rest from the wheel of the mind…

for me the winter months hold cause for celebration but also the anniversaries of loved ones lost…

bringing a range of emotions along with the chance to notice how far I have come in the healing process which is ongoing…

working in my new larger journal again with paint and magazine transfers…

the heart is a photograph of a metal hanging heart that holds a tea light…

I printed out two sets of wings and layered them snipping the feathers on the top layer gluing just the heart onto the page so the wings are free…

joining in with two of my favorite challenge blogs:  Mix it Monthly/What Wings Are For and Art Journal Journey/Winter Wonderland…

a really special way to help pass these winter days is taking an online workshop with a brilliant artist… the talented and very generous Misty Mawn… there is an early sign up rate this week and you can find out all about it HERE…

Black & White

feeling a surge of creativity around the full moon this month I am joining in with  Moo Mania and More BLACK & WHITE and Mix it Monthly MIXED MEDIA FLOWERS challenges…

the lovely girl with flowers in her hair is a favorite image that I’ve had for a long time from a magazine and the black bird, butterfly wings and roses at the bottom are from a collage sheet that Misty Mawn shared in one of her on line workshops…

lots of layers of gesso, black Stabilo pencil and white Signo gel pen along with a little honey comb stamping around the edges (I really wanted to give her rosy cheeks!)…

“Love is the soul’s Light” – Rumi

Every mother blackbird…

practice and letting go are just a couple of things I am working on guided by amazing artists and teachers like Misty Mawn whose new online ART ENTWINED class has just begun (she is my favorite teacher of all time… so very generous and talented and inspiring and more!)…

my quirky star eyed girl could use more paint on her face along with some other adjustments but I am going to move on for now…

BLACKBIRD is the new challenge theme over at Moo Mania & More and this also qualifies for AJJ’s BIRDS, BEASTS & HUMANS challenge…

(still having lots of fun with my iphone and the Diana, DistressedFx and Pixlr Express apps)

 “Every mother blackbird thinks her baby is the blackest.”

Translation of this old saying…

“Every mother thinks her baby is the most beautiful.”

 p.s. I am having issues with leaving comments on some blogs … when I type the cursor moves but no letters/words are showing up in the comments block?

round and round…

Misty Mawn’s FULL CIRCLE online workshop started on Monday and what a great week it has been already…

she is such a talented…passionate and generous artist and an excellent teacher…

it is also a chance to spend time with some really nice and talented artists from all around the globe…

I L♥ve the way the layers of paint change the feel of the paper surfaces…

and in the midst of that excitement I really wanted to get my latest completed art journal under cover…

so I spent some time machine needle felting some fabric pieces that I glued onto the cardboard covers…

Lesley Riley wrote a great blog post about exactly what I often do moving from one thing to another and another and back again…

that is what happens I guess when you enjoy a variety of things…

I apologize in advance as I have been a bit slow in getting around to visit everyone…

now it’s time for Friday’s FULL CIRCLE lesson and it is not too late to join the class if you are interested as the workshop will be open for a full year…

where the Light is…

turns out this is not the first time that John Mayer’s “Gravity” lyrics have inspired some of my art journal pages…

I have liked capitalizing the “L” in Love and in Light all rules aside for some time now…

here are some of the ingredients that I used to create my pages (the Heidi Swapp Color SHINE sprays are wonderful with their metallic shimmer!!!)…

my Tim Holtz star stencil came in handy…

along with some great pencils and pens…

cigar box papers…an image from a gift catalog with a piece of golden paper doily halo and some gouache touches too…

I like that the lines in my spiral notebook show through a bit as I worked on the bare pages not using gesso first as I sometimes do…

joining with Art Journal Journey (AJJ) this month for their SILENCE/STILLE theme…

thank you again dear Estivalia for helping make my photos clickable = you ROCK!!!

and special thanks to Misty Mawn for offering another online class which I just signed up for (she is SO generous…talented and amazing!!!) …

this quote is one she shared and I could not help but enjoy how it clicked with my LIGHT word of the year…

“…as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~Marianne Williamson

remember to play everyday…

using one of the index cards I created a while ago along with my most recent gelatin monoprinting on Fabriano 140 lb hot press paper that I had stitched to use as a journal (I came across a couple of twelve page  7.5 x 11 inch BLANK journals I had stitched together in a great Misty Mawn 2012 online class that had been waiting for attention)…

there was just one problem with the monoprinting that worked better than I imagined directly onto the stitched journal pages…

I liked them so much I really didn’t want to cover them up…

however I was eager to participate again in Art Journal Journey’s August SQUARE challenge so I got busy and carved a couple of square stamps (thanks to Dawn for inspiring me to use some of the big school erasers that are plentiful this time of year)…

using my square stencil to add a few painted squares and to outline the squares with a bit of stamping on top (the pink rubber above is called Speedy Carve by Speedball)… …

so here are what the BEFORE pages looked like…

and the AFTER using my new Sharpie Fine Pen shown in the photos above which was great for adding some finishing doodle touches to my journal pages…

still a few more days left in August for you too to join in the Art Journal Journey challenge or at least stop by to enjoy the wonderful creations from around the globe…

STRETCH in 2013 …

new year’s resolutions are not something I really get into but I have chosen a word for the last several years…

in 2011 my word was AUTHENTIC and

in 2012 I chose BALANCE…

I could easily have had that as my word again this year but I decided to go with

(most of the heart rocks are from my Mr Magpie who knows I enjoy a pretty rock as much as a bouquet of flowers)

a reminder to stretch my spiritual body…

 my physical body…

and

to continue stretching my wings trying new things…

(thank you Susan for the beautiful wings…they fit perfectly with my new AVAM swan)

here are my latest art journal pages for two different monthly journal challenges Susi’s with the theme of “Crowns” and Dawn’s with the theme of “New” using colors that I don’t often go to…

my encyclopedia pages (each measuring 4×6″/postcard size) began with some found poetry that eerily and unintentionally lined up with words showing thru my painted and collaged backgrounds on page 213 and 214…

did you pick a word to inspire you this year?

A BIG thank you once again to my sweet and talented friend Estivalia in Chile for creating the code for my Word of the Year to appear on my sidebar…she’s the best!!!

Dans ma maison il y a…une couronne

in my house there is a “crown”

running  late for this challenge

I would much rather play than clean/organize, but there comes a time, when…well, you know….wowee did I ever find some great ingredients in my art room

I came upon a Thanksgiving card from my good friend Lennie (not sure what year it was from), it just happened to be shaped like a house, I decided to alter the back (white side) of the card leaving the front of the card intact

a magazine page that I used to add texture to  a canvas a while ago (you paint the canvas and then press the magazine page onto it several times, it adds texture by pulling paint away giving interest to the canvas AND you get a nice painty piece of paper too, thank you Misty) made the perfect background

the crown is cut from one of the only faces I’ve ever painted in a Misty Mawn class a couple of years ago now….wish I had had someone take a  picture of my hands full of paint past my wrists…..that crown is laid over a winged crown sticker,  the lady is from Tallulahs

the wings were just waiting for someone to wear them (I had stamped them and covered them with clear embossing powder a long time ago)

I found a ‘matchbook’ of Heidi Swapp bling, perfect for my lace flower centers, I used chalks and inks to add more color

in the end my Muse reminds me of one of my favorite movie characters, Glinda, the good witch of the South (or was it North?) from the 1939 (WOW!) movie “The Wizard of Oz”….well my version anyway

Art & Soul Hampton 2007

Last May was my first experience at Art & Soul Hampton. The theme was “At Home”.

It certainly was a one of a kind experience and totally new to me.

I took some amazing classes. The first was from the talented Cher Lashley, creating an ‘illuminated manuscript’ below. We worked in many layers using products like GAC 100, gesso and more. The textures are lost on the scanned image.

The second day was spent with Michael deMeng. What an amazing artist. I had not really planned my lightbulb shrine, but was very happy with the results. Michael taught amazing paint techniques and made a really comfortable learning environment. He had wonderful junk for us too. I chose the bicycle pedal as a main part of my shrine. On one side of the pedal I had cut out the word “heart” and for the other side “soul”.

I did bring a few dodads including the rusty metal star for the base of my creation, the odd earing and I just happened to have the two silk leaves on hand as well. It was such a learning experience. I amazed myself that I ‘finished’ my shrine on that day.

Misty Mawn’s class was the last day. I do not know when I have gotten so into paint, it was just so wonderful. It would not be hard to just watch Misty create all day, she makes it seem effortless. I could very easily become one of her groupies 🙂

This is a photocopy of a card I made from my first 11″x14″ canvas. I had never drawn a face before….ever….and this canvas size was large for me. I am very happy with this piece and learned so much about paints and texture building. I have a few more canvases still waiting for attention.

I was sorry to learn that Misty would not be teaching at this year’s Art & Soul in Virginia.

A talented art acquaintance, Roberta, just spent three days with Misty at Asilomar. WOW, I can only imagine, that lucky duck. Have a look at her adventures, she has several really interesting blog posts on her Asilomar adventures, along with her other beautiful artwork. I had almost signed up for that retreat, good thing I didn’t as I’m just getting over pneumonia.

For trades my husband took apart some neat gauges. I made up goodie bags with springs, dials and what not, tied with a house key. I had about 20 of those.

I was very excited when I got the idea to cut a real playing card into the house shape for altering. I doodled on them too.

It was my husband’s idea (isn’t he sweet!) to add the ‘smoke’ coming out of the little chimneys, it says “Home Sweet Home”.

Soon it will be time for Art & Soul 2008 “By the Sea” in Hampton. I have nothing to show; traveling and then getting sick is not getting the job done……yet. I’m not going to stress about it, this is supposed to be fun and with trades or without it will be a great time.

I’ll be taking classes from four very talented artists!

Doris Arndt, Leighanna Light, LK Ludwig, and Beryl Taylor…..Paper, metal and fabric = oh boy!!