Star sign symbols
Starsign …
I wanted something that would remind me of my closest friends. I’m really interested in horoscopes and what peoples star signs supposedly say about them. I decided to get my closest girl friends star signs and dates of birth and I plan to paint the symbols representing their signs onto individual pebbles, with their names and date of births on the back.
I think this is a really nice idea as it links us all together, some of the friends I am including have never met, but they will now be connected by being part of something bigger. I am the link between them and now they will linked through being part of my art. It connects us as women, to each other and to the earth and links us through a pathway.
I already knew their D.O.B’s but wanted to message them and involve them. 
Themes and images …
I have a clear idea of materials that I want to use but I wanted to look at themes and images to transfer to the stones.
I intend for this project to be very personal to me, to show my personality, my interests, my dreams, to represent my life and those in it. People may instantly get some of the ideas, others won’t. If all they take from the pieces is the idea that they are nice stones then that’s ok with me.
I want to use images, patterns, quotes that represent aspects of my life. I brainstormed and created an inspiration board of doodles of what I enjoyed and what I wanted to convey.
Ideas for themes and images so far are:
Nature: Floral, pattern, being at one, freedom, life and death, connection to the earth, connected to eachother, connected through pathways.
Spirituality: Connection, joining and linking, pathways, flowing ideas, one thing leads to another, set in stone.
Travel: Dreams, Asia, teaching, knowledge, places I’ve been to, where I want to go, beauty and freedom.
Quotes: Aspiration quotes, memorable to me, reminds me of other people, meaningful.
Starsigns: Mine and others, linked together, each one has different meaning and links to different person but something we all share (again, connecting)
Observations: Inspiration from objects, pattern, places, memories.
Repetition: Constantly repeat, events, ideas, days etc. show this through repeated prints/patterns etc. No infinite end. ever lasting.
Personal Aspirations: Find inner peace, maintain love, have a family, travel, learn, see beauty.
Friends, family, colour, pattern, spirituality, music, passion, nature, freedom, pathways, origins, repetition, everlasting, beauty, childlike, playful, flower, set in stone.
Rooster stones …
I painted patterns on to some stones similar to those I found on the Portuguese roosters. I’m happy with them, I think they are bright and colourful and give the stones energy, but what I like is that people can enjoy them, because they are attractive, but they have a story behind them. It is personal to me, based on my own experiences and I like that not everyone will know or get it.
On the backs I have written the date on which they were created. I varnished them to seal them and make them everlasting. 
30/5/2012
Materials: Pebbles from portugal. Acrylic, Varnish.
Rooster …
I have a rooster that I got in a charity shop (I collect a lot of crap) I loved the patterns and had actually been inspired and painted them on to glass. 
Photographer: Me. Materials: Rooster, Glass, Maribu glass paint.
Whilst I was in Lagos in Portugal recently I saw loads of these roosters! It was mixed emotions as I thought mine was one of a kind, but I found out the story behind them and how a guy was wrongly accused of a crime and said ‘if the rooster crows, I am innocent’ and the cock crowed and it became a famous symbol.
I collected some pebbles from a beach in portugal and painted some of the patterns found on the roosters.
Truth that inspiration can come in all kinds of weird ways.
Goldsworthy …
Whilst Goldsworthy is an obvious choice! I couldn’t really do a project on stones and not include a bit about him now could I?!
I have always admired Goldsworthy’s works, they are so technically advanced and creative and I love how he creates beautiful and exquisite pieces out of what the earth has to offer us. He takes things like twigs and bark, items we walk past every day and don’t notice or care about, and he tranforms them into something beautiful, that forces us to take notice.
These are the exact methods and ideas that I am interested in.
From taking inspiration from artwork to using nature AS the artwork I admire his ingenuity to use natural resources as we often forget they are there, reaching for a paintbrush or pallette before reaching for a branch. I enjoy how he turns nature into art, playing on its styles or relevance, carefully selecting each bit and creating something new and innovative.
Organic and natural …
I usually write lists and try and do things in order. Scrap it!
I want to use natural materials as blank canvas’s, but I also want to approach my work in a natural way and go with what feels right and when, don’t try and research things in historical or chronological order, From the first stone to ever live! Just see what happens!
See a stone and pick it up!
Organic and natural
I’ve already decided that I want to use natural materials for this adventure. I’m really passionate about nature as I think it is more beautiful and more powerful than anything we can create. I’ve never seen a better piece of artwork, heard a better piece of music, been blown away by anything as much as I have by seeing the world.
Just looking round my room there’s plants everywhere, everywhere is inundated with floral patterns, I wear feathers in my hair and flowers round my neck. My love of nature relates to me and flows through me, yet so far my work hasn’t really reflected that.
I have been very passionate about the pieces I have been producing and they have been very personal for me. For instance my ‘Darker Dreams’ project was taken from my experiences and my views on sleep, my ‘Derelict City’ project was heavily based on how ‘I’ viewed the city and how I felt I could change it. So whilst they have represented my views and events that have happened to me, they haven’t reflected my style as a person, or reflected my interests.
I want this to reflect who I am as a person, and who I am becoming, as an artist.
Stone, to the naked eye is looked at as plain and rugged. Yet, placed in the right ways, stone can reflect a simplistic beauty that not even a dozen roses can evoke. Take a look at a particular bag that I believe stands out in that same way. (Photo Credit: William Neill) (http://www.shop123go.com/bags/handbags/eliza-stonewash-shoulder-bag.html)
I like how this reflects how one stone can be so insignificant and has no power in terms of strength, or of beauty, but when it is with others, it becomes an army, a force to be reckoned with, and screams it’s individuality.
