Hello out there

Hello friends!
I feel I need to start with an apology for the neglect of this blog!  In 2014 I decided that in order to fulfill my life long dream of being a painter and illustrator it would be necessary to hone my skills. So I signed up for classes and finally went back to Ventura College where I had studied art in the past.  I was encouraged to complete my degree and told by the counselor that it could be out of there in a year!  Well I did graduate with a degree in Studio arts from Ventura College in spring of 2016.  This lead me to continuing my education at California State University Channel Islands, a local school with a wonderful art program.  I just finished my junior year at CSUCI.

During the time I've been in school although much of my focus has been on the making of art I still practice the fiber arts of spinning, knitting, and weaving which have always give me a chance to rest my mind and of course the practice of bellydance.  This blog has always been a good place for me to share my eclectic creative life (even though at some point ALL of my photos went missing).

I'm in the process of building a website that will be accessible at ElizArtist.com for the moment it is under construction.  But life marches on and I need to post some immediate portfolio pieces!  I'll definitely be posting to let people know when my move to the new website is complete.

For now I hope you enjoy looking at some of my art here on Blogger  http://elizabethmahinasouzaportfolio.blogspot.com/

The blog

So I haven't posted in a while for a reason...I bought a google phone and one day it decided to quit working on me...I thought I had too much stuff on it and deleted a bunch of pictures...it turned out because I did that a lot of the pictures on my blog disappeared!  I was so very upset I just couldn't look at my blog!  All that work all those years of documentation!  So I'm partly over it...I'll start blogging again...maybe I'll go back and try to find those pictures and fill it in as I go along.  So now you know!

Etsy shop stocked up!

I'm busy restocking my Etsy shop with jewelry, and lots of other goodies.  Here are some of the things I'm selling!

Fairy Apothecary

That is me the Fairy Apothecary!

Instead of relying on store bought medicines I've been using homemade herbal and plant remedies this winter.

 Pickled garlic- easy to make and one of the best to prevent colds and flu.  Just peel garlic fill jar, cover with apple cider vinegar.  Leave in sunny location for 4-6 weeks.  Strain off the liquid and save 1/2 for salad dressings and cooking.  Lightly simmer the remainder of the liquid with some honey and pour back over the garlic cloves.  Let that sit for another 4 weeks and enjoy the garlic for cooking.  It keeps indefinitely in a dark spot or I just store it in my fridge.  

Reminder to self: go outside and plant more garlic for more pickling now!

 Elderberry syrup is great for cough and sore throat.  

I got most of my recipes out of Rosemary Gladstar's book Medicinal Herbs and Susun Weed's book New Menopausal Years The Wise Woman Way

I love my orders from Mountain Rose Herbs!

Getting Ready for Rosie

My dance troupe has been working overtime to get ready for the BFLA show the last few weeks.  We did a mini photo shoot, unfortunately Rachel had to work and couldn't be in the pictures. But hopefully Deanna will be able to do her photoshop magic and put her in.

La Femme Fantastique- Exploring HerStory

It's time again for the annual BFLA -Belly Fusion Los Angeles show!  The theme this year is La Femme Fantastique and my dance troupe She'enedra is going to do a piece about Rosie the Riveters.  I assume most people are familiar with who Rosie was but maybe not.  During World War II when all the men were sent off to war the women were encouraged to go out and work in factories and many take traditionally male jobs to keep the country running.
Here is the famous icon of Rosie and a link to a wikipedia article about her which is very interesting...
Rosie the Riveter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For this piece I've gathered a few extra dancers to fill the stage out so we will have 7 dancers and a couple of handsome soldier boys too!  

Here is the Facebook invitation to the show: https://www.facebook.com/events/1477113725882309/

And here is a link to buy your tickets!!  http://www.eventbrite.com/e/bfla-presents-la-femme-fantastique-tickets-12924340049

Anahata-The 4th Chakra

Today in yoga my teacher said the word Anahata, it is the word for the heart chakra and means unhurt, unstruck, unbeaten in Sanskrit.  In the way of synchronicity it drove straight to what I needed to hear something that reinforced me after some very mild morning unpleasantness.  I had heard things both from my daughter and my husband I didn't want hear, they weren't extreme at all but I'm trying to learn a new way to process my feelings about other people's feelings.  A way to protect my body from constantly taking in other people's unhappiness and making it my own the way I did in the past and turning it into illness.

I realized that I say I love a lot of things...I love my sewing machine, I love my bike, I love watching Outlander, and so on.  But what I'm using the word love as replacement for the word enjoy.  I wonder if using the word love that way is lessening it's power.  Probably not.  And pardon me if I'm stating the obvious but love is something much deeper then that!  Love isn't only about enjoying things or having pleasure, it is something you do even when you are uncomfortable.

When the person you love is saying something not very nice to you, or complaining about all the things they have to do, or pushing their belief system on you; you continue to love them even though you aren't enjoying it.

So today my heart is a little stronger.  Yay!

I got this from Wikipedia:

Anahata symbolises love, empathy, selflessness and devotion. The center of force inspires humans to love, be compassionate, altruistic and devoted and to accept divine actions.

Oh I have one more tiny thing to say today...if you are having a problem with being creatively stuck at all, I recommend you try yoga.  I have been going to yoga somewhat consistently since March (ok a week or 2 off here and there), but when I go the visions that come to me in mediation are amazing...I have a million more things swimming in my little head that will be coming out as all kinds of art from yoga time!

Not Pants

Several years ago I came up with the name Not Pants for leggings my dance troupe wears under skirts. They are fun they are a little sexy but not too much if you are wearing a skirt!  And I have just listed 2 pairs made out of a creamy glittery fabric for sale on Etsy.  As well as 2 pairs of booty shorts that match with ARE pants!

 https://www.etsy.com/listing/61942859/cream-and-sparkle-not-pants?

Tiny Things

I have an affection for tiny things.  That is why I have so many beads!  I can no longer justify the stash of beads sitting on my shelf so I made things...now I own too much jewelry so I'm selling it off...This seems right this seems to be a natural progression...I love a bead because it's pretty, I buy it, I make it into something, I send it on to another human!  Get them here:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/ElizArtist
If you are a follower of my blog or know me on Facebook send me a pm first and I'll give you a 15% discount. ; )

Leaves Leaves Leaves

For a few months now I've been reading India Flint's book Eco Colour and have been saving leaves and onion peels and avocado pits in hopes of eventually dyeing stuff.  Eco Color by India Flint

Robert and I went for a walk on Thanksgiving morning and we collected Liquid Amber, Plum, and Sycamore leaves.  First we put the leaves on our dinner table and then I used them for a dye experiment.

I loved the amber leaves so much I didn't want to ruin them!  But eventually I got over that and started my experiment.  I purchased a 1/2 yard of dupioni silk and which takes this type of dyeing very well  and doesn't require a mordant.  Apparently there is some sort of opposites attract chemical effect that happens.  Basically there are two types of natural fiber; cellulose - cotton, linen and other plant derived fibers, and protein -  wool, silk, all animal fibers.  Since the leaves are cellulose they color is attracted to it's opposite protein.  There is an entire extra process of mordanting required to get the color to bond with cellulose fibers.

I also have a eucalyptus tree in my backyard so I took some of the leaves and laid them on the silk as well.  Also you see in the upper right some plum leaves that I found on my walk.

I rolled the leaves up into a little silk burrito.

 And I also took a piece of wool fabric leftover from a table runner I had woven and made another experiment with some more eucalyptus leaves.  Isn't it interesting that all these eucalyptus leaves are from the same tree?

 I put my little silk wool and leaf burritos into a steamer and let it steam for a long time...over an hour. Here it is part way through the process.

 You can see the imprint of the leaves coming through the silk.

 Here are the freshly unwrapped bundles while the are still wet.  They smelled really nice something you don't get when you do chemical dyes.  Also as long as your leaves are not poisonous and you don't use dangerous mordants this process is completely free of toxins.  It's important to remember that there are some extremely toxic plants and mordants and be sure you know what you are using.  If you use poinsettia flowers the fabric cannot even be worn on the skin it is that highly poisonous!

Freshly unwrapped silk & leaves.

Plum leaf print while wet

The wool didn't come out as well. Because of an injury to my arm I didn't wrap the bundles very tightly and I believe this had an effect on the experiment.  So next time I will wrap it tighter.  After unrolling the fabric I allowed it to dry overnight and then ironed it.  The colors were very subtle and beautiful.  I like the fact that they were not highly saturated, but will continue experimenting with this process and see what happens.

Next I will be dyeing several silk shirts that I purchased at a thrift store.  I will continue to document the results here!

                                        

                                              Above is the plum imprint after being dried and ironed.

The yellow leave is from a sycamore tree.  The red is from a
liquid amber tree.