Homers

Decos that come home are like little mail miracles, are they not? To me they seem as rare as a message in a bottle, sent adrfit...and they wash up on shore after shore...and somehow drift home. Of the over 100 decos I have sent into the world over a 3 year period, 8 have come home. In fact, the eighth arrived in yesterdays mail, and had been traveling since May of 2005. Hope Clinchot created this Visions of Africa deco, and its pages were filled by artists from around the US and as far away as New Zealand. Thank you to all you contributed, and to Kathleen for sending it home!
Here it sits in a place of honor in the "gallery" of my studio.

9.11

Remember by mail art

From Fumes to Final Product

Here is a page from my Art Journal.Remember that box for of Sharpie Products I was sent by Sanford Co for being such a loyal fan (and having an inside connection)? If not, scroll down, you'll see it.
Lookee how preety...I love the colorrrsssss...

Myra

Who is Myra? She is My Roaming Altoid tin doll. I am playing in a round robin with 11 other fabulous artists for this challenge. Take an altoid tin, take the first steps to creating an art doll of it. Send it to the next in line, along with a journal to track the dolls travels. That person then adds to the doll and sends to the next; meanwhile I get someone else's doll and add to it. The project is slated to run for a full year, so that hopefully next Septmeber, Myra will return home fully arted up, be-limbed (is that a word?) and strutting her stuff. She has a gypsy theme; she travels with her journal in a mini-suitcase, which is also loaded with tiny beads and charms and trinkets for other artists in the group to use during the process. Today, she heads out into the world!

Happiness is a Box Full of Fumes

Sharpie Love...breathe it in...

Art Journal pages again

I think this journal has been the keeper of my sanity this summer...

The Seaqueen

This weekend I fiddled around with sculpey...something that is hard for me, since my carpal tunnel symptoms seem to really flare up angrily when I try to use modeling compounds. My fingers go numb within minutes. So I sculpted her form rather quickly and imperfectly...but then dressed her up in glass microbeads and fibres to cover her rougher spots. Her shaowbox "sea" interior measures about 4x4", so she is petite. I may sell her; but I am attached to her right now...she makes me think of an old friend I miss.

paper beads

I just love making these things...I get vey focused and it becomes zen like...takes my mind from my troubles...

Summer

Has propelled me outdoors and away from the studio...which means less art...but more photography. Here are some from my garden...

The nitty-gritty

So here are my latest Try it Tuesday gambles...a technique I really enjoy fiddling with: faux rust! Gesso, gold foil, sand, sugar, alcohol inks, acrylics, pearl ex powders,and watercolors.

Be sure to check out the Try It T's link to the right; I am sponsoring this weeks prize with a tote bag from my Cafpress press store stuffed full of art goodies!

Journal Pages-influenced

Some more art journal pages..this time the assignment was Gluebooks...haphazard collage with paper ephemera...but as usual I could not give in to chaos and wound up with not only an arranged series of collages but a theme. Gah. Heavily influenced by reading the DaVinci code, the notion of the Divine Feminine and the balance of the sexes crept into one...and messages in art in another...Ah, well, I like them anyway. Also a few other random pages...

graphicsperiment

One of these days I will try photoshop. Or something like it. One of these days I will brave the world of digital manipulation and not be freaked out by all the Scary Complicated Toolbars. In the meantime, I do stuff with MS paint and my free fujipics software...how pathetic.
Here is an odd self portrait. All the colors are fragments of my photos, pictures of the flowers in my garden...iris, rhododendron, bleeding heart, forget-me-not, peony and pansy. Odd, but I like it anyway.

New techniques and new blooms

A combined-subject post, since both these things came about on the same day. Yesterday I got some nice macros of the rhododendrons and peonies in the yard; thought I'd share. And the artwork is a result of my latest "try-it Tuesday" challenge: easy image transfers. Believe it or not, for all the years I have been doing art, this is something I have put off learning. I think now I am hooked! The background is primarily watercolors, acrylics and embossing powders. The pearls and text are stamped on, the leaves and stem are acrylic, and the flower and face and tranfers.

20 years!

So, its not art...but I survived my 20th reunion, and that takes talent and skill!

Try-it-Tuesdays challenge

I took on Chrysti's Try It Tuesday challenge last week and here is the result; I did a gel image transfer and added some paper lave for texture over the acrylic background. it was a lot of fun and I learned an easy technique; what more can you ask for?

Mother's Day

One of the best things about being a mom. Mother's Day. And roses from your boys. My whole studio smells like an English estate garden. Heaven.

More journal pages

I have been a bit startled by the effects this art journal has had on me. It occured to me as I was working in it, that this is the first art I have done for myself in over two years. For me to keep! Not to trade, sell, auction, donate, barter or gift. It completely changes the way I relate to the work. It is far more fearless and authentic. I love the feeling. Here are some pages (or some portions, if the text is too personal!) that I am pleased with!(click on the images to see detail or read the poems)

Letter to a Muse (handmarbled paper)

Crazy Quilt (Stamp pad/Prismacolor)

Underneath (gel image transfer/WC/Pittpens)

Verdant (text and other papers/pearlex/gesso/acrylic)

Art Journaling

So, I have been blessed enough to have an amazing supervisor, Zura, who is teaching this wonderful 3 month art journaling workshop, and she graciously gifted me enrollment! This is a leap for me, as I have done a fair amount of journaling and a whole heap of art, but never the two entwined as a form of expression unto itself. The Pitt brush markers I bought were begging to be used for this, so along with some watercolors and gel image transfers, I create my first two pages. (The assignment was "What is a journal for?" and "Why do I want to keep a journal?"

Tag!

I have been tagged by Amyma for this particular meme; seems I have to answer these four questions and then tag some other poor unsuspecting bloggers.

Five items in my fridge:

1.Strawberries
2.three kinds of lettuce
3.Asian sesame dressing
4. fresh mozarella
5. cream


Five items in my closet:
1. A number of items that are too big
2. Several shoes with no mates
3. a pile of sketch books, all full
4. a hand painted silk scarf from Thailand
5. a black garter belt, worn once

Five items in my purse:

1. Mint breath strips
2. Business card for my sons' psychaitrist
3. Driver's License that expired today
4.Various charge cards: Kohls, Old Navy, Target...
5. A picture of my youngest son.

Five Items in my car:

1.Umpteen Bionicle pieces.
2. mix tapes from high school and college
3. broken sunglasses
4 .An air freshener shaped like the sun
5. A large tribal butterfly decal

Five people I've tagged:
1 Tammy
2 Edna
3 Braen
4 Tam
5 Beth

Less than Pretty

So, I've grumbled in the past about my reluctance to get a bit more...well...raw with my work.Been keeping it nostalgic, or dreamy, or opalescent, and quite impersonal. Tonight, as I say farewell to 37, I decided to honor a deeper part of my vision and do a canvas with less emphasis on pretty and more on real. It measures about 10 x 10", acrylic, gesso, watercolor, alchohol inks, pearl ex. Called "There Are Ghosts".