Getting Organized

Whenever I make a serious attempt to get organized, something usually happens to derail me. This time it was my digital rodent—i.e. my mouse. Let me tell you, there’s been a lot of cursing about cursors going on around here. It’s always sobering to recognize just how dependent you are on your equipment, and the fact that it’s a long weekend doesn’t help any either.
I’ve been trying to figure out why things like this tend to occur at the wrong time, and I’ve come to the conclusion this happens when I’m taking myself too seriously.

Moo Challenge #18

What is your favorite theme? That’s the challenge at Make a Moo or Two this week. I had trouble making up my mind because there are so many images I like …postal stuff, numbers, words, faces, science diagrams, maps etc. In the end I decided to just rummage through some of my stamps and go with what appealed to me at the moment.
The theme that immediately presented itself was Sisters. I am very close to my sister Pam, and my friends feel like sisters to me too. Although, now that I think of it, I have several male friends and two brothers I adore, so I could just as easily chosen Brothers. Oh well, maybe next time.

Field Trip

It’s been months since Mary and I went to Active Surplus and Above Ground, so we rendezvoused after work to stock up on nifty bits and pieces. The first thing Mary did was open her trunk to show me all the amazing assemblages and figurines she’s been creating recently. I felt like climbing right in there with them. Can you alter a living person? Now that would be interesting.
At Above Ground I came across a display of Copic Markers. I’d heard of them of course—Debbie Olsen and Teesha Moore swear by them—but it was the first time I’d seen them here in Canada. There was a young guy beside me stocking up on them, so I asked his opinion. “I’m in love,” he said fervently. (I’m assuming with Copic Markers). But I resisted buying any because they’re pricey. I have the feeling that I’ll eventually cave on this one though. When I was a layout artist, I used markers all the time and I can see how much fun it would be to use them in my journal.
Then, at Active Surplus, Mary and I trolled the aisles searching for interesting objects to use in our assemblages and we didn't come away empty-handed. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that door peephole, the temperature gauge and those old television tubes, but it makes me feel good just knowing I have them.

Celebrating

Why spend just one day celebrating your birthday when you can squander several? That’s what I decided to do this year, and I've been so busy partying that I've been too busy to blog.
People have told me in the past that they miss the birthdays they had as children, but I don’t. Having a birthday in the middle of the summer meant my friends were either on vacation, or I was. Celebrating is more fun now because nearly everyone is around.
Take the weekend for example. Carmi organized an art get-together at the Zion Cultural Centre in Toronto. Formerly a church, the space has fantastic lighting and plenty of room for everyone to have their own art table. After several weeks of family obligations, it was an opportunity to start working on some new art projects.
One of the highlights was watching Carmi creating felt embellishments. (Note to self: you will NOT become involved in fabric art until you’ve made serious inroads into all that paper you have).
Another highpoint for me—and Karen too—was being presented with a birthday cake and a bezel from each member of our art club (see above). This was a total surprise and now I have several new treasures to add to my art collection. I’m also thinking my new philosophy of life should be that every day is my birthday—and celebrate accordingly!
P.S. You can check out Karen’s bezels and the felting extravaganza on Carmi’s blog.

Watching Le Tour

Like Jen Worden, this time of year always finds me parked in front of the TV watching Le Tour de France. John and I have been fans for the last eight years, and I think this is the most exciting Tour yet because we don’t know who will win—the race is that close.
For the first time since 1997, there is a Canadian involved in the Tour: Ryder Hesjedal from Victoria, B.C. Out of 150 riders, Hesjedal is number 54, which I think is great, especially when you consider it’s his first year on the Tour.
Today was the seventeenth stage and featured the highest climb of the race: L’Alpe-d’Huez. Since I don’t have a photo, I thought I’d feature Cascade Mountain in Alberta just to give this post a Canadian flavour. Wouldn’t it be fun to see the world’s best cyclists zipping down Main Street in Banff?

Will's Children

It’s been a while since I’ve done an ATC so I decided to play with an old photo tonight to see what I could come up with. It’s a picture of Great Uncle Will’s children in front of their house in downtown Toronto.
About half of my grandmother’s twelve siblings immigrated to Canada from England in the early 1900s, and Nana and her parents were the last to arrive in 1909. That’s almost a hundred years ago and I wonder how she must have felt leaving what was familiar to her to come to a new country.
Somehow I doubt that Nana was homesick for long though. She soon met my grandfather and had her first child at the age of eighteen. Judging by the size of Will’s family, I’m guessing Nana had plenty of cousins to socialize with too. She told me they would go for a walk after dinner and then listen to music at the park. Apparently the musicians weren’t formally organized into a band. They would just show up with their instruments and start jamming. I wish I could have seen (and heard) that.

Moo Challenge #17

Mona Lisa (and friends) is this week’s theme at Make a Moo or Two. Did Mona have friends? She must have of course, but since we really don’t know much about her, I buddied up Mona with a couple of Lorenzo de Medici’s mistresses. (Hope she doesn’t mind).
I know there are children with imaginary playmates, but I don’t recall having any myself—though I do remember pretending that I was adopted at one point.
My real name was Cordelia, not Susan, and I had nine beautiful brothers and sisters. We all lived happily in a huge mansion with a greenhouse and private lake before we were cruelly separated from each other. The most fun about this imaginary world was drawing the elaborate floor plans. I even had my own sunken bathtub with solid gold faucets, and a separate suite for all of my dolls.

The problem of time

One day when I was at the hospital visiting my dad, he told me that I was “relentlessly positive.” I asked if he thought this was a bad thing, and he said: “Not at all.”
What I didn’t say to him was that I have to work at being positive with any number of things. Like time, for instance. There never seems to be enough of it; I always seem to be worrying about the way I use it, and what I have to show for it.Then again, I usually find it helpful to be positive about the negative—to reverse it in other words. So the good thing about time is that it forces you to consider what your real priorities are and to act on them in the best way that you can.

Reassessment

Recently I came across this mini assemblage I’d done in an Altoids tin a few years ago. When I haven’t looked at a piece for a while, I usually react in one of two ways: “Yes, I still like it,” or “If I had it to do over again, I’d change X or Y.”
With this assemblage, I experienced both feelings simultaneously. What bugs me about it is that the arm should be coming from the right, not the left hand side. However, since a piece of art also has a memory, I remember that I only had one doll’s arm at the time, so I had a choice: either wait until I found one that worked or just finish it, which is exactly what I chose to do.

Moo Challenge #16

Instead of having an early night, I got my second wind back (as I so often do), and I decided to stamp this week’s moos. Obviously the Make a Moo or Two theme is birds—and it’s a wonderful subject in my opinion.
As I was stamping away, I thought about how rich in symbolism birds are. Eggs represent possibilities; life’s endless potential just waiting to burst forth. And of course a nest stands for protection and a place to be nurtured. But above all, birds mean freedom to me …the ability to soar above the cares of life and explore the beauty of spirit.

Intentions

I had high hopes that I’d be able to start on a mixed media piece I want to do today, but once again life seemed to get in the way. All I had time for was playing in Photoshop with these stamped images while I talked on the phone with my sister-in-law Sherri.
The frustrating thing is that I have everything organized and ready to go. My art space hasn’t looked this orderly, pristine and inviting since I don’t know when. But I can’t seem to make a start because I’m so bushed. I think this has got to be one of those nights when I get into bed with an armload of my favorite art books and just fantasize—or as I like to refer to it: refuel.

Which Way to the Beach?

It's our ATC Beach trade tonight, but I can't go because Dad is home from the hospital and I'm on board to fluff pillows, tell jokes, do the dishes, make the Saturday morning tea etc.
Even though I haven't had time to make my ATCs, I thought the least I could do was to create something digital. Not that it turned out the way I wanted it to.
Because I always get a kick out of Sandy’s Blythe doll adventures, I thought I’d play with what a doll might do at the beach. Unfortunately, all I had at hand was a head, and the more I worked on it, the stranger it became.
In the end, I had to leave it as is because I’d run out of time. But there’s something to be said about feeling accountable to your blog. It’s gets you doing things you’d almost certainly put off when you’re pressed for time in your life like I am.

Moo Challenge #15

I’d say about half the work I do is in black and white so I really enjoyed the Make a Moo or Two challenge this week. I don’t often post black and white images here, though, because I tend to think color when I’m doing my blog.
The stamps I used are from Catherine Moore’s Character Constructions. I find her images very seductive …i.e. I wish I’d designed them myself! I ordered these stamps from Jennifer Pearson Vanier who owns the Milkhouse Gallery in Prescott, Ontario. Jennifer has some amazing stuff for collage, assemblage and stamping at very reasonable prices. You can check out her blog for more information, and see a selection of stamp sheets too.

Writing

Emma and I finally managed to fit in our Mother/Daughter writing pod this week. Because we hadn’t had one for a while, I think we were both feeling a little guilty. And when you’re away from anything for a while, you feel you should throw yourself back into it full tilt. But you’re not sure you’ll be able to.
This can be a real challenge when you’re dealing with a major project like a novel. Your intention looms like a skyscraper. What floor should you get off at? Or even: which elevator to take?
As much as we both wanted to, we couldn’t make up for lost time and finish our novels in an afternoon. We knew we needed a way in—a trail of breadcrumbs that would put us on the path to grandma’s house …i.e. something to help us focus and keep our minds on the moment.
What we ended up doing was choosing an image from my deck of ATCs, and then writing about it. Emma picked a doll, and I went for an anatomy diagram. This visual quick start was just what we needed because we got back into the writing groove more easily than we thought we would.

Remembering Betty

Linda and I went to our friend Betty’s funeral today, and it was a sad day for both of us. We all met at a creative writing class I taught almost twenty years ago, and it was the beginning of a wonderful friendship. Up until 2004, we got together almost weekly to write, talk about books and swap stories about our lives.
This morning I remembered something Betty once told me. As a child she had diphtheria and stopped breathing for several minutes. When this happened, she realized she was actually in heaven. Her grandmother—holding one of Betty’s cousins who had died as an infant—came walking towards her through a meadow filled with spring flowers. She told Betty that it wasn’t her time yet, and she had to go back. Betty said this experience removed any fear of death from her mind, and she was only five years old. So I’m thinking of her now writing poetry, tending to a garden and reading her beloved mysteries somewhere really, really special.

Moo Challenge #14

The theme this week at Make a Moo or Two is Asian, and once again I was faced with the challenge of not having any stamps that would work. I’d been hoping I could download some of Emma’s amazing photos of her trip to use, but we have to find her camera software first.
Since I’m a big fan of Hokusai, I decided I’d use a couple of his famous landscape woodcuts as backgrounds. Then I wondered if I was being sacreligious. Was it wrong to tamper with the works of a master? But Hokusai apparently had a great sense of humor. He was also influenced by French and Dutch engravings, went by thirty different names during his career and his daughter Oyei became an artist too.
I like to think Hokusai would find it amusing that 150 years later someone half way around the world was altering his work on a computer.

Digital Stamping

I don’t usually Photoshop my stamped images because rubber is organic, and the digital is more like thinking made visible. But I made an exception here because I wanted to reverse the numbers. Because I didn’t have any white ink, I worked with a scan of this Stamp in the Hand image and colored it in using Photoshop. I also scanned the Stampendous background (which is one of my favorites) and then added a gradient.
This piece appears in We’ve Got Your Numbers by Karen Sweeny-Justice in the latest issue of RubberStampMadness. Twelve different stamp artists gave their take on the theme, and it was cool to see that everyone did something completely different.

Bonding

Lately I haven’t had any time to devote to my blog or doing art because I’ve been going back and forth to the hospital to see my dad, and some nights I’ve been staying overnight with my mum. Most days everyone in the family manages to get in for a visit and I think it cheers him up because he’s getting better every day.
Before Dad was moved to a private room, he had a jolly roommate who only had one visitor a day: his wife. She would come in with a take-out coffee, and before she’d even finished drinking it she would leave. I was thinking about her today and wondering if she is the kind of person who has a phobia about hospitals. But it’s kind of hard on her husband, I think. (Then again, maybe he doesn’t mind).
David told me yesterday that he has enjoyed seeing everyone in the family regularly for the last ten days because Dad’s hospital stay has turned into a marathon bonding experience for each one of us. Without actually discussing it, we all seem to agree that Dad is far more than his physical problems and that our reason for visiting him is to celebrate this. Whatever is going on seems to be agreeing with him because he really perks up when you go into see him.

Moo #13

Summer is the theme at Make a Moo or Two this week. Because time is at a premium right now, I only managed to complete one. But as it turned out, taking a mini art break was more rewarding than thinking about the fact that I needed way more time and deciding not to do it.
To me, summer is sun and color, so I scanned a glass slide I’d decorated with Ranger Alcohol Inks, intensified it in Photoshop and then added a diagram of the sun from an old French map.

Love

I haven’t posted for several days now because my dad is in hospital and everything else in life has been put on hold. Or I guess when it comes right down to it: forgotten about.
Emma and Bryan arrived home this afternoon and were so happy to be back. They hadn’t slept for two nights having spent the first one trying to catch some sleep in Bangkok airport after flying in from Hanoi, and the second on the plane from Tokyo to Toronto. After three weeks of eating exotic (and not so exotic) food, Emma was in the mood for raw carrots, apples, tomato soup and Kraft dinner, so I made sure I sure I had everything that might possibly tempt her in the house beforehand.
On the way back from the airport we stopped into the hospital because she wanted to see her grandfather. Dad told me he felt badly about what he was putting everyone through, and I immediately said: "It’s an opportunity for us to show love." He seemed to like that and gave me a sweet little smile.

Word Clouds

If you like playing with words both in terms of their meaning and how they look visually, you'll enjoy spending time on the Wordle website. What you do is enter some text into the wordle generator, and then it creates a word cloud for you with a choice of fonts, colors and layout schemes. All in all it's a pleasant way to waste time when you should be doing your taxes, cleaning the kitchen, working etc.

Make A Moo #13

I don’t seem to use images of men in my art much for some reason. I guess it’s because women are easier to work with. There’s all that girly stuff going on for one thing, so certain things automatically come to mind. However, since the theme this week at Make A Moo or Two is men, that gave me a good excuse to dig out a Paper Artsy stamp and some scrapbooking paper I’ve been promising myself to play with.
Speaking of scrapbooking paper, I have to buy at least two of any design that appeals to me: one to actually use, and the other to remind myself of what it looked like in the first place.

The Marketing Thing…

I never think twice about promoting someone’s work I like, but whenever I consider doing the same for myself, I always go limp. I can think of a number of reasons why I’m the way I am, but the bottom line is: I just have to get over it. That’s why it’s good that Carmi has given me a helping hand by offering buttons made from my digital work in her online store. These buttons are just the coolest. You can use them as ephemera in your art, wear them, or as David wants to do: decorate the fridge. When I went to Artfest a couple of years ago, Brenda Shackleford had the niftiest button trades, and it makes me want to go back next year so I can hand my own out.

The “To Do” List

For years I’ve been keeping a weekly to do list. John finds this hilarious because he’s much more spontaneous about planning than I am. Last night he asked me if I ever managed to get all the items done on my list, and it was embarrassing to admit this has never happened. In fact, I usually end up carrying over a goodly number to the next week.
When I got up this morning and looked at my list, I felt like going right back to bed and just chilling out because I know as soon as I complete one thing, a new task will suddenly materialize to take its place. I don’t like the feeling of being constantly under the gun, but it’s really my own fault. I try and do too much in a week and then end up being disappointed in myself when I can’t keep up. Maybe less actually is more, so I think I’ll try to lower my expectations for this coming week, or as John says: Be an elf to myself.
P.S. I almost forgot! Sandy took some great pictures of ATC night and our Asian trades, which you can check out on her blog.

Two “techniques”

Since it’s our ATC trading night at The Hive, I thought I’d incorporate a couple of techniques from Mixed Emulsions for Jen’s monthly challenge: using handmade mulberry paper and ink on embossed paper.
But I was leery of the Asian theme to be honest. Even though I love eastern art—Chinese brush painting, Tibetan sand mandalas, Indian yoga paintings, and so on—I shy away from using Asian elements in my work. While I feel free to play around with images from the western canon, I’m not comfortable altering elements from another culture, especially when I don’t know the rules. To get around this, I chose a Japanese theme with Japanese papers, and even though I took a conservative approach, it was inspiring to work with something new.

Mixed Emulsions

After I finished reading (and pondering) Mixed Emulsions: Altered Art Techniques for Photographic Imagery by Angela Cartwright, I found myself wishing that I’d had this book years ago when I first started doing collage. There was a lot I sensed I could do with my work then but I wasn’t exactly sure what, so the value of a book like this is that it presents you with lots of inspiring options. This is a lot more than a how to book though; it’s an exercise in what if, and I’d recommend it to anyone who experiments with digital imagery like I do.
Jen Worden’s challenge for this month is to take a book like Cartwright’s and try working on every project/technique it includes. This is a tall order obviously, but Jen reminds us not to beat ourselves up if we don’t finish. Because I’m starting late, I’m keeping this advice firmly in mind.
Dale has chosen to work on Mixed Emulsions too, and you can check out her blog for a list of the techniques involved. Whew …the idea of attempting to do this doing this is insane, but inspiring. Looks like I’m going to have friends with my inner tortoise, pronto!

Emma’s Adventures

There were stars out last night and they reminded me of Emma and how transported she was by the night sky as a toddler. I’m sure she must be experiencing some of that magic on the islands off Thailand that she and Bryan are visiting right now.
I had an email from Emma on Sunday and she told me they were on Ko Phi Phi, which I immediately checked out on Google Earth. It looks just gorgeous, but Emma says it’s very hot and humid there—not too different from some of the weather we’ve been having here lately, but it’s obviously way more interesting in Thailand than Brampton!
Emma told me that she and Bryan had just completed a diving course where they got their primary diver’s certification. Then they did a couple of dives at a depth of 12 meters. She wrote that they saw all sorts of crazy fish, sea snakes, and a sea turtle, which was swimming right along beside them. Their instructor Angus was from Scotland, and they’ve been hanging around with a guy they met from Thornhill. Their next stop is Krabi in Thailand and then they head off to Vietnam.

Moo Challenge #11

I had fun with the Make or Moo or Two theme this week: cats. As anyone who has ever been a cat companion knows, there are plenty of clues as to how your feline is feeling—rubbing up against your legs (hungry), hissing (mad), purring (happy), kneading (nesting) and so on. Cats also have a whole constellation of thoughts and opinions they convey via their facial expressions …i.e. “Of course I have natural poise. I really am king/queen of all I survey.” And, “Don’t interrupt me. I’m at a crucial point in my treatise on flight mechanics.” I know I could have continued on in this vein, if only I’d had more cat images.

My Second Colette

In an email to Ronna yesterday, I said that the first thing I’d do if I won the lottery would be to stock up on original art. We already have a lot in our house. There’s my stuff, of course, and David’s glass, plus watercolors by John’s grandfather—and many wonderful cards and trades from art friends.
We also have quite a few reproductions of paintings we like. But there’s nothing like having an original. That’s why I treated myself recently to another piece of art by Colette Copeland. One of the reasons I like this piece is that she incorporated my digital doll’s head into her painting. I’m a big fan of what she does because I’m fascinated by her tender and spontaneous style. When I look at her work, I feel liberated from usual ways of approaching art, and that’s inspiring.
If you haven’t already visited her blog, you’ll enjoy it. And check out her Etsy store too.

Meeting my quota

This is the 29th digital ATC that I’ve posted here since January. I haven’t done as many as I did in 2007. But since my goal this year is to complete 50, I seem to be ahead of the game, and will probably meet my quota by the end of December.At some point I’d like to gather the ones I like into a book, so I usually print out my ATCs to check the color. In fact, I’d say I’m more interested in making this work than how things will actually appear on my blog. For one thing, people have different monitors so you can’t know in advance what your art will look like on theirs. Also—and I know I sound like a Luddite here—but what if the poles shift and everything you’ve posted online suddenly evaporates? That’s why I like a hard copy just in case.
Speaking of hard copies, I spent some time rereading the latest issue of ATC Quarterly last night. Ronna has done another bang-up job of artist networking and education. It’s always fun to see what different groups are doing with the format, and how it liberates them creatively. There were also some fab ATCs crafted from metal—something I’d like to try myself one of these days.

Moo Challenge #10

I have to admit I wasn’t that enthusiastic about this week’s Make a Moo or Two challenge. The theme is brown/beige/crème—colors I’m not usually drawn to. But since it’s a challenge (and challenges are there to be met), I gave it a go anyway.
I chose to work with vintage photographs of Venice, Pisa and Florence in Photoshop, and ended up finishing all three. I guess this proves there are times when I’m not only able to meet a challenge, but to bring a little more to it too.

Relating to Fred

John and I have never had a fish as a pet, but we’re babysitting Emma’s for a month and enjoying him. John feeds Fred in the morning and I’m doing it at night. A couple of days ago a food pellet stuck to Fred’s tail after John had dropped it into the fish bowl. But when he dipped a finger in the water to dislodge it, Fred turned around and gave him a good head-butt.
Since Emma talks to Fred several times a day, we’re doing this too. If you get close to his bowl, he comes right over to listen. On Saturday I told Fred about Emma and Bryan arriving safely in Bangkok, the movies they’d watched on the plane and how Emma had called that morning at 5:30 a.m. Fred seems to find information like this riveting, so I’m going upstairs now to tell him that I just received an email from Thailand.

Club Night

Emma and Bryan left for Hong Kong this morning and as I write this, they are still in the air somewhere over the Pacific. It’s a fifteen and a half hour flight and I’m going to stay up and keep checking Air Canada until they arrive. (Then they change planes and fly to Bangkok).
Yesterday I took a picture of Emma wearing the reading glasses we had to alter for this month’s club challenge. Since I used an enlarged photo of her eyes for the project, I wanted to see what they would look like on her. Emma told me the glasses really freaked her out, and I got a lot of laughs tonight when I modeled them myself at our meeting.
I’ll admit that I didn’t have a clue what to do with the glasses until this week, but it seems that necessity is the mother of invention. Hopefully this will apply to our next challenge, too, which is a particularly heinous set of bamboo wind chimes. What I’d like to do is encase all those dangling bits and pieces in plaster and turn them into a piñata.

Jen Worden’s Monthly Challenge

It’s amazing what you can get done when you’re busy. At the beginning of May, Jen Worden posted this month’s challenge to her blog. I thought for sure I’d have no time to do it by the 31st. But last night I thought I’d take a crack at it because I feel more connected to myself when I’m doing something creative. My problem is that I’m such a slow poke I’ll often forgo doing something I want to do simply because I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it. But I managed to complete this challenge in one night.
There were four requirements: (1) use any kind of tape; (2) choose something at random from your stash; (3) pick a word; (4) And finally, put it all together in a triptych.
I cut my shrine out of heavy cardboard and then covered it with colored masking tape and aluminum tape, which I embossed with a stylus. Then from my drafting table I picked up a square of glass I’d covered with alcohol inks and used white tape on the back to make it stand out. For the word—or in this case: words—I choose letters at random from my collection and went with the first complete ones I came up with. Finally, I covered the outside with marbled cardstock and added some Mary bling to the top. (For more of Mary’s embellishments, check out her Etsy store).
All in all, this was a very satisfying experience. Now I have to help Emma with her packing and finish altering some reading glasses for our club meeting tomorrow night.

Driveway Graffiti

When Emma arrived home with her belongings and fish Fred on Monday night, all the kids in the neighborhood suddenly materialized—along with their chalk. They were so excited to see Emma that they decorated our driveway. Soon several adults showed up too, and it took ages to unload the van because we were so busy having an impromptu street party.
Emma finished articling last week and has three months off until she starts work at the beginning of September. On Friday she leaves for Asia with her boyfriend Bryan. They are going to Hong King, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam, and will be back at the beginning of July. Then Emma will have to start looking for a place to live. David has rented an apartment closer to work so he won’t have to spend so much time commuting. The two of them got on so well during their year of living together that I’m sure they’re really going to miss each other. In the meantime, we have custody of Fred and the orchid, and are looking forward to spending a few weeks with Emma before she is tossed headfirst into adult life.

Moo challenge #9

I had every intention of starting my new journal tonight and got out a ton of stamps to use. But then I thought: why not do this week’s moos? The theme at Make a Moo or Two is dots and stripes, and fortunately I actually had stamps for this challenge.
If you’re anything like me, you probably have quite a few images you've never used. But instead of christening them, you keep returning to ones you've already used (like I did here). The B-Line stamp of the woman and the Acey Deucy image are two of my favorites. I stamped on scrapbooking paper with Black Versafine ink and then added some colored pencil.

A fun time-waster

David turned me onto Google Earth recently, and it’s hard not to become totally obsessed with zeroing in on places of interest—especially when you want to escape from everything else you know you should be doing.
I haven’t seen the house where I grew up since the 70s, so when my brother Keith told me today that it had been torn down and replaced with a monster house, I just had to Google Earth it. You can see it in the photo on the left in the upper right hand corner. Next to it is one of the few holdouts in this now swanky area. It’s hard to believe that six of us fit into a house this size, but I don’t recall that it felt that crowded.
The picture to the right shows where John and I live now. Our house is the one with the red car in the driveway, and you can even see our deck. Freaky.
If you want to waste time too, go to this link and you can download Google Earth for free.

Acrylic Revolution

It’s frustrating that bookstores don’t carry the stock they once did. For instance, there are dozens of books available on painting with acrylics but it’s hard to know which ones might be helpful without taking a look at them first. One book I can personally recommend is Nancy Reyner’s Acrylic Revolution: New Tricks & Techniques for Working With the World's Most Versatile Medium.
I’ve learned a lot from reading this book mainly because the focus is on technique rather than eye candy. Not that I have anything against eye candy, but all too often you don’t really understand how an artist has achieved a particular effect and this is frustrating. However, it’s apparent from the get-go that Reyner has put a lot of time and care into her book because the material is easy to grasp, comprehensive and inspiring. In all, she presents 101 different techniques (plus variations) and each one is illustrated with plenty of how-to photographs.
Not all of the techniques grabbed me of course, but there are many I could see incorporating into my own work like embedding stickers into acrylics, creating atmospheric techniques with a spray bottle, and using a brayer to make gradients. Reyner also has a section on doing transfers and another on achieving a crackle effect. I liked the information on using palette knives too. Even though I’ve been working with acrylics for years, I never realized their potential until reading Reyner’s book. Now all I have to do is get off my you-know-what and actually do something with the cornucopia of ideas she shares with us.

Finishing a Jornal

Last night I finished the eighth journal in my Moleskine series, and I was relieved to be done with it. Aside from a number of drawings I like, I won’t be looking at this one again any time soon. It’s like a 192-page primer on everything you shouldn’t do if your intention is to share your thoughts and creativity with other people—in other words: taking all the angst in your life and turning into something that’s totally cool.
My problem is that I started keeping a journal in the ninth grade when it was strictly lock-and-key stuff. A typical entry then (and now) runs something like this: Dear Diary: I’m really upset about such-and-such, so please bear with me while I analyze the situation to death—piece by agonizing piece. This is not a cathartic process, however; it’s compulsive. And probably one of the reasons why I worked myself into a depression after devoting myself to Julia Cameron’s morning pages for six consecutive months.
Admittedly there are finished journals I do hold close to my heart. They reflect those periods in my life where I’m focused on ideas rather than navel-gazing. The second installment in my Moleskine series is an example of this. I attempted to do something colorful, experimental and less personal. But it’s the only journal I haven’t finished yet. There are fourteen pages left and I don’t know if I’ll ever complete them.
I’m looking forward to a fresh start with journal number nine though. My plan is to start stamping in it randomly while watching the finale of American Idol tonight.

The latest Moo challenge

When I took a look at the challenge on the Make a Moo or Two blog this week, I wasn’t sure if I could participate. The theme is beach and sea, and I couldn’t think of any images I had that would suit. But since I’d already participated in seven consecutive challenges, I didn’t want to break my Moo streak.
So I had a think about what the theme means to me. Even though I love swimming, it’s basically all about picking up stuff from the beach for me. I remembered that I’d taken some photographs of my “finds” a couple of summers ago, and decided I’d Photoshop them to see what would happen. I don’t know how sea-and-beachy they really are, but it was interesting to try something different for a change because I usually incorporate people into my work.

The Holiday Weekend

I love long weekends because I always feel that a holiday—Victoria Day in this case—gives me an excuse to take time off to do things I enjoy …like celebrating David’s birthday and going for walks with John. Today I’ve been answering email, playing in Photoshop and reading.
One of the books Emma gave me for Mother’s Day was From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction by David Olen Butler, which Sandra Gulland had mentioned on her blog. Although it’s aimed at writers, Butler’s book appealed to the art part of my nature, too, mainly because he asks us to dreamstorm instead of brainstorm, the idea being that you have to get past your tendency to analyze so you can get to—and then create from—that place where your art really happens. In other words, expressing your creativity is an experience not an intellectual exercise.
This advice was helpful to me because I know I usually over think things. I don’t know whether or not I agree with Butler that it shows in the finished product, but it’s certainly more enjoyable to act from your dreamspace than your brain.

The Scent of Lilacs

It’s still coolish here, but the lilacs are in full bloom and it’s so pleasant to sit outside on the deck inhaling their scent. Lilacs always remind me of my mother because I know she loves them, and last Sunday I gave her a bunch for Mother’s Day.
Over the years the trees have grown up so much in our back yard that it’s too shady to grow much, and our grass is in terrible shape. But the spring flowers are always great: crocus, violets, hyacinths, tulips, snowdrops, daffodils—and this year, even a few irises.
I feel guilty that I don’t have the time or inclination to garden any more. For several years in the early 90s, I grew everything from tomatoes to hollyhocks, and I remember David throwing his arms around me one day and saying: “I love how you smell Mom. You smell like the earth.”

Moo Challenge #7

I’m probably just squeaking in under the wire on this one—or should I say two? The Make a Moo or Two challenge this week was Mother’s Day and I wanted to do something that illustrates what simple, motherly-like behavior can do to enrich a child’s life, like holding a shell up to a little girl’s ear so she can listen to the sea, or waking her up in the middle of the night to show her the stars.

Reading Magazines

I don’t read as many magazines as I once did, but it’s not really a time or money issue. I think I’m looking for an info/visual experience that dovetails with my own interests, and these are more specific than they used to be.
I always look forward to reading Art & Life because Teesha Moore often journals about what’s going on in her life, and it’s like being right there with her. RubberStampMadness is another magazine I read regularly. There’s more writing in this publication than many others, and the focus on scenic and classic stamping appeals to me personally. Plus I also collect the covers. Brenda Beene Shackleford did the latest one (shown above) and I think it will probably end up becoming one of my favorites.
Photoshop Creative and Advanced Photoshop are a couple of pricey U.K. mags I usually spring for. They come with a CD that contains new fonts, brushes and other creative resources that you can download to use in your work.
Today I received Cloth Paper Scissors' special issue on Artist Studios, and I have to admit I’m disappointed. What I didn’t realize when I ordered it was that the emphasis would mainly be on the workspaces of fabric artists. Not that I have anything against fabric art, but since I don’t do it myself, I didn’t find most of the studios that interesting—aside from Jayne Ann Wynn’s and one in a converted hayloft. There were also twenty or so pages of decorative projects to try, but I would have preferred to see the studios of more mixed media artists or painters instead.

Having a Busy Time

December and May are the two busiest times of year for me …December for obvious reasons, and May because of birthdays, work and other commitments. For example, in the last few days I’ve been helping my sister Pam pack up her house, the Red Hat Stampers came over for lunch and dinner on Saturday, and yesterday was Mother’s Day. All good stuff, but I’m really in the mood to spend the whole day in bed reading trashy novels, drinking tea and writing in my journal. When Emma and David were small, John would look after them occasionally while I did just that, and I always really enjoyed it.
According to the Myers Briggs personality test, I’m an introvert, and introverts need to recharge by being on their own. Extroverts, on the other hand, restore their energy best by some heavy duty partying. As I get older, though, I’m discovering that I’m a lot more sociable than I thought I was. I put this down to expressing my creativity on a regular basis, so now when I spend time with other people I seem to have a lot more fun. Hmm …maybe I’m really a closet extrovert.

Friendship

On Monday night I had dinner with my oldest friend—well, not literally the oldest because Mary Geo is younger than me, but we’ve been friends since she was two and I was three. Because our families were close, we spent a lot of time together. And part of the reason our friendship worked so well was that we never really felt the need to entertain each other. When we had a sleepover, Mary Geo would play with her dolls while I read, and this seemed to suit both of us just fine.
Mary Geo moved to England in the 70s, so we don’t see each other that often now. Aside from my trip to London in 1976, I realized that this was the first time we’d spent time together without our families or spouses around. It was amazing how we easily we slipped into our lifelong habit of laughing together and confiding in each other. I’ve come to the conclusion that we never really grow up—we just pretend to.

Moo Challenge #6

I didn’t think I’d be able to meet the Make a Moo or Two challenge this week because I’m so busy, but I persevered. The theme is Gold, and I used a scrap of wrapping paper from my sister Pam’s garbage for the background. However, if I thought doing my design in Photoshop would speed the process along, I was dead wrong. I dithered around for ages before finally settling on something I could live with.

David's Visit

David came to stay on the weekend, and Lily was thrilled. Here they are watching TV, or rather David is stretched out on the sofa and Lily is keeping an eye on him from her perch on top of the cushions. Yes, I am one of those people owned by a dog who allows them to relax just about anywhere …except on my pillow.
Besides some extensive dog bonding, one of the reasons David came to visit was to get some Photoshop help from me. He’s designing a postcard for a one-man show of his kiln-fired glass bricks at a gallery in West Virginia this summer. You can see a section from one of his bricks shown to the right above.

Up until recently, all the drawings I’ve been doing have been from life—if you can call rendering inanimate objects “life.” But I suppose they’re an extension of it, aren’t they?
Anyway, a few nights ago, I decided to draw some glass vases from a postcard of Jeff Goodman’s art that David had given me because I really liked the flowing shapes. This turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be mainly because I didn’t have a real sense of their dimension or texture. I felt much happier with the vases after I’d scanned them and added some gradients in Photoshop.
Somehow this drawing of my handbag was more satisfying to do. Even though it’s not in proportion, it’s more realistic simply because it was actually there.