Art Party!

There was an Art Party today and I didn't have to dress up!

 

It was big fun to get together with a great group of women, paint brushes, paper and glue!
I've been super busy at the day job but now with summer here, I'm ready to have a go with my personal art side.
Having time to work on my growing collection of painted faces and actually putting them to work was a fun experience for me to watch unfold today.  They were accepted with surprise and big smiles!  Thanks for the support you guys.  Looking forward to sharing more with you! 

Silence

Is silence really golden?

 

I haven't worked in my journal since Nov. 16 of last year.  There was a gap in my blog beginning around that same time.  I didn't know what to say.  Things were happening all around me.  There were definitely things to share but I couldn't get motivated to write about them.  I was mourning in silence.

I lost a friend.  Someone who I'd never talk to, write to or ever see again for the rest of my life.  Her last words to me were something like "Have a great time celebrating Raymond's birthday tomorrow and tell him happy birthday for me."  Sometime between the hours we were celebrating my son's birthday and possibly up into the following morning she died.  Just like that.

When a mutual friend told me that he was surprised that I didn't cry or show great sadness at her memorial service I wasn't sure how to take his comment.  I could only explain to him that she and I had spent an unusual amount of time together the last week of her life and I could only guess I found comfort in knowing that.  I had told her of my new artventures that were to take place at school, she treated me out to an early birthday lunch (instead of the following week on my birthday), we spent time shopping, eating and talking all weekend.
I wish I had saved some of the silly messages she'd leave on my answering machine at the job just to hear her voice again but due to bouts of foul language I had to immediately delete them!  HA!  Not cool in a school setting!
The initial sadness has lifted and now I know what the true meaning of "her memory will live on" means because that's what I've been left with.  But there's still that void that will be around forever. 

Summer's Here....

.....and believe it, so am I!

 

 

 I've been traveling up and down the school hall with a cart full of art supplies stopping in each class to inject healthy doses of paint, ink, glue, paper and whatever else I can think of.  Below was the seventh grade's interpretation of Romare Beardon's collage art piece "Three Women."  I knew all those scrapbook paper packs I'd been hoarding would come in handy one day. 

 

What's scarier than a group of 14 year-old students wielding paintbrushes? 

 Answer:  I'll tell you what's scarier than a bunch of 14 year-olds wielding paintbrushes:  a bunch of 14 year-olds wielding SPRAY PAINT CANS!  But didn't they do a great job with their abstract sculptures?  This was the eighth grade's last art project before they graduated.   

Tucked inside the vintage painted folio below are pages holding tag art dolls - all with original painted faces that I've been working on over the past few weeks.  I'm pretty excited about my leap into drawing my own faces to use with my tag art!  I'll share them with you in the coming days.  But you can get a glimpse of one of the tags at the very top of this post.       

The Tag Art Project is a class I'll be teaching on Saturday, June 29th over at Stampin' From the Heart in Los Angeles.  If you're interested in taking the class, e-mail me for more information. 
As much as I've enjoyed preparing art lessons and watching them evolve at the hands of children ranging in age from 4 - 14, it feels good to be free to create my own personal stuff.  Hope you can join me for some fun next Saturday!

Boys and Girls a Lot Has Happened Since My Last Post.....

If you can make out the words in my journal you will see that I have taken on another position at the day job.  I was asked to help teach art and after a long and thought-out process, I said YES!  I'll still be managing the library but now I'll be doing it with glued up nails and possibly painted fingertips!  WOW!  How's that for a change?!!  The family is happy and excited and I'm well, full of ideas!!!

The five year-old Pilgrim below turned 29 last weekend!  I can't believe he was only in Kindergarten.

We celebrated my birthday on Thanksgiving and I know I have a whole lot to be thankful for.  This little tot was thankful she got to sit like a big girl at the dinner table in her bright pink high chair.  Here she's seated on her grandma's lap as the birthday song is being sung!

My life has been one artventure after another and for that, I'm truly thankful.  Hope you're all enjoying the left-overs of a long traditional holiday weekend.  I know I am.  

Wishin' and Hopin'

Awake is the New Sleep

I found a tiny square with the words "Awake is the New Sleep" in an old Indie/Rock Music magazine.  It fit with the way I've been feeling lately.  The recent time change has me feeling sleepy way too early and if I go to bed I find myself laying in bed super early with my eyes wide open.  Then I get up and find myself getting sleepy before I leave for work.  
This page was created as I was struggling with a decision which will bring a new change in my life.  It wasn't easy finding my answer but I'm sure I made the right choice.  I'll share it with you in my next post.
Hope your sleep patterns don't have you sleepwalking.  Night.     

Rubber, Baubles and Vets

Rubber.  It's a Good Thing.

 I'm very proud to say that when I went to the rubber stamp convention this past weekend,  I kept my rubber budget low and I was very much in control!  I'm getting better.  I even had enough money left over to treat my son, hubby and daughter-in-law to take-out fish and Baskin-Robbins ice cream!  YAY!  To have missed the convention because I "have too much stuff" would have been committing a rubber sin.  Really.  I mean, who am I kidding.  Who are WE kidding?  Those of us who find ourselves saying "I have too much...  I need to weed out stuff...I don't need another stamp....blah blah blah."  Nonsense!  There's no such thing as TOO MUCH RUBBER!!!  Now, that being said I hope to post some pages of my journal using these new stamps.  I've already stamped a page where there was a huge space begging for words.  Pat pat on my back for using my new found rubber.  HaHa!  
OOO, and I found some really cool beads.  Rubber conventions have it all.  Paper, rubber, ink, paint, beads, ephemera, magazines, books and lots of happy people.  I bought these baubles to make bracelet and earring sets for my sisters for Christmas.  Shhh, don't tell.
  

Can't let the day go by without giving all the U.S. Veterans a big shout out and high-five for their dedication to our country.  Daddy, you're one of the bravest soldiers I know.  To be a young man drafted and sent to a foreign land where you were greeted by bombs and bullets is something I know I could never endure.  When your legs got shot up and you were sent to Japan for surgery, recovery and rehab, you went back to the front lines without complaining.  Another thing I could never deal with.  BIG THANK YOU for being the best not only for the U.S. but for the four of us you raised.  Love you and big hugs.

Autumnal Uncertainties and Delights

What to Do?

The noodles in my brain have been getting too much exercise lately.  On Halloween I was asked to THINK about something.  Thankfully I was given reasonable time to make a decision.  I thought having time on my side would make it easier for me to decide my answer but I was wrong.  Sleep has been restless and it seemed that each free moment was spent trying to figure things out.  Can I?  Will I?  Maybe?  No.  Well.  Hmmm.  And so it went on like that for nine days.  Having time to make a decision is not for me.  I mean, this is BIG.  For me anyway.  I figured that one way to help me distract from my answer was to do some art journaling.  It helped.  But I only kept journaling about IT.  To be continued....

Guess who went to her second rubber stamp convention?  YES and you should have seen her face when her eyes fell upon a vendor demonstrating a technique with glitter!  Right then and there it became clear to me.  This child will be a glitter princess!  There was so much for her to see.  There were no dull moments.  I mean, look at her!

She did her best to not miss a thing but given her age a nap took priority.  It's good to know I have a normal grandchild.  sigh.  

Those of you who read my blog will have to wait to learn what the heck I'm talking about up above in this post.  In the meantime I'll continue to post pages from my journal regarding this "mystery."  In due time I'll reveal the details.  My kids don't even know.  Are the noodles in your brain working overtime?  Hurts a little, huh?