Hot!

This page is in honor of my friend who lives in Texas.  He is not a native Texan and is really suffering with the dry heat this year.

I started this piece with my recycled book oriented to portrait setting.... can you tell I spend a lot of time working with documents because I think portrait or landscape instead of horizontal and vertical?

Layer one is a piece of deli paper that I'd used for practicing with a stencil and black paint. Layer two is drips of aqua, pink and lime paint.  Layer three is wrinkled deli paper that had bits of glitter on it.  I peeled pieces of layer three off so that I would have some of the brighter colors peeking through. I still did not love this page.  

People ask me how I work and where I get my ideas?  Mostly, I just play and let the paint and whatever is around me speak to me.  This sun was cut from cardboard and has been sitting on my cutting table for several months. It is the negative of an Accucut die that we have at my office.  I have no clue why I cut it out... maybe to recycle a piece of cardboard that was in the office.

I put a thin layer of gesso over the cardboard and then finger painted two shades of yellow, orange and hot pink on it.  Then I turned my book to landscape and loved how it looked with the drips going sideways across the sun. The word HOT was written with a florescent pink and orange paint pen.

Now I love this page.  It always amazes me how a piece can go from OK, to ugly, to I love it so fast.

Link to:  Paint Party Friday, Artist Play Room, Art Journal Everyday.

Bird is the Word

I haven't posted much this week.  I had so much fun last weekend that it took me a few days to rest up.  I visited my artsy friend, Ann, at her Art House.  The Art House is nestled in a cozy neighborhood in Nashville. Every room in the house except the bathroom has art goodies in it. It's a dream house. Rooms full of paper, ink, paint, ephemera, stencils, die cutting machines, stamps, gelli plates AND Scooter, my dog, was welcome.  It is the perfect dream house for an artist and her 12 pound dog.

Our friend, Lori, stopped by on Saturday evening and we had the best time.  This page is in my Things That Fly Altered Book.  The background is made of gelli prints and a stencil cut from a Tim Holtz die and a few background papers from Ann's stash.  I used a Claudine Hellmuth stamp for the birds.  As I worked on this page I kept hearing that old song, Bird's The Word, in my head.  I guess I was singing the refrain because Lori finally said, you have to put those words on your page.  So I did!

I started this page last weekend and finished it this evening.  It's the first of my Art Everyday for a Month posts.  November is Art Everyday Month.  I hope you'll play along with us.  Read more about by clicking the link in the line above


Link to November Colorful Gelli Print Party

Peace is a State of Mind

I thought peace involved being with a certain person or being at a particular place. I have learned that peace comes from within.  If I am comfortable with who I am; if I love myself then I am going to feel at peace.  It is a deep inner feeling that has more to do with me and less to do with others or what is going on around me.

I still feel stress, anger, sadness and frustration because I'm a human being.  These days, I can feel any or all of those things and realize they really are temporary feelings.They can rock my boat but they can no longer tip me over.  Depression no longer consumes me when things in my life are not going as I want them to.  

How did I get to this place?  Lots of hard work on myself. God, Therapy, Alanon and good friends who listened when I was at my lowest. It was the hardest and bravest thing I ever did. I didn't have much hope for a while, but I do now.  I don't have pie in the sky, wild romance or great riches.  What I have is ENOUGH.  I have a roof over my head, food to eat, kibble for my dog, the ability to take care of myself and a contentment I never expected to have.  

The icing on the cake for me is the joy I experience every time I work on my art. My art is the time when I am totally in the moment. There is no worry, no hungry, no fear.  There is just this place of peace and joy.  I am so blessed to have found this place.  

How this page was done: Gesso with blue paint for the sky. The sea is crumpled deil paper glued with gel medium and painted.  The boat and sun are Accu cut dies.  The shimmer on the sun is Ranger Radiant Pearls Mist.  The decorations on the boat are gelli print tape.

The crackles on the boat were made by painting white school glue on the paper.  Let it dry to the sticky stage and then paint with top coat of colored paint.  It will crack as it dries.

Link to:  July Gelli Party,  BOD, Creative Everyday, APR, Outside the Box: Art & Recycling Ideas

Silly Girl - Happy, Joyous and Free

I watched an interview with Jessica Sporn this morning.  It was fun, enlightening and encouraging. She was a performance arts major, then a lawyer for years before she became an artist.  She said that when she was pregnant she craved art instead of pickles.

For several months now, I have craved art also.  If I don't have paint on my fingers or ink on my face, I get a little down.  Art is like my own special anti-depressant.  

My art comes from that kid inside me who is happy, joyous and free.  She likes inky fingers and playing with paint. I spent years and years being an adult. I was so serious about everything.  I worried and carried on about things I could do nothing about.  

Finally at age 58, I've learned to play.  That is not so say that I don't pay my bills or go to work each day.  I am now a responsible adult who knows how important it is to play.  I have less money, a smaller house and a happier spirit these days.  I am filled with gratitude that the silly girl has finally come into her own.  

My page today is about silly flower girls.  I've been looking at them and I think I am most like the one in the bottom left corner.  I started these girls because my friends in Mixed Media Madness have been making whimsical girls that I admire.  I can't draw a face worth a darn so I decided to let my imagination run wild.  I see now that each one I made became a little more free and less "people like."  I did them in this order:  Right, top and bottom.  I think each one is more playful than the one before.  What have you done for fun today?

Linked to Artist Play Room (I hope this make you smile, Jenn)

Shiny Junk Mail

This is my junk mail challenge for Mail Art Madness and my shiny challenge for Mail Artists Corner.  The words and mask are from a newsletter from my old high school.  The gold array on her head is actually part of a Tim Holtz Texture Fades folder that I cut up, painted with gold craft paint & then sprinkled with glitter.  The lady is another napkin from my huge stash of unique napkins.  The background color is part Brilliance Ink and part paper napkin.  The glitter dots were made with a combination of different glitter glues.

Embracing My Work

Tonight, out of the blue, someone IMed me and said, "I really like your work."  At first I thought she had the wrong person.   My response without really thinking was, "Mine?  Thank You." 

I think it surprised me because I really like her work too.  Our styles are very different.  We don't work in the same medium usually.  I often wish that I could draw like she does.  So, I was surprised that she liked my work.  That makes no sense really.  I like a lot of art that I could not do myself.  Other people are the same; they like things they don't usually do themselves.  

I am learning that what I do is art.  I have joined a few online communities that share a love for the kind of art I love to create.  It has been very encouraging for me.  I am learning to embrace my work and to believe I am an artist.  

Thanks, Gabbs, for the compliment and the boost.