well wishes

a friend of mine is recovering from a broken hip so i decided to make him a cheery get well card.

on a half piece of white cardstock i drew first with pencil and then black sharpie marker.  i am still experimenting with different lettering styles, inspired by what i see so many of you do on your projects.

then i used colored pencils to fill in the shapes.  i glued this on a bigger sheet of colored cardstock folded in half and wrote a note inside.  i hope it arrives to find him healing quickly.

i have taken another unintended break from blogging but am ready to rejoin the flowing current of creative goodness that is always happening online.  :-)

a week away

i have been absent from blogland because i took my niece, hazel, to disneyland for a week to celebrate her fifth birthday!  no computer - just total enjoyment in-the-now time.

she had a blast and i was in awe of all the art that is involved in this attraction.  if i was much younger, i would love to get onboard in the magic of disney.  i appreciate all the work and planning that goes into making every attraction the best it can be. 

it was crowded and bustling and, since i'm  an introvert, i'm glad to be home. however, it was touching to see all the parents and families that make this possible for their young children - no easy task.  any adventure with young ones is challenging, for sure.  i just love seeing people spending time with their kin, in any setting.

i plan on getting some "studio time" this weekend and posting again soon.

ARC february



darcy from art and sole is the gracious hostess of the artful readers' club each month of 2013.  members read a book, write a review and then create a piece of artwork inspired by the book.

 

 

for february, i read the book soul to soul by gary zukav.  my aunt gave me her copy and I thought it would be a good read over the valentine's day season.

at first, i was not impressed.  it seemed like a series of "feel good" shorts, clichés at best.  but then i started over and used the book as a journal, writing at the end of each section, underlining and boxing in words that were meaningful to me, taking notes in the margins.  reading it became personal and transformative for me.  I ended up feeling like this was time well-spent and would recommend this book to anyone who wanted to experience it in a "workshop" kind of way, like i did.

i created the piece above using one of my favorite quotes from the book.  i have been experimenting with lettering styles and this seemed like a good fit for that practice.  i used watercolor paper, a sharpie marker and watercolor paints.

check out darcy's blog for more great reads, reviews, and art!

valentine stitching

i have been blissfully stitching away on some valentine greetings.

first, i sketches some designs on cheap index cards (which were perfect because they are thin.)  

then i used my light box (my sister gave me one years ago and i just love it!) to trace the images with a thin sharpie marker onto tear-away stabilizer, which is about $2 a yard at the fabric store.  i pinned this stabilizer to a small piece of felt (i had plenty left over from when my nephew, frankie, made stuffies last summer.)  i used my supply of embroidery floss (2 strands) to stitch the designs.

the stabilizer is a little tricky to tear off - i used a cuticle scissors and a tweezers.

i'm going to cut out these images and glue them onto cards for valentine's day.

there is something so soothing and satisfying about stitching - i wish i could do it all day long!

the artful readers' club - january

"The train... had pulled more than halfway across the bridge when the engine nosed over toward the lake and then the rest of the train slid after it into the water like a weasel sliding off a rock."

i am participating in darcy's artful readers' club and here is my january selection.  yes, i realize it is february and i am a bit behind.  :-)

i read the book housekeeping by marilynne robinson.  It is a story set in a fictitious town in northern idaho which is rumored to be the author's hometown (as well as my own) of sandpoint, described in the book as "chastened by an out sized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere."   i would have said the same thing, if i had a more extensive vocabulary during my high school years! the characters are women who struggle with change and the history that connects them.  reading this book is like sinking into a tub of warm water - no hurry, the sentences are long and invite soaking in the whole experience.  i inhaled this story, enjoying every word.  this is literature and i would recommend it wholeheartedly.

i apologize for being so late with this post and am still visiting the other members' sites to see and read about their selections for the month of january.

olw - rock

when i was in monterey, california, a couple weeks ago i found a beautiful smooth rock on the beach.  i used some acrylic paints to decorate it with my friend, kl's, one little word for 2013.   the word she chose is happiness so i decorated it with a festive bird along with this word and the year.  i'm putting it in the mail to her tomorrow.  i love painting on rocks - it's such a satisfying crafty activity.  :-)

for you

here is a series of photos i took while visiting a friend in california last week.  on thursday i came down with the flu and have not managed to do anything since then.  and i have so many plans for projects and pages and paintings!  but, i tell myself, there will be time when my physical self has the strength to indulge my creative self.  in the meantime, i hope you enjoy these pictures and your weekend.