Person, Place and Thing

We love words that can have different meanings; words that can be nouns or verbs and are very useful for colorful language.

Take "copper."

It can be an animal: copper butterfly or copperhead snake.

It can be mineral; it is elemental after all.

It's not a vegetable, but the moniker can be applied to certain persons that are responsible for keeping the peace. We're not making a political statement, far from it. My father-in-law was a police officer for 40 years and very much disliked being called a "cop."

There's a television show called, "Copper." We haven't seen it.

Copper can be very exciting! It is very good at conducting electricity and it's responsible for moving a LOT of water.

As a salt, it's a semi-precious gemstone in a lovely shade of turquoise.

It can also show up in your pockets as money!

Now, how will it show up in your art?

Show us your copper twinchies! Send images to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2 PM, Tuesday, October 4, 2016, along with anything you'd like to say about it and any linky-dinks. We'll post the goodies later the same day!

Week 40--Astronomy

Look to the stars and what do you see? 

Freebird captured a spaceship and Saturn in her signature beads:

If you could rocket into space, where would you go?

We're not planning on going to Pluto soon, but we occasionally visit the observatory that was responsible for finding the dwarf planet. Thus we have:

Be sure to check out the blogs to learn about the artists and their inspiration, to see what they see. Perhaps, to try your own hand at interpreting the challenge, to boldly go where none have gone before? 

Until next time....

In the Night Sky

When you look up in the sky at night, what do you see? There is the moon in all its delightful phases:

There are stars, which us humans have grouped into constellations.

Depending on your point of view, you can see Ursa Major, the Big Dipper or Crux, the Southern Cross:

Crux from Taiwan
by PK Chen

We can pick out Scorpius in the sky by the bright orange star, Antares:

And on a clear, New Moon night, the Milky Way. So many stars!

Our favorite star cluster is The Pleiades.

The ancient Greeks have their stories of all the stars, referred to as the Seven Sisters, as do just about every culture on the planet. You probably see the stars every day here on the ground, as they have been stylized for the logo for Subaru.

Show us what you see! Send your artwork to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Tuesday, September, 20, 2016 along with your notes of inspirations and blog links. We'll post them later the same day.

Week 39--Jewel

It must be the craziness that is the last official "hoorah!" of North American summer, but "things" are moving slowly around here. Or just the distraction of family, barbeques and toasted marshmallows. MMM.

Freebird sent us her beading pattern for her "jewel." We're impressed with her dedication: even if she's busy with family, she still has time for her art and this challenge:

We can't wait to see the finished product; she'll post it on her blog when it's all done!

We went with drawing a ruby cabochon as a scarab beetle. The added challenge was to draw black-on-black then to try to photograph it.

On our Flickr feed, so far.

We all hope you like what you see, that you visit the artists' blogs and comment appropriately. Or perhaps? Try your hand at whatever inspires you and create your own twinchies!

Until next time....

What's the Difference?

Do you ever ask Google what the difference is between two different things? There's even a website devoted to clarification: differencebetween.com, naturally. We used it this past week to try to determine how to differentiate a jewel from a gem.
And the answer is: NADA!
At least as far as we can see.
For the particular person, a gem could be a stone left in its natural state while a jewel is more refined and ornamental.
Thus if this is a gem:

Then this is a jewel:

It's a game that we may or may not have played before:

And someone we have listened to once or twice:

So, show us your jewels and gems, if you wish. Send your images to 1xeritas@gmail.com by 2PM Tuesday, September 6, 2016 along with whatever message you want to add and your blog post, if applicable. We'll post them later the same day. 

Have a brilliant day!

Week 38--Poetry

How to put words into pictures? Isn't that what defines the artistic endeavor? To convert thoughts and ideas into images?

Sometimes easier said than done!

Freebird wanted to channel her inner Edgar Allan Poe and chose to illustrate setting quill to paper with her bead art:

We, too, wanted to go in a different direction than where we finally ended up. We started with concrete and ended up in water for the official response:

Meanwhile, Mr. Poe's words rattle around in the grey matter:
"This is it and nothing more...
Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'."

Until next time....

Roses are Red

Violets are blue....

Although we never could grow violets quite like Mom does. Nor roses. Could be the desert weather being a tad bit drier and hotter than either prefer.
But there is nothing quite like the poetry that Mother Nature writes. Joyce Kilmer wrote of trees, which prompted us to create this a few months back for a different challenge blog, the Every Inchie Monday devoted to inchies.

A different kind of visual poetry is called "Concrete," which has nothing to do with this:

Concrete poetry has to do with the shape that the words take more than what is actually written:

Can't wait to see what happens with this one, especially since we won't re-use the inspiration for the EIM. Put your thinking caps on and send us your twinchies to:

1xeritas@gmail.com by 2 PM, Tuesday, August 23, 2016. Include any blog links or thoughts on inspiration, as so desired. We'll post the art later the same day.