Not all Pretty

It' Friday. You know what that means. Calendar Doodle. OK, this is last Friday's calendar.

Can I just say, I didn't finish and I don't need do-overs. Sometimes, things just aren't pretty. Don't have to be. Do you agree?

When the week passes you by, you just have to let it go. I did. It all ended good.

I'm looking forward to a great THREE (3) DAY weekend. Oh Lordy, I do need this. I have a mile long to-do-art list. I never do get around to all the things I plan.

My greatest frustration is not enough time.

More later,

Sharon

PS I'm still working on the NAME GAME tag from the last post. So, if your name starts with a K A or Y, be tagged.

Oh yes, I still have more for another post.

Later,

Sharon

Mail Art received

You should have seen my mail lady person's face when she delivered this one. She is a hoot to start with. But this one really had her puzzled and she wasn't ready to give it to me until she finished looking at it.

Mail Art indeed. This one is from Sally Turlington, another Texas blogger who does the most fabulous mail art. This being a good example. Do you see those little scissors? That is not a picture. They are real and glued on.

Sally sent art inside the mail art. How cool is that? I know this is some of here turp paper and brayered paper and she use to have a tutorial on how to make it. I couldn't find that for you but I will work on it and get back to you. Or better yet, you can go over to Sally's blog and browse around. There is lots of cool stuff to see. If you haven't been there, you are missing out!

Thank you Sally, I love all these goodies and look forward to using them.

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There is a Name Game going around and I've been tagged by a blog buddy, Sandy of Dream Create Inspire. Here is Sandy's "condensed version" of the tag game.

You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name.

If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

At the end of your post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.

Middle name

K...........Kaleidoscope.......Kismet......Klimt

A.....Artist

Y.....Yes

OK, that is me. You figure it out. Now I'm going to think about who fits the bill for tagging. Sorry, I didn't come prepared.

I have more blogging for the day and hope I get to it but I just remembered it is the last day of the month. And I have "last day of the month" chores here at my desk.

My Grannie

Flowers to Pass Along

9 X 12 on watercolor paper

This is my Grannie and I have played ART with this image before. The old photograph that I used for inspiration is actually of she and a cousin or friend or sis-in-law. I always get mixed up who it is.

Well anyway, I started out to do both of them as I have been inspired to paint two on a piece. Someone else took charge. So, I will try another day to paint the both of them.

I'm wondering how many of her descendants still have flowers that she passed along.

More later,

Sharon

Delivered

What fun we had huffing and puffing with all her stuff. Ashley has been delivered and it is official.

She is a College Student!

Her Mom spent the rest of the evening yesterday and today cleaning her room and moving into it. You see, Princess Ashley was the only one who had a room all to her self.

I spent today making this Pringle Can Cookie Mail Tube.

Ashley made it clear that she expected Cookies in the mail.

We busied ourselves to fill the emptiness here.

This my friends is a College feather. As we were leaving yesterday and entering the parking garage, I looked down and there it was. All sorts of things flashed through my mind. Mostly, I knew she was in good hands in this new nest.

And here she is. Princess Ashley on the right and her roommate. She patiently accommodated my chronicling the day. Do you see that look?

Now we are getting ready to send Tim to a new school tomorrow. New routines for everybody. How about you?
I have to go make cookies now.
More later,
Sharon

Small World

Window to a Small World

It is a small world where we can make friends that we may never come face to face with.

We can be inspired by them.

We can be encouraged by them.

Thank you, each and every one of you who visited this week. Even if you didn't say so, I knew you were there. It helped me through the week. Here is the canvas that I kept adding gesso to all week. And now I am off to take our Miss Ashley to meet up with her future.

It really is exciting!

In this Small World.

A Little Rambling

Sometimes, I just need to ramble. Today is one of those times. I think there will be no artistic significance to any of today's ramble. Therefore, you might want to just click on off. That is if you are not into ramblings.

I hesitate to tell you that I find myself in a bit of a "funk". Well I guess I didn't hesitate too long because there you have it. I am in a funk. We have had this discussion before. As I recall, my little book says a funk is, "a shrinking back from fear." So, that is what I'm pondering.

To me, "funk" means I can't seem to concentrate on the art at hand. I tell you I have gessoed over this one canvas more times that I care to tell. And there it sits. I just don't seem to be interested in the next step. You know that Norah's my muse. Maybe it is she who is shrinking back. I know not what she fears though.

Do you know that our home is multi-generational? We are so blessed to have our daughter and 2 grandchildren, Ashley and Tim with us at this time. We are making lifelong memories. These memories will last much longer than I or my dh and that makes me happy.

Do you know that I am "the wingkeeper"? It is a silly thing that just happened one time when I was sending a few of my treasured feathers out into blog land. It just made sense. I do collect feathers and I do love things that fly. I do have chickens and guineas. I do have hummingbirds that seem to visit annually. I do have beautiful butterflies that allow photographs. I do have bluebirds that nest each year in the little boxes we provide. And my friend gives me dragonflies. All these things you already know if you have been around for a while. But you do not know that now all my family has joined in with collecting feathers for me. My dear husband gives me at least one a day. How cool is that?

Yesterday, as he left the office, he pointed out this feather on the ground just outside the office. It is a city bird feather. Becoming "the wingkeeper" gave me inspiration when I did this piece about Ashley and "we are the wingers" and how Ashley had earned her wings as she was about to go off to college.

Today as I was stroking this feather and pondering this "funk", I realized it is not a funk that I'm in. It is melancholy that I feel because our nest is about to be empty of our little princess bird, Ashley. She will go off to collage Saturday.

Isn't it amazing how God's breath surely blew the city feather to our feet to help me understand that ......

More later,

Sharon

Happy Birthday Daughter

Here she is.
My Birthday Girl. I made her a "She Bag" but this one is a bit different.

She likes it ... can you tell?

I purchased the ready made bag at a well known store. I'm sure there is one in your neighborhood.

Then I altered it by adding the She.....s


Is she beautiful or what?

Actually her birthday was on the 11th and while I was altering the bag to turn in into a "She Bag", my sewing machine broke. Bummer!

Anyway, I got it back from the shop and I very promptly finished the present.


This side had a pocket in the middle which is cool but did make it a bit difficult to work around.

Sorry for the poor picture quality.

On the left, "She was meeting by the the birdhouse on Sunday She might marry".
Sure enough is says "the the".

On the right, "She looked shy she was absolutely sweetness and warmth".




This is my favorite side; although, if this picture was focused, you could see that Lady B on the right says, "She was a shy girl, even if she looked gusty".........OK I thought it said gutsy. Gusty gutsy Whatever.

On the left, "She sat dreaming over by the sunshiny window and fell asleep".

I think I must have been half asleep when I put this together. I need a do-over.
More later,
Sharon

Nice Matters

I had a few days off. Well really it wasn't a few. It was a weekend and half of Friday but we actually left town and so I feel like I had a vacation.

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Also seems like I am so behind on blog stuff. Need to catch up and reading and greeting.

I received this wonderful mail art over a week ago and I'm just now showing you. Is this so cool? Jill of Jassman fame sent me this little package full of goodies. A really sweet little wall hanging; some home made collage papers; and a little swatch of zebra tissue paper (you know how I love tissue paper). That is a little piece of vintage wallpaper under the envelope. A print of a collage and yep feathers for "the wingkeeper".

How about a Nice Matters award to Jill. I think she is super nice.

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Ro Bruhn awarded me with Nice Matters. Right back at cha, Ro. You are one of the nicest bloggers I know. It is really cool to get the Nice Matters nod and I will pass it on too.

So here are just a few of the many many deserving bloggers.
Jill
Zorana
Faerieluna
Katie
Michelle
I could go on and on but I'll save some for you to award.
More later....ok,
Sharon

Doodle-at-the-Desk

I know it is not Friday. And I know I haven't shown any "calendar art" in a long long time.

What can I say. The desk oil pastel set got my attention yesterday.

I will be gone Friday and have a weekend away planned so any weekend art that I might do may be in a sketch book. I think I'll try that.

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I have something else to tell you about my Etsy shop.

I have a new partner over at the shop. My friend Susan, will be listing some things and as a matter of fact, we listed a few small wallpaper packs last night.

Her art is different from my and I realize now that we will need to tell in the description who the artist is. So, we will do that.

More later,

Sharon

PS Don't you love these colors? You must try them. They are so cheerful.

Collage Art Box

This is a 3/5 X 5 inch paper mache box that I played with this past weekend.

It turned out very pretty I think and so I have listed it at my Etsy shop.


I used some of my wallpaper to finish the inside.

The de Vinci quote stamped around the edge of the lid is "once you have flown you will walk with your eyes turned skywards".


This is the assorted wallpapers I'm offering on Etsy.

There is also a border included not shown here.

These are not quite vintage papers from the 1970s. They are very pretty and have that beautiful silk screen printed look.

Hope you like them.

More later about my weekend,

Sharon

Mail Tubes and Wallpaper

Just thought I would show you what I'm doing. I have some wallpaper for my Etsy shop and a couple of the prints are large. So, I want to offer larger pieces. I thought it would be cool to use mail tubes and then of course I just had to make them pretty. Tube ART full of wallpaper. I'm only making these 5 and I hope to list them tomorrow.
I hope you want to buy them tomorrow.
More later,
Sharon

What a Party!

I'm still in the party mode as I didn't get a chance to get around to all of the blogs that Artsymama linked. Reminds me of those all weekend parties of my youth.

Watch for me I'll get around to see your show. For sure. What I did see was amazing and so inspiring. Norah'S doing flip-flops with excitement and inspiration.



So here is what I've been doing. I'm tellin. Serious mail art out of here today! I can't show but maybe you'll get a glimpse in an up coming issue of Cloth Paper Scissors.




Or, maybe you won't. All the same, I've done the "Take 3! Triptych Challenge. I have so much fun with this challenge and learned some new things.

The hardest part of all of this is ....well you know how I just gotta show. Can't do it. But I did want to tell anyway.

More later,
Sharon

ART Party Time

Welcome.......It's a party today. Artsymama is at it again. She has invited all to a virtual Artful Blogger Party. She is serving cake and invites you to her studio for "a very quick and easy craft".

To participate, bloggers were invited to post something "artful", maybe a how-to or tutorial and then let her know. She has everybody linked up so you can just go over and blog around the world today and enjoy all the parties.



So, I decided to share with you a little inspiration today. I showed you "Timothy" back in late June but never managed to get back and tell the rest of the story. So here is the "how-to" with a little background about the way this came about.
I had been painting journal pages with my daughter and granddaughter in my "A Long Time Ago" journal. That is the one that is kind of a scrap book journal in that I use photos in the art. So it was time to do a "Timothy" page.


I selected several recent photos of Tim in action. You know, Tim just being Tim. One was a series of him chasing a yellow butterfly. Really cool action shots. Another was of him all dressed up after attending his big sister's graduation. Tim struck the pose with the gazing ball. Tim being, Tim the Model.

Using plain copy paper and my ink jet printer, I printed the selected images. I printed many different sizes. I cropped some and printed just the head or hands. I printed mirror images of some.




Here is the key to this fun bit of mixed media magic: Don't try to plan the composition ahead of time. Give your muse free reign. Just have the plenty of copies of the pictures that she might use. Next, cut out the pictures. If you are concerned about the ink jet running, I have found that you can seal the print with a layer of Golden's Soft Gel Gloss (not matte).

Paint your background. In this one I was drawn to the ball shape and so I used that element in the background. I used bubble wrap to stamp with and then anything circular that I could find at the moment. I did some collage of various papers and stuff. Let the background dry.

Here's the fun. First, send the inner critic, the one with all the expectations out the door. (If you've attended my workshop...you know how to do that) Then, invite your muse to play with the pictures that you have prepared. Start moving the prepared images around on the background. Play with the possible compositions and let magic happen. You will not end up using all of the prepared photos. When the magic happens, glue it down.

You may not wish to paint on the pictures but do give a few highlights or outlines to incorporate the image with the background. As you can see, on the left side of the spread, I used the head of one photo and the hand of another. The part in between is painted.

I really liked how each side of the spread was a complete composition and could stand alone and yet together told another story. This is one of my favorite pieces. Also, isn't it cool that little boys can make really cool pages too.

Chasing Yellow Butterflies

I hope I have inspired you to give this a try. It is really fun to Imagine and tell a bigger story with your photos.

If you do try....please, please, please show and tell and let me see too.

OK, I've got to get back to this desk. The party is over for me but do stay and enjoy.
More later,
Sharon

Kids Book of ME Workshop

Amazing Workshop!
It was a fast paced 3 hours but these little kiddos kept up and made the most amazing little Book of Me.

Eight attended and the age group was 8 to 12...I think.
However, I'm sure there were a couple who were maybe 5 or 6. I just can't judge age anymore.

Because of the age of some, the parents stayed to help. We were able to get as much done as we did because of their help on the sideline.

The kids sanded and gessoed their books. Then painted each page a different color. We glued layers on some of the pages with music and discussed the importance of layers. We used stamps and made a pocket and tags. Then they added some of the pictures and things they brought.

We did a photo copy packing tape transfer of one of their pictures for the cover. They were pretty amazed with that and I'm sure they will be trying it again.

I didn't get to see all of the finished books. It was a jam packed three hours. The parents helped with things like drying the books and washing brushes. We had a system worked out where I gave each a puddle of paint and foam brush for each page. As they finished with one color we switched to a clean foam brush and new puddle of paint.

I think they enjoyed ever moment. And I think the parents did too.

Their books were pretty impressive as you can see. And have you ever seen a more beautiful group of children. Look at those eyes. I believe their eyes speak for the day.

We have an annual youth fair and some of the children will be entering their Book of Me as one of their projects.

I can tell you it pooped me out for sure. I came home and crashed and while I did that our Internet service crashed. So that is why I'm just now getting this posted.

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I spent a good part of today cleaning up my studio and getting supplies back in order. I nearly finished but had to go out at 4 o'clock and mow. I road around on that thing for four and one/half hours. Got a lot of thinking done but I'm spent for today so I'm just going to say one more thing.

More later,

Sharon

Mail In Mail Out

MAIL IN....
I received this beautiful Art Swap piece from Ro Bruhn. My photo does not do it justice. You might like to visit her to see a better picture.
Thank you Ro for swapping with me. I love love your art.

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original collage by
Ro Bruhn

Ro gifted me with this Swiss Lace applique and a little dangly fob that she made with Australian beach glass. Ro said, "The glass is a piece that I found at the beach where I walk during my lunch break, it's all
the way from Australia, although who knows where it originated from."

Yes, who knows, and now it has found its way to Texas! I wonder what it was when....

MAIL OUT
Here is my package on its way to Australia yesterday. "Here it comes, Ro"

But do you see the Ms and Es on the desk around it. I'm getting ready for my Kids Book of Me Workshop Saturday morning. Hope to get some photos to show and tell.





More MAIL OUT

My other swap is leaving Texas today. This jazzy package is headed to California.....

Now, I didn't crop this snap shot because I thought you might get a kick out of seeing were I sit 8 to 5.

I'll point out a few things...from my chair.
In the bottom left corner is my calendar that I doodle in. No doodles this week.
Just above that is my inspiration journal. That's where I jot down "inspiration" when I'm blogging around. You know how things just pop into your head. If I jot it down, then I make room (in my head) for more inspiration. It helps with AAA, Art Anxiety Attacks.
Now look beyond the package. Do you see it? It is a wonderful counter top with a shelf above it and there is a light under the shelf. It is for big ART projects. I mean after all, don't all insurance offices have ART projects going on?
Now one last thing; at the end of the counter on the left, do you see that square light spot. Yep, I have a birds eye view into "his" office and can keep and eye on whether or not he is really working.....or is it I can look busy if he should start this way.

Have a great weekend. Mine is loaded with plans. I'll fill you in with...
More later,
Sharon

Mail ART

Took a break last night. Yep, crashed in the recliner.

I must have dreamed about mail because I woke with a second wind.

What fun I had making this little bit of mail ART.

I will be winging it out of here today.

Learn about the Crusade No 10 over at Michelle Wards stop. Just go here .

For "what is the street team" and see more mail art, go here.

I just have to go get some hopefully really cool stamps. The last time, I told the po that they had dull and boring stamps. ....just might have to make my own.

More on that later,

Sharon