Art & Wine!

Art Journal

Saturday Night Art & Wine

These two pages are my homage to the night I had last night....a night of painting and sipping wine at our local art center.  So much fun!  There were about 15 students in the class; some had painted before and some hadn't.  The subject we were painting was a bouquet of red tulips.  I chose to do just one of the tulips, as seen in the picture above.  Everybody did a great job and we had a wonderful instructor....how nice to have something like this going on literally 3 miles from my home!  Can't wait to do it again!

More....

Here's the actual painting....

(Sorry about the zebra in the photo....I'm too lazy to crop!)

Ode To Spring

Home & Garden Altered Book

It's amazing how just a little touch of spring outside can energize you on many levels.  I sat down last night knowing that I wanted to do something in this book....but what???  Since it's Easter Sunday...I wanted to see flowers blooming.  My sister gave me a roll of duct tape for Christmas...I know that sounds funny, but it's the checkerboard pattern in this art work.  It's been calling to me but I wasn't sure where I wanted to use it...until last night.  

If you've ever used duct tape around the house (and who hasn't), you know that in a instant, you could end up with a kink or crease in it...it's very sticky.

I didn't want to end up with it ruining my page, because once I put it on the page....I knew that would be it.  So...I got smart!  I took a piece of copy paper and laid down two strips...clean and perfect!  And then I cut the shapes I wanted and glued them to the page.  Perfect solution and they clearly are the "statement" on these pages.  And I used a hole punch and cut some of the leftovers and glued dots.  The big circles are from a page that I did with my Gelliart plate and cut with a  punch. Am I finished with this?  Never sure...I could end up adding a bumble bee or butterfly...but one thing I do know...it makes me feel as if spring has arrived.

Closer views...

MUSIC LEGEND

"There is no life I know

to compare with

pure imagination..."

   Judy Collins

Art Journal

I haven't been able to stop thinking and talking about seeing Judy Collins in concert last week.  I don't know why I've never seen her before...but I knew it was now or never!  So my friend Jan and & went for a gal's night out.   OMG.  I've seen her on PBS, but there's nothing like hearing a person's music live.  Her voice is still as pure and clear as ever....she can still hit the high notes.  And...her songs tell such wonderful stories.  That's what folk singers do.  And in between the songs, she would share little snippets of her life....her classical training and more.  

So when I am really inspired by something...I have to get out my paints and get my feelings on the paper.  I don't need words although sometimes I use them.  I have my ticket stub collaged on the page.  And I love the words from one of her songs...."There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination..." her songs, her music....inspire me on my artful journey.  The picture is my attempt at capturing her in my "folk art" sort of way, the distinguishing feature being her long locks of hair.  So, you may have an old cd of hers covered in dust....treat yourself....listen to her magical words and she'll take you on a trip.....

TOM'S 25th BIRTHDAY....

Blowing out the candles on his 6th birthday

 And today, I finally finished the 

Red, White & Blue Journal....

Some childhood memories here...

and I love my jigsaw puzzle pieces

that form the American flag above 

which I have written...

Life is a Puzzle..... 

I haven't posted all of the art from this book, but I can say that for the last 2 years....it's been a labor of love.  And it seems the more I got into the book, the more it became about...Tom.  He's my inspiration!  I could do Red, White & Blue, Vol. II...I have a lot to say.  So this will be his book now and I've imparted lots of little wisdoms here and there.  I hope he shares it with his family some day and will remember my sense of humor and my words of encouragement and he will always know how much I love him and how proud I am of him.  (Kleenex, please).  

The note inside this page reminds him that, on occasion, something might come unglued in this book and to just glue it back in and that in life, it's similar....when things become "unglued" which they can....you can put them back together.

HAPPY 25TH TOM!

A Good Read - Without Reservations

I love Friday nights.  It's the best night of the week.  My work week is done and the entire weekend stretches out in front of me.  I'm too tired to do art work, but I'm looking forward to hooking up with my latest book, Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach.  

This is a very light "read"...great bedtime reading.  I want to share this....I've shared this with a lot of people this week....because it's a book about someone taking that "risk" and doing something that's outside their comfort zone.  It's something I think many of us  (women) think about doing...but would never do.  So, as you're reading this book about a woman (50's+) who takes a leave of absence from her job as a reporter...to live abroad for a year...imagine yourself walking through the neighborhoods of Paris and taking a class at Oxford and in Italy...well, I'm still in Italy! I haven't finished the book yet.  I almost don't want to finish the book!  I wish I had highlighted some of the lines I liked best but since I'll probably share this book, I think the reader should not be influenced by what resonated with me.  Suffice to say....and we all do it....we don't live in the moment.  We're always wishing time away, i.e., "the week is half over...it's closer to the weekend"  instead of just living our lives now...in the moment.  I'm always procrastinating about creating the art I want to create...never enough TIME!  You have to make the time for what you love. It's not so easy. 

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?

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....

 

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. 

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.

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.

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.....

HEART in HAND

I found a home for one of the tiny, paper hands that I have.  I had this beautiful yellow frame I bought at Pier I a few months back so I took a piece of black paper to put behind the hand and it really shows it off well.  The glass opening is about 3" square and the hand is 2" x 1".  On the hand is written "Hand and heart shall never part."  Sweet.

Another Heart for My Tree

On previous posts, you've seen my "Tree Branch" that I put up shortly after Hurricane Sandy...when we got power back.  I kept it up during the holiday season...and it's still up.  It has hearts and stars and birds and birdhouses and a PEACE garland.  This morning I made another heart for it.  That's a star anise with a dab of gold added in the center.  The background is a napkin I decoupaged on it and a beautiful piece of ribbon whose colors work beautifully with the colors of the napkin.  The back of the heart is purple...the heart is cut out of a piece of purple cardboard and I've embellished it a little bit, but it's this view that I'm sharing.  It's now hanging on the "tree".  How long will I keep the branch/tree up?  Don't know...

Family.....

My Red Journal

It's hard not to do something with "hearts" when it's in a red journal.  I printed this photo of my brother on muslin recently, to see if it would work and I was amazed out how clear it came out.  Not sure what grade he was in....back in the day....I'll have to ask him.  It's been a bumpy week in my world and when that happens, you think about what defines you and, thus, the inspiration for my book....because it's family.  

In the photo, I noticed my brother has a tie with polka dots on it and I had a piece of paper with polka dots...perfect.  I also had some alphabet beads that spell his name...Bill, and the 5th bead has a tiny red heart.  The gold frame is from one of those magazine inserts that encourage you to subscribe and....how perfect it is for this!  The right hand page is painted red, has some sheet music on it and a big heart made of cheesecloth that I added molding paste to and painted gold...a brother with a heart of gold. XO

Here they are a bit larger:

PAPER TREASURES...

WHAT TO DO WITH THESE?

In looking for my next art inspiration, I came across these wonderful pieces made out of paper.  They were purchased at different times, from two different people. I don't even know how long I've had them.   The angel, heart-in-hand and dove are made of delicate paper that looks tea-stained.... I have been saving them for something special.  Well...what is that "something special going to be?"   And the three hands in color have that amazing cut-out work in the center of each as well as the wrist.  They are made out of scrapbook papers and they are different colors on the reverse side....all of these pieces are approximately 2 inches long and an inch across....

 I have always liked "hands" in art...even my own I have traced and painted and used in a few places.  Above, the two larger hands are favorite cookie cutters and then the two smaller ones are little hand ornaments.  The tiny hand in the middle...this one I made years ago out of polymer clay.  I used a cookie cutter for that one (not pictured here).  I made them for my son's class in elementary school...for Valentines.  For the boys...I attached a magnet so they could give them to their Moms to put on their refrigerator; and for the girls, I attached a pin closure so that it could be worn.  Those were the days...fun to revisit.  

I need to make some more hearts to hang on my tree of lights so I have hearts on the brain....you gotta' have....hearts.

Wise Men Bearing A Gift...

Art Journal

I definitely have to explain this 2-page layout.  If you're a church-goer, you might know that last Sunday was the Feast of The Wise Men, aka The Three Kings...the Epiphany.  I remember as a young child (5) living in Madrid at the time, and we put our shoes outside our bedroom doors to receive treats on this date.  And I clearly remember finding a Milky Way in my shoes.  I don't remember what else might have been there....it was a very long time ago, but my recall is that I probably hadn't had an American candy bar in awhile.  OK, moving on... on the 1st Sunday of the New Year when I attend church, our Rector always has a basket that she passes around during the service.  And in that basket are little paper, gold crowns.  Inside each crown, a word is written...a word you may like or not!  But I always find it fun to see what my "word" will be because I like to "journal" it.  Well...I wasn't blown away by my word....and I really wasn't at all sure what to say/paint about it.  So...

I started by painting the Three Wise Men. I used my new, water soluble crayons at the top and instead of stars...I added pinwheels...similar to stars but just something different.  I love the richness of the crayons... I know I've said that on previous posts.   I actually was going to make the Wise Men taller and skinnier...but this is what evolved...

 I wanted them to be very colorful, have metallic, etc.  I didn't give them arms...it was just easier not to.  But I kind of like their look.  

 OK....now I know you're looking at this opposite page and going....what in the world is the connection here between the Wise Men and My Secret Garden and what's the story with the red dress hanging on the line????

BACK TO THE WORD in my ring....The Word(s) I chose are SELF-LOVE. Oh brother!  (I tagged it to the left page).  Not being a person who uses a lot of WORDS on my pages....I like the art to tell the story....I did reflect a bit on those words.  After all....I got them at church...What I often like to use on my pages...lyrics.  And I chose some of the lyrics to Bruce Springsteen's Secret Garden.  Don't we all have a "Secret Garden"?  So those lyrics are typed very tiny across the two pages near the top.  I found the adorable little cottage on Pinterest.  After doing a little background painting, some rubber stamping, adding some bushes and a gate to the Secret Garden...my vision was coming together. I also added a key to the garden gate, bottom left.   I know you might wonder about the red dress hanging on the line in the backyard....but I'm not going to explain why that's there.  In fact, I'm not going to explain what this page has to do with Self-Love at all.

In the middle of the two pages is Nazareth, some tiny sheep, etc.  When I did the left page....I had not a clue what I was going to put opposite it...but these are turning into some of my favorite pages I've done.  Happy New Year.

....artful Journey

ART JOURNAL

I am having so much fun in my new journal.  It's amazing how just one small thing can set you on the path....for me it was the suggestion at the very beginning of this journal, that it was intended to be a ...trave-e-logue.  So I'm traveling...close to home.  

What do you take on a journey?  On a trip, I would pack a good book.  On a journey....I am writing the book.  The little doodle on the right hand page of me (that's supposed to be me) is drawn on  a white envelope.  Not sure why I kept it, but it was tacked to my bulletin board.  So when I started to think about what was going on these pages...that little piece of an envelope became my inspiration, my "starting point." 

 So on my artful journey....I have to have STARS from heaven...that's a must...I love stars!  And I need to know that there is an ANGEL watching out for me ( I believe there is one assigned to me); and I have to BELIEVE in what I am doing & I clearly have to be open to POSSIBILITIES!  Hope I recognize them.  I need a song in my HEART...I always have one....a spritz...just a spritz... of common sense. I have to stay slightly grounded. LOVE, that's a hard one...trust me, it just is.  And last but not least and possibly most important....I have to LET LOOSE...to let my art be real to me.  That's it.  That's what I'm taking on my journey!

TWEAKED

The pages need a touch more

PIZZAAZZ!!!!

LAST POST OF 2012

WATER SOLUBLE

CRAYONS

 I've forged ahead and these are the next 2 pages in my new art journal.  I wanted to play with the new water soluble crayons I got for Christmas.  There is nothing that compares with the richness of color that these crayons provide.  I started by just making the circle marks with a pencil and then I started coloring them.  It's important to put a good amount of the crayon on the paper to get this richness.  Once you dip your flat paintbrush in water and start moving the color around...it's a wonderful feeling!  Hard to describe, but it just feels lush as you're doing it.  

When I opened this journal, it had a spot inside the front cover that said it was a trav-e-logue.  And while I'm not hopping a plane and going somewhere, this book has started out as a journey of sorts.  It's my heART and soul journey.  I saved the white circle for SOUL.  

 And I have more words of wisdom from John O'Donohue....I could do this whole book using his quotes!  "Your soul knows the geography of your destiny..."  See...it IS about travel...a journey.....

and the rest of it says...

 (if you can't read the type,  click on the image)

If I wanted to, I could fill this entire book with just shapes using these crayons...boxes, triangles, hearts, whatever.  You don't have to be able to draw to create art that appeals to you.  Who knows, I may add more to this art...don't know, but that's it for 2012.  Be true to your ART and your SOUL.

TIME IS PRECIOUS

New Art Journal

 I like the opportunity to start anew...why do we always wait a whole year?  I am starting a new art journal (not an altered book) and on the inside cover, I put a light colorwash in the background and then printed a map of my hometown which I then glued to the page.  I also glued the word "Pilot", which is part of the name of our local, weekly newspaper and, I put it in the book to remind myself....I am the "pilot", I am steering my own ship so to speak.  I also stamped the word HOME and added a heart to the "O".  The juxtaposition of the "ME" is intentional.  On the opposite page, I also added a light colorwash, some rubber stamping, etc.  At the top of the page was the inspiration I needed to sit down and start and it says:

"Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365 page book.

 Write a good one."--Brad Paisley

This quote was the LOM (line over the masthead) in our local paper and enough inspiration to get me moving.  Then there is the wonderful poem For The Artist At The Start Of Day,  from the late poet, John O'Donohue.  If he can't inspire you....well, nothing will.  I blogged this poem recently, but I needed to find a home for it in my book.  I also added the clock and wrote...Time is precious--Don't waste it....

I've heard too many sad stories in these last couple of weeks in  2012.  Too many people having hard times.  Am I more aware of them because I'm "older and wiser" so to speak and beyond an age where it's more "all about me?"  Clearly, as you get older....your perspective on life comes more into focus.  So, I can't procrastinate about doing my art because today is the only day we know we have and we might not have another opportunity.  Time is precious...Don't waste it.

The Day After...DECLUTTER!

Altered Book

This is the kind of day it is here.. gray, some snow.  Kind of cozy.  I was sitting at my drafting table and right outside the window is a tree that looks something like this.  I painted the background  pages a light gray, I added snow falling.  I had a stencil with large stars which I used with white paint.  There's a lot of silver on these pages...unfortunately it doesn't appear that way.  There are 3 silver snowflakes that I glued on and one star that has some bling.  And a beautiful piece of ribbon.  There's also some silver on the pages edges.  I outlined the white stars with silver "painted stitches".  This photo just doesn't show the detail!  I also have some white tissue paper with silver flecks across the bottom. And there are silver dots all over the pages.....Happy day after Christmas to all....

I spent the day re-organizing and cleaning my creative space.  I can't find anything...where's my bone folder when I need it or my hole punch or that great quote that I know would be perfect for this page??!!! It's so frustrating.  It's so hard to figure out the best and most efficient way to organize my art supplies so I can find what I want when I need it.  Declutter, declutter, declutter.  The thing is...in order to do mixed media/collage...it requires saving lots of ephemera...the flotsum and jetsam of art!  Everyday is a new opportunity...

All Hearts Come Home for Christmas

Art Journal - RED Book

I started working on these pages yesterday....and everything was in greens and gold...and then it dawned on me that I was working in my RED journal...so I had to incorporate RED into these pages.  The collaged images are from an older Pottery Barn catalog...I just happen to like the musical candles.  I should have tried painting the image ... but I was too lazy. On the page directly above I started to do an image transfer and that failed miserably to the point where I was actually losing layers of paper from the page itself and I was afraid it was going to jeopardize the art on the previous page.   Soooo, I started building up the paper by adding layers of paper including another image transfer that the candle is glued to.  There is also painting & stamping  And I had to add some RED elements...thus the hearts.  I have some fabric remnants from my neighbor's quilt-making and I sewed two pieces together and glued the heart to the page.  And no matter where you are during the holiday season...even if you aren't at home...your heart will always be there.

As often happens when I do a journal page, after I've posted pictures of it, I find more things to add to it.  Usually, I don't redo the photo, but in this case, because of the tragedy that occurred in the neighboring town recently, I thought the additions were worth retaking the photo of the pages.

I found this piece of fabric that actually came from a candle that someone had given me and, as you can see, it has the words Pure & Good on it.  There will never be a better spot for that than on this angel page so I attached it, bottom left.  On the right hand page, I added the green ribbon, and a quote from our local, town newspaper which is from the President and it says...
"Here in Newtown, I come to offer the love and prayers of a nation."

Now I am done with these pages.  They feel complete.
 

Angels We Have Heard on High...

Angels We Have Heard On High

Altered Book

Unless you're on a desert island, with no access to phone/internet/carrier pigeon....you have heard about the tragedy that occurred here in CT this week.  The loss of innocent lives at an elementary school and we will probably never know why this happened.  

I went to a prayer vigil on Friday evening...these people are our neighbors in the town adjacent to us...how could this happen.  So...I've just kept busy, but I cannot stop thinking about them.  I've made lasagne; I made a meatloaf; I made a double batch of sugar cookies...did I mention I don't really like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen?  I went to church this morning and prayed some more.

But what I also needed to do....is mark this time the only way I know how...by putting something on paper.  The news reporters refer to these young school children as angels...and that is who they are.  So....I created an angel on the left side of the page and on the right hand page,  I collaged a napkin that has musical notes and I put blobs of pink & blue paint on top of it...those colors are beneath the surface.  I stenciled the numbers from 1 to 20 for the children we lost and +6 for the adults. On top of all of that, I stamped...Angels We Have Heard On High... If you believe...you know these children and the adults who lost their lives.... they are in a good place...the best place.  And that's what you have to hold on to....

There was no "plan" for these pages except that I needed an angel and I needed the numbers.  Some art journalers use lots of words but I just like to get my message across with images... Going forward, the hymn "Angels We Have Heard On High"....will forever have a special meaning for me...

PEACE Tree, aka Celebration of Light

I've added birds and birdhouses to my PEACE tree....I'm having more fun with this than the Christmas tree.

And I found a great shadow box frame for my soldier boy that I made last Christmas....In The Pursuit of Happiness....