About our enchanted art and craft shop:

 

Welcome to Spirits and Elements, the enchanted art and craft shop.  This is a great place to find unique art or some kind of item that hits the spot and could flourish in a new home.  Perhaps you are adding to your collection or looking for a gift?  The artwork and crafted items you’ll find here are produced by Elizabeth and me, Christopher. 

We chose the words “Spirits and Elements” to represent us because we believe they are the driving force behind our art, before any market or industry, monetary value, time and effort, definitions, roles, scenes, etc.  We produce as a way to search and question and balance with life, and all along, we respect and celebrate it. 

We work with what we have, you and I, all of us; we try for a decent life; we’re fair; we’re understanding.  I believe all of us are artists; I always have, in the sense of expression, ideas, feelings.  All of this is involved in a relationship with us, and everything we do represents it, so we don’t always have to call it art; we don’t have to call it anything, but it is what’s happening.  Life is happening, right?  So art, creativity, expressions, items, information, I get it; I get the point, a piece of the Berlin wall, a souvenir from a vacation, a family heirloom, a stranger’s scribble on a napkin.  We get some kind of energy from it.  It reveals something or makes peace with something, brings us together, gives us one more thing to talk about, maybe it’s a simple reminder or maybe it’s something you never want to forget.  There’s no shame, my friend.  There’s always a room that would work perfect with a certain picture, a certain color; it can’t be too specific, full of energy but it won’t suck you in.  It sticks with the room, bands together, makes you look at the rest of the room as well.  Then we’ve seen other rooms that almost exist for the wonderful items residing there.  You’ve created energy, arranged an identity; you’re providing an environment, maybe challenging, maybe relaxing, maybe extra personal.  This is a true nature of art; it’s fundamental; it’s energy, a medium, or maybe it’s also something else; who knows, maybe I just had to have it.  Let’s call it a representation of life, and let’s say art imitates life first, after that, life imitates art the same; we go back and forth; we mix; it’s magical, enchanting. 

So here we are, and what an honor it is for our paths to have crossed.  While I am creating, I am listening to the work, listening to the process.  I always keep my eye out for that language, that something that is the equivalent of everything.  When the piece is finished, we have further conversations.  Most of us can get a hold of the classics, a copy, a version, something mainstream, a well established artist, and I certainly have my favorites, but equally valuable to me is the person down the block, the father around the corner who finished painting the porch and splashed a little paint on some sheetrock in the garage, on purpose, imagining he was an artist, or just imagining he was expressively painting; I want those splashes and blotches.  How about mom, she scribbles and doodles on paper every time she talks to a friend on the phone for a long period of time; I’d love those prints.  Still, you know there’s that kid, that girl, they paint, the put together crazy objects, bottles and metals, whatever, but they’re not always the “go-getters”, and they’re not always the “trying to make it” people; they do art; they express themselves, maybe more than usual so that you know they do art, but nobody ever calls them official artists; they don’t go to school for it; they don’t really think about selling their stuff, maybe they just never get around to it; they work their butts off, make the rent; they do their thing, but their art is great; it’s hot; it’s real, even if a majority of people don’t like it, even if they don’t like their own art.  It’s what’s going on around you; it’s what’s going on around the world.  How do we get a hold of that?  How do we get some of their journals published?  Most of the time, we can’t.  Most of the time amazing ideas and perspectives blend into everything else, usually it comes out of us in other ways.  Of course the internet and technology has definitely helped bridge that gap of expression and communication.  I came across many amazing people with unique abilities, people whose sarcasm is as sharp as a razor, or graphic art and programming that makes fantasy worlds a reality, some great writers who have no intention of ever being published.  You know how it goes my friend; we’re side by side but sometimes still a million miles away.  I also have a personal little collection of art from other artists, some of my extra favorites are the totally obscure attempts.  At a yard-sale I found a little painting on a plaque, it was a rough/sloppy-ish, very “trippy” looking portrait of Alice from “Alice in Wonderland”, but there was a certain quietness and neatness to it as well, basically it’s just totally obscure, but the real magic about it was that it was painted by a teenager years ago and they had long since gone off to college, graduated and started their life.  It was for sale by that teenager’s mom, who might soon be a grandmother, anyway, she said that they knew and it was ok to get rid of that stuff, etc.  Maybe later the creator of that painting might have wanted it, but supposedly they weren’t any good at painting, and they didn’t care.  So here I have this kind of “one-time deal” painting in such a style that is virtually impossible to ever come across in any other circumstance; it has a great home now.  I know none of us are strangers to finding amazing items this way. 

So what determines the prices for our pieces?  For me, whenever I have to put a value to my work I look at the cost of materials first, and I place a less than usual emphasis on the time and effort it took to produce.  I do this because the truth is I create no matter what, regardless of trying to share my work; I always seem to create more than anything else.  So I am not going to sit here and try to tell you that I set out to make such and such a masterpiece for the world and I spent every moment I had between making a living and doing everything we have to do to survive, know what I mean?  I know how I feel when I acquire a great item at a fair price, therefore I want the same for you.  After all these years, I love when someone loves a piece I created; I totally understand, and that’s our goal here.  I truly feel like we’re finding good homes for a little magic, coming across like-minded people and a rich diversity of respect.  My version of new clothes, video games, state of the art technology, is art supplies, that’s where most of my money goes, and I’m ok with that, and I think it’s equally beautiful to be into new clothes or hobbies or careers or personal ambitions, etc, because we express ourselves through everything, and with a healthy balance we find a way to do alright, and if we get a bit lost or overwhelmed, then we’ll learn from our mistakes.

Bottom line, we’re trying to share what we do and spread the love, through the good and bad times, the tough pieces and works in progress as well as the inspirations that basically created themselves. 

For anyone who likes details and elaborate info on an artist and what goes into the work, the processes and techniques, and the philosophies and intentions, then you can find a bunch of other essays and writings from Elizabeth and me, as well as general stuff that will help you get to know us.  We are continually working on our website as a general gallery of what we create, past and present.  So have fun exploring.

 Sincerely:

Elizabeth and Christopher,

Spirits and Elements.

Prices and value of our work.

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to browse around our website.  Elizabeth and I feel it is important to discuss how we determine the prices for our artwork. 

We love what we do, and if we were trapped on a deserted island with no connection or communication to the rest of the world, we would still create everything we do. 

We also believe in the wonderful relationship between art and those who can appreciate it and share its many benefits. 

With this being said, Elizabeth and I have determined that one of the best ways to encourage these artistic relationships is to be able to get the art out there, exchanging hands, flourishing in new environments, spreading energy and good vibes.  So we have made a point of charging as little as possible and being sincerely reasonable with our prices. 

Another reason why we mention this is because it can be very tricky to determine monetary value for artistic expression and unique items. 

For example, I love oil painting on canvas that can take up an entire wall-side of a room, and sometimes I paint these ideas and feelings over the course of a month, enjoying an hour session per day, and other times I can be relentless, painting the whole day, non-stop, and these would easily fall into the category of thousands of dollars, not to mention the massive confidence I have in my ability to bring out the dynamic natures of everything around us in such abstract ways that result in a celebration of colors, patterns, techniques and environments.  This is in reference to the difference between total randomness and some intent, purpose, or idea involving abstract. 

I could back my beliefs up with pages and hours of in-depth discussions on my approach and beliefs about art and expression, and many times I have, even just speaking to myself as I paint or when I stare or investigate my art.  I still welcome anyone who would like to elaborate and discuss the nature and magic of such relationships. 

I could be stubborn , insist on my blood, sweat, and tears, and let such art just sit here, because I never grow tired of looking at them.  I rotate my paintings throughout my home, and they always help me reflect on things; they always comfort me or challenge me, but I know it does the same for others.  Besides creating art, I also collect art; I think of it as my magical collection.  I pride myself n the unique, obscure items I come across, as well as anything that speaks to me somehow, anything that connects to me, creating wonderful energy.  Nor am I afraid or ashamed to acquire items I feel would make great additions to my collection.  To me, this is part of the spirit of art.  If someone’s child splashed paint onto paper by accident or mindlessly, and I loved the image or pattern of it, then I wouldn’t mind adding it to my collection, nor would I feel self-conscious marveling at it.  Is there some special rule that states only adults make real art?  I never needed the world or history to convince me about good art and what is supposedly nothing. 

Do I love the greats, the classics, the masters, you bet I do, but I would not hesitate to acquire a painting a son or daughter made that is for sale at a garage or yard sale.  It may be a casual painting they once did, maybe just a hobby; they may have gone off to college or moved away and their parents are spring cleaning.  Maybe the painting has a weird color scheme or someone had a natural eye for patterns. 

So I take these feelings and I remember them.  I remember the joy of artwork exchanging possession with a carefree intention, because I truly believe that the last thing anyone should feel is cheated and cutthroat when it comes to acquiring art and unique items. 

Elizabeth and I have priced most of our art as low as possible, which is mostly taking into consideration the cost of materials, and the difficulty and/or rarity of such materials, that’s it.  The fact that anyone of us may have spent days or months on a project should not force us to charge an arm and a leg for it.

Painting in Australia

 

I am currently in Australia, which is also the first time I have ever left the United States, and it’s been a wonderful experience, a welcome relief, and most of all- love at first sight.  A month after my arrival, settling in, and securing supplies, I painted my first Australian series of oil on canvas, using some of my favorite techniques. 

I love this style because almost all of the creative expression comes from the material and technique.  Through these specific process I do have a good idea of what will be produced, but there are plenty of times where I don’t know exactly what a finished product will look like.  Techniques that react to different drying rates are one example of this, revealing intricate designs that may start out entrenched in thick, fresh paint, then fossilize once the air extracts moisture or certain elements evaporate.  In these particular cases, I view my work as a display of relationships between objects and environments. 

The paint can be considered the constant, a language in which to define our subjects and relationships.  Through paint we recognize a familiar nature of portraits and prints; we recognize that specific expressions come from specific objects.  A valuable image can be one that is exclusive to an object or material, or one that shares a likeness with something or everything else. 

The object or material applying the paint represents and relates to environments.  This is where we seek to understand aspects of life.  Perhaps I study the expressions my environment produces in paint, and then I compare that to what I tend to naturally produce in paint.  Perhaps the difference between us is the distance I have to travel for harmony, or the information I need for awareness. 

The technique is the approach used to bring this all together, a method for results.  In this sense, much like a scientific approach as well as human nature, repetition can effectively define any direct and indirect relationship involved.  Of course there may be an endless amount of ways to bring our environment to creative life. 

I am trying to turn everything around me into a painter, an artist.  I am encouraging the expressions of everything around me, providing them unique mediums in which to tell their story.  There is an abundance of energy within these relationships, perhaps the general vigor of life or the intricate balance between everything.  There is a fundamental nature of spirituality as well, a focal point where our physical face-value meets unlimited possibilities.  To me this is magical, because all of this involves us and everything, which means that we can know the greatest mysteries of life, which I believe to significantly involve recognition, understanding, harmony, and love.

Mission Statement

 

Spirits and Elements is a unique collection of artistic expressions, founded by Elizabeth and Christopher with the belief that art can have a magical effect on our lives.  By developing our ability to understand and harness the magic of art, we can improve our perception and approach to life. 

Elizabeth and Christopher specialize in the relationship between art, its circumstances, and its environment, revealing the wonderful magic and enchantment of life, and representing it in everything they do. 

A crafted item is filled with energy, it can challenge, empower, comfort, and revitalize its owners and caretakers, inspire anyone who experiences it, and celebrates life.