Contentment

"May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks."  J.R.R. Tolkien 

This quote, and the Diva's Monday challenge, inspired this design, which uses crescent moons and auras, to portray a sun spreading its wings.  

Tonight, I had dinner with friends from a camp I attended in the early 1970s.  One of the people who I hadn't seen since 1973 asked me to tell him about my life.  When I told him about my different jobs, kids, husband, etc., he asked me if I'm happy.  Happy is a funny word -- to me it implies a giddiness and euphoria that I don't walk around feeling most of the time.  Sometimes I feel especially happy -- like when we bought ice cream for all the children in the village of Santa Maria de Jesus after finishing our last day of house building, or while I'm doing something special with my daughters or Freddie, or during meditation.  But most of the time, what I feel is deeply content.  

I struggled in the past with unhappiness and discontent.  I have seen unhappiness and grief in others, and strife, struggle, and suffering.   I am grateful to be in a place where I don't wish for anything for myself.  I wish for things for others, and for the world, but I am content.  Not complacent, but content.

Life is like a rainbow.  You need both the sun and the rain to reveal its beauty.  

Here's a video about contentment.  Thanks for visiting! 

UPDATE - because it's hard to resist putting words on my designs, I added these in photoshop:  

 
Also, I practiced pea-nuckle with help from this video from TangledUpinArt and now feel a little better about it! Thanks for the help!!  I look forward to adding color to this soon.



ANOTHER UPDATE:  Here is the tree with color.  I think it makes a nice design for Rosh Hashanah. 

Beautiful Dreamer

It's been a full week.  My dad is doing well, thankfully.  He goes back to the doctor tomorrow for what we hope is the all-clear.  On Monday, I spent the day at the Surface and Textile (Surtex) Show  at the Javits Center in NYC.  My wonderful reps, Laurie High and Parker Fulton, were there and it was so nice to see them.  There are so many wonderful artists and so much inspiring work to see.  One artist, named Elizabeth, really struck me with her beautiful work, which you can see here.  It was also nice to see the familiar faces of Sue Zipkin, and Cathy Heck, among others.

This week's Diva challenge was to use the zentangle pea-nuckle.  One of my favorite entries is this gorgeous, ethereal design by LeeAnn.  My efforts were very unsuccessful, and the tangle ended up morphing into the woman you see in this design.  If you look closely, you will see my feeble pea-nuckle attempts in her "shirt" -- all other evidence has been painted over!

Onto the design - the song "Beautiful Dreamer," was the last song written by Stephen Foster and was published in 1862.  It was featured in the movie "Gone With the Wind," one of my favorite films despite it's political incorrectness.  As a child, I was drawn to the independence and defiance of Scarlett O'Hara, and while also appalled by her selfishness and cold-heartedness.  I fell in love with Clark Gable, and also with the costumes and scenery.  I saw the movie at least 10 times!

The "Scrapping the Music" "b" challenge this week was to do a design inspired by song from a favorite movie.  So this dreamy lady emerged in response to that.  I was actually able to find a copy of the original sheet music, which I printed out and collaged over the layers of gesso that covered up my failed pea-nuckle, and then added layers of paint, stamping and collaging. 

I keep learning the lesson that sometimes failed attempts at things can lead to something new and exciting!

Two dream quotes that I love and wanted to share:  "Every great dream begins with a dreamer."  Harriet Tubman and "You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."  C.S. Lewis

Lately, my dreams involve having few or no commitments or appointments -- being able to read under a shady tree, paint as long as I'd like, and spend time in my garden.  Also, I am missing the joy I get from our service work in Guatemala working with From Houses to Homes, and dream of returning there soon -- maybe for several months this time...

What do you dream?

Golden Years

Scrapping the Music's challenge and prompt this week is the song "Golden Years," by David Bowie.  When I read the lyrics, I cried.  My dad, who turned 82 last Friday, went into the hospital yesterday.  Here's a picture of him with my mom last month.  My parents have always been so healthy.  So it's been scary.  He's fine and is going home tomorrow, but mortality and the fragility of life have been very much on my mind.

The lyrics that inspired me are:
Run for the shadows in these golden years.  I'll stick with you for a thousand years.  Nothing's gonna touch you in these golden years.

I started with a layer of gesso and then scraped on white, blue and magenta paint.  I scrubbed off paint using punchinella with small holes.  There's actually a tree and a different face that got covered up.  The body of the "angel" is collaged with stamps and a sun I had painted and then cut out from a "failed" painting.  The moon and stars are from book pages.  The "trees" are Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Blazonry stencil (which I seem to be using in everything these days!)  This is pretty "loose" for me style wise.  I'm so grateful for this challenge - it was very cathartic.  This will be a nice welcome home gift for my dad.

Forgiveness

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the exchange with my brother on Saturday.  I've also spent a lot of time thinking about this quote from the Buddha:

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

and this quote by Mark Twain:  

"Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."

How can I stay angry at my brother?  His actions and speech are caused by anger and hurt.  They are not his true nature.  How can I stay angry at myself?  My response was caused by anger and hurt.  It is not my true nature.  With breath, I have washed the slate clean, recommitting to step forward with a peaceful, loving, compassionate heart.  I inhale deeply the fragrance of the crushed violet as I drop the hot coal that has been burning my hand.  Forgiveness is indeed a gift of the heart.

Taking it to the Second Floor

Julie Fei Fan Balzer posted the Second Floor challenge today, which was to create something inspired by circles using techniques outside of your comfort zone.  What to do?  After sketching, painting, doodling, I was coming up with nothing.  Also, Laura posted her Diva challenge today, which was to do something in sepia tones.  My initial thought was that I wasn't going to participate because one color family, let alone sepia, just isn't my thing.  I LOVE color -- the more the better.  But then, a light bulb went off  --- combine the challenges.  Do something inspired by circles in a color palate outside of my comfort zone.  What would it feel like to limit myself to colors in the sepia family?  And here's the result. 

I started off with a big circle, but then immediately felt confined.  But I decided to press on.  Sepia reminded me of nature, and so I drew a tree.  I've been wanting to draw these chickens ever since I saw them in a Zentangle book.  Using circles (well ovals) in the tree, filling in the grass with more circles, adding lots of gold circles behind the tree, and using circles to border the original circle, was fun and inspired lots of variations.  I went out of the sepia family with touches of green and red, but there's brown mixed in to everything.  I like it!

My takeaways from these challenges:

1.  Never say never.
2.  Experiment with different colors - put aside the tried and true for something different.
3.  Sometimes creativity can emerge from confinement and limitation.

Supplies used: H2O paint, Sakura pens and Koi watercolors.

Bloom Where You're Planted

Another day, another challenge.  This time, from A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.  The challenge is to use the prompt: "Bloom Where You're Planted," and to use flower embellishments or stickers.  So here's what I did:
1. cover page with gesso and scrape it with the side of a credit card to get texture.
2. use that credit card to move around blue, white and some green paint for a background. 
3. use a circle stencil and a baby wipe to scrub away paint to reveal white gesso underneath.
4. think about using, but then reject, flower embellishments and go for drawing flowers with a Pitt Pen.
5.  paint the flowers with acrylic and Sakura Souffle pens.
6.  Mask off flowers and stamp some small circles using yellow acrylic paint on the stamp.
7. Add more circles with a white uniball pen.
8. Add the phrase with a mixture of my handwriting and letter stamps.

I loved working on this prompt because it fits right in with my yoga practice.  We so often look for happiness in external things -- a new job, new relationship, new clothes or tech gadgets.  These things might give us a jolt of pleasure, and then the sensation wears off and we look for the next thing.  But until we are content wherever we are and with whatever we have -- until we can bloom wherever we're planted -- lasting happiness will always escape us.  For a great video on this, check out one of my favorite teachers, Lama Marut.
Thanks for visiting!

Kindness Matters

I feel very honored and surprised to be named the winner of the "Scrapping the Music" challenge last week for my design: "Sparkle."  This was a very heartfelt design - inspired by the death of a friend's mother and I am so glad it resonated with the "Scrapping the Music" people. 

It was really great to have this positive news today, as this was a difficult weekend on certain levels.  On Saturday, my family came over in the morning for Mother's Day.  Later in the day, we had a "Hunger Games" themed birthday party planned for Samy, my (now) 11 year old.  Unfortunately, right at the start of my family party, my brother and I exchanged harsh words, and he ended up leaving.  My brother has a difficult history in my family - he is almost always angry at my mother, my sister, or me.  On Saturday, it was my turn, and I am not proud of how I handled the situation.

As a yogi, I work hard to look at life's joys and sadnesses as all part of the circle of our lives.  All of my training on the mat is designed to help me take a deep breath before reacting, so as to not make difficult situations harder; and to realize that challenging moments, as well as positive and happy moments, all have the nature of changing.  It is not wise to get too attached to any of them.  And yet, despite all my study, meditation and practice, sometimes my wits abandon me and I do not act skillfully.  Saturday was one of those moments.   Later in the evening, I sent my brother a long text of apology, which is all that I can do.  And yet, it is hard to let go of my disappointment in myself.






But this is part of my training too.  When you do or say something you regret - recall it, express remorse, try to remediate it, and resolve not to do something like that for a reasonable amount of time.  And then move on.  Don't wallow in guilt - it doesn't make things better.  So this new design - "Kindness Matters," is my way of processing, remediating, and hopefully inspiring myself and others to react with kindness - with the best we have to offer.  It will always make things better. 

On a lighter note, the "Hunger Games" Party was a success - 8 girls created "arena" outfits for themselves, stood in hula hoops before a siren announced the start of the games, and then tried to eliminate each other with water guns and water noodles.  Lots of fun was had by all.  

Feelin' Groovy

The Diva's challenge this week is to use Eden Hunt's tangle "Groovy." I decided to use the word "Groovy" for the theme as well as the tangle, inspired by Simon & Garfunkle's great song, and also by the fact that I got a thumbs up from my gastro doc after a colonoscopy follow up today! 

After color washing the background with blue and purple paint, I used Julie Fei Fan Balzer's Blazonry stencil with Gesso to create some "surfboards."  I then used the Blazonry stencil as a mask to over-stencil some circles, flowers, and patterns on the surfboard shapes, which I then hand-painted and doodled as well.  I used the "Groovy" tangle to create "waves" at the bottom.  I had fun hand lettering the words "Feelin' Groovy" and then filling the letters in with different patterns using Sakura pens.  As always, these challenges definitely jump start my creativity.  Thanks Diva! 

Enjoy the song. 

Waste Not Want Not

I hate to waste paint - so I made this from wet acrylic paint left over from "Shine."  As a mask for the "leaper," I used the form I had cut out to make the jumping girl stencil, and sprayed around it with Adirondack color wash.  I used Balzer Designs punchinella stencil for some texture on the left, and painted swirls with watered down gesso.  The lettering is a mix of my hand and stamps.  I painted shadow around the form (right side and under is the mantra I repeat to myself) and I love how it looks like it's popping out of the page!   


 Yesterday, I had a lovely tea with Jennifer Levine, a friend and an amazing visual and performance artist.  Check her out!

Also today, a design for Mother's Day.  There's nothing like being a mom to give you perspective on you own mother.  Thanks Mom - for raising me to be a creative, caring person, just like you! 

Shine

I created this based on a challenge from The Scrapbook Nook -- "Make a layout, card, art journal, anything your heart desires and make it “shine” like a star. Give it that Hollywood glamor using glitter and metallics."  Rather than reference Hollywood, I was inspired by my daughter Samy, whose natural exuberance and ebullient personality brings smiles to everyone she meets.  This girl jumping in the air is how I see her -- stretching her arms out and embracing the world.  She is a shining star every day.

Materials used: acrylic, stencils (Balzer Designs and ones I made),  Sakura glitter pens, H2O metallic paints & newsprint.

Here's a video of her singing.  I hope you can see her personality shine through!

Sparkle

I created this based on a challenge at Scrapping the Music.  The featured song this week was "Sparkle," by Rubyhorse.  This song has beautiful lyrics and the verse I quoted reminded me of an angel in the sky.  Someone I know recently experienced the untimely and unexpected passing of someone very close to him.  I thought that the lyrics of this song would give him comfort. 

I started this with gesso stamped with a paisley stamp to give it texture.  Then I wiped blue and white paint on top with a credit card, which creates a great scratchy field over the gesso texture.  I added a tree stencil on the top and on the bottom, and also used Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's Blazonry stencil on the bottom for more trees.  I used some star and leaf stamps as well, and a mix of my handwriting and various stamps for the letters.  The woman is collaged and painted with acrylics and Sakura pens.  Overall, I'm very happy with how this turned out!

Growing Things

Today I finished inspirational words.  As a greeting card designer, I am always working on seasonal designs 6 months ahead - and so I'm beginning work on Christmas!  Sometimes it's hard to be motivated for Christmas in the spring, or Valentine's Day in the summer, but in other ways, it's nice to think about blessings and love any time of year...  So this was done with pitt pens and Sakura glaze pens.  Then, in photoshop, I overlayed it on a watercolor wash I did separately that I have saved to use as a background.  I added a glow around the words and doodles to make them pop a little.  I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Yesterday I stopped at Michael's on the way home to exchange a tape runner, and, of course, couldn't resist buying some stamps and stencils to play with.  So here's the beginning of a new journal spread, using some of my new toys.  I gessoed the pages first, and then scraped orange and red acrylic paint around with the side of an expired credit card.  I used a baby wipe to clean some of the paint away over Balzer Designs' chicken wire stencil.  Then I stamped the four leaf flowers using gesso to give texture.  I glued some old India stamps along the right edge, and used another stamp to do the circles on the bottom right.  I added some oil pastel streaks on the right side too.

I had paint left over, and so, again inspired by Julie Fei Fan Balzer, I stamped some more on some scraps from old manilla files I cut up and kept to use as tags.  I let paint drip around them as well, and did some splattering!  I know these will come in handy for something.
Cheers!
 
PS:  Here is what I did with the right hand half of the journal spread:

Nature is a Wondrous Thing

Today's piece was inspired by a challenge from A Year in the Life of an Art Journal.  The prompt was to be inspired by the phrase, "Nature is a wondrous thing," and to use gesso on your stencil to give extra texture to your work.  The sentiment was easy - I love nature.  I love gardening.  I love being outside.  Plus, today was one of those crystalline days when the light reflects off the leave and flowers in a magical way.  Before the challenge popped up in my email, I had already paused on the way home from dropping off my daughter at school to feel my sense of self dissolve into the natural world around me.


Weeks ago, I had torn a headline out of the New York Times: "Experience the Wonders."  This seemed to sum up how I felt about the day.  Plus, this beautiful picture and quote appeared on my facebook page.  I DO believe in magic (I do, I do said the Cowardly Lion), and I see it all around me.  It fit right in with the nature prompt.  So, to start, I layered pieces of old book pages on one side of my journal.  I covered it with a thin coat of gesso, and then a thin coat of yellow acrylic paint.  I dripped spray wash down the top, and scribbled blue watercolor crayon around the sides.  I used gesso to stencil a chicken wire motif around the top and bottom (although you can hardly see it now).  I glued down the NYT title, and changed it up a little with Sakura glaze pens.  I painted the leaf in the middle, and saying around it, with acrylic paint.  Some white uniball pen to bring it all out, and it emerged.  As always, I love the prompts to get my juices flowing.

Thanks for reading!

Love What You Do

So today, what I really want to do is work on a new holiday design I started yesterday.  Instead, what I have to do is revise candle boxes I worked on in March.  Sometimes I get frustrated with these packaging revisions - they're very technical and have to correspond to specific die lines, etc.  But then I remind myself that it's all art!  I am so lucky to get to do what I love. So it's important to love whatever I do.  Great quote came my way today:  "Feelings are like waves.  We can't stop them from coming but we can choose which ones to surf."  So I'm gonna get my joy on and fix that candle box! Thanks for visiting!