OLD DOG, NEW TRICK

I cut out the parts and assembled this guy together using a rivet gun to fasten all together.  SO FUN!!!

NOW

 I want to make more!!!

SWEEP FOR ME NO MORE

Just finished her.. #3 in a series...  Coming up with creative legs has been the most fun.. and most challenging part.  I perfer the skinny long legs.  Yesterday I went scouting for ideas.. and found these back scratchers

which are delightful for long legs.. even have notches in the feet for toes.  Interesting note:  on the back of this old license plate.. a 1951 Indiana plate the following is written in pencil:

Luther Cadwell

Rushville, Indiana

off his 1931 Model T Ford

I wonder what Luther would think of if he could see his license plate now!!!

One of those quirky thoughts that go through my head when I up using old objects in my art.

NOW
to work.

SEW ANGELIC

She is quite colorful with her Carmen Miranda sleeves and fun free flying hair. 

 I had lots of fun creating her!!!

And she has colorful leggings to match!!!

NOW on to #3....

WISHFUL THINKING

An apt name that...  She has a wishbone in her hair. So naturally, I added the printed dictionary pages transferred onto fabric and cut into strips (as an "afterthought"..)    :)

I want to do a series of these license plate art dolls.  I made one last fall and knew I had more to create.

Here she is in full...

After I took this picture, she decided she needed more volume with her hair. 

I love making assemblages.  Her legs are one of those wooden folding carpenter's rulers.. that I

took apart.. laboriously I might add.  More art dolls in the works..

but for

NOW

I have to attack some other chores.

WHIRL ART

WHEEEEEE!!!!!

FOUND THIS WONDERFUL VIDEO.

TAKE A MOMENT TO DREAM.

IT'S YOUR DAY.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UoUj7q7Hxg

I AM WHIRLING IN JOY

FOR AN ART-FILLED FRIDAY!! 

 WAHOOO!

SWEET ANTICIPATION

I am like a kid waiting for Santa Claus.  Counting the days... which I swear are dragging by like

a sludge of mud. 15 days till my girls fly in. wahooo!!!!

(pause here for happy dance!)

Thanks to my trusty art journaling I can vent the lack of patience, plus keeping busy with work and ART.  And spring is always a busy time in our yard, house, etc.  It has been absolutely delightful weather and of course, they are calling for 6-12 inches of snow tonight.  When you live in the mtns, this is just mother nature showing you she can.  I am amazed at how quickly the piles of snow around our house have vanished in a few short weeks.  I can look out back on the patio and it is all gone.  Thank you SUN!

We need one good snow storm after the girls arrive.. so little Emalie can witness SNOW!  Her first ever.

That will be so magical to witness.  Must remember to keep my camera always handy.  I am

embracing this visit and know this will be a lifetime gift that I will always cherish.

But for

NOW

I must ARTFULLY create my day!

KISS ME I'M IRISH

A loverly Green Day..  well, if you look really closely outside, you might see some green peeking through.

Spring is coming.. it's been delightfully warmish..  I could sit like a lizard in the sun and simply be.

But now today... because it's a big workday for Lunar to catch up on orders.

  Art is patiently waiting for me.

  Many projects

in line and I am aching for a full on

Art Day..

 Garden Day.

Spring Cleaning Day.

sigh.

I need a month of Full On Days!

NOW

to work on orders.

Wish me the Luck of the Irish!

WOODEN WOMEN

Found these wooden cut outs at the thrift store awhile back for maybe $3 for all of them...6 total.

They were all hinged together like someone was going to use them as  standup art.  I envisioned using them as women.  There are two cut out heads.. one tulip shaped and the other daisy.  So yesterday I started

painting on one and here's the results.

I covered the head with rusty metal.  Then decided to create wings and heart for her crown. 

The body I did the normal mixed media layering of paint using brushes, fingers, and stamps.  Each one has a stem and leaves routed into the wood which makes for nice texture.

I have to start working on a new body of work for the upcoming show in June for Wild Women.

It's that time of year again! Despite all that I have on my plate, I still can do a lot of art over the next few months.  Those early morning art hours will add up and if I am consistant, I can easily do it.

NOW

I will work on the next woman.

and it's 19 days till my girls arrive.

I am sooooo excited.  Truly.

DECORATING STYLE: COLOR

I am so excited!!  I scored more of these amazing 100% wool hooked rug samples.  I got some last year, and finally took the time to sew them together.  Those were not the looped hooked rugs that I love.

These samples that I recently got, are.  The smaller rug I got a week or so ago when my husband and I found a delightful shop about 50 miles from home.  I got these for $1 each. So the small rug cost me $6.

Then I started thinking, why didn't I buy more?  Since I didn't want to drive 100 miles round trip, I called the shop and they had some more, so I asked "do you ship?"  Happily, as you can see they do.  So this morning I put together a larger rug to lay in front of the sofa.  The first set I laboriously hand stitched the backs together.  But these I used duct tape.  Yep.  And it works beautifully.  Good ole duct tape.  And saves me a lot of work. 

I really like the patchwork look and for $12!  ... plus shipping, but that's lots cheaper than the cost of gas!  Each sample has a picture that was stuck on the back showing the entire rug. And you know what?  I like my pieced version much better.    This is much more arty and funky.  Which is me.  Because I love lots of color in our house, as you can see.

I grew up in a home that was always perfectly decorated.  Color themes, etc.  Which my mother loves, still.

But I like a lot more play and chaos of colors.  An eclectic look.  I just painted the one wall in the living room this lovely spring green color.  This house was decorated sourthwestern when we looked at originally to buy.

The large great room painted mauve pink, which ohhh, still sends shudders down my spine.  It's now

a soft warm golden wheat yellow.  I had to paint that before I had even finished unpacking everything!

When I was growing up, I wasn't allowed to put posters up on the walls.  No self expression allowed in our house.  So now that I am all "growed up"..  I am fully into self expression.  And I look as those

restricted youthful days as a leaping pad for my now wild artistic expression.

NOW I am ready for  even more expression.

BEST ART EVER

Today my girl Stephanie turns 32.  Yes, time flies!  I found one of her pics from years ago.. I think she's about 4-5 there on the left.  Then I added Emalie's picture to compare mother and daugher. 

How cute are they?

Emalie is a blondie and Stephanie had darker hair.. but you can see the resemblance.

These girls are my best creations.. besides my son Chris, whose birthday is next month.

Milestones.

Remembering all the giggles raising my kids.

Who are now raising there own.

NOW

I embrace the present and count my blessings!

WHITE

I have been here before.  Sitting reflecting on the "fall" I took the day before.  You feel mentally battered and bruised and you know you allowed it happen again.  Journaling helps.  Time helps.  Art helps.  And from the pain, I know I will become smarter and tougher.

But for today, I stay in the light.  I stay with my art.  I light a candle.  I listen to soft soothing music.  And I allow the White Light to surround me.  It's a day I will dedicate to SELF and my HOME and my sweet husband.   He rescues me.  He came home yesterday, and saw my pain.  So we jumped in the jeep with Marley and took a nice long drive.  60 or so miles later, we found a sweet little Italian resturant in a small mountain town, we had a lovely dinner and then the nice ride home.  It is a blessing when someone you love feels your hurt and reaches out to help you.  Thank you Dan. 

NOW

 I work on making a nice comfy place for him to come to this evening.  A big pot of nourishing soup and a quiet evening together.  These are the gifts in life that rescue us from the hard times we experience.

PRAYER FLAGS

First, a painterly background of sky.

Then a tree grows.

Then my journal pages created into prayer flags to string above my studio.

It's a visual reminder to me to keep growing and praying and moving forward in my art.

NOW I can create more ART with blessings.
next day..

I later added my blackbird..
my sacred muse.

ACTION AND PURPOSE

"TIME IS LIMITED, SO I BETTER WAKE UP EACH MORNING FRESH AND KNOW THAT I HAVE JUST ONE CHANCE TO LIVE THIS PARTICULAR DAY RIGHT AND TO STRING MY DAYS TOGETHER INTO A LIFE OF ACTION AND PURPOSE" Lance Armstrong

I have been taking an online class that has kept me working on my goals.  Part of that process, is working in my art journal every morning.  This morning I received a quote by Lance Armstrong about intention and

purpose.  This year I have found my Intentions moving toward Doing.  NOW is my word and I am

working on keeping the action NOW instead of someday.  I connected with this quote so much,

I decided to work it into my morning art.  I am a morning person.  I love to wake up each day and

embrace the NEW.  New possiblities, New goals, New intentions and New to-dos. 

That morning coffee watching the early predawn sky slowly come awake.  That will never bore me.

I am an avid dawn worshipper.  That brightening, the clouds turning pink, the kiss of the morning sun.

I can even feel the glory of a cloudy dawn.  I rarely feel gloom at this time of the day.

I am celebrating my INTENTIONS with morning glories.

because it's time.

NOW.

more than ever.

THE LARGER PART

THE LARGER PART OF YOU IS ETERNALLY CONNECTED

 WITH THE LARGER PART OF EVERYTHING

Working in my journal every morning has become a journey.

I am tapping my inner wisdom and linking to the universe.

It's powerful and it's fulfilling beyond words.

It's exactly where I need to be

 NOW.

BLOOM

This morning I thought about my hurtles that I climb over everyday.  There are times when I think my path will never clear and my strides come easy without obstacles.  I took a page of blank address labels and

wrote fast and furious about these obstacles.  The pain, the disappointments, the ups and downs.

Then it hit me. We all have the obstacles.  EVERYONE OF US. My troubles are no more monumental

than any one elses.  It's all in how we preceive them.  So I took my labels and put them in a growing live tree of hope.  To bloom and turn into beautiful possibilites.  I added green and red and lavender and white.

and beautiful blue eyes.  From this I felt the surge of positive growth.  and flowers started sprouting up around me.  Spring is in the air.  My favorite time of the year. 

Creativeness is my gift and I will apply it NOW.

namaste