Inspired by the Aegean: IOANNA'S VERY CHIC

The blue Aegean, with its magical sun-kissed islands, is an endless source of inspiration to many artists... And I love seeing my beloved Aegean Sea and the Islands through their eyes and their inspiration. Today I have the pleasure to make you meet one of them... Ioanna lives on the beautiful island of Skyros, in the Sporades. Ioanna's joyful and colorful ceramic work is deeply inspired by the colors and light of the Aegean Sea and Islands. When asked about her inspiration, she replies: "My inspiration? Nothing else but the sun, the blue of the Aegean, the flowers of my garden and the white, almost minimal, houses of Greek islands!". 
Ioanna is a graduate from the School of Fine Arts of Athens, and she runs her own ceramic workshop. She says: "Creation for me is freedom and with my colors I express the beauty of life!" Love-Light-Joy are this lovely artist's motto! And you can really see her passion and love for life and color in her gorgeous ceramic and terracotta work. Ioanna tells us that "Since the day I was born, I knew I was going to deal with colors and shapes! My character's feature? Being so optimistic. And this can be seen in my work. I love to create little masterpieces, each one as unique as the person who will choose it. It's my life's philosophy to use beautiful colours, bringing out all the harmony that my soul can hide. Each piece has a story to tell. Every step I take, I do it with passion and love for my creations. From the moment I will touch the clay to the final moment I will take them out of the kiln and feel the joy of seeing something 'alive' in my hands!"
Ioanna's artist statement is: "Light, joy, love and passion are what I create and what I mostly want to give to you through my work". You can find her wonderful Aegean inspired ceramic and terracotta functional pottery, home decor and jewelry, as well as a selection of earrings from gemstones, ceramic beads and sterling silver, in her Etsy shop IoannasVeryChic. Or, in Ioanna's own words, "Chic creations blessed by the Aegean sea and sun!".

Waiting for the glazing

Amazing Photos!!!

Good Morning my friends!!!

I know, lately I am not in my usual program for blogging and I create a post whenever I like...well it is Summer... I am not really in the mood to stay home in front of my pc. But when I do it, I like spending some time in pinterest and checking amazing photos.

So today's post are full of photograph art !!!!

It is amazing what an artist Nature can be. So many colors, feelings, emotions! Simply adorable!

Have a wonderful day full of smiles!!!

      mats mouts

TROPICANA COLLECTION

I have officially launched my Tropicana collection! :)

ANNUK CREATIONS BLOG FEATURE

So I've got my first blog article on a fashion blog through my presence on Cityblis! I love this post, and the Oscar Wilde quotes :)
Annuk Creations - The World of Colorful Art 
by Ayub's Fashion Fusion. Thank you Ayub :)

Experimental Jewelry: SOFIATRINKER

I love experimental and unconventional jewelry! In this series I'm featuring jewelry artists who work with unconventional materials and techniques, and who see a ring or a pendant as a canvas to express their art and creativity.
As I wrote in my About page, I love the idea that virtually anything can be turned into jewelry! Give me a stone, a piece of driftwood or a bottle cap and I'll turn it into a ring! I love the challenge! I always think that if I were "stranded" on a tiny island or on the peak of a mountain, with no supplies shops around and the closest to a supply store being the village hardware store, I'd just start using stones, corks, finds from nature, you name it! I know nothing will ever stop me from creating, it's a lovely feeling! So it was only natural that when I came across Sofia's work on Etsy, I was fascinated not only by her gorgeous colors (you KNOW I'm addicted to COLOR, don't you? ;)), but also by the amazing way she recycles and upcycles the most unusual materials. Sofia turns... well... "garbage" into stunning pieces of jewelry!!!
This is how Sofia introduces herself: "I am basically an ecologic artist from Mexico. I live with loves, a playful dog and a really cute cat. I enjoy reusing materials. As for new projects, I often create them in my mind and try to improve my technique with each item. Ideas sometimes come from looking at other people's trash - my mother for example owns 2 dogs and a cat, and disposes a lot of pet-related garbage. I sit down trying to figure out what I might do to help the planet and myself!!!". Would you ever tell that her gorgeous rings and earrings are made using orange peel??? Yes, real orange peels! Eco-friendly jewelry at its best! Her other materials include soda cans, wood and real flowers, but since she is always experimenting with new recycled materials, we can never know what she might surprise us with! Bravo Sofia for helping the environment while making art!
You can find Sofia's unique handmade jewelry in her Etsy shop Sofiatrinker.

Inspired by the Aegean: ATELIER LIVING DREAMS

The Greek blue sea, with its magical sun-kissed islands, is an endless source of inspiration to many artists... And I love seeing my beloved Aegean Sea and the Islands through their eyes and their inspiration.
Today I have the pleasure to make you meet one of them... Sabine lives on the beautiful island of Crete. Her work and inspiration could well fall into two other categories and belong into my other two columns, 'Experimental Jewelry' and 'She Traveled...'... Born and raised in Germany, Sabine has found her true home and endless source of inspiration in the wonderful island of Crete. She considers the island of Crete as "the home of my soul", and this "place full of history, amazing landscapes, passionate people, light, color, smells of wild herbs and this certain incredible wind, which is whispering ancient tales within the leaves of weather-twisted olive trees" is the endless source of inspiration for her art. Her shop Atelier Living Dreams is a tribute to all the things she loves, and to her dream come true. Make sure you also visit Sabine's beautiful website.

Sabine says "My world is creativity, colors, shapes, balance and harmony. After kind of an odyssea finding where you really belong, after years of study and travel, I am living my dream, and also my aim and purpose, doing art and design at my atelier, here on my beloved island, my place of home.

As one will surely see and feel, my works are inspired by this certain spirit of life, at the same time simple but although quite oriental, underlined by the bright colors of the sky with its amazing light, the deep blue shades of the ocean, and the rough and bizarre impressions of the Cretan landscape. My jewelry, artwork and fashion designs are a multicultural symbiosis, a statement and an ode to the beauty of culture, variety and difference".

Sabine is often inspired by the ancient symbol of the "Evil Eye" (or Lucky Eye), common to many oriental and Middle-Eastern cultures, as well as to the Greek culture. To the traditional protective symbol of the evil eye talisman, Sabine adds her own very personal interpretation: "I add the fact that when I was little, I refused painting the sun just as a yellow corner or ball, and against all odds, I used to paint it as a bundle of multicolor rays. During the years I learned about various cultures, folklore and the sacred geometry. All these facts together lead me to the creation of the 'Eye of Panthea'."

Her 'Oro di Mare' collection, created with natural elements she gathers from the sea, and mainly beautiful sea-shaped driftwood, "expresses the feeling that the rough and nature-shaped surface and the preciousness of gold and silver go very well together, as at a certain point they meet at the same origin. Nature and life are precious through themselves. Sometimes rough but shaping and refining, and then shining as silver or gold. Each piece of jewely is shaped by its travels through the nature, leaf-gilded or –silvered, and decorated with noble materials to line out its uniquity. Wearing nature's refinement and preciousness, is the philosophy in each unique piece of my 'Oro di Mare' artwork jewelry".

- Sabine's booth at a craft exhibition on Crete -

TROPICANA

I had  made these colorful pendants a while ago, using wooden tiles which I painted in bright colors and then topped with gorgeous blue glass cabochons. Now I finally turned them into necklaces, hope you like them :)

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