Something New

This is a new list-type site I stumbled upon. I guess that I like things that make you think and this does (like the Tuesday list I do). It's called Unconscious Mutterings and you're given a list and are supposed to answer with the first thing that pops into your head...a word or phrase association thing. Cool, huh? It comes out on Sunday and you can do it any day that week. Here's my first.

Contemplate :: ponder
In the house :: at home
Classical :: music
Quest :: Don Quixote
Best friend :: understands me
1991 :: living a new place
Never will :: have another baby
Fool :: trick
Unhappy :: rarely
Best man :: wedding

Things just snapped instantly into my mind as I read each one. I think I'm going to enjoy this! Hope you do, too.

Ten on Tuesday

The topic for this week is 10 Favorite Horror Movies. Now, I am not a fan at all of blood and gore horror! I've NEVER watched one of them. But, I was able to come up with a list of 10 horror movies (that I don't consider blood and gore). Yes, there are a few blood scenes, but not like chainsaw massacres or stuff like that.
1. Rosemary's Baby (Had a positively haunting effect on me when I saw it years ago as a teen!)
2. The Shining
3. The Shining remake
4. The Stand
5. Salem's Lot
6. Christine
7. Cujo
8. Pet Semetary
9. Needful Things
10. Rose Red
Now you may notice a trend here...all except the first are Stephen King! These aren't necessarily my favorite of his, but they are the first 9 to come to my mind. I watched Rose Red again a few months ago and slept for 3 nights with the light on! Don't ask me why I would subject myself to something that obviously scared me, but I did...all 6 hours (it was from tv).
My son just pointed out I left off It...which I cannot do, so
11. It.

Last Monday in October!

This was my first try on a technique that my good friend Marilyn taught me. I mentioned it in an earlier post. She is a wonderful artist (and a wonderful friend). This is a really fun and relaxing technique that I know I'll be using alot more in the future. This piece is an 8 x 10" gallery canvas. The background is extremely simple and plain because I felt it went along with the image well to do it that way. I was very happy with the way this came out. It's done with acrylics and shiva paint sticks. Thanks again, Marilyn!

The prompt this week...yes, hard to believe that this is the last Monday in October...is to think of a Halloween memory. Halloween is a "holiday" that I really don't like, but it holds some memories nonetheless. When I really think about it, I feel a sense of love from past Halloweens. As a child my Grandmother always sewed my costumes and they were Great! A few I think of off the top of my head are angel, witch, native american, bride - and believe me these costumes were the real thing, not something thrown together. Later on as a mother I sewed or put together costumes for or with my kids...and that, too, was filled with love. Just a few - genie as in I Dream of Jeanie, tomato, pumpkin, bag of potatoes. So, anyway, take a little stroll down memory lane Halloween style and see what you come up with.

"Let us savor the fleeting delights of our most beautiful days". Alphonse de Lamartine

Ten on Tuesday

This week's list is 10 of the best meals you've had. Here are mine.
1. Crab's legs we used to eat in Delaware when my Dad owned a weekend house there.
2. Corn chowder in a bread bowl from the D.C. Food Fest.
3. The meatballs my Grandma Holley used to make (which I wouldn't even eat now 'cause I only eat fish and not meat, but they were delicious).
4. The only time I ever remember my Grandpa making any kind of food was when he was in his 70's and cut a clipping from the newspaper of a recipe for plum tapioca. He made it and although I was very hesitant, it wasn't bad at all!
5. Not exactly a "meal", but immediately after my 3rd child was born, I was freezing and so so thirsty. They got me a heated blanket and a glass of orange juice and that oj was like heaven on earth! I remember it like yesterday even though it was 27 years ago.
6. My Dad used to make some kind of eggs where he tore pieces of cheese and tossed them in the eggs and the eggs rose up high and were delish.
7. My Mom's lasagna when I was a kid.
8. Grandma Holley's egg custard was a real comfort food for me.
9. shrimp, scallops, seafood bisque...most any seafood
10. Holiday dinners - Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Mother's Day, 4th of July, birthdays

MONDAY is Here Again!

I'm sharing a beeswax collage here that I did a little while ago.

Friday I learned a new painting technique from a dear friend. They are called Paint-Overs and are VERY cool. When I get a chance to take a picture of mine, I'll show it to you. I just totally enjoy the technique AND the end result.

This weekend I went to the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. Saturday I was there with two of my daughters and then one of them and I stayed at a hotel and went back the next day. It's alot of fun if you like sheep, llamas, alpacas, yarn, or any products to do with any of them, not to mention herding dogs, frisbee dogs, or fair-type food. On Sunday they have knitting book authors and you can get books autographed.

The prompt for this week is another of our one word prompts -- fatigue. What color would you paint to represent fatigue? What items or symbols would represent it for you? Usually we probably wouldn't feel like doing art if we're fatigued, but maybe it'd produce something really interesting. Give it a try sometime!

"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced". Soren Kierkegaard

This Week's Ten on Tuesday

The topic for this week is 10 Bands/Artists That Remind You of High School. A fun topic to think about! My list follows:
1. Iron Butterfly
2. Steppenwolf
3. The Doors
4. Simon & Garfunkel
5. The Carpenters
6. Rod Stewart
7. Paul McCartney
8. Santana
9. James Taylor
10. Carole King

Just Back From a 3 Day Weekend

I hope that those of you that got a long weekend have enjoyed it. My husband couldn't get Monday, so took Friday and we went to Easton, Pa. for the weekend to visit my brother and his fiance'. I'd never been to Easton before...it has a fantastic Farmer's Market (usually with a theme apparently) and there are some great shops and galleries. All of that plus the Crayola store (every Crayola product you can think of plus some you didn't know existed!) and Crayola Interactive Center. Just in case you are ever in the area, let me recommend 2 galleries. One is Ken Jones Jr. Fine Art (no relation to me) and the other is Connexions.

The pictures at the top are gifts I took to my brother and his fiance'. The pictures aren't very good (I just remembered to take them as we were ready to leave, so kind of threw them on black and snapped the shutter), but I think you can see the quote and all if you click on them to enlarge. The bottom one is my brother's (it is me and another brother as children). It is 8 x 10 painted and collaged on stretched canvas. I did it for a friend's swap awhile back, but we copied our work and traded that, so I was able to have this for my brother. The one for Jacquie is a 5 x 5" gallery stretched canvas and is done with the pug image (a napkin), tissue papers, mulberry paper, and beeswax. The wide sides of the canvas are all collaged, too. Jacquie has a pug named Maggie and when I saw this image I immediately thought of her.

The prompt for this week is to think of a flower that reminds you of a certain person. For example, my Grandma Goodnough had peony bushes all around her driveway. Peonies always make me think of her. Grandma Holley had glads and other flowers that worked well for cutting. Uncle Stan always grew sweet peas by his vegetable garden. Any time I see any of those, I think of that person. Choose a flower and do some art. You could paint or collage images of the flower. You could do art invoked by the feeling you have looking at the flower. Or if you are a writer, write a poem.

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things in life which are the real ones, after all." Laura Ingalls Wilder

Ten Things on Tuesday for This Week

This week's list question at Ten Things on Tuesday is 10 Great/Awful Things About Television Today. Here goes and whether my opinion is great or awful:
1. Talk shows during the day seem to have gotten kind of carried away, so I vote awful.
2. Infomercials I also vote Awful...especially that colon cleanse guy! If I stumble across him again, I may just scream.
3. The Closer on TNT is my absolute favorite show, so that gets a GREAT!
4. I think the idea of some shows starting in January is Great 'cause probably by then others will be in repeat, so I can watch the new ones.
5. I'm not a fan of reality shows, so I'd have to rate them awful - I know some people love them...they're just not my cup of tea.
6. CBS Monday comedy shows - Big Bang, 2 1/2 Men, Worst Week (hilarious if you like kind of slap-stick type humor and I do -- Chevy Chase and Adam Sandler are my very favorites), so I rate all three of these great.
7. ER I have mixed feelings about. My daughter-in-law got me hooked on it a few years ago when I was laid up with a broken ankle (thanks, Amy), and at that time I managed to get caught up on all of the episodes. I've really enjoyed the show, but let's face it, it isn't what it used to be. Still...I will miss it when it's gone! So, I have to rate ER great and awful.
8. New show The Mentalist followed by old show Without a Trace great.
9. I don't have DVR, but I tape everything I watch on my VCR, so never watch commercials. Otherwise I'd probably rate commercials awful.
10. I've watched some television with my 3 1/2 year old granddaughter and there are really some great shows out there these days for little kids.

A Fall Monday

Not a great picture of this, but I like the quote and the photo that I took of some flowers a few years back. The papers I collaged with the photo are rice papers and paper that I stencilled and it's all collaged with beeswax (6 x 12", I think).

Our prompt for this week also involes a quote. The quote is from the movie Bull Durham - which I haven't seen - but I read the quote somewhere. The Kevin Costner character said it and it leads us to our prompt for this week.
"I don't believe in quantum physics when it comes to matters of the heart...I believe in the soul..., the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, I believe there ought to be a congressional amendment outlawing astroturf and the designated hitter, ...opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."
Now, think about it and then write a half dozen or more "things that I believe" for yourself. Then either do a couple journal pages about it OR do a piece of art including at least a couple of them or words from at least a couple of them. Have fun with it!!

Ten Things on Tuesday Post on Friday

I subscribed to a blog that posts a list of their 10 "things" for that week and tells you the list, so that you can do it, too. They post on Tuesday, but I haven't had a chance to read it or think about it until today. This week's is "Ten Things That Scare You / Freak You Out". My list follows:
1. the thought of anything bad happening to my family members
2. remembering what my foot looked like when I broke my ankle in 3 places and dislocated it
3. claustrophobic conditions
4. having my feet off the end of the bed
5. heights over water
6. having my picture taken
7. snakes
8. ferrets
9. the economy
10. politics in general lately
If you want to try it, too, go ahead. Makes you think! Leave a comment or leave a link.

Art Journaling and a Quote

So far it is a rainy, dreary Friday, so a good time to think about some art journaling. Another idea for you today is to decorate a couple of background pages and start a list of something. In my art journal, for example, I right now have a 4 page (both sides) running list of "Things I Love" (or have loved in the past). Don't confuse this with a list of people that I love...like my husband and kids, etc....it's sounds, activities, memories, objects, etc. I decided to do a long list, so I'm working on 150 things! The list is in no particular order and whenever something occurs to me, I jot it down. To give you an idea of the kinds of things I mean, here are some things from my list: Museums in D.C., Wolf Kahn paintings, Jane Goodall books, Sitting with Lily, Memory of reading chapter books together with Kyle, Beeswax Collaging, Spending the day with a daughter, Learning a new art technique, Johnny-Jump-Up plants. That's just a short list of random selections to give you a brief idea of what kinds of things I mean. Rest assured that everyone I hold dear has (or will) made it on my list in some way. Give it a try! It's fun!

Have a great weekend!

"There's no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world." Robert Louis Stevenson