experimenting with different techniques, becoming more involved with the Boston art community, finding the "right" art organizations to belong to, etc. It was about finding out what worked for me as an artist, what doesn't work for me & what's going to provide the challenge that will enable me to continue to grow. 2006 was also about learning to work quickly on smaller pieces since I have a tendency to be a little obsessive. Beadwork, needleweaving, art dolls, & painting are interesting diversions but I've found that fiber & textile art (embroidery, surface design, embellishment, etc.) is really what captures my imagination. I've also discovered that themes & symbolism are very important to me. As a result, my new pieces will have much more of a "backstory" to them. Labels: life
 "Nicole, 31, is living an extended adolescence, still in rebellion against her parents' suburban middle-class, do-the-right-thing lifestyle. Her father has recently died; her older, domestic diva sister is prone to histrionics. Nicole herself is involved with a married man & does not have a clue how her actions may impact other people. Everything changes in an instant when Nicole's mother, Gwen, dies in a violent assault. After the ensuing investigations & memorials, everyone is surprised when Nicole steps into her mother's shoes & gradually begins to adopt aspects of Gwen's personality. Within this transformative process, hidden details of Gwen's life come to light; we learn that this cheerful, perhaps overzealous woman who was called "Feather" in high school had some ghosts of her own."Labels: books
Wednesday, December 13, 2006HousekeepingIt's that time of the quarter again when I clean up my Blogroll & Blogarithm subscriptions. It turned out to be a bigger project than usual since a lot of people packed up their blogs & moved them to new neighborhoods over the past few months. Makes me wonder what I'm missing by staying with Blogger but, all things considered, I have had very few problems. A couple of minor glitches when I first switched to the Beta version but nothing that couldn't be worked around. I upgraded to the newest version of Internet Explorer which took a bit of adjusting to. I'm very much a creature of habit when it comes to my computer so when icons change, I'm a little lost. This new version enables you to have multiple homepages which I really didn't see the benefit of at first. Then I realized that this new feature would enable me to maintain a customized Google homepage in addition to my customized Yahoo homepage in a single browser window. One of the services that I've been using but was less than happy with was BlogLines so I've switched to Google Reader. Love it! Much easier to add new blogs & Google Reader can display all of the pics in the new posts preview whereas BlogLines generally couldn't. I also took a hard look at the Yahoo Groups & email lists that I belong to & cleaned those up. So many of the conversations that happen have absolutely nothing to do with the purpose of the group that it isn't worth remaining. Another discovery made was Gather.com, a social networking site for adults. They're targeting the "NPR" demographic & there are quite a few groups in place already for artists to connect. I've set up my profile, tags, etc. & have joined a couple of the groups. Labels: life
Sunday, December 10, 2006What I'm Reading "On a cold October night, 5 people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore & begin preparations to break into the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glory days of Asbury Park by a reclusive millionaire, the magnificent structure - which foreshadowed the beauties of art deco architecture - is now boarded up & marked for demolition.The 5 people are "creepers," the slang term for urban explorers: city archeologists with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings & their dying secrets. On this evening, they are joined by a reporter who wants to profile them - anonymously, as this is a highly illegal activity - for a New York Times article. Frank Balenger, a sandy-haired, broad-shouldered reporter with a decided air of mystery about him, isn't looking for just a story, however. After the group enters the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, it becomes clear that he will get much more than he bargained for. Danger, terror, & death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time & redolent of evil." Labels: books
Tuesday, December 05, 2006Workshop on the Web Finally! Some eye-candy to get those creative juices flowing. The December issue of Workshop on the Web is available & there is a great tutorial by Maggie Grey on weaving.After seeing her work & researching her a bit online, I remembered that I had picked up a copy of her book, Raising the Surface with Machine Embroidery back at the beginning of the year. I had put it aside at the time because I was in the midst of my collage class at the SMFA & I had just started a new job so I wasn't spending a lot of time experimenting with new techniques. As with most things in life, timing is everything. I pulled the book out & found that her processes & techniques are just what I'm looking for as I start to lay out ideas & plans for Q1 2007's pieces. Labels: textile art
Monday, December 04, 2006Color Trends for 2007I just received the Fall issue of Shuttle, Spindle & Dye, the Handweavers Guild of America's quarterly publication & there was a great article on color trends for 2007. Michele Wipplinger states "This palette is inspired by a fusion of folkloric traditions rich in ornamentation & bursting with hues that express the individuality of the global melange which defines our visual expression: textured, jeweled, layered, & eclectic." Here's what's predicted to be hot...
Labels: textile art
Sunday, December 03, 2006What I'm Reading "Turning Angel marks the long-awaited return of Penn Cage, the lawyer hero of The Quiet Game, & introduces Drew Elliott, the highly respected doctor who saved Penn's life in a hiking accident when they were boys. As 2 of the most prominent citizens of Natchez, Drew & Penn sit on the school board of their alma mater, St. Stephen's Prep. When the nude body of a young female student is found near the Mississippi River, the entire community is shocked — but no one more than Penn, who discovers that his best friend was entangled in a passionate relationship with the girl & may be accused of her murder.On the surface, Kate Townsend seems the most unlikely murder victim imaginable. A star student & athlete, she'd been accepted to Harvard & carried the hope & pride of the town on her shoulders. But like her school & her town, Kate also had a secret life — one about which her adult lover knew little. When Drew begs Penn to defend him, Penn allows his sense of obligation to override his instinct & agrees. Yet before he can begin, both men are drawn into a dangerous web of blackmail & violence. Drew reacts like anything but an innocent man, & Penn finds himself doubting his friend's motives & searching for a path out of harm's way. More dangerous yet is Shad Johnson, the black district attorney whose dream is to send a rich white man to death row in Mississippi. At Shad's order, Drew is jailed, the police cease hunting Kate's killer, & Penn realizes that only by finding Kate's murderer himself can he save his friend's life. With his daughter's babysitter as his guide, Penn penetrates the secret world of St. Stephen's, a place that parents never see, where reality veers so radically from appearance that Penn risks losing his own moral compass. St. Stephen's is a dark mirror of the adult world, one populated by steroid-crazed jocks, girls desperate for attention, jaded teens flirting with nihilism, & hidden among them all — a true psychopath. It is Penn's journey into the heart of his alma mater that gives Turning Angel its hypnotic power, for on that journey he finds that the intersection of the adult & nearly adult worlds is a dangerous place indeed. By the time Penn arrives at the shattering truth behind Kate Townsend's death, his quiet Southern town will never be the same." Labels: books
Saturday, December 02, 2006I've Been In A Bit of A Funk LatelyWhich is, I guess, one of the reasons I've been in "production mode" turning out needleweaving after needleweaving. I need to be productive without really having to concentrate on what I'm working on. The Massachusetts Cultural Council grant application is due on December 8th but I'm not that happy with the pieces I'm submitting. None of the projects that I've started are holding my interest... the bottle collage still sits unfinished on the easel (although some work has been done on it), the canvas that I started is sitting against the wall, & my tapestry loom is gathering dust. I seem to spend a fair amount of time just wandering around my studio, coffee cup in hand. Maybe it's the build-up to the holidays that's contributing to my melancholy... All of the unrelenting pressure to be happy & festive while battling the traffic & crowds. Maybe I just need to take a break from everything & start putting together some plans for 2007. Labels: life
Friday, December 01, 2006What I'm Listening To "In the introduction to Neil Gaiman's short story collection -- a wildly diverse assortment of horror, sci-fi, dark fantasy, poetry, & speculative fiction -- he explains the book's title: "Stories, like people & butterflies & songbirds' eggs & human hearts & dreams, are…fragile things, made up of nothing stronger or more lasting than 26 letters & a handful of punctuation marks."Noteworthy selections in this undeniably exceptional collection include A Study in Emerald, which deftly blends Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's late-19th-century England with gruesome Lovecraftian horror; October in the Chair, an homage to Ray Bradbury that features the months of the year personified; & How to Talk to Girls at Parties, a tale featuring 2 oversexed teenagers from an all-boys school in South London who stumble into a party full of what they take to be hot chicks but are in reality alien tourists. Also included are a brilliant American Gods novella, Monarch of the Glen & Strange Little Girls, a series of, well, strange very short stories that first appeared in a Tori Amos tour book." Labels: audiobooks
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