The seahorse is in!

The seahorse is decidely in. This guy was drawn directly onto scrapbooking paper that I thought had a cool ocean feel to it. I used colored pencils to accentuate. Gotta love my exacto for all this stuff.

I made another art noveau motif, but this time in cooler shades and using silver in the background. I am now out of silver paint pens. This paper is killer! It is so luxuriously thick, that it is screaming for water colors...and wouldn't ya know...there are none in my house at the moment. What happened to the gajillion kid watercolor sets I used to find all over the basement floor? "I don't know" is the answer I got today, so they are on my AC Moore list...for me.

You can see where the paint pen started skipping and running out of paint. Also, another difficulty of using paint pens with marker (or I imagine any other medium) is that it is difficult to cover the painted areas. These are small enough that it is no big deal, and will probably be covered in part by other pieces in the 'big picture'. I'm looking forward to getting some watercolors and seeing the end results using this paper. Definitely not something I'll use often, but I think the textures it creates have a nice accenting effect.

Some new collages in the works

I'm posting some bits and pieces of two pieces that I'm in the process of creating. I'm thinking this is a better way (and probably much more motivating to me) to post these as I go...I know-that's what I said I was going to do from the get go-but it seems I keep waiting till stuff is done to post. So, turning a new leaf today, and going to try and post as I go. We'll see how this works out.

This is how I usually start my collages, if I paste them to a book cover. This cover was chosen because of it's really cool squiggly edges (and plus, it was one of those kids books that hasn't been read in quite some time, and the binding was broken). I used tissue paper to cover all, and will glue my sea plants down. It will be an underwater scene with a mermaid, or seahorse, or both, not sure yet, and some cool RHCP lyrics. Actually the lyric inspired the piece. I like that the words from the book summary are showing through. OOGLIES! OOGLIES!

This is an art nouveau motif that I designed on very thick water color paper. My idea was to put the image down using old water-color colored pencils that I have, then wash over them to get the color to pop. No dice. The paper is so thick, that I couldn't really get the color down without the paper ripping. As it turns out, this paper loves marker, and paint pens...perfect for an art noveau look. The clip art woman is a Gibson girl! She and her friends below I hand colored with pencils and will probably use them in the same composition with the art noveau motif. Kind of like a tree of life thing, but not really sure yet...though I do plan on incorporating one of my poems into the piece. That was another original intention I had when I first though about 'coffee table book' about a year ago- to combine original poems and verses with my art work.

And these chicks are too cool not to incorporate into something! I used colors that are counter-intuitive (green skin, purple hair...) not just to make the viewer really take a look at them, but because, they may be 'flowers' in some landscape. They are clip art , so hey, there's plenty more where they came from.

My macabre answer

to a recent prompt on my favorite poet's page. It was for the word UNREQUITED, and it was supposed to be an acrostic poem. Of course, after I really looked up the definition of an acrostic, I realized that I could have used some more words per line, but screw it. The minimalist, hard core approach with which I created this beauty is totally in line with my mindset for several weeks. On top of the NEVER ENDING sickness in my household, I've also got a shitload of home maintenance problems...and it just started to get warm folks! Won't even brooch the 'happiness on the homefront' issues (not). sooooo, anyway.....this is what I got...

creepy, right! Yes! I like it too, I mean really...as far as composition goes, I think it really works, and it was fun as hell to create. It ain't pretty folks, but art often isn't. It helped me to see that I need to get back to my collaging efforts. I seem to have more fun with them, and all in all, I'm able to be quite more expressive.

On a brighter note, despite the recent shitstorm, I'm getting into shape and am consistently losing weight. So that's one really good thing. As long as the weather continues like it has been, I can schlep my kids with me to the reservoir, (or to the YMCA, in any event). Will try for something a bit more cheerful next post - but I'm not promising anything. :)

OwningPink

OwningPink

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And Today is a New Day!

After I read my daily tarot card, I felt a sense of hope. First of all, it is just so darned pretty (I'm certain I've never seen this one before) and the message was on que with the energy I've been putting out there. I know with all of these, you can interpret and re-interpret till your heart's content...I think I'm going to just take it at face value, and be happy for it. Happy Spring!

"The Ten of Chalices card suggests that my power today lies in completion. I celebrate and am grateful for captured moments of simple perfection. Satisfying my hearts desire connects me by example to love, beauty, pleasure, and happiness in those around me and gives me confidence to take it to the next level. "We made it." Unconditional love makes a family and home is where the heart is, so at last, I am never alone. I am empowered by gratitude and my gift is emotional fulfillment."

Black Bear

I saw you in the woods, up close, a long time ago. I saw you in clouds this past fall, and tried to understand your message. Everything I read about 'bear energy' says it's time to reflect and 'be', vs. 'do'; be meditative, trust your own intuitive feelings about your dreams and goals; be true to boundaries and spend time connecting with Mother Nature. Well, after the chaos of February, and now, continuing into March, this seems almost impossible in my life.  But when the idea for this little painted stone came to me, it was something I couldn't not do.

It's one of those simple, "1-2-3"  projects that makes me smile, and gives me purpose in my 45 minutes of solitude at the end of the day. I don't have to embark on adding to one of my 'bigger' projects - though those are beckoning constantly - and I can still feel a sense of satisfaction. I think bear will like his final resting place, very much.

Thawing Out....

I created this today and with it,
had so much more to say.
It illustrates my winning poem,
scored just the other day.
Uncertain sometimes what to write here,
for blogging to me is new;
they say it's no good to get personal,
but it's my space...can't I keep it true?
I really wanted to post the artwork,
but after the poem was up I could see

that this space of mine was perfectly fine

with just an eye and a bumblebee.