{Rolling Blog Hop Challenge} Erin of Elysian Studios

A short while back, I asked some creative and inspiring women if they would like to participate in a loose kind of blog hop.  Instead of everyone posting on the same day, we will post as we get our projects done, with an end of November deadline.  I send them each a package containing vintage wooden spools like you see on the upper left of the blog (badge compliments of Hope's wonderful photography and Janet's tweaking...thanks ladies~it looks great!).  I found them while antiquing in NJ.


With a mix of excitement and sadness, our Rolling Hop is wrapping up today.  All you ladies have  made this so much more thrilling than I could have ever imagined.  I am in awe of the talent, the minds, and the genuine kindness you all have within you.  You made this fun and easy and I really enjoyed featuring each one of you :-)  Thank You!!!

Our Baker's Dozen is now complete.

Erin of Elysian Studios has posted her spool art!  Yay!  So without delay, here's what Erin made:

                                                  (photo from Elysian Studios Blog)


I knew there was a strong possibility Erin would do a painting, but I have no intelligent words for this!  What a beautiful, vivid, happy, painting showing objects from the past and what remains of their story.  Erin calls this piece "Stitched in Time".  She has some really lovely things to say about the spools themselves, as well as the thread they held.  She also has fond memories of her Grandmother, whose spools she has in her collection too.   Please go over to Elysian Studios and read for yourselves...Erin's art is bound to keep you there for a while.  It has kept me coming back for a few years now.



I came across Erin's blog during a 7000 Bracelets for Hope Hop in 2011.  It was my first hop ever, and less than a month after I started my blog.   I liked her style and I really liked that she lives in Colorado.  I silently visited her blog for a while, too intimidated to comment.  Erin is a professional artist so I wasn't sure I could say anything worthwhile.  I was new to blogging and had a lot to learn about commenting.  I was more a blog lurker at the time.  Several months in to my silent visits,  Erin did a DIY post on how to put fabric on a notebook.  She was using notebooks for her Morning Pages~an exercise from Julia Cameron's workbook, The Artist's Way.  I became interested in it and commented to Erin and it wasn't long before she commented back!  She and I started a semi-regular dialogue that is still going strong not quite 3 years later.  She convinced me to give the Artist's Way and Morning Pages a try.  The workbook is designed to take 12 weeks.  I took 9 months, but am glad I went on that journey.  And more importantly, it kept Erin and I talking.  We decided to co-host our own 7000 Bracelets for Hope Blog Hop and from that, I made even more friends.  Erin is a huge reason why I am still here blogging.

Erin is an Artist~specializing in modern abstract/modern still life/modern landscape paintings, jewelry, handmade polymer beads,  DIY tutorials, and much much more.  Elysian Studios : The Artful Life really is an wonderful, educational place to spend some time and is pleasing on the eyes too.  When I go, I pour a coffee, pop a chocolate, and settle in.  I know I am staying for a bit and want to be cozy and happy.
Not only does she continually have her work featured in galleries in Colorado and elsewhere in the Mid-West, but she also has her paintings in Calico Home (a custom decor and fabric store in Denver) and in the Grand Lodge on Peak Seven in Breckenridge.
Erin was selected to help launch a product for Martha Stewart Paints by Plaid Paints.  You can find the projects she came up with for the launch on her blog, along with many other great DIY projects.  A lot of her DIY projects are great for kids too!
Erin made a gorgeous line of polymer beads she calls Gypsy Trade beads.  I had the pleasure of working with these and some cabs she made.  What a lovely feel and what vivid, cheerful colors!



Please take some time to explore Elysian Studios and all Erin has to offer.  Her work is some of the finest I have seen.  Here is a sampling to get you started:

Released

This is currently in Erin's shop, as is one of its partners in this painting series.
The third partner in the series is currently part of the 2013 Nature's Patterns Art Exhibition at the PACE Center in Parker, Colorado.
The colors, openness, and instant outside smell and feel from seeing this are a real comfort in this piece.







(photo from Elysian Studio's Indie Made Shop)

Crop Fields

Farms.  Fields.  Crops.  Unobstructed views.  So much unseen in the fields.  A mystery out in the open.












(photo from Elysian Studio's Indie Made Shop)

Precipitation to Subsurface Flow

The colors and shapes in a 3 part Hydrology Series Erin painted are so captivating.  This was the first painting I saw at Elysian and I was instantly hooked.
This is available as a print or greeting cards at Fine Art America.

Jewelry makes me want to talk and use a lot of flowery words.  Paintings make me want to just shut up and Feel them.





(photo from Elysian Studio's Indie Made Portfolio)

Connected Twilight

Hands down,  my absolute favorite.  This is from another series Erin did.  It also comes in Midday and Sunset.  But Twilight taps into my lust for those classic Starry Night colors (oh Vincent!) and has a nighttime, quiet, lonesome feel to it.
Prints and cards are available at Fine Art America.


(photo from Elysian Studio's Indie Made Prints)

Purple Mystic

This Gorgeous bracelet features Erin's Gypsy Trade Beads.  These beads are so much fun to work with!  It is surprising how many things you can pair them up with...keeping it bohemian or pairing them with crystals and pearls.  They work with anything!
This bracelet is such a beauty with its strong purples and the contrasting copper.






(photo from Elysian Studios Etsy Shop)

What a Hoot


Just look at the detail of this little guy!
His coloring, markings, crystal eyes...the dangling branch he is sitting upon, the beads in the chain that give him all his support.  The blend of beads in this piece is exquisite  It is enough but not too much for the eye.  A perfect balance...Erin seems to know all about that :-)










(photo from Elysian Studios Etsy Shop)




A ginormous Thank You to Erin ~ she was the first blogger I shared e-mails with; the first one I texted with; she encouraged me to try the Artist's Way and because of her, I followed through to the end of the course; she knows when to give kind words of cheer and support and also knows how to support with  constructive criticism; and she was my first blog hop co-host.  She is so much more.  So very much more.  But I know she knows that.

Thank You Erin...I love you, My Friend :-)