New Pictures & Happy Friday

These are two more of the Affirmation Collages (part collage and part paint) (6 x 6" and 8 x 10")and a beeswax collage (4 x 5"). I wish you could see the shine on the beeswax!

I took a bunch more pictures today of the mini collages I've been doing plus some of my art journal pages. I also took a couple of some items I've purchased recently or at least fairly recently at antique stores. These are things that I plan to incorporate in some way into art projects. So...I'll have plenty to show you for awhile!!

Please have a great weekend!

"Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why." Eddie Cantor

Mini Collage Mania

The title refers to the fact that I seem to be on a small collage kick of late!! I've made 15 in the past couple of days...some beeswax collages and some collages embellished with just a touch of beeswax. I don't think (unless memory fails me...which it sometimes does ) that I've explained what the difference is. To me a beeswax collage is done entirely with beeswax, as the adhesive and the covering. All of the papers, fabrics, additions are added with beeswax and then covered with beeswax (for the most part). When I say embellished with beeswax, I mean just a touch of beeswax has been added to the top of the collage for a special effect. If the weather is nice tomorrow, I'll try to take some pictures of my past 2 days work to show you. For today I'll show a couple others I've done recently. Well, actually I already showed them 'cause apparently they went to the top of the post! Ah, well...whatever.

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."

Madelyn L'Engle

Prompt # 6

I hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend! We went to my oldest daughter and son-in-law's house on Saturday for a cook-out and today the 2 of us cooked out (Brats for my husband and Portabellas for me since I don't eat meat). Nice peaceful weekend.
Last week my youngest daughter and I brought my Mom home from her rehab at the nursing home. She's doing well.

Our prompt for this week is to think of someone from our past (or present) and do artwork in a color that represents them to you. One of my Grandmothers very often wrote with peacock blue ink. Whenever I see that color, I think of her, so I'd do art with that color predominating if I wanted it to represent her. See what you can come up with!

"I like the space between, the space between dreaming and wakefulness. Between imagination and reality. Between no and yes. Between is and is not. That's where the interesting stuff is." from In the Night Room by Peter Straub

Prompt #5 and a Couple Pics

"Fly" and "Follow Your Dreams" are 4" and 3" respectively and are for an on-line swap I'm participating in. They are both beeswax collages. That reminds me - note to self - get more beeswax! I melt it in a Melting Pot and smooth with a Clover craft iron. It goes a long way, but I'm down to a smallish chunk, so tomorrow need to stock up hopefully.

This week's prompt is one word REVERENCE. See where thinking about it takes you.

"Art is neither a profession nor a hobby. Art is a way of life." Frederick Franck

Window on Collage

These three photos are of a collage called "Innocence". It is made up of 2 canvases (6" x 8"). The front one has a window looking to the other canvas and the back one has the collage. The two canvases are hooked together by shell buttons that are nailed into the canvases and then laced together by waxed linen thread. The back of each canvas is lined with hand-dyed fabric covering mat board.

Well, I think that the Birthday celebrations are done for another year - kind of sad to see them go - they were great while they lasted!! ;-) Yesterday I had breakfast with a good friend. Lots of fun! Today was cake with 4 friends...very yummy cake! Now I have to get used to saying 54 for my age instead of 53. I'll get used to it about next May.

"A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams." John Barrymore

Mini Beeswax Collages

I've been working on a bunch of little beeswax collages the past couple days. They're really fun...partly because they're quick to finish and I think partly because they're small and to the point. Beeswax is one of my very favorite mediums...the smell of it heating...the brushing on with a paintbrush... smoothing it with an iron...and buffing with a soft cloth for a shine. The small ones I've been doing are from 2 3/4" square to 4" square. When I was in the Artist Co-Op I sold a bunch of these on little wooden easels. I'll share a few with you today and more another day.

These 3 are all 2 3/4" square.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Beeswax Collage and A Prompt

This is a beeswax collage that I did that I titled Parisian Girls. Ive always liked this image of the two young girls. They're definitely sisters and just look so sweet with their armloads of flowers.

The prompt for this week follows. Think of a dream that you remembered when you woke up. Now do art or write based on that dream. It could be an image from the dream or the mood or feeling that the dream left you with. (If by any chance you haven't remembered a dream in a long time, then do the activity based on a daydream!).

"Every passing moment is a chance to turn it all around." quote from the movie Vanilla Sky which I thought was a very strange movie, but I loved this line!

Collage

I realized last year while writing an artist statement, that collage to me is both a representation and an interpretation of life. Collage is a layering of things and so are our lives. Collage is a layering of papers, fabric, beeswax...whatever our supplies may be. It's also a layering of colors + textures built up. Our lives are a layering of family, job, things we enjoy doing, plus things like memories and responsibilities.

Busy week and weekend with my birthday and Mother's Day both on Sunday. Be back next week with a prompt. Have a good weekend!

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." Philo

Exciting News!!

More info on this later, but I'm VERY excited today because I just found out that I'll be showing art work at a cafe/coffee shop in the Albany area! There are so many people on the list that want to show there that it won't be until next Spring, but I'm on the list. The hard part is done - seeing if they want to show your work. Even though I've been in shows and last year was a member of an artist's co-op and sold alot of work, it's still very hard to put myself out there and see if someone new likes my work. One of my daughters (my self-proclaimed "biggest fan") has been telling me for several months to go to this place and see about getting on the artist list. I finally got up the courage and the woman really liked my collages. WaHoo!!

"We need experiences larger than our problems. We need to see we're wearing the ruby slippers all the time." Richard Bartlett

Prompt #3 and a Quote

This week's prompt is a word that I picked up from a great novel I read a few years back - A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. It's historical fiction - which is NOT a genre that I usually enjoy - but I did and I strongly recommend it. The prompt is the word threnody. It means a song of lamentation or a funeral dirge. I wrote it down at the time thinking it would be great to work into artwork and/or a poem. Now I thought I'd share it with you. CREATE.

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." Naturalist John Burroughs

The Merry Month of May

I've always loved May - and I'm SURE that the fact that my birthday is Mother's Day has NOTHING to do with it -- well, maybe a little to do with it. ;-) May just always seems so full of promise.

We got my Mom all settled in to the nursing home yesterday. She'll only be there for a few weeks of rehab after the surgery. She's doing amazingly well. So today I had an all art day! I worked on some beeswax collage and also did some more Affirmation Collages (mentioned in an earlier post). They are such fun!

While gathering photos for the collages, I came across photos of my Mom and both my Grandmothers. They reminded me of the quote I'll use for today. I'm also reminded of this when I think of my 3 daughters ...and yes, my son.

"Sons branch out, but one woman leads to another." Margaret Atwood