A Decade of Motherhood

I'm amazed that my son turned 10! It's so cliche, but they do grow up so fast! I'm very proud of my friendly, creative, intelligent, sweet boy! If you've got the time, and interest, go to his blog Creep-A-Zoid Art and comment to be entered in his give away in honor of his birthday.



We already had the party for his friends a couple of days ago. So on the actual birthday we like to have a fairly relaxing day together and go out and enjoy nature in some way. We took a little hike. It was a little hot in the sun, but the sky was very blue and there was a nice little breeze. Although you can see the result of our drought. More dead trees.



Just a small amount of smog when you looked out over towards the city.



Even with the drought, you can still enjoy a little green in the creek areas. The smell is as lovely as ever, and there's still a tiny bit of water flowing in this creek.

After our day hiking, we went off the hill for dinner and a movie. An enjoyable day in honor of 10 busy, happy years!

Rosey Rose

Brad brought me home these beauties. I wish I could say they were from my garden, but I lost my best rose bush last year to a mole. I've still got a couple, but none that produce roses like these!



I always see faces in flowers, and this is the one that came to see me after receiving these lovelies.

You can find "Rosey Rose" my shop shop on etsy. It's acrylic on a 4 inch, round wooden, plaque

I'm Perplexed

I finished this little painting today. It's acrylic on a 5x5 inch wooden plaque. I'm perplexed at just what to call her. She looks very perplexed to me. So I guess she's going to be called "Perplexity".

She started out as a sketch from a couple of weeks ago. I often like to sketch and doodle in my journal while watching t.v. I was watching a silent movie and here's a spread that I doodled in my book. I don't really know much about the plot of this movie... You can miss quite a bit of a silent movie if you draw during it, but it sure had some cute girls in it! You can see this Perplexed young lady as she was originally drawn, in the bottom right corner.



Before I painted her I was thinking about the colors of the 20's. We talked about "just what were the colors of the 20's?" Wesley thought they were grey, black and white. Well of course, that's what I think too, just like all old decades, really. Then I tried to imagine more, and I thought of The Great Gatsby, and the colors to me in that story are very pastel. So here you have a little bit of pastel.

She also reminds me of the little gift books published by Hallmark in the late 60s, early 70s. I have one of those little books that I've had since I was 2. Since then I've collected quite a variety of the quaint books. For some reason, the hat, or facial expression reminds me of those books.

I quite enjoy this quirky Perplexity, and I'm sure I'll make prints of her in the future. For now we have the little piece in my shop on etsy.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - Novembermoon

I'm lovin all the time that summer gives to me! Yeah, sure there's distractions when kids are home from school, but not having to deal with the school schedule is a wonderful thing!

I found this shop Novembermoon today, and what cute and funky things! I like the way she layers many types of materials into her creations. You'll find original paintings, fun and adorable dolls (always a fave of mine!), neat things made with monoprints, and some bags and handknit items.

Novembermoon also has an entertaining blog, one that I will definitely be back to visit often!

Altered Box - Count your life with smiles!

"Count the garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall. Count your life with smiles and not the tears that roll."



I altered this box that once held tubes of acrylic paint. I used a little reproduction of a painting that I did earlier this year. That was collaged with tissue paper, and the quote and acrylic paint were added.

Once I collaged and varnished it, the box wasn't fitting together like it originally did. So I glued thin rope around it to act as a stopper, to keep the lid from getting stuck.

It's a little funky, but the textures make it fun to hold. And the size is perfect for holding some special little trinkets, or would make a wonderful gift box. Approx 5 x 3.5 x 1.75 inches.

I've got 4 more of these little boxes, so I look forward to making more.

-SOLD-

100th Post!!

Cheers to my 100th! How fitting that my 100th post was to happen during an outrageously busy week!

Insanely busy schedule with end of the school year activities... field trips, plays, baseball playoffs, award ceremonies, other assorted duties - throw in a wedding reception and birthday parties, friends visiting from out of state, and a family crisis... well this makes for a stressed woman, and a suffering blog! Things are looking better now, and I'm thoroughly enjoying my first day of summer vacation. I'm so ready for my time of the year with no real schedule.

My Pick-O-The-Week will return next Wednesday. I just had to get a posting done before more time passed.

I did this painting a few years ago. It's a favorite of mine and shows up from time to time in prints of different sorts. The original is on a wood panel plaque. I'll be painting some more plaques soon.

HOORAY FOR SUMMER VACATION!!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - MrToastStore

Who DOESN'T like Mr. Toast?

My life's a little crazy now, so I chose to do an old favorite for my Pick-O-The-Week, MrToastStore!

I first came across Mr. Toast on MySpace, and how happy to later see him on Etsy. There's something so fun about Dan Goodsell and all of his little friends, you can't help but smile when you see the creatures! My 9 year old son was instantly hooked on all the characters, and he used his hard earned art money to buy one of Dan's books last year. Of course, the book was an instant success with all of his friends as well. They liked Mr. Toast so much that there were a few days of Mr. Toast and friends games at school. One friend went so far as claiming that HE had invented Mr. Toast a couple of years earlier. We of course knew that was just a tall tale!

Over in the MrToastStore you'll find original paintings, books, buttons, bookmarks, and plushies like this hilarious "Frankentoast" that you see here. I'm sure there's bound to be other stuff there sometime soon.

Find Dan's website at www.mistertoast.com From there you can find his ever-so-entertaining blog, animations and lots of other fun, happy stuff.

Just a little Purple

My garden is becoming so very lovely that I just had to share a little bit of purple!

Every year I get some lobelia and other colorful annuals to plant in my window boxes assorted pots. I was happy to also get some violas again. I just love those little flowers, and they really do self seed themselves and spread slightly around your garden.

But what fabulous shades of purples and blues these posies add to my yard, and my blog!

Buttons are Back

These are little buttons (or pins) that I have sculpted in polymer clay, then painted with acrylic paint. They are then coated with glossy acrylic varnish. On the back is a little safety pin that is sculpted into the clay. The look is more 3D than they appear in my photo. Little pieces of art that you can wear.

In the 90s I made a lot of these buttons, in many designs. Having not made any in nearly 10 years, it was fun to make these again. Back then peace signs didn't have a lot of significance, although I made them anyway. Now I'm enjoying making these buttons with messages even more!

Look for new designs very soon.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - TheFlyingEwe

What's one of the biggest sellers on Etsy? Well, in my opinion, ONE of the biggies is wool. Wool for spinning and wool for felting. Almost every time I look at the newly sold items in the Time Machine, I see some kind of wool that has recently sold.

So I thought this week I would find a shop that specializes in supplies for the fiber arts. There's a lot of shops that have wool, but I found TheFlyingEwe. I like this shop for the obvious... it has lots of wool roving for your spinning needs...Both in solid colors and these varigated beauties like the picture you see here. But they also have supplies for the fiber artist-gadgets, spindles, felting needles, kits and patterns. Go to their website at www.TheFlyingEwe.com.

When I see these natural fibers it makes me want to give spinning a try. But I know my time won't allow it. So instead I'll have to try out some needle felting.

Yes, I always see wool for sale, that and hand-spun yarn. It's funny how spinning your own yarn is making it's comeback. What use to be an ancient neccessity is now a novelty. Our society is so modern with it's high-tech communications, and gizmos. I'll take the hand-crafted unique item over the mass-produced, Wal Mart junk any day! And I do believe the trend is growing!

Snowplants in the Forest

A snowplant is one of the more unusual things to find in the forest. Many sprouted up down the road from my house. That's what they do, they just suddenly appear. Their color is so unusual for our forest. When you first see them, you're bound to think they are man-made. And I don't know why they're called "snowplants", it hasn't snowed for weeks now. Another short lived beauty, these are so fun to see, and fairly rare. So enjoy them if you're lucky enough to see one!

Art Lesson - Pointillism - Lilacs - 1st Grade

This is an art lesson on pointillism that I did with a class of first graders. The very first art lesson that I did with a class was on pointillism. Back then I let the kids basically do what they wanted, as long as it was "spring-like." This year I gave them more of a focus, and we painted lilacs.

I first gave a little talk about pointillism, keeping it simple and quick because these were first graders. I showed them the famous Georges Seurat painting, as well as some pointillism I'd done before, and other examples that I found in magazines. I also talked about the process a little bit. I gave them small straws with non-drying clay stuck in the end. I showed them how to make the dots with tempra paint. And I explained to not use it like a brush, rather to just "dot" with the straw.

It was lilac season when I did this lesson, so I had a bunch of freshly cut flowers for every table. I tried to help them notice that the flowers had different shades and colors, not just a solid purple. I did a little example with them while lightly drawing a simple shape then filling with the dots. I asked what shape that might be, and it was cute when a little girl called it ginger shaped (CS). I told them to look at the flowers and leaves on their desk and try to duplicate them.

There's always a few kids who want a solid-colored picture with no different shades of purple. And they also want no white showing - like they just could've used a paint brush and painted it much more quickly. But then there was quite a few who actually got it. And I like how they really did do their own version of the flower, as you can see in these examples I have here.

A fabulous quote of the day was "You can mess up in life, but you can't mess up in art" !! by another first grade girl. (AL) The kids are so smart when it comes to art!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - INTERIORGLASSDESIGNS

Well I'm getting my POW posted pretty late in the night. My Wednesday was a busy, hot one at a track meet/field trip with a bunch of 4th and 5th graders. Fun, but hard to find the time to search for my Etsy Pick-O-The-Week.

I was thinking that I wanted to find a talented stained glass artist on Etsy. So I did a little search and the work of Kathryn over at INTERIORGLASSDESIGNS kept jumping out at me. There are some very stunning and unique designs over in that shop. And a good variety of types of items, too... Business card holders, kaleidoscopes, night lights, sculptures, jewelry, suncatchers, and boxes. I thought this carousel nightlight was so cool, and I always love a merry-go-round! I just love these beautifully unusual designs! She also does a wonderful job of soldering her items in a decorative style, adding to their charm.

INTERIORGLASSDESIGNS is a pretty new shop on Etsy. I wish her luck, but I think the outstanding work will take her far!

NibbleFest-The Groovy 60s

It's NibbleFest time. This month's theme was "The Groovy 60's" - always a fun theme!

So I did a groovy little cat. She looks quite peaceful in her sunshine daydream.

I enjoyed using some tissue and colored inks so much, that I had to do another. The tissue gives the piece lots of texture. And the colors are oh-so-60s! Well at least to me.

-SOLD-

Bees and Manzanita Blossoms

A Manzanita becomes a little habitat when it blooms in May. Just walk by one in bloom and you can hear the friendly humming of many a flying creature. Hummingbirds and bees of every variety enjoy it's luscious nectar. They are subtly beautiful, only when you look real close can you truly enjoy the lovliness of the blooms. It's a very short lived joy and is the true beginning of the warm season here.

I've heard a lot lately about how the bees are dying. What a scarey thought. But I'm happy to see we still have lots here on the mountain! I had to get a pix of one of the busy bees. Have you ever tried to photograph one? It's not real easy. I was lucky to get this shot. I've also realized the bees don't mind when I'm going about my own business - gardening, sitting, or even just watching them at work. But when I went to the tops of the bush and tried to get some pictures, well they started to get angry and a couple swarmed me. I had to run to the house for a break! So you can see just how lucky I was to get this photo... and with NO bee stings!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - 1ofmykind

Wow! Is this some gorgeous jewelry, or what?! There's a lot of incredible jewelry on Etsy, and it can be overwhelming to find only one to pick! I was drawn to these beauties made by the very talented and unique Jody at 1ofmykind. These jewels are created with vintage filagree, made into mini masterpieces. They are very old-world, or nouveau and deco all in one. And the stones are just glowing with loveliness. Definitely a treat that I would love to give myself! And yes, she has mastered the fine art of photography, a must for any successful online seller. Find Jody's website here.

I'm also attracted to this jewelry not only because it is so beautiful, but it also reminds me of a special time in my life. I grew up going to the Laguna Beach Sawdust Festival every year since I was a wee kid, back when the Festivial was also new. It was a fun place to go as a kid, and I always enjoyed when my parents bought me something there. Well, more than once I chose some jewelry that was displayed in a cute little gypsy wagon. Wonderful little baubles that I could stare at forever. I'm not sure if that artist is still around, but now you can find some other remarkable beauties here on Etsy!

Illustration Friday - citrus

This week's Illustration Friday theme is "citrus." And here we have a lovely Goddess of the Citrus fruits.

I guess you would call this mixed media. It's a little bit of collage using tissue paper. I also enjoyed using my new Winsor & Newton colored inks, both with brush and a pen. I've wanted a set of these little colored inks for a long time. I finally splurged (using my 40% off coupon) and bought some at Michaels. They have the cutest labels and boxes, and the colors are so vibrant.

This is an ACEO (2.5x3.5), art card, mixed media on 140 lb. watercolor paper.
-SOLD-

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mama Bears out there! I hope your day was lovely!

Art Lesson - Mixed Media, Self Portraits

This is the example that I did for this lesson. I thought it was a very fun project to do.

I did this lesson a couple of weeks ago in my son's 4th grade class. It does take a lot of prep work, but since it was with my son's class I felt I had the extra energy to put into it. First, I had to take pictures of all of the kids. I tried to get real close-up views of them. This also gave the portraits a fish-bowl effect which I thought went with the project well. I thought they should be black and white and I also made them a higher contrast. I used card stock instead of flimsy regular paper. (Thanks to H. for all the help!! :) ) So you can see, for 29 kids, this whole process can take some extra time.

I provided the copies of their faces. Luckily, Michaels had a big sale on scrapbooking supplies, so I was able to have a good supply of neat paper. Plus, I had an old dictionary and some magazine images, and contruction paper for collage. As well as markers. I showed the kids my example. Then explained how I had put different things that I liked onto the design. I also mentioned that I was trying to make it look kind of funky, and abstract, not very realistic. I tried to have them think of the process in 3 steps... 1. First, do the background and try to keep it simple. Like strips of plain construction paper. 2. Add their head and make a body, either draw or use some sort of collage body. They were thrilled when they asked if they could make any kind of body, like an animal, and I said yes. 3. Add different things they like, or represent themselves. They could draw or collage shapes and images.





It's always so interesting and fun to see what the kids come up with!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - MarmeeCraft

Here it is Wednesday again, already... Time for my POW from the many choices of creativity over there on Etsy.

This week my Pick had to be MarmeeCraft. This young lady is a girl after my own heart! I discovered her while looking through the Etsy Forums, looking at all the Etsy blogs out there. At her shop you'll find her oh-so-adorable original paintings, prints of these wonderous originals, needle felted animals, stuffed creatures and dolls, and other little sculpted cuties. She is 100% whimsy, and with a historical costume thrown in. Just the sort of thing that I enjoy the most!! I truly can't choose my favorite. And even better, she has a most enjoyable blog - MarmeeCraft - Cozy Little Whimsy Nook! So go check her out!

I'm amazed at the amount of wonderfully talented people I am constantly finding in blogland. It's a fun place to go!