Dancing Dove Creations

Thing-A-Day

2009-06-09T11:34:00.007-04:00

Now that the kids have finished up their incredibly busy "school year" activities and I've got a little free time on my hands again, I've set a goal of creating one thing a day for the summer. I get up two hours before the kids in the morning, meditate for a bit, do yoga and them make something. Some days it's something mundane and domestic like cookies, but most days it's something a tad more creative. Not quite full blown art, since I don't have the space for that yet, just something to keep me from whithering away into a creative black hole. Here are a few of the things I've made in the past couple of weeks:

Two New Zentangles

2008-06-29T22:53:00.002-04:00

I love doing zentangles! They're quick and fun and help keep my creative juices flowing, so when someone on one of my lists posted a zentangle swap I had to join. I decided to do a couple of things differently with these though. I typically do zentangles in black sharpie. Don't know why. I just do. But this time I wanted a little color. I also usually do zentangles with no recognizable images, so this time I decided to start out with something recognizable. Im still playing with that idea of having a starting image, but I liked the way these two turned out okay and doing them certainly got me in the mood to start doing my "daily doodles" again.

Fairytale Tryptich

2008-06-29T22:48:00.001-04:00

I made this ATC for a swap this week. I liked the way the outside was turning out,but the inside was bugging me. I never did get to work on it any more so I sent it as is. Not happy with it though.

Divination Swap

2008-06-16T17:06:00.003-04:00

I've been working on several things over the last few months, but couldn't post them. We had a really nasty computer virus a while back and we still don't have all of the programs on the computer because all of the discs are hidden somewhere in the many boxes still sitting around the house from the move. I still don't have Photoshop, but I now have Corel, so I can add pics to my blogs again! Apologies for the aweful glare. It was late and the only light I had was a desk lamp.

These were from a divination themed ATC swap that I finished this week. Not the most inspired cards I've ever made, but at least I'm creating again. I'm posting them here mainly because of the type on some of the cards. Years ago when my husband and I moved into the house that had been his parents', we found a little stamp set. I had forgotten all about it until I ran across it the other day while unpacking some art supplies. It has a set of wee little letters, numbers, and symbols with which you can spell words, phrases and even whole sentences...if you have tons of patience to get those teeny tiny letters to stay put! I decided to play with it and added the name of the type of divination to the front of the cards with it. I really liked the way it looks. Although I don't normally like to use stamps, I will definitely be playing around with that set again.

Up and Running...sort of

2008-04-10T13:16:00.002-04:00

I've finally started creating again!! I was lamenting the fact that I have no space in which to create again the other day when I realized that I've been creating on the dining room table for years now and, although not ideal, it *worked*. I had this idea in my head that when I moved into my house after so many years of apartment living, I wouldn't "settle" for anything less than an actual studio room, but sticking to that ideal was doing nothing but making me miserable because I "couldn't" create. What a line a crap I was feeding myself! I have NO EXCUSE for not creating simply because my "studio" is still the holding place for tile, paint cans, drywall, unistalled doors, and whatever other house projects we've got going on. The same day I came to that realization my son saw that one of our lists was having a magical creatures swap. He is very much into magical creatures, cryptids and the like so we immediately sat down and created our first ATCs for a swap since we moved. It felt *SO* good to just DOODLE!! I was very happy with the way my cards turned out, but unfortunately I can't share them with you all. We just had to totally wipe our computer because of a nasty virus and our photo programs haven't been re-installed. I've signed up for several other swaps this month though, so as soon as we get our computer fully up and running I'll be posting ATCs again!

Finally...an update

2008-01-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

We've moved!!! After six and a half years or restoration/rehabbing, we're finally living in our house. I'm sitting in what will be my office/studio at the moment. The walls are unfinished and none of my studio furniture will be here until tomorrow when the truck comes, but I'm that much closer to getting to do art again. I've signed up for a couple of ATC swaps this month just so that I have an excuse to put my studio area to rights before everything else.

Participating in a swap will also give me a starting place. I've been sporadically doing my morning pages ("The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron) for a while, but nothing more creative than that. All of my creative energy has been used up on the house. I haven't even had any *ideas*, which is unusual for me. I'm usually so full of ideas that I don't have time to act on all of them. I'm sure I'll have a serious case of artist's block when I first sit down at the easel. But I've learned that the best way through it is to just put brush to paper. Even if what comes from it is crap, it gets the energy flowing again and then the ideas can come.

Long time no see!

2007-09-14T08:49:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it was MARCH when I last posted here! I've missed my arting adventures *terribly* these last few months. I haven't done any painting (wahhh!), nor have I participated in any art exchanges. We originally were told that we needed to get our house done by June, and then when June came we were told there was a mistake and it was September afterall (when we originally thought our permit expired). Now September is here and guess what...we're *STILL* not done!!! *sigh* I am so very, very, very weary of putting everything on hold until we get moved. I hate living in apartments while we work on our house. And some days I just don't think I can go another minute without some space to CREATE! But the good news is, I'm *not* depressed! Maybe it's because I can see just how close we are to finally moving in, or maybe it's because I've been working on reversing negative thought patterns. I don't know. But it does feel good to not feel myself slipping down into that dark abyss even though things are not going the way I'd hoped.

I haven't let myself be totally un-creative all this time though. Thanks to several friends who have had or are having new babies, I got to use the excuse of "needing to make baby presents" to do a lot of crocheting and knitting in the evenings. I'll save those pics for some time in the near future just so I have *something* to post. The kids and I have also been getting crafty recently. We whipped up these funky sock monkeys in about an hour and a half this past week. The kids picked the socks out a long time ago and I found them the other day while going through the craft closet. I did the sewing and the kids helped design and stuff them. Didn't they turn out *SWEET*?! The black stripey one was dubbed Skully Crossbones. Cameron requested a skull mask accessory, so of course I pulled out the crochet hooks and came up with this number that allows his glittery little eyes to peek through. The pink monkey is Strawberry Rose. Catherine had no specific requests other than "clothes" so I took the liberty of designing a hippie inspired ensemble with a crocheted apron top (open back) and long crocheted skirt. The pics aren't the greatest, but hopefully you get some idea of just how sweet they are. The funniest part about this project is that I normally *HATE* sock monkeys. LOL They're creepy little buggers. But I think these guys are pretty darned cute!

More 1x1s & Another 4x4

2007-03-26T08:34:00.000-04:00

Here's the second of my 1"x1" sets. I would hope my color choices would be obvious, but just in case they aren't this one was limited to blues and browns. I decided early on that I would have to allow black as a non-color in order to do words. It's difficult to find or even create just the right color of type. I made this decision after creating the first one - the "Time of Wonder" one in the lower right corner - because the type on that one looked more brownish gold in the package, but when I used it it turned out to be much brighter. Black seemed like a better choice rather than trying to get the "right" shade of brown or blue, whether by pen, printer or pre-made letters.

The 4"x4" is one of my other favorites. I feel this one says a lot about me as well, but I'm out of time, so I'll have to leave it up to the readers to guess what it might mean. *grin* (I'll give you a hint though...it's pretty self explanatory.)

4x4 Challenge #1

2007-03-24T14:16:00.000-04:00

I absolutely ADORE this piece, so I'm posting it first. This was some of the only artsy type stuff that I did during the rough period the last couple of months, but it was still a rather tall order to fill. Definitely one of the most time consuming swaps I've ever done...and I didn't even do anything on the backs of these pieces! This was made for a challenge swap on Art over the Edge. Basically, we were asked to pick a magazine or catalog without knowing what we would be doing with it, then once everyone had picked their magazine/catalog we were given our "challenge" - to make 20 4"x4" collaged pieces using at least one image from the magazine/catalog as the main image on the front of the square. We could decorate the backs in whatever way we wished (which I chose to pass on). When they are all done they will be swapped, bound and returned to the participants as books.

I have a little trouble considering these "my" art work, since they were based on things from a catalog - things already created by other people. So I considered this more of a exercize in creativity than anything, but they were still interesting to work on. The restriction of using images from the catalog I chose was much more difficult than I thought it would be, but it pushed me a bit to think a little more about what I wanted to say with these pre-set images. I decided to try to say things about myself...where I've come from, who I am, where I'm going. That worked great in the beginning, but toward the end I started running out of ways to use the images to say something about me, so I just started creating whatever. Need I say that that was when things started going downhill in the enjoyment department?

Anyway, this was one of the first pieces I created from those images and he just makes me smile every time I look at him. I loved putting a positive spin on the "selective listener" words that I had cut from some magazine or catalog quite some time ago. (I like to cut out things that inspire me when I'm looking at "disposable" reading material and save them for later. It's a great way of recycling and sometimes it actually comes in handy later on!) I think I love this piece so much because it really does say something very positive about me. I am that happy "selective listener" more often than not. I have always been one to listen to my own inner guide more than anything or anyone else. The words that I used so often as a La Leche League leader really do fit the way I live my life: I take what works for me and my family an leave the rest. I don't usually waste a lot of time or energy worrying about what others think and I'm much happier because of that.

BTW, I'll be posting more of these 4x4's, so if anyone sees something they'd like to own in these images, the catalog I used was The Pyramid Collection http://www.pyramidcollection.com/

Mini art

2007-03-24T13:57:00.000-04:00

Finally...some actual artwork! This is one of the things I've been working on lately. These are 1"x1"s that I'm doing for a swap on Art Over the Edge. This particular swap has the additional restriction of using only two colors per set of 9. This is the first complete set, but I have started a couple of other sets as well. I have really enjoyed these. They are so addictive! Not only do they feed my love of all things miniature, I have now started seeing every little scrap of paper and bit of ephemera as potential collage material. As if I needed an excuse to save even more crap in the name of ART! lol

Trying to get back on track...

2007-03-22T14:39:00.001-04:00

but it's tough. I've now lost two of my beloved cats. Basgar, my male cat, died on Monday. He was in bad shape. A former 25 pounder, he was down to a mere 5 pounds at the end. He had developed a massive infection and he was in kidney failure. Walking into the vet's office that day was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do, but I didn't want him to suffer any more. He was in pain and there was very little that we could do for him, so I chose to have him euthanized. I stayed with him the whole time and he went quickly and painlessly instead of suffering as he had been. It was good to see the peace on his face at the end...something I hadn't seen in a while. But I'm still questioning whether or not what I did was best for him. I think it was the best thing if I only consider the physical. He was in for a painful and potentially frightening ending. His entire face had started to swell making breathing difficult for him.

Normally I believe in letting things go their course. I believe that there is a "deathing" process that one must go through, similar to the birthing process and I believe that process needs to be worked through in it's own time and shouldn't be rushed unless absolutely necessary. I think the "deathing" process itself makes the transition easier spiritually, even if the physical process is difficult. This was the first time that I, personally, had to make the decision to euthanize one of my companions. The euthansia process itself wasn't disturbing, but what happened at the time of his death was. The worst part was "feeling" his spirit get booted from his body before he was completely ready. I have been able to "feel" spirits for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it's a blessing, but this time it was gut wrenching. He knew he was dying and was preparing for it. I doubt he would have lived more than a couple of days if I had chosen to let him die naturally. But he wasn't completely ready and finding himself making that transition before he was totally prepared for it was a shock for him. It took his spirit a few seconds to realize what had happened. That was difficult for me to experience and has made me rethink my position on euthanasia as a way of avoiding a painful death. I'm really not sure where I stand on it anymore.

I actually have been doing artwork and crocheting throughout all of this. They are my meditation, my way of staying in touch with my feelings, and my pressure release valve when things get stressful. I don't know what I would do without them. Well, actually, I do. I'd be a basket case like I was when I didn't have them! What I haven't been doing though is keeping up with my journaling or my on-line stuff. For most of this time it was too much to even consider putting some of this "out there" in written form. It felt too much like baring my soul and I wasn't ready to do that. Every time I would start to feel like I could talk or write about it, something else would happen to send me back into my cocoon. First nursing Basgar (my male cat) when he got sick back in January, then keeping vigil while Tigre passed naturally, followed much too quickly by having to make the decision to have Basgar euthanized, and then dealing with the effects of that decision - it was all too much and I needed some time to process what was going on within me before I could start to let go of it and sending it out into the Universe to be transformed.At first I was surprised to realize that most of my work during this period had a spiritual theme or feel to it, but then it made perfect sense considering the things I was thinking about and meditating on while I was creating. I crocheted bookmarks with religious and spiritual themes. I made art with spiritual iconography. During the darkest part of the last few weeks I crocheted a black cauldron bag that will never, ever leave my possession. It has too much emotion woven into it. I can't imagine handing that much raw emotion over to someone else. During this time I was also thinking that maybe I should start making prayer shawls again when I came across the book Knitting into the Mystery: A Guide to the Shawl-Knitting Ministry (by Susan S. Jorgensen and Susan S. Izard) at the library booksale. I considered finding that book at that particular time a sign but I honestly don't know where I'm going to go from here. I feel I've reached a turning point of some kind. Strangely enough I feel cleansed or purified in some way that I can't describe. It feels a bit like I've successfully made it through a trial by ordeal. But what does one do to move on after a trial by fire?

The week from hell

2007-03-08T12:55:00.000-05:00

Every time I think I'm getting back on my feet this winter something else happens. It's been another rough couple of weeks around here. I had a 4 day migraine a couple of weeks ago and the very day that it went away I got some sort of stomach bug that lasted the rest of the week. Ick. My two oldest cats have both been sick. One is recovering but isn't quite the same. He used to be a 25 pounder and he's down to about 8 pounds. He's pitiful looking but he's getting stronger. For how long I don't know though. He's 16 years old and has always had health problems. I always expected him to be the first one to go, but that hasn't turned out to be the case. Tigre, my oldest cat had a major seizure just as Basgar, the former 25 pounder, was recovering. Tigre is dying and there isn't a thing I can do. Her seizure turned out to be a major stroke and she has been declining ever since. She is lying upstairs resting at the moment but she won't be with us much longer. She doesn't want to be moved or even held, which is highly unusual for her. I have never known Tigre to NOT want to be held! She got out and was hit by a car once and even then she came crawling to me wanting to be held. But not now. She stopped eating 4 or 5 days ago and has now stopped drinking. She's given up. It's depressing and horrible and I hate it. She was my furry alarm clock who woke me up every morning by walking all over me and demanding to be fed. It's strangely quiet in the a.m. now. I have done a little artwork, but not as much as I'd like. I'm feeling both an apathy toward the art I'm trying to do and a gestation of new works making their way to the surface. I'll post some of what I have done later. Not feeling like it at the moment.

The Final Yarn ATC

2007-02-20T09:21:00.000-05:00

It hasn't been blocked yet, but here it is. I did this last night while waiting for the kids to get ready for bed. I tried several other things before I did this. I tried a yellow sun with rays coming off of it. Didn't work. I just didn't have the right yarn to pull it off. I tried an orange footprint motif that I found on line. Cute, but still not right. I began thinking that the yarn on yarn look was just too much even though I was trying to keep the motifs simple. Then I thought maybe that was the problem...keeping it simple I mean. Maybe I didn't need simple, maybe I needed intricate. But what? As I was sitting there at my art table I suddenly remembered reading an article a year or so ago about "yarn doodling". I couldn't remember how the author did it, so I started playing around and came up with a way of "writing" by slipstitching. I chose the word "snow" because while I was trying to think of something to "write" I was staring vacantly out the patio window at all the snow outside (we got hit pretty good a little less than a week ago and it's still piled in huge drifts outside). I thought snow sounded as good as anything else at the moment..and if I didn't like it I could always rip it out and start over. Goodness knows I have enough practice at that! LOL The sun was setting and the sky was similar to the same blackish blue color of the yarn. I had white thread sitting there. It just seemed right, so I "doodled" the word "snow" and really liked the way it looked. The wool has a flecky, homespun sort of look to it and the stitch pattern was simple, so I thought the obviously handwritten word looked right. I decided to leave it. But it still needed something else, so I whipped out a little thread snowflake (about 2" across") to attach in the top space and voila! It's a little cutesy/country looking for my taste, but that's okay since I'm not keepin' it!

Crochet ATCs

2007-02-19T19:20:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago I created these ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") crocheted pieces for a yarn ATC swap. I used up some of my little scraps for these. The green one is an unknown type of heavy thread or very light weight yarn. (The same one I used for the thread bear as a matter of fact.) It's of "vintage" origin, probably late 70's or early 80's, and is almost an spring green-ish/avocado-ish color IRL. The multi-colored one used up a little of the sock weight yarn scraps from the socks I made earlier and a black mohair that I *love* but don't have enough of to do anything with. There's a third as well - a denim blue sock weight wool piece that still needs a little somethin'. I was originally thinking beads but that didn't work. Neither did the addition of another yarn as an accent, so I ripped that out. Now I'm back to just a plain blue rectangle. (Well, plain as in no embellishments. It has a pattern to it but it is less lacey than these two.) I'm thinking I'll try treating it as the background and adding a motif to it. We'll see how it turns out.

Tiny Teddy

2007-02-19T19:05:00.000-05:00

I spent the last couple of days working on this little guy. I'm not happy with the proportions so I'm doing it over again. My son made off with this one anyway, so I *have* to do it over again! My original idea was to cover him with flowers. (Seeing as he is a spring green color I thought flowers were appropriate.) So once I change the proportions of the limbs that's what I plan on doing on the next one.

I have a thing for miniature toys and such. Have ever since I was a little girl. These miniature creations have absolutely captured my heart!

CAL socks are DONE

2007-02-16T13:57:00.000-05:00

These socks were done as a crochet along (CAL) project on an e-list for sock crocheters. They were supposed to be *my* socks, but my son made off with them as soon as they came off the hook. Once he grows a little more he won't be able to do that and I'll have to make two pairs of the ones he likes, but *I* will get the first pair! lol I did get to try them on before my son made off with them and they fit great inside my Birkenstocks! I only had two skeins of sock yarn left so I made them ankle length instead of crew length like I wanted. It's okay though. It gives me an excuse to make more socks! One of these days I'll get around to knitting some too. I'd go ahead and start a new pair for myself but I'm totally out of sock yarn and the stores closest to me don't carry any. (Hmmm...I do have lots of mohair in my stash though...) If I used the multi-colored yarn again I think I'll make the heel and toe a solid color though. I love the way the yarn looks when worked in a spiral (like on the main body of the sock) but didn't care for the way it looked on the toe, heel and to a certain extent the ribbing around the top where I had to turn at the end of the rows.

I thought they turned out pretty well. The toe and heel look a little squared off on my son because his feet are slightly smaller, but on me they looked okay. The directions were great (they were written by one of the list members) and they worked up pretty fast as far as socks go. This was my one major crocheting project this week though. I worked a little on working in the ends of the sweaters that I finished last week, but the socks took most of my crocheting time. The only problem with being hit with the crocheting bug is that I'm spending so much time crocheting that I'm not getting to my paintings! Gotta' remedy that. I've got swap deadlines coming up.

A heap o' crochetin' goin' on

2007-02-07T18:12:00.000-05:00

The crochet bug has hit with full force this winter! These are just a couple of the things I've made this week. I just sent the two bookmarks (made from patterns in a booklet which I don't have on hand at the moment) off for a swap. The mini bear, which is only about 4 1/2 inches high, was immediately spirited away by my daughter however. She has carried it everywhere and even took it to bed with her when it was nap time, so I don't think it will be getting sent in for its intended swap. (Hopefully I can save one of my bears from her loving clutches before the swap deadline gets here!) I'm doing a lot of little stuff for some reason. Maybe I've just had enough of the bulky yarns that I was working with for a while. In addition to these, I also finished a couple of ponchos and a sweater for my daughter. I started a new pair of socks and a new sweater for myself, a tiny little thread bear that is turning out really cute, and several other things. Some will make it to the finished stage, many will not. I'm a little too picky about my projects and end up ripping out more than I finish. Not so much because they are messed up but simply because I don't like the way they are turning out and don't want to waste my time finishing something that I'm not happy with. *sigh* So many crochet projects, so little time.

4x6 textural yumminess

2007-02-07T17:52:00.000-05:00

I have a new scanner!!!
Unfortunately, I don't have any art to scan.
I sent off all the paintings and ATCs that I created recently just before we got the new scanner hooked up. So, these pics are taken with the digital camera. Not the best, but better than nothing.

These are three of the 4x6 paintings that I sent in for a swap on the Experimental Acrylics list. The dragonfly was a gel medium transfer of the image on an ATC i made a while back. I attached it to the support and then layered on more gel and paint while rubbing and scraping to get a more textural look. It's not quite what I envisioned, but its okay. The other two were experiments in texture that I created by pressing various materials into modeling paste and then painted with a combination of liquid and heavy body acrylics. I absolutely LOVE everything about them...the colors, the textures, everything! Rarely am I this pleased with just about every aspect of a painting, so having two that I loved was a treat indeed!

My First Digital Mandala

2007-01-19T14:25:00.000-05:00

I just whipped up this digital mandala from one of my ATC images. I thought it turned out pretty good for my first try (with two kids going bonkers in the room to boot). I sometimes find digital manipulation too...cerebral to really feel like art to me, but it's a nice change of pace once in a while when I'm feeling stuck or burnt out. (Stuck being the issue today.) It helps to do something out of the ordinary while I let the issue that's bothering me work itself out.

I've done some other pieces this week as well, but without a scanner I can't post a lot of what I've been doing. Even the little crocheted basket I made won't show up well on the digital camera because it's a tad too small. I liked the way it turned out though. It has a sort of Southwestern/Native American pottery look to it. It is primarily turquoise and was crocheted with four different weights and textures of yarn at once. It's begging for beads though, so when I find the right ones I want to bead the rim. Don't know how I'm going to ever post it though if I can't get a good picture of it!

Hmmm...I just noticed that this mandala has a rather Southwestern/Native American feel to it as well. It's funny how what I've been reading about, talking about and looking at has an effect on my art whether I mean for it to or not. I've been reading and talking about alternative healing techniques and shamanism in various cultures, and I've been looking at a lot of Hopi and Mexican art. Can ya' tell?

Spider Web Inklin

2007-01-11T16:09:00.000-05:00

I did a double duty inklin/devotion this morning. It's the only artsy thing I've managed to do all day, so I decided to consider it both my Daily Devotion for the day and my inklin for the challenge on that list this month.

When I saw that the inklin challenge this time was spider webs I thought back to when I was walking the dog a couple of mornings ago. While I'm standing there freezing my butt off waiting for the dog to do her business I start to notice little things - leaves in the gutter with interesting patterns, cracks in the sidewalk that look like faces. I actually like that time of day for that reason. I like being up and outside that early in the morning, even in winter. It's quiet and peaceful and it feels like the possiblities for the day are endless. We have yet to hit the fast paced frenzy of activity that our days usually consist of, so I still have time to notice the little things that I'll miss later on in the day. That particular morning it was an old spider web with frost on it that caught my attention. The sun was just starting to come up over the treeline and the frost on the web was beginning to melt into little droplets. With the sun shining through the drops it looked like the spider's web was all decked out in Christmas lights! As I was finishing the inklin my 2 year old insisted it needed a spider so, silly me, I tried to put it in the middle of the web. I should have hung it off one branch or the other cause it looks all cramped and shriveled up in there, like a too big drop of water or a blob of ink. Oh well. It seems like there's always something I wish I could do over. (It was done in silver ink on black drawing paper btw.)

Daisy Ditty Bag

2007-01-07T17:47:00.000-05:00

I haven't really done much painting the last few days. Instead I've made several of these little bags. All of the ones I've made so far are blue for the simple fact that I have lots of blue yarn lying around. I don't tend to use blue much for myself. I think blue is used so much that it's almost a neutral color anymore. Think about it...most people consider blue jeans a "basic" and blue is the color most often chosen my people when they just want to blend in. Any medium blue tends to not be noticed.

But I digress. The bags are based on Dots Ditty Bag : http://bythehook.blogdrive.com/archive/163.html

I just love this pattern! It works up so quickly and easily. As you can see, I've been adding flowers to some of them to make them a little more "girly" for my daughter. She's absconded with all of the ones I've made so far and filled them an assortment of toys and goodies. Now I need to make one that's a little more "me". Hot pink is more my style.

I must be on another crochet kick because over the last couple of days I also made a new dishcloth and started a crocheting a swiffer style cloth, both out of cotton. The thing that got me started on that was this potholder stitch:

http://tinyurl.com/ygrw26

I also made the "fuzzy hat" in the other pic for my daughter this morning. It's a soft orange, fuschia and black little thing that took exactly one skein of yarn. She wore it around the house (completely naked otherwise, as potty training 2 year olds will do) most of the morning and as I'm udpading this she's doing so again. She's sitting on the floor playing with her most treasured posessions - her Littlest Petshop Pets that she got for Yule - in her hat and her birthday suit.

Dirty Little Words

2007-01-03T11:06:00.000-05:00

I can't post a picture with this, but I had to post about it anyway. My husband has declared some of my newfound art groups "just plain weird" and he's right...but they suit me and my tastes to a T. Just when I'm feeling bored with the same old themes on the rest of my groups, one of these lists will come up with some outrageous, off the wall idea that makes me want to go rushing to my art area. My favorite groups all do swaps geared toward the odd, the unusual, and even the "distasteful". They often cause me to take the crass, the moronic, the ugly, the gross - the things we often try to hide - and see them in a new light.

The latest in my odd swaps was a mini ATC swap using swear words...but not just ANY swear words, mind you. These had to be glittery, sparkly, FUN swear words. Take your favorite 4-letter words and turn them into ART! It sounds totally goofy, I know, but it was just the sort of release I needed after a difficult last few weeks. Just seeing my favorite cuss words (and some of my least favorites as well) all decked out in glitter and rhinestones was a sight to behold. Wish I could scan them and show you all, but it's still broken and my camera can't take pictures of things that are quite that tiny (1.5"x2.5"). Then again, I know some people have read this blog with their kids, so maybe it's a good thing I can't post them!

I was sitting there looking at one of the finished pieces and thought to myself "I could make a big painting of one of these words to go in my new house!" I can just see people's faces when they walk into my home and see a big, glittery, bejeweled "F" word on the wall above the fireplace. LOL That would just crack me up! Primarily because so many people think I don't cuss. (Ha!)

Daily Devotions

2007-01-02T11:57:00.000-05:00

I've been on a list for artists called Daily Devotions for a while, but with the New Year I've finally made the commitment to follow up on it. Basically it is just a commitment to create every day for a year. It doesn't matter what you create as long as you do something to further yourself. I'm hoping that two things will come of this. One, that the need to create something EVERY day will push me to do more art than I am currently doing. And two, that it will cause a shift in my perception and I will recognize creativity while it's happening, especially when I'm not doing something "artistic". Creativity happens all the time, not just when I'm painting or drawing, but I sometimes forget that. I get so caught up in "life" that I don't notice the magic, the creativity, going on around me. So, here's my post for day one of my Year of Art. I did this last night while the kids were pulling another all nighter. It's a crayon batik but I haven't ironed it yet, so it's still in a rather crumpled stage. I'm not terribly happy with this one. I did another one before it that I liked much better. The colors were much more vibrant and the paint more bold, but the paper I used completely dissolved while I was washing it. That's what I get for using cheap paper. Oh well, live and learn. I did this one on watercolor paper, but I don't like the look as much as I do with thinner paper. Maybe I need to get some thinner watercolor paper and try that. Anyway, this one tore in a couple of places, so I'll probably find that areas that I like and crop them into ATCs. I saved the first one as well and put the pieces that were left onto a flexible cutting board (my all-purpose art mats) to dry. It actually looks pretty cool - like a fractured rainbow. I want to add those pieces to a future painting.

December Ups and Downs

2006-12-30T11:30:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to show on here this month for a various reasons. Most of the swaps I did this month were ones that the kids and I could together. Doing swaps with the kids is fun, but it does produce a different kind of product, and since this blog was started to give me a place to talk about *MY* art, not my kid's art, I don't really like posting too many of our collaborative items on here. But it's all I've got at the moment, so...here's a picture is of the light that we made for a Solstice Light swap. My parents got a bunch of old glass insulators in a box of stuff from an auction this summer and they offered them to me. I wasn't sure exactly what I would do with them at that time, but I just had that *feeling* that they would eventually be useful, so I took a few. (And told them to keep the rest "just in case". lol I'm such a craft junk junkie.) Cameron (my 9 yo son) and I painted the insulator to look like sun and sky with bands of yellow orange, red, and blue, then added some cloud stickers to the blue lower part. Catherine, my two year old, strung the multicolored sparkly beads on elastic cord to fit in the grooves. Cute, but how to light it? I originally thought of creating a base to put the insulator on that would allow for air flow, but then I remembered that my husband had given me some electric candles about a year ago to use in my "fire dance" (which I did with my belly dance troupe) when I couldn't use real candles. I had an extra or two so I pulled out one of those and TA DA! No air needed. Kind of a silly project but we had fun.

The other reason I haven't posted on here in a while because my scanner is on the fritz. That really bites. ATCs really don't photograph well. I used to photograph all of my ATCs before I got the scanner and I was never satisfied with the resulting pics. The lighting was bad or the color was off or there was a glare that I couldn't get rid of...I hate going to back to it. Hopefully my husband can find the time to fix the scanner, but I'm not holding my breath. The work on our house is taking up pretty much all of his time as he tries to reach the deadline of moving in this June.

And then there's the third reason for not posting: DEPRESSION. I've had more trouble with depression this month than I have in a long time. I don't think I've had anything this *wearing* since the bout of postpartum depression I had after Cameron was born. The ppd I experienced after Catherine was born was milder and didn't really interfere with my daily functioning, which was a relief. After Cameron was born I experienced about six months of deeper depression during which I carried a Prozac prescription around in my purse and had to menatlly "check in" with myself several times a day to determine if it was bad enough to fill the prescription. (I never did.) That was followed by a couple of years of milder depression which didn't really end until he was 4 or so. After Catherine's birth I got to skip the serious stuff (maybe because I actually got to SLEEP when she was a baby!) and went straight to the milder version that lasted for a much shorter period. But this month was just plain difficult. I just felt BLAH, had no holiday spirit, and couldn't seem to find a place of balance. And then I got sick on top of that and everything sort of fell apart. Not seriously, but enough so that things like housekeeping are being affected. I pull it together every couple of weeks when I get a burst of energy, but it's just difficult to keep it up when a couple of days later all I want to do is sleep or escape into a fantasy world via books. The kids keep me going, but some days it's really, really hard to simply get up and MOVE. Once I do though, I can make it. The last couple of days have been a little better so I cut out the sugar and started exercising. I've been having small doses of caffeine though, which really affects me negatively when it comes to my mood, but I can't just cut myself off or I'll get migraines. I'm really feeling the effects of not getting enough sun too, but I'll just have to deal with that.

Going with the Flow - My Mother Goddess ATC

2006-11-25T17:46:00.000-05:00

I was preparing a large piece of paper with modeling paste a couple of weeks ago and hada large gob left over on my knife, so I swiped it off on an ATC base and scratched a quick doodle into it. I didn't think much more about it at the time, but I ran across it the other day and decided to do something with it for an upcoming swap. I decided to paint it with several thin layers of Golden liquid acrylics. I basically just placed colors in general areas and let them go where the wished. I then rubbed it in with my fingers (my favorite painting tools!) in some area and rubbed out ares with paper towel in other. After several layers of paint, this is what I had come up with. I didn't really have anything in mind when I started her, but I think she turned out beautifully. As with any painting I do, there are areas that I almost wish I could do over, but I've learned from experience that that rarely works out for the better. It always looks like all the life is taken out of the painting even if it is technically a "better" painting. There's just something missing. Going with the creative flow always gives me results that I'm much happier with.

A New Feltie

2006-11-17T11:53:00.000-05:00

Meet Mooshie the Magic Mushroom! The kids and I have been stuck in the house all week because my son has chicken pox, and we’ve had the best time! We have been making up chicken pox songs and playing connect the pox with body paint. LOL I’d share pics of the body art but my son’s idea of Heaven is wearing nothing but his underwear all day everyday and nobody really wants to see that.

Anyway, I got bored with “just” painting and doodling yesterday, so I pulled out our box of craft felt and Mooshie was the result. I didn't use a pattern or anything. I just started cutting and sewing and he just happened. I’m pretty darned pleased with the way he turned out, but my son is totally in love with him. Of course he now has plans for an entire Mario felt playset to go with him. LOL

Anger - in two parts

2006-11-12T12:54:00.000-05:00

This is a set of two ATCs depicting anger at the "point of explosion". They were done with tar gel and liquid acrylics. I taped down the cards and spread clear tar gel over the entire surface then dripped the liquid acrylics into the gel. I used a palette knife to smear and blend the paints into the gel until I liked the results. I wish you could see the luminous quality of these cards. It's difficult to see, but the white of the paper really *glows*. The only problem with this set is that the artist's tape that I used tore the paper. I hate it when that happens. I'll probably cut the paintings out and re-mount them on new cards.

I also made several abstracts in a similar manner but without any paper backing. They are pure tar gel and liquid acrylic. They are still drying though. I'll post those when they are dry and cut into ATCs...if my cat will stop walking across them!

Melted Crayon Doodles

2006-11-12T12:09:00.000-05:00

Yay! Blogger is letting my upload pics again! I tried to post to my blog several times lately and couldn't get my pics to show up. What's an art blog without pics I ask you?

These are two of the many, many melted crayon doodles I made one day this week. I had so much fun with this! I covered a small hot plate with aluminum foil and laid my ATCs right on top of the foil then doodled to my heart's content. It was a wonderfully freeing exercise. I have a huge stack of these because I spent a good couple of hours just doing one after another.

I hope the leaves ATC needs no explanation. The other is part of my ongoing exploration of trying to give anger a visual representation. I've had such good results from arting out my depression and other "negative" emotions that I thought I'd try to do the same with anger. So far so good!

Okay...just ONE more!

2006-10-19T02:47:00.000-04:00

In the Serial Killers swap post I mentioned the other ATC that I did with H. H. Holmes as the inspiration. This is from an actual photo taken outside the house which sits on the same spot where H. H. Holmes lived in Irvington (Indianapolis). While we were there I got the distinct impression that there was something dark lurking about this particular corner by the garage. It was as if it were trying to find a way into the house. I kept catching quick glimpses out of the corner of my eye so I snapped a few pictures of that area. Nothing came out in the pictures, but when someone suggested a swap based on our personal experiences with ghosts this image was one that came to mind. I simply added the dark figure to the photo in Photoshop. Nothing fancy. But it sure does give me the willies because it really brings back that creepy feeling I had while there.

Vampire

2006-10-19T02:41:00.000-04:00

Here's a bonus card for today since I haven't updated this blog in so long. This is my latest card. It's a digital photo of my son. He has a thing for vampires, so I decided to make him a new vampire card. I must have done a decent job because he took one look at it, shuddered, and then turned it face down on the table. LOL High praise indeed!

Serial Killers/Forensics

2006-10-19T02:07:00.000-04:00

I've been busy, busy, BUSY the past few weeks and haven't had much time to update my blogs. I had a dance performance to prepare for and lots of crocheting and other crafts to work on. I was hoping to sell some of my stuff at the fest I was performing at but didn't get enough finished to warrant having a booth. Oh well, it'll all work out in due time.

These are some of the ATCs that I did recently. They were for a Serial Killers/Forensics swap. I've found a few groups that do these kinds of "odd" swaps and I'm very happy about that. They are right down my alley! I have long been interested in true crime, forensics and the psychology behind deviant behavior, so getting to combine that with art was a rare treat for me.

About the cards: The skull, which I called "Blunt Force Trauma", and the ribcage, which I called "Death is Graphic" are the "Forensics" portion of my set. The other are most of the "Serial Killer" part. (There was one more but I didn't post it.) I don't have time to go into great detail about these cards, but suffice it to say that they represent some of my "favorite" serial killers. Most people are somewhat familiar with John Wayne Gacy ("Killer Clown"), but the other two may not be as easily recognizable. "Murder Castle" (the one with 1983 on it) is about H. H. Holmes who had his "murder castle" built in a Chicago suburb in time to draw . "Mannequins" is about Herb Baumeister. Both of these stories are all the more intriguing to me because of their close geographical proximity to where I currently live. I have visited the house in Irvington where H. H. Holmes stayed for a short period and even created another card with a visual image of my intuitive impressions of that house. The Baumeister property is mere minutes from my home and the mannequins are representative of one of the more memorable moments in the story for me. If you would like to know the details about these cases you'll have to Google them yourself. I don't want to either bore or offend.

Alien Cards

2006-09-24T21:29:00.000-04:00

These are two of my alien themed cards. They are abstract images made by swirling, dribbling and finger painting with acrylic enamels. (Yes, "real" artists finger paint! It's not just for kids and really frees up your creative mind.) The scan of "Red Alien" turned out great, but "Abduction #1" looks very dark. The background looks black-ish but it's acutally purple and green. Once again, the names for these paintings came from what I was thinking about while painting. A friend of mine and I had been talking about various "unexplained phenomena" and talk got around to alien abduction and frontal lobe stimulation and that's what I was thinking of when I made these. Is it any wonder that I saw aliens and UFOs when I looked at them?

Sleeping Spot

2006-09-15T17:27:00.000-04:00

This is "Sleeping Spot". It's one of my cemetery art photos with a distressed/stained tissue paper "frame". The crescent shapes in the corners are actually blue rhinestones. Not anything terribly time consuming, but I didn't have much time for art that day. I like it okay as is, but it's another theme that I'm putting in my mental file to use again, perhaps for an even better piece. Love that name...sleeping spot. It stirs up lots of possibilities for me. (The sticker came from a page full of cat oriented stuff by the way. Think outside the box!)

Celtic Knot

2006-09-14T23:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted much on here recently so I thought I'd post one more. This is a celtic knot ATC that I just finished last night. I drew the original design on some mulberry paper a while back. I had the mulberry paper lying on a piece of white paper and the markers I was using bled through onto the white paper. I loved the way the colors bled through in some places and left an almost antique looking image, like old paint flaking off an ancient church wall. I've kept that bleed-through image for some time and finally decided to do something with it. I enhanced some of the black outline every so slightly and then used watercolor pencils to darken the background. And finally I added a brighter gold color over the old gold areas to suggest multiple layers of paint. I really liked the way it turned out and hope the recipient enjoys it.

Misery

2006-09-14T23:26:00.000-04:00

This is a pretty dark scan, but then it's a pretty dark piece. It's difficult to see the colors of the paint, especially the reds which were an important part of this piece. I felt that the deep reds, which reminded me of blood, represented my life force and my emotional wounds that were being swallowed up in this feeling of *misery*. I felt like I was being *engulfed* in waves of dark water. I was having one of those days when it feels like nothing is right, like no part of my life is where I want it to be, and I can't see a way out of it. I hate days like that. I have suffered from depression in the past and days like that remind me just how horrible it feels to be depressed. I never want to sink down into that bottomless pit again, but on those days it feels like that's where I'm headed. It's aweful. I didn't used to let myself express those feelings. My thought was that if I "fed" that part of me by acknowledging it, it would take over and I would be swallowed up again...and who knows if I would be able to pull myself out again? That's a scary thought for me. But in reality I have found the opposite to be true. If I let myself really *feel* those feelings, if I let go and let myself go deep into them and really *express* them, I feel lighter and can move on. One of the best ways of dealing with negative or overwhelming emotions for me is to "paint them out". I find that encapsulating those feelings in paint on paper gets them *out* and as soon as the painting feels "done" I can breathe again. Just looking at this one, I feel myself wanting to take deep, nourishing, soul healing breaths. It's a very *healing* painting for me. I don't think this one is going anywhere.

Into the Sea

2006-08-27T20:21:00.000-04:00

This is a small (4x6) painting that I just finished. It started as a non-representational piece but as I was working on it it began to remind me of the mouth of a river with rich farmland around it, which is where the name came from. This piece is part of an ongoing series of painting with the same basic elements. It all started with that altered puzzle piece that I did. It kept haunting me and begging to be turned into a larger piece. I haven't made the larger piece yet because I keep playing with the smaller images, changing them slightly and haven't come up with the right mixture of elements that say they want to be turned into a larger piece.

Polka Dot Tangle ATC

2006-08-23T00:15:00.000-04:00

This is one of the only things I've managed to finish in the last couple of weeks. I have just been too busy the last couple of weeks to do any major art projects. This card was for a swap and the recipient liked polka dots, so I decided to see what a doodle looked like on this red and white polka dot paper that I hadn't found a use for. The effect of the black and white designs on the polka dot background makes my head hurt. lol But considering it's one of the only things I've done and I needed to post *something* it'll have to do!

The Critic - ATC

2006-08-05T19:26:00.000-04:00

I just sent this in for an open theme ATC swap. I called it "The Critic" because as I was playing in my scraps I was thinking about how that nasty little internal critic raises his voice whenever I have been away from my art table for a couple of days. It is so difficult to get started on days like that. If I don't have something specific in mind when I sit down for the first time after some time away, I usually have to spend some extra time playing around to loosen up a bit - kind of like stretching and warming up before I can dance. If I don't dance for a while that warming up part takes a *lot* longer. Most of what I come up with during that warm up time is crap and last night was no exception. I was getting a little irritated and started complaining (internally) and started talking back to that internal critic. I was literally thinking something negative about feeling like I have to "measure up" (measure up to WHAT?) when I pulled out the scrap with the measuring tapes. That was the first "aha" moment of the night - that little tickle in the back of my mind that lets me know I might actually produce something during this session afterall. After that I pulled out the background paper with the definition of "create" on it and then the man. I thought to myself that that was probably what that nasty little man inside my head looked like and ta-da! The card basically made itself.

It's a very literal card made with materials I probably would have never used if I hadn't been going down that mental path at that very moment, but it represented what I was feeling at that moment so well that it still liked it. It also has that slightly dark little twist that I like. None of the papers in this card were things that I bought for myself btw. They were all received in materials swaps.

"Color and Sound" 9 Panel

2006-07-28T21:36:00.000-04:00

Here's yet another 9 panel ATC set. I combined my latest doodle obsession with a multi-layered acrylic background and came up with this. My only wish is that I had actually planned this piece from the beginning. I had been planning a doodle as the final layer of a painting, I just didn't expect it to be *this* painting. If I had I would have made the background trasition from yellow in the left hand corner to the red at the bottom so that those tendrils looked like they were reaching for the light.

As I've probably mentioned before, I name paintings depending on what I was thinking of while creating them because more often than not what I'm thinking about affects the paiting. This one is called "Color and Sound" because I had just watched "Blast", the PBS musical program with Star of Indiana. (All you other band geeks out there will probably know what I'm talking about here.) I watched it by myself while the kids were playing and then made my husband watch it when came home that evening while I was doing some of the doodles for this piece. Although it was unintentional, I can see the influence of "Blast" in this piece. The grid on the stage, the bells of the horns, the colors, the movements of the flags, the organic shapes from the "grass" parts...it's all in there, and when I look at this piece I'm instantly transported back to that night.

Venus 9 Panel

2006-07-24T22:54:00.000-04:00

This is "Venus Emerges". She was a last minute addition to a 9 panel ATC swap. I did a quick watercolor beach scene and added the vintage image to it. It took me all of half an hour I think and I really thought that I would hate it, but I ended up loving it! I thought the idea was much too simple, but the final effect was...alluring. I think she turned out just beautiful. I especially love the way the hand tinted photo looks against the watercolor. It's a very different look and feel from the usual vintage images I see. Gotta' remember that combo in the future! I also need to make more multiple panel ATC sets. I had so much fun doing these and they were a nice change of pace from the single ones.

My Art Mess

2006-07-24T14:13:00.000-04:00

We have been talking about our arting spaces on a couple of lists so I decided to snap a couple of quick pics of my art area in its working state. This used to be the dining room but I've taken it over since I started creating again. The table used to be the dining room table but hasn't been used for that in months. Not so bad when it's summer and we eat outside a lot, but it'll be a little harder to deal with in the winter. You can see how much space I leave for myself to actually work...not much! I'm always pulling out so many supplies that I have no where to put my painting or drawing. (Another good thing about ATCs...I don't have to clean off the art table to do them!) The drawing on the table is my daughter's. She was drawing with my markers while I was painting at the easel before I took this picture.

The other picture with the palettes and ruler on what looks like a table is actually my easel. I have an easel that tilts back flat for watercolor as well as upright for acrylic or oils and forward for pastels. In the picture it's in the flat watercolor position. I love that easel! Ipaid a nice chunk of change for it but it was worth every penny! I have my old heavy wooden drafting board on the easel with the painting side facing up. The other side of the drafting board I use for cutting so that I don't have to paint or draw over all those little xacto marks. I also have a collection of clip boards that you can't see in these pictures. (They are sitting on the bench between the table and the shelving units.) I use those as portable drawing/painting surfaces as well as for doing hemp jewelry. (I put the strands I'm working with under the clip to keep them still while I knot.) My jewelry stuff is in boxes on the bench and beside the shelving units.

The other picture is just the shelving unit where I keep some of my supplies, books, papers, etc. There are actually three shelving units but only one is for art supplies. One of the others holds the kids' art and craft supplies and games, the other one holds my son's science stuff.

And that's all there is folks. That's all the space I have for arting. This is all sitting in the middle of my townhouse where everyone who walks in the door can see it too. See why I need a studio again? My studio at the house we are working on is taking shape. It's still going to be a small space (until we build the larger studio above the garage), but at least it won't be taking over the dining room or any other part of our living space.

Doodles

2006-07-22T15:26:00.000-04:00

I joined a brand new list for people who make doodles of all types. The owner calls the list "Inklin" and it instantly became one of my favorites. Because of that list I've started doing "morning doodles" to get the creative juices flowing before I start painting. On busy days those doodles may be all the artwork I get done for the day, but it's better than no art.

We've already had a couple of challenges on the Inklin list. The orange doodle and pink on with the bird were the results of the first two challenges. Can you tell from looking at them that I was heavily influenced by mehndi? I had a lot of trouble putting pen to paper for these at first until I saw the connection between purposeful doodling (as opposed to the kind I do while I'm on the phone) and making freeform mehndi designs.

The pink circle one was the first doodle I did. I was waiting for my son to get out of his drama camp and traced a series of rings around a quarter then just started filling in the spaces with different designs and when I was about half way done it was like something just opened up inside me. The second one (the yellow one) was much better. I think I'm getting the hang of this!

Puzzle Pieces

2006-07-18T01:35:00.000-04:00

These were some of pieces that I sent off for a puzzle swap this week. I loved working on these particular pieces because they were wooden and such a joy to work on. I didn't have to worry about them warping on me and the edges were so much easier to get smooth.

The piece with the paper doll, the bronze colored one with the triangles, and the gold/brown ones are my favorites from this set. I have already started a larger painting with the same elements as the gold and brown one. It was created by spreading on a layer of modeling paste and pressing plastic canvas into it for the gridlike texture. The bronze one was made with an underlayer of fine pumice gel and painted with several layers of color, the final one being a bronze metallic. I cut up an old painting to create the triangles. The one with the paper doll, which I called "Wallflower" was made with a primarily orange underpainting, rice paper, and then a layer of green into which I pressed crumpled plastic wrap to create an even more mottled effect. (In reality the colors are much more similar and the doll blends more into the background, hence the name.)

Hemp Happy Part 2

2006-07-15T15:37:00.000-04:00

Here is a pic of the bracelet that started it all for me and the necklace that I made about 10 years ago. I thought I had some of the soleless beach sandals I made too, but they must be packed away with all the macrame stuff somewhere.

Unfortunately, just within the last week or so my bracelet has started to fray on one of the cords that wraps around the main bead, so I have been forced to retire it :-( It is just a simple square knot sinnet with spaces and a bead closure, made of waxed linen I believe, but I'm rather attached to it. The necklace is macrame cord in an alternating square knot sinnet and triple pretzel knot design with lots of space in between each motif. When I first made it it was very lacy looking and pretty, but the cotton was too soft and after a few wearings it lost it's shape.

Hemp Happy

2006-07-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

I've been making hemp jewelry again. How to make the knots came back to me pretty quickly, but it took me a while to get the tension right again. (Having a toddler pulling on the strands as I'm working doesn't help, I'm sure! LOL) These are a few of the first pieces that I made. Well, *this* time anyway. I've made macramé jewelry in the past. I actually first learned some of the knots when I was just a kid - around 8 or so. I should take a pic of the first macramé bracelet that I still have and wear! The thing is close to 30 years old and still going strong. I started making macramé stuff again about 10 years ago but all of my stuff got packed away when we were selling our old house and it is still sitting in a storage box somewhere. I decided to make a hemp necklace for myself because I joined a bead swap on the OddArts list (we're making sets of beads to swap) and wanted to be able to make some jewelry with some of those yummy beads I'm going to get. I had only planned on refreshing my memory in order to make a little something for myself, but I enjoyed doing it so much that I just kept playing. The "new" colored hemp (new to me anyway) is so nice! When I was doing this before I was pretty much limited to natural colors. If I wanted to do a colored piece, I usually used cotton macramé cord. It never turned out as defined though. (I still have one of those necklaces lying around somewhere. I think it's in my daughter's dress up box.) These were all test pieces and have certain flaws that keep me from selling them, mostly tension issues or measurement inaccuracies, but I am currently making some stuff to sell at fests as well.

She Sells Seashells - updated FLB

2006-07-11T17:34:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't updated my blog lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything! It just means that I haven't had any computer time.

I just took these horrid pics of an updated FLB (Funky Little Bag) that I did today. I still have no idea what I'll do with this bag, but it has been crying out for some sort of seacreature-like embellishments since I bought the yarn. These beads were a little smaller than I had in mind but they had the right feel. Since I wasn't finding anything closer to what I had in mind I finally used them. It's okay, but I sure wish those little critters were bigger!

Mother's Touch

2006-06-26T16:19:00.000-04:00

I just finished this 9 panel ATC set for a swap. I sketched out the hand and the various parts with a sharpie marker and then painted it with acrylics. I wanted it to have a "homemade" quality to it, so I made the brushstrokes obvious and didn't try too hard to make things neat, letting one color overlap another and not worrying if washes were dry before adding the next. I was actually thinking of illustrations from the 60s and 70s when I was sketching it, specifically the cover of a diary I had when I was a child and the old Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo bottle. That was what my mother always used when I was a kid and I remember burying my face in her hair and breathing in the scent of it. I miss that original scent and that funky green color it used to be!

I call this piece (or pieces if you will) "Mother's Touch". I would hope the reasons are obvious. I was specifically thinking about the way my mother raised me and the way I am trying to raise my kids. There are things that I choose to do differently, but overall I'm raising my kids much the same way I was raised, not out of blind devotion to her parenting methods but because much of what my mother did makes sense to me now, although sometimes for different reasons.

As for the symbology in this painting, the hand is based on my own but is also representative of my mother's. The lily-like flowers on the back of the hand stand for feminine wisdom - mother wit, if you will. The poppy-like flower straddling the middle and right hand bottom cards represents me and my growth as a person because of my own mother's loving guidance and because of my own mothering journey. The three hearts in the bottom right panel are me and my kids and the music below them is representative of my mother's influence, always in the background like the soundtrack of our lives, whether she is physically present or not. In my mind, music notes were the only possible symbol for my mom in this painting since she is always humming or singing and has always done so as far back as I can remember. Her singing and humming are some of my earliest memories.

The ladybug is the only touch of sadness in this painting for me. You know the old rhyme "ladybug, ladybug fly away home"? That's why it's there. I always wondered what the ladybug in that rhyme felt when she went home to find that her children were all gone. I always thought it was a horrible sounding rhyme and felt sad for that poor ladybug mama. Losing my children is the worst thing I can possibly imagine. That thought lingers in the corners of my mind and is often the thought that urges me to make every day the best, most loving day I can, because we never know which day will be the one that will later be known as "the last". That tiny little ladybug is like that tiny little thought, only occasionally drawing attention to itself with a little flash of stop-sign-red wings, but ever-present - a message from the spirit to stop and pay attention.

The rainbow coming from my heart is representative of both the love I feel for my children and the whole spectrum of beauty and wonder available to us in our joyful lives. The happiness that being a mother brings me overflows into the world around us. It's like that saying "if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy", but not in the negative way that most people understand it. If you see that phrase in a positive light, it means that the joy in our home starts with me. My mood affects the moods of those around me, especially my children. My perceptions literally color the world around us. If I see the joy and wonder - the *good* - in all that surrounds me, and if I express that energy in my interactions with my children, what glorious lives we all have!

There are also representations of both night and day for that 24/7 aspect of mothering. Parenting doesn't end when the kids are sent off to bed in our house. Being present and available for my kids is a round-the-clock necessity that started the moment they came into our lives. It started with birthing, breastfeeding, sharing sleep, and keeps going through nighmares, night time talks, and more and will stay that way in one form or another until our earthly relationship as mother and child is no more. Mother's are never "off duty" even when we aren't physically present. Some part of our hearts and minds are always with our children in one way or another, all day, all night, every day, every night, forever and always.

The rather hippie-ish peace sign with flowers and "love" I feel are pretty self explanatory. (What is it with me and hippie stuff lately?) I strive each and every day for peaceful interactions with my children and I knew when I started this piece that only one word would be spelled out on it - love - because that's what it all comes down to in the end - how much we loved, how deeply we loved, how *fully* we loved.

And finally there is the hand itself. The position of the hand was very important to me. I tried several different hand positions before finally settling on this one. It *looks* gentle, like someone getting ready to ever so gently touch a butterfly that has landed within reach. It looks like a hand that could never do harm, a hand that would never hit or grab. Hands are for hugging, not for hurting afterall, and the hand that I wanted to represent my own should be a gentle one.

Rice Paper Demo Paintings

2006-06-25T22:45:00.000-04:00

I made these two paintings this week to use as demo pieces on the ExperimentalAcrylics list. In order to give each other ideas to keep the creativity flowing we have been volunteering to put a demo or challenge on the list each week. I volunteered to do a rice paper overlays demo this week since that's something I use fairly frequently and therefore have some knowledge of. I used two of the 4"x6" pieces that I cut from the paint along painting that I overworked as the bases for these paintings.

The purple one was created by adhering plain white rice paper to the background painting with matte gel medium and letting it dry. Then I added fine pumice gel to some areas with a palette knife and let that dry. Finally, I went over the entire painting with several washes of violet, blue lake, viridian and a touch of crimson and then blotted a few spots to create the lighter areas.

For the other painting I used a spiral patterned "lace" paper instead of the plain rice paper I usually use. After it was dry I went over it with several washes in the same color palette as the first painting just much more thinned out. I let it sit for a few minutes then blotted the entire painting to lighten the colors even more. I then went over it with a thicker wash of gold, which I let run pretty much wherever it wished, and then I spattered and dabbed in a bronze colored paint straight from the tube. The wrinkled areas were created almost as an afterthought. Before the painting was dry I remembered using the microwave to quick-dry some ATCs a while back and having the paint bubble up. I liked the effect so I decided to pop this one in the microwave just to see what would happen. The places that were still wet bubbled up nicely so I pulled it out and quickly pushed the bubbles down to create the wrinkled effect. This painting is actually more textural in real life, and the purple one is a bit darker "in person". These are probably destined for a swap in the near future, but I liked both of them enough to briefly consider keeping them.

4x6 Abstracts

2006-06-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

I ended up taking that painting that I did for the paint along and cutting it up into 4x6, ATC and mini ATC sized pieces. These are a few of the 4x6s that I swapped out this week from that painting. I left some of them as they were in the original painting, like the blue and the red ones in this set, while others I added a little to in order to make them a little more interesting. The one with the gold swirls, for instance, was enhanced with permanent markers. I really liked how I could get several different "looks" from the same painting by creatively cropping and cutting. I also like the fact that because it was painted on paper it was easy to recycle into other things. I saved all the scraps that were left over after cutting up the painting so that I could use them in collages. I don't think I'm going back to painting on canvas any time soon! I was using watercolor paper because I couldn't afford canvas for a while, but I'm finding that painting on paper has its advantages. And speaking of paper, I was running low on wc paper and went to the store to get a few sheets. While I was there I picked up some paper specifically made for acrylics. I figure I'll give it a try and see which I like painting on better.

Digital Play

2006-06-21T22:37:00.000-04:00

I've been playing around with some of my photographs lately - altering them in Photoshop to come up with different effects. Some of them I've been using for ATC material. I'm especially fond of some of the cemetery photos I've taken as well as some of the ones of my son. (He's so expressive that he makes a great subject!) These are a few of the results of my digital playing. My son and I both thought the altered photo of him playing around with his spiky ball over his head was pretty creepy. The alien flower was made by taking that same photo and altering it to create the background (notice the spikes?), then drawing the flower in over it with the brush tool. The two cemetery photos are yet more pics of one of my favorite pieces of cemetery art. It resides in a local cemetery and has been the focus of several of my pieces of artwork. I like the composition of this photo so I thought I would play around with simply changing the photo slightly to alter its feel. I have loads of these, each slightly different, and the majority that I've printed to use in swaps are entitled "Beloved Shade" because this particular piece of cemetery art always brings to mind the quote "Beloved shade, perhaps now hovering near/ Oh! Let your spirit whisper in my ear". You can't see it in this photo, but the reason I think of this particular quote is because she has her right hand up near her ear as if she is listening for some soft sound that only she can hear. She fascinates me so I just keep using her.

The Power of Love

2006-06-19T23:57:00.000-04:00

The hippie in me just loves these cards! I've made several cards with this quote. Not all of them have flowers and butterflies, but they have all had tie dyed backgrounds. I wish I could say that I tie dyed them myself, but I can't. I bought a pack of decorative papers that had a tie dye theme (with a different pattern on the front and back of each piece) for the kids to use in their crafts. They never made it to the kids though. I used a piece to make a new spirit board and then used a couple more as ATC backgrounds, then somehow the whole pack ended up in with my collage materials. They're not the fanciest, most artistic cards I've ever done, but they are happy, make me feel good cards none the less.

Some older crochet pieces

2006-06-11T16:02:00.000-04:00

I was talking about these pieces on a couple of crochet lists, so here are the pics. The flowers are thread crochet. I made them for my sister and mom last year for Mother's Day. The baby blanket is the Pound of Love hooded baby blanket pattern. It worked up quickly and beautifully! And the sling is my own design, but it was based on these:
http://www.sleepingbaby.net/jan/Baby/crochet.html
http://kanggah.com/cheap/sling.html

Paint Along - Final Painting

2006-06-05T22:17:00.000-04:00

Well...here's the final mess, er painting. I liked the painting up until the final step and then I blew it. In the final step we were to add color by "printing" with the paint by putting it on a foam plate or something of that nature and pressing it onto the painting. I knew what I wanted to do but the paint just didn't want to cooperate. I realized it as soon as I put paint to paper and tried to clean it off but it just didn't want to budge. So, in an effort to salavage what I could I scumbled the yellow, white, gold mixture that had smeared so badly into other areas. It still needed something else so I started painting more swirlies in a bronzy-gold color. Then another disaster struck. I got a huge dribble of paint near the right hand corner that most definitely did NOT fit into my plans! I ended up painting that big fireworks looking thing there to cover it up. I hated having to cover up the masked shapes that I liked. ICK! Can you say OVERWORKED! Oh well, maybe it can be cut up to use for backgrounds in other pieces.

Apron Strings

2006-06-04T23:15:00.000-04:00

This is "Apron Strings", an ATC that I made for a private swap. It's one of my most favorites from the last month or so. I love the way the frayed ends look like they are reaching for each other in places, as if they would weave themselves back together if only they had the chance. While making this card I was thinking about how moms are encouraged to "cut those apron strings", yet those same moms who follow that advice and separate from their kids prematurely are often the ones who yearn to have those "apron string" days back later on. What if we didn't cut them? What if we encouraged our kids and trusted them to let go when they are ready instead? Would we still yearn for those early years or would we be content to know that our kids moved on when the time was right? Maybe all is well and we don't need to cut the apron strings in order to let our kids fly.

This piece was created on illustration board using acrylic paints, rice paper, cotton trim and gold and black inks.

Paint Along Step 4

2006-05-24T18:43:00.000-04:00

My daughter ended up taking and extra long nap today, so after step 3 had sat on the easel for a while and I had walked by and looked at it several times I finally had some idea of what I wanted to do for step 4. I figured I should take advantage of her sleepiness while I could!

Step 4 was using a spray bottle and some sort of mask/stencils to add a new layer to our paintings. I formed chenille stems into more curlies and then sprayed Golden fluid acrylic paint in Pyrrole Red over them with a recycled travel size hair spray bottle. I also used a piece of paper towel torn into the shape of a wide triangle to mask the blue/black swirlies during the first spraying, then I removed the paper towel and the chenille stem shapes and sprayed another very light layer of red over the area.

It looks even more unfinished at this stage than at any of the previous stages to me. It has the *potential* to be a finished painting but it isn't one yet. This is where it usually gets tricky. In the earlier stages I can, for the most part, go hog wild and work whatever I do into a painting, but as I start to get closer to a finished piece I have to reign in my enthusiasm a bit and really think through each addition before committing to it. Too much of this or too little of that can make or break the painting.

Paint Along Step 3

2006-05-24T18:38:00.000-04:00

Step 3 of the Experimental Acrylics Paint Along:

This time we were to add some "playful brushtrokes" to our paintings. I did my usual curly swirlies in ultramarine blue with a little mars black added to it so that it reads more "black". I found that after I did this step the painting wanted to be turned so that the top is now that bottom. I may change that again later on as we add more elements, but that's what seemed right for now.

Paint Along Progress

2006-05-22T14:38:00.000-04:00

These pics are of a painting in progress. On the Experimental Acrylics list we're doing a virtual painting class/paint along. The leader posts a new step a couple of times a week and each of us do each step and then post what we've done. It's interesting to see what everyone does and how unique each painting is even though we're all following the same steps. This painting is one 140# watercolor paper. The background was painted with a mixture of gesso and various blues. The second step was adding some texture. I did mine with large and small bubble wrap. I painted squares on the bubble wrap with prism violet and interference blue and then pressed them onto the background. I tried not to overdo it since I know we've got a lot of steps left to go! The next step, which I haven't had time to do yet because I have to wait until the toddler is sleeping to paint on the easel, is to add some "playful brushstrokes". Not sure what I'm going to do for that step just yet. And the step that's coming up I know will deal with spraying paint onto the painting with a spray bottle. Should be interesting.

Art Quote

2006-05-19T14:05:00.000-04:00

This scan came out all funky as usual. In trying to get the gold accents, which I tend to use a lot, to come out looking somewhat decent the other colors look off. It's a no win situation. I think I may go back to taking digital photos of all of my cards that have any kind of embellishments that I know will be difficult to correct in a scan.

Other than the scanning problems I liked this card. It was for a Quotes swap. I happen to love quotes, so I usually won't pass up a quote swap!

Sunrise/Sunset

2006-05-10T14:50:00.000-04:00

These are a couple of pieces I just sent off for a 4"x6" swap. The sunrise painting is okay. I think the foreground trees look too evenly spaced and uniform though. The rainy day sunset was just a sketch that I sent in because I didn't have time to do a complete painting. It's not a finished piece by any means, but I like the idea. Here in Indiana the ground in rather flat and you can see storms coming from miles away when you are out in the country. It's very dramatic, especially during the times of year when the fields haven't grown very tall. I love it when I can look out over the horizon and see where the rain starts and stops. This sketch was done with that in mind. If I were to work on a painting from this sketch I would do more definition in the clouds and use a little more of the reds, yellows and oranges. Everything got muddled in the sketch.

World Tree

2006-05-09T13:26:00.000-04:00

This is "World Tree". I created this card (along with some others) for a swap entitled "The Great Earth Mother Goddess". I decided to post it here not only because I like the way it turned out but also because I wanted to show that pre-made stickers can be a part of a cohesive piece of art. The tree sticker in this piece looks like a part of a whole, not just something stuck on the top.

"World Tree" started with a base of earthy colored handmade paper, then I added the vellum tree sticker and another layer of a darker paper over that (in which the circle is cut). Then I put yet another layer of light green rice paper with silver flecks over all of this. (I use matte gel medium as an adhesive btw.) I then enhanced the overall effect with gold ink and watercolor pencils.

And just for the record...I don't have anything against people using stickers. I obviously use them myself on some of my ATCs. I just wanted to show that they don't always have to *look* like stickers!

Mehndi ATCs

2006-04-30T20:50:00.000-04:00

These three cards are from a tattoo ATC swap. I don't have tattoos, but I wish I did. I started to do the cards to draw the tattoos I wish I could get, but since most of them would be all black and small they didn't make much of a statement on a card. But I *do* do mehndi, so I stuck with what I know. The first card is my fave, but I've done designs similar to each of these on my own hands several times. I think they turned out pretty cool! They are just orange and black ink on peach colored papers btw.

Egyptian Altered Puzzle Piece

2006-04-26T17:51:00.000-04:00

Leaving my blog with pictures of cards I didn't like at the top left me feeling slightly depressed, so I decided to add another post with something I *do* like. I have been trying to hold off on posting all of these altered puzzle pieces because they haven't been swapped out yet, but I was so pleased with this one. It's made with layers of hand made paper, parchment with burnt edges, the mummy photo and goldrite (one of my favorite "embellishments").

One of the reasons I like this piece so much is that it is more "me" than a lot of the things I do. I'm generally a very positive, optimistic, "white lighter" kind of person; but I also have a life long fascination with many things that some people would consider "dark". Some people who only know one side of me are shocked when they discover the other, but I personally don't see those two sides of me as being incompatible. As a matter of fact, I think they are quite complimentary and create balance. When you think about it, life and death are merely two sides of the same coin. There is death and darkness in life, just as there is life and light in the midst of death and darkness. Many of the swaps I do are on lists that, for the most part, would not appreciate my darker side so I don't often get to show it, but the group I created this for is much more open to "darker" themes. Though we don't do nearly as many swaps on that list I really throw myself into the ones we do do because it creates that sense of balance in my art that is otherwise lacking.

Moveable Parts

2006-04-26T17:38:00.000-04:00

Three cards for a Moveable Parts swap - each card has to have at least one part that moves in some way. I could have had a lot more fun with this, but I've been really pressed for time lately. What I did end up doing *looks* like I've been really pressed for time lately too! I occasionally post things that I don't like on here as well as ones that I do simply because that's the way art (and life) is.

Life Goes On Without You

2006-04-17T19:17:00.000-04:00

This card makes me cry. I woke up earlier this week from a dream about a friend of mine who passed away when we were young. I decided to go downstairs and do some art work instead of lying in bed feeling sad. My face still wet with tears, I started working...and this card was the result. I can't look at it without feeling the tears well up inside my eyes, my throat, my heart. They are tears of sadness but they are also tears of joy. They are tears that remind me of how special the people in my life are and how quickly we can be separated. They are the kind of tears that remind me that this person and I are still connected even though we are temporarily separated.

The red background represents my heart and the larger gold piece represents the part of my life that is no longer whole because he is gone. The smaller gold piece represents my friend and the spiral is this thing we call "life" that keeps us apart.

With something so personal you would think that I would want to keep this card, but that isn't the case. As a matter of fact I feel that this card *wants* to be let go. And besides, this particular swap is a special one. It's with a group of people I know would appreciate a card made with so much feeling. To my Imagination Tribe buddy who receives this card...I hope you enjoy it. I truly put my heart into it. And to Bruce, wherever you are, it's been more years than I care to count but I still love you and miss you every day. I'm still waiting for that phone call you promised me!

Black & Lime Green

2006-04-09T18:41:00.000-04:00

These ATCs were for a black and lime green color challenge swap. The Yin Yang is a black textured base card with layers of lime green and black paper, sparkly lime green yarn, beads and small mirrors. The whimsical cat is cut paper with a few permanent marker strokes for the whiskers.

New Ponchos

2006-04-09T18:20:00.000-04:00

I made these ponchos over the weekend a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely ADORE mine! I've been wearing it everywhere. It's just the Lion Brand "Coming Home" poncho so don't get all excited thinking I came up with this one on my own. lol The poncho is super easy, super quick and VERY comfy. If anyone has been thinking about making one, I *highly* recommend it!

I adapted the "Coming Home" pattern to make the yellow poncho for my daughter. I shortened the number of rows to the body and only did two rows of a different scallop design for the trim. I made it out of "Pitter Patter" eyelash yarn (a very soft, almost chenille like yarn) and used a multi colored eyelash yarn for the trim. SO cute!

FuNkY liTtLe bAg #3

2006-03-30T15:07:00.000-05:00

Here's my funky little bag #3! This is the one I finally decided to send off for the swap. I call this kind of crocheting "crazy crochet" because it reminds me of crazy quilts. I basically gather up a bunch of small scraps of yarn, pick one a start crocheting. Once that scrap is gone I stop and add a new color. Sometimes the work goes up and down, sometimes it goes side to side, sometimes I add granny squares or flowers or other motifs. Sometimes these pieces turn out square or rectangular, sometimes they don't! It's a lot of fun and there are no rules. I just follow my intuition and do whatever feels right at that moment with that particular yarn.

3-d Wings

2006-03-25T16:08:00.000-05:00

These cards were for a swap entitled "Pixie Dust". The theme was pixies or fairies with 3-d wings. It sounded like something I would like since I like making my butterflies have moving wings anyway. I think they turned out great! You can't tell that most of them are 3-d because they were flattened out on the scanner. The three with pics of my daughter were my usual type of wings - attached only at what would be the "body" of the butterfly leaving the wings free to "flap" - except this time I used only one wing and the "body". The vintage one was different though. I used the full butterfly silhouette and folded it off center so that the wing underneath showed and then put a spacer of folded paper between the two wings to keep the upper wing raised off the card.

My Favorite Mini

2006-03-20T19:28:00.000-05:00

This is one of the first mini ATCs that I ever made and I just haven't been able to bring myself to trade it yet, so I guess it's mine. I call it "Flowers in the Rain". I hope it's obvious why. I made it using one of my favorite "techniques"...squirting paint onto the surface and pushing it around with my fingers and/or brushes until I like what I see. (grin)This piece measures only 1 1/2" x 2 1/2".

FuNkY liTtLe bAg #2

2006-03-17T14:01:00.000-05:00

Here's my funky little bag #2. I actually made this one with some of the contents in mind. I wanted a bag that would have a sort of ocean theme and this yarn makes me think of seaweed. I put a cut down Pringles can in it to help it hold it's shape and to keep the contents from falling through the holes. I may still add some beads or seashells to this bag by crocheting a rim of black thread around the top.

Icarus

2006-03-11T09:53:00.000-05:00

This is a HORRIBLE scan, but I still wanted to share this card because it was one of my favorites from this past week. I call it "Icarus". It was for a swap in which you had to have at least one feather on each card. "Icarus" started because I printed off a fiery looking background for something else and some of them didn't print well. While trying to wait for my muse to speak to me I started playing around with some of the materials I had laying on the table to see if I could salvage one of the backgrounds even with its printing flaws. I tied a few ragged looking feathers together with some black hemp-type string and put that over the printer error and discovered that I liked it. I poked holes in the card and tied the feathers on. It still needed something else though, so I went rummaging in the desk drawer and found my red sealing wax. I melted some on the place where the feathers were ties on to help hold them on. I originally envisioned something much neater, but the wax had other ideas. It started dribbling elsewhere on the card so I went with it. This is one of those serendipitous pieces that just all fell together without me even trying. I love that kind!

Hand Drawn Cats

2006-03-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

I just spent about an hour making these cats while the kids are sleeping in. They are for a hand drawn cats swap and I hope they get there in time! I cut my hand on a piece of glass a couple of weeks ago - right where my fingers meet my palm. It kept me from keeping up with all the swaps I've signed up for this month so now I'm scurrying trying to get them all done and sent before their due dates.

The cat with the green background is a simple pen sketch shaded with watercolor pencil. The background is of course painted watercolor paper covered with rice paper (one of my all time favorite backgrounds). I call him "Little Tiger" because I think all house cats have a great fantasy life and often pretend they are wild beasts hunting in the jungle when all we see is "playing". I didn't fill him in completely because I wanted the background peeking through. All of my cats are so sure that they blend *completely* into the background when they are "stalking". I figure he needed to do the same.

"Sunbeam" is a watercolor pencil sketch on cardstock. He got a little muddled but there was no time to redo it.

The kitten is my favorite though. I don't usually like to do "cute" but this little fella' was an exception. He's just a pencil sketch on illustration board.

Vixen of the Sea

2006-03-07T12:46:00.000-05:00

Here's one of the mermaids I made last night. My daughter woke up at 11 pm and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I stayed up with her most of the night and actually got a little artwork done in between watching Teletubbies and Nemo. The original mermaid was just something I was playing around with. I had a bunch of scraps lying on the table and one looked a bit like a fish tail. I found a vintage image that fit the size of the "fish tail". I don't like the length of the tail but that was a necessity to make sure it would fit on a 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" card. I scanned it, reduced the size and then placed it over a background similar to the one I used for "Lucky". (I really like the way bright, busy papers look when covered with a thin layer of rice paper.) Then I added a bit of gold ink to the bodice and tail to make her stand out a little. I'm not totally happy with this one. It's a tad...bland, but I'm still playing with the basic idea.

FuNky liTtLe bAg #1

2006-03-06T10:27:00.000-05:00

This is my funky little bag #1. I've got several more in the works. Once again this is swap material. The guidelines are for this swap were to create a small bag (any medium) and put something inside. I haven't found the right *something* for this one yet. This bag is 5"x5". The leaves make me want to put something nature inspired inside but I'm just haven't figured out what! As usual, I'll probably just know it when I see it. I keep feeling like it should be a card or cards which is why I chose the size I did, but I'm not drawn to making any ATCs for it. If I could find a nature inspired tarot set or something along those lines, that would be cool!

Our "Hannah" boxes

2006-03-03T10:42:00.000-05:00

These are a couple of boxes that my son and I did collaboratively. We call them the "Hannah" boxes now because we ended up donating them in memory of a young girl named Hannah who passed away recently due to leukemia. Hannah was the same age as my son (9) and was also an unschooler. Although we never had the privelege of meeting Hannah and her family in person, the story of their lives touched our hearts deeply. When she passed away on February 24 we felt we needed to DO something. Donating these boxes to be sold on the web site set up by other unschooling families was something we felt was appropriate and right, especially since they were created with the celebration of LIFE in mind. We didn't want to simply express condolences. We wanted to CELEBRATE Hannah's short time here on Earth. We're glad that our "Hannah" boxes went to good homes and that their creation benefitted Hannah's family in some small way. (And now I'm off to hug my kids and be thankful that they are both here to hug!)

Lucky's in ATC Quarterly

2006-03-01T09:55:00.000-05:00

The ATC Quarterly "Fish Ish" is about to come out. There is a pic of the inside layout on the new ATC Quarterly Web site with Lucky in it! Wanna' see?

http://www.atcquarterly.com/inside_pages.html

There are some AWESOME cards in this publication! I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing it in my mail box!

My First Altered Tins

2006-02-26T19:58:00.000-05:00

These tins were created for an altered tin swap on one of the lists I belong to. It's an "odd" art list, hence the saying inside the smaller tin. My 9 yo son had great fun helping me find objects to put in the witchy box. He donated some of his wolf hair collection (yes, really) and several things from his nature collection so that it looked "witchy" enough. Oh, and he raided my herb cabinet as well. Looks like the makings of a decent witch's brew to me!

The "odd" tin was spray painted silver and decorated with permanent marker and some stickers from the Disney line. The inside is lined with leopard print tissue paper. The "witchy" tin was hand painted black with a fairly stiff brush so that it didn't look quite so smooth and new, then the top was decorated with papers and stickers and sprayed with a flat laquer. The inside is lined with a rusty-looking paper.

These are two of my first altered tins ever. My son and I made 4 total. (He likes to help with my work.) I'll post the other two in another entry because they have their own story.

In Silence We Speak

2006-02-18T11:35:00.000-05:00

These were done for a cemetery art swap entitled "In Silence We Speak". I really enjoyed this swap because it combines two of my favorite things - ATCs and cemeteries. I have loved spending time in cemeteries and looking at gravestones, cemetery art and the ephemera that people leave at gravesites since I was a kid. All of the photos were taken by me at local cemeteries except for the first one. They are all printed on paper and enhanced with colored pencils. Some, like the "There is no death" card, were altered in Photoshop. I have LOTS more of these cards in the works, but these are likely to be the ones I'll send in for the swap.

"Lucky" - My Cut Paper Fish

2006-02-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a lot of cut paper stuff lately. It's my latest technique obsession. It started with wanting to do a papel picado style skull, but while researching papel picado I started learning about other paper cutting traditions. I borrowed a pair of my husband's surgical scissors and started cutting just about every piece of paper I could find. I still haven't gotten around to cutting out the skull because I've been to busy using cut paper for some of my swaps that have deadlines, but I'll get to it eventually. The project I wanted it for is still a ways off.

I absolutely love this fish! I call him my "Lucky" as he is made after the Chinese carp. I don't plan on swapping him, which is saying quite a bit. I have kept almost nothing that I have done over the years in any medium. I just don't get that attached to most of my work, but this one I'm keeping. I may even have to frame him I like him so much!

I sent him into ATC Quarterly as a submission for their "Fish Ish" theme for the March issue and it looks like they may use it! As always, I'm not happy with the scanned image. It makes the background stand out too much and the fish look almost black, even after playing around with it in Photoshop to bring the colors back closer to what they really look like. In reality the background isn't so pronounced and looks almost watery. The fish is actually cut from green hand marbled paper. And it's difficult to tell from the scanned image, but the scales are actually holes cut through the green marbled paper, not gold shapes glued on top. I put the gold foil behind the fish to accentuate the cutouts, but in the scanned image it looks like the gold is on top of the green, not the other way around. Arrrg! I need to learn to quit critiquing the scanned images!

Women's Accessories & Too Many Swaps

2006-02-12T12:18:00.000-05:00

These ATCs are from a "Women's Accessories" 3/3 swap. I love vintage images and have been collecting old pictures, postcards and stereoscope cards off and on since I was a kid. Mine are all in a box somewhere however so I'm limited to whatever I can find on line until I find them. I knew I wanted to do the cards for this swap with vintage images, but they ended up being completely different than what I thought I was going to do. The shoe one is probably the closest to what I envisioned, but it's a little "prettier" than what I was going to do. I was originally thinking more along the lines of a Victorian "pin up girls" imagery - corsets and high button boots peeking out from under petticoats. I didn't like the images that came out of that experiment though. Well...*I* kind of liked them, but I didn't finish them because they looked a little too risque for what I imagine most of the people on this particular list would like. I want to finish them for myself though...after I finish all of the swaps I'm in for the next couple of months!

Speaking of too many swaps...I've noticed that my style changes when I sign up for a lot of swaps. My cards are less detailed and more dependent on available materials when I've got lots of swaps to do. I have less time to create the hand drawn and more time consuming cards that I usually do when I'm not doing so many swaps. I don't think that's good or bad. It does push me to be more picky with layout and use more embellishments than I might normally. Having a theme to work with also gives me a place to start when I'm not feeling particularly inspired. But at the same time I miss being able to take several days to create one or two very special cards because I'm so busy cranking out the cards that I need to meet the qualifications of the swaps. I also miss seeing more of "me" in the cards. Sometimes the cards I make for swaps are more of a reflection of the theme and not so much of me. Not always, mind you, just sometimes. I think perhaps a good solution to this dilemma would be to do a lot of swaps for a month or two and then take a break for a while to concentrate on doing blind trades and personal swaps (where I trade most of my more time consuming cards).

Nice Bugs

2006-02-12T10:54:00.000-05:00

These ATCs are from a "nice bugs" swap. We were to do one each of a ladybug, a butterfly and a dragonfly. True to my usual MO, I did more than the required number and then chose the ones I liked the most to send. The Ladybug Club was admittedly a little "cute". That's not my normal style, but it's what goes on in my imagination when I look at it that makes me like it so much. I used some of my son's craft materials to make it and my only intent was to have fun with it, which I did. When I stuck those little wooden bugs on there they looked like they were having some sort of clandestine meeting down in the grass. It made me think of Victorian ladies clubs, so I thought they needed their own club name. I thought about calling it "The Ladybug Luncheon", but that brought to mind images of these very ladylike bugs wearing their best hats and sipping tea while gorging themselves on aphid tea cookies and little aphid cakes. (I can't quite get that image out of my head, so it will likely become a drawing in the future! I keep imagining it as a Tim Burton-ish sort of cartoon in my head.) That thought reminded me of the "Ladies Sewing Circle and Terrorist Society" buttons and t-shirts. Now every time I look at those cute little ladybugs I can't help thinking of them as little tea sipping, aphid munching terrorists and it cracks me up. (Aren't you lucky! You get a tiny peek inside my warped mind when you read this blog!)

I LOVE the butterfly on the "Fresh Color" card. I handcolored it with oil pastels and really liked the way it turned out. It kept telling me it wanted a purple and green background. I wanted the background to be subdued so that it didn't compete with the butterfly. The dark purple rice paper was perfect behind the butterfly. It really made it stand out, but the design needed something more. I had some plastic "grass" dividers that my son and I saved from our sushi boxes, so I added one of those to the bottom. It looked a little too stark though, so I added some lighter grass strokes behind it with colored pencil and darker grass strokes on top of it with permanent marker. Better, but it *still* looked like it needed something else, so I added the "fresh color" sticker. It's the only element I'm not sure about, mainly because the texture of the plastic grass keeps it from looking as clean as I would like, but the overall card is pleasing even if it is a little less detailed than I usually like. Most of the cards I do with butterflies on them are only attached at the body and this one is no exception. It's wings are actually lifted off the background when it's not flattened by the scanner.

And last but not least is the dragonfly. It's my favorite of the these cards because this is the way I see dragonflies in our summer garden. Our house is on a lake so during the summer months we see LOTS of dragonflies and damselflies flitting about the gardens. They are so fast that when I look up from my gardening all I usually see is an outline silhouetted by the sun. I've been experimenting with various cut paper arts lately, so I assembled the dragonfly from various cut papers. I placed it on a background that was created on turquoise rice paper with a textured rubbing plate and a yellow oil pastel. I added a little white pencil and gold ink to accentuate the yellow rays and then decided that if I added any more detail I was going to lose the effect I was going for so I stopped. I had already lost a little of the silhouette effect by adding the gold ink. The thing that doesn't come through on the scan is the fact that there is a glittery element to the card. The thin rice paper I used for the wings has flecks of silver and the gold ink catches the light as the card is moved. It really adds to the overall feel of the card and reminds me of the glittery, flitting creatures in my gardens.

Celebrate

2006-02-11T17:20:00.000-05:00

This ATC was made for a birthday swap. As is usually the case with art made with metallic inks and/or fibers, the image quality is poor but I still wanted to share it. The design was simple but I absolutely loved the colors scheme. The butterfly is only attached at the body, so the wings actually move.

I'm becoming my mother!

2006-02-10T14:52:00.000-05:00

These fun cards were from a swap entitled "I'm becoming my mother!". They aren't the most "artistic" cards I've made but I liked doing them. And yes, the kids are mine...but not the horse.

I decided to update this entry because few of the people who read this blog will know me or my family well enough to know that I'm NOT SERIOUS about these sayings! I don't actually say any of these things and quite frankly neither did my mom. Everyone knows them though, don't they! When I did some of these cards I was trying to portray the *fun* side of these often repeated sayings. That's why I used the colors I did. I wanted them to feel bright, vibrant, childlike and FUN! While doing some of them I was thinking about how obviously silly those saying are. (Has anyone's face *really* ever frozen like that?) "Don't play with your food!" is one of my faves though. How could I look at the sheer JOY on that child's face and tell her to stop!

Mini Egyptian

2006-02-05T17:16:00.000-05:00

These were a couple of minis made for another ATC artist's birthday. The background is cardstock layered with brown rice paper. I added a hand made paper with gold accents on top of that and then a layer of papyrus. The images were cut from a book and embelished with gold and black ink.

Cat Sketch ATC

2006-02-05T16:59:00.000-05:00

This card was done for another ATC artist's birthday. The background is an old watercolor done on watercolor paper that I cut into ATC size pieces. I glued thin rice paper over the painting, let it dry, then drew the cat in watercolor pencil. Then I went over the whole thing with a thin wash and touched up the background with a little more green so the eyes would stand out a little more. I think of it as more of a sketch than a finished piece, but I liked it enough to pass it along.

Wizard Minis

2006-02-05T12:42:00.000-05:00

The bottom two came out very dark in the scan, but these are the minis (1 1/2" x 2 1/2") that I just sent out for a swap. I'm feeling iffy about these, especially that third one. The colored pencils I was using were giving me fits, especially on the right side of the card. They just didn't want to stick to the painted background. I pasted a layer of thin tissue over it and redrew it which helped some but not enough. His hand came out all wonky after redrawing it so many times. I really dislike this one now that I look at it again but it's a little late to change it now since I already put them in the mail! I did a couple of others in this theme but hated them even while I was working on them. These are the four that made the cut I guess. The fourth one was a Harry Potter-ish one that I tried just to see what it would turn out like. Rather bland, but not completely terrible. I think the Alchemist one (the second one) is my favorite but I'm not in love with it either. Funny how I think I'll love a swap theme and end up feeling more or less indifferent about the results while other themes I don't think I'll like and end up loving.

Valentine's Day Cards

2006-01-26T15:37:00.000-05:00

I think I signed up for a few too many V-day swaps! I felt like I did nothing but V-day cards this week and ended up hating most of them. These are a few that I did like though. Once I finally moved away from the pre-made Valentine stuff I had and started from scratch I enjoyed the process much more and these cards were the result.

I started out with the one on the bottom. I call it "Opposites Attract". When I started I wasn't thinking 'Valentine's Day', I was thinking 'what do I want for breakfast?' My husband had left a crushed styrofoam cup on top of the trash so I pulled it out and started doodling on it while thinking about the whole breakfast thing. The little spirals started turning into hearts here and there and I liked the way they looked so I cut up the cup, slathered it with red paint and used it to stamp on some card stock. The result was the background behind the black and white heart on "Opposites Attract" as well as the red background heart on the "LOVE" card. I liked the effect so much that I just kept playing with it. I started making those little doodle hearts and spirals on other scraps of paper. I especially like the way they looked in gold ink on the black rice paper, that's why there's so much of it. I never did get around to breakfast btw.

The first card is a leftover from the finger painting swap I participated in a few weeks ago. I cut up most of the leftovers from that process to use as backgrounds and shapes in other cards. (I don't think I ever throw out any scraps anymore!) I was feeling uninspired that day and bored with some of the cards I had made so I just started playing with the paint. I kept looking through the scrap bin and those finger painted cards kept calling my name. I had SO much fun with those! So I pulled one out and decided to throw a couple of ugly heart tags that I had lying around on it and spatter paint it. Several coats of red acrylic spatters later I had something that started to talk to me. When I pulled of the hearts I found that one of them had a black streak through it that I liked so I made more lines which made the hearts pop a little more. Then I noticed that the original fingerpainted background had a nice swooshy pattern that made the hearts look like they were going to crash. I used gold ink to play up the swooshy effect then couldn't decide if I liked it so I called it a day. The next day I decided that it looked like two hearts on a collision course. I found myself wondering if they'd actually collide or if it would be a near miss. I thought about how it kind of reminded me of fate. Maybe those two hearts were soul mates and were meant to collide so that they could fulfill their destiny. I decided I liked it and called it "Collision Course".

Gypsy's Soul Cards

2006-01-24T16:46:00.000-05:00

My Gypsy's Soul cards are done. Some of them I love, some are just okay, but that's the way it goes. Like my former art teacher used to say...for every 100 works an artist does, there will be ONE that is "good enough". I've found that to be a good approximation of the truth time and time again.

I tried to stick with images of gypsies that most people would be familiar with for the images on these cards - music, dancing, fortune telling - while adding a little bit of lesser known stuff - mainly Romani phrases. I can't vouch for their accuracy since I know no Romani personally, but I liked the idea. I believe these phrases were Anglo-Romani and I found them on a web site after a little digging. I wrote some of the phrases down in my notes but didn't think I would use them so I didn't bookmark the page. If I find it again I'll update this post to give credit to the site. As I mentioned before, "Na bister 500,000" means "don't forget the 500,000" and is in reference to the number of Romani who died in Nazi Germany. Some of the other phrases I used were "Amaro baro them" (our ancestral homeland), "O manusha kheleran tut" (the people make you dance), and "Ashen Devlesa Rovale" (may you remain with God). "Sara la Kali" (Saint Sara/Black Sara) can be thought of as the patron saint of the Romani. Many Romani make a pilgrimage to Saintes Maries de la Mer in France every year to visit the crypt of Saint Sara.

This swap is for up to 9 cards and you will notice that there are 10 here. I made the Saint Sara card for myself to add to my growing collection of Divine Feminine cards. (If any other ATC artists want to trade cards of a Divine Feminine nature - Goddesses, Saints, etc., let me know!)

I've learned so much about the Romani peoples from researching this that it will probably be a recurring theme for me. There are so many ways that I could explore this theme besides collage.

A Few New ATCs

2006-01-20T15:31:00.000-05:00

"The Cat Couple" and "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" are from a zettiology inspired swap that I just sent out. They were kind of fun, but I don't know if I'll do more like these or not. The Cat Couple came out kind of dark so it's difficult to tell that it says "We were made for each other" on it.

ATC #2 is from a "Gypsy's Soul" swap that I'm currently working on. the basic idea is to create images that a "gypsy" might think or dream of. It's the first in the series of 9 and I liked the way it turned out. The phrase "Na bister 500,000" is a Romani phrase the means "never forget the 500,000". It is in reference to the gypsies that were killed in Nazi Germany. I obviously have several more of these in the works and will post some of the ones I like on here. Some ATC artists make 9 of the same or similar cards for a large swap like this. I usually prefer to make 9 totally different cards to more fully explore the theme. Both ways are acceptable.

The last ATC is from a photo of my daughter sleeping. I turned it into a black and white line image on a computer photo program, colored it lightly with colored pencils, then layered it with a couple of layers of light green rice paper. I have several swaps coming up where I may trade this card. I have a children themed swap, a love themed swap and a mother themed swap coming up - any of which would be a possible avenue for trading this one. I liked this image of my daughter so much that I did print several of them and will probably make more with this same image.

A few of my ATCs

2006-01-16T18:28:00.000-05:00

I finally got a few of my scanned ATCs to upload! I have tried several times and it would come up blank. These are but a few of the cards I've been making the first and second I traded in a private blind swap, the third was from a Sun, Moon & Star group swap and the last one was from a finger paint group swap.I actually give most of my cards titles so that I can find them in my files once I've swapped them out. The first is "Cherish Love" (a no-brainer), the second is "Parrot in Flight", the third is "Moon Face", and the last is "Ghosts". The last three are some of my absolute favorite cards. Too bad the scanned image doesn't do "Ghosts" justice.

ATCs, art and life in general

2006-01-06T16:46:00.000-05:00

I started this blog primarily to keep a record of some of my art endeavors. After I started a blog for my Found Art I decided that I really wanted one for my other art, especially my ATCs. On this blog I hope to explore some of the different techniques I try as well as some of the things I learn about myself as I create .

I'm the mother of two kids who rightfully tend to take up the majority of my time. And since we are an unschooling family there will be no sending them off to school while I work! I must work with my kids in mind at all times. ATCs have been my saving grace. They have allowed me to regain some of my former life (and my former self) without sacrificing my time with my kids.

I haven't had a studio in quite some time. When I made the decision to give up my studio I expected to only be without it for a year or two. I was pregnant with my oldest child, who is now 9 (!), so I didn't figure I would be getting much art done during those couple of years anyway. But circumstances changed and I didn't end up being in a position to get another studio when I had hoped. When I realized that I had gone for almost a decade without doing anything I could seriously call art I freaked! It had been in the back of my mind for quite some time, but I kept pushing it away thinking that soon we would be settled and I could have a studio again. But all the while it still got to me. I had been going a little crazy from lack of creative outlets for quite some time. I was mildly depressed and getting snippy. I needed to do something creative but painting was still out due to lack of space, so I took up crocheting and knitting. Great fun, but not the same as pushing paint around on a canvas. ATCs to the rescue!

ATCs IMO are (to quote Mary Poppins) "practically perfect in every way". I can create them in a small amount of space. (Unfortunately that space is usually my dining room table!), and unlike large scale paintings which I tend to lose myself in for days at a time, ATCs have easily defined starting and stopping points. I don't get as "sucked in" to ATCs as I do large scale paintings - a definite plus with kids around 24/7. ATCs can be (notice I said CAN be) inexpensive and can make the most of found objects. They use only tiny bits of paint, papers, etc. Great when you're on a tight budget like we are. They are also just the right size to explore techniques without a large investment of time and money. And perhaps best of all, my son and I can do them together! So far, I can't find a single thing I don't like about them. That may change in the future when I get the urge to paint large again, but for the time being they are perfect. And when I do get to paint large again I will have explored lots of techniques and mediums that I may not have tried if I were painting solely on a large scale...or if I were sitting around doing no art and waiting for that studio that doesn't seem to be making an appearance any time soon.