Monthly Archives: November 2011

November 26, 2011 · 3:12 pm

The heART Exchange Experience

I want to start off by saying that I so admire bloggers who blog regularly. It seems no matter my intentions I have thus far been unable to make it a regular habit! I feel like I have to be in a certain frame of mind and I have to have the right pictures to accompany my post so !voila!–a perfect recipe for no regular posts. Perhaps I also need to quit playing Words With Friends online too…but that’s another story. I am determined to keep veering back onto my blogging path until I get it right!

I had a very fun experience doing my first heART Exchange through the website http://yourheartmakesadifference.com/about/about-the-movement/. I swapped with “an artist, dreamer and believer” named Leanne Wargowsky at fromchaoscomeshappiness.com. We were matched by the swap coordinator at Your HeART Makes a Difference after we joined the swap. Here is the piece of art I received from Leanne

It is a really fun collage piece on painted canvas! I am thrilled to receive it from Leanne!

I sent her a piece I had previously posted here in one of it’s incarnations.

It was really fun to send a piece out into the Universe without knowing one thing about where it was going or anything about the person to receive it. Sending it out only for the sake of doing it and to give it wings. I will probably participate in other heART Exchanges because this one gave me so much pleaure!

Have an artsy day!

8 Comments

Filed under Mixed Media Mania, Musings, Paper Beauties

Tagged as flowers, heART exchange, mixed-media, pink, sparkle, upcycled cardboard

November 8, 2011 · 8:18 am

Alone Time

Kusadasi Turkey

Sometimes I need some alone time. Pretty regularly actually. I know I’m not the only person who feels this way because I have friends who tell me they are the same way. I can tell when I need alone time because I start to get annoyed by every little thing. I get short with people. I find every question or comment like nails on a chalkboard. Doesn’t matter if it’s family, friend, or foe. I know it is time to get away for a bit. Doesn’t have to be for long–even a couple of hours is adequate but longer is better. I hear there are some people who don’t know how to be alone. Maybe it has to do with your upbringing. I’ve always been this way as far as I can remember. I love people and I love to have fun and interact, but in between I need solitude. My dog is allowed to hang out with me during my alone time–she actually enhances it by being generally adoring and silly and calm!

Today I am feeling like I need alone time. I’ve been “on” for several days now and I need to be off for awhile. My ultimate master plan is to hunker down in my art shack and immerse myself in a vat of gel medium and then roll in glitter and paint and ink. Well, that’s my fantasy ultimate master plan…more realistically I will be thrilled and satisfied to gel medium some object and then beautify it with stuff!

Here are some things I’ve been working on lately. Did another piece of doodle art–this time colorized with colored pencils and Copic markers and Signo markers.

A mixed media piece I’ve been messing with for awhile and can’t decide if I even like it right now. Sometimes I like how things are progressing and then add another something and wish I had an undo button.

We’ll see how it looks at the end. The last piece is a scrapbook layout. I was completely enamored with scrapbooking a few years ago, but I’ve gotten away from it for a couple of years because I was exploring other creative options. I’ve decided I want to do some scrapbooking lately because I’ve had so many wonderful adventures and events and memories that I want to preserve for my family in a meaningful way.

TFL!

13 Comments

Filed under Flash Trash & Glitter, Mixed Media Mania, Paper Beauties

Tagged as alone time, Copic, dog, Doodling, ink, mixed-media, paint, signo, sparkle

November 3, 2011 · 9:54 am

Happy Colors!

I like to doodle. I doodle when I’m on the phone, when I’m waiting for things, especially when I’ve been in long training sessions or staff meetings in the office. It’s a form of listening for me. If I doodle I can listen and pay attention better. I don’t start reading labels or handouts or whatever I can get my eyes on. My mind doesn’t wander away. My doodles are somewhat aimless and very stream of consciousness. I have no particular plan when I start and I generally won’t stop until I’ve filled up the space. Many times I will date them and save them because I particularly like one or sometimes they inadvertantly get saved in my notes and I run across them later.

In the past couple of years I’ve been embracing my creative bent and mixed media art and learning lots of techniques. I’ve recognized that my doodles can be used in my mixed media creations. I have been experimenting with coloring them with various mediums. The one above I doodled with a Copic marker and then colored with colored pencils.

I am a fan of several artists who use a lot of happy colors and images and at times some colorful language! I adore them. These people inspire me in so many ways; their art, their knowledge; their fearless creativity; their wonderful big personalities and most certainly their boundless energy! I aspire to be just like them when I grow up in my artistic endeavors.

One of my favorite artists is a wonderful woman named Joanne Sharp ( http://joannezsharpe.blogspot.com/). I have admired her gorgeous spirited work even before I knew her name. I would see it in publications and instantly be drawn to it. I had the great pleasure of meeting her in person this summer and getting to know her a bit. Her work is endlessly colorful and squiggly and lighthearted. It is inspiration I get from her that made me think I should try colorizing my doodles. Enjoy!

2 Comments

Filed under Musings, Paper Beauties

Tagged as colored pencils, Copic, doodles, dots, flowers, happy colors, ink, lines, paisley, squiggles, stripes

November 1, 2011 · 8:49 am

Inspiration Full Up

For the past couple of days I have had the joy of boundless creative energy! Whereas before nothing creative appealed to me, now everything appeals to me.

Last week before the heavy wet snow brought down trees and branches I was walking through my garden and saw two beautiful red roses blooming. What a surprise! The weather has been down to the 20s and even the teens at night but here were these gorgeous flowers still bursting with beauty–and fragrance! I have several rose bushes in my garden of different types and colors. This particular rose bush is not large. It is tucked in the corner all by itself. But this solitary bush is a very special one. It’s blooms have the most intoxicating scent. When you put your nose to one of it’s flowers you feel the scent in your whole body. Some roses look like the most beautiful rose but you have to sniff twice to really get the scent. Not these blooms–their scent speaks ROSE to the rooftops! It was supposed to snow heavily that night so I cut these last two beautiful roses of the season and took them into my kitchen. Somehow a mere vase didn’t seem to do justice to their celebration of beauty so I put them in a champagne glass. It just seemed much more fitting.