Thirty Days 50,000 Words

Ladies and gentlemen I have done it. I did some marathon writing today, 4500 words to get me over the top. Also with 2 days to spare.... Am I ever tired. This year was really hard but I managed it in the end so I am happy about that. In the morning I take Sarah back to school. I'll be back to blogging on Tuesday. See you then.

Look what I found

I saw this cool video on Diana Trout's blog and its amazing. You also need to check out this giveaway, and it has to be today

Happy Thanksgiving.

Its early all the hustle and bustle has not begun yet. I have to make pies this morning before the turkey breast I bought goes into the oven. Sarah is asleep in her bed downstairs, that feels comforting. To have your child home when its been a long time is quite the pleasant feeling. There is nothing else like it. I makes one really thankful for the simple things.

I am grateful for each and everyone of you who stop by to read my blog, to those who take the time to comment and to those who have become friends. You have enriched my life, Thank You.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. If you don't celebrate that in your country then please have a wonderful day today.

Laughter is a good thing

My 100th Post

Its my 100th post as the Queen.... Time for celebrating so her royal majesty is going to give away a collage packet of some of my favorite things. Scrapbook papers, paste paper, spray painted scraps, embossed wallpaper, red rosin paper,collage images, ribbon and whatever else I can think of. I will also include a little book and paint the first page so you'll have some of my art in a book you decorate for yourself.

How to enter, Just leave a comment on this post I'll choose the winner on December 1st.
















Here are a couple faces for a little project I am involved in. They are painted on cardboard from a granola bar box.











After my idyllic winter post I had to laugh since things went considerably downhill after that. I went to go to a write-in that evening and ended up in the ditch about 3/4 of a mile from my house. I almost got out but not quite. Called my husband 4 times and he never picked up. So I grabbed my purse and started walking home on the icy road. Silly me, I left my gloves in the car, so it was cold and slow going and then I fell on the ice. So I ended up limping my way home.

Is there a happy ending to this story. Well we got the car out, it has no damage, I am fine and I did not kill my husband. He tells me the phone never rang. I never did get to the write in, just stayed home. I had swerved from one side of the road and back again several times and did a 360 before I ended in the ditch. So at that point I was scared to drive again. All is well now but I am surely not looking forward to driving this winter. I just hope this is my only incident and it will be smooth safe driving out there. Be careful everyone.

It's Snowing

It snowing today, lots of white fluffy stuff on the ground. The sheep have been fed and the birds are flocking to a newly filled bird feeder. I am sitting on the couch, computer on my lap doing all I can to avoid working on my novel. I can sit here for a long time just watching the birds. There is something so magical about flight.

The two bald eagles were back on their perch in a tree overlooking the Snake River. I saw them on my way to town this morning. I love to see them so I am glad they've returned. They go somewhere else during the summer.

I heard there was a pumpkin shortage so I ran to town to get some pumpkin for my pies. I love pumpkin pie and of course it has to be one I make myself. Its not a special recipe or anything. I just follow the Joy of Cooking's advice. Thanksgiving wouldn't be what it is without it in my opinion. Oh and I have to have real whip cream. I always whip it right before serving just like my dad always did when I was a kid. The last few years I have been buying those already made crusts from the store. They don't taste as good as the real thing but they do save time. This year I decided that I would do it all from scratch and I am actually looking forward to it.

Now I ended up driving through a snowstorm to get my pumpkin so do you think there was shortage at the store... of course not. I am still glad I went because now all that shopping is done. Oops I forgot the whip cream....as Scarlet would say oh tomorrow is another day.

My girl will be here for thanksgiving this year. I can't wait to see her, D is going to pick her up on Tuesday. She is doing Nanowrimo too so we'll have some fun time writing together.

Do you have any special plans this week.

Playing with texture

Another one of the exercise in my painted layers class. I had so much fun with this background. I layered down old book pages, tissue paper, sewing pattern paper, embossed wallpaper, sanded some on the pages, add acrylic paint and re-inkers and played around with the color.

This page was so much fun to do, I love it when I can use many of the things I spend time collecting all in the same piece. I bought the embossed wallpaper a long time ago and this was the first time I have used it. I love the stuff. It really added great texture and I loved the way the ink seeped into all its crevices. I am having so much fun in this class.

Nanowrimo is going good, I have 33746 words with 10 days left to get to 50,000 so I am in good shape. This year I have been just trying to make my goal every day and that seems to be working for me. Its a lot of work I will be so glad when Dec 1st is here.

The Joy Diet - Connection

I had a profound experiece with the Joy diet twice this week. First see this post Its where I talk about what happened earlier in the week. After that I had started reading the chapter about connections. I decided to use the process with a person at one of my Nanowrimo write ins. It was very powerful. When I thought of this person and came to the tell the truth area and I really had to discover what was it about the person that was driving me nuts.

As in most of the cases of telling the truth I discovered I had made up a story about the person in question. When I faced the truth I decided that he pushed all my buttons, but what I was thinking about him was not true, it was a story I had made. I stepped back and looked at it all objectively and it was not that big a deal. I was able to let go and realize the relationship for what it was. Then when I saw this person again, I was fine, the person had not changed but I had I was able to deal with it logically and creatively and now the relationship is so much better. thank you Martha Beck.

Several times throughout this book I would think I don't want to do this but persevered because I was committed to the book, I signed up for the duration and I wasn't going to be a quitter. I am glad I stuck with it. This last chapter really showed me how to use all these ideas in the context of my own life. Thanks to Jamie for hosting this group.

Further Explorations with Paint

I've been taking an online class with Misty Mawn called Painted Layers. Its a pretty awesome class so far. I thought I would show the work I have done so far. These are the first two backgrounds I did.












I liked how this turned out.













I never liked this one no matter how often I worked on it. I think it was the colors I started with. They are just an odd red and blue to use together I guess.













This is one using a silhouette. I used a stencil for the butterfly and swallow. I like the bird but I think a smaller butterfly would work better. I had taken a swallow stencil I had and cut it smaller so I could use it on different sized pages. I like this tiny one.












Here is my first landscape. I like how the sky turned out. I kept trying to put a house at the base of the mountains but it never looked right and after painting over it the third time I gave up. Overall for a first one I like it very much.

I've been really putting art on the back burner while I work on my Nanowrimo novel but I am find if i don't get to do some art I really get cranky and the writing gets harder. Today I decide I would do art until noon and then write and I think that is working well. I just can't give up this art stuff no matter what.

I've had an Epiphany

I think I have had an epiphany. Yesterday I was having one of those awful writing days where you wonder why you even bother. I ended up at Hastings and I bought this book:










I think I was going through some steps in the Joy Diet without consciously thinking about it, I was working through a few of the steps

Desire - being a writer who writes well enough ot be published
Risk- should I buy this book, it will either be just another book that ends up on my shelf or it will be a book that will really help me.
Creativity-Read through 75 pages yesterday and did the exercises after each chapter. I am really finding the book helpful So I a glad I took the risk.

The second thing happened this morning in doing my morning pages. I was thinking of how I struggle with writing concepts like show not tell and description and then it hit me. I have been a journal writer for years and how do you write in a journal, you tell what happens to you. I apparently have been transferring that way of writing to fiction and that is not they way fiction is written at all. Now of course I already knew that fiction was different I just never realized why I was doing this and that makes all the difference in the world.

I really like this series on Writing Better Fiction so much that I am going to use it like my own writers curriculum. There are other volumes on plot and dialogue and character that I will tackle next. I would always tell writing friends oh I have trouble with characters or description but I would never do anything about it. Never find a way to learn those skills I needed. That is changing now and its exciting. Knowledge is power and I am really glad I had to go through this to find these sources that will only make me better at what I truly desire. Life is Good.

The Joy Diet - Laughter

Well I flunked at laughter this week. Now that doesn't mean I did not have any laughter I meant I never read the entire chapter. I got half way through and just never finished. Too much going on that's for sure I am pretty sure I don't get thirty laughs a day but I would love too. I think some days I laugh more than others

Martha asks to pay attention to when we laugh. I go for the simple things not the real dark humor. I have been laughing at the jokes others tell on their posts this week. I think when its a joke about the pitfalls of another person I tend to laugh if I have seen myself in that position, if I can relate to it on some level. I have to admit that I spent hardly any time on this. This coming week we talk about connection and hopefully I will get the chapter read and have more to say.

Two Women

I haven't posted in a couple days now. I have been so busy and I am so tired. I have been keeping my Nano word count up to date but the writing has been so hard this time. I have been reading blogs and there is so much art I want to do its driving me nuts that I can't do it right now.

















This is the last art I have done and I think that was Sunday. Entitled Two women it was found art, I think there is something else there on the left and I may add more later if I feel so inclined. I never seem to know when a painting is finished. I did clean up the studio a little so I will be ready when I get some time. That is what is keeping me going.

I am finishing some things and starting new ones. The Artist Way is done and I was so happy doing that book. The Photo class I took was a disappointment so I am glad that its over with. I have one more class coming up this year and that is with Misty Mawn, Its starts Saturday and it is going to be really good. I had most of the supplies but had to get some new hot press watercolor paper. I have always worked with cold press paper so this will be interesting using a new surface. I have no idea how I am going to do this while doing Nanowrimo but I will manage somehow.

I made one of these journals and painted the pages with watered down fluid acrylic paints in all sorts of color. I painted it before it was sewn together. I didn't get the pages painted in the right order. You do need to remember how its being folded if you paint it ahead of time. On the other hand once these pages are worked on you won't know the difference anyways. This journal is made with a single sheet of paper which is quite inventive if you ask me. Teesha Moore is brilliant.











Here are some of the pages in my journal










Some of the pages fold out.










Here you can see the pink flap from the cover.










I love all the colors. This journal has 16 pages and will be lots of fun to fill up. This was a fun and easy journal to make.

The Joy Diet - Play

Well as usual I did not think that the Play chapter would be what it was really about. That Martha Beck is a little tricky writer.

One of the first things we are to figure out what our real career ia. After thinking about this for awhile I decided that I just went through this discovery when I did the coaching with Jamie. I had decided my real career is creativity. All my life I have explored it in many forms. I think I move from mouse vision to eagle vision all the time. I'd have to say its mostly mouse vision. I often forget to look at the big picture, the big dream. that sometimes all these little things do make the dream possible.

Then we are to go on and discover ways to add play in ever aspect of life. Seems simple enough. This morning I added play to cleaning my house by putting on wonderful upbeat music. It did make the time go by fast and it was fun.

Now I have to figure a way to add play to doing Nanowrimo. Some days its fun, I know I try to make the write ins I host fun by giving away little gifts and always having chocolate on hand. Other days I don't know what to write and I stress about the word count and all. So today I am going to look for ways to make it fun. Maybe using rewards will help make it fun, wearing a silly hat while I write or some other prop to let the silly in.

How will you invite play into your life today....

the Artist Way - Week 12

Its week 12 of my artist way journey. I made it through the whole process and thatr feels so great. I have done morning pages almost every day. I may have missed a day but I don't recall it. I'd have to go through my notebooks to see how many days i missed and they are in another room. Yes I am being a little lazy.

One of things that we do in this final week is to recommit to our creativity. She has us fill a creativity contract just like we did in the beginning of this journey. We we still do morning pages and artist dates and so on.

I plan to recommit and to continue to do morning pages and artists dates. They work so well that I can not see stopping them.

Its been quite a journey, I can't say I completed every task that Julia set out for us but I did what I needed to do and yes I have learned a lot along the way. The Artist Way is a continuing process and its a spiral path as Julia says. I'll be coming back to the beginning and starting again. This journey as an artist is always an interesting one.

I am so thankful for all the women in my artist way group, you've made the journey easier and more rewarding than if I had done it alone. Here's to us a fantastic group of artists.

Some more videos to share

I saw the fact that Teesha Moore has a whole series of videos on several blogs earlier this week. I am just getting around to watching them. They are pretty fun to see. Click on her name to go to her blog or you can go directly to YouTube and see them there. Her work is collage orientated but the videos are pretty informative of her style. I have seen those pan pastels being used before but I haven't tried them yet. They really look like fun. I always learn something from watching other artists work.

Nanowrimo is going fairly well I have over 8400 words and need to do today's allotment but I am not behind so that feels good.



Here is a video I did for a friend showing the crow book from several years ago.

Artists Painting

I love being able to see other artists paint even if its in fast forward. With so many doing videos now its fantastic to be able to see these from your home.

Kelli Rae posted this video a few days ago. I know you will want to see her fun painting style. Enjoy

The Artist Way - week 11 - A sense of Autonomy

Week 11 is all about discovering a sense of autonomy. Julia talks about how we insist on a straight and narrow path but the artist way is a spiral path. I really resonated with that. We seem to travel the path and then begin again over and over. If we lose that beginners mind we lose out on so many things.

Having just started doing Nanowrimo again I particularly found this quote to be helpful "You are lost the instant you know what the result will be" - Juan Gris. Such a hopeful thought when writing a novel when you haven't a clue whats going to happen next. I think that will be a quote for my writing desk. Of course the quote really applies to painting and journaling too. If you knew what the end result would always be, would you take the time to create. I think its that journey we take that is so important.


















I think a great example of taking that journey is this painting in my gut art journal. When I started out I knew there a face hidden in there but I had no clue on where it would take me. I had a journey of discovering how to do more ethnic faces and skin color. First she was in a blue dress but I initially wanted yellows and reds to dominate. This is done mostly in Golden fluid acrylics.

I had my blue dress which I didn't like so I put gesso over it and thought I'd paint the dress yellow. My first thought, was would the fluid yellow that I had cover it? Many fluid acrylics are transparent. Then I thought of using heavy bodies acrylics instead and it worked perfectly. In not knowing how this would end I really learned a lot of things that I wouldn't have otherwise. All art is a journey of some sorts. I am really glad I took this one. Now I will incorporate both kinds of acrylics in my paintings.

Nano nonsense has begun

Well the Nanowrimo nonsense has begun. Its only day 1 and I already think my story idea sucks. it doesn't take long for the inner critic to rear his ugly head. I just have to remind myself that I go through this every year and it always turns out so it will be fine. I have abour 500 more words to write today to make my quota and that should be easy.

I have already made the food run to town. What made me think I could do this without treats. Now that is insanity. So now I have a stash of chex mix, Cheetos, red licorice, milk duds. It covers the salty, chewy, crunchy and chocolate categories. My idea is little portions and more exercise. OOPS, i just realized I put some meat on to cook for tacos, I hope its not burned... Oh I caught it on time. That won't be the first time put something on the stove to cook and went to do something else....

Anyone out there who is doing Nano, what are your favorite snacks to get your through the month?










I got an award from Lisa She thought it approp for the Queen of Creativity to get the Kreativ blog award. I concur and thank you very much Lisa. You have to read Lisa's post she is a very fun lady from across the pond.