Random Funky Journal Pages

These are a few journal pages I did while on vacation. You can see in one of the pages I wrote about trying to outrun Hurricane Fay. We left Haiti the day before she showed up, but still caught the front edge of the storm. It was some crazy weather all the way back to Miami.

Did I dream this??

Ok, this is a little collage I did over a year ago and just found in one of my very first journals. It still makes me laugh. I know the whole party hat and wings thing is probably getting played out by now. However, I still love it and I especially love it on babies. I don't know what it is, it just cracks me up!

The page was covered in gesso and then acrylic paint. I used a couple of script stamps and collaged some sheet music and a nib pen. A cool picture frame stamp, that I have no idea where it even came from, just kind of showed up in my box of stamps one day, frames the baby's face. The wings and hat were cut from a magazine and then painted using acrylic paints and a credit card to spread the paint. Love it, love it.

Handmade Journals

Here are two more of the handmade journals that I made earlier. The first one I called "in verita" which is Italian for "In Truth". It has a handpainted front and back cover and two Italian themed copies of my artwork on the inside covers.

The second is using a copy of a piece entitled "Surrounding Wings" with handpainted, inside and back covers. This is one of my favorite finished pieces and the original is for sale in my Etsy shop.

Chad & Stephanie

So I mentioned in the last post that we were up in Spokane last month for Glenn's oldest son's wedding. OMGosh, what an amazing event. Everything was beautiful, the bride, the setting, the decorations, the ceremony. The kids did such a great job with everything. So here is a picture of the New Mr. & Mrs. Todd. We are so happy for them!

Aren't they gorgeous?

Forever Ago

So it seems like forever ago that I blogged. Oh wait........it was! After a weeks vacation, My step-son's wedding in Spokane, back to work full time, and a flu that kicked my butt...........I am back!

So what have I done in the last month, creatively???? Well.............not a whole lot of new stuff, but I did get some stuff together for submission to several different publications. Fingers and toes crossed please!!! There is a bunch more work to put those submissions together than I thought. Or maybe it was because I was doing more than one....whatever.....it was a lot of work. Not to mention that I really wanted to do something special to get noticed at Somerset, so I spent a day turning the box I mailed my artwork in, into a little bit of art itself. Fun! Now, will this really make a difference? Who knows. But if I was the person in the mailroom down there in Laguna Hills, I know I would like to see something a little different get dropped by the UPS guy once in awhile.

I also did another in the series I have been doing with the one school photo I have of my dad. This series was submitted to another publication, so I will only show a small piece of it here. ( don't wanna jinx it, if you know what I mean) I used one of the backgrounds I made up at Asilomar, with Misty Mawn, and it worked beautifully

.

I also signed up to take a few classes at the Pasadena Learning and Product Expo next month, so I am excited about that. They are also have a juried exhibit running for the weekend, so I submitted a couple of pieces for that too. One is a piece I have for sale at MMCA Marketplace (see sidebar link) called "Greetings" and this one, that I have framed over my fireplace, because it is a favorite, and I do not want to part with it. It is called "Fragile Beauty"

So that is what I have been up to in the last month. Hope all is well with all of you!!

Mixed Media Collage Artists Marketplace

Well, after much hard work by Debbie Overton, our fearless leader at MMCA, and many days/hours/weeks, the artists spent creating, MMCA will open it's doors to The Marketplace today. Please take a few minutes to peruse the amazing work by the other artists featured in this special shop. A few of my pieces, as well as prints of some of my work, are available in the Marketplace as well. I appreciate all of your support, comments, and faith in me, as I start out on the road of creative commerce. This is one of the pieces for sale here.

Where's my Voice? And can it be Crimson? (reblogged from 2008)

(As this topic is fresh again, I am putting this back out to the blogiverse)

So as an artist who has only been around the community for a couple of years, I have been discovering some very important things lately. I have determined, for myself, what is ok and what is not ok, when it comes to an artist's "voice". By voice, I mean their "style", their "look", their "thing". When you hear a friend on the phone, you recognize them for their unique voice I believe it is the same thing in art. Every artist has a voice, and as we become familiar with their work, we come to recognize their "voice" in the work they do.

There has been quite a bit of buzz in the online art community lately about an artist's work vs. their technique. For example, while you can obviously claim your artwork as your own, can you claim the technique it took to get there, as your own? If an artists publishes their technique, in a how to article, is the technique now "out there?" If they teach a class, is the technique fair game? And when does it go from a technique, to infringing on an artists personal "voice?"

I have just recently joined the ranks of marketing and selling my work. In this new forum, there are, obviously, far more "do's and don'ts" than just creating for myself. Are the pieces that I put out for sale uniquely my own "voice"? Well, I think I am still finding my own voice. So far, the only thing I notice that permeates almost all of my work is color. My undying and undeniable love for Golden's Quinacridone Crimson and Nickel Azo Gold. Sometimes together, sometimes alone, but always there.

After talking with an artist to get her views on technique and voice, her response has put this into perspective for me. My summary is this: If an artist works hard to create and develop their own "voice", then published technique or not, their work deserves to keep it's originality, and not compete in an over saturated market of copycat works. (I know the word copycat reeks of third grade tauntings, but it is the word that keeps coming to mind.)

So as I continue to search for my own personal style, I hope you will join me, and maybe be there when my "voice" sings, and is recognized for the first time.

Surrounding Wings

This is a 9"x12"x3/4" wrapped canvas mixed media collage, titled "Surrounding Wings". The heart collage in the center is made with vintage texts from a 1868 classifieds page from Harpers Weekly. Some of the ads from back then are hilarious. But these all reflect things of the heart/love. Be it champagne, gold, diamonds or love being "an invaluable medicine". And when we are in love, our hearts soar this way and that. The text reads: "The wings that surround my heart, fly in so many diferrent directions, that sometimes it gets lost out there". This item will be for sale in my ETSY shop.

True Friendship-amazing

10 Minute Trainer Tried to Kill Me!!!!

Deep breath in......ok good!! So those that know me, know that I am a sucker for an infomercial!! We have so many products in our house that were originally "As seen on T.V" that we could probably open our own store. So needless to say, 3 weeks ago, I got sucked into yet another one. Yep, the 10 Minute Trainer was just the thing I needed to change my life!! Ok, so I am carrying an extra 30 pounds still (or again), from the birth of my son. OMGosh, was that 6 years ago? Whatever!!!
So I am watching the show. What's that......tears from a client that completely had their life changed IN JUST 10 MINUTES A DAY!!! The founder, looking a little misty eyed as he talks about a man who was at death's door and brought himself back IN JUST 10 MINUTES A DAY!!!!
Hand me the phone and where do I sign??
After giving them 2 payments of $39.99, I waited anxiously for my UPS man. 5-7 business days later, (yep, if you order now you can get FREE express shipping, saving yourself the anguish of waiting 3 weeks.........Note above, when I ordered it.), and still no trainer. I do not have the time or energy to get into THAT story. Suffice it to say, 5-7 business days didn't happen. 3 weeks later,(today) I got my trainer. I did, however, manage to talk them into refunding my shipping charges, and sending me the items that were missing from my order. Should be here in 5-7 business days!!
So now it's 4:30 pm and I just picked up Connor from Summer camp. I asked him if he wanted to do my workout video with me and he informed me, he did not need to exercise today. Shot down!!! Plus, we have been fasting this month at church, and I chose Monday lunches in July. So I don't eat breakfast, had no lunch and nothing in my system but Starbucks Doubleshots all day. Yeah, lets start a workout regimen!!!!!
Ok, seriously, I thought the guy was trying to kill me!! There are 5 videos and you can do 1 a day (10 minutes) or 2 or 3. So, hopped up on espresso, I decided to do 3. Well, let me tell you, not a good idea. I think the 10 minute trainer people got word from customer service, that I called a week ago and threatened to start an internet campaign with all 19 of my blogger friends, dissing their fraudulent shipping promises. They, in turn, must have sent me a "special" workout video that they send to their troublemakers. Halfway into the second 10 minutes, I thought I was going to DIE!!! For reals, I had to crawl to the couch, and wait for the spinning to stop. And then wait for the urge to throw up to stop. And then wait for the cold sweating to stop. I just wanted it ALL to stop.

"Don't give up, you can do this", I tell myself.

Tomorrow..............one video...........that's it, just one.