The beat goes on with my new upcycled drum head mandalas

I'm excited to share a new product I'm working on.  This is a large hand painted mandala suncatcher made from an upcycled drum head!  It's a faux stained glass window!

I've been collecting drum heads from all the drummers in my life for some time now, and I'm finally inspired to go forward with the idea.  I'm feeling super inspired lately - maybe it was the amazing visit with one of my old best friends who stayed with me last weekend (she lives in England and we hadn't seen each other for 16 years) or maybe it was my recent session in a sensory deprivation tank at Float On...or maybe it's the fact that I'm going to be vending at Crafty Wonderland's spring sale on May 11 and I really need some new work for my booth!

At any rate, I'm going for it!

Above you see the clear drum head with my original design on it. I drew it with a black marker and then went over it with "liquid leading." That stuff is kind of a pain to use. You are supposed to squeeze it out so that it looks like actual leading. Unfortunately my hand doesn't like doing all that squeezing. It hurts - I've tried it on some of my small CD spacers that I use to make my regular Mandala Suncatchers and found it to be quite painful and unsatisfactory. The lines ended up looking kind of shaky anyway and I just couldn't make them perfect. This is one of the reasons why I never went on to do the drum head art that I'd been planning for so long - the experiments with clear CDs were too disappointing. 

So, this time around, I decided to draw it with a marker and then apply the leading over the top with a paintbrush.  This worked out just fine!

Above is a shot of what the liquid glass paint looks like when it is being laid down on the surface.  Obviously this is a plastic drum head, not glass, so I'm really not sure how different this is from actually painting on glass - but I found it pretty cool and fairly easy to work with.  The paint goes on really thick and puffy and opaque from a little squirt bottle - it flows like crazy, almost too fast, but I managed to control it.  As it dries, it becomes flat and clear.  I like it because it goes on fast, only needs one coat, and you don't have to go back and outline afterwards.

Whoa - I managed to get a little bit of BLUE SKY in this one!!!

(Close-up of the design)

I love my kitchen!

So, I am still in the process of working out this product idea.  I know that I need to figure out a way to make them hang-able, and I also need to get some more colors of paint!  I will be experimenting with adding hardware (perhaps a chain) so that it can be hung from a hook at the top of your window frame.  I hope to have a good selection of these for Crafty Wonderland and will be adding them to my Etsy shop too!

I'd love to hear what you think - please leave a comment and let me know!

Black Light Groove, Part Two: Ultraviolet Turntable Art

Say hello to groovy black light mandala #2, Ultraviolet!



Work in progress:
In natural light:


In natural light, and in black light:

(Black light photos by Kaila Haas.)


These last two photos show you a little sneak peek at some of the amazing fluorescent murals I've painted on the walls. I have more great photos of the murals and will share them in another post!

Black Light Groove, Part One: Radioactive Turntable Art

Hi! Welcome to my world.

I've been painting mandalas on vinyl records since 1997.

In the many years before I had any such thing as a digital camera, a blog, a facebook page, and all that good stuff, I was never able to really share my art with the world.

Since entering this modern age, I've shared a-plenty. BUT...I had a little secret...a little card up my sleeve. You see, many of my paintings glow in the dark, and/or glow under black light. But I could never show you what that looked like. Even when my mural-filled bedroom/studio was on HGTV, they never showed the hidden underlying fact that the entire room glows in the dark. You may like my work, but you really haven't seen it until you've seen it under a black light.

And now, finally, at long last, I have pictures of my work in black light!!!

I'm so excited about this. It is really great that after all this time, my own work can still surprise and delight me. I look at my glowing art every night, but I have never been able to look at a photo of it before, and being able to share these photos makes me feel like I've just created all of this work all over again. You know, that satisfying feeling of having created something new and beautiful.

These black light photos were taken by my friend Kaila Haas, who patiently set up her killer tripod in about 100 different configurations and waited approximately 16 seconds for each exposure. It was a long but fascinating series of 16-second intervals, and the results are fantastic!


This green and blue piece is called Radioactive and it is one of two mandalas I created for a custom order on Etsy. The awesome buyer (I love her for having the great idea that set all of this into motion!) requested Turntable Art to give to her husband, a DJ and promoter, as an anniversary gift. She asked, "Do you work with black light reactive paint at all? My husband is a DJ, psytrance being his favorite genre, and he decorates with black lights a LOT. Your designs would look awesome under black lights."

Well, of course I have been using black light paints and phosphorescent medium for ages and it's all over my bedroom/studio as well as on murals in our basement, and on several guitars, records, and other things that I've painted over the years. But I've never really promoted this aspect of my work, mainly because I didn't have any means to show it off (other than inviting people to come over to my house and check it out at night, which is not always a feasible plan!).

But once I got started on the order I knew that I'd have to find a way to get photos of these babies, because they are definitely going to be a new product line for Eye Pop Art!

Here are some photos of the work in progress:





And the finished product under natural light:



Side by side, the same item in natural light and in black light:




This last photo shows a little sneak peek of the OTHER record, which is called Ultraviolet. I will tell you more about that one in my next post.

Hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse into my secret black light world...there's lots more to come!

Recycled art show in Seattle

The good people at Seattle's Green Chair Project had an opportunity to show works at a recycled arts show put on by the RE Store. They chose my Red Goth Clock as one of the pieces to include! The show is hanging at the Blowing Sands Gallery in Ballard, from April 10 - May 5.


If you are in the Seattle area, stop by and check it out!

You can see more photos in this album on facebook.

Favorite Creative Reusers: Virginia Fleck

As promised in this post about the book 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, I plan to share some of my favorite creative reusers here on ye old blog.

To kick it off, I have to start with my absolute favorite - Virginia Fleck. Oh my gosh. I am so amazed and blown away by Virginia's work. She creates stunning, gorgeous mandalas using plastic bags.

You have to look at her Public Art section to see some of the breathtaking installations she's created.

Virginia also oversees a service organization called the Angsty Teenage Eco Warriors, whose mission is "to identify and evaluate critical environmental and humanitarian situations and to take action with engaging, effective volunteerism."

Very cool. Check out their tutorial on how to make a Plastic Bag Tote like these:
They have a rad video too:




I'm so inspired and delighted by Virginia's work and just had to share it with you. Please take a look at her website and enjoy the recycled beauty!

Psychedelic City! (The pinwheels at Live Debris)

Above is a super-oversaturated photo of my Mandala Pinwheels at the Eastbank Esplanade on Saturday morning. Psychedelic city, I say!



I was really happy with the way they looked planted on the riverbank like this for the Live Debris opening day event, with the Willamette River, Morrison Bridge, and buildings of downtown Portland in the background.

I did go back in the evening and removed all but three of them. I was just too worried about them being stolen, vandalized, or damaged. The three that remain will be there through the 26th if you want to go see them. I am hoping to get them listed in my Etsy shop soon, as I know that there are several people who already want to buy them. I just need to figure out how they can be shipped.

Here's what they looked like at about 7:00 in the evening:

Seven Planet grand opening & trunk show

On Saturday, September 12, I had the privilege of setting up a display at Seven Planet, the new "flagship" green general store that just opened on NW 4th & Couch in downtown Portland. Aysia, the manager (and owner of Greenloop), invited several of the Trillium Artisans members to a trunk show during their grand opening festivities.
I was really loving the way my bowls looked in these bright little cubicles.


Megan's groovy marble-covered bowling balls and stained glass suncatchers:


Kristen set up outside with her lovely pillow covers. She was right next to the new location of the 24-hour Church of Elvis!

The ribbon cutting:

Aysia at the cash register (I don't think she moved from this position all night):

Some of the live entertainment:
Emily Baker of Sword + Fern with her jewelry made from recycled auto parts:



Amazing mural on the ceiling (by Chris Haberman, of course - I love that guy!):
Melodie and Suzie came by toward the end of the evening, and together we checked out the Old Town Block Party, saw some amazing dancing Chinese dragons, and rounded out the night when Chuck met us for appetizers at The Republic. Loads o' fun in PDX!