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

Quick Post Before the Holiday Weekend

One of my blog-land friends is having a giveaway, so check out Shari's blog.

Hope you're about to have a pleasant three day weekend for Labor Day Weekend. I am. Saturday to Sunday we're cat-sitting for one of my daughter's three cats. Saturday I'm having lunch with a very good friend. Sunday we're going to my son's house for a cook-out with him and his wife and the two grand-kids (3 years and 2 weeks). I did a project with the 3 year old today (I had a black circle that I had cut "snowflake style". She glued different colors of tissue paper on the back to show through the holes in the front. It came out beautifully!). Can't wait to teach her beeswax collage and art journaling in the years to come!

"We shall never have any more time. We have, and we have always had, all the time there is." Arnold Bennett

This Week's Prompt

Three more collages. The first two are photos I took and I think the third is a Dover image. The second is a photo from the campground we go to in Wells, N.Y. (Where we were this past weekend and believe it or not.....NO RAIN!!!!!)

I have spent virtually the whole day putting hardware and labels on collages for the show next week. I am vowing right here and now not to let collages pile up again without putting that stuff on them when I do them. It would be so much easier to put it on 2 or 3 at a time than spending the whole day doing it. This is NOT the fun part of art work. Oh, well. I'm almost done.

The prompt for this week goes along with the quote for today. I read an interesting novel while camping and the quote is from there, so thought I'd pair it with a prompt. -- Think of or write down your name. Your first name. Now think of what the name says to you. What does it say about you? Do you think that you'd be the same person you are now if you had a different name? Now either do art or write about your name.

"There are cultures in which it is believed that a name contains all a person's mystical power. That a name should be known only to God and to the person who holds it and to a very few privileged others." from the novel The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Pretend it's Monday and not Tuesday A.M.

Monday got away from me and here it is Tuesday morning. My only excuse was I spent a few hours visiting my terrific grandchildren - 3 1/2 years and 3 1/2 days - and totally lost track of what day it was!

Two of these beeswax collages have real dried flowers incorporated into them. It makes for kind of a neat little touch. The third one has tiny seashells.

The prompt for this week (remember we're *pretending* it's Monday!), is as follows...

Think of something that you've had occur in your life once and only once. Now make art or write about that or from that feeling or however you want to use the memory. It could, of course, be a happy occurrence or a not so happy one.

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it." Picasso

My 50th POST!

These are some more recent collages. The top one is tiny 2 x 2 3/4". Next is 3 x 5" and then 6 x 8". The bottom one is one of my photos and one of my favorite lines of poetry (by Mary Oliver). I've been collaging alot this week, too. I want to be ready for the 3 artist show the beginning of September!

Well, my beeswax is melted again, so will just end with a quote for now.

"There is no human being who does not carry a treasure in his soul, a moment of insight, a memory of love, a dream of excellence, a call to worship." Rabbi Abraham Herchel

Rainy Days and Mondays

The first picture is one I took when we were at Lake Ontario (my trip with my daughter to the Renaissance Festival). The other three are 3 of my watercolors from the 4 week watercolor class I just finished. The colors are actually less muted than this.

I taught two 45 minute workshops yesterday and had a great time. This particular art organization really values their artist teachers. They pay very well and support the artists and the arts in any way they can. I was interviewed by the local newspaper (not the big time, but it's a start) when I was done teaching and am quoted in tonight's paper (The Leader Herald).

I've been asked to teach a 6 week series of Beeswax Collage in Albany through the Women's Building on Central Avenue. If we get enough sign-ups it will be held for 6 evenings starting in September. I've done a 6 week series of classes before and it's fun!

This week's prompt - Think of a place in your life that was special. Make art about that place, with a picture of that place, or just with the feeling that thinking about the place evokes. Have fun with it!!

"...if you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living." Joseph Campbell

More Beeswax and Being Brave

A few more collages ranging from 2 3/4" square (hand with bird) to 6 x 8" (the girl).

You may notice a new badge along the blog right hand side "One Thing Be Brave". If you click on it it'll take you to what it's all about. It's based on Eleanor Roosevelt having said "Do one thing every day that scares you." I'm not trying for EVERY day, but just more often to try and conquer fears. I've just completed one thing that had me scared to death - my watercolor class! I was really scared of taking that 'cause I've never been a painter. Well, I actually enjoyed it and have 3 completed. I'm hoping to get some photos done tomorrow and then will post them.

I'm working on collages for the show I'm in the first Friday in September. Three local women artists showing at the women's building in Albany as part of the Albany First Friday art event. Unfortunately, I won't be there 'cause that was the weekend my oldest daughter was able to get a cabin for the weekend and we'll be there (why is everything all at once!!).

Right now my piece and Dyani's are at the Greene County Show in Windham. That will be going on until September 20th.

Today's quote HAS to be the aforementioned one - "Do one thing every day that scares you." Eleanor Roosevelt

Oh yeah, YESTERDAY was Monday!

After a very busy weekend, I TOTALLY lost track of the day of the week, until my daughter asked me this morning where was yesterday's prompt! I guess, after spending the whole day Saturday in the Renaissance, I forgot about blogs and such! Anyway, the festival was lots of fun (professional actors in period costume that walk around the grounds performing and also have staged performances, artisans, games, man powered rides, and food galore) and Sunday was, too. Sunday we went to a State Park to see Lake Ontario...nothing short of amazing...I'd never seen one of the Great Lakes before...it's like going to the ocean...waves and everything!! Then we visited Lake Oneida. Very pretty and very large. We had lunch at a restaurant in a place called Sylvan Beach and the restaurant was basically right on the beach. You could eat and look at the water. Just lovely!

The prompt for this week is a single word - Pandemonium. Your art/writing could be your reaction to the word OR could be a representation of the word OR you could turn it around and do the opposite of the word.

"One reason people often hold back is a fear of making mistakes. But the idea of "mistakes" is almost not valid: A mistake is an unforeseen opportunity. It is a way to generate previously unimagined ideas and to find and create new possibilities." Deborah Putnoi