Mail Art

These three peices were all done at the same time. I gave myself 5 or ten minutes for each task, which gave me no time for perfection, no changing, no rearranging. My challenge was to NOT make things pretty. I just wanted to go with it, moving along with no thought or planning. On cardstock I wrote in large scribble as fast as I could with whatever thoughts came into my head. Then I threw down three colors of paint on top of the writing. I grabbed about 20 pieces of collage material, but don't think I used it all. I then found anything I could use to stamp or make marks with, other than an actual stamp. I used the a tin lid off a small box that have housed buttons in for the last 10 years, a foam flower cut out,and the cap to my small water spritzer bottle. I used a large sharpie marker to write or doodle with my left hand so it looked very childlike. The last thing was to cut out bits of either words or phrases.
I thought these looked kind of cool so I cut them up into 5x7 pieces. I think I might make them into mail art. Stay tuned.

Around the House

I have been MIA for longer than I had wanted. Life , you know..
I went around the house after work today and set out little things, simple things, that are dear to me at this time of the year. Things that I made when I simply had no money, let alone no money for art supplies........... things that sit in corners which once sat in small children's rooms ............ delicate music boxes that were given to me by those small children. Little candles lined with brightly colored tissue paper so it looks like stained glass, made by small hands.......

So, while missing from this blog, I really WAS in action. This is so different for me....or is it and I'm just now figuring it out...... I still love to draw girls in pretty dresses and toe shoes. Must be the once ballerina in me.

I want to say thank you to those who have visited and followed my blog, left comments, supported me, and keep coming back. It is good to be a part of what feels like a caring and creative on line community. Wishing you joy and peace now and for the days to come.

Twenty Minutes

Just playing around with backgrounds in the Moleskine I have in my emergency creativity kit. I gessoed the pages and threw down some crayon and watercolor. I literally did these pages in the car 20 minutes before work.

and
















the Sketchbook Project Journal is

ready for mailing. Good bye sketchbook. Maybe I'll go to Brooklyn and "check it out."

Wish Upon a Star.................

Wish upon a star.............. and leave it hanging there
~Stargardener

I had such fun with this. I painted the background with both acrylic and water color and found the original "paper doll" cutouts I made as a child, scanned them, cut them out and then altered them with prisma color and gel pens. The squared colored pieces of cardstock were made with a brayer and acrylic and then I just doodled the rest. Kind of gives me a bit of a chuckle and a grin. *** The photo is of the artist a couple of yrs ago (when she decided it was no longer necessary to cover the silver threads) grinning at MY MAN.

Thanks for everyone's comments about the Building Rainbows "Orange card." Please visit again.

Building Rainbows

Meeting a deadline is new to me in the art world. I used to have to meet deadlines in college with terms papers and projects. I used to have to meet a deadline when I was choreographing a project as a dance major in college or a rehearsal. I had a due date when I was pregnant with twins nearly twenty one years ago. The first art deadline I had to meet was a deadline with The Sketchbook Project Journal. I have met that in terms of finishing it but have yet to mail it. So, when someone says challenge it does mean you are committed to trying to meet that deadline.

I work a full time job. I have artistic collaborations with MY MAN. I don't know why I was so leery about this. I was the mother of twins. I had to be a multi-tasker raising two children, working a full time job, running a household, all as a single parent. What on earth was I afraid of? Not meeting the deadline.
Tammy at DaisyYellow has so many wonderful ideas and so willing to share them with others. She is bursting with creativity. She has a challenge to make something in a different color everyday. OMG!! I thought it said this color and this color. When I went back and reread it said this color OR that color. Oops!!

Ordinarily, I don't care for orange by itself, unless it falls on pumpkins, flowers, sunsets, or autumn trees. I mean it's not a color I would ordinarily choose on the paint palette. I had two room mates in college that loved orange. Don't ask me to choose orange in anything to decorate my home. No towels, draperies, bedspreads or rugs. I seriously do not believe I own one item of clothing that is truely orange. So, as I was choosing a color for my little peice of rainbow I chose yellow with some orange. After realizing it was only to be one color or the other, I drew an expletive under my breath and set about pulling out all the implements of orange "destruction" I could find. I had to meet a deadline!! As I finished it up I couldn't resist "Orange you glad you did it?" And thanks to Tammy at DaisyYellow for supporting my addiction to working with index cards.
And so while my computer skills are not 100% up to par I hope I can properly link this to what I am supposed to link it to.

Here is my offering for Orange/Yellow building rainbows. http://daisyyellow.squarespace.com/vividlife/getting-started-building-a-rainbow-5-days-of-color.html

Windows

I love colored glass, especially in windows. I am good for saving old bottles from lotions etc. I couldn't couldn't walk away from this kitchen window one early, chilly morning last weekend.





and in the early afternoon of that same weekend there was this one from the window of "Studio A."

I continue to play... with index cards. I have been playing with things that "resist" like crayon with watercolor. I have yet to try rubber cement. I also find that these sweet, little index cards are great for cutting up (or not) for art journaling.

Miss Callie is good about letting me know what's up.

I hope you are well. Thanks for visiting.

Used to Be.............

Yesterday these trees had leaves on them.

could be these trees would look like this again.............

There's always hope. This WILL come again.

Stay warm everyone.

It's a Damn Shame

I have been incredibly, wonderfully, creative lately. Seriously, I feel like creative "stuff" is running, bursting, pouring out of me. I've been wanting to explore art journaling more and so I am doing just that. I have a 7x10 Moleskine sketchbook that was purchased nearly 2 years ago, until one day I started gluing stuff to the pages. Then, I started adding paint. Then I found myself adding gesso,markers, then more collage............ then I decided to hellwithit!! I'm gluing these pages together for support. Forget practicing drawing. This is not what I need right now. I need color.I need no restrictions!! This is probably a release from the months of the tiny journal I completed for The Sketchbook Project. Here are bits and pieces of not-yet-finished journal pages. Can you tell I had fun?

And then there's always my nightly/daily addiction of index cards. I give Tammy at http://Daisy Yellow.squarespace.com responsibility for that.









You can't waste paint.

I simply cannot decide which I enjoy doing the most.

And, I made another accordion book for a person who's very special to me.Since I didn't get it finished in time for your birthday, Pat, you get a preview. Happy Birthday!!! It will make it's way to your house soon. I hope you have a wonderful day. (If you click on that picture it enlarges nicely.)

The Sketchbook Project Journal is Finished

I've been busy............ haven't we all........... but not too busy to notice the changes around me, within me .....the bursting, brilliant colors of this season........ I had a birthday...

... I finished The Sketchbook Project Journal.









It's titled Untitled...untitled-not named, not called by a title, having no right or claim, not entitled.......... and so I carried those words throughout the pages of the book in different languages.... art is diverse, universal. It speaks to all.

Here are some of the other pages I have not shared with you.

I would love to hear any comments from you.










I have scanned each page, but will be sad, in a way to let it go when I put it in the mail. I just might have to go to Brooklyn Art Library and visit it.

Sunday Morning

This is my most favorite time of year, although this year I seem to be more aware........ of the colors, the patterns, the shadows, the hair on my chin, the dark spots on apples and bananas, noise, my internal rhythm.

mongoloid squashes

and then there's The Sketchbook Project Book that is so thick now it does not close and some of the pages are coming unglued. I guess I will need to find another way to close it when it's finished.........

and it is coming to an end...........

I have to save some for the finale. Happy Fall everyone.