Super Moon

The other night we had a super moon. Got a couple of great photos. Most of them are on my camera not yet uploaded. But I did get this one to enjoy now. It was beautiful and visible for several nights. I had fun going outside watching it rise and trying to capture it with my camera.

As it first became visible it was huge and a golden orange. So pretty.

Think FALL

I am thinking FALL today!

I love the colors and smells of fall. All the reds, yellows, oranges, greens and rust colors immediately bring fall images to my mind. This is the time of year when I get my ALL things pumpkin fix. This year they have a new pumpkin flavor of M&M's. had to go to two Target stores to buy what ended up being the last bag. Very good!

Pumpkin flavored coffee and creamer is my favorite coffee. I always buy enough to get me through the year because it is usually only sold in the fall.

- Posted using BlogPress

Quote

Saw this quote today. How true!

"Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures."

---Henry Ward Beecher

- Posted using BlogPress

Art is good for the brain.

Art makes you more observant. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Painting embraces all the ten functions of the eye; that is to say, darkness, light, body and color, shape and location, distance and closeness, motion and rest.” Creating art helps you learn to “see” by concentrating on detail and paying more attention to your environment.


- Posted using BlogPress

Today's Bounty

Today's bounty! What a busy day this has been. I made a dozen banana blueberry muffins, two loaves of zucchini bread, froze eight 2 cup bags of shredded zucchini, roasted a pan of cherry tomatoes, and made 15 cups of tomato sauce. Now I have 5 frozen bags ready to use for spaghetti, pizza, chili or lasagne. I also had two pints of tomato juice to put in the refrigerator for this week.

The roasted cherry tomatoes were so good. I toasted a Hawaiian sweet roll and topped it with flavored goat cheese and the roasted tomatoes. I think I'll make a pizza with the rest of the roasted tomatoes this week.

All the zucchini and tomatoes are from the garden. I am tired but will be glad this winter when I enjoy the summer bounty.



Posted using BlogPress

Rainy Day Fun

"Children will not remember you for the material things you provided, but for the feeling that you cherished them."





We played with paint this morning. She painted a dozen masterpieces.


- Posted using BlogPress

BBQ

Oh yum! Had BBQ for supper and it was so good.




- Posted using BlogPress

Spring in bloom

My Azaleas and Tulip Tree are in bloom. We've had a beautiful weekend! The weather is gorgeous. Have enjoyed time with family.


Posted using BlogPress

2013

New Year's Eve

It's New Year's Eve!  It's a time to reflect on the year just passed and plan for the year to come.  It's a time to take down all the Christmas decorations and get ready for the new.  I didn't post my wreath or tree pictures before Christmas but will post now since they are coming down and being put away for another year.   Just as with the decorations, the new year puts away the old and rings in the new.  Wishing peace and prosperity for 2013!  Happy New Year.                

Birthday

Today's my birthday.  Comes but once a year so I intend to enjoy it.  Got a card from my youngest grandchildren which said " A bunch of birthday wishes for a day that's really neat to a fun-to-be-with GRANDma who's a special kind of sweet!"  Made my day.

                           

Mixed Media

What constitutes mixed-media art?  It is a work of art that uses more than one visual medium.  You can't categorize mixed-media art because it is art that is outside the box.  The rules don't apply and it can be anything you want it to be.  Hense, your imagination at work.

A mixed-media artist doesn't limit themselves to one type of medium.  I use anything I can get my hands on whether it is the traditional art medium or not.  I love making something out of nothing and improvising when I don't have what I want to use.

It is the characteristics of the artist that will often determine what is mixed-media art more than the techniques or the materials used.  Here are some reasons why I love mixed-media art.

1. I love variety.  I get bored very easily and can't limit myself to just one form of art.  I love to play with all kinds of techniques and explore new (to me) mediums.
2. I have a willingness to get messy.  I love to get my hands messy and I always say "the messier the better."  I use my fingers to paint and apply gel mediums.  I clean my brushes and organize my supplies but when I am creating, I can create a mess.
3. My favorite part is that there are no rules.  Tell me I'm not supposed to do that and I'll do it every time.
4. I love the sensory.  As an artist I love to touch, to feel the textures I create.  I'll scratch, reveal layers of paint, tear and apply layers of paper,  apply texture with anything I can get my hands on.  If I don't have what I want to create texture, I'll make it.  Nothing is safe from art.
5. I strive to keep an open mind.  There's no one way to create art.  I love to learn from others and share what I do.

quote

"Before you able to draw, you have to learn to see..."  Junelle Jacobsen

I've been running across this same sentiment lately.  I think there is great truth in this statement and can probably be interpreted in many ways.  I think most people can see the literal interpretation but I see more than the obvious when I create art.  I think that you have to feel your art, make it part of yourself.  What does your heart lead you to create.  What do you see that others don't see when you look at something.  I'm always thinking, even if subconsciously, how can I translate that into something artsy.  I look at things with a different eye than I used to.  

Yesterday, I saw a dead butterfly on the payment of a parking lot.  The first thing I thought of was how cool that would be in my art.  I looked at the colors in its wings and the shape and form of the butterfly.  I thought of how I could preserve it for use in art.  If I could have safely transported it home, I would have.  It kind of hurt my feelings to have to leave it.  But my point in this story is that most people would have only seen a dead butterfly.  For me it was art in the purest sense.

I know this is probably rambling, but this quote got me thinking and I just felt like sharing.

Quote

                 Linda Naiman said, "When we engage in what we are naturally suited to do, our work takes on the quality of play and it is play that stimulates creativity." 

I pulled this quote off of a blog I was reading because her quote rang true with me.  My studio is a place for me to play and to create.  It is a place that is all my own where I can get lost in the sheer joy of creating.   It can be a happy place and a place of escape.  I recently told some friends it was great therapy. 

Play is a great motivation and inspiration.  It is liberating to just have fun with your art.  When you're having fun with your art, you will allow that which is within you the freedom to come out in your art.

MIA

So sorry I've been MIA.  I've been on vacation, so I haven't had time to create or post. I did draw some and write in my journal while traveling.  I took tons of photos that I need to get into my travel journal.  I'll try and get some things done and posted as soon as I can.
I read a quote today by Junelle "We create from where we are and what we bring with us."  I thought this to be very true.  I have plenty of ideas rolling around in my brain.  When you are creating, sketching, writing, capturing with your lens...what are you bringing with you? 

Random thoughs on blogging

I've discovered that to create art is exposing a deeply personal part of myself.  To share this deeply personal side of my personality can be quite scary.  Sharing my art exposes what I see and feel and how I interpret the world around me.  With the internet and this world of blogging, it becomes very scary for me to expose this side of myself.  It leaves me open for others to judge (oh yes you know you do).  I can only hope that the judging will be less and the enjoyment will be greater.

I wrestle with whether I should continue to blog or just forget this journey.  I sometimes get discouraged, by the lack of comments.  I do post on several other sites and get some awesome comments which is very encouraging.  I've begun to add some of those comments to this blog in the post, so that I'll remember and have them in a central location.  Comments, give the artist a spark of encouragement.  At least I know they do for me.  I don't really think that I have to be validated, but it does make me feel good when someone finds that a piece of mine sparks something in them that makes them smile.

Then I have to step back and consider why do I blog.  For me it has become a personal journey to chronicle this art journey.  I love to go back and see the things I've blogged.  It brings back memories and images for every post I've made.  In some ways the blog becomes a digital scrapbook of my art journey.  On many occasions, I've had friends ask to see my work.  It is a easy way to direct them to a collections of what I'm working on now and in the past.

I think, no matter whether others would see this blog or not, I'd continue for my own personal artistic journey.

Random thoughts on inspiration

There are times in my art journey where I am overwhelmed with inspiration.  Those are the times when the creative process just flows on its own.  The pages for my journals or images on a canvas just seem to create themselves.  But inspiration, like anything else, can come and go.  Those are the times when I think that there is simply nothing left to express.  Those are the times when I just have to walk away and pursue other interests.  When I come back, the world seems fresh and ready to flow from my fingers.

Then sometimes it seems that out of the blue, inspiration will strike.  It may be from something I see around me, something from the media, even sometimes it comes in the form of a dream.  Yesterday, I had a dream that screamed, sketch me.  I did a sketch that was only a snip-it of the dream.  I had to get it on paper.  It wasn't exactly as I'd dreamed it but then I think the dream was only meant to be a spark to something else evolving in my brain.  The owl wasn't part of the dream, but rather a nondescript bird nestled in logs and leaves.  I'd been sketching owls for another project and he seemed to fit this design better.

 

JJ commented: "I love it...I dream about colors...I think we are called....artists!!! xo"

Look what's on my desk

                                                    Fun toys for an Artist!

 

Yummy Crockpot Roast

I fixed the best tasting roast in the crock pot on Sunday.  It was so yummy!  I think it was a beef tenderloin roast but am not sure of the cut.  I added one sweet onion, package of Lipton onion soup mix and a can of coke.   Let it cook on high for 5-6 hours.   If you haven't tried coke on your meat in the crock pot then give it a try.  I've used it on beef and on pork (oh yeah makes the best baby back pork ribs).  It gives the roast and juice/gravy such a good flavor and tenderizes even the toughest of roast.  I'll make some roast beef sandwiches tonight and then make soup with what is left.  This roast will give us several meals this week.

In the beauty of HIS presence

In the quiet, in the stillness

I know that You are God

In the secret of Your presence

I know~ 
there I am restored