Is my head on straight??

I have a fascination with "Dios de los Muertos". I absolutely love the art, the patterns on the art, the funky colors in the art, and just overall, the art. I know about the celebration, and some of the ways it is expressed, and I would love to see one of the festivals in Oaxaca, Mexico one day. I love the sugar skulls. I love the idea of taking something scary, and decorating it with flowers and colors and vines and patterns. To me it refreshes the past, it lends a new coat to something dark, and face it, a cool looking skull, goes with anything!

Billy and my Sister!!

So I am posting a shot of the most recent charcoal I finished today of Billy Idol. I don't think it is my favorite, but if I don't stop, I will rework it to death. So if you are looking at the title and wondering what does Billy have to do with my sister? Well, nothing..it's just something cool to look at. Because the huge, amazing news is .......I HAVE A LITTLE SISTER!!! Does it sound like a strange rant coming from a 40-something? I mean, I am not a toddler who just found out she is going to be a big sister, but this is just as exciting I'm sure.
I was on Facebook the other day, minding my own business, wasting company time, you know.....the usual, when I got this message in my inbox that said, in a nutshell, "Who's your Daddy?" Ok, not really, she didn't say that!! (That would have been funny though!!) But anyway, to make a long story short, I have a sister, and I am simply in awe.
So my sister's name is Shannon, we will meet soon, for the first step in a relationship that excites me to no end. I thank the Lord, who brings things together for His glory, in His time! Yay God
Now this is not a complete surprise, we knew she was out there somewhere, just never knew where to look. So I gotta give a great big awesome shout out to Facebook, because really, they seem to connect long lost.....everythings!!!

So if you are my friend on Facebook, look for Shannon, and give her a big virtual hug, she's family!!

Last Summer Weekend

SO we packed the car up Thursday afternoon and headed to Lake Havasu for our last summer break. My youngest stepson was here for a visit, so we took off for some fun. They boys went quad riding and had a blast. My youngest is just getting started riding and did great~~. The boat is our happy place, and we love to just hang out and lounge around. I love the weekends here, and the down time I get to just sit and read or journal is well needed. I brought a cool picture of Madonna that I wanted to try to do in charcoal, and I thought it came out pretty good. Utopia Salon ,in Upland, will be having a fashion/hair show during the Upland Music and Art Festival in November, and the theme is music icons from the 80's. This is my first one that they will have displayed in the shop during the show. I am looking to do some cool 80's hair folks, but without all the crazy "Flock of Seagulls "80's stuff. I will do a Billy Idol I think and maybe a big hair band guy, or something. Any suggestions??

Music and Art Series

Ok, so my 60's female icon series, has turned into "Art and Music Icons", due to the fact, that I am getting them ready for the Upland Music and Arts Festival in November, and it is, after all, a music and art festival. I have been having so much fun with these. Fun, frustration, amazement, frustration, excitement....and did I mention frustration. I say this because I had forgotten how it can be. When I visualize something in my mind, but have a hard time relating it to the page, I get frustrated. When I have to confidence to try, but then lose it when things don't go right, there's the "f" word again. It reminds me of a song from Howard Jones "No One is to Blame". One line is "aspirations in the clouds, but your hopes go down the drain". Now I don't have this outlook in my everyday life. I have Jesus, my hopes are never down the drain. But every once in awhile, creativity can do that to me. So I keep plugging along, I have to. Because sometimes it turns out just like I hoped it would. Here are two that I finished in the last week. Warhol is 12" x 18" charcoal on fabriano hot press, and Mick is 12" x 16" of fabriano hot press

Female 60's Icon Series

My husband insisted we have a yardsale. I didn't want to have a yardsale, it's alot of work and you gotta get up early and folks never want to pay the same amount as the little stickers you spent hours tacking on every single piece of craptastic treasure you managed to dig out, dust off and display. So now for the bright side: We found a great box of family photos nobody had seen for years, and I found my old sketchbooks from college. I had forgotten how much I love to draw. I am not so much with the still life fruits or scenic stuff, but give me a photo big enough that I can get the proper proportions, and I love to detail with charcoal.

I found some old magazine photos that I had used previously for a couple of drawings, and drew them again on watercolor paper. They came out so good, that I decided to do an entire series of Female icons from the 60's. Here are the first 4: Twiggy, Barbara, Marilyn and Lucy. Depending on how many I get finished, I should have a good sized collection to sell at the Upland Music and Arts Festival in November.

12" x 18" charcoal on Fabriano hot press

My Studio 13: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made-ArtNowFor Autism

This piece is being donated to the Art Now for Autism auction. Check out the details here.

Please check out their website and all of the amazing artists that are participating in this cause!!

(you can see more pic details below last post)