Poppies for Inspiration Avenue

 Inspiration Avenue has put out a call for January poppies! Here is my favorite poppy moment!

  
Here is a watercolor sketch with some collage in my journal:

And a paint up of poppies and leaves (watercolor and gouache) on some extra bits of watercolor paper:

which I scanned into my computer to create this digital collage:

Feel free to download the top two poppies for your personal use!  And go over to Inspiration Avenue and check out all the poppies!

Thank you for visiting! I read and treasure every comment and will answer any questions as quickly as I can.

Let Your Inner Fairy Fly!

 

Welcome to the Fairies' Tea and thank you to Inspiration Avenue for hosting this party!   I love everything about fairies.  One of my favorite stories is Peter Pan.  I had the great joy of playing Peter in our local theater company's production of the musical in 2003.  I loved asking the audience if they believed in fairies, and having them clap their hands to help save Tinkerbell!  I used one of the lines from Peter Pan on this piece, which is a digital collage made of elements I hand-painted using watercolors:

 

Every fairy has, of course, magical powers to make dreams come true, especially the wish to live happily ever after.  (Wouldn't it be fun to do a bookmark swap one day?  Hmmm....)

  

Here's a digital collage with elements I hand painted, including a fairy castle and important fairy accessories:

 

And finally, here is an art journal page, in which I collaged this lovely fairy on top of a watercolor and stamped background, added some zentangled and watercolor flowers, and this great saying: "Spread your wings and let the fairy within you fly!"  We all have the ability to create and experience magic -- we just have to let it out!

There are lots of cool prizes and giveaways on Inspiration Avenue, as well as on the blogs of all the other participants in the Fairies' Tea.   I hope you'll have a chance to visit all the tea parties!  As promised, comment below on my post to have a chance to win this original 6" x 8.5" watercolor  (to be chosen by the random fairy!).

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Faces, Tangles, and Journal Pages oh my!

I love mixing styles -- can't you tell?  Fairies are on my mind because Inspiration Avenue is gearing up for the Fairy's Tea party on September 23.  And when the Diva's challenge this week was to break free of the traditional string, fairy tangles seemed the thing to do!  Then, A Year in the Life of an Art Journal challenged us to say something to ourselves of 10 years ago.   So I decided to put them all together!

Ten years ago, I was a 44 year old mother of an 11 and 1 year old.  Samy, then 1, demanded constant interaction and connection.  She was sweet, loving, cheerful, and exhausting.  Mariel, then 11, was just starting see me as a separate human being, and of course beginning to notice that I was less than perfect.  That summer, she developed Bell's Palsy as a result of lyme disease and her face was partially paralyzed (it has since gone away).  Her dad and I were in an extremely acrimonious phase of our often turbulent post divorce life and were only able to communicate through a mediator.  Needless to say, life was stressful.  Now that Mariel is 21, and Samy is 11, most of my days are calm and joyous.  I learned so much about myself and life over the past 10 years.  Even though Samy still loves to chat, she can also become immersed in a book.  Mariel's dad and I have an uneasy friendship, and of course, Mariel is glorious and all grown up now -- 21 and a senior in college.  Ten years ago, I couldn't imagine that I would be in a place where I would spend significant time painting, meditating, practicing yoga, and working in my garden.  And although the journey was sometimes difficult and traumatic, the years seem to have flown by.  Sometimes you have to look back at your past and smile at how far you've come!

The challenge at Stampotique is to use orange, mustard and navy -- not colors I usually use too much.  But I love how they all worked together in this piece.

The lady in this art journal page was inspired by this photo on the Moxie Fab blog.  I'm sorry I didn't photograph the process on this page -- the background went through so many different variations -- and most of the time I hated it so much!  But in the end, I rescued it and now I like it -- something I wouldn't have believed I could have said even 2 hours ago!

I got the idea to add the rectangle for journaling from this great video on Roben-Marie Smith's blog.  If you haven't seen her tutorials, check her out.  She's amazing!  Also, she is closing out her online art shop and there are a lot of great deals to be had!

I watched another great tutorial on layering stencils on Ronda Palazzari's blog.  She has created albums to store all her stencils, and shows how she decorated the album covers.  This tutorial is applicable to all sorts of projects, and I highly recommend it!

Speaking of Ronda, she will be our first guest artist on "Fall Fearless and Fly," the challenge Carolyn Dube and I are co-hosting at Artists in Blogland.  Every other week, there will be artistic prompts designed to get you thinking about setting intentions and shedding emotional baggage to step into 2013 as your bravest, most fearless self.  Have you ever done a juice cleanse?  Think of this as an art cleanse!  Any medium goes, and Aritsts In Blogland has great prizes and giveaways.  Each week, there will be an amazing guest artist participating!  Carolyn and I will be kicking off the art on October 1st.  Here is the line up of our guest artists: Rhonda Palazzari, Jane Davies, Maria McGuire, Marcia Beckett, Dina Wakley, and Joanne Sharpe!


While you are waiting for October 1st to roll around, check out the websites of these amazing artists & grab the blog button to help spread the word about all the fun we’re going to have!

Happy Paint Party Friday and Show and Tell Saturday and Creative Every Day!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

Round and Round in the Circle Game

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came,
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

Joni Mitchell

This song is very much in my head and heart today.  Yesterday, we had to put down our wonderful cat Tory.  She was a rescue kitten who came into our family over 17 years ago as a present for my then 3 year old daughter, Mariel.  She was my companion through a contested divorce, getting my feet wet again in the dating world, several relationships, a new marriage, a new baby, moving to a new home, and transitioning from working as a lawyer, to embracing a new life as a yoga teacher and artist.  She was feisty and a diva -- she didn't like new people, new animals, or being transported to new settings.  She had a wail of a meow, and a purr that was so loud that it could be heard from another room.  As the lyrics from Stray Cat Strut go - she was a black and orange cat with class and style, who never bothered chasing mice around.  I will really miss her.  Although I don't often try to paint with any realism, this art journal page captures her and her regal, haughty expression.

It was fitting that this was the very last page in the art journal I started June 1.  I started it for Running With Scissors 30 day challenge, which was loads of fun.   Here are some pics of my finished journal!  I stenciled the front and back with Julie Balzer's Dashed Lines stencil and then added a zentangled mandala I did a while back.

Here are some spreads -- all of which I think I've blogged about in prior posts.  It's interesting to look at it all together -- I see that there are a lot of days I only feel like "arting," and not writing.  Because I tend to blog about the art in the journal, I'm not as drawn to write in it.  I save my journal writing for events and thoughts that are sensitive for me.

Of course, I had to start a new journal immediately!  Here's the first page, inspired by Inspiration Avenue's weekly challenge: wheels.

I created this page by:

1. stenciling an 8 x 10 piece of cardstock with Julie's dashed lines stencil using adirondack color wash sprays in stream and lettuce.  
2. I placed a circles template on the page and layered modeling paste on top it.   
3. Once the modeling past dried, leaving raised circles, I pasted the page into my journal using Elmer's art paste and a disposable brush.  The color washes ran, creating a nice effect on the paper.  
4. While it was still wet, I used the wooden tip of a paint brush to scribble into the "glue-color wash goop." 
5. I cut out a clip art of someone doing cartwheels and painted the figures black to make silhouettes and then cut them out and glued them on the large circles.
6. The orange mandalas are from a large sheet of Nepalese Lokta paper.
7. I wrote lyrics from "The Circle Game" on copy paper and sprayed them with color mists before cutting them out and gluing them down.

I really like this message to start my new journal.  Hopefully, in each  "go round," we accumulate the wisdom to change how we relate to our experiences.  The Buddha taught that lasting happiness can be attained only through becoming a “lamp unto yourself.”  Both Buddhism and yoga philosophy teach that nirvana or enlightenment is not a different place -- it is a clear perception of oneself and of the entire range of human experience.  This is the key to self-transformation.  Similarly - “Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21).  Every great religious, spiritual, and wisdom tradition teaches that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within us.

Linking up with Paint Party Friday, Artists in Blogland, Art Journal Every Day and Creative Every Day.  Click the buttons on my sidebar and go spread some love!

Thank you so much for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

I Do Believe in Fairies

"The woods are full of fairies; the sea is full of fish; the trees are full of golden leaves; let's make an autumn wish."  Anonymous

This art journal page is a collage from prior watercolors.  I have so many from my illustration work.  I don't know what to do with them!  But cutting them up and mixing them up is really fun.  Adding wings to this dancer made her into a fairy.  She is inspired by:

Some fairies have decided to have a tea party and invited the bloggers at Inspiration Avenue and all their friends!  Here's your invitation.  On September 23, visit my blog and the blogs of all the other participants.  Want to be a guest to the party?  Create some fairy dust of your own!  Visit Inspiration Avenue for all the details.  There are all sorts of giveaways, free downloads, and lots of other party prizes! 

BONUS ... comment on my September 23 Fairy Tea Party blog post and be eligible to win this 6" x 8.5" original watercolor!

NEWS!  Products I designed for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) are on available at the Jewish Museum, The Gifted Collector, The Kosher Giftbox, Judaica Savings and other online retailers.  (You can see more items in Aviv Judaica's catalogue.)  Rosh Hashanah begins at sundown on Sunday, September 16.  Shanah Tovah!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

A Special Place

"If You Could Be Anywhere" is the theme of the challenge at Inspiration Avenue.  Here's my entry:

The swell of the cicadas is the harbinger the end of summer.  If I didn’t before, I feel an urgency to go to my beloved lake.  Not just “the lake,” but “my beloved lake.”  This water has a particular appeal for me. It is a signature green – a color that I welcome as it sticks to my swimsuit. Here and there a flurry of fish, a surprise of a snail shell underfoot.  The water seems to hold the magic of birth, rebirth, healing, and all sorts of other special powers.  Even today as I swim, the water feels like a caress, an embrace, holding me up and propelling me on.

There is a moment today at the end of my swim where I float on my back, coming as close as I can to stillness.  Above me, the sky is blue and white.  Beneath me, the water supports me with invisible hands.  With my ears submerged, I hear the song of the water.  In that moment, all is perfect.  Nothing is missing.  I am one with the lake, one with the sky.  “This is what it feels like, before the beginning, and after the end.”  I know this without thinking it – a moment of absorption in all that was, all that is, and all that will be.

As soon as I become aware of this thought, the moment passes.  My feet touch the sand underneath as I stand up.  Looking back at the beach, I see the people who came before me – translucent, moving in fast-forward through my memories.  There, walking down the path, is my grandmother in her bright orange robe with her crocheted bag full of treats for her grandchildren. Sitting back towards the fence, my grandfather reads his paper and then folds it away to talk to his friends.  There are the tables of people playing bridge, my dad doing dips on the old ladders, my mother running after my sister and brother as they toddle down the dock, my daughters passing their swim tests for the very first time.  So many memories.  So many imprints in this place we call Pine Lake.

Someday, perhaps my daughters will see a ripple in the water, and see an imprint of me, swimming back and forth in “my beloved lake.”  I hope so.  If I have a choice, this will be my heaven.  In the outside world, the shares of Facebook crumble; miners are shot in South Africa; Syria disintegrates. But here, the water is calm and still, and basketball always begins at 1:30 on Saturdays.

Linking up to my favorite haunts - Artists in Blogland, Paint Party Friday, Creative Every Day, Out of the Journal, and Art Journal Every Day at Balzer Designs. Please check out all the amazing artists who link up at these sites. 

The Diva's challenge this week was to draw your own string with your eyes closed.  I tried it, and after I finished it and turned it this way and that, it reminded me of a snake.  So I gave it a pomegranate to bite into!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

The Wonder of Summer

I am honored to be Artists in Blogland's monthly challenge winner for July.  Thank you!  I love being part of the AIB community.

One of the things I love most about summer is watching my garden.  In the Phantom Tollbooth (one of my favorite books), a conductor leads an orchestra each morning at daybreak and twilight.  But instead of music, the musicians and their instruments play the colors of the sunrise and sunset.   Each season, as first my irises, then my roses, and then my black eyed susans bloom, it is as if somewhere, a conductor, is calling them forth.  It is pure magic, and each season, I marvel in wonder at the beauty of nature.

Coming back to New Jersey from Pine Lake yesterday, the sight of my garden lessened the sadness of leaving the lake.  Here's what greeted me:

 

In honor of summer, and my garden, I painted this canvas.  The words say:  I look in wonder at the magic of everyday life.

 

It's funny -- yesterday I felt so blue.  Perhaps it was knowing I'd be leaving the lake for a while and my vacation was over.  Yesterday, the weather was pristine -- the sky was blue and clear, the humidity low and the sun shining.  And yet, I felt dull and flat. The beauty of the world contrasted sharply with the sourness and impatience I felt inside.  No matter how much I tried to remind myself of the charmed life I lead, I did not feel blessed.  I felt adrift and without purpose.  (I hadn't painted in 3 days...hmm....)  The best I could do was stay quiet and remind myself that things change -- this too shall pass.  Thankfully, it did.  I swam some laps in the lake before leaving, and then was greeted by my beautiful garden upon returning to New Jersey.  Nature has such a way of lifting the spirits.  All was right again!

Artists in Blogland Challenge for August is "Wonder."  Anything Goes' current challenge is "Summer Days."  And Try It On Tuesday's challenge is "Anything Goes."  So I'll be linking up there.  This piece was made with 5 elements:  canvas, acrylic paint, a stencil, stamps and stickers, so I'll also be linking up with The Second Floor Challenge and Out of the Journal.

Here's a tangle for the Diva's challenge this week, which was to use Shelley Beauch's tangle "Brayd."  Zentangle is the name of the game at Inspiration Avenue this week, so linking up there as well.

 

UPDATE:  I had so much fun with Brayd, that I did another.  Again, I couldn't resist using "paradox" inside the triangles -- my pen just wants to go there...  Thanks Shelley for such a versatile tangle!

Thank you for visiting! If you are so moved, please leave a comment. Hearing from you means the world to me.

As If I Could Forget

Dilip Patel, one of the regulars in the Diva's Design challenges, often uses the challenges to add to his Zentangled Ganesha series.  Dilip, although this design is not a true Ganesha, I did it in your honor.  Namaste!  I am linking this up to Inspiration Avenue, where the prompt is "perfectly pink." 

 

Since I wrote this post, I learned that Dilip's father passed after struggling with cancer. My heart goes out to Dilip and his family.  May your memories always be a source of joy and the love of those around you always be a source of strength and comfort. 

The Diva's challenge this week was hosted by Erin Koetz Olson.  She has a great blog, and is also a paramedic and is participating in Relay for Life.  She created a mandala to bring attention to this worthy cause.  Here's what I did:

 

Of course, I HAD to add color, and had fun using my gel pens and markers.  I can't resist bringing my mixed media self to the Zentangling world!  I know some of my tangles are unorthodox, and appreciate sharing them with this great community.

For anyone visiting me from the Diva's blog, please check out Paint Party Friday, where I am the featured artist this week.   I think it would be so great for some of the wonderful artists from the Zentangle world to link up to PPF and share what they are doing. I am also linking up to Creative Every Day and Artists in Blogland.  

Have a wonderful week.  If you are moved to comment, please know that hearing from you means the world to me!