Saturday, December 27, 2008

three little words

Where to start
What to say
I feel alone
Me to blame

Said too much
Can’t keep quiet
Can’t handle a
No word diet

Must be honest
Too damned true
How do others
Manage false ado

I can pretend
Say false truths
But what comes
Of that noose

Said I’m sorry
Gave you space
Now must wait
At your pace

Sunday, December 14, 2008

this year's holiday card

I designed and started producing this year's holiday card last night (once again my love of trees is evident ... smile). This week I will write on all 55 of them and get them in the mail. I don't know that anyone I send them to truly appreciates the time & work involved, but I still feel good about sending something hand made.

It doesn't show up in the scan, but the trees are reverse embossed (the trees are recessed rather than raised).

We're supposed to drop below zero here tonight (it's currently 5 degrees). Stay warm, everyone!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

uh-oh, I've been found out

I suspected it would happen... actually knew it probably would happen before I found a way to do it myself. See... a couple of years after I started playing with greeting cards, I met a true stamp enthusiast who became my personal enabler (in the best of ways). A couple of summers ago (yes, I checked today & it was 06/06/06) we arranged a play date at my place. She brought all kinds of goodies and showed me various techniques. Before leaving, she loaned some cool stamps to me, basically saying "go forth and create." Since then we've occasionally had show-n-tells where we share various things we've created & how we did them (mostly, she's sharing cool stuff with me but once in great while, I come up with something she hasn't tried). Anyway.... for some reason I don't really understand, I've kept my blog quiet from her, waiting for just the right time (crazy, I know) to share it with her (wtf I'm waiting for, I have no idea). Today, she says to me with a mischievous smile, "You've been holding out on me." I knew instantly I was busted. Of course she'd stumble across my blog at some point. She's been blogging for over a year, participating in Yahoo groups, swaps, getting published, you name it. At some point she was bound to stumble on my blog on one of those nights when she's getting deeper & deeper into blogland (you all know what I mean..... you go into one person's blog, discover another, and another and after awhile, wonder how you got where you are and why the house is so quiet...yes everyone went to bed hours ago and your alarm won't possibly be loud enough to wake you up the "next" day).

So, without further ado, I'd like to say THANK YOU to my pal Jodi. If you don't already know of her Art from the hArt blog, please, take a moment to check it out (I don't think you'll regret it). She's truly a gem, and one I'm very grateful to have in my life.

http://www.artfromthehart.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

playing with beeswax

I've been wanting to play with beeswax, so tonight I pulled out a 6x8 canvas panel I'd made several months ago. It never seemed quite done, so I thought it was the perfect place to play. I added a rusted screw & covered wire, then just started messing around with crayons & beeswax. I like the texture the beeswax adds (click on the image to zoom in if you want to see the texture that shows up in person). Here's the before & after....


Sunday, December 7, 2008

the tree is up, stained glass & TSO

Wow ~ it's been a week since I last posted. 'Tis the season to be busy. On the bright side, being so @#$% busy helps me truly appreciate the abundance of creative time I usually get January through March. Speaking of bright sides, today was a good day! It actually started last night when we saw TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra). We love live entertainment (if you read my blog, this was our third show in the last month). This was our 2nd time seeing TSO and if you get the chance, I highly recommend them. This afternoon, we scored a really good deal on some stained glass equipment from a lady going out of business (not due to the economy). Among a hundred other things, my husband is a stained glass artist, so when we can get deals on supplies, we're happy campers {smile}. When we got home, I decorated our tree (more for me than for anything/anyone else... I just love the mood it creates). It was a good day all around. I hope your day was just as wunnerful {wink}.

As far as artwork, I only have one piece in the works at the moment (not counting the dozen or so unfinished jewelry items and hundreds of collage/mixed media ideas floating around up there)...something I started a couple weeks ago: an 8x10 canvas panel I applied various color mediums to. I thought I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it, but after letting the background dry, I'm not sure anymore (the muse I had for the piece is apparently on hiatus). But, that's one of the beauties of art.... planning doesn't always work.... it's best (for me anyway) to let it just flow...if it feels right, it is and if not, well...come back to it later. Art is excellent therapy for my type A personality .