Good Mornin' Sunshine!

Good Morning Everyone! Well, it is morning as I write this and the sun is coming up through my window and I hear the birds singing outside....even though we have a real November nip in the air! I wish I could get up as chipper as this every morning!! ....but I am a nite person and usually sleep rather late! But not today...it is really beautiful outside this morning! I don't have anything special to write about except that I love life, my art, my kids and grand kids all around me, my friends and family and my precious little church I have gone to for four years now. I have honestly never experienced such a precious place as my little church. You would have to be there time and again to understand why. Anyway! ... here is a fun collage I did last week ...on gessoed cereal box cardboard, something I save for the kids to do art on...and one of my very favorite substrates to work on with collage....and with all the grandkids living next door for a while I have an unlimited supply of empty cereal boxes to prep!! Honey Nut Cheerios being the favorite! The background words are from Psalm 51 ... where David's heart is broken with his own sin ... a great Psalm for beginning again and laying it at His feet. I love that He can't begin anew in us until our heart is contrite and broken from our own weight of sin and we give it to Him asking for help and forgiveness. What I love is our broken hearts are the ONLY acceptable sacrifice to Him. Like a Mama that has her stinker child crying in her lap with big tears of sorrow....doesn't every parent welcome a child's sorrow over his bad behavior! I love how it mentions rebuilding the walls .... our walls to our soul.... fixing our house so to speak. I love His words... love them! Enjoy my little house collage ... it was fun play! I forgot to mention that I tried a doodle they call a tangle....and I decided to call mine "Prayer Doodles"...a free form shape you add design and doodles in with no plan....just a relaxing doodle that gave me a special time to think and pray for certain people including myself, I need it too! Blessings and have a great week. Thanksgiving is soon you know....

ADD A LITTLE SPARKLE....

Click to see the better colors....these look dull... I just noticed the piece of wood showing (hanging on a wooden tree hook on the door) right under the paper with the scripture....well, it is one of the Castanettes that I played when 10 years old living in Spain!! I leave it there and demonstate my talent on occasion! Ha! I've never been into doing arrangements, especially out of silk or artificial flowers. My yard is usually full of flowers, leaves and good smelling dirt in the vegetable garden and have never had the need for the artificial. So when one of the young women at church gave me a dull garrish brite orange and brown plastic wreath to "try and fix up"...as she said.... for the small entry door .... I said ....uh ....ok ..... Well, I was stuck with no supplies and a long way from a store. So I picked crepe myrtle dried blooms (FORGOT TO MENTION ...I sprayed them with a red-ish maroon automotive PRIMER color I found in the garage!! the only color that would work....and I'll use that color again!!) Then added gold and red glitter to them adding them to the wreath.....and then I added pink transparent paint over the really brite orange little pumpkins to soften them then added glitter there too. She said to add a scripture somewhere....so I printed part of a painting with the right colors and glued it in place ....added the soft polka dot ribbon...it was all I had....but I think it turned out A-OK! The scripture is in Spanish for our church and it says, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song." Psalm 28:7 The last photo is an aerial taken by my husband of just the town of Warrenton (population less than 50) before all the crowds....during the Antiques Shows in our county and Round Top.....and this is just one little town! We are rested and enjoying our fall weather!!! Blessings to you all for a blessed Fall of Thanksgiving!!!

FINALLY, A NEW PIECE!

I was so tempted to do Misty Mawn's 31 Day Challenge ..... but with a 24" x 24" area to do art on until my studio is ready .... I felt it might be too much pressure ..... but I kind of wish I'd done it anyway! I am going to pretend I'm doing it just for my own sake and see what I produce under pressure ..... I am even going to try a self-portrait. You should check out Nelda's self portraits she has done for the challenge.... I will post as I go. I have been reading where a lot of artists have picked a WORD for the new year and have made it their word to try to live up to for the year 2009. Well, I came across this word "CONSIDER" ..... and I decided it would be my word for the year 2009. It is a word with a lot of possibilities for anyone ..... so give it some thought for your self and feel free to share any profound thinking you've had on it. This is a journal page ... to be put into a journal when I have enough pages done .... I do everything backwards! I always find a fabulous old funky frame and then create art for it. Frame shops don't make much money off of me! This piece is watercolor, pencils, oil pastels, water based markers, black ink and some cut out leaves and flowers .... on a heavy watercolor paper. I'm new at this, the collage part and mixed media with new materials part.....and just being spontaneous is new for me.....my art is usually over planned.....so just enjoy it for what it is and I'll continue to experiment and learn how to use more new materials.....my most familiar medium has been ink and watercolor and prisma color pencils.....and I'm also trying to shed the fact that everything needs to be perfect. Funny, I don't know why because I have never produced perfect work!?!

INSPIRED BY SCRAPS...

After deciding to do a new kind of treatment with my art....I began to search for old treasures purchased when I had my antique shop.....and found my old type letters that I had forgotten about! There is a complete set of capitals, small letters and numbers , plus a few punctuation marks....!!! I was so excited I started stamping letters to see how they looked and decided to make labels for the front of my ugly plastic boxes. Then made a label for my clear bag of scraps....I almost threw away! While looking at the scraps an idea began to emerge with the two pieces that have a large cutout in the middle....(which was a flower that I framed for the show)....anyway I took a 16x20 canvas and gessoed it.....then played with the pieces of scraps.....then made some script on my computer....Psalms 119....then printed larger..... Isaiah 58:11....a favorite of mine and decided it would be the theme....words in particular..."garden" ...."you will be like a watered garden".....well, you would have lots of flowers in a watered garden....so flowers it would be.....since I've never done this before and don't have new supplies yet...I used an old standby...decoupage medium. I tore and cut up old scripture for the outer edges of the canvas which you can't see....and some of my floral drawings or manipulated photos I've done in the past.... printed out.... You will not see it finished until much later.....but the last touches will be painting or oil pastel-ing the flowers to make them extend around the edge of the canvas and enhancing the gerbera daisy that looks dark...it will stand out more when I'm finished.....some stamping....then I have a few embellishments to add....and a few tiny photos to give it meaning....I will get a final picture and you will see the finished product around Nov 1....or sooner.... It truly was a joy to do....just playing with the shapes and colors and adding the words....I love the concept that it began with pieces that were doomed for the trash....but looking closer....there was something special about them....and as I worked with them.....I began to see a purpose for them....and upon finishing....the pieces of scraps doomed for the trash....were of value and had beauty....maybe we should think about people in the same way.....as we are each created completely unique and different....not a single person alike in the universe....but uniquely created.....Somebody is pretty smart and amazing!.....and it's not me.......Forgot to say "THANK YOU" to all you artsy bloggers who have inspired me!!!....and I welcome any advice, ideas and especially comments....enjoy!

DON'T THROW THAT AWAY !!

DON'T THROW THAT AWAY!!......I hear an echo...... Ok, girls....after following artsy blogs and discovering the value of that little junk.....I'm NOT going to throw it all out....again! It's hopeless, I'll never get Dick's garage clean!! It has my kid's toys and junk, who are now in their late thirties, it has Dick's Mom's stuff, My Mom and Dad's stuff, kid's college stuff, my old store's stuff, Dick's stuff and all the other stuff!! Can I make that many altered books to get rid of it all? You think!? Well, I can't wait to try......so here is a little bit of my stuff, to start with.....not the vase, but the other stuff....and the glass stopper...I think that will make a wonderful circular stamp....for my book or art....this is a drop in the bucket! The butterflies are from the seventies or sixties.....the leaf is actually from Bath and Body works...is that antique yet? I welcome any ideas.....the little Dr Pepper menu holders are two cute...I have two and they are about 3x4.5 inches tall.... The other photo is of the frame I painted. I stamped a heart shape (from a potato)....just for the frame of this Heart Tree Print with the scripture from Psalms.....written along the tree's limbs.....the potato worked but was dried up the next day....so those stamped hearts are a one of a kind! Enjoy, enjoy your week!