IDLE TIME??NO WAY!

handmade cards one way to go

What are you doing with the idle time that seems to show up right along side of Covid 19?

Neighbor Bina and I were talking about how our use of time seems to have changed as the world around us has too. For myself, my brown thumb has been found in the garden for one thing. Might as well grow some of the groceries and have that fresh taste. And of course there's also a whole lot more baking and cooking going on lately as well.

Making cards to send to friends has been one of my greatest pleasures with time to do so. I laugh that sometimes it seems I might be saving the USPS single-handed. 😜

Realizing that journaling and this blog have not really been "enough" for writing, I also asked friend Catharine to share some writing prompts. Got the first one today and had some fun with it here:

Whoosh! Pet poodle Horace at my side as I drove at a good clip around Crater Lake, my orange VW Beetle seemed to break not only the Zen of the moment but the sound barrier as well. (Seems there is more to this story, but I finished with the prompts...can you guess what they were?)

What are you doing so not to have too much idle time (some is good, of course) on your hands?

THE PROMISE OF PREP

prep tools

There are times when the preparation is at least half of the fun. It's titillating to think of what the tools could become.

I started today to gather the items I may need for the Round Robin Journal entry for March. Ideas are percolating. We shall see what shows up.

Sometimes there is complete failure of the idea, but experimentation and exploration is part of this process of journaling anyhow, so...what the heck, right?

The play is the thing, for sure!!

CHOOSING...

Tools of the "trade"

Such a beautiful day! I have to admit that it is a little bit hard to want to spend time inside the studio. Can I choose to just let yesterday's juvenile whale sighting and the gorgeous colors of sky and water suffice? Can I capture them in my mind enough to focus more closely on what I playfully call work?

Choosing joy has such ridiculous issues, doesn't it? To joyfully spend time in the outdoors, basking in color and light or to play joyfully in the studio creating....hmmmm.

What will I choose?

FUN CREATIVE MESS

Yay!! Tomorrow is another Sunday Studio Workshop aka Mixed Media Playtime. I'm like a kid in a candy store on these days, excited to sample all that appears.

We will be eight of us--creatives all! On the agenda (if you can even call it that) will be making journals for the upcoming Round Robin Journaling, Valentines, playing around with backgrounds, maybe some new image transfer techniques, and.........who knows?

We'll have some wonderful potluck nibbles, music, laughter, and more. See why I'm excited?

POST ROAD TRIP?...JUST SLEEP

Silver City mural

Mexican Trestle

Rio Grande

Animas River

Grand Mesa lake

Home from yet another great road trip and all I want to do right now is sleep, sleep, sleep. So, for now, I will merely share a few pictorial highlights from the road. Clearly, Jenna and I are enamored of rivers and trees...and the very bluest of skies. Our agreed upon highlight was the day in Las Cruces when we first hiked in Cloudcroft to the Mexican Trestle and then visited the phenomenal White Sands National Monument.

All in all, a wonderful trip with daughter #2 (wish I could get #1 out on one of these) filled with sights and sounds to remember, but not enough wildlife sightings, though we saw a handful of deer here and there.

It was a great break and when I am finished with catching up on sleep there is much to do here with a full week ahead. Back to reality, I guess.

WHAT TO DO WHEN...

 For months now I have had a sign on my desk that reads "What can I get rid of today?" This has created a regular routine of finding things both small and large that really no longer seem to serve.

The other day I came upon a package of 5x7 mats that had come into my possession at some time in the past and not been used. Were they to be part of the clean out? Then I noticed the scraps and other set aside bits of alcohol ink play. Why not?

And so, while not exactly lemons and lemonade, the bits and scraps and the small mats have become small salable pieces for my summer Sawdust Art Festival booth. I have more of them and more scraps so I see lots of playtime ahead.

Come see me in Booth #205 just off the main aisle. 

PLAYTIME

Need more be said?

Keep it simple and just go out and play. Next playtime is Sunday, May 19th from 11 to 4. Won't you join in?

RANDOM OBSESSION?

I have been deep in creative play mode lately. Alcohol ink techniques and treatments and paper play to produce abstract pieces seem to be the primary modes chosen.

Re what I'm calling "Abstractions" for want of a better term have led me to play in my many boxes of scraps. Some of these are from junk mail or random handouts. Some are drawn or painted on tissue or other papers.  At any rate, while it is starting to feel a bit obsessive, as I do one each day, the near-random choices made are very freeing.

Creative play is soooooooo important and however it shows up, follow it.  I am.

LOVING COLOR

I do LOVE Mineral Blue. Coupled with the light green, some white, and a touch of red...well, this nighttime sky just comes alive for me each time I look at it.

Looking at this piece, i can hear the hoot of an owl in a nearby tree. I can imagine faeries dancing in a nearby clearing even as nighttime critters move about on the carpet of leaves below.

Color brings on so many imaginings.
What do you see/think of when looking here?

SLOWING IT DOWN

Finally! In creating a new angel to add to the collection I finally slowed enough to remember to document the steps.

Materials ready!

The first step was to gather some magazines and, of course, my trusty scissors. Since this was to be a Valentine angel I knew I would need some great reds. And so I began.

The first pieces are usually the head, arms, and legs. Often, the hair is the very last, but this time a special piece just called out to me.

Now all the pieces are gathered. The wings and several other pieces were found by perusing an art catalog. Time to decide just how to place them.

This is the first placement. As I attach the various pieces some things tend to change, but placing the parts on the watercolor paper to start at least gives me a general idea of where I am going.

The pieces are all adhered now. Sometimes I use glue, sometimes matte medium. If using the medium, I recommend spritzing with a bit of water and using a brayer (I use a brayer to smooth pieces as I go in any case.) 

Now to the final step, which is to outline with a fine pen. I like Faber Castell PITT artist pen SX.

Ta-da!

ON TO WEEK TWO...AND GORGEOUS WINTER DAYS

what a mess!

Part of blogging (at least this one) has to be about what IS, I suppose. And, in this case, I find myself having to admit that my studio is a horrible mess right now.
Winter Fantasy at the Sawdust Art Festival just comes too close to the holidays for me, making it difficult to get into the swing of things while cleaning and clearing from the five weeks of working. And, thus, I find myself with this mess!
Finally, holiday trimmings have been put away in their place. Art work that went unsold has been tucked away til the next show (or some oil baron comes along to buy it all).
Now comes the work of sorting through all the "just plain stuff" that ended up on my work table and readying for the first studio workshop of the year. What to keep? What to toss? Guess I'd better get to it.
Til next time...

ANGELS ABOUND!

So many angels

It would seem I have made enough collage angels what with the Sawdust Winter Fantasy ending this weekend, but I have more ideas and materials are all lined up to make more this weekend. Besides, everybody needs an angel and has their own specifics, right?
At any rate, come down to join in the fun, the music, the good food, and the many great artistic possibilities for gift giving. We are open from 10 to 7 both Saturday and Sunday.
And if you need tickets, just let me know.

ANGELS IN MY CORNER

Many of us know that angels come in different forms when we are in times of need.
I am having such a joyfully fun time creating these fun collage angels. It all started with time on my hands. Then, just two magazines off of a rack. Scissors, a piece of deli paper, a variety of small tubes of paint, and a black outlining pen finished up the pieces needed for the project. Watercolor paper was of course needed for the base piece.
Then...let the fun begin!
Now there are 30 completed collage angels. Some of the originals are being framed. Others are prints and/or cards. All will be ready for the Sawdust Festival's Winter Fantasy.
I feel blessed to be able to have so much fun creating art...and angels :)

WOW! ABUNDANCE!

Crazy bits and pieces

Cowabunga! (That's what I thought of when I wrote the title for this piece.) What an apt word somehow.It denotes the excitement of wonderful things coming your way.The abundance just keeps on coming and I love it.
Up early. Mind racing. Can't sleep. A good kind of crazy energy.
The Fun Figures workshop has magically resulted in a job doing art work for a movie set. Who would have thought, right?
The drawings have become a wonderful series of varietal women each with her own special story.
Workshops are full. And magic happens at every one of them, filling my heart and my soul with joy.
And, for today, I am off to a full day of basking in literature at the Literary Women of Long Beach luncheon with wondrous stories of writing and inspiration.
What's not to like?

I KNOW...WHAT??

Only the beginning

Yeah, yeah, I know...it's finally raining outside and it's the dead of winter and...why have I zealously begun spring cleaning? I can hardly move around my office at this point and it seems to be only the beginning as each move creates more moves and more mess. 
No resolution sparked this; it just showed up with this morning's rain. Why? Who knows. But now I am in full throttle on this.
Lots of art fodder will either go in the trash or, if you have need of specifics please let me know and I can set aside for you.
This is crazy, but back to it!!! Inspiration awaits at the bottom of all these piles I am sure.