Stix on the Beach: Tales From The Happiest Hooker!

Be Dazzled.

Twilight Saga-inspired digital prints available at www.bellakarma.etsy.com

Around seven years ago, I began to design with abandon, often not emerging from my bedroom for days (I had a bathroom adjacent to my room, ahem). I loved everything I made — and I sold nearly everything I made (for a lot of money, ahem). I was on track to establishing my own known signature style. 

Then life took a hard turn. It threw me so far off the path that I could never really find my way back to it. Each time I thought I did, I met with a dead-end. I felt completely lost. Until now. I've found my free-spirited creativity again — at a time when we when could lose so much — again.

As many of you know, my family is facing a financial crisis of epic porportions.  We're out of work. We're not making it.  Yet, this has motivated me to make art. All kinds of art.  

Of all the arts, I think of myself as a writer first. Everything I create  has a story behind it - such as my new line of  "Twi-Hearts" digital download  prints (available soon as 'hard copy' prints as well). "Twi-Hearts" (a play on 'Twi-hards" - an affectionate term for us Twilight fans) are inspired by the books.

I could — and I will at some point — write an entire blog post as to why I love the story so much. I always say "art inspires more art" — and  the series of images I'm creating is one way I've been inspired to convey how I see the beauty of the Twilight Saga (without ripping off other artists and/or copyright infringement!).

Starting Something

Whenever I start something new, I always tell myself to start somewhere. Because for me, starting is the biggest obstacle. It's not the only obstacle, but it's the one that I must get over first.

Photo Credit: Marissa Elliott ~ Photo & Collage Art: Jill Marie Elliott

I've been designing a new BellaKarma™ collection that is super exciting for me! It's been years since my last line of accessories! The strange benefit of this is that I feel freer to go in a whole different direction than before. I am, however, also enjoying adding new elements to old endeavors — which is the case with aspects of this collection and with the resurrection of another.

I'll be working on this full-time during the summer — when it's 1810 degrees outdoors. We lived at the beach for nearly a decade and temps sometimes reached 100 degrees by the water. Now we live seventeen miles inland where you add one hundred degrees for each mile away from the coast, plus ten. Maybe I should create a collection out of Popsicle stick art.

What are you starting?

...fly on the wall...

The true secret of happiness lies in taking a genuine interest in all the details of daily life. ~ William Morris

Fly on the Wall
Collage on painted background / ©Jill Marie Elliott

I love my blog. It's one of the most endearing (and enduring) relationships I've ever had. I recently discovered a way to read almost all the four years of blog posts I deleted. They're no longer on Blogger, so I can't republish 'em directly from here. I don't quite understand why I purged so many of 'em. It was a dumb decision. It would totally be my reason for needing to go back to the island.

After the Blog Meltdown of 2008, I brainstormed of how I was going to start blogging this way and that way and in a new way and in an old way (and have you ever seen a lassie, a lassie?), but the way that works best for me is to simply write. And it took wiping out hundreds and hundreds of near-daily blog posts for me to see that spinning tales out of everyday stuff and inviting you to be a fly on the wall in the world I share on here is my blogging style.

Yesterday the wind was blowing like crazy, so of course I did my hair and went out in it! I love it when it's windy. Everything you do just seems more adventurous when you're fighting against being blown over. Example: "OMG! I went out to the car to grab my Black-Eyed Peas CD, and almost got knocked down by the wind!" See what I mean? No one cares that you listen to the Black-Eyed Peas or questions why you still use CDs instead of an iPod, they are simply mesmerized by your wild encounter with the wind!

I set out on foot with Marissa on a very specific photo-shoot. I wanted to capture some images that were inspired by the wind. Turns out, three of my favorite photos were of things that stood its ground.

The Anaheim arrow on the aluminum tree grate is part of our city's Art In Public Places. The tree grates depict Anaheim from a United States Government Survey map from 1965. I found these to be more user-friendly than Google Maps.

I love the old-fashioned street lamps all around the downtown neighborhood. Our 'hood is very much like an extension of Disneyland, Main Street, U.S.A. — especially when we see so many Disneyland Cast Members dressed for work wandering our apartment complex. We may not have corn dogs, but we do get free coffee and cookies in the leasing office!

Orange County, indeed.

Before They Were Stars

He was not yet king...she was not yet famous.

Left: collage I created in 2003.
Right: photograph of Marilyn Monroe in L.A. by George Barris.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

There's no rest for the wicked.
~Proverb

I was still moping from Monday's early morning mixed media meltdown(s) when Mom came home from work yesterday evening. I whined to her about feeling as though my signature style of art was escaping me and how hard it is to recapture it. It was all very melodramatic.

I had been prepping throughout the day for that night's planned art project by painting and stamping the background. By the time I returned to my art table later in the evening, I was surprised to see traces of my old style. As I continued working on it, I realized the direction was teetering on meltdown mode again. I knew I could not force myself to like what what I was creating, even though I had sold myself on the idea in my head. I immediately removed what was NOT working and put it out of sight and out of mind.

Then something happened.

I was absentmindedly making art while thinking about how I missed making my art when I looked down and gasped! I knew exactly what I wanted and how to do it! I reached over and assembled one of the many Art Doll Tags that my Tia Linda have sent us (and is known for)! I've been wanting to show-off her artwork in a really cool way and this was perfect!

Meet Wicked, who, according to her creator Linda Forrest, makes a KILLER Love Potion #9! She can certainly brew up a spellbinding dose of creativity too! My Tia's art has once again inspired me to keep searching for my artistic style. I'm still working on the back and contemplating the inside.

Even though a huge part of this creation is made with Linda's artwork, my own designs center around altered illustrated women too, so I can see my signature style is still within reach.