I was arrested last night

I woke up this morning thinking about the dream I had last night.  It’s rare that I remember my dreams, but I guess this one made a big impression. In my dream, I was trying to go into the local library to look for a certain art book but they required you to have a purse to enter the building.  (Yeah, it was my dream but it didn’t make sense to me either …. in the dream or now.) 

So what do I do?  I borrowed some woman’s purse without asking.  I was just going to run in, get the book I needed and come right back out and give it back.  Before I could get very far, I was arrested. LOL. Apparently purse borrowing is a federal offense. I told the FBI, that I hadn’t opened it and I fully intended to give it back. They didn’t believe me. Thinking about it, I probably wouldn’t have believed it either. As I was sitting handcuffed, all I could think of was that I was going to have a felony on my record and I wouldn’t be able to get a job.  Weird dream. I wonder what book I was looking for?

Maybe it was 365 Daily Creativity Journal so I could work on Day 6. The prompt for day 6 is work with the first fruit or vegetable you see. Fresh, canned or juice.  Yeah other than potatoes I’m not into using food in art.  Plus, even if I was, I haven’t been shopping in a while, so I didn’t have any. So I found some cool images online and came up with this journal page:

I love love love chocolate strawberries! I love two twice as much!

365 Creativity - An Altered Journal Cover

In case you’re wondering if I’m losing track time because it’s not really the fifth day since I started …. Nope, I haven’t. :) I really do know it’s more like the 7th, 8th, or is it 9th day? Hum… well, it’s day 5 in the book and I was stumped on what to do for day 5.

The challenge is to create something with the items I collect.  In my head, I only had one “collection” (Hearts) and they are still packed since our move from California. So for a few days I sat frozen with the same  ‘what to do, what to do???’ thought. What can I say, I’m slow. :)

Then I re-read my last blog post and it hit me like I shoulda’ had a V-8.  You know, the post where I confessed that I collect “scrapbook paper” even though I don’t scrapbook? (Although now that I have a grandchild I really should start. But until then I’m not a scrapbooker.)

At the same time, I decided to join the Journaling Saves “Walk in This World” group that starts on March 1st. This is a book by Julia Cameron who also wrote “The Artist’s Way.”  We will be doing morning pages in the group and therefore I needed a journal to write in.  I decided to go with a plain composition notebook and dress it up. It started out looking like this:

This is how I altered it using little bits scrapbook paper and ribbon, of which I have plenty. I used gel medium on the paper to adhere it to the cover.

This is the back cover:

The inside front and back covers were covered in photocopies of previous art journal pages. Notice it’s just notebook paper on the inside. No art in this journal, only my witty repartee. Yea, OK who am I kidding?

Then I realized it need a ribbon or elastic to keep it closed and away from curious eyes.  So I added this thick red elastic with a black and white patterned flower that I’d made some months ago.  That will keep everyone out, right?  Yeah, I thought so too.

I think I like it.

By the way, if you’re interested in Julia Cameron’s book “Walk in This World”, try the public library.  I found the book at my local branch. Great way to get a feel for the book without laying out some cash. 

PS: I got the idea for the notebook from iHanna’s blog. Check out this tutorial.

365 Creativity - Days 2 to 4

I have to admit, I’m not very good at finishing up a page or project in a day.  I try but it just doesn’t always work out. Here’s what I have for days 2 through 4 in the book.

Day 2 Challenge was: Use your favorite animal as inspiration

 

Day 3 - Make something from paper but don’t use glue, scissors or draw on it.

I made a birthday card for my nephew’s 1st birthday.

Day 4 - Take a 5 minute walk and use materials you find there.

While I was hunting up some wrapping paper for a baby present I found materials for day 4.

What have you been up to this weekend?

OWOH 2011 - We have a winner

 

Congrats to MommaRock, she is the winner of the OWOH drawing.  I have emailed MommaRock to let her know that momma won.  Per the rules, if I don’t hear from her within 48 hours I will have to pick another name.

Thank’s to everyone who stopped by and entered the drawing.  I soon hope to be able to say that I visited all of you who entered my drawing.  Sadly I wasn’t able to visit everyone during OWOH but I plan to complete the list very soon.

Thanks again.  

Found a great new book

It’s called 365: A Daily Creativity Journal by Noah Scalin.  Click the book to visit his website.

(Psst:  Looking for my OWOH post? Scroll down to the next post.)

Yes, there are many sites and books that are similar but something drew me to this one.  Maybe it was the quality of the book pages, or the people that were interviewed in the book, but most likely it was the actual prompts.  The prompts were things that spoke to me. I didn’t read them and say eh like I have with other books.

So is it a good thing to look for inspiration in prompts for things I would do anyway?  What do I hope to learn from that?  At this point in time, I don’t really need new techniques…I have a multitude of books in my library that I can learn from.  I mean how many different ways are there to transfer images from one surface to another? I know, I know…many. What I actually need is the inspiration to actually work on my creativity every day.  And by that I mean, work on a visual form of art using the materials I already have on hand.  Yes I’ve said that before but some how I got lost in personal issues this year and lost my motivation to create.  I want the creativity back in whatever form it takes. 

The first prompt was: “Make something that fits in the palm of your hand using only the materials in your immediate environment.”

That was an easy way to start.

• It’s larger than ATC sized, about 4 x 5. (You must think I have large palms? I don’t, I just don’t follow directions well.)
• I used a pressed flower that I’d picked when we first moved here and had been sitting waiting for me to do something with it.
• I also used some scrapbooking paper that I have been collecting like it’s going out of style. (Not sure why I collect it since I don’t scrapbook. Guess I just like the pretty colors. heehee)
• And the pretty ribbon.
• The quote is:
• Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written
• words. ~ by Lydia M. Child

Looks more like a greeting card than my usual art but it’s a start. The book says I should choose a subject or medium, but I haven’t done that yet.  I may freeform it for a while.

One World One Heart Event

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am so happy to be participating in this huge event and I am so happy you are here visiting. A big thank you to Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian for hosting this wonderful blog party.

A little bit about me: I’m a work in progress, self-taught arty fartsy crafter who does a little bit of everything for the fun of learning new things. As such, I’m a master of none but you know what? That’s OK. I’d love to become a professional student studying anything and everything. My favorite arty things to do are art journaling and painting. And like most artists, I love collecting art supplies. I’ve been married to my wonderful husband for 23+ years and we have one gorgeous daughter together who has graced me with my only grandchild. I also have a beautiful step daughter who I adore.

OK enough about me, on to the give away. My thank you for visiting my blog is a 1.5” pendent on a 22” chain with a digital collage design.

The close up:

The words say: “Like the bird perched on a frail branch, I have wings” which is a shortened version of a Victor Hugo quote.

The giveaway is open to active bloggers only. Please leave a comment in this post to be included in the giveaway. The comment should have a link back to your blog and/or include your email address. In other words, leave me some way to contact you if you win. You can’t win if I can’t reach you. Sign up ends on 3 PM Mountain time February 17th and the drawing will be held later that evening. You must respond to my email within 48 hours as rules require us mail the giveaway by the third day.

I can’t wait to visit the other participants. If you’d like to see who else is participating in the One World One Heart event, visit Lisa’s blog at: A Whimsical Bohemian
Good luck and thank you so much for visiting. I hope you return soon.

Edited 2/17/11: This post is now closed for entries.

Just plain No!

Here for the viewing but nothing I really can say at the moment about what prompted this journal page. The bright colors seem to contradict the feeling behind the words. I wonder what that means, if anything?

So it’s just a few doodles with my Copic marker and colored with Prismacolor markers. I like the translucent color in the flower that allows the doodles underneath to show through.

But I’m still having problems finding a good white pen that writes on top of paints and markers.  I had to trace over the text quite a number of times just to make it show up. The ink kept fading. I’ve used Sharpie Paint pens, Uniball Signo pen, the Inkessentials pen, Marvey Gel Excel, and a couple of other gel pens but nothing really seems to work all that great.  Any ideas?

PS:  Be sure to stop by on Jan 30th for my entry for the One World One Heart worldwide blog event. Want to learn more about it? Visit the information page at:

 awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com

Things I need to do

My List:

1. Worry less
2. Eat Better
3. Exercise More
4. Take a day off once and a while
5. Enjoy life with my wonderful husband
6. Smell the roses
7. Stop dwelling on things I can’t change
8. Ignore certain folks
9. Laugh
10. Cry
11. Put the car’s top down
12. Eat Cake
13. Watch Movies
14. Dance like crazy
15. Play Peek-a-Boo
16. Kiss Lil’ G
    

Not necessarily in that order.

This page was inspired by Sherri Pelletier’s post at

Art Journal Every Day: Listography

I’ve been in a pissy mood

 

Yeah, I’ve been in a very pissy mood lately. Family issues started it and my job isn’t making it any better.  My day job, as you may know from prior posts, is in tech support and for the last two weeks I have been dealing with a, much more than usual, number of people who just don’t read for comprehension. Or don’t listen.  Why, why do you call someone for help and then refuse to listen to what they say?  You are wasting my time and yours. So stop it!! 

It really doesn’t bother me when someone doesn’t know how to use the computer, in my industry, I kind of expect it.  What makes me pissy is when I have to repeat myself 3 times to get them to hear me (and no they are not physically deaf)  or if they think they know what they are doing so they jump ahead and we have to start all over again.  I don’t know how many times I have said “Do this and when this happens, let me know but don’t click on anything”…..and they click anyway. I wish I could say ‘if you knew what you were doing you wouldn’t have to call me.  So stop it!! ‘

Last week I emailed a co-worker and told her “if Jonesy (name made up to protect the not so innocent) calls back, tell her I died and went to (insert program name here) hell.” Sure enough the “Jonesy” emailed me saying she didn’t understand the instructions. Yeah, what a surprise!  These are the same instructions I’ve been sending out for over a 2 years to other people who did understand them just fine.  “I’ll send you pictures next week” I said, if I haven’t blown my head off by then.

This is a result of my pissiness:

 

Finally back at it

How were your holidays? I hope they were as good as mine were. Lots of family and LOTS of eating. I think I gained 8 lbs between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I felt so bad that I had to start dieting right after Christmas. I was so adamant that I had to do something, I didn’t even wait for the new year to do it. South Beach diet works for me so that’s what I’m doing.  I’m in the middle of the second week and I’ve already lost the holiday lbs.  Yay!!  Exercise…Booo but it has to be done….grudgingly, of course.

I’m also back at art journaling. But to get motivated I had to take the Strathmore Artist Papers journal workshop and while I’m not following directions exactly I am getting inspired.  The first workshop is about recycling your work from previous art pages.

I’m not sure it’s still open for signups but the ning workshop can be found at: 

http://www.strathmoreartist.com/vj-online-workshop-create-an-account.html

This is my first from the class:

 

Now just to get down to butterfly weight. Yeah, that’s gonna be one B-I-G butterfly.