Monday, February 25, 2013

Inis...the energy of the sea

Somewhere....Beyond the Sea
Altered Book
Paint, Collage,Water Soluble Crayons, Ribbon, Beads

Sentience is
Awareness, Feeling, Sensitivity,
Perception by the senses
and Understanding through the hearts;
a raising of consciousness.
A sea change - for all of us.
Dolphins, one of nature's
most intelligent creatures, 
communicate through sentience.
They exist in harmony
with each other
and their environment,
so perhaps they have something
to teach us?


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

THERE ARE ANGELS AMONG US...

DO YOU BELIEVE IN ANGELS?

 Art Journal
Collage/Mixed Media

Oh my....did I have fun creating these two pages! Usually I paint the pages side by side, but for whatever reason, I decided my angel needed to be top to bottom.  The first thing I created for this piece were her wings....I knew I wanted musical wings.  Music is such a constant in my life, I like to put it in my art whether it's these musical napkins that I decoupaged to these wing shapes or, sometimes, I put song lyrics with my art inspiration.  The next thing I knew I wanted were striped leggings....I know....isn't this a strange approach to an art piece!  But...it's true.  I just put things on her that I like...the stripes, polka dots, a red sweater with a heart and everyone should own a pair of red shoes....I had no idea she was going to end up this large, but she is indeed, bigger than life.  That is why I made the buildings small behind her legs.  And I had to have stars...angels...heaven...it all works.  At the bottom I stamped on the left side, "I believe in Angels" and on the right, you can see "Do You".  So....do you believe in Angels?  What do you think they look like?  Do they walk among us?  This is my Angel vision today.

Here's a close up....
 

Monday, February 18, 2013

FABRIC/PAPER

What to do with this?

This is a large piece of muslin, that I soaked in water and then squeezed dry.  I laid it out on a large piece of wax paper on my kitchen counter.  Then I mixed some Elmer's glue with some acrylic paint (very light color) and painted it all over the muslin with a sponge brush.  After that I took pieces of this printed tissue paper I had, and tore it into large pieces and pressed it into the muslin, making sure I left no bubbles.  Then I left it on the counter to dry.  I took it off the wax paper (that was there just to protect my counter) and now I have this "fabric paper".  Now I have to figure out what I am going to do with it!  And is it worth doing again....we'll see. 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Language of Flowers

Home & Garden
Altered Book

I started these two pages by painting the background cobalt blue.  I picked up this floral stencil page yesterday and couldn't wait to try it.  So I put some white paint in a spray bottle and....ta da!  And then I didn't know where to go from there.  So I decided to pull out my oil pastels and add some floral shapes.  I wish that I had used my water soluble crayons instead, but you have to try things and see what happens....I had this tiny note card in my stash from the Metropolitan Museum of Art....talk about a beautiful piece of art!!!  I decided that was going to be the ultimate focal point of these pages.  As you can see, on the inside of the card I rubber stamped a simple flower and I wrote ..."the language of flowers".  I just finished reading a novel that was on the NY Times Bestseller list by that title, The Language of Flowers.  It's interesting to explore what different flowers mean....I digress.
I also had this wonderful piece of translucent paper and the pattern on it reminds me of the stencil pattern on the background of these pages.  I used that to make the note card stand out.  My son gave me beautiful red tulips for Valentines day....When the ground is covered in snow....you can't help but let your mind drift to the weeks ahead and the first flowers of Spring.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

TREE OF LIGHT....still up!!!

PEACE TREE

This is the post-Hurricane Sandy tree of light from earlier posts....I kept it up through the holidays and haven't had the HEART to take it down yet.  So now, on the eve of Valentine's Day, I decided to post about it yet again, as I've added quite a few HEARTS to the birds and stars that are already up there.  It warms my HEART to look at it and I can be corny because, it is, the eve of Valentines Day.  It's also the beginning of Lent as today is Ash Wednesday.  Tough time for those who give up chocolate....but Lent doesn't have to always be about giving up something....it can also be about adding something to your life or the lives of others. 
I decided to send my two sisters Valentine coffee mugs...not anything they were expecting, but since we live in different states, it is my way of "sharing a cup of coffee" with them and sending my love.  Since the tragedy in Newtown, doing good deeds has been the focus of many...I hear about them on the radio every morning.  So....share the love you feel on Valentines Day throughout Lent...just keep it going....think of all the little things we can do each day.  You don't have to be a church-goer for this...just think about giving more than receiving.  It will warm your HEART for sure.  I am corny...I know.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

FEBRUARY....

RED JOURNAL



I didn't really challenge myself here...it looks....calm....maybe because that's what I needed while I worked on these pages, as outside...it was anything but calm, and now there's lots of shoveling today. Mother Nature dumped on us big time and now the sun is out but the wind is fierce.  Happy February.....