Be Open To Collaborations

- because they can be pure magic!

PART I

Last fall I was spending alot more time on Ning than I have been lately. I joined Suzi Blu and though I hadn't signed up for a class, I created a profile, met lots of great people and discovered several spin-off NING groups as well, to name a few. The BEST thing to come out of that experience was linking up with 3 other local MM artists within an hours drive from my home!

At our first PLAY DATE Susan did all the prep work, supplied the mat board and three 20-page signatures as well as an instruction sheet with resources as a take-away! We had so much fun and this is the result.






Part II






ART JOURNALS
with Charlotte Hedlund
Saturday, June 13, 10:00am-4:00pm

"You don’t have to be an artist to keep an art journal! You don’t have to be an artist to keep an art journal! Words and images combine in ways that express our creativity unselfconsciously. Investigate things that inspire, work out ideas, and play with colors, shapes and textures. Art journals allow us to organize memorabilia, record dreams, feelings, travels, nature’s wonders, simple pleasures and major life events. It is the place to explore our creative selves, gaining new insights and making unexpected connections. Supportively we will explore ideas for getting started, discuss the pursuit of images and how to overcome creative block, and the need for creative solitude. We will use collage, paints, markers, stamping, printing, doodling, stitching, and more to decorate and embellish the pages of our journals. Art journal examples will be on hand to provide inspiration, and ways to make your own simple journals will be demonstrated.
Member $165 • Non-Members $190Plus a Materials Fee of $5"

Part III

My best friend has a lovely Hair Salon in town and has created a beautiful nursey in the back of the salon each summer. She had her second annual Plant Sale this year and I was happy to help her create the invitations and all of the identifying plant signs. As a thank you, she gifted me with 12 hours of class instruction at the Brookfield Craft Center! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G and lucky me!

... can't wait to get started!

Begin Again

"Don’t ask what the world needs.

Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.

Because what the world needs

is people

who have come alive."

-Howard Thurman

So I'm back, bottle of glue in hand.. ready and willing to share my gifts with the world! In other words, although I haven't posted in nearly 2 months, I assure you I've been:

TAKING A LOCAL BOOK ALTERING CLASS, Going to Redsox games, MAKING MORE ART, Tending my roses, EXPERIMENTING WITH NEW TECHNIQUES, Making new friends, SIGNING UP FOR A LOCAL ART JOURNAL WORKSHOP, Lots of photograpy, STRETCHING MY ARTISTIC WINGS. Basically I have been loving my life and counting each and every blessing.

Pics to follow... stay tuned, dear friends!

Happy (Hoppy) Easter

From my little corner of the world,

I wish you all the joys of spring, of hope and of renewal!

"The story of Easter is the story of God's

wonderful window of divine surprise."

~Carl Knudsen

"Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection,

not in books alone,

but in every leaf in spring-time."

~Martin Luther

Wonderful Book Art

Still a work-in-progress, the cover is always so much fun to make! We made a mini book by covering cardboard with torn (vintage) book pages that were inked, distressed & glazed. Created a cover design on the computer, printed and then cut it out. A large, decorative brad was used for the "doorknob" and a leather strip to secure it. A "hinge" was created on the inside by linking the two covers with a piece of card stock. The inside describes what it means to have a raven as your totem. "Healing" was the part we liked the best and "moving from the dark into the light."

- upper left corner is made with mesh from a vegetable bag.

- lower right corner was made from black foil from a wine bottle.

Making a mess is a pre-requisite, it seems. Cleaning up.. not so much!!!

l-o-v-e taking pictures of children's hands!

- Distressing a piece of striped, green paper we added for the "end papers."

- stamping foam letter stamps on our tag book and then embossing in Diamond Black.

"Let's make more!"

favorite pastime

I have such a love affair with photography,

there's no end to what you can do!

Original

Convert to B&W

Increase contrast

Play with colored tints ~ crop

... and so much more!

pseudo-oil painting

more tricks

borders - zoom & crop

the choices are as varied

as your IMAGINATION (and your software)!

Authenticity

Truthfully, no two of us are alike!



Whether you've attended Art School, are self-taught or consider yourself an "outsider artist," each one of us has come from a very VERY different place. And because we come from totally different places it is natural to produce totally different art.



Creating art, in any form, is also an act of trust. It takes a "leap of faith" since making art is the act of BARING YOUR SOUL!

There truly are - NO RULES - that define where art can or should come from. The important part is that we express our own authentic individual experience.

Release the bird from your caged mind. Let your art (and your heart) S.O.A.R.

You have a story to tell!

You Are Special

"best friends forever"

3 weeks ago I made this ATC for a very special friend and, when I see her on Friday, I will finally be able to give it to her.

The backstory is that she came into my life under extremely trying circumstances. Raised by her single father and grandfather and at barely 9 years of age, her dad was tragically killed in a one-car accident. Yes, heartbreaking, but there is much more to this that I can't share. As a result, we have opened our hearts to each other and the healing process continues. Outside of immediate family, she has trusted only ME with her story and I am honored to be her friend. UPDATE 03/28/09: today will be our second "go" at altering her Poetry Journal together. We plan to add lots of secrets in magical little hiding places, so stay tuned!

The way we were brought together, and she agrees with me, proves that there is no such thing as coincidence. Especially when you realize that the root word is "coincide!" (For all you linguists, more here.)

Over many years we have developed a special bond that can NEVER be broken ~


...not in this world...


...or in the next...

art journey, refreshed

It wasn't until I heard myself saying.. out loud.. how much I missed making art, that I realized I needed an emergency ART INTERVENTION! So often we turn without for inspiration, but this time it felt different. It came from within.

My heart spoke ~ and I listened.

About 2.5 weeks ago, I was describing to a friend that not expressing myself through my art was making me feel all bottled up! Shocked to hear myself uttering those words, and I promise you it was TANGIBLE.. there was a connection taking place inside.. leaving no doubt, whatsover, that the time to "purge" was n.o.w.

The easy part was locating a few half-started projects to pick back up again - LOL - and (no surprise) I came up with some new ones, as well. I'll be busy posting and sharing them with you, but first, here's what I've been working on since March 3rd:

• blank card for someone to GIVE (below)
• 3 ATC's - 1 very special one for a special friend
• an altered book Poetry Journal with a teenage friend
• finished my first handbound journal (a la Kelly Kilmer) with 3, 20-page signatures
• started the cover design
• learned to use a Color Negative attachment to my scanner and retouched 2 of my all-time best photographs from two 26 year old negatives
• Book of Me journal
• Sentimental Journey journal

... happy arting!

every day is a new beginning

upland farm - sherman, CT 02.25.08

Let there be respect for the earth,

Peace for its people,

Love in our lives,

Delight in the good,

Forgiveness for past wrongs

And from now on, a new start.

millennium resolution - rev. peter trow - 1999

Web Surfing (for a change)

Undine - 1872 Ophelia - 1910

Juliet - 1898 Boreas - 1903

A small sampling of the amazing artistry of John Williams Waterhouse (English painter, 1849-1917)! Have I been under a rock?? Although I've seen (and adored) the painting, "Boreas" I never knew who painted this masterpiece, until tonight. Which brings me to admit.... not only do I enjoying researching images, I seem to suck up the accompanying details LIKE A SPONGE! LOL! (You can view hundreds of his paintings in the online gallery here.

And if you can't tell already (based on the wide range of topics I enjoy)... I'm an information junkie! Geez, I'm always poking fun at myself by saying, "I'm on a need-to-know basis!" I would've made a top-notch detective, research scientist, or game show contestant. Ha!

Please share YOUR image resource faves & here's a few of mine:

• Time Tales
• Wikimedia Commons
• Library of Congress on Flickr
• Google Image Search

To use any of these in your artwork, it's important to become familiar with the complex subject of Copyright Law and know how to locate "copyright free" images, which are in the public domain.