Alicia’s Tallest Handmade Book in the World Project

today I am sharing something I made month’s ago…

what with one thing and another going on here I have not made much art recently…

as some of you surely know already the talented, imaginative and inspiring Alicia has a really exciting and wonderful project going on…

the  pages I created ended up with lots of layers because they kept changing over the months while sitting on my art table…

photographing the gold and blue tissue was a little tricky…

it all began with the Gustav Klimt tissue on the inside…

do they REALLY expect anyone to blow their nose on Der Kuss…

the open pages measure 8 x 6″ (20.32 x 15.24 cm)…

  I decided to tear a peek a boo hole in the front and add the green netting…

I thought the quote speaks beautifully to how Alicia carries herself and works to turn her dreams into reality…

“Life is full of beauty.  Notice it.   Notice the bumble bee the small child and the smiling faces.  Smell the rain and feel the wind.  Live your life to the fullest potential and fight for your dreams.” ~Ashley Smith

as the April deadline to submit pages for Alicia’s book approaches I am hoping to put some final touches on my second submission for the book and get it in the mail very soon … you still have time to play along for a very good cause!

many thanks for all of your recent good wishes…

reading each comment is a gift that I appreciate so very much! OXO

footnote: thanks to Elizabeth of Altered Book Lover for getting me to dig deeper over at Alicia’s bbb…here is an update with her 27 April deadline information…not too late to join in!

Six Players: Tree of Life…remembering Gina Wise

Duane’s theme for his book is TREES…I was inspired by Gustav Klimt’s 1909 Tree of Life and decided to draw my version of a Klimt tree…

I am not one to draw much…a bit of doodling is usually it…

my tree was created on 9 x 12″ piece of 140lb watercolor paper washed with walnut ink…

I went over my drawing again and again using pencil…paint…metallic markers…chalks and gold krylon pen…

as a finishing touch I added one of my wire bird nests…I was pleased with the results…

because of playing with this piece for Duane…I was inspired to create a Klimt dress for Margaret’s November Dress Up challenge earlier this month…

had to wait until Duane received his tree to tell you the rest of the story…he will be folding the page and adding it to a star book he is creating for his Six Players swap pieces…

~*~

on a somber and very sad note…one of our Six Players…the very creative and talented Gina Wise passed away suddenly…even though I only knew Gina through our swap group and the wonderful pages she created for my India theme…I have not been able to stop thinking about her…

she has reminded me of the impact that our creativity can have…

touching people we’ve never actually “met”…

enriching them with generosity and kindness…

this is the tag she had sent along with my India pages…

front and back…

her theme for the Six Players swap was WHITE…

my heart goes out especially to Gina’s Mother and family…it is so out of time for a parent to have to bury a child of any age…

Gina touched my life ever so briefly and yet…

I will not forget her…

prayers and healing to all those left behind…

this life is so very fragile and precious…

tell someone you Love them…

Peace * Love and Light to all … Be Well oxo

Dress Up – November * Tree of Life

amazing that we are at the eleventh dress in Margaret’s year long Dress Up challenge already …

I was inspired by a favorite artist … Gustav Klimt … his style is so distinctive…

here is my Mindy doll wearing her newest “tree of life” dress …

I even had the perfect piece of colorful bling to accent the gold ribbon at her waistline …

I sketched the tree design on 140 lb watercolor paper that was lightly washed with walnut ink …working with different paints and metallic markers …going back again and again adding pencil lines…the final Klimt touch was of course GOLD … I find the Krylon pens can be a bit tricky … first they do not want to flow and all of a sudden you can end up with a blop of ink on your page … I added the gold touches with great caution …

I decided not to alter Mindy’s trunk … it has such a great old patina to it…the little doll trunk and paper doll are not related in any way…Mindy was an 8 inch (20.32 cm) tall doll from the 1950’s that I cannot seem to find a picture of to show you on the internet … my paper doll measures about 10 inches (25.4 cm) tall … in December I will show you all of the dresses in one post…if you’d like to see dresses from past months there is a search feature on my sidebar … near the top is a blank space under the words “Looking for Something” … type in a word or two and related posts on my blogblogblog will come up…I find that to be a handy tool…

“All theory, dear friend, is gray, but the golden tree of life springs ever green.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749-1832

“Tree” of Life

it’s all about “trees” at Wednesday Stamper this week

trees are so beautiful in each and every season

a symbol of growth … strength … protection … longevity and more

for my postcard

*a couple of clicks will take you in close … kind of fun what you see in the closeup, more than meets the eye … the words “stamped and stamping” are in the upper right hand corner of my postcard*

I used an unmountedLost Coast Designs tree stamp reminding me of a favorite artist,  Gustav Klimt

backed it with a piece of black cardstock … attached that to a page from an old encyclopedia that I glued to cardstock … finishing with some doodles all around the edges

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The next best time is now.” ~Chinese Proverb

if you would like to see some photos of the beautiful Cherry Blossom trees around the Tidal Basin in Wash DC …you can click here