Conscious eating -- a start

I'm trying to eat consciously, having been reading Geneen Roth's book Breaking Free of Emotional Eating.

It's a lot harder to know when I'm hungry than I thought it would be.

I'm sitting here, it's 7:19 pm, and I haven't eaten all day, because I haven't been hungry. Now I'm starting to feel hungry, and I don't know what I want to eat.

It's fascinating.

David and I have been sick for almost a week, and we've been insanely busy, one or the other of us, or both of us, since, well, the last time I updated this blog :)

But now that I have the time, I'm going to look at eating. What it means to me. What it means to be conscious about it.

Wish me well.

CLKcreative -- featured Etsy shop

I love bracelets -- they're my favourite item of jewellery. I've had this one marked as a fave on Etsy for a few weeks now. It's little dangles of square and round beads added to a lovely, simple length of brass chain, and I think it's gorgeous!

The maker is CLKcreative of Michigan. She says of herself:

I am 37, born and raised in Michigan and currently reside in the metropolitan Detroit area. I have been creating jewelry as a hobby for several years and started selling it online just over a year ago. I enjoy trying new techniques, designs and materials.

I work primarily with wire (sterling, copper and brass) as well as with gemstones (favorites include amazonite, labradorite and tiger eye), wire, and resin. I also enjoy beadwork techniques and will occasionally make a macrame piece.

I love the colours in this Amazonite, copper and Czech glass memory wire bracelet. The copper beadcaps and sections of chain make it sparkle beautifully :)

I encourage you to check out her shops at Etsy and ArtFire, and her blog!

CLKcreative's Etsy shop
CLKcreative's ArtFire Studio
CLKcreative's Blog

New at dangerousmezzo -- PRINTS!

I'm very happy to announce that I will now be offering prints of my original 5 x 7 inch collages. I've never sold reproductions before, only the originals, so this is a departure for me.

Each print will measure 5 x 7 inches, and will be printed on the highest quality acid free art paper with acid-free inks from the high resolution scans I've taken of my work over the years. I've made a couple of test prints and I can say that I'm thrilled with the depth of colour and the quality of the results.

I'll only be producing ten prints of each collage -- and each one will be numbered and signed by me. When the ten are gone, they'll be gone for good.

This article shows the first two I'm offering for sale. At the top is "wake up", a dreamy mixed media piece which could be happy or sad, depending on the viewer's mood.


This is "Past Perfect". The original was a heaviliy over-painted portrait based on a glamour photo from the 1920s, with found text forming both caption and title. It's very typical of my style and remains one of my favourites.


An older artist friend of mine used to tell me that any work of art looked 35% better once it was framed, and I tend to agree with him :) One of the lovely things about prints is that they're so very easy to frame: much easier than having a piece on stretched canvas framed. Here's a print of Past Perfect slipped into a commercially available photo frame, matted to 5 x 7 and under glass. In North America 5 x 7 is a standard size for easily-available and affordable frames and mats, so it would be easy to prepare a print as a gift or for yourself.

I've got prints of the two collages in this article up for sale in my ArtFire Studio, but I'd be happy to print up any of my previous works. In nearly all cases I have the original scans at high resolution. You can see the 5 x 7 collages I've sold here at Flickr. If you'd like a specific work, please contact me through this blog, or through my shops at ArtFire or Etsy. I can print a work and list it for sale in either of my shops for you.

Pam Dover -- Featured Etsy Artisan

As a collage artist myself, I love the art form and I vastly admire other collagiste's work. I first saw Pam Dover's work on ArtFire, but she has an Etsy shop, as well. I love her sense of fun, her command of volume and shape and her woman-positive stance.

The piece pictured above is "Red Dress" a print of an original collage artwork. Pam sells her work, which includes a lovely line of stationery items, through her company Inspiration turn Design.

She says of herself:

I am in my mid twenties and trying to take my passion for art and design and create something great from it! I have several areas of interest mixed media collage art, digital design for personalized stationery and invitations, along with "Eco Chic" crafts, and photography.

The work above is Size of a True Woman, a print of a collage that was auctioned off for a V-Day event to support a battered women's shelter. The original was created using vintage dress patterns.

Pam is about much more than collage -- please visit the links below to see more of her work, learn more about her and to purchase her creations!

PamDover Etsy shop
Inspiration turn Design ArtFire Studio
Inspiration turn Design website
Inspiration turn Design blog

Green Mamba -- Featured Etsy Artist!

Here's my salute to one of the smartest, wisest sellers on the Fora at Etsy: GreenMamba. Her avatar on the site is a big, green eye, and whenever I see that eye, I know I'm going to read a post full of common sense, humour filtered through a humane mind with a commendably even temper.

She and her two daughters also make AMAZING stuff :)

Like the mini top hat, above. It's trimmed with red marabou feathers and red and black checked ribbon and it's simply divine and more than a tad theatrical. Which I like ... I want to plan an entire costume around it!

GM says of the family team, who live in Houston, Texas:

We are drei Frauen: mother and daughters, working a little of our eccentric magic to bring you fun and funky handmade goodness.

Mostly, we work individually on whatever is inspiring us at the moment, though you may see occasional collaborations. Full credit is given in each listing to the designer/creator.

Pssst . . . Wonder who is posting in the fora with that mesmerizing green gaze?
It's always me, GreenMamba, the matriarch of this li'l operation.

This is GM's Lolita mini top hat with pink ribbon and bows. The mother and daughters also make plushies, eye patches, bows and other items with a distinctly Japanese sensibility.

So here's to GreenMamba -- mother and daughters -- intelligence and design with a kick somewhere between goth and kawaii.

GreenMamba's shop at Etsy

Happy Christmas, and thanks to Eclipse!

A very Happy Christmas (or festive season of your choice) to you all!

I'd just like to thank HeyMichelle at Etsy for organizing a very special round of Front Pages specially chosen by Etsy sellers and I'd like to thank Eclipse for very kindly including me in her wonderful treasury "Friendship".

Thanks so much, Eclipse. I'm tremendously honoured, both by your choice and by the company with which you've put me.

Turandot Jade Bracelet

At the beginning of the summer, before I got crazy busy with opera (which is how I spend my summers -- well, opera and sailing) I made many, many pieces of jewellery which were sold on consignment in a wonderful shop in nearby Chester, Nova Scotia, the Warp and Woof. A big shout-out to Gwen -- thanks so much!

I kept some of the pieces back, though, and this is one of them. I wasn't sure at first I could part with it, but I've listed it now on ArtFire.

It's all jade, all the way, wirewrapped with copper and oxidized and sealed. I LOVE wirewrapping, especially for bracelets, because it makes them insanely durable as well as being a design element. It's also damned fun to do when I'm sick of knitting.

I named it after Turandot, the eponymous princess of Puccini's last opera (the debate about pronouncing or not pronouncing the final "t" seems to have been settled: don't pronounce it, because Puccini didn't and the text setting backs him up. This sucks because when I was becoming an opera gal the fashion was FOR pronouncing it. Now I have to learn a whole new way to be cool -- in opera, that ain't easy, believe me).

So Turandot gets a bracelet and loses a t, and I get to blog about it :)