Creatively Conscious Women's Art Retreat Continued For the Holidays!

My womens art gathering from back in August (Click HERE to see the post about it)has continued and is giving birth to some new opportunities! Sharon will be hosting another one (a Ceramics one) next and hopefully with some deliberate intentions on my part we will have our over night retreat soon! We need to name ourselves still, but so far Creatively Conscious has stuck!

Sharon reading her quote Busy Bees - Mandi, Linda and Esther (my momma) Kesha working on her design Sharon working on a silkscreen with glitter Sharon's card The Art & Design Girls (highschool mates)

Altered Book Pages

This weekend I get to start my holiday vacation with a blast- the continuum of my Creatively Conscious Ladies Art Class! During our last August Retreat day we started Altered Books, which can be very much like a sketchbook or more highly resolved pieces of art. I just realized there are many pages of which I never shared here- so I thought it seemed to be a fine time to do so.

My altered book cover by m.diaz Altered Pagealtered page by m.diaz matador altered pages by m.diaz Barren Queen altered page 1 by m.diazBarren Queen altered page2 by m.diaz altered page by m.diaz Ausencia altered page by m.diazRue de Reves altered page by m.diaz

Would have been nice if I would have shown you what the book looked like before I messed with it! Well hope you enjoy!

Ciao- Amarettogirl

So Excited! The Karma Seed LAUNCH is today! And I have MINE!

Overview- What is The Karma Seed

The Karma Seed UPDATE _ KARMA SEED NO LONGER IN SERVICE! THIS IS AN OLD POST! KARMA SEED enabled individuals to have positive, meaningful impacts on the lives of many, with minimal effort and cost. The Karma Seed was based on the concept of ‘pay it forward’, but updated the idea to fit the culture of the 21st century. The concept of ‘pay it forward’ is simple: A person does a random act of kindness for a stranger, but rather than returning the favor, that stranger instead ‘pays forward’ the good will by doing a random act of kindness for someone else. Unfortunately, an inherent problem with the traditional ‘pay it forward ‘system is accountability. There is no mechanism to track whether or not the favor is passed on.

Our Karma Seed package from former student Chris Loh

That is where The Karma Seed comes in. Karma Seeds are individually numbered plastic cards that can be databased and tracked online. Seeds were once able to be purchased online—$3.00 for a single seed, $5 for 2 seeds, and $10 for 5 seeds. HOWEVER UPDATE _ NO LONGER IN SERVICE!!! After a customer purchases they are no longer receiving seed cards, you can no longer register it online and hold onto it until an opportunity to help someone (preferably a complete stranger) arises. After the favor is completed, the customer hands his or her Karma Seed to the recipient of the favor,

asks them to visit the website where they can briefly share the details of the favor and asks them to pass the seed on by ‘paying forward’ the favor to another stranger.

The Karma Seed is ideally transferred from stranger to stranger until the card is physically destroyed or lost.

A consumer might question the purpose of purchasing a Karma Seed in the first place. Why pay to do a favor for a stranger? Why buy knowing it will be given it away. And, after all, a Karma Seed is simply a piece of plastic, with no obvious extrinsic value.

It is the potential for something amazing to result from that mere piece of plastic that makes a Karma Seed so powerful and desirable.

Embedded in The Karma Seed is the concept of ‘The Butterfly Effect’. ‘The Butterfly Effect’ is, “a metaphor that encapsulates the concept of sensitive dependence on initial conditions in chaos theory namely that small differences in the initial condition of a dynamical system produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.” More simply, in the context of The Karma Seed the butterfly effect describes how the random act of kindness can result in something much larger that benefits hundreds of people.

So consider being a part of this and check out the Karma Seed Site as soon as possible.

Art & Design in San Diego Shots

Here is a creative glimpse of my time in San Diego which was like a scene out of the Fast and the Furious, but I packed a whallup out of the short time there.

Love the time difference, the weather and the people. In fact, I actually miss it! So here goes: restaurant across the street from Scott White Gallery Little Italy San Diego me in front of Scott White GalleryFurniture Shop Gallery Shot gallery shot Art & Design Bldg gallery shot Public Art detail shot art piece for window display @ the Contemporary Museum of Art San Diego

New Unfinished Illustrations

You Cut Me Once...Unfinished Illo by m.diaz Traget Locked...Unfinished Illustration ... m.diaz

These are done with black ink, white ink on Rives BFK paper that I distressed and they are meant to evoke the mood I've been in lately.

I'm off to San Diego this Wed. for this years Annual National Assoc. of Indep. Schools People of Color Conference. It is the first year in five years that I am NOT presenting and I am elated at the prospect of being at peace while there! It is going to be my 8th year attending and I suspect it may be my last for while. So stay tuned as I visit yet another awesome city and bring you some blog posts about it!

-Ciao Amarettogirl

A Special Stop Motion...

A year and a half ago my student Colin Alexander (now an alumni) developed this stop-motion for my hub and my Advanced Portfolio animation assignment entitled, The Zoo. Colin and I have often maintained a similar art aesthetic in our conceptual attraction to animal/human relations. And after so many other wonderful animations this particular one still holds a very very very special place in my heart. Colin has also just started his own portfolio site as he attends (the school that I attended for grad school) The Maryland Institute College of Art for his undergrad degree. After spending a treat overnight visit with Colin this Thanksgiving break I've decided to share all these wonderful and inspiring treats with you!

Some of My NEW Favorite Things

I had a restful and great Sunday this past weekend, which is slightly rare. My best weekender experiences usually fall on a Saturday, the day of the week that I would normally call one of my favorite things, but not this time. So I declare that Sunday is making the also-one-of-my-fave-things list.

So this Sunday I woke up early enough to do some morning reading. I'm currently taking a reprieve from my usual cerebral, booky, mystery fiction and I'm reading something that reads rather quickly due to my pressed time schedule this month. Since I am determined to be an author/illustrator combo some day, I'm now reading a fun young-adult graphic novel WONDLA illustrated and written by the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, Tony DiTerlizzi. Best of all, this book has a phenomenal interactive website and it was one of my surprise b'day gifts from my hub!

Then I got to brew a whole tea pot of some of my newest addiction TEAVANA Rooibos Cocoa Praline Tart tea The ultimate zero calorie, caffeine free sweet tooth satisfaction! Try Haute Chocolate tea too- ooh la la is all I gotta say! Teavana Cocoa Praline Tart Rooibos Tea And thanks to that husband of mine I got to enjoy that tea in another awesome Bday gift- check out my new porcelain tea thermos from TEAVANAMy new procelain thermos

This Sunday Morning we also had a delicious omelette, a gift from my ladies and my hub:

our eggs my handmade ipad case by me

I made major progress (though I'm still not finished) with a daunting sewing project that I wanted to tackle now for a while, a handmade case for my iPad. I wish I could have done a tutorial for you all, but I seriously had no idea what I was doing! I just made it all up along the way and struggled to boot, which is something I usually don't do as an autodidact, but hey I can't always be sunshine and roses!

span class="full-image-block ssNonEditable">latch open openPropped up for viewing

Lastly this is going to be a GREAT thanksgiving week because my ART children are coming home from college and I get to see those fresh eyed babes who hold such a special place in my heart!

- Ciao Amarettogirl

On How to Be ALONE...

For all my creatively conscious readers, here's a bit of inspiration of a different sort. Folks often ask how I do much of all the things I tend to busy myself with. Well it is true that I am childless and while that certainly helps... I also know how to be alone with myself.

So my bro Orph just hooked me up with a video he knew was totally me and he was so right!

If you have only four minutes and thirty five second- this video is worth every iota of it.

A video by filmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis. Davis wrote the beautiful poem and performed in the video which Dorfman directed, shot, animated by hand and edited. The video was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia and was produced by Bravo!FACT http://www.bravofact.com/

Enjoy! and Ciao I'm off to see the new Harry Potter Movie...wink wink

An Illustrated Message to My Inner Critic

So as many of you know I have been doing Nanowrimo this month and doing so along with many many other November obligations. Needless to say I am very behind and am beginning to lose the battle against my inner critic. One of the best Birthday gifts I got this month,(materialistically possibly in my whole life) is the Ipad. Now I've used the Iphone Brushes App before, which I love to make sketches with.

But this time with a bigger screen I decided to draw a message to my inner critic with my fingertip on the app Sketchbook Pro for Ipad. You can guess at which finger I used and please 'Warning', excuse the humor as I do generally maintain a rather 'clean' site, so this piece may be considered a bit too graphic. It is also a dummy mock up sketch for a piece I'm making with ink on paper right now too that I will show you next. I've been pretty sick for a week now so this has kept me distracted.Here is the result:

A message for my Inner Critic- digi art made on Sketchbook Pro Ipad by marisol diaz

Considering an Etsonian Sleep and a Night of Fiction...

Come with me to my imagined bedroom...a night full of fiction and design delight with objects coming all from ETSY!

So lets start with full immersion into the fantasy- money is not a factor! Now, that the fictitious story is established, lets dream- since that is precisely what I do most in my bedroom. And I need to do that on a bed so the most important aspect of my room - the bed...say one had, oh say $10,ooo. to spare on a hot new bed...well I'd say this one is Sizzling! Check out this handmade wood tree bed by Attila Designs. Phenomenal Wood bed by Attila Designs from Finland on Etsy!

Then some tree pillows handmade by HomeCentric, and ooh a cozy cozy armchair slipcover by Biscuitscout who knits with multiple strands of wool and huge needles to create giant over sized knitting...whew now that is hot.

Wish tree Pillow by TheHomeCentric on ETSY!Hand Knitted Cream Aran Armchair Slipcover by BiscuitScout on Etsy!

Now its time for some art on the wall...

Watercolor painting of two turkey feathers by AmberAlexander on Etsy!

And every bedroom needs a self-portrait and in this case I think we need one to keep our wood theme going... So check out this wolf portrait cuz like I said its a fantasy night of fiction and I'm the wolf and them there feathers are all thats left of my dinner! Also a romantic bedroom lamp to inspire the secret- super unique by Creative Pal.

Beautiful Winter Wolf by Firewriter on Etsy!Shadowland Slumbering Nigtlight by Creative Pal on Etsy

Lastly my paws are going to need something soft to step on and all while maintaining the outside/in theme...

Pebbles Wools Felt Rug Carpet handmade by Krita in India available of Etsy