ICAD

This card and the one in the previous post are done with fine point Sharpie markers.

ICAD

We have index cards lying around, and I was waiting on a child (waiting is not the proper word, coercing, perhaps) to finish their school work from the past week, and expressed my feelings with this little haiku:

Maybe this is a little strong. If I'd had two more syllables, I would have added "nearly" before "every day a struggle". And labeling children like this kind of bothers me for some reason, but facts are facts. It should probably say "children" as there are actually two of them, but one who pushes more consistently.

Attempting to jump in to the ICAD challenge at Daisy Yellow.

A much overdue gift of gratitude!

Here's a few shots of a project in progress. This was a gift for my cousin who planned a lovely getaway for us last fall. The first attempt didn't turn out the way I hoped or wanted it to, so it was reworked into something else. This is the second try. First an 8x10 canvas was painted with acrylic paints. Then I started playing around with how to lay it out.

The shells, stones, and sand were collected on the beach where the picture was taken.


The Scrabble tiles were in my stash and were perfect, as Scrabble was a part of the weekend.

Acrylic gel medium was used to attach the sand and pictures, and a heavier duty adhesive was used for the rocks and shells.

Completed project:

A little painting done by B.

A few minutes of play

This little bit of painting fun was inspired by this post at Daisy Yellow. I started out with the intent of spreading a thin layer of gesso over the top and adding a Bible verse for a friend, but when I finished this part, the kids were all oohing and ahing and wanted to hang it up. There was some paint leftover in the palette, so I added it to these two note cards.

Artsy

The day we went to the maple syrup festival, we passed an antique festival on the way from one camp to another, out in the middle of nowhere, that was in an old farmhouse. In the bathroom was a framed print of a poem called "'If' for Girls" by J.P. McEvoy. I debated about buying it and wish I would have, but didn't. (You can see the same print here. Very sweet.) The poem is available easily on the internet, though. Here it is after printing it out on watercolor paper and decorating a bit. And framed to give as a gift at a party the girls went to last weekend. I have plans to make a whole series of these (though each one decorated differently) to give away. The poem is at the end of this post if you would like to read it. While digging through supplies for embellishing the poem, I came across these pictures from going to see a movie ("How to Train Your Dragon") that I had already gathered with this paper, and got motivated to put it all together. That would be the first page I've completed in probably close to a year now.

I still go back and forth about scrapbooking and its place in my life, but my memory is getting sketchier all the time and there are definitely some stories that I'd like to tell, or leave for my kids. Here is the poem from above:

"If" for Girls

If you can hear the whispering about you And never yield to deal in whispers, too; If you can bravely smile when loved ones doubt you And never doubt, in turn, what loved ones do; If you can keep a sweet and gentle spirit In spite of fame or fortune, rank or place, And though you win your goal or only near it, Can win with poise or lose with equal grace;

If you can meet with Unbelief, believing, And hallow in your heart, a simple creed, If you can meet Deception, undeceiving, And learn to look to God for all you need; If you can be what girls should be to mothers: Chums in joy and comrades in distress, And be unto others as you'd have the others Be unto you - - no more, and yet no less;

If you can keep within your heart the power To say that firm, unconquerable "No," If you can brave a present shadowed hour Rather than yield to build a future woe; If you can love, yet not let loving master, But keep yourself within your own self's clasp, And not let Dreaming lead you to disaster Nor Pity's fascination loose your grasp;

If you can lock your heart on confidences Nor ever needlessly in turn confide; If you can put behind you all pretenses Of mock humility or foolish pride; If you can keep the simple, homely virtue Of walking right with God - - then have no fear That anything in all the world can hurt you - - And - - which is more - - you'll be a Woman, dear.

From the writings of J. P. McEvoy

Not so blue?

This is the result of my attempt to participate in the Daisy Yellow "No Frills Prompt 15: Blues". There isn't anything particularly "blue" about it, but I sketched it with an ebony pencil. Isn't the original photo for the prompt lovely? Here's my interpretation:

I have to confess that several of the "rules" for the No Frills Prompts series were broken in the making of this drawing (such as doing most of it while talking on the phone...ahem).

Life has been pretty stressful lately. It seems like I go through phases of a day or two every so often, where I feel overwhelmed. It would probably be interesting to keep a log of when that happens and see if there is some pattern to it. Stopping to create something like this is a good reminder to slow down a bit and breathe.

Art for the guys

Geoff and Little G both went out of town the same weekend. These little cards were made to send notes with them on, tucked away in their bags various places. A page from an old book was glued down, then painted, sprayed, written on, etc. (Basically, I used the opportunity to play.)Capturing this moment of Little G packing up for his first time away from home alone. We learned at the dentist yesterday that he is about to lose his last baby tooth! Awwww.Saying goodbye to Geoff before he headed out on an out-of-country business trip a few weeks ago.

One Word for 2011

Welllllll....

I wrote this all out last night, then looked up my post from last year for "one word" and had written almost exactly the same thing. LOL! I am completely LOSING IT. Yes, I am. And obviously, I need to repeat this word this year, as it didn't stick with me or have the impact it was intended to last year. Though I must say, Jesus has really been making my need for Him more well-known through all the turmoil of the past 5 or 6 months. I am so laughing at myself this morning! In spite of that, I'm sticking with Him as my one word choice for the year, and hoping for greater things (and an improved memory). How appropriate that in the book of John in the Bible, he is referred to as The Logos, or the Word.

Choosing one word to focus on for the year seems to be growing in popularity and spreading across blog world. This is my fourth year to participate (love, action, and JESUS, were previously chosen) and I started doing so from reading Ali Edwards' blog. This was also my project for the first day of Art Journal Every Day.

Doodling

One night last week after reading this blog post, this bookmark was created. Doodling has never really been my thing, but the act of sitting down and doing this is very relaxing and soothing. I was a little wound up about something and could feel the tension slipping away, even though it didn't completely leave my mind, while doing this. Other than the egg-shaped circles, I liked the way it turned out and am going to make a few more for my two oldest offspring who have been caught turning down the pages of their books lately, which bothers me for some reason.

Perspective from where we're at now and other randomness

One of the blogs I follow regularly had a prompt Friday about perspective. As I was uploading these pictures, it occurred to me that these pictures taken from the side of our house show a perspective of our new life here, and remembered the post about it.

The view from our garage last Saturday.

The sunrise a few days later, taken from our doorway.

Later that same day from our dining table.

And the same view as the earlier sunrise.

On a different occasion and location and not especially related to perspective (unless you count looking down the rows, up in the tree, etc.)

Returning from an outing to collect hedge apples, which we are hoping really do what the old wives' tales claim, and repel spiders and annoying insects.

The lowly hedge apple. We had to search the Internet to learn about them after this.

Recent yumminess...

We (because Geoff was really the one who did so) used to make stuff peppers from time to time, but is has probably been more than 10 years since we had them, until last week. We learned of this little bakery in the middle of nowhere and took a drive last Saturday. Geoff said they had the best doughnuts he'd ever had, which is pretty high praise from someone who isn't even a big fan of doughnuts!

In my hands at last!!!

I have been waiting for months to read and use this book (um, coveting would probably be the most honest word)! After hanging on to some gift credit at Amazon since my birthday, I recently ordered it and it arrived today! It came at a welcome time and I look forward to perusing it and trying to do the workshops suggested within in the coming few months. The author's blog is here, and there is a group of people working through it together at this blog.

One of many piles

This is the pile of most of the journals I have kept off and on for the past 3 decades or so. Mostly they are prayer journals. I like to write out my prayers, mostly because it helps me stay focused and keep my mind from wandering. But there is content in those pages, that I really don't feel that anyone else ever needs to see. I've been in a quandary about this. Should they be burned now? Selective pages torn out? What?

Recently a solution came to me that will retain the majority of the content, but allow for some selective editing/deleting. As mentioned in a few previous posts, I've really enjoyed studying art journals and how people make them, and got the idea that the parts that I would be uncomfortable with anyone else reading, could be layered with gesso, and decorated with various forms of art journaling. It would give me a purpose to play. The journals could even be more valuable to my kids/family afterward, and more pleasing and interesting to go through.

We'll see if I actually ever get around to it. There are just a few things on my plate right now and for the months to come!!!!

Beginning art journaling

For about two years now, I've been fascinated with ATC's, altered books, and art journaling. It's probably an extension of my enjoyment of scrapbooking. And I've always enjoyed art, just never been very good at it (or perhaps practiced enough?). There are so many cool mediums to work with, so I guess it's kind of a form of play. But mostly I've just read books and blogs and observed other people's work until recently, when I picked up a few little spiral bound books and started playing a little bit every once in a while. This one was created last night with a charcoal pencil and watercolor pencils.

Playing with art

For some time now, I've wanted to start an art journal, or alter a book. (If you aren't familiar with either of these forms of art, you can search the internet or look at your local library to get an idea.) Well, after a few years of looking at others' and reading about the process, I've dived in. It seems like each artist has their own favorite materials to work with. Recently, I mentioned The Artistic Mother and the blog by the same author. She frequently mentions and uses Portfolio Water Soluble Oil Pastels, which I would like to try when I get a chance to order them. In the meantime, these "water soluble wax pastels" by Reeves were available locally, so we're (I'm not the only one using them) giving them a try. These are going to be designated to the kids once the others are ordered, or for traveling. They work OK, but it sounds like the Portfolios are probably better. The journal page on the left is mine, and the one on the right was done by my 5yo daughterIt was pretty impressive that though she followed the original layout of mine (below),she was very creative in coming up with her own designs to fill in the boxes.

Art!

About 16 years ago, I discovered/was introduced by a friend to the art of stamping and card-making and began making almost all of the cards we needed for various occasions. The materials for that hobby overlap significantly with the hobby of scrapbooking, and a few years later, another friend introduced me to that world as well. That hobby has now branched off or segued into yet another area.

Off and on for few years or so now, I've loved reading about and learning how to create different types of art - particularly collage, such as ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) and art journals. In the past few months that interest has been renewed once again, mostly through the discovery of some inspiring blogs. One that sort of tipped it all off again (my fascination with this type of art) is An Artful Life by Shona Cole, author of The Artistic Mother, a book that I hope to add to my collection some day. At the same time (maybe before?), Artistic Creations with Trudy became another favorite blog to read. She is working through The Artistic Mother and if/when I acquire the book, I hope to join in with her group in working through the projects. Today she posted that her daughter is also participating and has a blog, which I showed to my daughter who is close in age and wants to start a blog of her own soon. (She's just waiting for me to set it up, but my hang-up at the moment is trying to come up with a name for it that doesn't include her name in any way, as protecting her identity is a big concern for me.)

My most recent cool art blog discovery has been artsyville. Such bright happy colors and great quips! There's a great one on parenting in her post today. Love the happiness of the art and the humor of the rest of the post in this one. And I can certainly relate to this procrastination piece!

Another fairly recent discovery and now daily read is daisy yellow. More bright colors and fun inspiration! I could blog hop for hours from all the links to great ideas and suggestions for art and artsy things to try out! Reading through some of this blog inspired me to throw a black marker/pen into my purse and a handful of ATC-sized white card stock and to use them when I have moments of time while waiting for the kids at various things that don't require my involvement. I've always enjoyed "doodled" art but never tried to make any, so these 2.5" x 3.5" projects are a great place to start! This quote in one of her posts is classic!

"Housework is a treadmill
from futility to oblivion
with stop-offs at tedium
and counter productivity."
~ Erma Bombeck

Besides all the inspiration and pretty things to look at on these blogs, I appreciate that most of these ladies are also mothers, and many of them homeschool as well. There is a very weird, dark, spiritually evil or "new age" side to much of the art world in general, and it has been fun to find these artists, many of whom are also Christ-followers.

I've mostly been reading and dreaming about making artsy things, without much application (though there are a few things in progress). And even that is late in the evening when everyone else is in bed, and I should be, but instead stay up enjoying the moments of quiet and peace. Hope to have a few completed things to post soon!