The Meaning of Radiant Jasmin

Radiant, as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary 1. Emitting heat or light. 2.Consisting of or emitted as radiation: radiant heat. 3.a. Filled with light; bright. b. Glowing; beaming. See synonyms at bright. 1. An object or point from which light or heat rays are emitted. 2 Astronomy. The apparent celestial origin of a meteoric shower. [Latin radians, present participle of radiare, to RADIATE. - radiantly adv. Bright - Synonyms a radiant object radiates light; figuratively the term applies to that which, like a smile, reveals inner light and warmth. The meaning of the name Jasmin is: Fragrant Flower or a climbing vine plant that has fragrant flowers. So for me, Radiant Jasmin means to shine light on the truth and to bring the heat to cold places, to heat it up, as on the dance floor and to shower a beautiful fragrance around the world! And for me to let my inner light shine fully :-) So there you have it! I had to post this because there are a few people who have a misconception as to what my name means. If you you happen to hear anyone say something along the lines of "she should act like this or like that because her name is Radiant, please send them this post to help them understand who I am, thanks!

My Dream June 18, 2010 - the Dark Staircase - Updated

I first posted this in my Facebook profile and I have added an update at the end. **************************************************************************************** My Dream June 18, 2010 - the Dark Staircase: That morning I dreamt that I was walking up a high flight of stairs that had no handrail, the stairwell was kind of dark and spooky. I was on my way to participate in some kind of art event, it was very important that I continue through this to get there. I kept trying not to look down, though out the corner of my eye I would see the lower levels, get a little dizzy & slow down. When I had climbing about 8 levels and had only a few more floors to go, I heard someone on the floor I was on. I opened the door, entered the hallway and met a young lady who was probably in her mid twenties, she was about my height, slender, of European descent and had straight light brown hair parted in the middle that reached to her shoulders. She asked where I was going, after I told her, she said I was very brave, she didn’t have the courage to go up that staircase and anyway, with the medium / discipline she works in she doesn’t need to go up there. I thanked her, turned to enter the stairwell again to continue my journey and then I woke up. Update: The synchronistic thing about this dream is I had a similar experience last year where I had to climb up the shell of a staircase in a new building that was being built in preparation for submitting an art consulting proposal. There were no walls at all, just steal rods, so when I looked down I could see all the way down! And it was a rainy day, so it was a little slippery. A few people on the walk through got dizzy when they tried to ascend and they decided to not to go up, but I remembered my dream and kept going. I felt very brave and happy that I pushed through my fear! We didn't get the art consulting contract for that building, but it was an amazing learning experience.

MATV Holiday Boutique

Tomorrow from 12-4pm, I will have jewelry and small artwork for sale at the MATV Holiday Boutique and Artist Reception for Lucida Dassardo-Cooper. I also have gift certificates that can be redeemed for any of my artwork and classes, so your loved ones can pick out their favorite piece. So come and get your shopping completed and see beautiful art! The MATV Gallery at Malden Access TV 145 Pleasant St. Malden, MA 781-321-6400 access@matv.org www.matv.org

Carving Printmaking Blocks

I'm having a blast carving soft printing blocks! They are helping me to break through the "artists block" I've been having over the last few days. It's so relaxing and I can go very fast, it's very different from engraving metal and much easier on my wrists! :-)

I just finished one of tulips and I'm making some that have holiday themes for greeting cards. I'm post them for sale here and in my Etsy shop: radiantjasmin.etsy.com

Yes, the Happy New Year is backwards on purpose, it has to in reverse in order for it to print correctly. I will make some test prints with ink and see what areas need a little more carving to sharpen up the images.

I have a lot of Soft-Kut Printing Blocks, that's what have been carving (I can't find out who the manufacture is.) I have 1 each of the Speedball Speedy-Cut Carving Block and Speedy Carve Block that I will carve soon and I'll post my review of all the blocks when I'm done.

Sway

This is one of my new series of ACEO's, they are miniature works of art. ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". This artwork has one basic rule - they are 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches - the size of a trading card. I just completed several and will be posting them regularly!

Sway

Fabric, pigment ink, color pencil and paper collage

Pitt Artist Big Brush Pens by Faber Castell - Update

Oh boy! I recently received 2 more colors (Light green and Pink madder lake) to add to my collection of Pitt Artist Big brush pens by Faber-Castell! They were on back-order from Dick Blick and I almost forgot they were on their way, when I saw the FedEx truck I said to myself "Hmmm, what could that be? I'm not expecting anything."

What a nice surprise it was! I'm off to try out these new colors and will also post on how the Pitt pens combine with Faber-Castels Albrecht Durer water colour pencils. I recently got the 250th anniversary set of 25 pencils, some of the pencils in this set are the same color number as the Pitt pens, I will see how close the colors match.

I used these markers in my pieces Happy Springtime, Two May Tulips and One Red Tulip.

Heads up on some of the colors if your planning on buying a set: These colors are not in the set of 48!

178 Nougat
228 Bright Magenta
278 Chrome Oxide Green
143 Cobalt Blue
157 Dark Indigo
219 Deep Scarlet Red
121 Pale Geranium Lake
270 Warm Gray I
230 Cold Gray I
250 Gold
251 Silver

I first bought the small set of 4 Classic Colors that was on clearance at a craft store, it had the black missing, so it was priced at $3.95 (a deal as they go for $2.55 Blick online and $3 plus per marker at brick and mortar  stores!), since I heard they were great markers from artist Don Colley in his video, On the Go with PITT artist pens http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI24mfsrU80&feature=channel
I figured it was good time for me to give them a try. I fell in love with the first stroke! I then bought the set of 24 and started visualizing getting what I thought were the remaining 26 colors. 

So I'll have to buy the ones I have listed above separately sometime soon, I realized these were not in the 48 set after I was done ordering from Dick Blick online, grrrr! I don't know why they don't have the Deep Scarlet Red in the sets, as the red they have, Pink Carmine 127, is a medium red and not dark enough for me, I have to make several passes with it to get a good color.

I think these extra colors may only be available from online art stores, I'll check at Blick when I go this week to pick up a fine art print order that is ready, YEAH! I'll also take a look across the street (Mass Ave. Central Square in Cambridge, MA) at Artists Craftsman Supply to see if they have these colors in open stock and I'll let y'all know what I find.

Until next time, Keep on Creating!

Dragonfly - In progress

The first time I went out in my yard this morning the largest dragonfly I've ever seen flew by me, I saw it out the corner of my eye and it was so big, at first I thought it was a small bird! It was blue and it flew around my fence a few times and then flew away.

A few moments later, a smaller brown/beige dragon fly landed on the pine tree closest to my house, I walked over to get a good close look and to say hi. It flew around a little bit and kept coming back, landing on the same branch, which was a little above my head. It was looking at me too and it's mouth was moving, but it wasn't eating anything, I feel it was saying something to me, it was telling me to finish the dragonfly drawing that I started quite a while ago when another dragonfly landed on my sketchbook. Here is the starting sketch: