Monday's Prompt and Some Pictures

The top picture is 5 x 7", the next 4 x 4", and the bottom, I think is 8 x 10" (don't have it right here). It's impossible from the pics to tell how big the art is, so I like to give you an idea. The top and bottom are done with photographs I took.

Well, Fall is here and so far it has been very nice. Leaves are turning color and temperatures have been pleasant. I had my very first warm cider this past weekend and it was delicious!!

Our prompt for this week is one word - the word Envision. Think about the word. What does it bring to mind? Do any colors pop into your mind's eye? What thoughts or feelings does it give you? Make a piece of art or a page with this word in mind.

Last week I talked abit about art journaling. Here are a couple quick tips for getting background color on pages. Take ink pads that are getting dried up and rub them over the page. You can use 1 color or use coordinating or contrasting colors. Another background technique is watercolor paints brushed over the page.

"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper".
Eden Phillpotts

A Day Late Due to Computer Glitches!

My computer was giving me a hard time last night when I tried to post, so I finally had to give up and try again this morning. Maybe it was tired like I was!

For those of you that also read my daughter's blog, you already know that we have started an etsy shop. We are still in the process of loading stuff on it, but it is a work in progress. The name of it is LaurelAndDeer (just like that), and for the reason behind the name, see our Etsy profile.

Our prompt for this week, is a little different. The prompt is the word Journal. I read that the original meaning of the word was the journey you take in one day. Kind of cool! Now to use this for a prompt you can use the definition to do art or write from OR work in your art journal with the definition in mind OR if you don't already do an art journal, consider starting one. They are a great way to plan to do at least a little bit of art every day. BUT the really important thing (in my humble opinion) if you do start one, DON'T beat up on yourself if you don't work in it on a daily basis. Art Journals can be anything and everything you want them to be. You can use them as a type of diary, but include art OR as a place to try new techniques OR as a place to get thoughts and feelings out. More on Art Journals in future posts.

Quote today is from a VERY strange Kyra Sedgewick movie I saw recently (but I loved the quote) "Whenever you feel scared, that means there's opportunity."

Another Monday Rolls Around!

Here's another picture from our weekend at the cabin. This is my husband standing on the dock and 2 son-in-laws and a daughter in the rowboat fishing. I'll just say that we did NOT have fish for dinner.

Two beeswax collages are next. I love beeswaxing so much that I can smell the wax and feel it on my fingers, just looking at these! The first one is done with some tissue and with papers that I handcolored plus the image. The second is napkin, tissue, 2 colors of skeleton leaves and a tin birdhouse plus the images.

If anyone out there hasn't tried working with the embossed wallpaper, you really should. It's alot of fun! It can be painted with acrylics and looks very cool (just hit the raised part with your paint and then you get the contrast). It can also be used by placing a piece of paper over it, roll a crayon sideways pressing hard, and then hit it with watery acrylic with a foam brush. The paint will resist the waxy crayon. Look at your wallpaper store or Home Depot or Lowes type store.

Prompt for the week. There have been many definitions for the term HOME ...dictionary definitions, poetic definitions, and definitions in novels. Come up with your own definition and then create artwork. If anyone wants to share their definition, I'd love to hear it!

"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose." from the television show The Wonder Years (I've been collecting quotes a long time!)

Trying to Catch up on Blogging

The first pic is the "Paper Lily" that my 3 year old granddaughter and I and her Mom (my DIL) made for her first day of nursery school. The teacher sent a die cut and we were to decorate it to represent her. We used felt, paper, fun foam, ribbon, rickrack, letter beads, and glitter glue. It's even cuter than this in person!

The second pic is my grandson Zachary (Lily's little brother) 3 weeks ago when he was less than 24 hours old.

The third pic is from a few weeks ago when 2 of my daughters and I went to Bennington, Vermont to Robert Frost's home. I'd been to Bennington, but not to Frost's home or the cemetery, so we did both of those. This is Dyani and Jennet standing in front of the entrance. Unfortunately, my daughter Alissa wasn't able to go with us. Dyani and Jennet complained at the time that I was taking their picture with them looking into the sun, so that's why they're probably squinting.

I haven't bought a Somerset magazine in awhile ...they are SO expensive and frankly alot of them seem to be the same thing over and over, BUT I recently did buy the Holidays and Celebrations issue. I enjoyed looking through it this weekend at the cabin and made a list of things I'm interested in trying. Alot of the things could be done for a different holiday than they suggest, so that's nice. For example, I hate Halloween, yes, I am totally a Halloween Grinch, but something they have done for Halloween could be done for Christmas or Easter with different images.

This is one of my favorite quotes and one I've used in artwork. "Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees."
Victor Hugo

"On Golden Pond"

Actually the name of this is Sunset on Pleasant Lake, but as soon as we arrived my husband said, "Doesn't this remind you of the dock and lake in On Golden Pond?". And it did! That is one of my all-time favorite movies!! Two of my daughters and husbands and my husband and I rented a cabin for the weekend. A great cabin -- bathroom, 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, glassed in breakfast nook, screened and glassed porch, and wrap around deck. The last 2 falls we're rented rustic cabins and that was fun, too, but electricity sure is terrific! My son and wife and the 2 grand kids surprised us by visiting one evening, so that was nice, too. My other daughter and family weren't there.

Anyway, these are two shots I took of Friday night's sunset.

My daughter said that the art show Friday Night "THREE" went well (as part of Albany's First Friday art event). There were lots of people. She said people were hoping to speak with the artists and I was really sorry to have to miss it!

Today's prompt is one word. I think it's kind of a cool sounding word... fiduciary. As an adjective it means - relating to the holding of something in trust for another. As a noun it means - someone who stands in a special relation of trust, confidence, or responsibility in certain obligations to others. Think about the word, the sound of the word (you can also look it up), and the meanings. Now make art!!

"We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens in us - how we take it, what we do with it - and that is what really counts in the end." Joseph Newton

a PIC and a PROMPT

This is an 8 x 10" beeswax collage that I did with a photo I took in my old (as in overgrown and unruly herb garden) and some tissue papers and papers I painted with the credit card smoosh paint ant drag it technique. Can you believe that spellcheck doesn't recognize smoosh???

I'm feeling the need to have a photography session. I haven't gone out taking photos in a few months and it's definitely about time to get out one of my film (yes, Virginia, film does still exist!) cameras and go on a photo taking spree. For the decade of the 90's, photography was my main art form and if I don't do it every so often, I really miss it!

This week's prompt --- Every night for a week write down 3 things that you are grateful for from that day. They don't have to be big things, gratitude for small things is great, too! At the end of the week, make art or write either about the gratitude or the feelings of gratitude.
♥ an aside♥ If you want to continue writing down 3 things you feel gratitude for past a week, great! It gives you a terrific perspective on life. I tried one time to do it for a year...didn't make it, but it was a valuable exercise!

Just read this quote recently. "Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." James Dean