I've been Tagged

Christy from Average American Girl blog has tagged me. Thanks Christi. What 6 random LittleBit's should I tell you about myself? Hummm

1> I love computer programming:

When I was in college I took an elective class in computer programming and I loved it. I knew I should change my major from accounting to computer science but I was tired of being a poor student, all I wanted to do was graduate.

2> I used to be an accountant.

I spent 7 years as a CPA and another 6 as a controller for a wine marketing company. It was OK but it wasn't me. When the wine company moved from Napa to San Jose, I chose to quit instead of move. But instead of job hunting, I contacted a software company that produced quilting software (yes quilting software) to ask if I could review their program for the quilting message board on AOL. After the review, they hired me to handle their tech support. That was 13 years ago.

3> I make the best flour tortillas ever.

I have a secret ingredient. If you make flour tortillas and want to know how to make them better, leave me a comment.

4> I learned to tread water at 53.

I never felt comfortable swimming until we moved to our current home. Our new house has a pool and my husband taught me to tread water the first year were were here and by the end of the year I was diving in the deep end.

5.> I love quotations.

I love using quotations in my art work. Sometimes I get inspired by a quote and other times I look for a quote that fits my art.

6> I used to quilt.

Before I began directing my creative energy to collage and painting I used to quilt. This is the last quilt I made, it was my girl's wedding present. Each little square is 1".

Those were my 6 random LittleBits about me.

The rules are as follows:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

Here are the six people I have tagged

1> John at Artyfax
2> Mariposa at Sirens Idyll
3> Maryellen at CattyCatsMusic
4> Marla at Twig Studio
5> Chatty Wacky Whims
6> Katilady

Happy Tagging!

Soul Journal - Healing Love

This week Kathryn says, "With this journey, I invite you to think outside of yourself, to think of a friend or family member, or even a beloved pet that may be hurting or suffering in some way. As we work through the steps of this journey we will think about how our friend is suffering and create a page where we acknowledge their needs and send them some healing love." 

This page or theme couldn't have come at a better time.  My mother-in-law, who I love dearly, was hospitalized with a intestinal blockage and she was in so much pain. She really needed the healing love.  I created this page for her. I love you mom.

 

Where to begin? In the middle of the female silhouette is a Citrine crystal which is the Solar Plexus Chakra. It Reduces anxiety, fear, depression, stomach tension, food disorders, allergies. Detoxification of: the Spleen, kidneys, liver, urinary system, intestines.

The Sun, always makes you feel energized. A fortune cookie fortune that says "Good fortune is around the corner." (How many times can I say the word fortune in one sentence before you start throwing tomatoes at me? :-) )

On the left, there is an Angel to watch over her, H because her first name is Helen (but she likes to be called HJ), on the bottom left is the Chinese symbol for healing. They are all on the stencil I created from an art show flyer, the artist makes the most beautiful paper kites.  

Toward the center top of the page there is a tiny tarot card that says "a Good Augury", which means a good forecast.  While I was creating the page, I pulled out the little tarot cards and decided that since I was thinking of HJ, I would read her cards. Now I've never read anyone's cards before but I was amazed at how accurately her situation was assessed, down to what was causing her a lot of tension. And in HJ tension and stress manifests themselves in physical pain. Anyway the very last card was this one, which gave her predicament a good forecast.  So I had to add that card to my page as well.

And so, from my heart:

I pray for your health to return. I see that which is causing you emotional distress will soon be a thing of the past. I send you all my healing energy and love (repeated like a meditation.)

To update you on HJ's condition, by the time the page was complete, she was out of the hospital and back home.  She is still in a lot of pain but at least she is home where she can recuperate in familiar surroundings. 

Thank you for reading.

Soul Journal - Lost and Found

The theme this week is Lost and Found.  Kathryn says (edited for brevity) "It is time to think about things that we’ve lost. In this step, your journaling will be very personal and unique to your own interpretation of the theme “lost.” Give yourself some time to reflect on the topic." 

I used this theme as an opportunity to address a very hard time in my marriage. Every image and embellishment was chosen carefully for what they symbolize, although it may not be apparent to the reader without explanation.

The "lost" message says "There was a time period [lasted two years] where I lost hope that my marriage would survive. We simply went through the motions  for our daughter's sake. It was difficult and painful for both of us [husband and I]." 

The wedding picture is self-explanatory, the journal page is about marriage. The lotto ticket symbolizes the risk you take when you choose a mate. The chance that you may be heartbroken at some point or that the marriage will fail.

The choice of color, sheet music and brightness of the heart represented the change that occurred within me, when I finally made the choice to work on me for me and not because it was something my husband wanted.  In 2005, I rediscovered myself, joy, my love of music, and my creativity.  I became so much happier because of those changes and those changes affected how my husband looked at me, looked at himself and our marriage.  The change was monumental and profound. I no longer lived for my husband, I lived for me and in the process saved my marriage. The numbers 448, is my personal reminder of that change. The number also represents other things, which I won't go into at this time.

The "Bon Voyage" image represents how close we came to saying goodbye, to going our separate ways.  The "2-of-Hearts" represents the choice we made to "Do Over" or try again and was purposely placed over the Bon Voyage image.

The excerpt of the lyrics to the Rolling Stones song says "You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometimes,

You just might find, You get what you need."

 

My Affirmations:

 

              

And so I leave you with this video to enjoy.  It's my favorite version of the song.

Thank you for reading.

Soul Journal - Instant gratification

Soul Journaling idea was started by Sarah Whitmire at Caspiana and has now been taken over by Kathryn Antyrs on her blog at www.CollegeDiva.com. I just learned all this thanks to my friend, Jennifer Williams. (Thanks Jennifer!) Because I started late I'm behind but I've promised myself that I'm not going to stress about getting caught up or keeping up. I will do only the themes I find interesting and pass on the ones I don't. I have so many other art projects I want to try that if I try to keep up with them all, I'll drive myself crazy.

The theme of this page isn't instant gratification it's about getting instant gratification from creating the page. It's about creating the page without waiting for gesso to dry, to create with supplies you have on hand. Create something in 30 minutes.

However, me do something in 30 minutes? Never happen. No matter how easy it is, I manage to dwell on it. As I looked through my magazines for a good image to use, there were many good ones but none spoke to how I have been feeling this week until I ran across this one. I've blurred the text somewhat as it has some very private thoughts.

Soul Journaling also has a home at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SoulJournal/ Join us.

ATC's in Beeswax

ATCSforall has a Mind Your Beeswax swap going on and these are the cards I'll be swapping out. I made a few others but I like these the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the elements are held down with the beeswax. Let's hope they never get hot enough to melt or it will be one big oops.

Inspire Me Thursday - Yellow

This week’s creative prompt at Inspire Me Thursday is the color Yellow. I was inspired not only by the color yellow but a quote from the movie "Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse". It was a story of two sons who had to clean out their mother's apartment after her death.  They talked about their mother's colorful life and this is my interpretation of their story. 

 

Let me know if you've seen this movie and what you thought of it.  Do you have a mother like her?  My mother was not quite this eccentric but she might have been had she thought she could get away with it.  Know what I mean? :)

Handmade Stamps

I was looking for a diamond shape background stamp recently and couldn't find anything close to what I wanted. Granted I don't have a lot of rubber stamp stores close to me so this stamp might exist somewhere out there. So I decided to make my own using craft foam cut into diamond shapes, a hard backing sheet and used tacky glue to glue the diamonds to the backing.  It's worked really well and I've used it a few times. 

After having success with the diamond stamp, I made two others.  One is a circle stamp and the other is stars. Again these are meant to be background stamps and therefore look rather rudimentary. Here are the stamps  I designed.

Here are some of the backgrounds I made with the stamps:

 

Work in Beeswax

I've been trying my hand at using beeswax in my collages.  I added color to each by melting crayons on the collage and came up with a very simplified type of encaustic painting.  Ok so real encaustic painters don't use crayons to add color but it's all I had.  I also tried adding color by melting oil pastels, that worked OK but the color was a little too opaque for what I was trying to do.  I find it's not all that hard to mix colors and make a muddy mess but it was fun experimenting.  Here is what I came up with:

I think this copper colored one, named Puzzled, is a bit over worked with too many elements in it.  I should have pared it down a bit.  I had added a lot more of the teal/patina color in wax but I didn't like how it looked so I melted it out. 

 

This next one, Faith, is a little better in it's use of elements but maybe a little dirty looking.  Plus it's missing the flower centers. I'll have to go back to the studio to add them.  

 

Of the two, I like "Faith" better but the quote in Puzzled seems appropriate for the whole experience:

"What has puzzled us before seems less mysterious, and the crooked paths look straighter." - by Jean Paul Richter

All Tangled Up Again

I'm not sure what it is about Zentangles but I love them.  Here is a few that I worked on this past week. I've posted rather small images but they are 5.5" x 8", so they take a while to finish.

The first is my little Zen Monster.
He didn't start out to be a monster
but soon there was a head
and then the fingers and toes appeared.
and what do you know,
little Zen was born.

 

"I saw the angel in the marble and 
                   carved until I set him free."--Michelangelo

 

 

 

With this Zentangle I was determined
to use some new patterns. Now it's not 
made up of entirely new patterns
but just some I'd never used before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was one I'd been wanting
to do for a while. I love the look of
patterns on hands.
It reminds me of the Illustrated Man.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

This last page was a fast drawing 
so I could test the new Prismacolor
markers I bought on Ebay.  The color is
much better in person. It didn't scan
well and I didn't have time to play with it.
If you are interested in the Ebay seller
I purchased these from just leave me a note. 
It was a very positive experience.

 

Time on CD

My studio has been needing a clock for a while now but instead of buying one, I made one.

Here my first effort, fairly plain because I didn't know what I was doing. I altered a used CD to make the clock face by painting it first with gesso and then with a few colors of paint.  I used rub on numbers for the 4 major time increments and dashes for the others. Then added the clock mechanism which I bought at the craft store for $6.99.  I did beef up the back of the CD with glued on chipboard but it was probably unnecessary.  Next time I would leave it off.

 

"People don't understand the virtue of time, until their clock stops ticking." -

  --  Steve Goodman