Harmony

In one of my Yahoo groups we are making sand paintings based on Mary Todd Beam's book "Celebrate Your Creative Self". In this lesson you take sand and mix it with gesso, mix it with glue, paint it ect. I had some colored sand but the sand was not the color I wanted so I added ink to some, and arcylic paint to get almost the colors I wanted. I am sure no mixologist in that department. I sketched out my basic pattern on to sticky shelf paper, sketched it again and cut out the parts I needed cut out. This project took a few days to complete, so I could let the layers dry in between.

Did you know that originally the Navajo shamans were the only ones to do sand painting? They didn't use glue, as these were temporary painting created for use in healing ceremonies, and were destroyed after the ritual. I prefer to see the wind blowing the painting away at the end of such ceremony.
Sand painting are made in other parts of the world also, places like Tibet but the Navajo are the most well known. If you are not a Navajo, you really can't and should not create Navajo sand paintings as it is a sort of breech on their religion.
But we create similarly unique works of art for enjoyment and some do it for specific ritual purposes.

Here is my finished piece. I think I will call it "Harmony" that is the word that comes to my mind. My photo does not do it justice, I sux at photography.

I tried scratching the designs into the sand but alas I waited to long. So what to do? Paint of course, I took my tiny brush and started just painting the elements. This canvas is a 5 x5 to give you an idea of size. I decided to add a little glitz by putting on some sticky foil glue, again waiting for it to set up and applied some of Amy's Magic Foil. Then had to put a gem on it of course! I love glitz in the right places. I am please with this piece. I may just do another sand painting because as usual I tend to stray away for the lesson!

*Note- you can make your own "sand" if you don't have any handy. You can use salt and simply dye it. You can dye it with food coloring. You just have to remember not to make it too wet, mix thoroughly and let it dry (the hardest part). You can also use inks, my favorite for dying stuff is Posh Impressions Ink. If you are the more industrious type you can crush small pebbles or shell to make your sand. But to me just going out in the yard is an option. I suppose if I wanted to create a specific "ritual" I would go to the trouble of crushing stones, pebbles and shells.

Not a darn thing to do with art but did ya know?

This was taken from a group email, I did not write it but though how much I relate to it and found it quite amusing. I don't know the person that wrote it, and the name of the person was not showing so if your out here let me know.

"I've been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to
remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when
you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and
the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back
in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.
Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to
throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and
looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, Press here to
lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in
place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked
at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked
at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I cant count the number
of times the (expelitive) Saran warp roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up. Who ever looks at the end of your aluminum foil or plastic wrap box? What a fantastic idea. Now, if someone would just make plastic wrap that didn't stick to itself"?

I'm sharing this with my friends that did not know this and if ya did no fair laughing at me! I had to go check on this and it is quite true! Imagine me yanking all the rolls of crap out to check the ends, hillarious! Come on ya didn't really know this right?

Who Would of Thought?

I drew this pic last March (07)while I was at a boring job where all I had to do was answer the telephone. That is when I started a sort of drawing journal, so I unearthed it today and thought I would update it a bit. Now I think it is sort of funny given my current circumstances that I drew this alien, (since that is how I feel right now) almost to the point of saying I had a little forsight. This was from a few self portraits and that was my alien self at the time.





Anyway here is the updated version, I like her better this way. I left the daisy up in the right hand corner to represent reality. It really doesn't fit or make sense to anyone but me and I may change it but it is here to stay at least for now....and I knew an angel had been sent to watch over me.

Cheers!

Graphics and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

Getting there

Just want to say I AM WORKIN ON IT! LOL

Dream World

This is a little 5 x 5 canvas reconstituted from JoAnns Dollar Bin. (Thanks Sis I never would of thought of that) I drew it all out, masked the little girl with rubber cement then I painted the background, and went on to the little girl. Later I decided to add words because I have been wanting to journal this way.


You can't really see the detail much, the actual canvas is better than the photo but I can only do so much with what I got. I tried to do a close up of the little girl and this is it.

I used inks,acrylic paint,chalks,gesso,rub on stitches, and a black pigment pen for the wording.

Celebrate the Earth!

This is an art journal page I did today, lots of watercolor crayons, pencils, gesso, and gel pen. When I started this fairy I didn't have a plan for her but in the background noise I heard Oprah talking about Earth Day today and bingo!





This is the art journal page I did yesterday. This was inspired from my darling daughters who are having a feud with some other people over at my space. I am trying to make everyone play nice. Wish me luck with that one.

Stranger than Fiction Tag Game

Oh Boy! I’ve been tagged by Ms. Dragonfly aka Dinah ( http://dragonflyenchantment.blogspot.com ) for this 6 weird quirks/habits game. Thank you Ms. Dragonfly (Dinah) for tagging me :D Here are my strange facts!

1. I hate shoes! yes it is true, a female that truly hates shoes. I have even been known to bring my house slippers to parties so I can take off the dang shoes.

2. I have worn makeup everyday since I was 12 without fail. The only time I am without it in public is if I have to have surgery. The reason is because I have blonde eyelashes and eyebrows.

3. On my dinner plate nothing touches, no mixing and I eat one thing at a time.

4. I treat my pets like real children, consider their feelings on everything and give them frequent hugs and kisses. I also talk to them constantly, and my puppys place in my bed will be there always.

5. I talk to strangers all the time especially if they look grumpy. I don't know why I do this and only a few times have I regreted it. The strange thing is that in a room full of people I am quiet as a church mouse.

6. Sometimes I can carry on a whole conversation with someone and not know what we talked about. At the time I think I know but opps I forgot! No it isn't a disease I have always been this way since I can remember.

So now there are my strange things....hope you don't think I am way too weird! lol, I think I will tag.....

Mary at http://greenwomandesign.blogspot.com/
Aileen at http://aileensmusings.blogspot.com/
Marcia at http://www.xanga.com/livefreeinharmony
Melissa at http://alterediva.blogspot.com/
Dawn at http://goldbettyboop.blogspot.com/
Inka at http://inkastamps.blogspot.com/


And here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Most of all have FUN!

Something different

I made this Butterfly Woman out of polyclay. The design is Donna Kato's basic design from her book "The Art of Polymere Clay". I don't usually dabble in clay, but I do like it. Not sure if it will be a pin, decoration on a book, pendant or what have you. I just wanted to play with clay.



This is a shoe I made from my leather and ostrich paper. Over at the Paper Transformed Workshop we are making these papers along with many others. This is my project from the papers. The shoe is from a pattern from Ellen Hutson.

Seascape

This is the end result. I am not real happy with it but I am tired of messing around with it. I think it lacks the proper perspective. I am not good at this sort of thing but I played just the same.




The is a close up of the seashore on my Creative Self Workshop exercise. I used sand, and salt, paints, chalks, of course some Gel Medium to stick it all together. I also incorporated some decorative paste? not sure what it is called.

Seascape

Over at the Creative Self group we are working on seascapes. Here is my preliminary pic. I used fine sand and gel medium for the the bottom, I have actually added more since this picture but that will come another day. I am adding texture with some texture paste, and yarn and teenie little sea shells from Daytona or Sanible or somewhere. I always collect this stuff but do not remember where I got it from. This is far from done but when it is I will show ya all. I do not have much faith in this one so we will see and I will show good or bad.

I am also working a bunch of other stuff but have not been on it due to not feeling too great lately but will get some more pics up asap. I did doodle a bunch of alphabets for Milliande's Creativity Club on Yahoo but the too will post another day. I was thinking of making another blog for that stuff in case someone wants to use them for journals and such. Any ideas out here?

Some Stuff I Did

This is a card I made for a challenge over at Latest Trends. Thank you Inka for sponsoring! Inka Stamps provided the stamp, and 10 of us had to provide the imagination. This is a way cool monthly challenge that the girls over at Latest Trends cooked up. Oh did I say I won the challenge? humble as I am tee hee. Well I could not have won anything if it were not for the support of my fellow artsy friends. Thanks to you all.



This next photo is a mountainscape I made for an exercise over at the sister group of Latest Trends in the Creative Self workshop. This is using the techniques of Mary Todd Beam from her book Celebrate Your Creative Self.
It is many layers of arcylic, gel medium, watercolor, ink, crayon, tissue paper, kraft papers ect. The next one will be a seascape, still trying to decide on that one.



Finally this is a doodle that I got carried away with. I joined another group called Milliande Creativity which is pretty cool. Milliande makes youtube videos on journaling and such. She is asking for hand drawn letters in black and white for others to use in journals. So I started to make an "A" because I love drawing letters. Well she mentioned another project of making a journal with doodles, magazine pics ect and I was on the phone and this happened. Too bad it isn't in a journal but I can paste it in if I want to as there are no rules to journaling! How cool is that?

Relay For Life

Well the books are closed and my Doctor's booth raised $500.00 plus for the Relay For Life! Every little bit helps! It was a small relay because it rained all weekend. I did not get to attend because I got the flu the day before and could not manage to get out of the house. Yes the flu, I caught it from the emergency room visit a few days before. *Note to Self - Stay OUT of the EMERGENCY ROOMS even if it is and emergency! I sat there for 11 hours, one hour would of probably gotten me the same results, and I would not have gone but my surgeon sent me there.

Anyway.....

Thank You everyone for all your help and as soon as I can I will have a proper thank you in the mail! Nothing much but a little something just to say thanks for your support.

Now on to what this blog is all about ART! if you want to know the personal junk you will have to go to the other blog of mine - the link is on the left under things that matter to me.

My new baby

This is my new baby! His name is Cody. Poor baby has been in a cage for the first 3 months of his life. But like Echo, he is free now and loving it!
He is finally trusting me after a whole week! well he sort of trusted me by default but truly trusting is a different thing. He weights 4 lbs now, and next month he will get his big puppy shots. I tried the crate sleep arrangement but he cried so now he sleeep very comfy in the bed right next to my feet. He has alot of fur so I think he gets very warm. Besides for some reason he thinks my toes are yummie!
He told me he may want his very own blog, so he can talk about his life himself not through me. He already shows an interst in art, very abstract of course but interested just the same. His favorite pal next to me happens to be Engima, a black stuffed bear that is bigger than he is. This bear belonged to my oldest daughter Ama. Once Engima took an unexpected trip to NY with me and we left a note to Ama to be good, or the bear gets it! Engima has been around a long time.

Almost forgot!

Some of you may or may not know that I am currently at war with cancer. At the end of this month the American Cancer Society is hosting a Relay for Life at our local High School.

Would anyone out here be interested in donating art to be sold for chairity? If you would please sign my comments and leave me your email address. Or you can email me directly if you want. The items would have to be here no later than March 24th. My oncologist office signed me up and is allowing me to share their booth to sell art. I am going to try and make as much as I can between now and then and in between surgery, doctors visits ect.

I know this is short notice, and I appoligise for that but I just found out about it yesterday. I will be grateful for any and all help that comes this way.

Alone again so I waxed

Ha ha not what you thought eh? This is a wax resist watercolor painting. Never did one of these before, interesting effect. I used a regular ole white crayola for the moon, reflection of the moon and bird, and some yellow and orange crayolas for the grasses. I then watercolored at random really mixing on the paper with lots of water making a mess. When it dried I touched up here and there with a pigma pen. Not one of my greatest works but at least I did something!

My sis left yesterday. I am glad we had the time together but as always I never want it to end. I miss her all the time, silly that we live so far apart. I always feel stronger and more grounded with her around. I gave her my button fairies and the doll and some other stuff, maybe she will share with my neices if they want one. She is my strongest supporter. OXOX

Painted Tags and My Sissy is Comming 2morrow!!!

These are some tags I made. They were a technique from a yahoo group called The Artist Circle. Great group if you want to lean techniques with a really great bunch of people.

First we stained our tags with coffee, then applied color in varrious ways, dry brushed with gesso and then embellished. Some had pockets, some had collage, charms, buttons ect. I always have to be different. I love to draw and paint so for some of these I did just that. The drawings are from a book of Indian design, I freehand these from looking at the pictures. I then painted them with just black and white. Hopefully you can see what I wrote on them, also taken from the book. I love drawing the designs so you may see them again somewhere.

Next up.... my big sister is comming for the weekend! She lives in NY I live in FL. I am so excited that my Sissy is comming! Sounds silly I know considering how old I am but it is the way it is. She likes to make art too, and is very good at it but she won't admit it. Will we make art? Dunno maybe we have alot to talk about and sometimes we just hang out. I hope her flight doesn't get cancelled, tonight she told me they were having ice storms in Buffalo so I will pray to the Great Ice Goddess in the sky to stop it long enough for her plane to take off!

Go Ahead Make My Day!

Melissa from www.Alterediva.blogspot.com and a good artist friend of mine awarded me with the "You Make My Day Award! The rules for the “You Make My Day” award are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved. So to pass it on and keep the love going ~ here are 10 of the 100's of blogs that keep me inspired and bring a smile to my face. Check them out when you have a few minutes... perhaps there are some new friends to be made! It is very hard to pick just 10! and to try and pick some that have not already been picked is almost impossible! If I didn't get you this time, it doesn't mean I don't love your blog so keep on blogging!

Here is my list of my inspriations you are all AMAZING!

Mary
Cynthia
Inka
Anne
Susan
Stephanie
Aileen
Linda
Wendy
Suzi

Ok Ladies the ball is in your court now! Have fun!

Big Little Foot Meet My New Grandbaby!

Will ya look at the size of that clod hopper? lol this is my new grandchild who appears to be all foot. She isn't really that big but the pic makes it look like it, and I thought what fun to show.

This baby, who we think? is a girl is due to come into the world in June. The names are still up in the air. Some of the names are Allison, Alexia, Morgan, Sebata and a few more. I wish one of these times someone would pick the name Arabella. I just love that name. Well no matter whatever her name is we will love her!

I can't wait until June! I am planning on going up to NY to attend her comming into the world, you see I get to cut the cord on deliveries. This is our ritual. Hopefully I will be well enough to travel and do this, and that is what I am aiming for right now. I love NY and wish almost everyday that I was there, I miss my family that is up there, the people, the food! lol

New Doll on the Block - Meet Bloomers!

Here's to Bloomer's saying Happy Valentine's Day ya'll!

Bloomer's is made out of mat board, and painted with arcylics, watercolors, markers and a white gel pen. She is embellished with her little heart brads and some gold foil tape. Her head is made out of air dry clay and adorned with bright orange boa. Origionally this head was to be on a button fairy but....

She is flat backed and will hang on the wall or be put in a book, shrine or whatever. Her skirt is made out of celophane and drawn on design with a gel pen. Note if you try this you must spray krylon or something to seal the gel pen as it really will not dry and stay otherwise. Her heart got a coat of crystal 3D laquer to make it stand out and be shinny. She also has (underware lace) for sleeves.



I have not decided if she should wear a crown, or if she should get her wings as of yet.
and here is a close up of her face.