Circle Game

Remember that Joni Mitchell song CIRCLE GAME? For some reason I found myself singing it as I was doing these two pages.The words just jumped onto the page. These are the last two pages of IN THE VAN moleskine. I am working in it backwards. I have discovered that although strengthening the pages with gesso was a good idea, it wasn't a good idea for using certain pens or markers, in fact, it messes them up. This is watercolor on top of gesso with a mixture of pens and markers.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Being an artist means ceasing to take seriously that very serious person we are when we are not an artist. ~Jose Ortega Y Gassett

I have been sitting on these images of these ladies for awhile. They were sent to me,royalty free or open downloads, or whatever you call them. The original photo had about 5-6 ladies but I cut out three. I couldn't help but wonder a lot of questions about the origin of this photo. Secret girlfriend society. Pajama party? Girls had too much to drink party? A play? I decided if I were to put myself in that photo, this is what I'd want the backdrop to look like. Kind of a secret garden. A secret garden of silliness, fun and laughter with a few good women friends.

So, I put them on a heavy layered page of gesso and acrylic paint and then ran with it. The more balloons and flowers I added, the more they seemed to smile. They were happy and so am I. I'm not sure this is done. I get the feeling since I've viewed it here. it needs more........... maybe white pen with "girls just wanna have fun." More lettering...more something... I dunno. We shall see. What do you think? Does this picture make you happy? Happy Day!! Jo

Just Playing

That's it. Just playing.

Budding

I have kept a very large sketchbook in my car for several years. Must have been that I began some work in it at home and then began to continue unfinished pages in the morning before work. Why I thought I could manipulate this large book on my lap under the steering wheel,(and juggle my coffee mug) is a mystery. Eventually, I forgot about the book and it lay buried in a catch-all junk milk crate that sits behind my seat. I found it the other day and came across a page that I had begun with gluing torn images down with a glue stick. Glue sticks are small. They work well in the car.
I brought the book back to the studio this weekend and started throwing paint down over the glued pieces. I discovered that metallic acrylic paint looks kind of cool when another acrylic is rubbed in on top of it. Added some more of my own torn and shredded pieces, scribbled on top of everything with a white Sakura pen, added more collaged layers and doodled some more. I finished it with some 10 year old red glitter that barely wanted to come out of the tube.
I am happy with this. I like the colors. They feel good. I am reminded that even in winter cold, things are happening, that budding and blooming will begin again. And that I am budding and blooming again.

Showing Up

We must show up for our own life.
Be brave, be messy. Be loud. Be strong.
Trust yourself.
~Sabrina Ward Harrison


I am just having a blast. What more can I say? Finding "nifty" things like plastic lids, metal lids, cheapo foam shapes from "Wally World" for stamping. Lots of color, collaged peices from my own art, more paint, more collage.. layers and layers. I dunno what I will do with these yet...... maybe more mail art, lol., maybe not.

I was working on four peices of cardstock at once-orginally thinking mail art and then I taped them together to take this picture. They just seemed to belong together.

If you would like a piece of mail art from me you can email me with your snail mail address, especially to the latest person who is following my blog. :)

Hoping you are having a peaceful day.

Cobalt Blue

Where did this come from?.......... I asked myself. It began with two pages of "smashed" acrylic paint and I didn't know what to do with them.

I began to just throw paint on..... blue.Some black.... This cobalt blue which I dearly love...... and the two doodled drawings just jumped onto the pages saying," Oooooh! Pick us! We belong in there with the blue!"
Then came the other doodling around the edges, the alien lettering.........

I think it's very strange.... coming from me....... but then........ maybe I am very strange.....Still, I had to chuckle.

I have no Idea What I'm Doing................

........ I'm just doin' it. This is in my little 5x7 Moleskine. Was playing around with watercolor crayons on top of crayons and watercolor, which is all on top of gesso.Then I added some collage work. I am surprised the paper has survived. I want to work on faces this year. The nose is lopsided and the mouth is not quite right. I'll keep working on it.

And she looks a little bit "possessed."

Experimenting

It was like this when I showed it to you.

I played with some lettering and added a few more doodles......
and now it looks like this:

And here's a cropped version:

I think it's finished now.

Crayons and Snow Men

I found these in the same box I found my old art work from elementary school days. They're not mine. They were my father's from his school days art class. A hand made booklet full of snowmen in different positions with different faces and expressions.












Today is my father's birthday, or would have been. I have only to walk into my studio and see and smell the old Cabinet cigar box which holds his school days crayons, and feel like he is here with me.

I have gleaned several things from my father: One is don't judge a person by "it's cover" or certainly, until you take the time to get to know that person. We are all different and the things we carry with us have a lot to do with the baggage we carry, the places we've been, how we were raised and more. None of us knows what it is to have walked in another's shoes, until we have done so ourselves.
And, adults really don't have all the answers - that adults can and do make mistakes, and sometimes those mistakes can be pretty big ones. It is up to us whether we can forgive, when, and in what way we do, whether it's ourselves or someone else.
I think if my Dad were here today, I'd have a lot to talk with him about. I'd have a lot of art to show him and songs to sing. Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you.

More Mail Art

Thinking without doing is just waiting.
Doing is hard.
Doing repeatedly is incredibly hard
but it's what you need to do.
~Danielle Nelson




I'm having fun with this mail art.

I laid out all the post cards I made on the floor and it became one large, colorful piece. I kind of like it.

Writing With My Left Hand

Recently I came across some very old art work of mine when I was in elementary school. One page was totally colored with brightly colored chalk shapes. While art journaling recently, I decided to cut out some of these shapes and use them. Seemed to fit. Seemed to fit on this particular page where there were shapes already. Here it is in progress.

I have also decided that I am pretty clever writing with my left hand for journal backgrounds, but find it even more clever when I can write with my left hand backwards. Did you ever do that in a secret letter message when you were a kid and then hold it up in the mirror to read it? I did.

Art Says "I Am."

"Creativity is medicine. It is not dangerous or egotistical.
It is life affirming and essential. The more we use it, the
more steadily, readily and easily we use it. The "healthier"
we are."
~Julia Cameron

This is a work MY MAN and I collaborated on back in June. It's about 16x15 plywood and hangs over my computer desk.

Recently I left a few pieces on MY MAN's work table for him to add to. He passed them back to me and then I passed them back to him. That's how we work or have so far. We may pass it back and forth several times before one of us decides it's done. The rule is: there are no rules. But there are a lot of chuckles and it's another way to keep us connected and have fun.

When we've accumulated enough maybe we'll put them all on a large piece of wood to hang somewhere in the house.... if there are still any empty walls left.

I Forgot to Mention................

I was nominated for this award by Robin at Pink House Studio and Ann at Anne's Art. I am sorry I don't know how to properly display your websites/blogspots.I guess I need to learn about linking...... lol. I recently purchased Blogging for Dummies. :) I thank you both for this award.

Kokoro

And those who were seen dancing were thought
to be insane by those who could not hear the music.
~Nietzsche



I am liking this new found freedom of throwing things down, giving myself only a few minutes to do each task. I am not thinking about it as I do it even though I hear my inner critics' words tell me, "Wait! Do you really want to put that there?"
"Yes, and be quiet!" I say.
I am finding it amusing to throw in old photos into my art work.

The little munchkin is yours truely.

That's my Mom around 18 yrs old in the upper left corner.

And that's me in the lower left hand corner on the beach in Lake Champlain one summer. That's the place I remember as a kid where a sea gull "left a present" on my father's head. You know, my father, the minister. That's when I learned where "Gad Zukes!!" came from. Many of them......








Kokoro, I have read, means heart, mind and soul in Japanese.
More later.