Random Thoughts: April 5 to April 12 - Beginning of Easter Season

April 5:

Today I had meat for the first time since February 18th (Ash Wednesday).  Yes, everyone I made it taking one day at a time.  Today is Easter Sunday, one of the busiest Sunday's of the Liturgical year for me.  I served as Hospitality Minister for two Masses (8 am and 10 am) and Lector at the Noon Mass.  There were a lot of families in attendance and I wish there was some way we could encourage them to come more than once or twice a year.

The Microphone was not working properly when I began to proclaim the word.  At first I thought I was just not talking loud enough, so I leaned closer to the Microphone and talked a lot louder.  That was not the problem, but I did not want to stop and delay the Mass, so I kept on reading.  Half way through the sound was restored, whew.

I did not work on any art projects today,  just too tired.

April 6:

Went to Tuesday Morning to see what type of sales they had on art supplies.  To tell you the truth I did not realize art supplies were sold here until it was mentioned in a Ustream session.  Whoo did I find some great items.  The store on Warm Springs is closing and moving to 500 Stephanie in the Galleria area, I am happy because it is moving to one of my favorite areas.

Back to the haulage;  Archival ink pads, Donna Salazar mixed media ink pads, travel watercolors, beautiful napkins, scrapbooking paper, rubberstamps, 7 gypsies card stock, so many great items and really cheap.  I will be going to Tuesday Morning more often.

Worked on DLP from last week, I finally got an idea for a custom element.  I used a base of fiber paste to paint on.  One side was very textured for using acrylic paint and one side relatively smooth for watercoloring.  I have had this fiber paste for a long time and it was great to try it out.  I have to admit I do like it a lot.

April 7:

Completed week 13 of DLP

Custom Element

The prompt for week 15 was Custom Element and the element I used was fiber paste.  It is a film that feels like handmade paper and adds wonderful texture to the paper.  The left side is painted with acrylic and the right side is painted with water color.  I have had this paste for quite some time and in my effort to use what I have, I wanted to give it a try.  I really feel myself stretching.

April 8:

Painting a cover for another composition book and watching videos for Week 15 of Life Book.  Went to rehearsal for Confirmation Mass tomorrow night

April 9:

Attended Confirmation Mass.  I was honored to be a sponsor.  I met the young lady and her husband when I filled in as facilitator for their class.  She asked a few weeks later if I would be her sponsor and after prayer and thought, I said yes.  It is so amazing how the Holy Spirit works.

It was a beautiful evening with Bishop Joseph Pepe officiating a High Mass.

April 10:

Started reading bible study lesson.  Went to grocery store and then home to relax, the first real day of rest in 2 weeks.  I started to go to Michaels and shop, but, I had the feeling that it was really not necessary to shop at all.  So I just chilled.  Great day.

I have been watching Connie Solera's Take a Peek series showing some of her wonderful art journals.  She had many journals that she worked in then abandoned.  She also had journals that are in process, calling for more.  Viewing this got me to thinking....I need to pull together all of my journals, see which ones are completed, which ones are abandoned and boy was I in for a shock.  I have enough journals to last the rest of my life.  This led to a major purge and declutter session.

I also saw the very last end of the Hoarders and the lady said something profound.  She was really enjoying cleaning and decluttering because she was having fun.  She looked at each piece, relished in the memories and when necessary let it go.  That struck me as really good and I decided to adopt that approach.  So many of my art friends are decluttering and I have items that have been in my stash for nearly 30 (you read that right) years.  It was time to let it go and until midnight I did just that, what a release.

April 11:

Continued working on purging.  This will take some time-just completed phase 1 of many phases until I feel within my spirit that I am at peace.

I think this is also going to change the way I approach my art.  I have been thinking all week, what am I really captures my interest?  What do I really want to create?  I need to find me and not copy what others do.  This may take a while folks because right now I do not have a clue; I just know that I feel the pull to do more, be more, enjoy more.  This could be quite the adventure.

Well that is all for this week....it was interesting to say the least.  Until next week, still searching...pilgrim.

Random Thoughts: March 29 through April 4, 2015

March 29:

Palm Sunday, what a beautiful day.  It has been pretty warm here in the Valley, in the Low 90's for over week.  Spent the day working on my Sketchbook project, need to have it post marked by 3-31-2015.  Beginning to doubt it I will make it, there is a lot to do and think about. I chose the topic "Iconology" last year when I signed up.  What was I thinking?  It was hard to make the theme flow.  I think I have it now and I just have to get busy and finish.

March 30:

Busy day, helped to make sandwiches for the homeless and then a marathon sprint to the finish to get my Sketchbook project done.  Boy, sweat is flying everywhere.  Pulled out the 6x6 Gelli Plate and made some backgrounds.  It was my first time using and it was fun.  Papers are everywhere, I feel like a mad scientist.

March 31:

Oh my Lord!!!!!!  8:30 am and the book is done.  I really like it, it is a combination of drawing, tracing, stencil work, rubber-stamping, and making marks with stamps I made using sticky back foam.  I never dreamed that I would be using stamps I made, but it is true my friends.  I put a blob of paint on a page and looked for an image in it.  What fun.

Cover of Sketchbook 2015

First page, image of African Doodle

The above printout is an image found and copied from the Internet

Black Madonna Icon and opening overview

The Black Madonna with Child Icon was very popular in Europe and Africa.  This is a copy from the internet,

The following photos are hand drawn and/or traced from African pattern book.

Icons made on Gelli Plate and printed on paper

April 1:

The remainder of the book includes one traced page (the masks directly below)  and the rest of the pages are hand drawn Icons based on images found in African pattern books and on-line images, stencils, paint blobs and wash tape.  I wanted to try and see if I could draw the images and it appears that I can. This was so fun to do.

Continuation of Sketchbook

Gelli Plate images hand drawn

Icons are from Patti Tolley-Parrish stencil, pictographs

I made the images on the right with rubber stamps that I made using Sticky back foam

Gelli Print with stencil and quirky animal made from putting a blob of ink on the page and  drawing what I say

Another Blog Animal and Washi tape flowers

April 2:

I in a quandry.  I need to start working on my two art projects for the week and I an not really feeling them.  I am not going to try and figure out why, I am just going to roll with it and try to come up with something that soothes me in the process.  I really want to learn how to journal and express my feelings through art.  That takes digging deep within and I have been pretty resistant to doing that work.  Hmmm, this should prove interesting.

April 3:

I realized this morning that I am different.  Now this is not necessarily bad, just an observation.  I love art and love painting and drawing.  I love sharing with others and I feel that I have gotten away from my core, making cards.  I really wanted to learn (way back in 2010) how to make my cards little pieces of art, and instead I have pretty much abandoned what a love for the sake of "learning to be and artist".  You know, this is really quite interesting.  I am participating in National Letter writing month and it is fun.  I have a pen pal to write to along with a few friends that I will send cards.

So for the rest of this month, inbetween on line class assignments, I am going to create some cards and see how it goes.  Watch this space.

April 4:

Minimal Art done, I have just been too busy with church projects and duties.  Who knows what next week will bring, but now I have to play catchup which probably will not begin until Monday.  Oh, and I am still not feeling this week's art projects.  Oh well....watch this space.

Summary:

This was a very interesting and busy week.  Holy Week can be that way.  Monday and Tuesday were spent completing my Sketchbook project (procrastination at it's finest) and then the rest of the week was devoted to church. All positive and all good for my spirit.

Until next week........stay cool......pilgrim

Random Thoughts: March 22 to March 28

totally unfocused

March 22:

Whew, today was a really full day,  Teach RCIA class, attend a retreat, 12 noon Mass and Executive Committee meeting.  It was a joy to get home and chill, but it was a good day.  No art today although I did give some thought as to what I would like to do for week 12 of Document Life with is them of Focus.  I could take the conventional route and "focus" on something in the painting, but no, that is not what is coming to mind.

Fell asleep early, at least early for me, because I was just plain tired.

March 23:

Today marks the one year anniversary of my Friend April's death from lung cancer.  A group of us met for Mass this morning and then went to pray by a tree in Sunset Park that was dedicated to her honor. Then we went to breakfast.  I was a little worried about going to breakfast and what I would choose to eat.  I did pretty good, I ordered a yogurt parfait with fresh fruit, plain yogurt and cinnamon granola.  I also had orange juice and only drank half of it.  I made good choices.  That has what this lent has been about.  Making good choices.  Today is day 33 of no meat.  I have to say that this is major.  I have been eating veggies and fish about 2 to 3 times a week and really enjoying it.  We had good conversation reminiscing about April and just life in general.

Tonight attended the first night of the Lenten Mission at my church, St. Thomas More Catholic Community.  Tom Booth, a Catholic Song writer and spiritual leader is our guide.  I bought one of his CD's and am listening to the music as I type this update.  His is teaching about going inside, inside our heart to find God and myself.  He is an excellent speaker, funny and touching, spiritual and musical.

More tomorrow.

March 24:

I watched the week 13 installment of LifeBook 2015.  Juliette Crane was the instructor and presented wonderful videos about making Owls using her unique painting and palette.  I love her work, it is so rustic and beautiful.  One of the supplies suggested for the painting was bleeding tissue to add dimension and color when it is collaged to the page.  I did not have any bleeding tissue and did not want to go purchase any so I started thinking and came up with the idea that I could take white tissue and paint it with Dylusions spray ink which doesn't dry permanently.  As a result, if you wet it reactivates the paint and "bleeds".  I have to say that I am really happy with idea.

Tonight I attended the second night of the Lenten Mission.  The topic was Listening to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. In order to really hear and understand, you have to learn how to go within.  It is not always easy to do, but it is really necessary.  Tom said that most of the time this inner discovery can be painful because we have buried to much inside.

During lent I have spent a lot of time in silence, not turning on the TV until later in the day.  As a result I have been able to spend time in reflection and devotion.  It has been most helpful and peaceful.

Painted white tissue paper - small swatches

Painted tissue paper - large sheet

background for painting of Owls.

March 25:

Attended the last night of the Lenten Mission.  The topic was the Art of Prayer.  Discovering your passion or artistic vocation and turning it into prayer.  Tom Booth is a musician so for him the Art of Prayer is his music.  We had a concert with songs he had written which were indeed prayers.  Oh what a great time we had.

There are two things I love to do, write and paint, my goal for the rest of this year is to listen to the leadings of the Holy Spirit and discover how I can turn what I love to do into prayer.  This should make for an interesting rest of the year.

March 26:

Worked on my lifebook painting.  I am not a fast painter, but that is ok.

March 27:

Lunch with good friend and then more work on my painting.  I promise I will get it done, but I keep thinking of more things to do and I am kind of slowing around because, if I am honest, I am not sure if it is good enough.  Some/most of the paintings posted are so beautiful and look so professional and mine, will it just looks folksy.  Still trying to wrap my arms around being a folk artist.




Finished my Painting.

Girls Night Out

Painting these Owls were so much fun. Because of the placement of the focal Owl, I felt she needed friends, hence girls night out.  They are all blinged up and ready to hit the town on a starry night.  My color palette is widening and I am getting more comfortable with using molding paste and stencils.

Thoughts about the week:

This week was really good.  Did not do as much art as last week, but I still had fun with what I did accomplish.  I have now completed 39 days with no meat, 39 days with no Chicken.  I bet every chicken on earth is breathing a sigh of relief.

All is good in the hood.  Until Next week.....pilgrim


PS.  I love comments and encourage them; however, I will not accept comments marked from Anonymous.  

Random Thoughts: March 15 to March 21

March 15:

The weather here in Henderson, NV is fabulous.  Today I went to Mixed Media 2.0 Art Journaling class with DeeDee Catron.  These classes are wonderful.  You learn new techniques and how to use wonderful tools.  Today we used Project Life cards to make a layout on muslin.  We sewed the cards to the muslin.  It was a lot of fun, and I even used a sewing machine to set the cards.  This was a major breakthrough.  Now I just need to learn how to use my machine and start stitching pages.

Project from Mixed Media 2.0 class

March 16:

Finished Piece

The fabric was much larger than my 6x9 journal that I use for these classes.  I woke up this morning and realized that last summer I purchased some canvases covered with burlap and that would be perfect for displaying this piece of art.  So I stapled the fabric with cards to some music paper and then glued the paper to the canvas.  Put some lace fabric down the side and it is done.  Now the next time I go Hobby Lobby or Michael's I will get a frame for it and hang it in the house.

March 17:

Inner and Outer thoughts

This painting was done following the LifeBook lesson from Jane Davenport for week 11.  It was really fun and interesting to work on this project.  You had to print a face from a painting done in the past.  Use napkins and other pieces of collage bits to decorate the page; cover it with a light coating of gesso leaving room for hair and the body the lady.  I was not sure I could do this, but I just took my time and it turned our pretty good.  Jane is a great instructor and has such simple process for drawing the human form.  The hair and body are painted with Silk acrylic glaze which really highlighted the collage bits.

I am really learning a lot this year and having fun in the process.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

March 18:

I spent today getting ready to teach a class at church.  The topic was related to the Sacrament of Penance and how it can enhance your life.  It was nice to be able to spend the day making final preparations.

Also made a trip to Sprouts, Targets and Staples.  I found some really nice duck tape for a new duct dori.  Sprouts is a wonderful market on the line of Trader Joe's and Whole Food and probably priced right in the middle.

March 19:

Beginning of DLP week 11 project

I still have to talk myself into working on some projects.  I knew what I wanted to do and then started wondering if it was good enough for the project and to share.  The theme was making marks with borders.  I watched a video last Wednesday by Barbara Joggles of Joggles.com demonstrating a new border stamp and I just had to order it.  I had no idea that this week I would be about to use them as part of my border project.  Anyhoo, I colored the background with yellow and orange neo color 2 crayons added clear gesso so the colors would stay true and added green and blue watercolor paint to the page.  Once dry I drew my quirky birds.  I was introduced to quirky birds in 2013 as part of a lesson by Tam Laporte in LifeBook 2013.  I love those birds.  

Since I had a meeting, I had to stop.  Hope to finish tomorrow

March 20:

Finished Page Layout

Today I finished my Quirky Bird Layout.  Ooo it was so much fun.  They are painted with watercolor and details are done with Posca Acrylic pens and Gelly Roll pens.  The border is painted with Golden liquid acrylic paints and the birdcages are from the border stamp set.  Let me tell you something, my book is kind of lumpy bumpy from other projects and the roller stamps did NOT want to roll resulting in bird cages all over the place.  Since I was determined to have those bird cages to complete my theme, they are on the painted border, on top of the painted border, over the birds legs and shoes anywhere I could get them to roll.  So note to self, use a flat surface from now on, but....it all made for a unique page.

Tonight was church again.  Lent is always a bust time for me.  The Ministry Of Mother's Sharing (MOMS) group was leading the Stations of the Cross.  Our theme was following the Women as they walked with Jesus.  I was one of the participants in the program and it was truly an honor.

March 21

Today was the first day that I did not have to leave the house.  All of my art projects were completed and I have time to prepare for the RCIA class I am teaching tomorrow.  The theme is the Paschal Mystery and the Sacraments; however, our Scriptural theme is Lazarus Come Out and rising from Death; the death caused by sin.  It was really interesting because there about 12 Catechumens (now called Elect) and Candidates that will either be baptized (the elect) or confirmed (the candidates) on Holy Saturday.  That evening will be their Lazarus Come Out moment.  They will be continuing on their spiritual journey armed with tools needed to assist them as they make their way though this world.  I love teaching RCIA. I learn just as much as they do as I prepare for each lesson.

Finished my prep early and relaxed for the rest of the day. Next week will be just as hectic, but I have to make time to create.

Well, that is all for this week.  Hope yours was delightful.  Thanks for stopping by and please leave a shout out just to say hi.

until next week.....pilgrim

Random Thoughts - March 8 to March 14 - Gelli Printing and Much More

March 8:

Today was the best EVER!!!!  Church was great as usual and then I went to Desert Art Supply Art Store for Mixed Media Nirvana.  From 11 am to 4:30 pm I attend a Mono printing class using the Gelli Plate.  I am a hands on learner and even though I have used my Gelli plate a few times (less than 5), I wanted to learn and try techniques.  It was so much fun and I had such great day.  Multiple colors on the page; making masks, making stamps and mark makers. Pulling Prints on copy paper,  mixed media paper, water color paper, envelopes and cards.  Ghost printing, painterly printing.  My goodness there is so much you can do.  I came home with a bag of tools, a lot of prints and a new found respect for the mono printing process.

first pulls from Gelli Plate

 Initially these were my first pulls and then we were to add more color to it.  The page on the left I messed up, but I can/will cut it up and use for collage bits.  The page on the right was the ghost print and I added Iridescent white ghost print.  It will make a nice background.

more prints

 The page on the left is the first print using yellow and bronze paint marks are made with the eraser on a pencil and a paint chip with the edges cut to mimic a catalyst tool.  the print on the right is a clean up print

study in green

These prints used a very dark green blue basic acrylic paint.  the design is from a string of yarn just randomly placed on the page.  page on left is the original pull on 140 lb water color paper and on the right is the ghost print making paper.  Playing with mono printing for 5 and a half hours was heaven.

Renewing my faith in fellow man/woman:

After my wonderful class, I was on my way home and fell.  Somehow I stepped into a hole in the grass near the bus stop and it was a slow motion moment and I knew I was a goner.  Now, picture this, landed flat, bags flew one way and me another with my heavy backpack on.  I get to my knees and try to get up but the backpack keeps switching from side to side so, I finally realized that I had to take the backpack off so I could get up.  Backpack off, shifted with to left knee and up I went, whew!!!  Picked up backpack and put is on, picked up my art bag and Trader Joe's bag, picked up my dignity and realized sadly, I was laying on the ground with cars passing by and NO ONE STOPPED.  I guess I looked too much like a bag lady.  I could have had a heart attack and I would have just died right there on the spot.  I immediately got sad.  What have we come to as a people?  I turned the corner heading home and the cutest little black card pulled up and stopped "Are you okay," the young lady said. "I had to turn around and I live in the same complex as you, let me take you home. Are you sure you are okay?"  What a blessing that she stopped, my faith was renewed; someone cared enough to stop and help.  That gesture meant a lot to me.

Yes today was really the best day EVER.

March 9:

Today I got the brilliant idea to make a faux dori using the Trader Joe's re-usable bag.  It was really easy to work with and I love the colors and symbols on the bag.  This is going to make me look at all of my reusable bags to see what I can create with them.

Faux Dori made with Trader Joe's Bag

In side books, 3x5 inch Moleskine lined notebooks

Inside of book lined with duck tape

March 10:

Busy day had two meetings and prepared for MOMs meeting tomorrow night.  I worked a little on DLP Week 11 which is about making marks on the page. The prompt is surviving the elements.  A lot of times my mind gets tired of doing the normal so I decided to paint my pages black and make my marks with white.  Not sure how this will turn out or if the end result will be like this, but it is my initial thought, we shall see.

March 11:

Ta Da!!!!!!!!

Homage to the end of Winter

I finished it and left it black and white.  I mean look at this spread will you!!!!  I am in love, not only with the result, but that I thought of it.  I used stencils from the Stencil 101 book.  I love the city scape and have used it a lot, but I thought I would try the Electricity poles for some dimension and wow.  I wanted snow and went for realism so I put down a base of cheesecloth and then glued down cotton balls.  Aileen's tacky glue works wonders.  I drew in circles one for the moon and some "snow" drops that kind of look like stars (oh well, don't know how to draw snow flakes), but it gives you an idea of the snowy day.  Sort of Winter's last gasp.  The border is white acrylic paint and my note about the layout is written in black around the border.

I am really liking getting up in the morning and having the quiet of the house (no TV).  I can really think creatively.

Had a MOMs meeting last night, it was pretty good, it was my 4th day of meetings.  One more tomorrow and I can relax on Friday.

March 12:

Started working on My Sketchbook project it has to be mailed by March 31st.  My goal is to have it in the mail by the 26th.  Will keep you posted.  Theme this year is iconology so it will be a lot of collage work.

March 13:

My one day to stay home and relax and I am going to make the most of it.  I have plans people, I have plans.  Seriously it occurred to me today that I want to learn how to draw/paint my life story.  I am wondering what that would look like and how I would translate it to art.  I think I may start out in my art journal and see what comes up.

Continuing to work on my Sketchbook project and have to start on Lifebook, week 10.  A little nervous about this one because it involves faces and human figure, but I shall prevail.  Will post the results.

March 14:

Art projects worked on today:  DLP 2015, Theme Borders, LifeBook 2015 - Jane Davenport exercise and my Sketchbook.  I have to go to church today to complete the census process for our church.   I will be taking my sketchbook to work on some of the pages as I sit in the vestibule for about 1.5 hours.

Summary:

I am adding a summary just to give thoughts about the week.  This was a good week because for the first time, I touched some sort of art each day.  My aim has been to do this, but I have not been really successful.  I find that I still have to talk myself into it, not feeling very worthy.  My word for the year is Believe, as in Believe in yourself.  As a result, I am pushing myself past doubts and doing something.  I still have a few projects that I have not started and for the rest of this month, will begin to dig into.  I will let you know if I am successful.

Until next week: have a blast with what you love.  pilgrim.....

Random Thoughts: March 1 to March 7 2015

March 1

Today was really sweet.  Went to the twice a month Mixed Media Class at the Crafting Place.  It is so nice to work with fellow artists.  We learned a technique coloring white muslin flowers with spray inks.  We also used gel medium to glue down book page circles, and used Gesso and stencils to add texture to page.

To page Layout with painted flower petals

March 2

Today I spent the morning working on Bible Study lesson for tonight.  We are still studying Isaiah 40 to 55.  Bob Blaskey did the wrap up and was excellent.  The message of this week's reading is the God can use anybody to accomplish His mission and we should not question what He can do.

March 3

Completed Lesson 9 of  LifeBook presented by Lynn Whipple.  We were to draw a My Favorite things jar and fill it with all of my favorite things.  After much thought I was able to fill it with things that I love like traveling, fried chicken, church, and many more,

My Favorites Jar

Small Church Community discussion was enlightening this evening.

March 4

Pretty quiet day.  Completed gift for my Mom's prayer partner and worked on Documented Life week 9 project.  Attended 2nd session of Catholics Returning Home.  Wanted to meet the group since I will be presenting on March 18th.  The team is much smaller this year, but we seem to have a really nice group of participants.

March 5

Decided to spend day at home.  It was nice to have the quiet.  Worked on week 10 of LifeBook, making gratitude hearts.  Today I cut out the hearts and began the coloring process with Dylusions Spray inks.  it is amazing how time can fly by so quickly when you are painting and creating.

Watched The Artistic Biker compete in a Wine and Palette painting competition.  He was in Oklahoma Cith and streamed the entire event.  This was a real hoot as a group of us chatted about the people who were standing in from of the camera and blocking our view.  It is amazing what you see when people do not know that they are being filmed.  We gave them names like "suit guy", "plaid guy", "tugging at your dress girl, who was pursing suit guy, and little baby.  Blade the artistic biker won his first section and lost in the finals.  A good time was had by all.

March 6:

Completed LifeBook Lesson 10 presented by Tam Laporte.  I loved this lesson it was very colorful and thought provoking.  We should all take to think about the many things for which we should be grateful.

Folder to house Hearts

Grateful for travel opportunities

Grateful for Family

Grateful for Music

display of all the Gratitude Hearts

March 7:

Today was an amazing day.  I finished my week 9 of DLP.  This was major because it is nothing like I envisioned when I started it.  I was trying to move away from my go to palette and it turned to mud.  Mud I tell you just plain mud.  So I gessoed over the mess, covered that with collage and more gesso.  then I went to my palette of turquoise, magenta, purple and pink it looked really loud so I put a light gesso wash over it to tone it down,  then I had the idea to cover this with turquoise, blue/green and aquamarine Neo color II's.  This worked really nice to even out the colors.  I covered this with clear gesso so I could draw on it with out distorting the blue.

Initially I wanted to use butterflies on the page and made cutouts but they were too big, so I decided to draw flowers and quirky houses.  The end result is below.  I learned a lot about not giving up, covering with gesso and starting again.

Week 9 DLP  5 x 5 layers (or more)

Went to see a performance of Aida at the Las Vegas Academy. Which is the High School of the Arts for Las Vegas.  Let me tell you that these students hare so talented.  I was completely blown away by their showmanship, talent and resilience,  I had such a great time.

This was a great week.  nothing more needs to be said.....

Until next week, pilgrim.