Tamisha's Art Space

New Glass!

2008-12-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of a fun art piece I made in glass. This urban nightscape has a quiet, but slightly ominous feel, or at least I think so.

Card Art

2008-11-15T16:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't pulled out my card making supplies in a long time. A friend of mine's desire to make some Christmas Cards prompted me to haul out my stash and craft the afternoon away with her and her intended. Despite not having touched paper in a long time, I was pretty happy with the simple, retro looks I came up with. I also am including a pic of a B-day card for my father's 60th B-day next week.

More Glass!

2008-11-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

more glass work

2008-10-19T07:13:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that my photography skills need work...badly. So, I apologize for the really awful photographs. Try to look at the art, rather than the picture. These are two more glass platters I created this fall. I'm pretty proud of them.

I haven't done any mosaic work of late, but ideas are brewing. As soon as school calms down and I find my rhythm, I'll get back into the art space and start breaking things and putting them back together in new ways.

More Recent Work

2008-08-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the works I've created recently. The first is a teak bowl I picked up at a local thrift shop. I loved the lines of it. In the center are four handmade Mexican talavera tiles. That focal point is encircled by corresponding colors.
The next piece is a small table inset with a green ceramic Buddha, with waves of light celedon green circles radiating outward.
The final piece is a fused glass platter I created in a class I took this summer.

New Work

2008-07-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

Now that school is out, I've been spending lots of time in the Art Space (aka "The Garage). I just finished these two pieces. The first is a childhood guitar for a friend's birthday. It was her guitar and the lizard is her tattoo. The second is a set of house numbers for our house. I'm really pleased with how this one turned out. I used two different grout colors for the first time. I'm pretty pleased with the progress I'm making.

I also scored several more cool substrates yesterday. A couple of birdhouses, a pair of mannequin legs, and a couple of cool wooden bowls. I have enough to keep me busy through Christmas!

School's Out For the Summer...

2008-06-25T16:51:00.000-07:00

...and that means I can now take time to play! Yippee! This is much more pleasant now that we installed a window air conditioner. It's supposed to be over 100 tomorrow! My "studio" stays nice and cool. Turn on the radio and I snip, clip, and mosaic away!

These two are just a couple in a series that I am doing for fun/learning curve. I'm playing with vitreous as well as broken china. They are quick, easy, and make me smile. The backing is some leftover tile backer board from the remodeling project I saved from the dump. I will probably do some house numbers using this too.

The following pics are of the birdhouse work in progress. I will likely grout it tomorrow with the same light dusky/dirty pink I used on the yellow/purple vitreous. I'm critical of this one. I am not overjoyed with the front but am not willing to rip it out and start over. I started there and I should know better. Always start on the back! Oh, well.

Interesting substrates

2008-06-03T16:33:00.001-07:00

Here are just a few of the pieces I have brewing in my mind for the summer. Ultimately, I'd like to have a decent size body of work to start shopping around to local galleries and craft shows.

A couple of mannequins I picked up from Craig's List for a song. I've already started wrapping the male torso with plaster-infused cheesecloth.

I haven't decided if this little guy is going to be covered in tess yet. He is a resin sculpture that hides under the hot tub steps.

She's an odd little mannequin I found on ebay. I think I'm going to have to prime her face first because she is kind of creepy looking right now.

A yard sale birdhouse.

A friend's little childhood guitar.

Wig head.

Small outdoor table that needs redoing now that I know better what I am doing. Hopefully at least!

An odd little snail planter found at a yardsale.

In addition, I need to rip out and replace the big picnic table mosaic because the tess is delamination from the plywood. This time, I'm going to double layer hardibacker and do something completely different.

DONE!!!!!

2008-05-26T17:58:00.000-07:00

The bathroom is FINALLY done. We worked our combined tukus's off this weekend to finish this project. Paint, shower doors, accessories...all finito.

Take a look at the before and after.

Before

After

Bathroom Update

2008-05-12T17:55:00.001-07:00

Andy finished up today. Now, we wait for the guy to come refinish the tub, then I can prime, paint, and install the clear glass shower doors. I'm thrilled with the way it has turned out so far. I've picked a lovely, pale aqua color to go on the walls. Hopefully, I'll be able to prime and paint this weekend.

These are pics of the two new doors we put in. The front door replaced an old 1950s three small light door. The slider was a really old, crappy, aluminum one that was put in all backasswards. Both of the new doors are MUCH better. I cannot believe how much difference the light in the front door makes to the whole front room.

The bathroom

2008-05-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

This bathroom remodel has been a complete bear. Now, please understand, we have only one bathroom, so this took a lot of planning. We waited until spring and the warmer weather. We have an outdoor shower and hot tub, which has made cleaning up not so bad. Where the danger really came, was the two days we have been without toilet facilities. Believe me, the practice of "bucket and chuck it" ain't much fun!

The demo was a complete "roaring whore" as my contractor Andy calls it. This house was built in 1957 and the bathroom was designed to withstand a nuclear winter, I have decided. It was your basic 1950s black and white tile bath. Here are the pics of the before.

The large hole over the sink was where I pulled out the old medicine cabinet three or four years ago. I had been meaning to tile it and fix it and stuff, but never seemed to get around to it. So, I just propped the old mirror in the hole and live with it. We had replaced an old rotting vanity with a new, low end, big box store, expresso cabinet and a medicine cabinet over the toilet. I had painted this tiny little room about four or five times, and unhappy each and every time. It was more than ready for a real update.

Now, the demo was to pull out all the old tile on the walls down to the studs. What we didn't know to begin with is that the tile was hiding damn near three inches of 50 year old concrete. Concrete continues to cure its entire lifetime, simply getting harder and harder over time... Behind this wall of concrete is razor sharp steel mesh nailed into dimensional studs. This was a near crippling experience. It took us almost two weeks to complete the entire demolition. Hammers, sledges, and even a hammer drill were put to use on this thing. We hauled out three or four truckloads of demo waste.

The first thing Andy did was retile the tub surround and replace the old crappy fixtures with new ones.

Yesterday she laid the new floor over the old floor, after leveling everything.

Today, she grouted the floor, installed most of the beadboard, and most importantly, she installed my brand new toilet that is supposed to be able to flush a whole meatloaf!! I am a happy girl.

Tomorrow, Andy will do some electrical work, finish the beadboard, install the cap, install the square pedestal sink and fixtures, fix the hole, move the light fixture up, install a mirror and shelf, and leave me ready for painting. Next week, I have another contractor coming in to reglaze the tub. Once that is fully cured, we will install frameless shower doors. Then I can paint, and it will be ALL finished....whew! I will post more pics as I get them. The beadboard, doors, and trim will be white. I think we're going to go with a more robin's egg blue for the walls, and a white ceiling.

The reason I'm not doing art right now

2008-05-08T16:59:00.001-07:00

I am in the middle of a major house remodel. We have finished updating the kitchen, the utility room, replacing the front door, and now are in the middle of the bathroom remodel. Remember, this is a one bathroom household...it wasn't pretty for a few days.
This is the utility room, before.

And this is what it looks like after, or at least the floor.

This is the best image I can find of the old kitchen...please excuse the fact I'm in it!

We replaced all the appliances. We painted all the cabinets and replaced the hardware. We replaced the four different countertops (1950s yellow boomerang laminate, butcher block, blue laminate, and cobalt tile) with large 24x24 granite tiles to minimize grout lines. And finally, we painted the whole thing a warmer, more buttery yellow. I love it and am really proud of what we accomplished on very little money. I think we managed to update the kitchen, modernize it, without overdoing it and keeping within the style and period of the house.

And the kitchen after:

Newish Art

2008-05-08T16:56:00.000-07:00

This is a newish piece I did for a friend. I need to take some finalized pics with the grout and paint. Maybe this weekend. Now I just have to figure out how to ship the heavy heavy thing!

The Blues

2007-12-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

This is a piece I made for a musical couple, friends of mine. They are big BB King fans. The shape is based on his guitar "Lucille".

Mosaic Mania

2007-12-26T16:20:00.000-08:00

I've not been doing much for paper arts lately. I struck a huge windfall and have set up a mosaic studio in my garage. Posted above is a pic of a birdhouse I did for a friend of mine's very belated birthday.

Pay It Forward

2007-11-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow, or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. So basically, if you comment and you’re on, I’ll send you something crafty that I’ll make!
Once you sign up, copy and paste the above paragraph on your blog, and three other lucky people will be recipients of your handmade work.

I first saw this on Adrienne's blog. Her link is to the right....

Seeing Spots

2007-11-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

I've posted a couple of pics of this month's tip in for CCSwaps. The theme was polka dots. I think of polka dots as very retro. This thought coupled with the recent Paula's Kit Club kit on the kitchen, they just dovetailed nicely together. I'm pretty pleased at the way it turned out.

Hope Sweetpea likes it!

I haven't had much time for paper arts of late. I recently made a steal of a deal and purchased the extensive contents of a local artists' mosaic studio for a song. I've spent a lot of time setting up a mosaic studio in one corner of our garage. As soon as I get a chance, I will post some pics of the new space as well as the couple of projects I've been working on.

Some New Stuff

2007-10-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've had a little bit of a chance to actually work on some things of late. The pic above is a set of three ATCs inspired by the silly English found on chopstick wrappers. I'm pretty happy about the way they came out.

The pics below are a swap for CCSwaps. I've been participating in a montly tip-in over there. It's been the only thing I've been able to participate in regularly. I wanted something dreamy and whimsical....I think I accomplished my goal. Not totally thrilled with it, but not completely disappointed either. It's moving in the right direction...

I really want to get into some soldered pieces started, but am having trouble breaking the inertia of the work-home-sleep cycle.

ATC Sudoku Background

2007-10-08T16:57:00.000-07:00

These backgrounds are for a round robin swap that got started way back in May or even June but the backgrounds got lost. I stamped the distressed letters on glossy stock with resist ink. I toasted a couple of marshmallows while I waited for the ink to dry. Sweet tooth satisfied, I wiped black dye ink over the resist. I wasn't satisfied with the results. So, I took a burgundy and navy inks, and randomly swabbed them over the black resisted backgrounds. I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Long Time, No Post

2007-09-30T14:42:00.001-07:00

School has started and life has once again become hectic. Oh for those long sweet summer days. I love teaching, I really do, but I do enjoy my summer vacation.

In addition to being busy with school stuff, I've been busy with social stuff too. It has left little time to pursue creative endeavors. It's a little frustrating because I've got so many projects in my head that I want to give birth to. I've promised myself one art swap per month, however. The only one I'm managing to complete is the tip-in swap.

This month's theme was "circus" which was perfect. A few months back, Paula's Kit Club had a circus theme, so I had all the perfect fixings for this swap. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. The piece has a bit of bulk to it, so the scans are not terribly crisp.

The following two scans are from a cigar box purse I made with the same kit. I made this piece a while back however. Fun theme.

Da Vinci Tip In

2007-08-27T05:28:00.001-07:00

Here is a tip-in for CCSwaps. This month's theme is Da Vinci. I'm quite pleased as to how it turned out. I now need to find an envelope and sent it on.

School starts today so I won't be blogging or arting nearly as much as I have this summer.

More Yellowstone again

2007-08-16T13:16:00.000-07:00

Old Faithful
Firehole River Early In the Morning
My favorite shot
Castle Geyser Erupting
Groto Geyser

More Yellowstone

2007-08-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Above Mammoth Hot Springs
Moon Rise Over Mt. Washburn
The little dot in the middle is a real live grizzly bear!
Tower Falls

Yellowstone

2007-08-16T04:24:00.001-07:00

This is called Fishing Cone because folks used to drop their fish into this hot pot and cook it right on the line!
American Bison...close up!
Lower Yellowstone Falls

More Wyoming Pictures

2007-08-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

The famed antler arches bordering Jackson's main square.

More Grand Teton

Assemblage

2007-08-15T04:04:00.001-07:00

I am doing an asssemblage swap with another online artist. I had collected a large number of various game pieces and thought to do games theme...but I wanted a bit of a spin on it. So, I decided on Games People Play for the theme which entwined the actual games with head games. I think it works. When I do an assemblage, I like alot of movement. Here is the final piece.

The Front

Inside Front Cover

Inside

A couple of close ups of the guts.

Absentee blogger

2007-08-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in a long while. It's been busy around here. The end of July saw us in Yellowstone/Grand Teton on vacation. How wonderful was that!!! What a truly amazing spot. Grand Teton embodied the harsh, stunning beauty of the Rocky Mountains. We mostly hiked and did some wild life viewing. Our first morning in the park, we watch a park helicopter round up elk to tag them with radio collars. We also took a float trip down the Snake River. We saw lots of eagles including a nesting pair and their mother.

We also saw deer and coyotes.

I will continue to post more pictures as I get some time. I've also been doing some creating of a different sort. I've been a sewing fiend over the past week. Created a Native American dress, duvet cover, pillows, and even a stuffed animal. I'll take pictures and post when I get a chance.

I call him Goober.

Altered Bottle Swap

2007-07-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

These are two votive jars for an altered bottle swap. I've used these lovely white milk glass jars before for votives. Last time I stamped koi on vellum, colored them from behind and wrapped them around the jars. This time, I lined the inside with colored tissue paper and pasted more stampted tissue on the outside. I like the Buddha one better, I think.

I've been Tagged!!

2007-07-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

By both Autumn and Annie!! YIKES! I better get cracking.

Seven Interesting Things About Me

1. I attended eight different elementary schools, lived in five different states (CO, CA, WA, HI, VA), on both coasts.

2. I've had four different careers (printing, retail, corporate/telecommunications, education).

3. I have an outdoor shower in my backyard complete with hot and cold running water.

4. I am Japanese, Korean, and French.

5. I have a large collection of nude stamps.

6. I was a hippy kid who's father rode a motorcycle and who's mother churned butter, sewed our clothing, and did all the baking.

7. I want to either live overseas or cruise on a sailboat...and I'm trying to figure out how to do just that!

Now, I have to tag two others:

http://theartfulmama.blogspot.com/

http://deniseslittlebirdiestudio.blogspot.com/

Altered Canvas - Final

2007-07-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

After some fiddling, this is what I came up with. I glazed it with a mix of golden lumiere and matte gel medium. I added an additional blue Greek key in the bottom right corner. I put together some watch parts to recreate an Antikythera device. Lastly, I stamped a Hippocrates quote on vellum and created the small scroll. Now I think it's done!

For those who gave me suggestions, thank you so much! It really helped the creative process.

Altered Canvas Swap

2007-07-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

A canvas that I worked on today for a swap. Not sure if it's done yet or not. I started by painting the canvas with a golden color and then deepening/darkening the edges with a darker golden/brown color. I stamped the harlequin pattern in the corner and along one short edge. Then stamped text, hieroglypics, and ancient Greek randomly around. Then stamped the images on tissue paper, cut them out and layered them on the canvas. The coin on the right was created using UTEE and then metalic rub-ons.

I like it, but not sure if it is finished or not, or how to "finish" it.....any suggestions?

A Clean Space

2007-07-05T12:54:00.000-07:00

Whew, good job done!I ended up with four bags of trash, a shoe box of stuff to try to sell on ebay, and found a bunch of stuff that I didn't even remember I had. I'm so pleased with the new stamp storage as well. I just have to stop buying mounted stamps!!!

Cleaning up the Artspace

2007-07-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, the partner and I decided to renovate our office. This room, just off the kitchen, has two closets. Since we turned the smallest bedroom into a dressing room, we really didn't need the closet space. I was granted permission to turn the 6 foot closet into my art space. Prior to this time, all my creative supplies lived in what we affectionately termed "the martha closet" and everything had to be hauled out and then put away. Needless to say, I didn't art much in those days.

I built a desk and shelving and lit the space and had a wonderful space. Then, we found a great old oak school desk at a yard sale and we put that next to my artspace for added creative potential. Well, I've been creating so much and never stop to clean up before starting a new project, that the whole corner has turned into a disaster area.

As you can see, it was high time to clean up. So, to get me started, I went to the garage and made this shelving unit to hold my mounted stamps.

I'm hoping it will help me see the stamps and use them more. I still haven't figured out a good way to store unmounteds. I have some mounted on foam self stick in notebooks by company but I have many many more in plastic bags, some indexed, some not. In any case, my job for this eveing and tomorrow is to get the space clean, organized, labeled and then get started on an altered canvas for a swap that is due too soon.

Miscellaneous Swaps

2007-07-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Yahoo isn't letting me upload pics right now, so I will put them here.

The first one is part of a Sudoku ATC round robin swap. These are Jesse's backgrounds. I had step 2. I sewed on the eyelet scrap.

This one is the front of an altered beer mat swap for CC Swaps.

This is the back of the beer mat.

Finished the Altered Book

2007-07-03T06:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the completed pages. Overall, I'm pleased with it. I only hope my partner likes it. She sets the bar quite high....I'm skeered!
The Cover

Completed Title Page

A completed interior page

Another interior page

One of the main pages.

The last interior page before the shrine.

The shrine itself with a William Blake poem.

The book closes with the sunflower ribbon ties and has a shrink plastic pair of ribbon bookmarks built in. I do hope she likes it.

DC Trip & Flowers

2007-07-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the Significant Other and I made an impromptu trip to DC to walk around the Smithsonian. I got to wander through the sculpture garden in front of the Hirshorn Museum, one of my favorite spots in DC. I took lots of pictures with the digi camera.
I also took some pics of the flowers in the yard this week too. I'm really tickled with the way they came out. I hope you enjoy.

Tamisha

Disjointed Figures

2007-06-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm participating in a Disjointed Figures ATC Swap and it has taken over my brain. I completed all of these this afternoon. The combination of images could easily get addicting. They seemed to just pour out of me somehow. I used all paint chips for these. They were big fun.

First Post

2007-06-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm finally doing it. I'm setting up my first blog. I'm doing it to try and publish some of the art that I've been creating of late. That and all the cool artists have set up blogs. I wanna be a cool artist too...so, call me a lemming.