A Visit To New Orleans

The French Quarter
A family wedding took me to New Orleans last weekend for the wedding of my niece.  There is nothing like a New Orleans wedding...on St. Patricks Day.  These pictures are from my wanderings in the French Quarter.   Everyone should visit this place once in their lifetime...it's an experience for sure!  The art, the food, the music, the masks, the "live" street art, the people.  There's no place like it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY

24 YEARS AGO TODAY,
as La Bamba was playing on the radio
in the delivery room,
Thomas arrived.

Oriental Flair-Home & Garden Altered Book

Strolling the Garden, updated

I don't usually to go back to a piece I've already posted, but I went back and worked on the Lady with the Umbrella, because I just wanted to add more layers and interest to the page and make the bottom of the page look like there was more a garden/flower element going on.   I still have "issues" with the arms....but I'll get to that too. I  also ended up sanding the umbrella a bit, hoping to make it look slightly more ethereal.  This picture, however, is just about the bottom of the page.

Strolling the Garden

Painting, Collage, Stamping

Acrylics, Watercolor pencils

A little bit of art I did today....there's never a shortage of inspiration for garden pages in my Home & Garden altered book...because I love these colors.  I was doing some background work on the pages and as I was working on the left page, I saw a "face"...not a face I intentionally created, it was just there....so I ended up creating a lady....strolling the garden.  Still kind of working on it, but decided to post it anyway.

The Painted Board

Home & Garden Altered Book

 

 

The Painted House by John Grisham is the book I am using for my Home & Garden altered book.  The inspiration for this page came from the text opposite this art where the author is describing how someone has painted a board on this tired, old brown house. 

In The Spirit of the Garden

In The Spirit of the Garden

Home & Garden Altered Book

Paint, stencil, collage

WORD JOURNAL - Quandary

I haven't added any words to my word journal in a very long time and I've been thinking a lot lately about my approach to art...I've been in such a quandary....I started out with my first art journal back in 2007, Simply Blue, and all of the pages are painted.  I'm sort of a "kid in a candy shop" when it comes to art supplies...every time I see a new medium...I want to try it but it distracts me from what I love to do most....and that is paint.  I do love what you can do with collage and rubber stamps and paper....and wouldn't give it up...but I need to also paint because the more you use the skill, the more you improve.  In my art journals, I don't use a lot of words because I want the painting to tell the story.  In my altered books, I do more collage.  So...quandary is the word...along with perplexity and dilemma.  Each tag has a wooden letter bead attached to the string..didn't quite make the photo.

 

Home & Garden, Altered Book

I had some time earlier today for creativity....still running on the energy of yesterday's altered book workshop, so I decided to do another two pages in my Home & Garden book...using napkins, magazine photos, some acrylics.  This came about from coming across the napkin with the rooster in my napkin stash and from there I went through a box of things I've torn out of magazines.  When you collect things that you like...that speak to you....you can always find materials to put together and it becomes an interesting piece.  For me, I love the colors and the patterns of the things on these pages.

MARDI GRAS -Altered Book

FEMALE/ALTERED BOOK

Went to my monthly class yesterday and the theme was Mardi Gras.  The technique we learned was how to make something look like a tile.  The tiles across the top of the left page and the one on the right top, are pictures done on inchies and then treated to give them the look of being tiles...you can't see the shine in these photos.  There is also gold paper on these pages...the metallic doesn't show... and ribbons and feathers and rhinestones.  And some glittery purple paper bottom left and top right...all  in keeping with the theme!

Perhaps my "dry spell" is over...

A PLACE TO STORE " IDEAS"

I saw the new Smash books when I was in Michael's last weekend and while I was there, I said to myself....why would I want to buy a book that already has things on the pages....when I can create my own and have been...from a blank book.  So...I didn't buy one.  But I went back and looked at them online and decided...just get one.  I have to say, the quality of the paper is very nice.  And I feel like it's a book that I don't really care...if I mess something up...
I am always dog-earring pages in catalogues and magazines of either color ideas for rooms, or a cool gift idea, or a neat recipe that I almost never get around to trying or I have an idea for a Christmas gift...but it's only February...so how am I going to remember it in December???  Well, that's what I am going to use this book for. Inside the front cover, I glued down a polka dot napkin and on the opposite page I created a pocket for some of those things I've already torn out of magazines this year. I kind of scribbled and just did whatever. The one thing I'm not crazy about is the quality of the polka dot tape because it doesn't stick very well to this paper so I'm adding glue...I think the paper is just too slick for the tape.

THE WOMEN I CAME FROM

 

Sadie, Virginia & Ann

Altered Book - Women

 

I received a really nice email yesterday, from an artist friend that I met 3 years ago, who lives on the other side of the planet.  She got me to thinking about the women I know and so I decided to journal about the women that I came from... on my mother's side...my great grandmother, Sadie (Sarah) and her daughter, my grandmother, Virginia...who died before my mother, Ann, was married.  My mother told me a few stories about them as I was growing up, but it's not the same as knowing them...and yet...they are where I came from.  I wish I knew more about them...what exactly did we have in common besides our DNA?  Well, one thing I know...I got the "not so great" math gene from my mother judging from her 4th grade report card.   But I also know that I got her creative gene...which I am very thankful for.

The Year of the Dragon

First altered book class

 

of the new year...we did the....

 "Year of the Dragon" 

The little "purse" on the right page involved some origami techniques.  The purse opens out and there is a card with Chinese letters that spell out Happy New Year inside.  I love the cool things you can do with origami....I just need patience and practice to master...not even master...to achieve the techniques...perhaps a new year's resolution I could keep....learn origami!  The little red envelope on the left holds a piece of  fake Chinese money.  The dragon is embossed on the red disk as are the Chinese letters in gold on the bottom right page.  The Dragon is a symbol of good fortune and power that commands respect.  Do you know what Chinese year you were born in?

Home & Garden Altered Book

I wanted to try cutting  a niche in this book...something I haven't experimented with before and it turned out great.  I didn't make it overly deep, just deep enough to hold the brass dragonfly.   And I had a nice piece of scrap paper to put behind it that has a touch of metallic to it.  These pages are about some of the smaller "critters" in nature....those that fly.  Sometimes, in our childhood days...we could be frightened by these critters....they are kind of weird looking...but for some reason I was thinking about the many dragonflies that may have landed on my arm at one time or another and I wasn't bothered by them at all...they are rather fascinating.  They move quietly about.  If they could talk...what would they have to say about life....what would their observations be?

Merry Christmas, Tom!

In The Pursuit of Happiness

I have had the best Christmas....I spent it with my son, Tom.  Now....crazy as this sounds....my son wasn't home for the first time in 23 years to celebrate Christmas.  But being focused on creating this little art piece...he and I were together and he'll be home soon.

I have a few more little "touches" I need to do and I also haven't figured out yet how I'm going to close the flap on the right....it says" Thank you for your service..."  but it will come to me, just as the theme for this piece of art came to me....

 When I sat down yesterday to do some art....this wasn't at all the direction I was going, but as often happens when you sit and start playing with things...ideas start to form....

And the next thing you know...you can hardly stand to stop working on it because the ideas are coming so fast and you're waiting for things to dry.

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom,

must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."

---Thomas Paine

Inside the red envelope it says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

 

 The Christmas stamp represents freedom of religion.

BECAUSE WE BELIEVE

Look outside:  it's morning

This is a day you'll remember

Hurry, get up and go

There are those who believe in you

Don't give up

 

Once in every life

There comes a time

We walk out all alone

And into the light

The moment won't last but then,

We remember it again

When we close our eyes.

Like stars across the sky

And in order to shine

You will have to win

We were born to shine

All of us here because we believe

 

Look ahead and never turn your back

On the caress of your dreams,

Your hopes and then,

Turn towards the day that will be

There is a finish line there.

Like stars across the sky

And in order to shine

You will have to win

Like stars across the sky

Don't give up

Someone is with you

Like stars across the sky

We were born to shine

And in order to shine

You will have to win

And then, you will win.

----Andrea Bocelli

HOME

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

NAKED TREES

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NAKED TREES IN WINTER

 

Trees in winter are really more beautiful than they are when they are clothed with leaves....in winter you can really see their shapes...they aren't camouflaged.  It's not that their seasonal colors aren't beautiful....but somehow in winter...their soul is revealed.   Haven't painted in weeks...felt good to sit down with the paint brush today...and because this is in my Red,White & Blue journal...I added the flag....I could have put a cardinal in a tree, but I didn't want to take away from the starkness of the trees...

What is Christmas?

I've been away from blogging....just couldn't seem to get here.  I haven't created anything either....after the nor'easter on Halloween weekend....I just had other things on my mind.  How do we roll so fast from Halloween to Christmas week?  Retailers kind of push the plate on that...I wish we could restore Christmas to what it truly is....and it's not finding the "big deal"  at 4:00am on Black Friday....that I am sure of.

I fee like I've already celebrated Christmas...my sister and husband were here to celebrate her birthday and we exchanged gifts;  and I and many others helped  to spread the word about an injured Marine in my son's unit that resulted in many generous people giving their time and making a donation to help get his life back on track.  God bless him!  So....I don't really need anything else except to go to church and give thanks and pray for those who aren't as blessed as I am this Christmas.
Here are some photos from around the house....

There's something special in each of these photos for me....

Thanksgiving Grace

photo by T. Sand

This photo was taken during the recent storm that knocked out the power in many parts of Connecticut.  I love pumpkins...they look "happy".  They are whimsical.  They come in so many shapes and sizes.  They are colorful.  And they make delicious pies.  So today, when you're sharing your meal with family and friends....don't forget all of the things you are thankful for...even pumpkins.  I have a wonderful little book of Graces so here is one for today...

This is a day for thanks.

A day in which we

see or hear or feel

the wonders of the

other moments of the year.

This is a day for time.

A day in which we 

think of pasts that make

our presents rich

and future bountiful.

This is a day for joy.

A day in which we share a gift of laughter

warm and gentle

as a smile.

Above all, this is a day for peace.

So let us 

touch each other

and know that

we are one.

For these and other blessings,

we thank Thee, God.

A PAPER BEAST!

I found this wonderful "beast" on etsy...love the artist, Emma Kidd....wonderful imagination. All I had to do was cut him out and assemble. I think I'm probably going to put him in a frame....he's not what you normally think of as a "paper doll"...  Even the envelope he arrived in is a treasure...from Australia, so I now also have two great Koala bear stamps....he're's the "beastie"!

PAPER SANTAS SPELL "HOPE"

He starts like a little book, folded up.....

and becomes an accordion book that spells out "HOPE"

 ...a closer look....

....and the back of them is covered in paper napkins!  

The "Hope" is a napkin that I tore and placed a letter on each Santa chest...sort of like a winter scarf....slightly hard to read in the photo because the letters are black.  I used paint, rubber stamps, napkins and gold pen to do these, tied together with jute string.  I need to make them out of stronger paper than drawing paper because the wear and tear on the "fold" is not going to last long...thus the jute.   His shape came from my favorite, tin cookie cutter that I've had forever of a gnome.   The holidays are coming....

Playing with Dolls

Before the recent storm, I was playing with paper ...dolls.  I think she's kind of cute....I can't tell you how long it took to cut out all of the pieces, put it together and embellish it.  Maybe because it's my first one...it took me longer...I do think they are fun....there will be others.  I'd like to make a couple and frame them...I have ideas....

THANKS TO ALL OF OUR VETERANS!

 

The word "God" makes some people uncomfortable , but I believe in the power of prayer and it was important for me to share this for our past and present service men & women, today and always....  godspeed.  

Thank you to my friend, Kathy, for sending it to me....

Friday, November 11, 2011

Service

With admiration, I honor those who serve others.

To those who have answered the call to serve, I say, "Thank you." I appreciate your sacrifice and accomplishments. I am grateful for your strength, courage and perseverance in the face of great challenge. I respect your dedication. I honor you today and offer this prayer: May the light of God surround all who are serving or have served this country. May Divine Love enfold them; Divine Power protect them; and may the presence of God watch over them now and always. Amen.

In silent tribute, I pause and remember those who, in service to humankind, have sacrificed their lives. I pray for goodwill among people and peace on earth as a lasting tribute to their sacrifice.

Pay to all what is due them, ... respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.--Romans 13:7

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, brother BILL!!!!

Aftermath of the nor'easter...

A beautiful, sunny Sunday...here's what Mother Nature did...these are shots of my neighbor's yard.....I was more fortunate.  And the 2nd photo from the top shows a tree that broke in half by our mailboxes on the road.  These are just a small glimpse of the havoc that Mother Nature wrought, knocking out power to 830,000 homes in the state, most left without power for a week....the clean-up will go on for weeks...definitely a major inconvenience, but it could be worse....always have to keep things in perspective.  So...no art the last couple of weeks....