Midnight Moon opens doors I had only dared to imagine...

Midnight Moon Cabochon Statement Necklace

Once upon a time 

There was a maiden who walked with Midnight Moon. 

Sometimes she floated peacefully among the stars 

And she liked to bring back their good energy 

To take with her into the dawn. 

Sometimes she slept along with Midnight Moon 

And when she slept 

She dreamt up things to come. 

For me, Midnight Moon represents abundance and creativity, as creativity is born out of the pregnant void of darkness. My creativity often happens in the quiet hours of the night, when I get to listen to crickets and cicadas in summer, sometimes gorgeous soft rains and rolling thunder, the leaves of the trees blowing in the wind, old movies and mysteries, and music.

Midnight Moon also represents the safe harbor for dreams and aspirations. I love the soft, knowing smile of her beautiful face, which is hand carved of black buffalo horn. As I imagined her floating in the nighttime skies among the tiny twinkling golden stars, I added silver-lined gold seed beads to this piece, which also includes amethyst, a stone whose energies enhance spiritual awareness and bring about tranquility and serenity.

Do you like to walk in the garden at night? Midnight Moon is there, shining softly among the flowers and leaves. 

The moon will shine at midnight

Oh look, she's picked some soft green ones to decorate her head, and some more in her beautiful fringe. I think she's waving at you too.

Midnight Moon with her leaves and flowers

I like the garden at night. It's so quiet and so very different from the brightness of the day. I think that Midnight Moon must be related to Kwan Yin, "She Who Hears the Cries of the World." Because art is a cry, a statement, a song of the soul.

My Kwan Yin, sitting peacefully in her garden cave.

So here we come to the part about how doors are opening during my time with Midnight Moon. 

The door to my studio, which I step out of and into my new world every day.

In between sessions when I was working on Midnight Moon I opened my Dreamkeeper Creations Etsy shop e-mail and discovered a message that made my heart sing. It was an invitation from the gallery manager, Lori Fisher, at the Bellefonte Art Museum asking if I was interested in showing my work at the new Jewelry Gallery. Wow. Yes!

But yes sometimes isn't quite enough (oh no!). I had to be accepted by the Artist Registry Jury Committee first (uh oh). So I submitted three photos of my work and crossed my fingers tight. 

A few hours later I received word that I'd been accepted, WOOT! So for several days I've been trying to yank myself down from the ceiling so I can focus on getting some more special pieces done for my upcoming show, which will happen between now and Christmas - we're finalizing the details (more info to come, and photos for you to enjoy if you can't attend). How exciting!

And here's the part about lovely synchronicities. (If you check out this link, scroll down to the Examples of Synchronicity for thrills and giggles. I love when things like this happen.)

I had recently joined the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania, and submitted a couple of pieces to see if they could pass jurying for an upcoming show. They were not accepted. I think competition was pretty fierce, and I submitted beadwork while they may have been looking for larger pieces as well as more visual material. 

The synchronicity is that it was on the same day that I found out my pieces hadn't been accepted that I received the invitation to show at the museum. Hm, I thought, wonder if someone from the Art Alliance referred me, knowing that the Grand Opening of the Jewelry Gallery at the museum was coming up. I wanted to check, so asked Lori how she'd heard of me. 

Well wasn't I surprised when she said it was one of my Etsy customers who lived in town. She loved my work and mentioned me to the director of the museum, Patricia House. Wow, when a person cares enough to mention your name, that means a LOT! Thank you Cecilia!

So the doors that are opening are the ones that help me to move into new circles of friendship with people who do what I do and speak the language that is so familiar to me. Being a member of this organization allows me to attend opening receptions, do shows, take and teach classes, and generally move more solidly into my community. Yay!

Celebration material!

So this was like a little gift from the Universe in the way of synchronicity to keep me working at purpose. Don't you just love when that happens?!

This Midnight Moon statement necklace will be available for sale at the Bellefonte Art Museum show (in November I think) and after that in Dreamkeeper Creations.

Midnight Moon loves purple and black.

Thanks for visiting!

Namaste,

Jen

Rainbow Child Has Arrived!

Rainbow Child Becoming

I had a carved bone moon face cabochon that I like a lot, and a rainbow bowl of seed beads collecting from various projects that I'd finished. So I decided to make something wonderful with them. That's how Rainbow Child is coming about. 

She's inspired by the birth of my sister's first grandchild, Maya. Maya's father wrote a lovely message about her name, which I'll include here with his permission - Tom and his wife Hawa are very special people, he works at the U.S. State Department as the Director of Afghanistan, and she also works at the State Department. Good people doing hard work to make good things come about. Tom said:

"We were drawn to the name Maya for the breadth of its meanings across cultures and societies. In Arabic, Maya means 'honorable matriarch'; in Old Persian, 'generous.'  Maya was also Buddha's mother, who loved unconditionally. In Nepali, Maya means 'love'; in Hebrew, 'spring' or 'brook.' Like so many of our friends and family, Hawa and I love the variety of humanity in this world and are humbled by its beauty and power. We hope she'll find strength in exploring and celebrating the many ways people live, love, and create, that she'll know there's more than one way to go about the world."

So this little bead necklace is a celebration of the birth of Maya, who will grow up with a wide understanding of peoples, a love and respect for many cultures - she is a rainbow child.  

Side View

I started sewing and sewing, first doing the peyote stitch border around her face. Then added some flat glass flowers and leaves that I got while I was in Oregon. The bead stores there are fantastic. I had a lovely rose bead which I wanted to place near her heart, so I drew a mark on the backing so I'd remember the spot.

Her blue rose is now in place.

I found that the ceramic leaves are moveable which is kind of fun. They swivel on their attaching beads. 

She is becoming surrounded by her rainbow.

I sewed and sewed, enjoying the colors, and she became surrounded by her lovely rainbow. 

She's all dressed up with her rainbow fringe.

I carried the colors through with her fringe, and sewed the border and backing on. She's backed by soft blue ultrasuede. Tomorrow she gets her necklace, which will be a continuation of the colors that are on the top, blues and greens, probably in a double seed bead necklace with crow beads every so often to bring the two strands together. I'm just deciding whether to put a clasp on this one or to make it long enough not to need one. It's a matter of about 2 inches. Hm....we'll see. Tomorrow is a good day to look forward to.

She's made during the time of the beautiful super moon, and since most of the work was done at night and in the wee hours I'm sure she's soaked up some of that good feminine energy. 

More to come when she's finished. She'll go up on in Dreamkeeper Creations on Etsy for sale as soon as she's ready!

Update - here she is with her wonderful seedbead necklace chain. No clasps so it flows ever so smoothly and slips right over your head, sitting right at the 4th chakra energy center. The necklace is done with FireLine so it's very strong, and it's composed of sections about 1 and a half inches long, joined with crow beads of different colors. The overall color of the necklace is greens grading out to blues with little touches of the colors in the pendant added throughout. LOVE!

Namaste,

Jen

Dancing with Destiny ink image is finished!

Destiny's Sister, Fate

Back in December of last year I started a picture called Dances with Destiny, and I mentioned that I was thinking about adding her sister, Fate. For a few months this idea percolated in my head and finally one night around midnight I pulled it out and started working on it again, and the photo above shows the result. Beautiful Fate, Destiny's sister has made her appearance.

Dancing with Destiny and Her Sister, Fate

Fate floats above Destiny blowing her trumpet to celebrate the little girl's journey through life. Out of her trumpet flow waves of music, and I liked that the most important wave, Love, floats down under Destiny's feet, as if to suggest that love must be the foundation for our lives if we are to reach our full potential.

The patterns within the waves are drawn using a technique called Zentangling, which I'm considering teaching in classes I can offer through the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania. Yay, I've finally joined! Come on out and visit me there during artist receptions or while I'm watching the Gallery from time to time. I'll probably be ready to do that next spring and am looking forward to some very fun times and meeting some very fun people.

The Accidental Rabbit

The photo above is a peek at a Zentangle rabbit I did last night when I couldn't sleep. A little Frank Sinatra in the background, and the peace and quiet of the night allowed me to sail off into the relaxing patterns of Zentangling. I call it The Accidental Rabbit because I didn't plan for it to be anything other than patterns, but as I was coloring it I realized it looked a bit like an animal, so I added an eye and an ear and gave him some whiskers. Now I can do another one with the plan in mind of actually making a Zentangled rabbit, and it'll be more visible. I'll post it once done. Lots of fun! And good sleep afterwards, ZZzzzZZzzZzzzzzentanglinggggg rocks!

What's great about Zentangling is that anyone can do it, and it's very relaxing. No two people do it alike, so learning how to do it is a wonderful, creative journey, and there are all sorts of resources available. Plus you can make all kinds of lovely personalized gifts for your friends and loved ones! Stay tuned for more information on upcoming classes.

I'm saving the black and white images of each of my paintings so that I can eventually make a coloring book available. This one will be gorgeous in color, stay tuned for that posting as well!

Happy creative journeys to you!

Namaste,

Jen