urbanrosary

Garden Sunflower

This piece was commissioned for a woman whose mother passed away. Her mother's favorite flower was the sunflower. I had taken a photo of my sister's mammoth sunflowers that she grows every year in her garden. After altering the photo I added the words "FLY FREE", a bird in flight as a woman looks on. It symbolized what she hoped to commemorate. I added semi precious stones and chandelier crystal beads to finish the piece. I have to say it was one of my favorite Altar Adornments so far.

Ordinary Days.....Extraordinary Moments

Urban Rosary Necklaces

Adorned Altar

Bluebird of Happiness Adornment

The mythology of the bluebird has deep roots that goes back thousands of years. Indigenous cultures across the globe hold similar myths and beliefs about the bluebird. It is the most universally accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc. Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird.

I started making "ornaments" over the last couple of weeks, but I realized these are more "adornments" than ornaments. They can be used to adorn a holiday tree and used to adorn an Altar Area.

I've been frantically busy in my little studio and while working on some larger Altar Pieces and these adornments, I decided I wanted to make something more delicate. Ten years ago I was making jewelry.

I decided to experiment by making some small pendants with my collages. I wanted to offer handmade "art to wear" and wanted to work with more color. I have always been attracted to combining unconventional colors together. Creating these pendants gives me that opportunity. I don't have all the chains and filigree to complete the necklaces today but I thought I would give you a sneak peek of what is coming....

Freedom....

FREEDOM....it can mean so many things depending on circumstances in life. It is a multi-dimensional word. My friend Joanna remains free from cancer. This year was a year of breaking free for me on many levels, it is all a process.... a continuing one. Birds symbolize freedom for me and for many, which is why I used them in this series.

Looking up the word Freedom in the dictionary I read.....

—Synonyms 1. Freedom, independence, liberty refer to an absence of undue restrictions and an opportunity to exercise one's rights and powers. Freedom emphasizes the opportunity given for the exercise of one's rights, powers, desires, or the like: freedom of speech or conscience; freedom of movement. Independence implies not only lack of restrictions but also the ability to stand alone, unsustained by anything else: Independence of thought promotes invention and discovery. Liberty, though most often interchanged with freedom, is also used to imply undue exercise of freedom.

LOVE or LIVE or BOTH

I managed to collect these empty glass flasks to create my "LOVE" altar piece. These great flasks come from the Thanksgiving dinner I had at my boyfriend's neice's (Becky) home. Chad. her boyfriend, is a chef and had many tasty foods and presentation ideas....one little treat at the bar area were these sample flasks of tequilla. Have I mentioned tequilla here before? Taking the empty bottles home, I decided I wanted to use them to spell out a word with the chandelier crystals..... for some reason LOVE came to mind. After making the altar piece I took at step back, looking at all the letters, I realized it looks like the word LIVE too. LOVE and LIVE!

The flask openings are unusual so I took an angled photo to capture how the letters are positioned on the top.