Stone of the Week

Let there be peace on earth

And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth

The peace that was meant to be.

With God as our father

Brothers all are we.

Let me walk with my brother

In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me

Let this be the moment now.

With every step i take

Let this be my solemn vow.

To take each moment

And live each moment

With peace eternally.

Let ther be peace on earth,

And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth

And let it begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth

The peace that was meant to be.

With god as our father

Brothers all are we.

Let me walk with my brother

In perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me

Let this be the moment now.

With every step I take

Let this be my solemn vow.

To take each moment

And live each moment

In peace eternally.

Let there be peace on earth

And let it begin with me.
Wishing all a happy holiday filled with peace and joy!!

Stone of the Week

So far, so good. I am keeping up my end of the bargain here, a weekly entry about a stone listed in my Etsy shop. Today I am picking my Sasquatch Beach Stone. Two summers ago I started traveling down to Rockport, MA with a good friend who introduced me to the coolest beach. It is completely covered in stones! The stones I find here have the most amazing colors and are incredibly smooth. This particular stone has a lovely milk-like translucency with a hint of yellow veins. The symbol is a right footprint. The footprint has many meanings from the celebration of a birth, inspiration or hope, or a super-natural creature. My little joke is that my brother had a very particular nick-name for me as a child and as a teenager, I used a footprint as my "symbol." The unique thing about my "symbol" footprint is that mine only had 4 toes!

Halloween Collages

Today I posted several more of my Halloween collages bringing the total up to 5, a number requiring blogging. My Halloween collages are made on 4.5x6 inch by 1/4 inch thick plywood. I take images of my mother as a young girl alone and with her family and alter them with silly hat or outfits. Some earn text! I then make a paper collage of vintage images and di cut shapes of current paper and other found halloween based items. Glow in the dark glitter was used on several of the college pieces & look very cute glowing in the dark. Each collage is topped off with a hanger accented with a raffia or satin bow and wooden beads.

Current Projects

Here are a few samples of my newest creation for my Etsy shop. These are called Collage-Assemblage Wooden Tag Ornaments. The tags are plywood wood shapes including a traditional star, primitive star, traditional heart & primitive heart. Each piece is first painted with Jacquard Iridescent acrylics. Once dried I decoupaged torn papers over the shape, I accent this with a word cloud quote about love, life, laughter & friendship (the most important ingredients to life). The tags are further decorated with glittered paper hearts, stars, dragonflies, cupids, butterflies & sun & finally embellished with various beads & ephemera including butterflies, birds, bees, dragonflies, butterflies, leaves & MORE! Finished with an organza ribbon for hanging.

Almost forgot this listing...

 I almost forgot about this listing... The Architect is a 14" x 11" mixed media OOAK collage. In all honesty the idea of this piece came about  by accident. I am infamous for sitting, working & leaving things on the floor. My studio is a giant stepping game, look out for this & watch out for that. Well what happens when you leave plaster labyrinths on the floor... I eventually step, sit or kneel on them, breaking them into pieces. Looking at the broken pieces of one particular labyrinth (it  was unpainted, so it was white as polished marble) I thought of the ruins of an ancient, iconic piece of architecture like the Roman Coliseum. Then the idea came for making these pieces into a collage,  making it appear as if a master labyrinth plan was created before it was built into existence. I used my favorite Jacquard Lumiere paint (at the moment) halo blue-gold for the background & majority of the labyrinth pieces. I just love how iridescent it is... it seems to change color from different angles.

Too Impatient

She's up & swimming. Go to my store: www.jmliss.etsy.com to see  my 1st ever paper sculpture. Back in December as I was waiting in the lobby of a hospital for my employee physical I checked  out an art showcase that was on display. I saw amazing pieces made of paper created by an artist named: Santa Maria. I came home & search the internet for more info on this artist & her work. What was it called, how could paper be manipulated in ways that looked like clothes blowing in the wind? I spent a week surfing the internet about paper sculpture & found a couple of good library books too. Within a week, I kept hearing this siren calling me... next thing I know I am creating this collage piece. It all fell into place, no real plan just a little of this & a lot of that. I am really proud  of her & hope you will love her too.  Watch my slideshow & see more images of her along w/one of her favorite songs. BTW, didn't like how the frame turned out...

Under the Sea!

I am finishing the frame & hoping the sun stays out so I can take 1 more picture & then she is going up on my Etsy store. This bathing beauty is my 1st paper sculpture EVER! Now she screaming for attention. I love this magical lady, she loves Bobby Darin & even has her own playlist on my mp3. Check out the slide show of her & I will let you know when she has been listed!

Fractured - just added to etsy

My latest addition to my Etsy site. This piece is called "Fractured." It is an OOAK collage/assemblage created from a paster 7-circuit or Creatan Labyrinth. The background is textured using acrylic gel medium, my newest & most favorite acrylic medium! Applying it is like putting icing on a cake. 

New Item:

Just added a new item, my altered star collage! "Journey Through the Universe" is an OOAK  5 page altered book/ mixed media piece that was inspired by the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" & the History Channel's series "The Universe."  It is a set of 5 mini-paintings of images one would see traveling across the universe: a small cluster of stars, an Earth-like planet, a rocky satellite, a cluster of galaxies & a sun. It has great depth & texture along w/ brilliant colors. The words are the lyrics to the ethereal-like song written by John Lennon.  I have a slide show of this piece here on my blog, posted last week.  You can find this at my shop: www.jmliss.etsy.com