Love From Lily

Weighing in with Coco Buck.

Coco Buck of Worn Journal asked me to weigh in on the controversial Steven Klein shoot of Madonna for the March 2009 issue of W magazine. Read my comments and others here!

 

Rabbit Foot Goddess

Coming from a family of strong Irish & Norwegian heritage, I'm no stranger to superstition. Throw salt over your shoulder if you spill. Don’t step on cracks. Don’t crawl under ladders. My great grandmother's house was a shrine to Jesus. Not the happy Jesus you see in children’s illustrations. No. The morbid, bloody, Jesus who paid for our sins. It was apparent to me that the more crosses you had on the wall, the more protected you were. I figured this was why great grandma lived so long. Good protection. Needless to say, I was impressed and started my own collection of crosses and rosaries—sometimes donning several before I hit the sack—to ward off bad dreams and bring luck.

In a strange twist of fate, around the age of eight I got my hands on a copy of The Exorcist. Actually, I found the book in the ditch on the way home from the bus stop. Surely, this was a sign from God that I was supposed to read this book! I had previously mentioned my interest in the book to my mother during one of our weekly library visits—and even though I was not discouraged from reading any book I was interested in, my mother had said it was “probably too old” for me and would give me nightmares. Hrmph! I read it under the covers with a flashlight—peeling the translucent, damp, pages apart—one by one—pretty much scaring the living crap out of myself. My imagination had conjured up plenty of horrible imagery well before seeing the movie. Of course, I couldn’t say anything to anyone because I knew I shouldn’t be reading stuff like that. So I doubled up on crosses and said extra prayers and left the bathroom light on for months.

Such are the roots of my fascination with religious artifacts, iconography and talismans—as well as death and the apocalypse—but that is another story entirely.

In spite of my childhood collection of crosses and other types of 'lucky' ephemera, I didn’t draw many religious conclusions to my good luck charms. I had many lucky rocks, found metal bits and other such tokens in my protective arsenal.If it was lucky to the Indians or Hindus, it was lucky to me. So, I guess it’s no surprise that as a teenager, I started wearing a rabbit’s foot attached via a ball chain to one of my belt loops. It was one of those silly things kids do. I had several in different colors, which I would wear depending on my mood or outfit. Oddly enough, it didn’t seem to bother me that a rabbit had to die for my fashion and good luck needs! Or that the practice was rooted in voodoo and I was completely against animal sacrifice.

My fascination with talismans of every kind continues to this day. I’m really excited about working with some found vintage pieces that I think will lend themselves to wonderful pieces of power and protection! Here’s a sneak peak at what’s coming to the work bench:

Avoiding Sand Traps

Whelp, here I am working as an artist and sometimes it seems like the 'art' part eludes me. Like every other small business owner in this economy, I'm trying to determine the best course of action for the coming months and create a solid plan—which is hard to do when the base of the economy appears to be built on a pier of SAND!

My mind is spinning with new ideas and ways to execute my creative vision without breaking the bank. Apparently, you can take the girl out of marketing, but you can't take marketing out of the girl.

The great thing about starting a business in bad economy is there is no place to go but up. But the reality is that you are going to find out rather quickly if you're going to pass or fail. Adaptability is key. And sometimes that means changing what you produce, or how you produce what you make. Marketing is a trial and error process. You give it your best shot, listen carefully to the feedback and modify things as you go until you've got it right.

Oh, you mean selling out? You ask?

Not exactly.

I strongly believe that you have to invest your time and money in creating what you love. And I truly mean that. If you don't love it, chances are good no one else will either. This is especially true of art. Uninspired work does not inspire! At the same time, I don't see anything wrong with creating for an audience—as long as you put a part of yourself into your work.

In recent weeks there have been plenty of ideas pondered, executed and trashed in my studio. And that is all part of the creative process for any business. You're going to end up with a few wads of paper in the trash!

Most importantly, I am open to the possibilities of this moment!

In Earnest,
TC

Happy New Year!

And so goes the march of time! Another year is here! And to think I thought I would never make it to age 25, always believing that some horrible accident or disease or random murderer would take me out. I'm on a never ending quest, so it seems.

I'm a little slow in putting together my goals for the new year. Perhaps I'm being a bit careful for once as I feel the time is getting shorter and I've got to pick what I'd like to accomplish a bit more studiously than years past.

I haven't yet worked out the specifics, however my overriding goal in 2009 is to focus on general happiness and the behaviors and actions that will support it. For me this means in a nutshell that less is more. Buying less. Eating less. Stressing less—all with the intention of making more space for the things that are good and create peace and happiness in my life: Family. Friends. Pets. Nature. Art.

Here's to a wonderful New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Plain Jane Necklace

I have a string of pearls that I have restrung so many times I think it is currently held together by upholstery thread. I think there's something cool about wearing a funky piece with an evening gown or a fancy piece with a t-shirt. Pearls come and go in popularity, but they're always a staple for me. This piece was inspired by all the days I've worn a crusty t-shirt and worked on my car adorned by my everlasting string of pearls.

Gone to the birds.

I've been quite busy lately! The last few weeks I've been experimenting in the studio with less expensive materials like wood and polymer clay. I've also been working on some color transfer techniques. These pendants were made by applying crayon onto a wood surface, then melting and buffing and reapplying, and then finally sealing it with a spray sealant. They are available for sale in my Etsy shop. I've also got some fancier pieces in the works... stay tuned!

Virgins and Vampires

That's about how it goes for me. I'm a study in contrasts, so it seems. My latest two pieces illustrate this perfectly. When I design something, I usually ponder at great length exactly who I'm creating the piece for. Ever the daydreamer, it's usually some super heroine demon slayer or rock star—or in this case, a beautiful young vampire I've named Ann Marie and her antithesis.

People need their iStuff.

I'm working on converting old video to digital format and my old Sony handycam died. It's hard to believe that thing cost $2000 back in its day. Thankfully, my friend is a film guy and has pretty much every camera from every era and he loaned me his so I can get the job done. I needed a conversion device so I can upload miles of tape into my MAC—which is another upgrade need/thorn in my side all by itself. So yesterday we went to a few places then ended up at the Apple store. The mall was a virtual ghost town. There were jeans and jewels and Christmas things stacked to the ceiling. But the stores were mostly empty. Even the shoe stores were pretty sparse. But as far as I can tell, bad times do not affect the Apple store. Which can only mean that Apple stuff is the iCrack of our time. There were tiny ones and young ones and middle aged ones and yes, even grayheads, all doing Appley things. The sales people had lines of people hovering around them. I hate crowds and wanted to leave. But I didn't want to come back either. $275 later, I was out of there. Needless to say, ugly boxes that convert stuff to other stuff do not satisfy my iNeed.

Love and Loss

It's been a very rough week due to the loss of our dear Samoyed, Veda. Born on Christmas Day in 1993, she was with us almost 15 years and passed on the third anniversary of my father's death last Thursday. She was truly a joy and will be missed oh so much!