Seahorse obsessed.

One summer when I was about 8 our family went to the beach. 
My mom found a seahorse in a little tide pool and we tried to keep it alive in our cooler and bring it home!  Unfortunately that didn't work out and the poor little thing died.  (I now never take live things from the ocean, promise!!! not even sanddollars)
Anyway, this spurred my fascination with seahorses.
They are so cool... wouldn't you agree??

Here's a look back at some of my seahorse antics.

Kissing a seahorse at the Ice sculpture show Lee and I froze to death to see :)

Seahorse I drew when we lived in Grenada.... which reminds me I should find this and frame it!

Read about the others in this "collection" here. 

A couple little guys I made also while living in Grenada.

I turned the white one into a necklace and the sea glass one I just have sitting on my dress to admire.
It might be one of my most favorite things I've ever made, read about it here.

 And now thanks to Stella & Dot's Sunset Beach Charm necklace I get to wear another, somewhat upgraded version :)  Love this little guy.

Read more about my business with stella & dot here.

Honestly though, I think I just love anything that has to do with the ocean.

I'm trying my hardest to get back to the sea....

almost copy-kat art

One of my character flaws is that I don't like to copy things (hence my love/hate relationship with pinterest) 
I want to be creative all on my own. be original.
But the truth is.... I'm not really all that one of a kind.
Many of the ideas I have seem original to me, but someone else has already thought of it.
To deal with this I'd like to call myself the "almost copy-kat"
I see something I like and then try to put my own spin on it.

I am a supporter of trying to re-create art for yourself.
Art is so expensive. eesh.
I'm that over-confident person who refuses to buy anything that I think I can make myself.
Sometimes it turns out good... and sometimes it is just an outlet for when I get that urge to paint or draw.

Last week I tried my hand at re-creating a favorite image of mine from pinterest.
that sea horse I used for inspiration for my sea glass sea horse.

Source: printshop.urbanoutfitters.com via Angela on Pinterest

I used some really thin sharpie markers that my friend from college Tiffany gave me when I was home.  She donate SO much awesome stuff to our after school program - the kids love the books she sent and I've been getting lots of use out of the sharpies! and not just for art purposes ;)
Tiffany has a super cute blog - Teach.Run.Love.
If you like running (she's about to do her 4th half marathon), teaching 1st graders, or cooking check her out!

ok end of commercial break.
back to sea horses.

my version.  It is draw on 8x10 paper.

But I couldn't stop there.  I was loving this so I decided to draw a fish in a similar style.

But you can't stop at 2.  You need at least 3 for a "collection"
So I drew a little jelly fish!

The similar style and colors makes them a beautiful grouping!  I cannot wait to frame and display them on a gallery wall when we get an apartment in America!

sea glass seahorse

I think that's the start of a fun tongue twister.

Yesterday I saw this print on pinterest (see I'm not really over it.  there is still good to be found)

Source: printshop.urbanoutfitters.com via Angela on Pinterest

I absolutely fell in love with this seahorse.  Isn't it beautiful??
I knew I wanted to try to re-create the print, but wasn't feel in the drawing mood just yet, so I got my sea glass and some wire and went to work.

As per usual, I don't have an awesome how to tutorial.  I didn't know what I was doing.  I just shaped some 20gauge wire into a seahorse and then attached sea glass to the frame with 24gauge wire.  Which were the only two types of wire I have here in Grenada.  So you could use different sizes.  I however wouldn't go any smaller than 24 gauge, it might break easily.

The only problem is, I made this way too big to be used as a pendant for a necklace, it just kept growing!
My husband had the genius idea that the sea glass seahorse would be a great centerpiece for a sea glass wind chime! He is so useful to have around.

But I still wanted a necklace so I made another one, a beaded one.

and I'm not convinced I love this one for a necklace either.  but with limited bead supply this is what I came up with.  I think I'd like it better in gold. 
but I'm sure I'll find something to do with the little guy.

size comparison.

So... I have seriously decided to step up my sea glass finding capabilities.  I need more sea glass creatures!!

linking up with:
http://www.katiesnestingspot.com/
http://alliemakes.blogspot.com/
Somewhat Simple,
Paisly Passions. 
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/
http://justagirlblog.com/
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/2011/08/show-and-tell-saturday-080611.html