Random thought about my week Jan 25 to Jan 31, 2015

Artful Wordsmith Lesson

Jan. 25:

I am going to be posting art work done during the week.  This one was actually completed on Friday of last week, but I wanted to post it today for a reason.  This is part of Lifebook 2015 and I really enjoy the lessons.  Actually I started not to participate this year because I had become severely discouraged by posting work and not getting comments.  I know, I know that is not the reason to do art, but I felt very vulnerable posting my work and to not get many comments just messed with my head.

What changed?  Well some of my art friends are teaching this year so I just had to support them.  In the process of supporting others, I decided that I could adopt the following attitude.  Comments should not be the expected outcome of my art journey.  I had to really examine my intent, it is to be popular or is it to have fun.  I am 65 years old, I will probably not make money from these efforts, but I can just create for the sheer fun of it.  Also, I can release fears and frustrations by putting my heart on the canvas.

I am still somewhat tentative as I create and my goal this year is two fold, believe in myself and go for the gusto.  So today was a day of deep thought as I checked in to make sure I am still on track with my goals.  So far so good.

Jan. 26:

Completed the Ballerina lesson by Patti Ballard.  I did not watch the video over and over, I printed out the picture and used it as a guide.  It was really easy, although I need to get better with the jaw shape.  I have been hesitant to try using photo's as a guide for drawing and painting, but I think I am really going to give it a try.

Tonight Bible study begins, will be studying the second phase of Isaiah from chapters 40 to 55. Should be really good.

Jan. 27

I have spent years pushing myself, operating on 3 and 4 hours sleep a night, thinking that was all that I needed.  It wasn't.  Lately my body has been telling me it needs more rest, it needs more attention
and I am starting to listen.  Another thing is I dream in technicolor with sound.  I used to think it was crazy, but it isn't it is just me.  Some of those dreams are messages, messages that I need to listen to and explore.

Taught Religious Ed today.  We are starting the study of the Mass.  How can we make the Mass come alive for 7 year olds.  It has to be more than a thing we do,  means to an end.  The Mass and the act of going and participating has to become a way of life, a part of their core being so that when the time comes when they walk away (and for most it will), there will be a yearning in their spirit that will call them back and they will answer so they can be fed.

I put a base coat on the cover of a book I am using for Mixed Media 201 class.  I love the base and how the colors mixed together.  But the real deal is that I just could not leave it blank and lifeless, the colors bring it to life, give it depth and make it personal.

Jan. 28:

5 am.  A dream woke me up this morning.  Not a bad dream, not a nightmare; it was a call, a call to get busy and do what I am supposed to be doing.

My husband Donald was in the dream doing what he has always done...."My wife can help you....." in the dream was a lady who wanted to write songs. Donald felt I could help her write her songs.  She was sitting with her book with nothing on the page but desire.  She told me that she felt called to write, the words were welling up inside of her begging for release.  Her husband picked up his guitar and strummed a few cords, but she could not voice the words.

"I took a walk today, looking for something to feed my soul,  yes, I took a walk today looking for something to feed my soul, there were no answers, only and empty goals."  In the dream I sang these words and everyone stopped and looked at me.  Immediately Donald said you can write her songs and I said no.  She had to do it for herself.  If the words are welling up inside of her, only she can let them out one word at a time.

When I woke up I realized that the dream and message was for me.  It is time to follow my path, do my art, write my words, take my walk and find what will really feed my soul.

Today was a busy day.  I was lector at Mass this morning, then grocery shopping.  Home to do chores and get ready for meeting at church.  Fell asleep early, a sister was tired.

Jan. 29:

14 years ago I said my final goodbyes to Donald Hoagland.  Where has the time gone?  I often think about that day because it reminds me of how important it is to really get to know someone.  Donald was an interesting and complex man.  He could be funny and exasperating at the same time.  He put the Cheap in cheap and yet he could be very generous with his time.  He fancied himself a ladies man, yet he needed the stability of having someone he could count on.  He wanted to live forever and died relatively young.  Miss you everyday Donald.

Since I went to sleep relatively early, I woke up early.  No dreams last night.  I woke up to Rick Steves touring the Amalfi coast.  It piqued my interest since I was there in 2007.  I was reminded of how wonderful my life has been and all of the experiences I have had.  I was also reminded that I have so many pictures that I can sketch in my journals....I have built in prompts......

Today I am going to Aaron Brothers to take advantage of the closing of our local store, what sales will I find?  I found black gesso for $5.00, a Sillman and Birn journal for $8.00, string gel for $5.00 and other great deals.  I am a happy camper.

While waiting on the bus I was thinking about the Art Chain challenge in which I am participating, and the type of art I do.  I realized that I am truly  mixed media artist.  By that I mean, doing a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  Not so much drawing and painting but photography, needle arts, jewelry making; just enjoying the process.

In the Shadows of Zion Utah

This photo was taken in November on a driving tour of Zion National Park in Utah.  I love taking photo's with shadows.

Jan. 30

Rainy day in Henderson.  It rained all day and I stayed home. Worked on art, relaxed, enjoyed chocolate milk, took a long nap and then watched Serena Williams win the Australian Open at 3 am.  What a day.  I am finding that I like staying home creating and I need to get on track with my scarf of the month project.

This was a nice week.  Until next week, take care......pilgrim

Random Thoughts and Arty things....January 18 to January 24, 2015

New Week, new opportunities:

January 18:

Got a really groovy idea for week 3 of DLP 2015.  It is a slow process because of 24 hour drying time between steps, but it should work out.  My mind is still churning.  We are using the Dylusions journal for our projects and I have been doing double page spreads.  I think I am going to make some single page spreads.

Also it is time to start my 100 faces in 365 days project.  Have not done a lot of faces in a while, this should be interesting.

January 19:

Began working on first painting for You and Me with Wyanne.  I did not have a12x12 canvas, but I do have 12x12 wooden substrates so that is what I am going to use.  Gesso applied today and the first layer of paint.

Worked on Artist Trading Cards I was swapping with two art friends

January 20:

Mailed the ATC's and visited Desert Art Supplies.  I needed to find a few neo II crayons, Liquitex Liquid and golden high flow paints.  Very productive visit.

Taught Religious ed this afternoon and then came home to relax.  No Art tonight.

January 21:

I was lector at Mass this morning and then went shopping at Dollar Tree.  This one was much larger than the one close to my home.  It was dollar store shopping nirvana.

Continued to work on DLP week 3.  I painted the silk flowers that I glued to watercolor paper with gesso, then it was over to the drying rack to dry.  I have a box that I use to place things I need to dry so that I don't put my fingers in the paint, drop it or otherwise mess it up.  How do I know this can happen?  From many oops.  I am glad that I am not an artist that has to move quickly because this project required a lot of patience.

January 22:

Today was a great day.  I decided to just spend the day working on art and stay home.  I finished the DLP project which included a major oops or as Carolyn Dube would say and Outstanding Opportunity Presenting Self".  I was following a process I learned from Donna Downey and once the painted flowers have dried, you cover them with embossing ink and then cover with CLEAR embossing powder.  Using a heat tool  you melt the embossing powder. WELL!!!! I grabbed a bottle of ultra thick Utee and poured it on the flowers, grabbed my heat gun and realized my flowers were turning white.  Uh Oh, time to look at the label ---white----. So much for assuming I had the right stuff.  What was I going to do?????  I made a wash of acrylic paint, painted it over the white utee and used the heat gun to melt the paint in the the embossing powder.  It worked.  So now I am not mimicking anyone---I have my on take on the process.

DLP 2015 Week 3 - Colors of the color wheel

January 23:

Completed Joanne Sharpe's Lesson from Lifebook-Artful lettering.  I almost talked myself out of doing this project, but I am glad that I did it.  My goal for this year is to try each lesson regardless of my level of success.  Also, not to put so much care into if I get comments or not when I post, just enjoy the process.

January 24:

It is a beautiful Saturday here in the Vegas Valley.  Had a meeting at church, stopped by Von's to get a few items and then home.  Painted 3 postcards that I am going to mail on Monday as a delayed of Love Notes project.  3 or 4 times a year I participate in a program where  a partner/penpal is assigned and for 3 weeks we send a post card or note based on a prompt.  The idea is to stay in the habit of corresponding via mail.  There are times when a partner does not follow through.  I volunteered to send postcard to a few that did not receive a note.  It was so fun to do.

Well another week has come to a close.  Where does the time go?

until next week.........pilgrim

Painting Composition Book covers Effy Wild Style

Plain Composition Book

Dear Reader, this is my first attempt at providing instructions on an art project I have been working on.  Since the beginning of the year this is the 3rd Composition book cover that I have painted.  I learned the process from Effy Wild who is an amazing mixed media artist.  The first book is being used as a journal for LifeBook 2015 and is part of a group sponsored by Effy.  The second book/journal is for a wonderful 8 week online program "Becoming" sponsored by Jeanne Oliver.  Below is the painted cover for that journal.

Painted cover for my On Becoming Journal

Two of my friends, Michele and Monica, wanted to know the steps I followed, hence my instructions.

I have fallen in love with this process and the Composition books are very inexpensive.  The book I am currently painting is my Letter Love Journal based on a lesson by Joanne Sharpe.  The journal can be used for practicing the art of lettering.  I have glued my pages together and added wash tape to the edges of pages.  The last step was to paint the cover.

Supplies used:

• Gesso
• Montana acrylic markers, pink, blue, green and orange
• Tim Holtz distress paints blue, pink
• Cream coat acrylic paint white and yellow
• Pitt big brush pen black
• round punchinella (sequin waste)
• washi tape
• Golden soft gel (glossy)

Plain Composition Book covered with Gesso

Paint applied to book in random pattern

White gesso used to mute the colors

Finished cover for the Letter Love Art Journal

This is the end of my tutorial.  Hope you learned something and will try to enhance a really inexpensive journal.  Thanks to Effy Wild for helping me to learn this wonderful process.  I have now completed 3 journals and need to make one more for my Painting play with Wyanne Thompson.

Random Thoughts - January 11 to January 17 2015

January 11:

It is a rainy Sunday in Henderson, NV a few miles southeast of Las Vegas.  The perfect Jammy day.  After church I came home, put on my jammies,  had my once a week treat of fried chicken.  I worked on art and it was good.   I am participating in a series of online classes and I am noticing that something interesting.  While I love Lifebook and the techniques I learn,  I am finding a sincere fondness for classes like Document Life and Journal 52 which give you prompt and then you create from your own voice.  It is scary at first, but once you let your mind go, the possibilities are endless.

I have a lot of meetings this week at church so it will be interesting to see how much I will be able to create...here's hoping for a lot.

January 12:

Worked on my Document Life Project and painted a book cover for online Bible Study class on becoming.  Below is a picture of the cover.

January 13:

Taught Religious Education Class.  Played catch up watching the videos for Creative Jump Start.  It is a yearly program held on January designed to help get the creative juices flowing.

I have been thinking a lot about my life.  65 years have come and gone and now it is time to really consider how I want to make the most of the years I have left.  I have no idea how many years that is, but I dod not want to waste a minute of it.  Yet I am perplexed.  I know I will figure it out, i just have to be patient.

January 14:

MOMs Meeting tonight, it was a really good meeting with great discussion about saying "Yes" and making choices.  We are studying "Having a Mary Spirit" by Joann Weaver.  Sometimes the book is a challenge and I do not agree with what she rights, but that is a choice.  You do not have to agree with everything in order to learn something.  It is about the little "Yesses" that get us through the day, month and year.

January 15:

No meetings today.  Hair cut and relaxation today.  Nice day.

January 16:

Shopping day.  Nothing extravagant.  But, drum roll please, I used up all of my Golden soft gel (gloss) and needed to get more.  Went to Aaron Brothers and bought a few things I needed.  Found out that the store is closing which is really sad.  There are two stores remaining open in other parts of the valley, but it always sad to see a business close.  I always worry about the employees.  Just one more reason why I am so happy I am retired.

January 17:

Very busy day.  Three Meetings and now I am planning how I am going to do my week 3 of Document Life.  But first I need to make a couple of ATC's, do week 3 of Life book  and a couple of other projects.  Truthfully, I have been putting off doing the life book project, but this is one of my little "yesses".  Bite the bullet and get busy.



What a week, I learned a lot, thought a lot and laughed a lot.  until next week....pilgrim

January 4 to 10th

Beacon of Light Painting

January 4th:

Today was a lot of fun.  Went to the Crafting Place for the Mixed Media 201 Class.  Dee Dee Catron leads these classes and I will be attending when I can.  Today we learned about Tip-ins.  Tip-ins are pages added to and existing page in a journal to extend the area for drawing and journaling.  What makes this class so different?  The items used to bind the pages together.  We used antique lace ( I love this process - picture will be included) Paper doily, envelopes, tape.  When I got home I used a swatch of fabric as a binder and it was cool.

I am really thinking about how I want to spend my year arting.  I have some classes that I will work through and some that I probably will review but not do much art in because they just are not singing to me at the moment.  Who knows what I will feel like in March?  I will download the videos so I can  make my final decisions as I move through the year.

All of my favorite Christmas movies are gone for the year.  It is strange getting back to regular programming.

January 5th:

Was lector at morning Mass.  It always feels good to lector.  Pot of Chicken noodle soup on the stove and Christmas trees are coming down.  Back to "regular programming" in the house.  I will miss the lights.  Sitting in the dark house with the lights twinning brings me joy.  Oh well, time to move on.  Boy that soup really smells good.

January 6th:

After a great deal of internal conversation, began work on the Beacon of Light portion of the Lifebook 2015 project.  It is much easier said than done having the courage to paint and then share it. But start I did and boy did it feel good.

Religious Ed classes resumed today.  We will now be teaching the children about Holy Communion since they will be celebrating this wonderful experience later in the year.  12 young minds, 12 eager learners, such an exciting time.

January 7:

Finished Beacons of Light painting.  My 2nd painting of the year and first portrait.
It was really great to work on this project and see the finished result.

January 8:

Spent the day working on various art projects.  Start working on my Awesome Day Jar putting the first layer of collage on the jar and it looks good.  Was going to by a jar and then I found one at home that I could use. Falling into my use what you have theme for the year.

Met an arty friend and gave her some of my extra art supplies.  There is nothing like sharing.

January 9:

Started working on Document Life week 1 painting.  I have put this off, not thinking that I could do it, but I was wrong.  Today I collaged book pages on to the pages in my delusions journal.  the pages buckled and I was so disappointed.  I decided to let it dry overnight and put some binder clips on the edges to hold the pages straight.  I also made a journal for my Becoming you online class, it turned out really nice.  The entire day was spent creating.  I ended the day watching videos by Wyanne Thompson for a class I am taking with her "You and Me"  painting together.  By Sunday, I will be able to begin painting the first project.

January 10:

This morning I looked at the pages I collaged yesterday for DLP, wow drying overnight really made the difference.  The pages looked great.  Next step, used Golden liquid acrylic paint to put a wash over the page.  The color palette I chose was turquoise, magenta, yellow and light green.  White was used to tone down some of the colors.  It is looking good.  Next step will be embellishments and then put my intentions for 2015 in the pages.  Hope I can finish today, but it will probably be more like tomorrow.  We shall see.

Thoughts about the week:

It has been a good week.  Still learning to take it one day at a time.  I learned something really wise from Wyanne.   "There is always someone somewhere that will love what you create.  You may not love it, but someone will."  I needed that and it made me smile.  

Instead of being eager to start the new week, I am going to enjoy the rest of today, savor each moment.

Until later......pilgrim

Welcome to the new Year

Pebeo and Resin Painting

Happy New Year

January 1, 2015

A new year is here once again.  The first day of 2015 is filled with anticipation and wonder about what the year will bring.  This year I am going to have a different approach.  I am not going to wonder about what this year will bring.  Instead I am going to try to enjoy one day at a time.  Really pay attention to the day at hand.  So what happened on the first day?  I went to Mass and learned that January 1st is Pray for World Peace day.  This day was instituted 48 years ago by Pope Paul IV.  I never knew this before today.  As a result my thought and prayer for the day was "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me."  This lyric from a song we sing in church and I have always liked it.

Also worked on the cover for my Document Life Journal.  It is still in progress.  So fun.

January 2nd

So far I have won the internal conversation of spending when I do not need to.  Oh I had great plans of going to Michael's and Joann's and buying art supplies.  When all of a sudden something inside me said "hold on buck-a-too, why would you go and buy one more thing?  You have all you need." So the battle began.  But they may have something really cool on sale versus you do not need anything.  Today, you do not need anything won.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.  Remember I am taking it one day at a time.

One more thing for today.....this year I will not anguish over posting my art and getting comments.  This year, my art is for me and it will be fun.  I have a lot to learn and each day WILL be a new lesson.  If I find myself falling in to the trap of need for approval, I will stop posting - did you hear that Glenda?  Chill.

January 3rd

Working on 1st week of Lifebook, doing the warm-up page.  I am not a fast artist.  I like to let things dry and then look to see where I want to go next.  I am using a combination of follow and risk it.  These terms were introduced to me by Effy Wild.  Follow is following along with the teacher trying to cover all of the details.  Risk it is turning off the video and working on your own.  I have my basics done and now I will work on my own and see where it takes me.

I have a lot of projects lined up for January.  It is my purge and clean month.  I have more than enough room in my condo, I just need to get rid of some things.  But instead of thinking about all that I have to do, I am just going to try and do at least one thing everyday.  Manageable bites, if it takes until the end of February, who cares....I love alone so there is no one to please but me.

I also need to start knitting more, love making scarves and I have finally given most of them away so I need a new supply.  Night time watching project.

This has been a great week.  Tomorrow is Epiphany and the end of the 12 days of Christmas, so down  comes the Christmas tree - boo hoo.