"Up To No Good" challenge follow up....

Up to no good, you can say that again! It's been more then a year and I haven't gotten back to you all about this challenge.  A friend and I gave each other a challenge of going into a very junky- junk store and buying what ever struck our fancy and then creating a wearable work of art from our finds. Well at least I finished it.  The necklace has been created for some time now, using the elements that were purchased from this store which is one of my favorite local haunts.   The necklace had some issues as the brass ring that I was using just didn't want to cooperate. I had tried to use the ring cut up into several pieces then linked together with jump rings. Finally I got my noggin screwed on right and added the chain and only used part of the ring. A small cheat as this wasn't from the store but it improved the necklace tremendously.

The name of the challenge was called up to no good because it felt like fun rather then work.  There were many aspects to this challenge that made it fun. My favorite part of the challenge was to find beauty in what seemed to be discarded.  I also liked how there are hidden messages in things if you are open and tuned in.  While digging around in card board boxes (mind you nothing is priced and randomly laid out)  I found a bunch of old military buttons and long out dated Missouri tax tokens. Amongst these rusty dusties there was one tiny silver medal that read "MY OWN SELF AT MY VERY BEST ALL THE TIME."  A tall order to follow indeed, but something worth striving for.  

Upon these discoveries and the final completion of this necklace I will call it a  talisman and wear it with pride, dignity and  honor.

Venus de Milo

In 1820 on the Aegean island of Milos amongst ancients city ruins a peasant farmer named Yorgos Kentrotos found buried in the ground the famous statue of Venus de Milo. He was digging for stones to perhaps build a wall with. I wonder how many time he hit her head with his shovel before he realized she was a Goddess. Maybe this is why her ponytail was broken off.   This would be Yorgos's claim to fame unearthing the Greek Goddess of Love.  Little did he know, the tumultuous fights she would ensue.  A regular fem fatale, honestly she's just a rock that was carved into a Goddess. Rock or not, she has claimed and ensnared many macho egos'.  Like bad relationships she left a trail of wounded men in her path. Men and their intellectual muscles, fought over her destiny and the significance of her history and providence. Exercising all kinds of liberties the French conjured up her beginnings to suit their fancies.  A 'greater' sculpture the Medici Venus would be rightfully returned to it's home in Italy after being luted by Napoleon's men.  Venus de Milo would take it's place. She was destined to fill some big shoes, too bad she only has one foot.

She stands a commanding 6'8" tall, her home now resides in the not so shabby Louvre in Paris France.  This is where  I would love to see and compare the venus' of our day- a group of seriously tall female basket ball players standing next to her.  Years ago while trying on clothes at JC Penney I heard a bunch of women joking around outside my dressing room.  When I open the door there was a whole group of really tall women like over 6 feet tall.  It turns out they were all part of the College basketball team at NIU.  Talk about feeling short I am only 5'1''.  Diminutive,  she is not Venus is almost larger then life maybe that's why she is so powerful her shear size is commanding there's no denying that if she were alive she could beat the crap out of just about anyone.

I can't imagine why something that once was so elegant, fair and beautiful could be discarded and buried deep in the ground.  I am sure there are those who have their theories could tell you why, landslide, earth quake , but in reality she is shrouded in mystery.  Like so many other antiquities  it's the questions left unanswered that make them so alluring.  I once got a fortune from a fortune cookie that said " A beautiful face is a silent commendation. " A crinkled up iddy  bitty piece of paper has made this lasting impression on me.  When you stop to really think about it- that would be the look of satisfaction, something like the way a bride looks on her wedding day with  her lover and all her loved ones around, hopefully perfectly content. There's a knowing all is good with your immediate bubble and surroundings.  It's a beautiful thing to be enriched enough to desire the act of commending,  then on the other hand how grand to be on the receiving end to be the one who is commended. On a subconscience level this is what's going on with us the crowd the viewers when we are in the presence of Venus.  We are gazing into a beautiful face which is the silent commendation.  What a priceless package indeed.

At one time Venus was tinted in life like colors and wore jewelry that was the fashion  to make her seem even more real.  Now she has been mass produced into little souvenirs in countless shapes and sizes.



  Her image is iconic.  I've always liked her personally because she seems comfortable in her own stone  skin.  She's a Goddess, you want to like her and look up to her.  She was lovingly formed by hand in marble.  She gazes through you and beyond,  there is sense of humility and pride that you get while looking at her.   Even in her extruded 20th century tschotske  resin state here, there is grace and poise it's easy to ponder her greatness.

 She is a sage and has the timeless it factor.  It also helps that there are countless documents that lead up to her paradoxical demise.    Out of the ground she was re-born again. All of this is the stuff of romance, lust, greed and ultimately the clash of egos verses vulnerability. Isn't that after all what love is about? She makes me think about being a women. Twisted and broken she remains powerful and mighty, it's ashame  she has no arms.  I am told and have essentially heard through the tainted grape vine there were  arms near her when she was found but they mysteriously went missing, one arm held a apple.  How provocative, I along with so many others want to make art about her,
 I want her to hold an apple once again.