New Art

A drawing in pencil


These are all collages in that small book I have.


















































Its New Years Eve so its an appropriate day to talk about end of the year stuff. I like to make a list of things I have done over the year in an attempt to see how much I have accomplished.

2007 Recap
Traveled to Maryland, Delaware, South Carolina.
Spent a week in Yellowstone seeing birds of prey, wolves etc.
Spent some wonderful times at the Ocean in Delaware and S. Carolina.
Met my friends Nancy and Julie and Pam in person.
Attended the thread Project Events in Charleston.
Participated in Nanowrimo in November and wrote a 50000 word novel.
Formed a writers support group.
Served as a Municipal Liaison for Nanowrimo.
Attended an Artists retreat in June.
Met Misty Mawn, Sue Monk Kidd.
I bought my first painting and prints from an artists I like.
I had back surgery in July.
Participated in Write fling in October.
Participated in the Be brave project in October.
Joined the 100 day challenge in October.
Made my own video's and uploaded to You tube.
Wrote a daily blog.
Started a Yoga practice.
Created More Art than last year.
Participated in a several different swaps.
Took part in the Heart Book.
Met many new artistic souls.
Painted and decorated a new room.

Its on to a new year and to new adventures. I haven't made a list for the new year yet. I will save that for the next couple days.

Supporting Other Artists

There are a lot of artists on the net that I really like. Slowly I have been able to get some of their work. It is really rewarding to own something they created. On a whim I ordered something from DJ Pettit and it came today. She had said that Paypal charged me extra for postage so she would includes something extra. What a sweetie she is.














Here is the little painting I bought and a tag too.














Here is a little collaged print she sent me.



























These four are printed on glossy photo paper and copies of other collage painting she has done.

I also found Paulette Insall on Utube , she has some great videos. She does her backgrounds like I do and that's because we both had classes with Misty Mawn. She has a series of videos showing how she creates one painting and they are great. She paints wonderful faces too. check out her videos I know yuou will like them.

Gratitude Page

They say that a blizzard is on the way, we are expecting anywhere from 30 to 60 mph winds. We even made a mention on the weather channel. We could be snowed in but we are prepared so its ok.

I worked on this journal page last night and my camera was upstairs so I took a little video of it as it progressed. Maybe the next time I will have it set up to film while I am working. For those who might not want to watch a video I will upload a picture of the finished page too. I really had fun working on these pages.

















The finished page or pages since its a 2 page spread. It felt so good to be working on Art again.

A video to share

I found this on Youtube and I really like her videos so I thought I would share it with you. She has a wonderful message along with a great Art journal.




Sarah and I spent several hours out yesterday, lunch with friends and a trip to the mall. We both came home having had a fun day and some new things to wear so that was fun. I miss being able to do this.

It is snowing again today, lightly so far but it looks like one of those years where it may snow a couple inches every day. I just go with the flow of it now.There is not much else I can do anyways.

A helping hand

These are some of the wonderful gifts I received yesterday


















First everyone always needs a little hand so now I have this big one. I wanted help drawing hands so I asked for this hand model. It doesn;t swivel as much as a real hand but its a good start.















Then there were movies to while away the hours.














Then a calender to make sure that I make all those important dates.














Some new music to soothe the soul














New electronic toys to spend hours with. The iPod touch on the left and the Flip camcorder on the right.














We all need some crazy socks, These are called mismatched socks and you get 3 different ones in a package to mix up.


















A felted scarf to keep me warm. It was hard getting a good picture of this it has spirals and swirls felted into it and is incredibly soft.

It's all quiet here today, Sarah has gone to work and Dave went to the gym to work out. I have been playing with my camcorder and here is a short movie with Flynn my dog.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of you, my dear friends.

We were up early and after opening presents and eating breakfast we headed to town. I made this little video for you with my new Flip camcorder. Santa was good to me, in addition to the camcorder I got an iPod Touch. Needless to say I have been downloading things and playing all morning. New toys are so much fun.



The cats and dogs loved their new toys and Sarah is happily trying out her iPod nano. We have lots of new movies to watch and things to share. We surprised Dave by actually buying him things off his list this year. Would you believe he complained that he needed to make a new list for next year.

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful day....

Its a Winter Wonderland

Its Almost Christmas Eve and we are being showered with a truly white Christmas. We've gotten 5" and more is coming.















As you can see there are just a few birds handging out at the bird feeder.















My sheep are covered in the white fluffy stuff too















Here is a shot in my backyard, it looks quite pretty out there.
















Happy Holidays to all of you, have a wonderful celebration in which ever way you celebrate this time of year.

Winter Solstice

I had lunch with my friend Celeste on Friday and neglected to take pictures. She gave me this beautiful box. She picked out to go in my ocean themed bedroom.


















Inside the box was a gorgeous scarf, I had trouble getting a good picture, its purple with metallics and lots of fuzz in the yarn.
















Then I found these foam stamps at Roberts, I only thought I was getting the bottom selection so it was quite a surprise to get a second group.


















I also found this aged looking queen of hearts and these paisleys. I think I will try to carve a paisley stamp and these will be great models to use.















We had the most delightful service in church today. It was a combination Winter Solstice and Yule service. One of our members is a Pagan in the Viking/germanic style and he knew all the history and gave a great presentation. We ended up singing along with the Beatles singing "Here comes the Sun" to welcome the Sun back. It was a really fun service. I will go back tonight for the Winter Solstice Drumming Circle.

I just came back from grocery shopping at three different stores. It always amazes me that it sometimes takes that many stores to get all you need. Kai we are planning on having Cornish Game Hens Christmas Eve. Our little homage to Cornwall.

Then I thought I wonder if Cornish hens have anything to do with lovely Cornwall.

Due to the amazing powers of the internet I discovered this:
The Cornish is a breed of chicken originating in the English county of Cornwall. It was developed for the king so that he could serve an individual portion to his guests at festivals and reduce the problem of communicable diseases. It is known as the Indian Game in the UK.

It is a large, stocky breed, and is often crossed with other breeds to enhance meat production. There are two varieties, the Cornish Game and the Jubilee Cornish Game. The Cornish Game is dark blue - green in colour, with brown patterning on the hens. Jubilee Cornish Game are much lighter, and less stocky than their counterparts. They are usually light wheaten in colour, with light brown patterning.

A Cornish game hen, sometimes simply called a game hen or a Cornish rock , is an immature chicken of the Cornish variety, or of a crossbreed between the Cornish chicken and another breed. The Rock Cornish game hen, the most common game hen crossbreed, is a crossing with the Rock chicken. As is common in the poultry industry, store bought game hens may be either male or female specimens, despite the common usage of the word "hen" typically denoting a female.

The Rock Cornish game hen was originally bred by Jacques and Alphonsine Makowsky in Connecticut in 1950. By crossbreeding the short-legged, plump-breasted Cornish chicken with various other chickens (including the White Plymouth Rock variety) and game birds, the result was a small bird with all white meat, enough for a single serving. Originally marketed as a temporary substitute for a flock of guinea hens that the farm lost in a fire, it soon became more popular than the guinea hen.

Despite the name, game hens are not hunted as a game animal, and are instead raised in chicken coops as are normal chickens. They are, in fact, chicks that are fed a highly nutritious diet and slaughtered four to five weeks after hatching.

That is probably more than you'll ever want to know about Cornish game hens.


I bought a spiral cut ham for Christmas day. Now I need to make pumpkin and apple pies but all the shopping wore me out. I may be doing it tomorrow. Oh the joys of the season. I hope all of your plans are going smoothly.

Some New Ornaments

The snow is barreling down right now, its been so warm I hope it doesn't melt as it looks quite pretty and puts me in a festive mood. The picture doesn't really show how it is.

I spent the morning putting the rest of my Christmas stuff up. I threw up lights in places where I usually don't so I think it will be fun. I put up white lights in my bedroom too. I wrapped the rest of the presents and have them piled up a waiting. Instead of Christmas music I am listening to Dan Fogelberg singing all his wonderful songs, what a legacy he left.


















Here is the ornament that Pam sent me. I think she is just the cutest. I had told Pam I thought of her as an Angel even thought she had no wings, only to fins out she had planned to add them but that slipped her mind. I could add some to her but I kind of like to think of her as an angel in training and she will earn her wings someday, she is fine the way she is now.


















This is a little ornament that Banna and Ninnie sent me. I think she is so cute. Oh the postman just came with home made candy from my mother-in-law. Yummm its the best.

The Hobbit

Those of us who loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy have been waiting for this day.

Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have reached agreement to make J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," a planned prequel to the blockbuster trilogy "The Lord of the Rings." See here for details.

I know Jackson will do a great job not like some other directors of late that leave so much out of the book they are filming that they seem like a different story entirely.

Dan Fogelberg

The world lost another gentle poet from my youth. His songs always touched my heart. His album the Innocent Age was played constantly in my household. I loved Run for the Roses and Same Old Lang Syne and Leader of the Band and Longer and Part of the Plan, and so many more, what awesome music he made. His words always spoke to my heart. You can leave messages here My world is a sadder place today, I think I go put on some of his music.

More little collages

I have continued to work in the little journal, here are some results. I find it my process to work on many different ones at the same time. I rarely seem to sit and just do one. I think I did 10 backgrounds one night and maybe will add a few pictures here and there and then it seems like I find just the right thing that seems to finish it off. Most of these backgrounds were done with the portfolio oil pastels, but this first one I used the Shiva paint sticks and although you can't see much of the background I found it fun to do. The colors I used were black, copper and white.















I really like these two especially the one on the right. I never know when they are done so the one on the left might need something else.














Lots of brown and rust, colors I rarely work with so this was challenging.














I used the red oil pastel on this one and its really hot pink. This was another hard one. The one on the right will probably get something else added at a later date. It looks a little sparse to me.














My attempt at a 1940's piece, maybe the woman is longing to hear if her soldier boyfriend is coming back.














I enjoyed working on these green pages, they have a lot going on and the images were fun to work with.














The yellow pages are still evolving. I like this picture of the girl in the kimono and used Japanese paper to accent it, but I think it needs something else added. The same could be said for the other side. What happens to me is that I will go work on another page and come back to this later and it will come to me just what it needs. Maybe pages need to germinate for awhile.















This one was done a long time ago, but I never posted it for some on reason.

Christmas Surprise Foiled

I am so upset, I find this present for Sarah for Christmas, its a hardcover book by an author she really likes. He hasn't written anything in a long time. I think what a perfect surprise this will be. So often she get things from a list she has made, no real surprises and I think this year I will really have a delightful surprise. I go ahead and order it from Amazon all excited that it will be so much fun seeing her face on Christmas morning. Only to find that she bought the book yesterday. We always tell her at Thanksgiving to not buy anything for herself and of course she didn't listen.

Now I need to return the book and find something else and I only have 9 days to do it in. I know I shouldn't be so upset about this but its the third time this has happened to me. The other times she walked in on me when I was weaving a surprise shawl for her and the other time when I ordered candy from England for her. Why is it when I try to do something special it always goes wrong. I think this is one of those posts that I will regret posting tomorrow but I have to vent it somewhere.

Art Journal Supplies Part 2

Well it took 4-5 times trying to get this uploaded, that was incredibly annoying. Oh well i guess that happens sometimes,




Spinning














Here is what I did spinning wise. This is what the fiber looked like before I made it into yarn. The color is really more dark greenish teal that the picture shows.















Here are the skeins of yarn. The pink streaks in the roving now look like little flicks of color in the yarn. I am pleased on how it looks. No I didn't do all that in one day. I finished spinning the fiber and then got the yarn plied. It is a 3 ply and I think it was Merino wool. It was a Christmas gift last year from my sister Peggy. There is not a lot of it so I am not sure what I will make with it.

I've been playing with that small journal again but I'll save pictures of that for later.

More freebies and Videos

Its snowing today so everything is all white and pretty. I had some friends over to spin today and it was lovely to spend a few quiet hours together. My friend CJ who is a greeting card rep brought over a pile of stuff for me. There are some really cool things here.














Books full of cool images














Handmade papers and envelopes.














Old calenders with great images on them.














Old Engagement calenders with even cooler images. A lot that I can use for collage.


















Tins with cards in them

Art Journaling Materials Videos

I made 2 videos yesterday, just showing the kind of supplies I used. I am having uploading problems so part 2 is not available yet. I'll add the second one here when its ready. After doing those video;s I thought I covered all the things I use but of course I left some things out. Isn't that always the way. I also use my printer a lot, I will make copies of images and print out words too. Then there are images from magazines and the net and stuff from everyday life. I guess the things that you can use are endless.

It's Raining Turtles Everywhere

I received the most wonderful gift yesterday so I had to make a movie to show you.




Kai you are the best.

Great Finds at $1.50

We got some snow today, just when there was no forescast for it, its only a couple inches but it still looked pretty.

My friend Amy called to say that the thrift store she works at had something I want, so I stopped in to look.















I bought this little board book to alter, I chose it beacuse it was in really good shape --- price .50















Next was what I came for, an old suitcase. I plan to decorate the outside and use it to store craft supplies when I go to classes. I wished it had been this gorgeous leather like others I have seen but since it will be covered up anyways that does not matter at all.
















The inside had this beautiful silk lining. I look at it and wonder just who used the suitcase and I wonder all the places it may have traveled, I like to think they were exotic and the woman who used it had grand adventures. If any of you have seen altered suitcases anywhere would you share the link with me?

I did this little video on the 100 day challenge and I am also showing the art from a couple days ago and some new backgrounds too.

A little bit of collage

I finally put my inability to do anything to an end. I pulled out that little journal that some of the Glitter Sisters have sent art for. I had no theme in mind just started doing color on the page. Here are some of the results.



















This one started with the yellow scrap on the left. Its the first one I did and my favorite. It consisted of just papers and ribbon.


















I began this one with the Tazo label and it developed from there on. It has papers and stamping and some chipboard accents.















These two are still works in progress. I pulled out the portfolio pastels and just put blocks of color on and looked for things that went with it. I used stamps and stencils on the background, using both Adirondak and Colorbox inks. I made some other backgrounds and I'll show them once something more is done with them. It felt good to just be playing with no goals in mind.