Word for 2010

I choose a word to focus on for each year.  I make a sign of the word for my vision board.  I make a journal where I add with glue and paint  anything I find that reminds me of my focus word.  My word for 2010 is HAPPINESS.  I am generally a happy person, but this year I really want to experience happiness through all my senses... visually, auditory, taste, smell, and tactile, and any extra sensory ways too if they happen along!

The scan is playing around with ideas for my word.  It will not be posted on my vision board, lol, but when you have a goal, anything works if it keeps the goal in mind, right?

Wishing you all a happy and safe New Year!
I hope that you have chosen a goal worthy of your time and effort for the coming year!

More Home Art Retreat pages

These pages are kinda random doodling, playing with those pesky gel and glitter pens.  The creamy gels work a bit, the glitter pens do not show up at all.  They do help me to remember a 2010 goal.  I am going to start hosting some art parties, because I really want to get a local art group up and running this year!  I hope I can do that...

I will be adding more pages to my home art retreat house shaped book as I think of things and of course showing them to you.  These two pages are posted backwards-will I ever learn the order of things with this, lol.
I want to tell you about the pages I wrote on music lines.  It is rather a long story, I hope you will read it all.
When in high school, I was friends with a lady who was very into music and piano.  Once we graduated, we lost track of each other, you know how that goes.
My oldest Granddaughter had a BFF through most of her school years too.
One day, while I was shopping the "yard sale mall" who should I find was holding the sale but my GD's BFF.  She had some rubber stamps in a bag, and I always buy those if I see them.  When I pulled this particular stamp out and asked about it, she said it belonged to her Grandmother, who, guess what, was my old friend from HS who had just retired from teaching music at a college and didn't need it anymore. I have use this stamp in several collages and such and like it.  I can just picture my old friend stamping this and filling it in with music notes for students, lol.  I am musically challenged so I filled mine in with things that make me happy, makes me sing.  And the connection to an old friend adds to the fun of it!

Home Retreats Anyone?

You know how you visit blogs and groups and you see something and you say to your self:  "Cool!  I want to try something like that!"  And eventually, as you are doing other projects, you remember a bit about the idea that impressed you so you use it in your art?

 Well, last summer, as I was doing the "yard sale mall" shopping, I found a package with two journals in it, never been opened.  The price was right so I brought it home and put the package in the garage.  I actually bought the package because one of the groups I visit, and a blogger or two had mentioned the idea of creating a "home art retreat" if you were in a situation where time or resources does not allow you to  attend retreats somewhere.  And what these bloggers+online class offered was creating a mini journal with ideas for a home retreat.  So, anyway, one of the books in the package I bought is shaped like a house, and I thought about doing a home retreat for myself, so I decided to try to organize some ideas about that in this little journal.  I am just in the process, but here is the front of my "artsy" house book, and some ideas map in the way of flowers.   I have not tried to do much art on black pages so this is rather a learning experience too.  I have my sparkely gel pens and am learning about those.  The ones I like the best? the souffles!

Last Zine Pages

Okay, this is the last of my zine pages.  They are about transfers, include a paste paper recipe and about stencils.  My random chosen examples shown here.  All my zines were different, as I used examples I had and none of the examples were the same.  Like the transfers, each a unique transfer.  I hope you enjoyed going through my zine with me.  I will be keeping my eyes and thoughts open for a new "subject" for next year.  I really had fun creating the zines, all originals. I am learning to use stencils more and loving them more and more.  I have quite a collection and do you know what my favorite one is?  A plastic lace place mat.  It makes great lacy looking designs.  lol
About my feet... I am able to get up and walk around a bit.  I actually have been to my art table a couple of times, working on some of the WMJ journals, which finally arrived here last week sometime.  I have this theory that you lose much of your creativity if you are too tired or if you are not feeling 100%.  I am not able to get into the zone (you know that timeless place you go to when creating) yet.  My work is mostly minor touches here and there, but I am hoping soon.... soon....

More Lettering Play

I play with pens, since I am not quite able to get to the art desk and supplies quite yet.  The lettering class from ART group has been just right for me at this time!  Here are my latest pages.  Words and a quote.  The word JOY was the word I chose to focus on for 2009.  I am now trying to narrow myself down to a new word for 2010!  I started a joy journal and whenever I found any art or quotes, anything that dealt with joy, into the journal it went.  Of course, I slipped off my focus at times, but for the most part, it was a good experience.  I am thinking HAppy for my new word. I need to make a journal for whatever it turns out to be.  Any suggestions?  I know you all know some great words! 

 As soon as I am able, I am going to do some art journaling about my surgery, I hope anyway. I am thinking about a new way of journaling and want to try it, so this may be the perfect time to launch it.  Of course, I will let you see later in the winter.  

 I have been visiting a few interesting places.  One, for instance is Rice's on line stuff.  Do you know her? She has a book called Living The Creative Life, I think that is the name.  I haven't acquired it yet but am thinking strongly on it.   She has been doing some pod casts with other artists, and I have found those are good, especially if you are sorta "up in the air" for any reason, lol.  I have a link on the right in places I visit, if you want to go listen to some of her pod casts.

Zine Pages 13&14

I added an example of drawing which can be done on almost any kind of paper.  For this one I used an old book page.  And I gessoed a page for the owner of the zine to play on, just for fun!  And, you get to see what is on the book mark tag too!

Change of Pace

Over in the ART group we are doing a little workshop activity on creative lettering.  These are my two newest efforts.  We were to do the shel silverstein poem and our name.  I find I can do these in the position of propped up feet if I have markers and such within reach, lol.

pPages 11&12

And of course, you must play with rubber stamps if you are a paper artist!  I have way too many stamps.  I actually stuck a mini stamp on the pages of my zine.  I hope someone is having lots of fun stamping away with them.  And I had this little mini zine of basics on folding paper items... you know, mountain and valley folds etc.  so I included one of those with a butterfly pattern on it's front.

pages 9&10

Paper dolls would have to be included, wouldn't they? One of the staples of paper arts! I have lots of samples I have collected over the years.  The brownish one is a rubber stamp I bought at a yard sale last summer, so of course I had to include a sample with that on it.

Pages 7&8

History of paper continued and an example of a book was included in this zine!

Pages 5&6

On these pages I give a brief history of paper, show some paper I made from scratch,  and some kirigami.  Now, making paper from scratch really gave me an education.  I started with gathering boxes of dried plants from around my property.  Some plants work better than others for this, and at one time I could have told you which to avoid, but alas, that memory is gone!  Then I broke the plants into pieces and soaked them in buckets for days, exchanging the water each day for fresh water.  Then I gave them a few days of soaking in some mild chemicals like borax and a certain kind of soda, I think.  I keep the different plants apart to see how they would end up.  Eventually, after soaking for days and days, I cut up the remainder in to small pieces, put them in a blender and gave them lots of whirls.  This I poured into a vat, dipped out sheets of paper which I dried on pads.  I was disappointed in my results after the many days of soaking and changing their water.  All of the paper looked the same!  Kinda like the old stuffing in horse hair furniture, lol.  I learned to appreciate paper so much from this summer activity.  And, no, I won't try this again. he he.

Pages 3 & 4 Zine

I am glad I have the zine to show you.  I really have not been very artsy,  just more or less vegging!  I did walk to the other end of the house today and now I am feeling the pain!  But one can only sit for so long, ya know? Here is the next installment of my zine.

Zines!

I received a box full of zines in the mail just at the right time, since I am mostly sitting with my feet elevated and the zines are very entertaining.  These zines are from the "I Heart Zines" swap hosted by the very talented artist, Alma Stoller, and you can link to her if you scroll down on the right column.   I have been making zines for a while, but it is wonderful to see other artist's work;  how they bind them, what subjects they use, that sort of thing.  I will be joining this swap again, I do believe.  Anyway, I can show you some of the pages from the zines I made, since I kept the original work up.  You can really tell I am an amature at making zines, but that is how you learn, isn't it?  I will show the pages as I can.  I am really not doing much in the way of art, as it is a bit hard to do that with your feet in the air, lol. Today you see the cover and pages 1 & 2.

Shoes Are Fun To Alter

Yes, shoes are fun to alter.  This is the last pair that I have to alter, but certainly will be watching for some more that could use a bit of zip added to their life.  Right now, however, I am still on the sofa with feet propped up.  It takes a long time for feet to heal they tell me.  I just hope I will be able to wear my new altered orthopeds in Las Vegas the end of February.  I am glad I am finally able to get these pictures downloaded so I could show them to you.  Glad I am able to walk a bit even though it is very painful.  And glad I am able to do a bit here, on the computer.  I just might be able to get into my art room soon to do something too.

Quilt Blocks

I decided to make my dh a quilt.  I have not made a man size quilt since maybe the 1980's.  Here are some snaps of the blocks.  I have them all sewn together and ready to start the next step which is getting the sandwich put together.  Then, the fun begins.  I am going to do free motion quilting.  At least that is my plan at the moment.  I hope I can do it.  I have been researching and reading and watching videos on how to do fm and it really doesn't look like it will be too bad.  The fabric in the blocks is light weight cotton or blend maybe.  I am not sure because all of it I bought at yard sales.  It looks rather like a denim quilt, doesn't it?  I used to make denim quilts to use for camping.  And when my son got into high school and he had to have a king size bed because he was tall, I made him a denim bed spread.  Now, denim would be too heavy for me unless I kept it way small.  Some day, I will be showing the finished product, I hope.

This Is a Major Pain in My....

FEET.  What you see is what I see as I sit with my feet elevated.  And, I might add, if you see anything that seems a bit, well, weird, it is probably because I am on drugs and trying to entertain myself somehow while I wait for better, and less painful days, lol.  I have played with some lettering, and I have played with photo booth, and I have been reading.  I forced my way through Centennial by Michener, the reader's digest condensed version.  I added some finishing touches to my orthopeds, which at this moment I am wondering why I bother, since I am wondering if I will ever wear shoes again.  The Drs. assure me that the  plantar fashi itus, the hammer toes, and ingrown nails that caused my feet to dress up so "haute courteaur"  (sp?) you see in the photo, will one day make my feet proud to sport some sort of more appealing shoe.  At the moment, I question his prognosis... But, one good thing, is those little itty bitty tiny white round things that make me feel, well, painless. The other photo, more practice on lettering.  Today, I appreciate the capabilities of my Mac and it's photo booth... allowing me to sit in one place and do several activities like taking photos, without help from my sweet nurse, my dh.  Hopefully, I will be able to get back to my art supplies, my sewing machine, and other essential life needs soon.  Until then, people, treasure your feet, they really are a gift!

Creative Lettering Pages

They say the more you practice the better you get.  The whole idea is to improve your lettering for the pages you wish to incorporate words.  These are fun and easy.  I just have my specified creative writing notebook by my chair, and when the tv gets boring, I pull it out.  I have my mini drawers of markers by the chair too.  This is kind of like doodling... just do whatever happens at the time!

Silly Photos

Last year, one of the trends on the net was chatter about TTV photos.  I like to give each and every art fad at least one go.  I did not, however, have the right kind of camera for this.  But, after my fire about the whole process had died out, a friend loaned me one of his old rolliflex cameras.  The process is to use the viewfinder from one of these older model cameras to focus on something, then build a light blocker between that and your digital camera, and so take pictures that almost look like old tin types.  Well, I made the light blocker and took a few snaps.  I have to study up on this technique, and/or study up on the settings on the old camera, or give the whole process a "okay, this is not something I want to pursue" rating.  By looking at the pictures I managed to take I have to rate the whole play time a failure!  GRRRRRRRR  Oh, and don't you love it when you get a photo that you didn't really take, like in the last one here.  They just appear in your photo's for what ever reason.  lol

SHOES?

Last September, when I updated my "vision board" I put a picture up to remind me to work on and upgrade my fashion style more in keeping with my currant lifestyle.  You know the pony tail, and sweats and bare feet are not really "haute couteur" on my isolated hill!  So, I have been trying to bring myself to throw away stuff I don't wear anymore. You know, when you retire, there are lots of work clothes that just hang around in your closet.  Since I have such a hard time throwing clothes away, I decided maybe I could do some "altering" and make them more useful.  Many years ago when I was younger, I always added some sort of altered something to my clothes and thought it would be fun to do that again.  But, one thing I never altered was shoes.  But I have been reading about this and so thought I would shoe you my first efforts...
The first photo is a pair I have just put the black base coat on... they were white and I hate white.
The second photo were kinda blue and white striped and I blacked them and put the rose on toe.
The third and fourth pair are my first completed pair of altered shoes!  Today  I will wear them to the village to see what happens.  Oh, and the last photo is what they will see as I walk away, he he.