ArtiphyTheHeart

"That Fourth Of July...

...When I Was Learning Chinese..."

I think you'll probably be able to read this page if you click it to enlarge.  The point of all this is that it took place over a period of time that included my 7th Fourth Of July.  And while the model in the photo does not look a bit like my mother, the scenario fits.  There is no question whatsoever that my mother could have given a fish a drink from a faucet while flying a plane on a mission in white kid gloves!  She was equal parts deadly-serious and fun-loving, which makes this piece a perfect fit for this week's One Powerful Hour challenge.

My parents were unique, having already lived their lives and careers before I was three years old and retiring--well, only "kind of" retiring--but that's another story.  

Roll the Credits...

Credits to Kohler for the ad, Tim Holtz and Ranger Industries for the stamps, Staz-On (Tsukineko) for the ink, and Sakura and Pitt (Faber-Castel) for the pens, Basic Grey for the paper, and K & Co. for the fish.  An extra BIG thank you to Sakura of America, who will be suppling me with a set of metallic pens as an RAK from the Creative Catalyst team.  

And a Note To My Facebook Friends, and Others Who Are Reading This In Syndicated Formats...

You can always read my notes in their original format, and view all archived posts and artwork, by clicking the link on my profile page to visit my typepad blog.  Questions?  Email me!

Right now I'm

Arranging a portfolio

Hoping to spend more time in paint and glue before the day is done

Feeling guilty for indulging my fast-food cravings...

..."Only one?, right!"...and no, I didn't eat both of them!

...And now that it has "cooled-down" to a mere 104 degrees at 8PM in Phoenix, we're on our way to watch the fireworks display from our back yard patio

Have a happy and safe 4th Of July, Everyone!

"Gluening"....

...One Of My Favorite Things To Do

One day when my daughter was little, I asked her what she'd like to do, and she said, "I think I want to gluen something."  If "glue" was the noun, then "gluen" had to be the verb.  

I suggested that we both sit down and "gluen" together, as I had already spent much of my life gluening.  In college, daily sketchbooks were required as idea books.  Mine were filled with sketches that morphed into collage as I glued-in objects to remember for color, shape and over-all design.  

All that glueing in college brought back childhood memories, since when I was little, every magazine in the house made it into my room on its way to be discarded.  What my scissors didn't find first, eventually ended in the waste bin.  The good parts were snipped and "gluen" into little books made of signatures of folded bond paper, stapled in the middle.  The thing I remember most about these books is that every inch was covered with images.  None of the original paper ever showed through.  That was just my 4-year-old style, and in a lot of books, it continues to this day.

After college and to this day, everywhere I go, I carry a purse-sized journal, usually hand-bound with a wide variety of papers making up the individual signatures.  The sturdier papers are treated with acrylics.  Watercolor and other absorbent papers are treated with watercolor and/or sumi-e.  Every page is drawn on, doodled upon an written on, and the thinner pages and pages where the paint and ink have bled to the opposite side are treated to multiple layers of collage, both as cover and as reinforcement.  I have worked this way for years.  Ask any mom who has seen me waiting for my kids in ice arenas, dance studios, coffee shops, playgrounds...you name it.  They'll all remember me as the lady with the sketchbook, pens and glue.  

As little as two years ago, this was practically unheard of, although there were a handful of us doing this.  Now it is emerging as an art form in its own right.  

Kelly Kilmer teaches a wonderful little class called "swatches".  It's impossible to describe this class accurately because there are so many subtle elements presented in the course of it, that any description will leave out the key word, which is "more".  But basically, it's about learning and practicing the subtle art of combining collage elements on a micro scale, but as I said, it is more--much more--than that.

Lisa Vollrath has had a wonderful yahoo group for years called "gluebooks".  This is collage-meets art journaling-meets mixed-media.  Anything glued down is fair game, and it's fun, and fast.  I love Lisa's gluebooks because for me, they are a cross between the books I "gluened" when I was little and the swatch journals that I collage today.  

The two pages above are taken from my purse-sized journal featuring the letters "A" and "B"...24 more to go!

Right now I'm:

Settling into the long weekend

Listening to "The Joint", Sirius/XM's reggae channel

Getting ready to gluen another page or two,

Watch a few episodes of NCIS, then

Finish the book I'm reading and start a new one

Have a great day, Everyone!

Collage...

...And A Collage of Ideas

Generally Speaking...

When you think about it, everything in life is a collage.  Even we are the collaged bits and pieces of our ancestors, with some things discarded, and others re-mixed with bits and pieces of our environment.  And since this is an on-going process, perhaps it is better to say that we are all collages in the making.

Mixed Media...  

That this mixing is such a part of us all might be the reason I connect so readily and fully with the medium.  When I tell people that I am a mixed-media artist, I'm saying that not only do I choose to work in multiple mediums, I also combine them in collage.  And I prefer to combine them in ways that are unique and meaningful, even when symbolically apparent to me alone.  

The ability to capture information from a variety of sources, retain some, discard others, and rearrange things at will is a very powerful tool for the imagination.  It gives one creative license over everything, making possible those choices that cannot always be part of everyday reality.  The potential for invention is enormous and endless.  Mixed media is a safe haven of power.  What better forum to explore, exploit, and explode.  

The Chicken or the Egg?...

Art does not so often illustrate reality as much as it prefigures it.  In retrospect, countless inventions and even entire periods of history have been accurately portrayed in the artwork which preceded them.  If you doubt this, just read Art & Physics, Parallel Visions in Space, Time & Light, by a man I would have loved to have met, the late Leonard Shlain, who died last month at age 71.  Dr. Shalin himself was a collage, and a synthesizer of ideas across multiple diciplines.  

This title may sound unapproachable, especially since in bookstores, Dr. Shlain's work is categorized as science instead of art.  But not only is it refreshingly easy to understand, it is a book which once begun, every serious artist would have a hard time putting down.  Read this book and you'll never again wonder (if you ever did) what possible purpose there is to being artistic.  In the last ten years, I have purchase two copies of this book for myself and have given it as gifts to fellow artists.

Elements...

As for my journal page above (made for A Prompt A Day), if you click to enlarge the picture, you'll see that the figure at left is really a composite of body parts and limbs.  In this case, I drew a figure, separated it into parts, cutting each apart to use the parts as a template for tracing onto alternating pieces of Swedish text and unprinted pages.  I cut and arranged the pieces into a pose, then glued them down onto backing paper before cutting out the entire figure.  Essentially, what I've made is a paper doll of the purist form, and although dolls with connected limbs are most often cut this way to be hinged for movement, I did mine this way so that I could rearrange the pieces at will to achieve a definite pose.  

I finished the doll two days before I began working with the combined photographs to create the central image for my journal page.  When the collage was almost complete, I added the doll and decided its final placement.

Mixed Media Monday...

I love challenges that give me a nudge, but do not tie me down to specifics.  What you see above is not an illustration. It is a journal page with a collage which serves as a central focal point.  But it imaginatively fits the theme this week at Mixed Media Monday which is "playful dolls", so I'm placing it there among the many other pieces of beautiful, playful and imaginative artwork that this wonderful challenge site inspires.  Like everyone else, I have no idea today what place our collective work will serve in history, if anything specifically.  But collectively, I'm glad to be connected to the zeitgeist which presently prefigures discoveries yet to be made, even if I may never live to see the fruits of this.

Right now I am...

Nibbling on veggies and cheese

Drinking tea

Watching the sun go down

Listening to a Donovan album my daughter picked up at a Tracks In Wax (used vinyl) for $1, which I never knew existed.  I thought I had collected them all over the years, but somehow, this one slipped through the cracks.

Reading Atmospheric Disturbances, an unusual little novel by Rivka Galchen, another M.D.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Clean Sheets, How I Love Them...

...And How I Hate Snobbery and Hypocrisy

A Prompt A Day...

Most of the journal pages I've done lately are part of Kelly Kilmer's "A Prompt A Day" group, which no matter who you are or what you do, you should join!  I'm not kidding!  You should join!  Without going into detail (if you want detail, you should join...), it is necessary for me to talk a little about today's page.  I've been making pages for lots of years, so for me Kelly's prompts are sometimes literally what I do, and sometimes just a nudge, then I go off in my own direction.  Either way it's good.  Also, too many years ago to count, I got into the daily routine of sketchbooks and art journals, so I have lots of books going at once.  The page above is from a hand bound book of 9 X 9s, and it's what I'm currently using with acrylic paint.  

Sheets of Paper and Sheets for the Bed...

Another one of the other journals I'm working in is a hand bound book filled with many different types of papers.  This one is purse-sized and goes with me everywhere.  I use it to jot down lists of books I want to read, quotes, stuff I hear, stuff I see, sketches, and lots and lots of doodles, drawings and collage.  This book was with me today when I had an hour-and-a-half to wait.  Early this morning I had taken a look at one of Kelly's prompts, but was half-asleep when I saw it.  So I used the little book to sketch out an idea in my head of what I remembered was central to the theme:  Sheets.  Bed sheets. I thought to myself, "What do you say about sheets?"  And instantly, I felt a wave of anger so strong it could have knocked me over!  Sheets!  The things I really want to line dry so I can curl up in the freshness of the sun every night and drift off into peaceful dreams of gentle breezes, but I can't, because of the narrow-minded snobbery of suburbia!  You see, we have a Home Owner's Association, and plainly speaking, these people feel that clotheslines belong in neighborhoods where people can't afford washers and dryers.  Yes, you heard me correctly.  They are snobs!  Ignorant, superior, snobs!  

Clotheslines ROCK!...

I did not grow up in suburbia with its middle class hypocrisies.  I grew up mid-city in a fairly affluent area.  WE ALL HAD CLOTHESLINES, AND WE KNEW HOW TO USE THEM!!  We had washers and dryers, too.  But we knew a good thing, and it was considered a luxury to sleep in clean white sheets, bleached by the sun and kissed by the wind!  

When I sat with my cup of coffee, working out my anger in that little book, it occurred to me that my anger was hurting only me.  Ignorance is not bliss, and I thought about how the HOAers will never experience the kiss of the sun as they fall asleep to the artificial perfumery of fabric softening dryer sheets, which ironically come in scents titled: "sun-dried linen"  and "summer breeze".   

Now that you've seen my little page, please forgive the spelling and grammar errors.  When I'm working out an idea, I usually do it quickly, often in run-on sentences, and always around a central sketch, since I get my first images pictorially and express them graphically before I write.

Back to the Page at the Top...

After I finished the little journal page in the coffee shop, I no longer felt the need to vent about the clothesline, and I remembered that another of my all time favorite things in life is to turn the pillow to the cool side.  Absolutely nothing is cooler than the other side of the pillow!

And Last, But Not Least...

Since my journal pages are filled with letters of the alphabet, I hope everyone at TGIF doesn't consider it too much of a stretch to put these pages among the others of that theme!

Now I'm:

Off to do some marathon watching of NCIS episodes

Drinking cool, sweet tea

Reading the current issue of Wired magazine

Listening to Amy playing the piano in the background

Happy to be starting the weekend!  

Have a great day, Everyone!

It's 105 Degrees Today...

...Time For A Swim!

No one in their right mind goes outside in Phoenix in the summertime!  I'm not just saying this because of my Bay Area roots and my 62-68 degree comfort range.  It's insane to think that a human is designed to retain brain cells in this heat!  In the middle of the day it's often actually too hot for a dip in the pool, and I don't want to end up as crispy-brown as the group in my journal page (which fits the criteria for Crazy Amigo's "bathing beauties" theme), so the key is to find a cool place indoors.  

So where do we Phoenicians go when we've been stuck inside of our own places too long?  Out for coffee, food, drinks, or to the mall is what you usually hear.  Me?  I browse antique shops, flea markets, libraries, bookstores, and record emporiums for used classic vinyl.  What's my music of choice?  Well, all of it really, but for some reason, when it comes to vinyl, it's the psycho psychedelic that Im usually after.  Particularly the early stuff by Pink Floyd and the early-to-mid years of Soft Machine.  And since I took another one of those crazy Facebook quizzes yesterday which accurately characterized me as a '60's child, it made sense to commit this to collage.

Right now I'm:

Sitting at Hob Nob using their wifi and drinking a great cup of coffee

Waiting for my kids (as usual)

Ready to browse our electronic library service for an audio book to download and listen to while painting tonight

Listening to Heart's "Magic Man", playing in the background, and

Poring over pages of artwork by Jef Aerosol on Flickr and YouTube!  This guy's awesome!

Have a great Day, Everyone!

My Story Has To Do With Routines...

And How I Try To Avoid Them...

Mixed Media Monday wants artwork that tells a story, and here's mine:

When I was in my late teens, I was in an automobile accident that left me with a year of back and neck pain.  Besides physical therapy, my ballet teacher helped me work out the kinks in my muscles, and after a very discouraging afternoon of what felt like torture in the dance studio, I told her that I needed her best advice.  She said she'd be happy to give it to me, but warned me that her best advice had nothing at all to do with ballet.  I told her to go ahead and give it to me, and this is what she said:  "At all costs, whenever you're able, avoid routine, and years from now, when you're no longer as flexible in body, your mind will be sharp and you will always be flexible in life."

For some reason, I really took that to heart.  I learned to vary my diet, to try new things, to listen to music that I didn't especially like to see if I could hear something of what the people who enjoyed it were hearing.  I tried to make decisions that would expand my horizons rather than feed my comfort, and when I found myself avoiding my comfort zone too often, I'd go back and spend some comfort time to keep from forming an opposite habit.  I quit smoking and vowed not to let my habits control me.  And gradually, without trying or realizing it, I became a good, confident public speaker and writer, my body gained strength and my artwork improved by leaps and bounds.  In addition to going to school full-time and working on the weekends, I read and drew for pleasure everyday as well as for classes.  Work and school were routines of course, but in my free time, I made sure that I did not fall victim to any set and predictable schedule.  I consciously varied my activities.

Today's journal page pays homage to that simple way of thinking which has opened so many doors for me.  I am not limited by common thought, and when I subscribe to it, it is by choice, not because I have a need to do what is expected.  I may not be able to bend my body the way I could at 19, but I'm still reaping the benefits of that ballet class, because I learned to bend with the times without breaking my back to follow the crowd.  

Have a great day, Everyone!

Why Do I Keep Rolling This Ball Uphill?...

...My "Question" For Saturday Surprise 

If the message in my journal page sounds like Greek to you, then you're on the right track.  Grab your Bullfinch, or even better, your Edith Hamilton, or if you must, then try your luck at Wikipedia (sometimes they get it right), and refresh your knowledge of the classics.  One story in particular: Sisyphus.  

If you find that it's still too difficult to read even when you click to enlarge, here's what it says:

"You know what will happen if I start talking about my most frustrating experience ever, I'll just start recalling all those other times, and before you know it, I'll remember where I am, and that I used to be the King of Corinth, and how lovely things were before I saw the eagle and I tried to help get Aegina back, but all that happened was that I succeeded in getting Zeus pissed-off which resulted in my being here with this big red ball--it never was a rock like they tell you in the stories--and this hyper little dog who keeps kicking it back down on top of me whenever I try to push it back up.  I remember my old name, but in this world they call me Barbara, and I am no longer a king, I am now a Mother."

Regardless of what you may be thinking, this is not as depressing and fatalistic as it appears on the surface.  Look for the humor.  It's in there, hiding.

Right now I'm off to:

Meet friends

Relax a little

And later tonight:

Draw a little

Watch NCIS and

Read myself to sleep

Have a great day, Everyone!

Shhhhh...Come Closer And I'll Tell You...

...A Secret!

Today's TGIF theme is "secrets", and this journal page illustrates my secret crush on all things endearingly cute!  Maybe it's only semi-secret, since every once in awhile I let it slip out, like when I'm sitting at Starbucks obviously reading a children's book, or going through stacks of cast-off library editions for children's artwork, or making gushy comments when I find something especially precious and adorable. 

And here are a few more secrets I'll reveal:

When I'm in an happy and encouraging mood, I tend to use lots of pink

When I'm low-key, I tend toward the blues and greens

I'm most productive in the late afternoon to evening hours

I love to read myself to sleep, or stay awake to finish it if a book is particularly riveting

Next to painting, hanging out at bookstores is one of my favorite pastimes

Have a great day, Everyone!

Life Is Unpredictable...

...But It's Worth The Effort

The Message...

Today's page shares some reflections about home, about coming home, about the unpredictability of life and the people we live with--including ourselves, and how it's all worth it in the end.

Some Technique...

There's nothing like superfine black Pitt pens to bridge gaps in broken rub-ons on acrylic paint.  I drew about 50% of the black doodles.  The other 50 is rubbed on.  Even on the original, it's hard to tell the difference between what's drawn and what's rubbed.  I think you have to actually touch it to tell.  And speaking of rub-ons, they don't have to stay flat.  I add shadow effects with greyscale brush pens and highlights with white.

There are lots of snippets recycled from artwork past on this page, such as the punchinella in the upper right.  I punched the stars from one of my salted water color backgrounds months ago.  The ivory heart is years old...YEARS!  Remember in the '90s when everyone was super-embossing everything?  I'm not sure many people today have even heard of super-embossing.  That heart was punched from a super-embossed sheet of paper circa 1999.  I really don't save everything, but sometimes it's worth it.

Short And Sweet...

I'm exhausted.  My daughter and I spent the morning-to-late-afternoon at the museum.  The Art Institute of Phoenix had their 2009 graduates' showcase and we looked at everything, but mostly animation for her and graphic design for me.  Lot of information and lots of walking.  Now I'm ready to:

Read

Draw

Listen to music

Draw

Watch TV

Draw

Sleep

Dream about drawing

Have a great day, Everyone!

I Have My Weaknesses...

...But For This Page, I Concentrated On My Strengths...

It's good to be back and take some time to reflect. This week's Creative Therapy calls for creating art around some unfinished business in your life, and I was seriously in need of digging deep and extracting some of my more positive attributes.

There really isn't much to say about this page, except that I really wanted to free-hand cut out a paper doll, and when I was finished, the cut was clean enough to use the waste as a stencil.  So I did.  

...Cutting With Scissors

Freehand cuts are something that I've found I have a talent for.  I don't have to think much about them.  I just have a shape in mind and begin cutting quickly, but slowly enough to make decisions along the way.  My cuts usually come out clean because I don't hesitate, and therefore don't have to go back over the same spot twice.  

Sometimes if I'm stuck on drawing a shape with a pencil, I'll put the pencil down and grab the scissors.  Once cut, I can easily repeat the shape with the pencil.  You'd think it would be the other way around--pencil first, then scissors.  I'm aware of how the brain integrates small-motor information, and cross-training in cutting with scissors and drawing is valuable since practice in either area boosts performance in both.  But don't most people draw first what they plan to cut out?  

My thought about why it may work better for me when dealing with contours is that for people who draw quite a bit, with pencil in hand, the brain pulls in more information than necessary to draw just an outline.  The brain may be processing the possibility of fill-in, as well.  A subconscious process of weeding-out information may take place, causing hesitation due to the flood of minute decisions involved in the background, whereas with scissors in hand, the brain isn't processing the fill-in, just the outline.   I have no idea whether I'm right about this, but it is the kind of thing my geeky brain likes to ponder.

...On Brushes

Here's a tip you might find useful:  There is a school supply store here called The Learning Store.  It's a chain, but just how wide-spread it is, I have no idea.  This is where I buy packages of the inexpensive bristle brushes I use for acrylics and for gluing.  I think I get about 24 for $8.  The brand is Lakeshore, and the quality is good enough to take the beating of a third-grade class throughout a school year.  The brushes have tight ferrules and don't shed many hairs, and they have nice, short, elementary school sized handles which make them better for table use than the long handled brushes designed for working at an easel.  

I also buy bags of short, stubby brushes at about $6 for 24.  These have shorter, fatter, blue and red plastic handles with an extended plastic ring just beneath the brush area so that when you set them down, the brushes are slightly elevated from the table.  They were designed with less mess in mind, but for me, their short, thick and stubby bristles are perfect for stippling.  They work well as is, but sometimes I cut them down even further.  I think that one package of each of these should last the average artist a lifetime.  I'll let you know if and when I out-live mine.  

...About Photos

I really admire people who can shoot great pics that need no post-camera adjustments.  I am not among them.  When it comes to photographing artwork, my objective is always to make the piece look as close to the real deal as possible.  As far as I'm concerned, the fancy tweaks and enhancements have their place when the photo itself is art, but when photographing a piece of completed artwork, I want to see it as it is in person.  With my limited set of skills, I can't shoot the real deal very accurately, but fortunately, I do pretty well (getting better every day) in Photoshop.  So when it comes to pics of my work, I tweak to bring them back to reality, not to distort or enhance them.  

The page above was shot but not photoshopped.  The wizards at Adobe are in the process of validating my letter of software destruction before processing my request for a X-plat upgrade from CS3 to CS4.  Of course, before sending off the blood-soaked LOD which attests to the destruction of existing software, one must first have actually destroyed the software, which I did on May 24.  Do the math.  I've been without my already paid for Photoshop for how many days now?  So what you see above is not actually what you get.  For some reason, my camera reads whites too hot.  The background color is accurate, but in reality the doll is beige.  There is also lots of sparkle and the reds are a bit blacker in reality.  It's not really this flat-looking, either.  There is shadow and shine in the original, but any edits done in IPhoto affect the entire piece, so I can't selectively edit the pixels to give you (and me) reality.  Oh well.  I'll just have to wait for my upgrade, and keep waiting, and waiting......

Right now I am

Going to make a tuna lettuce wrap and

Get more work done

Browse a bookstore with my daughter and her friend

Spend some time outside enjoying what promises to be the last of days under 100 degree temperatures until November

Read more software manuals (which has been my only way of "practicing" photoshop since the requisite destruction of software)

Wondering if I am the only idiot good citizen alive who actually complies with these rules

Have a great day, Everyone!

  

Freedom Of Expression...

...Posted to: Created By Hand

...A Little Late For Flag Day, A Little Early For The 4th Of July...

Like Bruce Springsteen, I was born in the USA. And like many of us who were, it never crossed my mind that my citizenship is a choice.  True, there are places in the world where a US citizen is not free to travel.  But as long as America remains free, it's citizens have among other rights, the freedom to leave.  We have the right to visit other places, to compare and contrast, to make our own decisions, to formulate original opinions, and above all, we have the right to express ourselves.   

  

...Are We Artist? Or Are We Humanoid?...

Whatever our politics, wherever we live, wherever we're from, as artists, our policy should be to protect and harness freedom of expression as our most basic need.  In art other things are helpful, but only one thing is necessary:  Absent the freedom to express ourselves, every other tool is useless.  Even when told what to create, we remain artists if we have the right to dissent and retain creative control. But if we're told what to create and how it must be created, our innermost drives are accessed and controlled by others.  We are no longer artist, we are humanoid.  

True art is an expression of what lies within the artist.  Every one of us gleans ideas from the world outside, and there is nothing better than a good set of prompts or a theme to get the creative juices flowing. Artists can accept instruction, but cannot be babysat and remain artists.  Whether a concept is entirely original or copied, as long as it's the artist who says "yes" or "no", the resulting piece is an emulation from within.  Works that result entirely from dictation lack the heart and soul of the creator.  They may have merit as manufactured items of technical proficiency, but as art they are more akin to a zapped frozen dinner than to the cuisine of a chef.  

...Hybrids... 

I happen to appreciate a lot of frozen dinners, and a lot of manufactured crafts as well, but what I create, I create by choice.  Knowing the difference is key, and exercising choice is paramount.  "God Bless America" is a hybrid.  It is a collage using multiple media, techniques and textures.  The theme was chosen by a member of an art group; The interpretation is mine.  I drew from many material sources, including resized text from an old encyclopedia, inked prints, colored pencil, chalked edges, a transparency print that Epson told me wasn't possible (si se puede!), and part of a Halloween image printed with dye pens.  

...I Am Artist, I am Human...

And as I mentioned, the interpretation is mine.  Much more so than meets the eye.  I am after all, a symbolist.  What you see is what I choose, but there is much more beneath the surface than lies on top. For one thing, the decision to go vintage with this has more to do with my concept of freedom than my choice of artistic genre.  And for humor, that quality unique to humans, using the magic dust portion of a Halloween image as fireworks was just too hard to resist.  

Before you go, play the youtube of the Killers "Human".  If you hum the tune without the words and close your eyes, it will remind you of a Scottish ballad.  And when it's presented as the music behind the slideshow of a ballet academy's commencement exercises, it can bring tears to your eyes (especially the "cut the cord" part)....but that's another story.

l

Right now I'm...

 

Off to lunch (brown bag in the next room)

Finishing an artistic obligation (slowly but surely, ticking them off the list)

Increasing my proficiency in AI and PS, a little more each day...

Listening to (no surprise) the Killers, "Day and Age" CD

Reading, "Whatcha Mean, What's A Zine?" by Todd & Watson

Have a great day, Everyone!

"Computers" or. . .

. . ."How I Spent My Summer Vacation"...

The Introduction

...What do you do when you're a frustrated artist, at least half of your work is digital (someday I'll have to blog those pics), and you've had on-going computer issues since April?  Well, if you're me, you put everything else aside and quilt a cover for your Macbook!  I'll tell you all about this, but first I must do some gratuitous venting.  Sorry.  Bear with me, please, it's therapeutic...I think...at least for me....and there are some great pics at the end of this post......

Part One--The Plague

First, the PC that runs Photoshop fell victim to an ugly piece of malware which tanked everything but my files, and would have also stolen my identity if I hadn't outsmarted it and disabled the laptop's wifi. The virus (which actually is a package of multiple viruses that rename themselves constantly) didn't like that I did this, so it crashed necessary things like my printer, Wacom tablet and mouse, and then corrupted the device that installs the drivers.  

To shorten a long story, I kissed my Macbook, who (yes, it's a who, not a what), being loyal and virus-free, would lead me back to the promised land of artwork.  But first, I would have to call Adobe for a X-platform Photoshop upgrade, or buy new software for the Mac.  Upgrade, here I come...

Part Two--The Software

Adobe said, "Sure, but first you must remove all components from your PC, destroy the software you have now, and sign our legal document attesting to the destruction of the software--in blood--yada, yada yada.., and fax it to us."  So I did.  After a week of hearing nothing, I contacted Adobe who said my fax had "gone missing". They need a new blood-soaked document.  So, as suggested, I emailed it as an attachment to the address they gave me.  After a week of hearing nothing, I contacted Adobe who said my email had "gone missing, would I send another blood-soaked document, please, this time, through the support portal."  OK, I can do that, and I did.  Hooray!  They got it.  But now, I have to wait--maybe 4-6 weeks--for the department that reviews and authenticates such documents to--you guessed it--review and authenticate it.  I'm waiting...........and waiting...........still waiting........

Part Three--The Mac

There is a reason that Macs are silver and/or white.  It's because they are heavenly bodies.  My Macbook has sat beside me, even without Photoshop, and consoled me through all the on-going issues with PC hell and hackers.  So I thought, "You protect and enshrine heavenly things, don't you?"   Well, there are some awsome-er than life cases and covers for Macbooks, many very artistic, and all quite expensive.  I figured that while I waited for my software, I could easily design something stunning and functional for my little white apple, and whip it up in a heart-beat.

Part Four--The Cover

This is what it looks like when it's open.  Detail pics of the front closure and sides are below.

When I'm stressed, crocheting unwinds me.  I quilted the top-bottom-flap portions of my cover and crocheted the sides.  Partly for therapy, partly for function.  The sides act as vents if the book is still warm when it's put away. 

Epilogue

I've been spending more time lately with obligatory artwork than with the things I'm inspired to do.  At some point, I'm going to have to draw the line, especially since I'm not a weekend crafter who does this for a hobby.  With that said, soul-searching is in the works to get me back to my chosen work, which is mixed-media, journal pages, hand-bound books, digital artwork, assemblages, and daily blogging!  In the meantime, I've been off-and-on without internet service, as have 10% of the subscribers in the valley, due to a screw-up by !@# cable compay.  So please bear with me.  I promise to return.......

Right now I am:

Out the door to the library

Reading back issues of "Wired" magazine

Watching nightly marathons of NCIS

Setting up my Facebook (connect to me as a friend!)

Glad my kids get a summer break so we can enjoy more time together!

Have a great day, everyone!  I've missed you all!

Broken/Cracked Glass

Sending Good Luck and Happiness

 

Nearly a year ago, I participated in a challenge to use broken or cracked glass in a piece of artwork.  When I asked, "Why cracked/broken glass?", I found out that it supposedly brings good luck!  Break a glass after a toast, crack a bottle of champagne to Christen a ship--traditions like these have been around for ages.  If you break a mirror there's seven years of bad luck attached, but if you crack a glass while washing dishes, then pleasant surprises are on their way. 

I used German glass glitter in my first "cracked glass" piece, but another artist in the challenge used mica, and ever since, I've wanted to use cracked sheets of mica in a piece of artwork.  This little hanging quilt was made for an art group swap.  The piece was required to be 6" X 6", and it was suggested that we mix other media with fabric. 

I use a lot of Tsukineko fabric inks, and there is always just a bit left over when I'm finished.  Instead of throwing away the surplus ink, I find a piece of un-dyed silk or muslin and put it in a bath of the left over ink.  I retrieved one of these pieces of hand-dyed muslin from my stash for this piece, then stamped it with the faces.  Two are stamped on the main piece, and a third was cut and placed.  The wings are pieces of black German scrap which I lightly gessoed to remove the shine.  I rummaged through my stash for the other pieces I would use, and when I came up with the basics, I pieced it together, hand-stitched it, and added the French Laundry hanger.  I hope it brings good luck and bright fortune to the recipient!

Here's a map of the rest of my day:

A class with Kelly Kilmer

A ballet with both of my kids performing

And hopefully, a nap!

Have a great day, Everyone!

When It Rains, It Pours!

But Fortunately, Love Reigns!

 

Today was rather stormy.  Outside it was sunny and in the high 90's, but life just rained on my parade!  It It felt like everything I tried to accomplish took detours, and usually understanding friends were unreasonable and on edge. 

Fortunately, the weather is fickle.  Just as clouds will surely come again outside, life will once again be sunny, also.  But today was a pain!  Thank God it's almost tomorrow!

It was kismet that this journal page fell through the cracks last week and didn't get posted to my blog on the day it was done, since it deals with life and weather.  Madame Climate rules from a silver goblet.  Her cup, overflowing on a bed of white roses, is impossible to predict.  You can read nothing in her eyes which are indecipherable black pits, so you just have to guess.  The background is red hot, golden, sky blue, grey and black--all the colors are there for Madame to choose from, and for us to guess.  Only one thing is certain here:  The raining hearts, which symbolize the invincible power of love. 

Reigning hearts.  They have found their way into lots of my artwork over the years, and each time they were placed on canvas, paper, fabric, it was done before I consciously realized that they were the perfect fit--with one exception.  About a year and a half ago, I did a piece with raining hearts titled, "Love Reigns".  If you're interested, you can see it by clicking HERE.  

I am convinced that when all else is gone, when all else fails, love prevails.  Even in pits as deep, as dark, and as full of despair as Madame Climate's eyes, love is there, waiting to pull you out when you need to reach for it, and even when you can't.

So here's a toast to today, with all it's ups and downs (were there any ups?), it was another day of life, and in just a few minutes, it too shall have passed.  Now I'm off to:

Pour that glass of wine I will toast

Put away the remnants of today

Prepare for a beautiful tomorrow

Kiss my family good-night

And read myself to sleep.

Have a great day, Everyone!

Meet Violette!

A Peek At What I Sometimes Do When I'm Not Journaling...

 

This is "Violette".  She was finished today and is one of many entirely hand-sewn dolls I have made over the years.  One of these days I'm sure she'll end up in my Etsy.  But for now, I'm enjoying her company. 

Violette is my first doll with a crocheted dress and beret.  I usually sew the clothes from tiny calico prints and sometimes crochet an accessory or two with thread.  This time I crocheted the complete ensemble, and I'm really pleased with it!

Why crochet?  Why now?  Well, I just discovered two new websites with communities of crocheters and knitters:  Crochet Soiree, and Ravelry, and the eye candy and the enthusiasm at both places is contagious!  Hand stitching and crochet are two great pleasures in my life.  I use them to unwind and relax and don't take them nearly as seriously as my other artwork, but they are both very serious life-long pursuits in their own rights!

Now I'm off to make Violette an accessory or two, and maybe a couple of friends.  I have a some journal pages ready to post, along with a couple of finished projects.  I just need to get them blogged!  In the meantime, I am:

Listening to the sounds of silence...real silence, not the Simon and Garfunkel song

Craving coca-cola--which usually means I'm getting sick....No I'm NOT!

Reading "The Sugar Queen" by Sarah Addison Allen

Getting ready for another Kelly Kilmer class this weekend

and

Looking forward to ballet performances on Saturday and Sunday...both of my kids are dancing!

Have a great day, Everyone!