The Artsy Vegan

Every once in a while, I will post stories or information about my friend ART. She had a baby boy in October, and since then, she has been channeling her creative energy in a different way: through cooking! She just started a blog for vegan cooking, filled with recipes and beautiful photos (most of her dishes she painted herself)... Check it out!

Pinterest Recreations

The original inspiration by Spell Designs, $420, found via Pinterest

My version, around $20

When I saw the original piece on Pinterest, I knew I found a challenge.

Rarely have I ever worked with leather. I took a spool of leather cord, braided it, glued the ends and secured it with wire. The long pieces of leather each had a crimp on either end, secured with E6000. A jump ring connected this crimp to the wire ends of the braided leather.

In the spaces between the leather braids, jump rings connected gemstone beads to leather wrapped feathers. Three slices of drilled agate in purple, blue, and pink, adorn the piece.

To create each feather, I used a crimp cord on the ends of the feather, sometimes two feathers in one crimp cord. I then used a clamp to help secure the leather and glue to the crimp, wrapping the leather around it, and then crimping and gluing again (very tedious).

My version was about $20, most of that was the cost of the agate.

It took about a week to make this necklace.

Field Trip: Turquoise Mayan Dream

A portrait of Carol on the archway in front of their home

I had the distinct honor of taking an unexpected field trip with the Bowling Ball House owners to Turquoise Mayan Dream, the home of ElkaBlake... aka Carol Sackman and Blake White. They live in Dunedin, Florida, near Tampa Bay. Their house is a work of art...

Todd and Kiaralinda underneath the mosaic arch in the front yard.

The arch in the front yard is representative of both artists. The female side (right/green) represents Carol and her interests/beliefs. The male side (left/orange) represents Blake's interests and beliefs.

Note the beautiful representation of the Hindu god Ganesha on the column...

"Changes Make Waves" -they certainly do!

Both Carol and Blake are artists, though each is distinct in style. Together, they created the beautiful mosiacs that panel their studios and home. Each is removable from the building so, if they move, they can take the work with them!

Beyond the arch is the front porch, also covered in mosaic.

A local artist is known for randomly placing paintings of oranges and grapefruits on buildings.

The porch floor is covered in Matisse-inspired abstract portraits of the artists

Animals live in harmony on this mosaic

On the right side of the house...

...the entire wall (below) and the fence (shown, above)

Imagine the magical feeling you have when you walk between these works of art...

Many works incorporate either social commentary or religious symbolism. 

"our corporate cup runneth over" is on the bottom of this piece

"brother can you spare a dime" is on the top of this piece

They even covered bird baths in mosaic!

If I were a bird, I would fly to this house just to drink from this beautiful artwork!

I didn't want to take too many photographs of the inside of their home, which was just as inspiring, but I did snap a few notables:

The bathroom! The inside of the shower is painted in funky patterns, too! (see below)

Outside of the house and studios is a nice, fenced in courtyard. The courtyard houses even more mosaic! Some of them use crystals!

On the process of creating their work, Blake wrote:

[...] OUR WORK IS A COLLABORATION- CAROL DOES ALL THE PLANNING & DRAWINGS FOR THE FIGURATIVE MOSAICS, ON THE ARCH, THE PORCH, THE PANELS WITH FIGURES & THE PATHS- WE BOTH WORK ON THE ACTUAL MOSAICS, ALTHOUGH SHE DOES MUCH OF THE CUTTING & SUPERVISES ! IT WORKS OUT WELL THIS WAY- HER WORK IS MORE PLANNED, DETAILED- WHILE MINE IS  ORGANIZED, BUT NOT IN THE SAME WAY- I WORK MORE QUICKLY- & SO MOST OF THE PANELS OF THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE ARE MINE- BUT WE PREFER TO TELL FOLKS, WE COLLABORATE PEACEFULLY---

Visiting Carol and Blake was truly an unexpected and wonderful experience. Both are very talented artists and welcoming to strangers like myself and I am still trying to figure out what to make & send them as a thank you. I look forward to seeing them in the future! You can see more images of their home and studios at their website. You can also learn more about Carol's beautiful textile artwork at this page, and Blake's mosaic at this page.

If you would like to learn more about art environments like Turquoise Mayan Dream, click here to read about more of my Field Trips!

Spotlight: Audrey Flack

Audrey Flack is an artist who is well-known for her photorealistic paintings. Truly, she was one of the pioneers of photorealism, superrealism, and hyperrealism. In fact, before I wrote this post, that is all that I knew she was known for. Apparently, she has created some amazing sculptures based on goddesses and women from Greek stories that have a contemporary spin, like what she imagines they would look like if they lived in America. Her early paintings, with colorful and kitschy compositions, influenced Jeff Koons. Flack has been painting for more than 60 years!

To learn more about Audrey Flack, visit her website.

Spotlight: Sanna Annukka

Sanna Annukka is half Finnish, half English, but is fully a printmaker. Her upbeat illustrations echo clean design that the Finnish are known for, but with an English quirk. Folklore and nature are two driving factors in her work, which creates a fantasy-like quality all on its own. She has created all sorts of advertisements and product design, but her most well known is probably the album cover for Keane's Under the Iron Sea (way below). Annukka now works for Marimekko.

Learn more about Sanna Annukka at her website. This site also has a wonderful interview with the artist.