Butterflies in my studio

Back in my studio.. yippiee!!!! I was listening to the song Necta by Sashamon, a local Hawaiian boy that I listened to often when we were in Hawaii. (I added it to my playlist...see below) The song inspired me to do this painting and it was soooo much fun to do. I was just in my element this morning, creating and listening to music. There isn't a more sacred place on earth for me than here in my own space doing art. My birds singing, the cat sleeping in the sun, and Marley sprawled out on the floor at my feet.. HEAVEN!!..

I used a 12 x12 panel board that I primed roughly with some light moulding paste. I applied it on with an old credit card to give the surface some texture. After it dried, I started layering the background with acrylics and some oil pastels in blues and purples. I then used a square piece of corrugated cardboard and "stamped" white acrylic randomly. I love the background. It is always fun to work with color and texture when doing backgrounds. It's pure P_L_A_Y!!!!.

I painted the girl (inspired by my blonde granddaughter Emalie) with acrylics, highlighting some with the oil pastels. Her dress has flowers that I stamped with white paint.. using one of my hand carved stamps. I added the tropical flowers called an Indonesian Wax Ginger flower, which we saw over there. And the butterflies were even fluttering on the beach. But my girl is in the tropical jungle surrounded by hanging fronds of lush green. So here she is.. enjoying the butterflies in the tropics while being serenaded to. It is such a sweet songand reminds me of the laid back easiness of Kauai. I will listen to it often I think.

I have 5 more of these 12 x 12 panel boards and will paint a series of tropical inspired memories from our trip. I need to start getting a good inventory for the upcoming Wild Women Art Show that starts in June and runs for 3 months. With the economy, I want to do a good range of priced pieces. It all helps sell I think.

It was most joyful to be back in my studio painting. It is a beautiful blue sky day here and I need to take Marley for a walk before we get more snow this upcoming week. Brrrrr. Spring snows here can be huge, but they are normally short lived. Melting and the promise of spring

keeps me out of the winter blues that I sometimes get. I listen to tropical music and trust that warm sunshine summer is on it's way.

taaaa

Leaf me a message please!

Here in the Colorado mountains, you find names scratched into the bark of the aspen trees. In Hawaii, we found leaves that people had scratched their names into. Obviously the leaves last for a long time as the dates go back 3-4 years on some of the leaves. I cannot tell you what this tree is but we were at the Spouting Horn beach on Kauai. The little park is across from the Botanical Gardens another inspirational spot to visit.

We are home now, and getting all back into the routine. Today was dedicated to catching up with the ankle deep mail and laundry and running to get groceries. But tomorrow I am jumping into some art in my studio. I missed my daily art time and my studio. I was practicing the art of grandmother and mother though and loved every minute of it.

It snowed a bunch before we flew back, but lucky for us we missed all of it. Only the remains of spots of snow were left over and we had a great easy trip home. And it's so good to be back.

taa---aahhhhhh

a happy tree

These tree faces have been around for awhile, but having the amazing leaves makes this so beautiful. I am always seeing plants growing profusely in the wilds and gardens here in Hawaii that we deem house plants back on the mainland.

I love the tropical abundance here. It's just so juicy artistically to see it all. The flowers, the oceans and the lushness of it all, just makes it so wonderful. Where we nurture and coax our gardens in the west, here they have to cut back the overgrowth.

Today Dan and I wandered aimlessly through some neighborhoods looking at some for sale spots. Just dreaming mind you, but it was fun to day. Then we drove to Waimea and watched some kite surfers. They must have some strong muscles to whip around out there, jumping way out of the water. Really fascinating to watch. We have one more day on Kauai then we fly over to Oahu then catch that red eye back to Colorado.

I miss Marley.. and Willie our cat. And I miss my studio and doing my daily art. Have done some piddle art here.. a little. And of course, lots of art time with Emalie. Reports are that it has lapsed back into winter in Colorado... drat. Hopefully we can bring some warm weather back with us.

aloha till later..

here in paradise

ALOHA!!!! Here's Emalie and I doing garden art. She is such an artist... she wants to paint, color, or play dough. It is really the biggest focus of her life. And of course, I love that!!! Her mom is an artist too and the influence is obvious. Stephanie has had her surgery, all went well and we are now back on Kauai. I have not been around on Oahu since the mid 70's and was blown away by the changes. Honolulu is still insane, but the the windward side is now grown crazy, though not as bad as Honolulu/Wikiki. We did a drive up to the north end of the island and it was wonderful to see it still retains the country feel.

We are now enjoying the rural life here on Kauai. I love this island. It's not as crowded, and much more calm and peaceful. We have had some beach time. Most fun was the glass beach that Dan and I went to. This is an old site for the old city dump. Hard to believe, but years and years ago, this was where they dumped their garbage. There is one little cove that is so full of worn beach glass, it is nearly the "sand" I scooped up a bag full to bring home, some for me and future art projects (mosaics?) and some to share with my artist friend. We walked along the very craggy shore.. found an old collection of old car parts, engine blocks etc. that now have rusted into found object art.

Here's a massive chain and assorted junk. The rust is amazing. It's like slowly but surely, nature is claiming this back.

Probably fortunate for me, that we have a weight limit with our luggage, or I would of picked up some great finds.

We also found a very old cemetery. Lot's of old Chinese headstones, but some that I could read in English. Lucille who died in 1926 only 7 months old. I felt the sadness of her loss and continued on looking at all the lives that had passed on. Though the cemetery was really neglected, it had a view that overlooked the ocean and there was lots of beauty in that.

So more aloha paradise fun. Spending time with Emalie has been a real treat!!!

aloha.....

BALANCE

This is not a new piece of art, because I have been in full fast mode getting all orders caught up, all bills paid, all things ready for our trip.

Feeling very crazy and have had to remind myself to sit still now and then, close my eyes and breathe. I decided to keep me in balance, I would post my Balance art. This was actually from an original collage painting and there was more to the piece than what you see. I painted her on an old bathroom cupboard door that had 20 or more layers of paint. Her legs continued beyond the cupboard door. I used some doll legs and attached them dangling.

Then I used some twine and attached each end to both

sides of the bottom of the door. This created a balance

line that the feet attached to. She now was balancing on the high wire. I sold her and have to say I miss her.

I will have to make another one like her.

So I am packing some of my sketch books, paints, etc. Don't know how much time I will get to do art, but will have the art supplies just in case. I do "collect" on trips. For collaging, etc.

Vacations to me is my time to absorb. To re-stock the eco pond. Plus spend some wonderful

quality time with my sweet Emalie and my daughter Stephanie and my son-in-law Robert.

It's family time.

aloha.. back in 12 days!!!!!

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

An offer turned down. "couldn't find an appropriate fit"

Well, that is pretty much my Mantra. But I don't wear that

with shame.. I in fact embrace it. Because I don't want to be a cookie cutter artist. I want to always walk the more uncommon path. I have always, always strived to be different!!!! It feeds my soul to be independent and not one that follows the crowd.

So, yes it would of been great to get my article about doing the art about my grandparents house published.... But it would of only been a small feather in my hat. Because the

intention of the piece still lives in my heart and the healing it created for me, was a great success for SELF. And this art just might have a bigger better place to go than Cloth, Paper,

Scissors. I replied to them with a thank you note, and attached this art piece. I meant it in a very positive light and hope they understand that. If not, oh well.

When we are turned down for something we aspire to,

the easy path would be the pitty path. But we all know, that's a lonely place to go, and serves no purpose. And as my dad would always say..."Don't cry over spilt milk." So back onto my Visual Intention board goes my art on my grandparents house, with the article because it will find it's rightful and triumphant home soon.

I envision this.

It is a day of positive energy for me. I vow to magically expand the edge of reality and fly away beyond the blue. I prosper wherever I turn. I am ever optimistic and know I will have a brighter future with my art. I will take new dramatic steps that will someday ensure my visions to come to pass.

I embrace my inner Feisty Female. AARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

now go out and be a warrior woman today!!!!!

OH and happy birthday to my wonderful daughter Stephanie. She is 31 today. I loved my 30's.

I think I bloomed in my 30's. So I wish you lots of blossoms dear daughter.

ta

garden worshiper

I finished my self portrait in the garden. This is how I feel when I am surrounded by a beautiful garden in summer. Just want to sit down among the flowers and breathe. The line I added in the upper left hand side says the following:

Beauty makes worshipers of the most skeptical among us.

It just is so hopeful to me to see the lush growing of a beautiful garden. Nature is so real and unpretentious. It grounds so many of us in a world of greed and neediness. All the flowers ask for is water and sun and love. No ego, no baggage, just being present. I think that's why I see her sitting among the flowers. Just being. Even the little bird gets it. You can click on the image to see a close up. It's all collaged from fabric and assorted art paper. And some paint too.

This art made me feel good, hopeful, and trusting in our world. Once again, my art fortifies me.

And she is listed on ETSY. Is she ready for you and your love of your garden?

ta

More time in paradise, please.

Art can take you away!!!! Woke up to SNOW!!!! As I am pulling my summer clothes out for our trip, and dreaming of paradise in 6 days, this is what the weather delivered early this morning. So, being the cold weather weinie I am, I jumped into the tropics in my art journal,

with palm trees and tropical flowers. ESCAPING THE WINTER even before we get there.

I also started a new art piece.. the title already in my head. It comes from some journal art I did the other day when I was celebrating orange. I used some of the ideas from that piece and also some new ideas. Working on the lush tropical art this morning took my mind away from the shoveling I will have to do later today.

ahh well, the one great thing about spring snows, is they don't generally last long. You know the warm weather is coming, sooner or later.

ta

my

dreaming of flying

And in her dream, she saw the angel fly and

wanted so to be flying too. And she would someday soon.

I finished my painting about flying. This is on a canvas 3 feet x 1 foot. The houses are collaged with fabric and art papers. The detail of the hill and tree are done with painted then torn pages from the Kauai phone book. These are the little details that I often do, not that it's obvious to anyone, just a bit of fun I like to do with my art. I worked on this yesterday morning and when I emerged from my art, I saw it was 3:00 in the afternoon. OMG! Time just flew by! One of the wonderful perks of doing art. The getting totally lost in your work. Blissful!

I painted the girl on dictionary paper with watercolors. To keep the colors from running when I

applied it to the canvas with gel medium, I first copied the dictionary page with the girl on my color copier. This makes it permanent. Then I carefully cut her out and collaged her to the canvas with the gel medium. It worked beautifully. The tree trunk is cut from a great piece of batik fabric I bought recently. I loved the lines in the fabric and it worked perfect for bark texture.

This was really an enjoyable piece for me and I am happy with the outcome. It will go into the

wild woman art show unless I sell it before that. I will put it on etsy I think.

Another beautiful blue sky morning and I have to now get very serious on my orders. Lots to do!

ta

ORANGE MUSINGS

ORANGE BLOOMS IN MY HEART!

This morning I awoke to new ideas for my business, and a sense of possibilities of great growth, both for me and the business. That is always the juju that gets my juices flowing.

Creating new ideas, new ways to market my work, and new

designs. So I worked that enthusiasm into my journal page this morning. The color that spoke out loud to me was orange.

I want to pick a color everyday that inspires me. I love

the color orange. It's so rich and succulent. Like biting into a big ole juicy orange. Remember when your mom would cut your oranges in half and you would eat them by biting into the half? You would have an huge orange grinning face that stretched across each cheek beyond your mouth. And the juice would drip down your chin onto your shirt. YUMMY! I loved that!!!!

So next week is the big push to get all done before we leave a week from today for Denver to jump on that early Monday morning flight to Hawaii..... I am excited but also my head is swirling with my long lists of to-do's before we leave. Leaving our sweet Marley in a kennel is heart wrenching, but I know he will love the other doggie company. Just wish I could make him understand we will be back in 12 days.

You can see how he doesn't have a clue what's coming up for him. His big adventure at the

doggie ranch.. I think he will love the interactions with the other dogs. I still need to drive out there and check it out, but it comes highly recommended. Just want to make certain.

I wish I could shrink him down to a tiny pup and take him with us. He weighs in now at 63 pounds.

That's a good 15 pounds more than Sadie weighed. And he is very strong.. he can pull me off my feet if I am not braced for his strength.

Catahula's don't mature till 3 years old, and Marley is only 9 months old! We love him

dearly.. he really is a great dog.

okay better tackle that to-do list.

ta

FLYING!

I have always wanted to be able to dream about flying. Have asked for it for a long time. My Dad had many dreams about flying. He would tell us about his many adventurers, flying swiftly over the tops of houses, over rivers and mountains.

The feeling of soaring so freely, oh how I wanted to experience that.

Yesterday I stumbled on some artist's web site,

sorry cannot remember who, but she had done some art about her dreams of flying. She could even dream about flying underwater.

I was pea-green with envy. I would so love to be able to dream that I am flying.

I have always been a cautious person when it comes to doing anything the least bit daring. I remember, when I was a kid, watching the neighborhood kids swinging on a rope hanging from an old cottonwood tree that was next to the canal. This was really an over-sized ditch.. probably about 4 feet wide. But still big to us kids.

They would get a running start, then grab the rope and fly across the ditch. Oh wow. I so wanted to do it. I watched for at least an hour, wanting so badly to try it. Scared I would plop into the water. Finally, I stood up and got in line. When it came time for me to go, I hesitated,

which of course, all the kids noticed and started yelling at me to hurry up, chanting that I was

chicken. And I was. But I gulped and went for it! I made it, much to my surprise. Totally

stoked that I landed on the other side, dry and grinning. Then of course, I did it again and again.

No big deal.

So last night I gave myself permission to dream about flying. I would love to tell you I flew.

But I didn't. What I did dream about was me standing firmly planted on Terra-fir ma watching

someone fly. She was beautiful and I was mesmerized by her grace and apparent joy she was experiencing. I couldn't see her face even with the full moonlight. She flew effortlessly over the houses and I was filled with awe and longing.

I know of course, she was me.. I was feeling the pull of wanting to fly, but also the comfort of

staying firmly on the ground. But at least, I was seeing what is possible for me. This is the

success of my dream to me. The message that flight is possible. I just need to grab that rope

and go for it.

So this morning I did my journal art about my other self flying.. the self that lets her feet lift off the ground. I started a painting on a canvas after I finished the journal piece. I want to further

delve into my dream of flying. ta

Pink Friday

I am celebrating Pink today. Just feeling the need to color my day with PINK!!! I woke up feeling like I needed a great big pink celebration in my day today. So I jumped into my journal, using the color pink and did pink sticky notes proclaiming my self affirmations. Notes like: KNOW SELF, SMILE LOTS, STAY FOCUSED, BE LIGHT, BE AWARE AND LOVE. Today I give my best - resolve to to stay in the pink.

Earlier, I turned on the morning tv news, and the words of doom about the economy.."It's worse than we thought, it's horrible".. Okay Okay.. I quickly turned off the news. I know it's hard times, but for me, I have to put on my pink filter, and stay focused in the light and know the universe will take care of us. I strive to work hard, to create my reality, to be aware and all will be well.

I have felt for awhile now, that this economical happening, is the universe shifting us into the correct path. For too long, we have collectively been focusing on greed and more, more, more. We have forgotten the essentials of less is more, of taking time with our loved ones, and putting value into awareness. All will be well. We will be able to recover and move forward with new enlightenment. The other day, I was watching Oprah, and OMG, she said the same thing! It's our time to correct our path.

So I celebrate the color pink today. Because it makes me smile and feel the world loves us all.

new listings on Etsy

I just listed these two girls on Etsy. I created both of these out of recycled fan blades. They
were a kick to make. I used my pop rivet gun to assemble them. I love using this tool. It makes the assembling so easy and strong. The arms were from an old hummingbird feeder! I am always on the lookout at the thrift store for elements that I can use in my assemblage. It is a great lesson in creative thinking when you go to the thrift shop looking precisely for parts for re-purposing. Sometimes the un-assembling of an item can be really challenging and I have to resort to asking my husband to help. Thankfully he is great at doing it. I loved using these old
fan blades, and want to make more art dolls from them.



These have been hanging over our fireplace but I have decided they are ready to fly to new homes. Selling my art sometimes makes me sad to let something I love go, but it always clears up space for new art. So I have learned to focus on what's next.

I want to do some art dolls using smashed spray cans. These are found
occasionally on my walks. They are
not readily available so when I spot one, I get really excited. Rusty and
flat, they are great for assemblage.
I have made several fish out of these but want to make some art dolls out of them.

My camera was on the fritz so it's been awhile since I have been able to post photos. I just got it back all repaired and am thrilled it's working again. We are going to Hawaii in a few weeks for a 12 day visit to my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.. yippieee.. I am very excited. I am always soooo inspired by the islands and would love to plant myself there as an artist, it's so rich with tropical colors.

off to do my orders.. ta