Layers

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This page is starting to take some shape, the depth is coming through. Journaling is a process that I love for its availiblity, you can just open a page and start working. I like to let the page evolve. The freedom to do whatever I want without trying to make a "finished piece". I can express myself with words and images. Words are not enough sometimes to tap into what I may want to express I just gotta have the visuals.
I was so lucky to have worked at PaperSource this past year, I learned much about paper quality and how make my own hard covered journals. I am teaching myself how to make a book using a Coptic stitch technique, its tricky and I keep trying to make it easier by creating my own version but it did not work so well. That is what I love about making and experimenting you can't lose, you just learn and grow.

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I am working on some journal pages and have completed about 5 pages. I love to work in my journals, total freedom, no rules fun. Charcoal is a great technique that I love to use. It really finishes the collaged pieces.
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I need a Cupcake that won't make me fat...

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working on my colors. I primed the panels first with gesso, and acrylic ground for pastels. After that dried I scrubbed in some titan buff then painted the background in various tones of green and turquoise. I decided to add something sweet to the base color(I have been craving cupcakes from the Lemon Grove bakery), something that does not require a lot of thought or heavy feeling- just pure enjoyment.Like the empty calories in a cupcake.
Speaking of small cakes my 43rd birthday is approaching. On that day I will not only have cupcakes but a glass of wine. I have been very strict with fat, sugar, caffeine and alcohol in my diet since I discovered that I have gallstones in my gallbladder. They have conveniently settled in a sensitive area and anytime I eat anything with too much fat or sugar etc.. I end up feeling terrible. It's just not worth it. I have been eating non irritating foods and for now am controlling the problem through diet. As a result I am losing weight which is something I have been yoyo'ing since Nicolas was born two years ago. I wont complain.

I had a class yesterday with Nadia. I am teaching her some basics on how to draw and paint. We will also do some mixed-media. She is eight years old and adorable. Last year for Halloween she was Amelia Earhart complete with plane. Her mother hand made the entire costume using card board, paint and cut up water jugs.She painted it a shiny red, It truly looked like a vintage Lockheed Vega that Amelia flew in. I will have to get a copy of the picture and post it later. SO creative.

Long Tall Skinny Journal

I completed the LTS and what fun it was to make. I used some corrugated card board for the covers, glued down vintage French grammar pages and painted over them with Golden's Fluid acrylics. I will add text, some images and more paint to the covers next but I am enjoying it plain. It measures 14" x 5" and has 20 pages of heavy watercolor paper inside.

Jenny Doh the former editor at Somerset Studios has been spreading the words "Art Saves" on her blog, Cresendoh (http://jennydoh.typepad.com/crescendo/)I love this message and its multi-layered meaning. I think of the millions of times that I have said to myself: just get through the workday and you can get back to that painting or just get the baby to bed and you can go to the studio and make those cards with the new stamps you just bought. Art has brought balance into my life and a place where I can be myself and express my viewpoint. It saves me daily.
On another level Art not only saves, but heals those who have suffered from trauma or sickness. Colorful expression, journaling, drawing, collaging helps patients recovering from cancer see the light in the midst of their darkness. Although their bodies are sick their minds are strong and coping with their illness. Art helps this process.
Jenny Doh raised 250K at CHA with the help of fellow Artists who donated their time, money and work. I want to be apart of saving people through Art.
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Bind Away

This is the cover of a long tall skinny (LTS) journal that I am making using some new techniques I've learned in Color Beyond the Basics. I love how its turning out so far.
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Life is good!!

My son enjoys going for coffee and a treat just as much as I do!! Bon vivant!!
I am going to a mini workshop tomorrow hosted by Donna Salazar. We are going to play with her new Diztrezz-it-All and some other new items. I hope to get some more insight on how to use the Bind-it-all, which is a bit tricky because it still is unfamiliar to me. I did some practice runs today and it was challenging! But once I get it down I know I am going to use it for everything.


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Peace in the most unexpected places

I have had an issue with my coffemaker for the past few months, it keeps leaking brown liquid from its base well after coffee time is over. This morning when I went to make fresh coffee I found that the leaky mess had formed my favorite sign!!! Give Peace a chance!
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The Boy I Love

I did this page in my journal 2 years ago. I loved it then and I still love it now. The little boy is my husband as a boy. Our son looks just like him. A good journal page is timeless. Not that there are any really bad journal pages. Its a process and sometimes the result is more fulfilling than others.
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Valentines Day!

I made all of these in the month of February. Who can resist the need to create "lovely" things? Of course I love my husband, my children, my family but I am also in love with my Art and the creative satisfaction it fulfills, there is no other.
So I CELEBRATE the LOVE of all things this month but primarily the LOVE of Art~

CRAFT CRITIQUE is hosting a Valentine Blog Carnival Call encouraging bloggers to show off and share Valentine related crafty projects: paper, fabric, yarn, food, jewelry...

Just e-mail CRAFT CRITIIQUE at carnival@craftcritique.com with a link to your blog post (not the blog itself... JUST the post or individual posts). Do this before February 10th, 6pm Central Time. Feel free to send in old posts, new posts or posts from your BFF's blog... anything goes... but it must be Valentine's Day or love-themed, and it must be on a blog. Here's a great tip: if you use tags on your blog, and have a TAG for "Valentine's Day" click on that... send us the link to that TAG.
Limit one link per person!

They will put together one amazing Carnival post of all the wonderful links sent to them and share with their readers YOUR terrific blog! Dont forget to tell your YOUR blog readers about the carnival too! And wham... we are all one big happy, crafty, bloggy family!

Wyanne is an Artist from Amelia Island in Florida and she does some of the most creative and freeing work I have seen in awhile. I love her work! This cheeky owl is so cute and I love the final coat of resin that she applies at the end. She makes it look so easy. Visit her at http://wyartjewels.blogspot.com/

Mis en Place

I'm starting dinner, gathering mi mis en place.
The wine is for me. I am making a roast chicken from my Julia Childs cook book from Knopf publishers in 1970. I love her books I have both volumes that very old. Creating lends itself to so many mediums and cooking is in my top two. Art and cooking. I am driving my husband bananas because I am making cookies every other day. I do admit that I have been on a baking frenzy lately but mainly due how cold it is in our house. Albeit we are in San Diego, it gets cold when you do not have a heating unit in your home. Its like camping!! Our furnace has gone defunct and is pending replacement.

Happy! I made it to the studio today and prepared some pages for painting for my online class through Julie Pritchard's Land of Lost Luggage network. She has paired up with Golden's Chris Cozen for a series of classes on color.
I look forward to it, I have been crafting and I am ready for a bit of a change. I have some ideas brewing.
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