The Queen of Creativity

My Right Brain Business Plan

2012-02-21T00:00:00.000-07:00

I made a couple videos today of things I want to share. They are not long so I hope you will check them out.

I finally finished my Right Brain Business Plan so I am excited to share it. I used jennifer Lee's book The Right Brain Business Plan, which I can not recommend highly enough. Speaking of Jennifer, she is having another Right Brainers in Business Video Summit. It is a virtual meeting of the minds to help you take your creative business to the next level. I attended last years summit which was solely based on the book. This years summits focus is different but I am sure its going to be awesome.

BIG Will Be Next

2012-02-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is the last painting for Total alignment. You may wonder, did I plan an angel, no I did not. I had forgotten the neck so I had to paint over a section. So when I painted over the dark blue with white the area looked like a wing. So the muse said it looks like you are supposed to paint an angel so I did.

So does this mean its the end of painting like this. Well in fact no. I signed up to take BIG next month. Its a course I have wanted to take for some time now. I think doing total alignment cemented this for me. I knew it was the next step in my artistic journey. If you want to know more about BIG just check out the highlighted link above.I know that I will be painting more of these even before my next class starts, basically because they are fun and I think fun is really a good thing.

Postcard Challenge 2012 Wales

2012-02-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

This week the postcard challenge takes us to Wales, a small country in the United Kingdom. I had intended on visiting Wales when I was in the UK a few years back but it did not work out. I have a strong desire to go back and visit Wales this time.

This is my rendition of a famous dolmen in Wales. I would love to see it in person. I drew it first, then added ink and then used watercolor crayons to add the color. This was very fun and easy to do.

Nicolai really cuts to the chase in his response to Louise's last postcard. One can only wonder what will happen next. Maybe Louise is not a school teacher after all.

To see other entires in the postcard challenge, go here

Bubbles of Joy

2012-02-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

I took part in this a couple of weekends ago, see if you can find me. It really was a lot of fun. Although they let you embed this video it appears that you have to go to YouTube to watch it but its worth it so enjoy.

I did another Fearless painting for Total Alignment. This time I got the bird in but not what I intended. I guess I should just stop intending anything. I think it the silliness of these paintings that make them so fun to do. Have you had any silly fun lately, I think its the best kind to have.

I took my sketchbook and pencils to a cafe yesterday and this is what I drew, It is definitely challenging when you can't erase. My little trick when I make a mistake is a little thinned out gesso. I think I need to find a tiny bottle to take along with me with my traveling kit. This was sketched in a Canson mixed media journal. I have also discovered I really do like sketching on gesso. I have been using Liquitex brand for that and it works fabulously.

Go Paint Something

2012-02-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

My latest fearless painting. The funny thing is that I intended to paint a woman and some birds. You are right, no woman and no birds are hiding in this painting anywhere. It sure is funny when you do painting this way, you really never know what is going to happen. I still want to paint birds so maybe the next one I do will have them or maybe not.

My friend Diane sent me this video. All I could think was hey if an elephant can paint what is stopping the rest of us. Follow your inner elephant and go paint something.

Postcard Challenge 2012 - Belgium

2012-02-12T22:08:00.000-07:00

This weeks postcard for the postcard challenge is all about Belgium. I tried a few different ideas and finally ended up just going with chocolate It was drawn with ink and and colored in with colored pencil.

In her correspondence Louise comes clean with Nicolai and confesses that she had a friend drop the post card in Austria and that she has never traveled outside of her country. Only time will tell what Nicolai will think of this.

Sunday Sketches 2-12-12

2012-02-12T14:00:00.001-07:00

This week I have been working with colored pencils so I figured I would tackle a Sunday Sketch with them. I am liking using the medium more and more. To see what others are sketching check out Sophia's blog, Blue Chair Diary

Colored Pencil Faces

2012-02-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

In my class this week we are drawing with colored pencil. These are the faces I have tried. I am finding this very relaxing and challenging too. I have been using Prismacolor colored pencils. They are the ones that I have the most colors in. I find the other sets I have a little limiting with only 24 colors. I think I must have over 50 Prismacolor pencils I know I bought a set of 48 and then lots of singles too. It would be amazing to have the full range of colors. We are drawing bodies too but I have not managed to do those yet.

I have been spending the last 2 mornings babysitting a friends 8 month old. I am training for future grand parenting. I haven't watched a baby in twenty years so its been awhile. Little Elise is a sweetheart so it was fun but tiring too.

I just had to share our new toaster. My old toaster was only toasting one side of the bread, so it was time for a new one. This time we looked on the internet and found a toaster that was rated very highly. I had never heard of the brand Breville before but they do make nice appliances. This toaster does 4 slices at once, larger pieces of bread and bagels. It has a setting called Lift and Look where the toast comes up and you can look at it and then it goes down again. Another setting lets you toast just a little bit more. So yes we have been eating more toast lately. It does a wonderful job with sourdough bread which is what I eat most often.

Wish Casting Wednesday - What do you wish to attract?

2012-02-08T12:16:00.001-07:00

When I saw what the topic for Wishcasting Wednesday was I knew I had to participate. Jamie asks us this question today. "What do you wish to attract?" The subject goes right along with the news I wanted to share today. So first I will share the news and then my wish for today.

On Monday I received my certification as a Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coach. I started the program back in August so it been a long process but I am delighted that I have met all the requirements and can now hang up my coach sign and announce my new website. Plus I get this wonderful new badge.

Safe Harbor Creativity Coaching is the name I chose for my business. I like to think that working with me is a sade place a place where you can work on your dreams, overcome procrastination, perfectionism and many of the other blocks to the creative process. You can check my site out here I'd love to have you look at my new site and let me know what you think. I also have a Facebook page that you can find here.

Now to wishcasting and what I wish to attract, well with a new business starting up I want to attract customers. I am looking for women who may be stuck in their art or writing or other creative dreams. Or women who have retired and thought they'd have all the time for there dreams and now they just don't know how to start. Or women who want to know what they are passionate about. Or those who have started their dream and find themselves stuck, not knowing what to do next. I have a lot of skills to offer these women and I am so excited to be able to work with them. So I send out this wish today that they will find me.

To see what other wishcasters are doing today go here

Working In A New Journal

2012-02-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

I got a new book to make into a journal for the Supplies Me Class with Jane Davenport. Its an old book on whaling. Its bigger than the other books I have altered and I think I am going to like the size.

After gessoing the page I put down strips of collage material from old books, music collections and some wallpaper.

Then came a layer of alcohol ink.

I added stamping to the background using a script stamp and then some of my hand carved stamps. I like hte texture it added to the background.

I drew a face which I have marked out in gesso.

Then I painted the face using Golden Fluid acrylics. She sort of looks like an old world portrait to me.

At this point I lowered the neck on her dress and decided to make a dress from some gorgeous paper I have. I am not sure if the red dress goes with the purple hair but I went with it anyways.

For the opposite page I wrote a letter to accompany this portrait sent from one artist to another. As you can see they both seem to know the model. I used a simple piece of beige paper that I added some brown edges to that got a little out of hand but I like the messy look. I used a dip pen and ink to write the note and attached it with Tim Holtz tissue paper tape.

Here they are both together. These pages didn't not turn out as I had planned at the beginning. They reallyy evolved to become their own thing. I really had to follow the muse with this one.

Postcard Challenge 2012 - France

2012-02-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

This weeks postcard challenge run by the lovely Darcy at Art-and-Sole is all about France. This was a real easy one for me. I started with some scrapbook paper and then stamped the Eiffel Tower. Then I thought oh what else can I add to this. So next came the lady's face, I then added som Tim Holtz tissue paper tape to unify the two elements. I like it, there is old world look and feel about it.

I made not one but two mistakes on the address. First I thought he was writing and I started with her name and then thought no that is wrong he is supposed to write so I used white out on her name and put in his name address. Then I started writing the postcard to her. Half way through I realized my next mistake so I decided the postcard was going to be from him. I just had to cover up his address and add hers. Hopefully next time I will pay more attention to what I am doing.

There Be Fairies Here

2012-02-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have this book on drawing fairies and decided it was time I explored it a little bit.

This is pretty much a copy of a pose in the book. I used WC crayons, fluid acrylics and twinkling h2o's in a moleskin WC sketchbook. It was fun I want to do more now.

Then I played with some of the wings styles in the book. These were drawn in pencil, then I lined it in Pitt artist pen, erased the pencils and colored it in with Twinkling H2O's which are little watercolors that have a shimmer effect to them,

Then I tried a another fairy, I modeled it after one the fairies in the book but with more of my style. I am really enjoying doing these little drawings. She was created with Derwent and Caran d' Ache watercolor pencils and Neocolor II watercolor crayons and Faber-Casteel Pitt Markers.

This moleskine water color journal I have been using is probably my least favorite journal. The paper is really thin. I have compensated by using it for collage and other layered techniques. I can see now it is ideal for drawings like these. So now that the journal is almost used up I found a use for it. I would have loved to fill this whole journal with these fairy experiments but alas I only have a couple pages left. Has that every happened to you?

If I didn't have enough irons in the fire I decided to add another class. I have just become enamored with Jane Davenport. I have seen her work before but it was not until I saw her interview with Tam as a part of Life Book that I really got to know her a little better. So I checked out her website and all the video's she has on her site. What a fun person she is.

Remember the other day when I was talking about using all my pencils, well Jane is teaching a course called Supplies Me, where she really takes you on a journey with your supplies. There are weeks with colored pencils, watercolor, pastels and pens and markers and acrylics. Since she is know as the Queen of Art supplies I know I'll be learning new techniques and really be able to feel like I am getting my moneys worth out of all the things I have bought. I have all these markers that I rarely use so it is going to be great to learn how to use them in new ways. The class is just started but its ongoing so you can step in at any time. To learn more about Supplies Me you can go here. And yes you can be certain I will be sharing all the fun work I'll be doing in this class.

A light bulb as a starting point

2012-01-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

This started out as a page with left over paint on it. There was a lot of brown, not a color I gravitate to. But I stuck with it, I added some yellows and blues and it came to life. The stenciling was done with colorwash inks. The tape is some of Tim Holtz tissue paper tape and some others that I had on hand. I was attempting to write with a script liner and some acrylic ink. The white ink I have is all gloppy so it doesn't work the best but it is an easy way to do lettering. Thanks to Jolene for telling me all about it.

This is an exercise we did in the Muse Facilitators Training I am taking. We started with a lightbulb. After I drew the light bulb I decided it looked like a woman with a long neck. I used Carb-Othello pastel pencils and neocolor II watercolor crayons.

I was watching a video on FB the other day and the artist talked about taking all those pencils we have in tins and putting them is cups and boxes so we can use them easily. I thought oh she is right, so now I have all the pencil sets and crayons out of the tins and right on my table. I am sure I'll use them more now. I kept the tins because they do seem to be the best way to travel with pencils. The pencils in this piece are some I haven't used in ages, mainly because I forget about them.

Do you have supplies you don't use because you forget you have them. Are all your pencils still in the tins they came in?

Sunday sketches

2012-01-29T13:50:00.003-07:00

Todays sketch was completed in church as most of mine are. It seems like something should be in the upper left corner but I haven't decided what. Another flower, a cloud? Do you have any suggestions?

Check out Sophia's blog for more sketches? Have a great Sunday everyone.

Postcard Challenge 2012 - China

2012-01-28T18:24:00.003-07:00

The postcard challenge travelled to China this week. With so many images to choose from I went with a simple Panda. I created this with Pitt brush markers in lt green and black and caran d'ache watercolor pencils and graphite pencils.

My characters still don't know very about eah other, but they have all year to learn. You can join in on the fun at any time at Art-and-Sole

Fearless Painting pt 2

2012-01-27T17:22:00.001-07:00

Fearless Painting number 2. This one is all about balance. We did yoga exercises before painting it and I liked how that got my body ready for the process. I had fun with her. This fearless painting is really freeing me up to paint green hair if I want. I really can see how it opens you up to all sorts of possibilites.

This afternoon I am off to visit my friend Jolene for an Art date. She has new art supplies for me to try and I have some for her too. Its bound to be an amazing fun afternoon.

The Art of Breakfast

2012-01-26T14:42:00.002-07:00

I saw this on a blog and loved it I know you will too.

The Art of Breakfast from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

Finding TIme For Art

2012-01-25T20:41:00.001-07:00

Its been a few day since I have been able to blog. My daughter moved to Portland so time was spent helping her to get ready. Plus having a going away party and attending a weekend spiritual workshop I did not have time for a whole lot.

I had insomnia last night and it gave me the time to do some art. Just playing with some of my favorite colors is always fun.

Sometimes when I have a detailed background I find myself covering most of it up. Do you ever do that? Mixed media is like that sometimes. You never know what you will end up with when you start out.

This page I didn't have any gesso or anything on it so first I drew the bird and used sharpie markers to color it in, I added the tree and did the same. I used gelatos to color in the background, I like how easily they blend together.

Brazil - Post Card Challenge

2012-01-20T10:03:00.001-07:00

I couldn't find anything that inspired me for this postcard. So I thought oh I will do the Brazilian flag easy, right. Well it proved not to be. I did the flag upside down and then I had to fix it. Then I wrote the words and then they didn't fit, then I had trouble drawing the 27 stars in such a small space, so I painted over it again. Yikes.. I could go on and on but I will not bore you.

Here's a video you will enjoy, yes creativity does take time, this is an great depiction of that idea.

Etre créatif demande du temps - Koreus

Just Playing Around

2012-01-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

This two page spread started with leftover paint from my palette. I do like to use up excess paint but sometimes when I slather it on a page and it dries its not so pleasing. So I added layers of stamping and then saw this lady hiding inside. So out she came and it became even more fun to add the castles.

This is a collage I did while listening to a vido conference call. I got so lost in the piece that I found I wasn't paying attention to the call. Oops.

I am finding this week to be incredibly busy. My daughter is moving out, heading to Portland to find her future. So there are all these last minute things to help her with. I am taking the Muse facilitators course with Jill Badonsky, so for the next 11 weeks I will be immersed in the Muse's. Its bound to be lots of fun.

What fun things have you decided to do this year?

Fearless Painting

2012-01-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a video last night and felt like working in a journal as I listened. I grabbed the first art supply I could see. She was created using Faber-Casteel Gelatos, a water soluble oil pastel. I didn't use water on these though, I just applied and used my fingers to blend.

Fearless Painting

I have long been fascinated by the Fearless Painting Course BIG put on by Connie at Dirty Footprints Studio. I have seen the work posted by other people and almost signed up once but it wasn't a good time. Then I really didn't want to spend that much money on a class. So recently Connie offered this free workshop called Total Alignment on her site. She basically explains some of her ideas and gets you started in the Fearless Painting Process. There are 4 things you need to be able to do. They are as follows
1. paint a scribble
2. paint a line
3. paint a shape
4. paint with the enthusiasm and non judgement of a kindergartner. ( that is the hard one)
Oh plus its not about the painting, its about the process, how you feel and all that. So paintings can really look like crap but that is ok. I have to keep telling myself that.

So I took the bait, I decide to tack cardboard on my wall and just tape poster board to it. She wants you to paint standing up and I don't have an easel for that. I just happened to have saved a big cardboard box so I was all set.

She recommended using Liquitex Basics paints, so I got a couple colors from Michaels and began my first fearless painting.

I am not a fan of pink so when I went for that color first I thought I am really following my muse and not questioning and that is what you are supposed to do. When I look at the painting I see all the flaws, like the houses are supposed to be on her shirt where now it looks like she is standing behind them. But I also think oh that is ok, I learned something with this painting and I had fun making it. Painting big is so different. I encourage you to check out Total Alignment if the process interest you at all. There are five videos all set up to help you to connect to you artistic source. Even if you don't want to paint big I think the videos have some great information. I know I can't wait to do another painting now.

So it was off to Michaels for some more colors and when I got to the checkout I discovered I could get 40% off the price of my total acrylic paint purchase. Now it was such a deal I went back and got a few more colors. Seems like I was meant to do this.

Sunday Sketches And A Tutorial

2012-01-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

Here is todays sketch, I was attempting something that was a little hard to do in church, so the body was not quite right, so I filled it with words anyway. Check out Sophia's blog for other sketchers,

Now for my friend Jolene a tutorial on one way to use Neocolor II Water color crayons.

Insomnia Art

2012-01-11T12:53:00.000-07:00

I had insomnia last night so this was the result. I didn't have my usual faber-castel black pitt pens nearby so this was drawn with a Pilot PreciseV7 pen in a moleskine WC journal . I used a charcoal brush pen for the darker areas. I really had fun doing this, I ended up going back to bed and did get some sleep after all. If you ever can't sleep maybe doing a little art is just what you need.

2012-01-08T14:24:00.001-07:00

Today's Sunday sketch. Why don't you come join us over at Sophia's blog where you'll find other artists and their sketches. You just might be inspired to join in.

Postcard Challenge 2012

2012-01-08T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just found out about this postcard challenge for 2012 and I had to jump in. Its hosted by Darcy at Art and Sole. You can still sign up so check it out if you are so inclined. It is basically a take off on the idea in Nick Bantok's books Griffin and Sabine. You create post cards between two people, create a book to store them in and just have fun. You need to create 2 fictional characters and have a dialogue between them. Darcy lets you know what country to write from every week. You can take part as little or as much as you would like.

I being one who always loves a mystery, chose Louisa a school teacher on holiday who leaves a card slipped into a travel brochure at a B&B for someone to write her. She has no mystery or excitement in her life. Unbenownst to her the man who picks it up works at the Romanian Embassy in London. As a young child a fortune teller tells him that he will find this card and he needs to respond. He has tried to deny his gypsy anscestory but the arrival of this post card sets him on a journey.

For my postcard I chose to recreate one of the hand carved masks used in Triol during the Fanascht celebrations. These are hand carved masks for men only, and they have very elanborate costumes in a festival that takes so much effort it can be held only once every 3-4 years. Often it is the women who make the masks so they are not totally shut out of the festivities. This was created with Neocolor II WC crayons.

To see what other participants are doing you can go here and click on the Mr Linky icon.

Still Drying Out

2012-01-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Fixed the leak, cleaned up most of the mess, I have a fan on one section making sure all those nooks and crannies get dried out. I have cleaned out one space so I can work on a little bit of art.

Here is some behind the scenes video on the making of the Hobbit. The exciting news is that this time Hobbiton will be a permanent settlement so geeks like me can go to New Zealand and visit it.If you liked this go look at the other 4 vlogs they have done. Wow New Zealand is an amazing place.

A Surprise In My Studio

2012-01-02T14:03:00.001-07:00

I spent the morning watching video's for Life Book and then cleaning the kitchen. So I head downstairs to the studio because i was downloading something on my computer. Download is complete when I see it. Water on the floor, under one of my tables. I look up at the small window in the room but do I see dripping, no. I do see all the stuff on the floor though. Stuff that is now wet, some of it ruined.

Call the hubster. We find water on the other side of the room too. We have to move half the stuff out to get to the wall where the pipes are. Some of the walls are just paneling so they have to come down and then we eventually find the leak. Its coming from the upstairs bathroom. So we can't use the sink or shower.

Meanwhile I discover a book I was going to alter soaked, all the scrap foam core, soaked, roll of red rosin paper only soaked about 1" at the bottom. I am sure that is just the beginning.

Now he is trying to fix bu he can't get the pipe unscrewed. We may endup with a plumber at the house before long. I hate to think about how long it will be before I have a studio back again. I may be going to the gym just to get a shower taken. I hope this is not as bad as it seems.

A New Project

2011-12-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to take advantage of the holiday week and start work on a new porject. There is some sewing that I have wanted to start but always seem to put it off.

This is how it all started. I had one of those charm packs from Moda and a pattern for a tote bag. First I had to lay it all out to decide what order I wanted all the squares in. Then came the sewing and there was lots of it. It took me three days to get to the next picture.

Here is the finished tote bag, I really like how it turned out. I ended up machine quilting a 1/4 inch inside each square. The handle has a lot of topstitching on it so it is really sturdy. The whole bag is lined with fusible fleece, which is something I didn't even know existed before I started the project.

This is the back, there are no pockets here, but there are 2 big pockets inside the bag.

This show the front pocket. I even made a bottom insert out of foam core and covered it in fabric. What a fun project this was. I was amazed how long it took me but am happy with the results.

My Chosen Word

2011-12-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Its that time of the year again where there is all this releasing of the old, welcoming the new year and all that jazz. I don't do resolutions but I do choose a word to focus on for the year. In 2011 I chose focus and it was a pretty powerful year. I managed to keep my focus on the things that mattered to me. I managed to follow my heart. To take on challenging things and to complete them.

This coming year I will be creating a new site, launching a new business and really start doing what I think I was meant to do.
In addition in January I am starting a course to becoming a Muse Group Facilitator.

With all these new endeavors on the horizon my word for the year is:

I wish for success with both my coaching business and the Muse Groups. In addition I want to success in other parts of my life. I see lots of change in 2012 and I see it as all positive good things coming to me.

Have you chosen a word yet?

Book of Days

2011-12-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

.

There is a new fun thing to do in the new year. Effy Wild is hosting a journaling event called Book of Days. Here is how she describes it on her site

Beginning in January 2012, I send out two or three e-mails a week containing my musings on the subject of journal art and memory keeping. Along with my musings, you get links to videos I produce that feature ways to create a sustainable art practice, journal art tips and tricks. links to resources I find on line that inspire me and are bound to inspire you too!

It looks like its going to be quite fun. She is using an old book as a journal and already has a few videos up for you to get started. You can sign up here Oh its also free.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate. Happy Hanukah to my Jewish Friends and Seasons Greetings to everyone else.

This is what Santa brought me. I have been wanting a macro lens for a couple years now. Sure will be fun to play with this baby. I have lots of other goodies to share but that will wait for another day. Have a great time today no matter what you end up doing. I think we are going to go feed the ducks later. We have no snow and the sun is out. A beautiful day.

Christmas Eve Ponderings

2011-12-24T11:00:00.000-07:00

A Merry Christmas Eve to all of you. I hope you are all ready and relaxed and ready to have a wonderful time.This season I am finding myself doing things I have never done before that really enrichen my experiences. First the Secret Santa event I talked about earlier and now last night another fun event. A friend invited us over to sing Christmas Carols around a bonfire.

The night was cool and clear, a million stars were out there. What a beautiful night. We drank hot chocolate and spiced cider and gathered around the fire like people have done for since the beginning of time. We had a few people who were pretty good singers so they led us in a series of Carols. We even sang ones we really didn't know the words to and it was such a delight. It evoked memories past and created a new one I treasure. There is something about being outdoors in all kinds of weather that seems to resonate with me. I usually hibernate in winter but I see now that needs to change a little.

Now its time to show the little bit of Art I have been doing.

This sketch was rendered in a moleskine watercolor sketchbook. I just grabbed the first pencil I found. It was a 4H. I usually sketch in2B 4B and 6B so this was a bit of a challenge but still fun. I added a wc wash in the background for a bit of color.

This little collage in also in the same journal The picture has a disaster drawing underneath it. Sometimes I cover up disasters with collage.

Todays journal page started out with experiment with a stencil and led to writing with a dip pen and embellishment with a brush pen. I loved the connection between the older lady and the young child in htis picture. It led to writing about all the stories we hold inside that truly need to be shared.

What Christmas Is All About

2011-12-22T11:20:00.001-07:00

My good friends Kara and Kristi along with their sister Katie organized a secret santa event that I took part in. They lost their mother to cancer this year and wanted to do something in her honor. Merri Ann had always done this with her children. We had nine families that many people bought gifts for this year. We all met, grouped gifts together and then we took the packages out.

Here I am with friends A'lana and Jeff. Jeff and I went with one group to take this most awesome Jeep bike to this little boy. His parents were going through a rough time and he had his bike stolen that summer. A generous friend bought him the exact bike he wanted. First he saw the sled we had brought and he yelled "a sled", he was very excited. Then he saw the bike and screamed "a bike" and he got right on it. "How did you know, " he said. One of us replied that we were Santa's helpers. We high five'd him and enjoyed the moment. I ended up hugging the mom on my way out, she was almost crying and I was too. To see his joy and excitement at seeing this bike is a memory that I hold as one of my best Christmas memories ever.

This is my friend Trish, she took the above pictures. We all came together afterwards and shared all the different stories we had experienced. Gifts had been given to families, single people and an elderly couple too. What a magical evening this was. I am so blessed to have been able to take part in making someones Christmas truly magical.

Winter Solstice

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Its the Winter Solstice today. Most of us know this day as the shortest day of the year. After this date days are longer and eventually the sun will be coming back till we reach the Summer Solstice or longest day of the year. I always like to celebrate these two dates. It makes me feel closer to my ancestors and connected to the natural world.

This year I added journal pages. This first one symbolizes the darkness of winter. It can be a time of reflection and letting go. I like to write down the things in my life that I am willing to let go of on a piece of paper. Then I place them in a fire and let them go. It is a simple ritual but it is also full of meaning.

This page represents the return of the sun. I used a piece of embossed wallpaper as the sun and decorated it will alcohol ink and re-inkers. The background was created with Neocolor II watercolor crayons.

I loved this little video, what fun.

The Hobbit

2011-12-20T22:32:00.002-07:00

Now for the most exiting news. The trailer for the Hobbit is out http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=85322 and it is amazing. The casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo, fantastic and Richard Armitage as Thorin, wow what a presence he has. I think he is going to be my new crush. All the dwarves amazing. It's going to be a long wait.

Oh its onYoutube today so you can watch it here instead

For my new viewers you won't know that Lord of the Rings was an obsession for me. Sarah and I went to the movies in costumes I had made and had such a fabulous time. I can quote sections of the movies and have read the book several times. So seeing the Hobbit looking to be so good is really exciting.

Visiting Jolene

2011-12-20T11:18:00.006-07:00

I visited my friend Jolene the other day and she gave me these fun things.

This is a folder made out of Christmas themed paper and sewn together. What a great idea. I love it.

It was filled with papers and pictures and fun things that I will love to put into a Remains of the Day journal. How perfect is that.

Plus this beauty, she is a plastic table cloth to use as a stencil. I have been looking for one of these for ages. Jolene is such the best kind of friend to have. Thanks so much.

I took this page from the other day, addd some words and embellished with a brush pen, I like it now.

I was talking to a friend on Facebook all about oil pastels and so then I had to pull them out and use, These are artist grade pastels made by Sennelier and they are really wonderful to work with. The background was made earlier with WC crayons and the figure was drawn in pencil first and then I used the oil pastel. These pastels are so creamy, I really like them.

Here is a collage I worked on over the last couple days. Sure is great to be doing some art again. I hope you ar finding time for it too.

Painting Faces

2011-12-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is great video to get you started on painting faces. I wish I had seen something like this years ago.

We Rescued a Hawk

2011-12-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

Do you remember this Hawk I showed the other day. Well he ran into our picture window and was knocked out. We brought him into the house to help him survive. I gave him some reiki and still he stayed asleep.

Here he is in the cat carrier we kept him in. He sat for the longest time just breathing but had no other movement.

He is starting to wake up.

It took 45 minutes for him to come back to life.

Here Dave is releasing him.

Then he flew to this tree. He is fine now. It is very satisfying helping a bird out when they are in distress. We were not sure that this one would survive but are happy that it did,

2011-12-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

Today's journal page, it feels so good to be doing them again. This started out with the card with the dress. I used Neocolor II WC crayons to extend the color into the background, then stamped with a word stamp I drew the lady in pencil on old book papers and attached her with gel medium. She was painted with Portfolio oil pastels. It was the first time I tried a face with them. The flower was white which I colored with stamp pad ink. I added a small jewel in the center. I used glossy accents to glue it down. Its my all purpose glue for embellishments. After writing I thought oh I shouldn't have used my own handwriting or perhaps I should have printed it, but alas its too late now so all is good.

The report back on Dave's eye is that it could have been a stroke, no way to be sure. Other tests they could do are way way way too expensive. So they will just let it be for now and check him in a month to see if the swelling in the nerve goes down. If that happens some vision could return but if not then he will just have to adjust to having one eye that doesn't work very well. Not the best news but there are many people out there in his position who do just fine.

A Hodgepodge of Things to Share

2011-12-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

A few collages that I have been working on, not sure if they are finished or not, or if I want to journal on them or not so I will let them be for now.

A lot has been going on so I guess its time to put it out there. My husband Dave has been having problems with his left eye. He can only see around the edges. His optical nerve is swollen but they do not know why. He had an MRI and that came out clean, then they took blood to run tests and see if there is an infection and those came back clean. He has another appointment today so hopefully they will have some ideas. If it turns out that he had a stroke in they eye they can not do anything. His other eye compensates so he can still see, but his depth perception is off and he gets tired easily. We are hoping for some new information from the eye specialist.

Then yesterday my good friend Terri, one of my Glitter Sisters who has been battling stage 4 breast cancer for the past year and a half got an even worse blow. Her oldest daughter, her rock, the child who has helped her most through this was killed in a car accident. The family has experienced so much loss it is hard to think on how they will manage this too. My heart just aches for her.

I have managed to get some baking done, here are some of the cookies Sarah and I decorated. The tree is up and the rest of the decorations are in place. I have all the gifts bought and wrapped. So time to get back to doing some art. Which of course means a major clean up of the studio. I wish there were studio elves who came by and took care of that part. It funny how now that I have the space cleaned up and the time I don't know what I want to do. Should I pick up unfinished projects and get back to them, should I start something new, oh so many choices. Do you ever find yourself in that predicament?

This sharp-shinned hawk was in my backyard last week. He stayed for quite awhile and then he was gone. I had never seen this particular hawk before so I thought it was pretty cool.

Sunday Sketches 12-11

2011-12-11T19:39:00.001-07:00

In todays sketch I used a magazine image as a starting point. Head on over to Sophia's blog to see more sketching. There are some awesome artists who take part.

Christmas Spirit

2011-12-08T14:23:00.001-07:00

Do you have the Christmas spirit yet? I am going through the motions, not sure I have it yet. Its been cold and sunny here, no snow which is unusual for us. I have spent the last couple days baking and shopping wrapping and all that jazz. I've been listening to music vis Spotify. Do you have a favorite Christmas Cd? I have been listening to Michael Buble's new Christmas CD it is pretty nice.

I have one gift I am trying to finish up. I keep doing other things instead of finishing it. Do you ever do that? Its something I need to mail so I really need to finish it. I planned on doing just that today but instead I have been wrapping presents which led to making gift tags on my Cricut, and before your know it the day is gone. My studio looks like a cyclone hit it and there isn't any art being done. Soon I hope.

I hope you all are having some quiet special moments amidst the chaos of December.

I Am Going On A Cruise

2011-12-06T09:57:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I will be going on a cruise, ok its actually a virtual cruise. Its graduation day at the Kaizen Muse Creativity Coaching Course. My classmates and I are in fro some fun adventures to be sure. First I needed to pick out a dress.

This lovely work is by Alexander McQueen. Since this is quite a magical cruise I will also have the body to fit into such a creation.

A girl has to have an awesome pair of shoes so I went for a pair of manolo blahniks. As you can see on a virtual cruise price is not a consideration, and of course my feet will never hurt wearing these beauties. I'll be dancing all night.

The Queen also needs a new tiara for the occasion, so I chose this one with spirals in it since that is my favorite symbol.

Don't I look just fabulous, I know you can imagine it too. All my classmates are also going in some other fabulous outfits. So far we have a mermaid and fairy and some awesome purple concoctions that I just loved.

Have you ever done anything like this? I know my friend Janet has done a trip to the Oscars before, along with her date and dress and the whole shebang. I always thought it was a cute idea but never took the time. I really encourage you to try this it is really so much fun.

Sunday Sketches

2011-12-04T17:18:00.001-07:00

Time to get back at Sunday Sketches. I started this in church and finished it at home, my try at an Asian face. Head on over to Sophia's blog to see more Sunday sketches.

Remains of the Day Swap

2011-12-01T10:56:00.001-07:00

This is showing just a little bit of the bounty I got in a swap with the Remain of the Day Yahoo group. We swapped 10 for10 items and I did 2 sets. The idea was to share some of your finds with others, I got some really cool stuff. So many of the swap participants did way more than ten, myself included. It was like Christmas opening up all the packets. Today I plan to sort it all in appropriate piles. I got bingo cards, paper, playing cards, wallpaper, napkins, ledger papers, embellishments and more. I even got a couple stamps and a book. What a fun swap this was. Now the fun begins as I get to use all of these new things.

I WON NaNoWriMo

2011-11-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday night I finished Nanowrimo for this year. A whopping 50,021 words. The story is not finished but a I have a good start on this and that is what Nanowrimo is all about. Getting your story,your ideas and some sort of plot on the page. I am taking a break in December and then I plan to get back to working on this story in January.

The latest 2 page spread in my altered book journal.

The background was made with stamping ink pads and oil pastels and charcoal,

This background was made with ink pads and water. Images were added and embellished with charcoal and oil pastels. The bird is from a collage sheet by Zorana

Crystaline Paper

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

I got a notice for this new class in my email today. You can look at the promo for to see how to make Crystaline Paper. This technique makes the paper transparent by adding gel medium to tissue paper on both sides and then painting it. It's easy and makes a fantastic collage paper. I can't wait to have the time to try this.

This is a sketch I did on Thanksgiving, It felt great to be sketching again.

2011-11-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Black Friday

If you are out shopping I hope you are enjoying yourself. I had to make my early run for socks but that is all for me this year. I am not even thinking about the holiday until December gets here. If you stayed home and are just enjoying some much needed rest. That is just super, enjoy yourself.

I had to take a break and do some art journaling. I really miss it. These collaged pages in my altered book journal were made with gesso and then watercolor crayons. I added some stamping and both black and white charcoal.

This one was made with the same material with the addition of oil pastel and some doodling. I hadn't use white charcoal before and its a pretty interesting material. I often use a white china marker to add white highlights but it seems to be a more opaque look, plus the charcoal will blend and the china marker doesn't.

A Rare Find

2011-11-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

It was a simple trip to the thrift store. My friend Amy called saying they had plastic doilies and I went down to look. They turned out to be paper and not what I was looking for. Then she said they had some old books. I was drawn to this one. The paper in it was amazing. Thought I could tear it up for collage work. I bought it for $1.00

Here is the front of the book, as you can see it looks old.

Then we looked inside to see the date published. Amy and I were trying to figure out its age, it was in Roman Numerals and i am not so good at that. Some guy came up he turned out to be a history professor from Idaho State University and when I mentioned I was going to cut it up I think he about died. He offered me double what I paid for the book but I declined. Then I thought I would probably keep it on my bookshelf for awhile anyways. The paper in the book was amazing. It looked old and felt very different, it was written in French. When we got home we looked it up.

It was written in 1768 by Voltaire, looks like its a first edition as far as I can tell. Looks like it might be worth some money. So I will not be cutting this one up. After a closer look the paper might be parchment. After Nano is over I think I will be spending quite a bit of time on the internet doing research on the book itself and book collectors sites.

Raven Circle Journal

2011-11-21T10:34:00.001-07:00

My friend Palma posted this video on Facebook and oh I love the art in it. Eight journals, eight artists and the theme Ravens. Enjoy.

Art Journaling Resources

2011-11-15T17:09:00.001-07:00

I found this nice resource for beginning art journalers. Its all text, no video's but if your are itching to start its a great resource. Even if you are a seasoned journaler you might find something new. It's called Aisling's Art Journals and you can find it here

Here is another fun source on creating texture for mixed media. Link

Here I was playing around with some fall colors in my altered book journal, I painted the background last week, added this tag I painted last year and some miscellaneous papers. I haven't decided if I am going to add something to the window or not. Then I added my trusty charcoal and oil pastel on the edges.

In this one I played with the same color scheme. There were images on this page which I painted over, one of them remains and I like the fact that you can't really see what is going on in the picture. Sometimes its fun to just play with color and paper.

Writing a Novel

2011-11-14T11:07:00.001-07:00

Here is a snap of one of my Grandparents letters. I have been re-reading them for ideas for the story I am writing. If you look close you'll see how they will write over lettering, they were always running out of space and had more to say. I am up to 1909 now and there are 100 letters left to read. I know there are a lot of missing letters and many holes in the story so I get to make the rest up. It sounds easy but really it isn't. I have been writing scenes I want to include but haven't really come up with the tone or voice of the story. That may come in the second draft or third. I find doing Nanowrimo is just the beginning, it becomes more like an extended outline rather than the final story. There is a lot of telling which I will turn into showing in subsequent drafts. The one thing that most people do not realize is that a novel just doesn't come out of you perfectly done. There is a lot of rewriting and revising over and over before its really ready to be read by someone.

My daughter Sarah is working on one of her novels she wrote in 2008. It took one month to do it initially, she rewrote it in six months and now is editing and revising and she has been working several months on it already. Its all a process you get it to a point and then you have critique partners to help you see the flaws and then go work on it some more and repeat till you have gotten it as perfect as it can be. Then you set out and start on the road to publishing which can even be longer. Sounds like a lot of work doesn't it. I think it is so worth it if you have a story you want to tell. I know someone who is on the 19th revision of their novel. Can you imagine the celebration she will have when its finally published.

So now that you know all that I am sure you will really appreciate the next book you read. Your realize it really was years in the making.

No art to share today, not even a journal page but perhaps I'll feel the need later in the week.

An Art Video or Two

2011-11-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

First a shoutout to all the Veterans out there. Thank you so much for your service. We are so grateful.

A friend posted this and it was so fun to watch I had to show you.

Then I watched this one because it was in the sidebar and its very good.

Todays collage which of course was made several days ago but anyways you get the idea. I am finding doing some art is an avoidance tactic on one hand and a release on another. So whatever it is I am finding it helpful. This background was made with pan pastels at first but I don't have a lot of colors so I wanted a deeper blue so I switched to Portfolio water soluble oil pastels. I love how you can blend and smear them. I loved the stormy look of the image and it seemed to fit in with the background. A few additional papers and tape finish the piece off.

It's funny that here I am doing Nano and I am managing to blog too. You know when you give up TV and cleaning the house you have so much more time. Just for fun I decided to post this at 11-11-11 at 11:00. Have a weekend everyone.

Nice Surprises

2011-11-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

I really love how this page evolved. The background had a scrap of paper and then watercolor crayons and gesso. Then I added the image which is a clipping from a dick blick catalog. I added the skirt and toned down the colors a little with a china marker. Outlined in pen and charcoal and then I added the ships and the words. I must have been thinking of my grandmother and all the trips across the atlantic that she took. She might not have been dancing but this lady sure can.

Taking a Break With Collage

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

I find even when I am deep into a creative project if I step away and do something else creative it breaks the pressure. I have been a little tired from writing so I did a little collage on Sunday. It really felt great to be playing with paper and glue again.

This is a page I did with a note that was left on my windshield by some friends. really easy. The cupcake is a tag from a local bakery. Pink paper is embellished with oil pastels.

These 2 pages had a green background from some excess paint from another project.

I worked on them together but kept the pages separate. There is not much of the original green showing but the combination of colors seemed to please me.

I like using found things sometimes, I kept this tea bag package to use in a collage. Its fun doing that since when you look at the page in the future you will remember what you were doing when you had that cup of tea.

I bought myself this bracelet to use as a talisman for writing. Its made out of old typewriter keys and has 3 charms that hang from it. A typewriter, bottle of ink and a quill pen. Oh and the words spell manuscript. I was planning on making something but this fit the bill perfectly. I was so glad I found it.

I hope you are having a good week.

Oh ps. I have had virtually no time to comment on blogs or even look at them. I promise to start coming around again December. I am missing all your wonderful posts, but this month its just impossible to look and comment on blogs. I barely get around to making my own posts. I know you all understand but still wanted to let you know I am not ignoring you.

2011-11-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

This is so fun, you are going to love it. When you get to the woman in Idaho that is Anne my laughter yoga teacher. She is awesome.

2011-11-02T13:14:00.000-06:00

I still will be a doing a little art stuff in November, mostly simple pages that will not take too much time. This page was made with an oil pastel background and a picture I took in Sedona a few years ago. We stopped in this place where there were vortexes and these rock cairns were everywhere. It was such an amazing thing to see.

Nanowrimo started yesterday, so we are off an running now. I put a word widget in my sidebar that you can view to see my progress.

Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead

2011-10-31T08:11:00.000-06:00

Well granted it is not really Día de los Muertos or The Day of the Dead until tomorrow but I am posting today anyways. My church always celebrates and this year I took part in creating the altar decorations.The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. It is particularly celebrated in Mexico, where it attains the quality of a National Holiday.

Here you can see bread left out and the skulls my daughter made.

We have members put out pictures of their loved ones who have passed.

We added a stuffed animal pet to represent those pets we have lived with and who have died. You can also see the picture of my grandmother that I have placed on the table.

Dishes and food are left for our ancestors in case they are hungry when they come back.

These are the 2 shrines I made for my parents. They were made out of old altoid tins.

Here is a close up of the skulls that my daughter made. First they were crocheted and then deorated with embroidery floss. Aren't they just the cutest?

November 1

In addition to being The Day of the Dead, November 1st is also the beginning of the National Novel Writing Month. Since I will be participating again blogging will be taking a slide. I promise to blog at least once a week during the month.

Oh I just saw this video and loved it. Don't you love watching other artists work, I know I get inspired watching videos like this.

Happy Halloween, Samhain and Day of the Dead to all of you.

Sunday Sketches

2011-10-30T13:17:00.000-06:00

Here is my sketch for today. I was trying to do Frida in honor of The Day of the Dead coming up, but had no pics with me but at least I got the unibrow look. I had fun writing right into her hair. Someday I will do another when I have a pic for reference.

To see what other sketchers are doing go here Have a great Sunday.

2011-10-28T16:54:00.003-06:00

I have been playing around with wordle.net. This is a wordle I made for The National Novel Writing Month. If you have never done one of these they are fun. Here are some more sites to try.

www.abcya.com
www.worditout.com
www.deepfun.com

Here is a wordle I made for my blog. The bigger the font is due to the frequency of the words used. It is fascinating to see what words you use the most. Go check out one of the sites and have a little fun.

Printing on tracing paper

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-06:00

These are some backgrounds I made from all the NevrDull experiments.

They are scraps from several different pages. I am not sure how I'll use them. I think they are pretty just as they are.

I've had these pages done for awhile, just forgot to take some pics of them. I really loved this leaf paper so it had to go on a page somewhere.

This has another favorite new technique. I have heard about it many times. I just have never tried it. The image is printed on tracing paper. I love the transparent quality of it. I just glued down three edge of the tracing paper to a piece of cardstock and ran it through my ink jet printer. Really easy and gives great results.

Thought I would try a reverse zentangle. I started with a coaster and painted it with black gesso. Then I did all the pattens with a white Uni-Ball Signo Broad gel pen.

Today I actually took the time to do a journal page in my new altered book journal. I forgot just how much fun a little collage could be. The image was also printed on tracing paper.

2011-10-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... the sun is shining and it is one of those cool fall days where I love to take walks and feel my feet crunch upon all the leaves. Fall is such a special season.

I am thinking that I have way too many irons in the fire as they say and something is going to have to be let go. In November I will be blogging less or maybe have shorter posts.

I am thankful for all the opportunities in my life and all the wonderful people I have met this year.

In the kitchen Dave is making a butternut squash pie, the smell of it permeates the house.

I am wearing my black crocs and flannel pj's, my comfort clothes.

I am creating a new life with the coaching course I am taking. The lessons learned are so profound that it amazes me. I am so grateful to be able to pass this wisdom on to others.

I am going to continue to look for fun things to use to manipulate wax. The Hot Wax course I am taking is really fantastic. I have so much to learn.

I am wondering how some women manage to do it all. I am constantly having to revise my plans and let go of things.

I am reading : The view from the Summerhouse by Barabara Whitnell. Its set in Cornwall, a place I would like to go to someday. Its all about returning to a piece of your past and reconnecting with it.

I am looking forward to the start of Nanowrimo on November 1st. It will be fun to tell my Grandparents story.

I am hearing the sound of birds outside my window, most of them have left for greener pastures. I still have the house finches and black eyed juncos and occasional chickadees that hang out at my bird feeder.

Around the house everything has been dusted and cleaned. During November I don't clean very much. All the focus is on the writing.

I am pondering those little things in life that make it all worthwhile. Sit down and have a cup of tea with me and we'll talk.

One of my favorite things to do is have a hot bath with Celtic Sea Salts. I had one last night and the memory of it brings a smile to my face.

A few plans for the rest of the week: I'll have my first 2 calls where I am the coach this week. I am incredibly nervous about it but know that it will be okay. I'll do some further prep for Nanowrimo and watch the videos for the Hot Wax class. Then there are the regular activities, laughter yoga on Tuesday, meditation group on Wed and book group on Thursday. We are reading Kitchen Table Wisdom which is an amazing book.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing... This was the sky outside my house a few days ago.

I find mother nature often gives us a spectacular show.

To see other daybook posts go here

Sketching a character

2011-10-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

I don't have much of a blog post today. Its been a very busy week. I am doing a series of sketches of some characters in a novel that I am revising. This is the first of a series. She is not exactly what I envisioned but I will keep working at it.

I have done very little work in the wax class other than make paints and medium. I am hoping for some studio time soon.

We had our Nanowrimo kickoff tonight and the response was amazing. 40 people showed up and the library had put us in this tiny room. It was fine but crowded and great to be with all these wonderful writers. I am looking forward to the frenzy of November.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

I'm in Love

2011-10-19T00:40:00.000-06:00

There was some excitement here last Friday. I had been anxiously awaiting this package. It did not come until 4:15 pm. Now what could be in this big box.

It turns out it was something pretty expensive and pretty small in comparison. I decide 4 months ago that I was going to get a smart phone. With a new version of the iPhone on the horizon I waited for it to be released. I ordered mine on the first day along with millions of other people.

Just look at her, doesn't she look beautiful. It was love at first site, unfortunately I couldn't get her to work. I had to go down to Verizon the next day. It was something to do with being stuck in the app that was transferring my contacts. She is all happy now.

I don't know if its really possible to be in love with your phone but I am. Its my first smart phone and it really can do amazing things. I am just amazed with Siri the new voice activated feature of the iPhone. I was playing around with it yesterday, you can ask it to send a text, play a song, check your calendar and the weather and so much more. Then there is the camera, its an 8 megapixel camera and then lens switches around so you can do self portraits, you can even edit photos on your phone. About the only thing it does not do is wash the dishes. Oh you can also make calls with it just like any other phone. Have you ever been infatuated with new technology.

This afternoon I found out I won a spot in this class from the lovely Kylie at Blissful Pumpkins. I am so excited, I wanted to take the class but with the holidays coming up I didn't know how I was going to be able to do it. So I am so grateful to have won this class. As I was thinking about this I thought here I am in small town Idaho and I won a class from a woman in Australia who will be teaching along with 14 others organized by a Dutch woman who lives in England. All this is possible due to the internet. It is such a magical world we live in.

To find out more about Life Book head on over to Tam's site Willowing. I think this is going to be an awesome class and its such a groundbreaking idea. I have had a class with Tam before and she really is wonderful

2011-10-17T09:00:00.000-06:00

I have been working on this cardboard book that I started in Katie Kendrik's class. In her sample she used mica to cover the cut out window but I didn't have any of that. So I found some plastic and I think it works just as well.

I put this scrapbook paper on the inside cover. I will be adding something to it later on.

There are only 3-4 pages in this journal. This page was textured and stamped. Images were embellished with charcoal.

On this page I found this plastic silhouette and when I put it over my painted cardboard I thought the tear I had made in the cardboard looked like her spine. How fun is that. I really wanted to have this journal finished by today but alas life doesn't always work as you planned.

Today this class started. I think it will be the first on line class I have taken that I really know nothing about. I became intrigued with encaustic in Katie's class and really wanted to learn more about it. So here came the perfect opportunity. So it looks like I'll put the cardboard book away for awhile an play with wax.

National Novel Writing Month

2011-10-14T08:15:00.000-06:00

It's getting to be that time of year again. Its almost November, so writers and would be writers from all over the world are contemplating doing NaNoWriMo. This year I'll be doing it again. My sixth time for all the insanity. Why do I do it? Several reasons:

There's a deadline.
Its Fun.
It gives you the opportunity to do it with others, misery does love company.
You get the chance to explore writing in new ways.
It helps you become a better writer.
There are write-ins, and parties.
You meet all sorts of fun people.
Did I mention its fun
Ah the parties, well there is the kick off party and then the Night of Writing Dangerously(an all nighter) and the TGIO party at the end. It stands for Thank God Its Over, otherwise known as the celebration party.
It brings families together. I know of several families who have several members doing it.
Ah the junk food, you do have permission to have all the junk food you want in November.
The satisfaction of completion, even if you don't finish you end up writing way more than you did in October.

I know you want to do it. Maybe this is the year you join us. At the end of our lives we don't regret the things that we did, its more the things we didn't do. Maybe writing your story is one of those things.

This year my novel will be a fictionalized account of my Grandparent lives. I will use their letters as a base, but I am still working out what form it will take.

To sign up for this go to nanowrimo.org

2011-10-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

While watching Fran Riley's video for The Worlds Biggest Summit yesterday I saw this other video of hers. She has some amazing things in her house. Just wait till you see the bathtub.

As an exercise for some coaching I am doing I painted what my creativity looks like. I saw it as a swirling ball of red and orange and purple, with tingly waves cascading out from a circle. I left little swirly spots in the center to represent all those new ideas that have not come to light yet. I made this on an 11 X 14 canvas board using Panpastels.

Here are a few more pages from my fall journal. I had to record the snow event we had.

This is all about taking walks in the Fall. Something that I really enjoy doing,

We attended the Occupy Idaho Falls rally on Friday night. We had a good turnout, there were 150 people which may not seem like much. Other rally's I have attended only had about 30 people, so this was a lot bigger. There were speakers and then we walked along the Greenbelt to the Broadway Bridge and cheered. It was great being in solidarity with all the other groups around the country.

The Worlds Biggest Summit

2011-10-10T11:28:00.001-06:00

Have you been going to the Worlds Biggest Summit. Its this amazing even put on by Goddess Leonie. Each day there are three amazing speakers. Some are audio and some are video. You can save them to listen to or watch later. It goes through the month of October and you can You can access it here

I have to admit I had been saving most of them for later but the last couple of days I have been watching and listening and the information has been just fabulous. I know you will love it. Oh and I forgot to mention, its free. All you need is a little time to save it or to watch it now. I know that you are worth investing the time in. Enjoy it my friends.

Sunday Sketches

2011-10-09T13:20:00.001-06:00

Here is my sketch for this Sunday. Remember to check out Sophia's blog for more sketchers. There is always a great collection of people posting their work. If you didn't get to see last Sundays sketch you can see it here. Have a great Sunday everyone.

It snowed!

2011-10-07T11:53:00.001-06:00

I still find it hard to believe the snow we had yesterday. This is my backyard at the beginning of the storm. We got 4" of very huge white fluffy stuff, it looks like December, not October. There are downed trees everywhere in town. The leaves had not even changed or fallen yet. We lost one big branch on one of our trees but the rest survived when I got some of the snow off of them. Then we had another distaster, something fell into our chimney while we had a fire going and the house filled with smoke. I wasn't home. Dave had to pull the on fire logs out and put into the ash bucket and take outside. It took 2 trips. We also lost power at that time. We have power back but the house still smells like smoke. We have all the doors and windows open and its really cold outside so I am down the basement where its warm. I hope we'll be able to close it all open soon, Last night the smoke really burned my eyes. Not a fun day.

Some more pages from the graffiti journal. I printed out a Sunday Sketch for this page.

Here I was talking about the rain, that was early in the week.

I got some Utah peaches, don't they look yummy. In my town enterprising folks drive down to Utah near the prime peach growing area and bring up peaches to sell here. They are just picked so you can't beat that. I am making some pie with some of them. Do you want a piece?

The Impact of Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

With the death of Steve Jobs on Wednesday there are tributes all over Twitter, Facebook and the net. Many of us feel saddened at such a great loss. There are very few people on the planet who were not affected by his life. I felt that I needed to add my thoughts to the mix.

I think that most of us know that Steve founded Apple, gave us Mac computers, iPod, iPhone, iPad. I never realized that he started Pixar too. Where would animation be without Pixar. The reason we have all these wonderful fonts is because Steve loved calligraphy. I am grateful for that. For me it isn't that he did all of these things but it is more who he was as a person and the philosophy that he espoused.

So many of us artists talk about the same things, following your dreams, think out of the box. We are all saying the same thing. Here was a man who followed those ideas with gusto and encouraged us to do the same.

Here is the TED talk aka Steve Jobs commencement address at Stanford University. If you have seen this before watch it again, it is that good. Then save it and watch it in those times where you doubt yourself.

Here are a few favorite quotes attributed to Steve.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle." I love this, never settle keep searching for the thing that makes your hearts sing.

"Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. " I so strongly believe this that I wear a necklace that says Follow Your Heart. Its a reminder in case I forget.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

This innovator and creative visionary will be sorely missed.

Creative Whirlwind

2011-10-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

I truly believe that I have been on a creative whirlwind. Granted much of that is due to taking Remains of the Day and Layered Expressions, two classes by some very talented ladies. I think its more than that. I have taken other classes and often not completed all the exercises. Sometime its attitude and willingness to put in the necessary time, to let go of expectations, to finally to be able to go that extra mile. To that space where you really start feeling like an artist. I feel like I have arrived there and its a fabulous place to be.

My first pages in what I am calling my grafitti journal. I got the idea from an issue of Art Journal Magazine called My Summer Journal. In the article the person made a journal in a class and it was all about Summer. I thought it would be fun to do one for all the seasons. Since its Fall that is where my emphasis lies. I always admire those pages that are simple and have handwriting on them. Kind of like graffiti.

So I took old book pages and sewed 3 pages together for each of my pages, I am not going to bind the pages until they are all done. I sewed some things down, and glued and stapled others. I want these pages to be ones that can been done quickly.

On this page I went through fall colored papers to start off this page. I spent just a few minutes on this one too. I am liking this fast journaling. You pick a few things and then you're done. The paper in this journal is really old and yellowed and its almost like that become part of the design of each of the book.

The beginnings of my cardboard journal that I am making in Katie's class. The covers are cardboard and so are all the pages. What fun this will be . More on this on Friday. Can you tell I have been having a blast in this class.

CONTEST WINNERS for my 500th post giveaway were chosen by random number generator.

Poetry Girl - Artella
Anka - Zine by Samantha Kira
Andria - Artful Purpose Zine
Codyrachel's irises - Card Collection
April Cole - Sketchbooking

Would the winners please send me their addresses so I can get their winnings to them. Thanks to all who entered.

Using Encaustic Wax

2011-10-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

This is my set up to do encaustic wax, I am using a melting pot and a quilting iron, I also used a heat gun. The wax took quite awhile to heat up. This was my first try at this technique.

The original painting before wax.

and the painting after wax, the color seems so much richer now. Oh I love working with wax.

My collage in process using the magazine pages and nevrDull.

The second phase, it is not really that blue, the color is more subtle.

This closeup is more the color. Now I need to figure out what I will do next. I think I will look at it for a few days and see what emerges.

Sunday Sketches

2011-10-02T13:59:00.000-06:00

The official Sunday sketchers was cancelled today due to Sophia's loss of her father. I had already done a sketch so here she is. Have a great day. I am off to watch the Packers, I'll be spinning some yarns so something creative will happen with all the sitting. I have new art to show you tomorrow.

Lots of Experimentation

2011-09-30T10:19:00.001-06:00

Ah its Friday already, just where did the week go?

This is a collage I made in my Strathmore WC journal. I chose 3 main elements, a person place and a thing, I like to think that the lady is looking down that long railroad track to her future, to the unknown. The crow is their as her guide, to help her make that first step, to know she is not alone.

This was a little experiment with some new tape I bought recently. After I laid down the greeting card I covered in clear gesso. It gives you a gritty service that you can write on and it takes charcoal really well.

In class we are doing experiment with NevrDull and magazines. This is so much fun. NevrDull is a wadding polish that you use to rub off the ink.

Some of the part of the pages turn out great and some don't, which doesn't matter since I'll be cutting them up for collage.

Underneath the paper I am putting stamps, embossed wallpaper and other textured items. I even used embossing folders. I have been scouring the house looking for more texture ideas. This was a picture of a towel.

I love how these flowers now sort of look like people.

These were jewels and now they look really cool. I could play with these all day.

I plan to work in the studio today on several projects and then on Saturday to take part in Massive Action Day Its for writing but I imagine you could use it on any project. I don't plan on doing all 8 hours but I do plan on spending some time on getting some serious writing done. Check it out and join us if you can.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone

2011-09-29T08:30:00.000-06:00

In my household I will have to share that we are a little obsessed with Laini Taylors Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I have been following Laini Taylor for years, just love the way she writes. I loved her mid grade novels Blackbringer and Silksinger, and then she wrote the Lips Touch:Three times which was a National Book Award finalist. We've heard her talk about this new book from its inception and are so excited its finally available.

We had pre-ordered the book through Amazon but found the book at Barnes and Noble way before its release date. So we had to take a picture.

A couple days later our package arrived, Sarah carefully opened it.

and here it is the long awaited book.

Oh look there is another copy, yes we each had to have our own copy. In reading Laini's blog all this time we followed her journey through her pre-pub tour and was amazed at all Little Brown, the publisher was doing for her. Sarah's comment at the time was, I think her book will get a cardboard cutout. Very few Young Adult novels get this honor.

and later that week we saw this. Yes, Sarah had gotten it right.

So now you may wonder does the book live up to all the hype. Oh Yes it does, its fantastic. I finished it on Wednesday, gave it five stars on my Goodreads review. If you never read YA novels I recommend giving this one a try. It really is that good. You can also head over to Laini's blog and read the first five chapters of the book. Just click on the link in the sidebar. I know you will love it.

500th Post Giveaway

2011-09-28T00:30:00.000-06:00

Its my 500th post for this incarnation of my blog and I haven't had a give away in a while so here's the bounty. There are a series of zines, a magazine a book and a collection of cards to be used for collage. Instead of giving all this to one person I am going choose five winners.

First we have an issue of Artella's magazine which is full of great articles.

A zine by Samantha Kira-Harding aka Journal Girl which includes a interview with Robin-Marie Smith.

A zine by Gina Armfield, with several interviews and articles on Art Journaling.

A collection of cards that will be great for collage in art journals or paintings. You get at least twenty cards and a few envelopes, plus I may throw in a few extra collage items.

And last I've got a copy of sketchbooking the book by Barbara Stetcher.

So what do you need to do to win one of these, just leave a comment on this post and I will pick a winner on October 5th,

More Art from Layered Impressions Class

2011-09-26T09:00:00.000-06:00

I have a couple more pieces to share from the Layered Impressions class I have been taking

This mermaid was done on a wood panel I got at Michaels. I started with molding paste and then added pastel, a mix of marble dust and gel medium. The I drew her with a graphite crayon, I used a stamp as the model for her. I painted her in fluid and heavy bodied acrylics. I added a little stamping too. The scales were drawn with a micron pen.

This piece was created on a 12 x 12 piece of watercolor paper. First the collage pieces were laid down.

Then I added some pan pastels in several areas and then a thin layer of gesso over the entire piece.

Then I used acrylics to change some things and highlight others. I added more collage items and more gesso and paint.

Additional finishing was created with colored pencils and my black stablio pencil.My inspiration for the piece was the bond between me and my dog and how I felt when he came home after he had been lost for a day. I used images of portals and home and a weather vane to show him finding his way back to me, his way back home.

I am so loving this class. Katie's teaching style is laid back and I love that. The other artists are all supportive too. What a great time I am having.

Sunday Sketches

2011-09-25T13:53:00.000-06:00

I really had fun sketching this one and I really like the way she turned out. You can head on over to Sophia's blog to see more fantastic Sunday Sketches

The gift of a letter

2011-09-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

There are some things from the past that I often like to rekindle in my life. One of those is the handwritten letter. Sure with the internet age and instant emails so many of us do not write letters anymore. I think we have lost something with that. A handwritten letter is something you can touch and feel in your hands, you know the sender spent time with the paper too. I have always written letters and I miss the frequency of them.

My friend Kate and I have started writing letters to one another. We live in the same town about 15 miles apart. We still call each other and send emails but its so much fun to receive letters in the mail that we started to write one another. I think I will start doing this with other people too. So if I have your address you might get some mail from me. Today I even pulled out a quill pen to write. It felt very old fashioned on one hand but oh so pleasing on an other. When was the last time you wrote a real letter, or better yet received one. If it been a long time perhaps its time to just let go of technology for awhile and write and send a letter to a friend or a loved one. I can guarantee they will appreciate it.

The Nine Modern Day Muses

2011-09-21T09:00:00.000-06:00

For the past month I have been spending my time taking the Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching Course. Its a 14 week course that I am taking with women from all over the world. The sessions have been truly amazing. I have learned so many things about the creative process, procrastination, and my own creative blocks.

One of the books we are using as a text is the Nine Modern Day Muses by Jill Badonsky. I have had this book for years but I hadn't read the entire book before I signed up for this course. I just have to say that this book is amazing. I think it is a must read for any creative person. Its full of ideas, exercises, techniques and advice to help you in your creative life. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Another one of the books we are working with is One Small Step Can Change Your Life by Robert Maurer. Oh I do love this little book. Its called Kaizen and its premise is that real change occurs by taking small steps. I have heard of the ideas before, SARK does something similar with her technique called Micro-movements. This book covers more than just small steps, I found it invaluable. This little book has changed the way I view many things in my life. I use the ideas in all areas of my life. Even when I am fighting with myself to just exercise I take the small step approach and its fabulous what can happen.

I started another old book journal. It seems every time I get orange splashed on the page some crows want to come land on it. Art journaling is funny that way. Fall is my favorite season so it stands to reason that would come out in my journal. Here's to enjoying all the wonders of Fall.

Work In Progress

2011-09-19T09:30:00.000-06:00

This is the cover of the latest Remains of the Day Journal that I have been making. I used the skirt I bought at a thrift store recently for the fabric.

For the inside cover I used some cotton fabric that had crows on it, continuing with the black and white theme.

This is the back with appliquéd bits, Sarah says it looks like a mushroom but that was not my intent.

One thing that has been fun about making these is trying out all the decorative stitches on my sewing machine. Some of them are really fun. I have made a second one, but it will be a gift so I can't show it here. Now that I have the cover done, its time to make all the pages. These journals really are a long process but they are fun to make.

Sunday Sketches

2011-09-18T12:31:00.000-06:00

Todays sketch for Sunday sketches is a painting and not a sketch. Since I am taking a class and needed to get the assignments done I figure this can do double duty. The face was transferred to watercolor paper, collaged and then painted . I am not sure I like it, Tell me do you think the eyes look funny? Or is it just me being over critical.

To see other Sunday sketchers head on over to Sophia's blog.

Faces from Class

2011-09-16T08:00:00.000-06:00

Its been a busy week here. I have been really enjoying the layered impressions class, I am taking with Katie Kendrik. We have been painting faces on telephone book pages. I have had so much fun with the process that I did five of them.

On this one the telephone page was transferred onto watercolor paper.

Here the paper was glued to the watercolor paper.

This was one was another transfer.

I even took a try at doing a man.

This is the last one I did, I kept the wonky look of the original. Normally I would have given her more of a forehead and more hair but I kind of like her look. These were so much fun I think I will do more at a later date. Tomorrow I'll start working on a collaged portrait. This is so much fun.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Zen Tree and a Video

2011-09-14T09:00:00.000-06:00

I have to interrupt my previous scheduled blogpost for a news update: My trip to Oregon has been cancelled. Dave took the trailer in for a new tire because we noticed the tread on one was bad. That is when we were told the axle was bent. Cost to repair is 1600.00, no longer under warranty. Life sucks sometimes.

I started this zentree awhile ago and finished it last week. The tree was created in a moleskine watercolor notebook with micron and faber-castell pitt pens and some pencil. It was fun. Now that I have done the zen raven and the zen tree hmm I wonder what I should do next.

I found this video the other day and this is such a cool idea. If you have stamps like I do, this is a new way to personalize them and make the work unique. Often I have used a paintbrush with stamping ink and sometimes it works well and other times it does not. These little nibs work great.

What I did this summer

2011-09-12T09:00:00.000-06:00

If you remember this post Go look at it now before you look at the rest of the post. You'll see over 160 carded batts. I spent the summer spinning them all and here are results.

This is my kitchen table with all the skeins of yarn I spun. I watched TV and movies while doing all these skeins.

This is a closer view of some of the colors. Now I know the question will be, what are you going to do with all of that yarn. I will pull the colors that have several skeins and save them for another project. With the rest I will weave a blanket.

As you can see I have a lot of blues, greens and purples but there are also gold, peaches and pinks.

and some neutrals too. I think I have at least a little bit of most of the colors out there. I think this will make a fantastic blanket.

Sunday Sketches 9/11/11

2011-09-11T13:52:00.000-06:00

When I sat down in church to get ready to sketch this, I discovered that I did not have my trusted kneaded eraser. I found a school pencil in one of the pews and had to use that. I think she looks sort of sad as some of my faces do. I figured since it is the anniversary of 9/11 perhaps she is appropriate for the time. I came across this memoir of 9/11 by author Meg Cabot. It is beautiful, haunting and sad but worth reading too.

Layered Impressions

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-06:00

I signed up to take Layered Impressions, the online class with Katie Kendrik. I am so excited to be taking this class. It starts on Tuesday. If you signup before then you even get a DVD of the class, now that is a great deal. It is more than I usually like to spend on a class but when I looked at the synopsis of what we will be doing I thought it was amazing. I think it will be well worth price. Katie is an amazing artist and I feel like we will really being going on a journey with her.

I added some collages and journaling to the some of those pages I did while in N. Idaho a few weeks ago.

If you are one of those artists who gets a background done and then doesn't know what to do next, I thought I would offer a little advice. I tend to look at the colors of the background and then will pull out my stash of collage items and start placing things on top that I think will look good. I may go through a lot of images before I choose one that I like. Or there may be several I place on the background and then finally just choose one over the other. The process becomes intuitive at some point, what I choose may end up being an image that I just get a good feeling about. I have often used an image I have left on my desk from a precious art session.

Some artists plan the whole page before glueing anything down. I do that sometimes, but often I just glue down and image and then look for something else, it seems more spontaneous that way. I just don't think that much about it, just go for my first thoughts and glue it down. If my background is a collage in itself I make the collage on top simple. I think the idea is just to play, whatever you do will be just fine.

2011-09-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

My Remains of the Day Journal

I resisted this class for a long time but after I actually saw my friend Jolene's Remains of the Day Journal I had to take the class and make one. Oh I do love the process, a perfect way to use up all the stuff I have. I am taking a trip to the Oregon coast in a couple weeks and made this journal for the trip. I used lots of blues and aquas to symbolize the ocean water. The way this journal is used is first you make it and embellish the pages and then add things from your trip while you are on it. There are spots to tuck things, pockets and places to journal. It will look different when filled. Here is a little video of my pages.

If you are intrigued by this journal style you can check it out here. Mary Ann's class is really great, I highly recommend it.

Blogging Change

Sometimes we all find that blogging takes up so much time, we love it so we don't want to give it up, sometimes we take breaks from it but we always come back. I have decided to take after my daughter who blogs 3 times a week. So that will be my plan for a little while. I plan to blog Mon, Wed and Friday. There may be times I do so on other days but I will consider them extra posts.

Completing the Artshine Traveling Sketchbook

2011-09-05T10:10:00.001-06:00

I have been working in the various books of the Artshine Traveling Sketchbook for over a year and this is the last one. The theme was the female figure and I had a hard time coming up with something I thought I could do. I have never drawn a female body so I was a little apprehensive. Plus I had no models who were offering to pose for me.

So I started out with a collage. I chose this paper as it looked like wallpaper to me. I wanted it to look old and faded so I added a wash of thinned gesso to it. I took a floral stamp and used sepia ink to age it a little. I am not sure what else it needed so I left it simple.
I starIU ed shkhskhkj

Here I used a magazine image as a model and drew her in vine charcoal. Charcoal is so forgiving, you make a mistake and your friend the kneaded eraser comes to the rescue. I should work in charcoal more. This was fun.

I am including this for Sunday Sketches too, so you can check other ones here

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Thrift Store Finds

2011-09-01T09:55:00.000-06:00

I have been thrift store shopping. Looking for old clothes to cut up to use in journals and other crafts. I found two skirts and a dress.

I thought the dress was cute so I had Sarah try it on, she says she felt like a 50's housewife but I think she looked darling.

I also been to two library book sales. I went to one in Wallace and got a French dictionary and some old books to make into journals.

I found out our library, which hosts its sales in the basement 4 times a year opens up the basement area in the evenings. I went looking the other day and found a Chinese cookbook, some travel books, an almanac and some old technical books that have great diagrams to use for collage.

On my way out I saw this little gem, I went back to pay for it and they just gave it to me. Its a small book written in German in 1900. What a deal. My library even has a table with free books on it. I got several of those books from that table. You might want to check out if your library has sales like these or even better if you can go in any time and look.

Dining, Wallace and Wolves

2011-08-30T17:04:00.002-06:00

On one of our off days from biking we headed up to Coeur d' laine. When we are traveling some times we like to find a triple D restaurant. One of the ones that were featured on the Food Networks show Diners Drive Ins and Dives. We knew there was one here so we checked it out.

It was called Jimmy's Down the Street and the food was great.

I had the chicken and dumplings which was amazingly good. Dave had the John Wayne, can you see the size of that sandwich. It was a heartburn special, fried chicken, fried bacon, fried onion rings, fried pickles and all the trimmings. He said it was good but it did give him heartburn so he paid the price.

On one of the days we drove to Wallace, its an old mining town where the movie Dante's Peak was filmed. This building held a small train museum.

Inside the old ticket window was still intact but alas there was no one to sell me a ticket.

The old routes were still visible ont those clipboards and a replica of the town was on the table.

Wallace even has its own space ship, so we had to check that out too.

I am a big SciFi and fantasy fan so I couldn't resist the opportunity to climb aboard.

The last place we went was in Cocolalla Idaho, to a place called Wolf People. Its a wolf educational facility where they raise Timber and Arctic Wolves. They had pups and adults and a wonderful tour that we took. I think the pictures will tell you how much I enjoyed this experience.

I This is Mike the wolf handler who conducted our tour. I have a ton of more wolf pics but I think I will just put them on flickr. Check back in a couple days, this will be the link

On to Montana and Idaho

2011-08-29T09:35:00.002-06:00

photo credit

Our first destination was Missoula Montana which is a 5 hour drive. We like to stop in Dell along the way. They have this great old restaurant that has excellent food.

We were greeted to a new sign inside, what a great version of the keep calm signs you see everywhere. I'll second that advice.

photo credit

In Missoula we stopped at the Import Market to get some more of these. We wanted some more small bowls and lunch plates. The Import store has the largest selection of open stock Fiesta Ware in the area.

photo credit

The new color Marigold is really gorgeous. I had to add this one to the colors I already have.

photo credit
We had to get a pizza at MacKenzie River Pizza Co, one of our favorite places to eat.

Then I had to stop at a craft store to get these. Just a few papers, a stamp, carving rubber and some stamped twill tape.

On to Northern Idaho

We headed to Northern Idaho to bike on the Trail of the Coeur d'Laines. It is a 73 mile bike trail that was created on an old rail road bed. There are numerous places where you can get on the trail. We camped near Harrison, Idaho so we got on the trail there. It is the most scenic part of the trail, right along several lakes. The first day we biked 22 miles which is the longest I have ever gone. The other days we did shorter distances and it was a lot of fun.

We stopped for a break and had some lunch, with my favorite kind of bagel and yogurt.

These osprey's were nesting out in the middle of the lake near one of the stopping points.

I saw several sailboats that looked so inviting.

Sometimes the trail went through the woods.

The scenery was often breathtaking.

I saw this purple martin bird house in the town of Harrison. I thought it looked so neat.

With all these lakes there were bound to be lots of boats. This houseboat was tethered right near the trail. I really wished I could have gone out in it.

Travel adventures continue tomorrow.

Collage and portraits part deux

2011-08-26T09:00:00.001-06:00

Here are some more of the collages I did last week.

In this one I used a spray painted background and I added a new supply that I just love. On the right is some tape made by Tim Holtz. Its called tissue paper tape. The cool thing is that it looks different depending an the paper or paint you use underneath it. It comes in a two roll package with two different designs.

I got the idea of doing a zentangle border and it turned out it was fun to do. I think I may have to do this again. I have had this picture of dogs for a long time. I always wonder what it is they are thinking.

I did a few portraits too. This one is done in graphite.

This one I drew with Inktense Pencils and then added water and the colors came about a bit bright. This style is a little different for me but it was fun.

I drew this lady and then painted her with water colors. Then I added her to a background I made earlier.

In my next post I will talk a little bit about my trip and share a few highlights.

I made a few collages

2011-08-25T14:57:00.001-06:00

I got back from my trip on Tuesday but I have really been swamped. This is the first chance I have had to do a blog post. On most evenings I worked a little in an art journal. I found it so relaxing after a long day of biking or sightseeing. I'll have lots to share from my trip in the coming week.

Whenever I go on a trip I take some art supplies with me. I have a Ziploc bag full of collage materials that I bring. After this trip I realized I need to add some new things to it. I had very few focal images but a lot of scrap to make backgrounds. These are all in a moleskine wc journal. I never really liked the paper so with collage I just cover it all up. Here is the first installment.

These last two are just backgrounds, I really did not have anything to put on top so I left them for later. Tomorrow I will share some more.

We Finally Had an Art Date

2011-08-13T19:00:00.000-06:00

My friend Jolene and I have not managed to get together for an art date in over a year. Sure we tried but several times those dates had to be cancelled for one reason or another. We finally did it though, we met on Wednesday night and I forgot to take any pictures.

We exchanged books and magazines so we now both have something new to read. She showed me how to make transfers. Every time I have tried before its been less than satisfactory but this time got perfect results. I am so excited about finally being able to do this. I showed her how to make stamps with craft foam and she had fun with that. She worked on a journal page and so did I.

Here is mine along with a found art portrait, even the castles came from the background. I like how that happens.

Tomorrow we are headed out on a small vacation to northern Idaho. I'll have my computer but am not sure if I will run into any internet access. So blogging will be sparse or non-existent. I probably won't get 30 portraits done this month since I am now going on a vacation but I will still continue to do them when I can.

B.F.'s Daughter

2011-08-11T00:01:00.001-06:00

I finished up the altered book journal that I have been working in. These are the last pages.

I kept the title page so you could see this was called B.F.'s Daughter by John Marquand. I did another doodle over a wash of watercolor. I am really enjoying playing in this way.

This portrait was done on old book pages with pastels. The background is acrylic paint.

The borders on the page were paint chips cut up and then painted over. I like how they add dimension to the page.

This was started long ago, it is found art and by that I mean the woman was pulled from the background. At the time I figured she was giving birth to a baby or a new idea.

This self-portrait I did completely with white gel pen. I used an old photograph of myself as the model. I was feeling particularly blue at the time so it seemed fitting.

This one is another self-portrait from an even older photo that I found lying around. I thought I would try a face in watercolor.

This is the last page in the book, so I can happily say that this journal is complete. Ah now I can start a new one.

Tea Party at the Stillwater Mansion

2011-08-10T00:17:00.001-06:00

Last week I attended a very special birthday party for my friend Joyce. It was held at the Stillwater Mansion here in Idaho Falls. We met for a ladies tea and fun was had by all.

One of the first things that Miss Tonia does is dress you up proper with a hat and gloves and jewels and perhaps a shawl to round out the ensemble.

This is Joyce, the birthday girl.

Francie her daughter came in from Northern Montana for the event.

Gina is her granddaughter who came form Pocatello, Idaho

This is a friend Cheryl who is from Idaho Falls.

Then her other daughter and my friend Kate.

'

Now here is yours truly, don't I look dashing.

Here we are all of together in the parlor. Joyce had so much fun she wants to do it again next year.

We had an great time eating all sorts of wonderful treats and drinking the most fabulous tea. What a wonderful way to spend your birthday.

Sunday Sketches

2011-08-07T14:16:00.000-06:00

Here is todays sketch and the portrait for today, I figure it can do double duty. I used Inktense pencil on everything except the skin. At first I was just going to leave it the color of the paper and then changed my mind. For the face and neck I used chalk pastels. I had not used them to do a face before and I like the look they give.

I have a bonus sketch today. I have to work on a traveling book and the theme is patterns so I thought I would do some paisleys for my pages.

Since I have never drawn a paisley I started a practice sheet. I have one of those dover coloring books with paisley in them so I used that for inspiration. At first I drew them on white bristol board and then added a wash of watercolors. Then I added some over the watercolors. I am not sure which way I like best. I kept adding more and more paisleys. It just like doing a zentangle, very addictive. Doesn't this look like fun. I had lots of fun with my sample, now I need to tackle the book pages.

To see what other sketchers ar doing today, head over to Sophia's blog

30 Day Portrait Challenge

2011-08-04T19:53:00.000-06:00

My friend Violette is having a new challenge over at her blog. I saw the post and thought I should do that. A couple years ago Misty Mawn did a January journaling challenge and I really learned a lot by doing a portrait every day. I still dawdled until I saw my friend Janet doing it too.

So on Wednesday I painted this lady. She was painted on red rosin paper which is such a fun surface to paint on. Red rosin paper comes in huge roles and you can get it at Lowes. It is used in the roofing industry but is a great art paper too.

It was after this I saw Janets post about not understanding that this was a self portrait challenge not a portrait challenge and I realized I made the same mistake. Well being the rebels that we are we are just going to do portraits. People always tell me my painting look like me anyways. I can see where I made my mistake as the title of Violette's post is 30 Day Portrait Challenge. Sure she mentions that they are self portraits in the post but I skipped right over that little detail. Anyways I am going to attempt to do portraits all month.

Here is today's portrait, I must have painted her dress three or four times and it kept getting worse. I get impatient with acrylic paints sometimes and try to paint on top of colors that really need to dry first. At these times I just give up and add paper.

To join in the challenge just head over to Violette's blog, there is a flickr group to share your work