Joyful Purpose

SPC - Thoughtful

SPC - Black and White Challenge - THOUGHTFUL

SPC - Soulful

SPC (Self Portrait Challenge) Black and white - SOULFUL

joys of the day

My first joy is that I purchased the latest issue of Legacy mag and was flipping through it last night and lo and behold there was one of my pieces within its pages!  "Markie" is a 10x10 canvas that I did for my husband's bday.  It is a collage piece using an image of him when he was 3.  The second joy is the latest book I found Kaleidoscope - so cool and just a visual feast!  It was created by the owner of Artitude Zine and you will loooovvve it!

Joy! Joy! Joy! The winner of the Valentine Bag is Kim Wright!  WooHoo!  Kim email me with your ship to address so I can send this sweet bag right out! Red Portrait #2

Its a Colorful Life

Ok so I am on to RED for self portraits continued ....
I had the best Weekend.  Got to see my friend Judi - my soulsister. We started out day by going to chinatown and having dimsum - yummo and then a bit of shopping of course and I got the greatest Joss Papers - love them and they are a real staple in my work.  Judi and I were in a Asian Market when we turned the corner and in a collective GASP we found these glorious labels and what made them soooo special was that you got about 500 sheets for 3.99!!!!!!  So we picked out 5 styles and split the packs - SCORE!!! Then we went to Sweetpeas and Snapshots and took the Color Almanac from Teresa Mcfayden (she is such a sweetheart) we had a ball.

A Room of One's Own

Think Pink!  You know you want to!  The drawing ends this Sunday and this is what you will get if you win!!! So add a comment to this post or the previous to get your name in the drawing - I'll pick a winner Monday Morning!

I love Punch Studios stuff and I found these cool fish boxes today at the Home Goods store - you got a love that store - I don't know yet what I am going to do with them but aren't the graphics and colors so cool! And the little ones were only 1.99 each and the big one 5.99!!

Speaking of the Home Goods store I also found these - they are black would with a red rub and carved rose design - since one of my goals is to make my office more comfy and reflective of me I bought them for my desk and believe it or not the big one was $16 and the little one $12 - sucha a deal!  My room is a work in progress right now but slowly I am making it a "room of my own"  - I read in Rebecca Sower's blog that she is redoing her studio (look at the pics and gush out loud!) that she wants to surround herself with lovely things that inspire her - so taking her lead I am trying to do the same.
I put all of my vintage postcards in this wooden bill box to sit on my desk and brought up my favorite wing chair that I bought for myself when I was pregnant with my first son up into the office, the little antique table I got in college at a yard sale - the husband sold it to me for $5 and I could hear his wife yelling at him as I loaded it into the car and drove away, a biscuit tin from the Pasadena city College flea market (love tins) and a leopard blanket that I made and last but not least my beloved Cleo will now lounge on the chair and keep me company. A Room of One's Own is so important and very defining.  I read in a book, Blink I think it was, that you can tell more about a person by looking at their room than anything else. I showed you mine, now show me yours!

A day in the life ...

Ok here is Pink Portrait #4 with my beloved Cleo (that is short for Cleopatra queen - chocolate point Siamese who I adore and who thinks I am her catmate - soulmate)  And speaking of cuties here she is this morning and my other furry darling CHEYENNE These wonderful joys are my morning wake up calls and so I thought about taking pictures of them first thing this morning - thus a DAY in the life .... So here is some pics of the real me and the real house - not cleaned up and prettied up but the way I REALLY am .... kind of messy, eclectic, creative and fun.   My birthday is coming up Feb. 16th and I will be 39 so I am waining reflective - it always happens  this time of year  - and I am finally  figuring out who I am and what I like and being honest about myself - thus the REAL photos so bare with me. I finished my examples for my KAREOKE Cowgirl tryptic class and dropped them off this morning - here they are: Don't forget to enter my valentine squishy bag give away -be blessed today!

Birds and Pink and a Treat

I really love all this Sweetness in the Air - so many bloggers giving away free things in a fun drawing (Pam and Maija did one) so the spirit has spread and I feel like spreading some Joy too!  So a post a comment and I will add your name to my little basket and pick a winner by  the end of the week! (I will email you if you win to get your shipping info)  What do you get?  A valentine bag filled with stuff - pink stuff, emphemera stuff, embellishment stuff - lots of fun stuff!)

Pink self portrait number three - I am practicing courage and humility here - I take these pics first thing in the morning no hair brushing, washing face or anything - just the bare, real, raw me -exploring who I really am.

I made this banner for a valentine's swap I'm in - thought it would be fun to get in the mail.

I  am in my bird phase - love birds and nests ( i must say that it really is disconcerting when you have always loved something and then it becomes popular and everyone else loves it too you kind of feel like a poser - oh well) I did this journal piece last night and this assemblage box yesterday.


I am pretty happy with the way it turned out - now I just have to find a place for it.

*** I have NO IDEA WHY EVERYTHING is underlined in this post- some weird blog thing going on!***

How do you journal?

I must say that a written journal is not really something I have ever kept - kind of scary for me in a way to exposing - I have done gratitude journals and The Artist Way morning pages - however, art journaling really does do it for me.  My latest journal is a really cool date book that I purchased that looks like an old ledger - I purchased the cool bird one to use a desk calendar and the butterfly for a gift but it ended up as my new journal.  I ripped down the inner pages to about an inch and a half and glued paper sandwiched inside.  So here are some of my recent pages.  I don't mind sharing them as they are a  part of me that I am willing to look at and not hide from others.  It is a  cathartic  process to be sure and one that  is not intimidating.  It is a way for me to explore to venture out and try new things.  How do you journal?

 

Pages Finished!

You will have to bare with me and my Pink Self Portraits for awhile - I am on a kick right now.  The other project has been getting my pages done for a fat book 4x4 and an atc book for two artfest groups I belong to.  So if you ever wonder what they look like here is one I participated in on TIME that I just got back.  I have found a pretty do able way to get all my stuff out 65 pgs for the fat book and 30 for the atc.  So here is my method. 
1. I create a piece or two in my art journal around the theme.
2.  Chose my favorite.
3. scan it
4. make some adjustments in photoshop
5. print it out on card stock (front and back images side by side with just a little space in between for the fold line)
6. cut out the images
7. fold in half using a bone folder
8. add embellishments
9. Stamp and ink edges.

It also helps to have something to watch and Grey's Anatomy plus chocolate was a great help.

Think Pink

This weekend proved to be very creative and filled with a lot of love and PINK.

I went to a class at SweetPeas and Snapshots with my friend Judi and her darling daughter Katie.  We were the only ones in the class so it was so cool.  Speaking of cool the class was taught by the very cool Kelly Kilmer.  I learned not only how to make a book but scads of different paint and print ideas for a wonderful layered look.  Here the book is at the end of class. And here it is after I got it home and added a few extras:

I am planning on making this book into a Valen tine for my sweet husband.  Speaking of Valentines I have kind of been in that frame of mind this weekend so I made this little card for a swap I am in and love the colors.  It is funny how you find a friend and the two of you just mesh.  Judi and I became friends by fate last year because of ArtFest.  I had never been before and had decided to venture out on my own.  So I asked on the msg board if anyone wanted to share a car and lo and behold I got three replies whom all became fast friends (Ginny and Amy leave on the East Coast so I don't get to see them) but dearest Judi who just happened to be on the same flight as I was lives about 45 mins away.  She is one of those souls that you feel like you have know FOREVER.  Anyway I knew I would be seeing her and made her this journal as a gift.  And of course when I said I have a little gift for you - she said so do I - this great pen holder and adorable NEST eraser ( I have a thing for nests and birds).  Sweetness Abounds!     p.s. the pink self portrait was inspired by Misty Mawn's incredible and moving self portraits.