Coming Home to Myself

I am slowly making my way through Lifebook 2014. Here is a piece from Tamara Laporte's Exploring Intuition lesson. It was a piece created after some meditative work. I like the layering and the color. Yes, those colors are some of my favorites. I am, in fact, coming home to myself in many areas of my life. . I hope you've had a good day. Thanks for visiting.

The Accordion Book Giveaway and Other Stuff

I recently made a couple of accordion books and offered one as a giveway to the person who became the 75th person to join or follow my blog. So, Kristin, please send me your snail mail address so I can get this in the mail to you this weekend. Thank you so much. I've been doing a little of this... You can see I used some of this paper already....... These are done on deli paper but some were on the gelli plate and then more paint added after that. I was going for layers. Oh, and I gessoed some of these papers first. And a little of that.. I recently showed you some recycled binders that I cut down and prepped for new journals. Here's one where I ripped the plastic vinyl off of it, cut a couple of inches off the sides to make it not standard binder size, gessoed and painted it. And then I planted my great grandmother's picture on the cover. Her name was Ella and I love this picture of her. I enlarged it at Kinkos and it fit perfectly on the cover. Thanks for stopping by and thanks for taking the time to comment. Your support is very much appreciated.

Art On A Tile

A couple of posts ago I showed you this. I collaged strips of painted deli paper and then doodled with paint markers to finish it off. I did another one this weekend and tried my best to document the process. The photography is mostly done in the evening so the lighting is not great but ok. These tiles are ones that were left in a closet when I moved in to my house about 10 yrs ago. I first coated them with gesso because of the tile being very glossy. I gathered pieces of deli paper that I had done on the gelli plate and started playing, tearing and glued them down with matte medium. Until I arrived at this. I don't like this one nearly as much as the first one, I think because the paper is not distressed enough. It doesn't have that blended look. It's not what I was after but it's what I ended up with. Still was fun. I think I will try painting more on the tile first and then perhaps add some collage. I've got about 10-12 more tiles to play with. It's nearly time to start collaging the pumpkins. Thanks for stopping by.

An Accordion Book Giveaway

I took a piece of watercolor paper and cut it in half and made two little accordion books. I covered the paper with pieces of torn paper, maps, journaled and old book pages, tissue and music paper. I used joint compound with a stencil to give it more of a raised effect. Joint compound is a lot cheaper than heavy gesso and it goes a lot further. I sprayed the paper with several spray inks, added a homemade stamp, washi tape and doodled with some paint markers and gel pens. Here's the backside of one of them. Here is another one. and again, the backside. Can you tell I love these colors or should I say this color combination? So I'm thinking that since I am approaching the 3/4 mark on my blog in terms of followers, I am going to give away one of these accordion books. I will give the 75th person that joins to follow my blog here and goes here me one of these books. Please send me comment with your snail mail address if you are the 75th person. I will mail internationally if you like/want the book. I haven't been to the party for several weeks so I'm headed over there. If you haven't been there do check it out. You'll find wonderful art and community. One more thing I wanted to share. Look what sweetness I got in the mail recently from "Fuzzie Fingers" in the United Kingdom. I love the card and her art. You can see more of it by going to the party. Thanks for stopping by.

In The Moment

I am making my way through Lifebook 2014. I say making my way but not doing every single week's project. Some weeks I just plain miss or skip. One of the week's was Traci Baustista's class called In the Moment. I did this at least a few week's ago by now, but what I remember most about this, which is why I like her work, is it was very relaxed, very messy. She really encourages play and play with found things in which to make marks. There is so much out there in terms of stamps and stencils today, it almost feels like sometimes that one is made to feel one's art is not complete or as good as when you use the latest stencil or stamp. Don't get me wrong. I love stencils and stamps but it gets to feeling so commercial. I would rather make my own or find my own mark making things. That's what she encourages and demonstrates. I also like the grungy, sort of graffiti look in her art. To me, it's just plain fun and simple. Here is my take on her assignment. I am trying to hang on to that "in the moment feeling." Trying not to plan, look too far ahead, or worry about the outcome. I think it works sometimes, but not always. Sometimes, in your heart, you just know, when something's not right. Thanks for stopping by.

Stupid People and Other Stuff

One thing that really irks me, no, angers me, is people that don't care for their animals. Perhaps it's all in the way they were raised, that it's ok to have your dogs chained up all day long out in the blazing 90 heat and without water. I have new neighbors. They have two dogs. I have never seen these dogs drink much less get any attention. It's been hard to adjust to going outside my backdoor and getting barked at. I hear them whining and whimpering late at night. I feel very sorry for them and angry at these stupid people that now live too close to me. I want to call the County officials and report them but others have told me that unless I can witness abuse to the animal nothing can be done. I find that hard to believe. I am going try because it's just really getting to me. I believe people who do not care for their animals really are not kind people and it's been really hard for me to feel and be neighborly toward them. ON another note I've been creating a lot of art but I've been pretty lax about posting. I guess I needed a break. When I moved in to my house nearly ten yrs ago there was some tile left in one of the closets. I knew I would do something with them eventually, I just didn't know what until recently. Layers of deli paper done on the gelli plate, and doodling with paint markers. I am happy with how it looks. Stay tuned. Thanks for stopping by...............