mixed media abstract figurative on cradle board 

thank you for your lovely comments on my last 

post.  the internet art community is such a support

for the artist.  

the theme for my international act group is rust.  

these are mailed from papers i boiled with rusty 

stuff bundled between sheets.   the bundles are 

boiled for over an hour, cooled, dried and then separated.

i felt like the cards needed some more detailing 

ad added some ink doodles.  click on the image for 

close ups. 

i fell in love with  this clever painted leather 

sofa in a new dress store. 

raised bed update

its friday so i am posting with eva and kristen

and other folks at paint party friday.

finding my mojo

what to do when my creative spirit wanders 

and i cannot think of what to do?  my husband 

reminded me that i always love taking a workshop.

great idea!  this week i joined the ever creative well of 

inspiration, jacki long's art gang at the art supply warehouse in a 

mixdd media marathon.  jacki is amazing!  she demonstrated a 

list of projects for us to jump in.  all supplies are supplied.   that did the trick!

between being in a group of creative folks, jacki's encouragement

and  enthusiasm, i was off to collaging faces and thinking of other possibilities.

by the way, jacki has done a daily blog, for years.  her current total is 1793!

i think she's going for a record.  

i also decided that i love creating  faces.  sometimes we are the last 

to be able to identify where our passion leads us when everyone else 

can pinpoint it.   sp, in in an effort to embrace this new information,

and to support myself, 

i took my faces out of the box and put them on 

my studio wall.  i have many more and plan to fill the wall.

my vegetable garden also offered hours of 

reflective  time as my hands cared and tended 

tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, beans and other wonderful greens. 

all in all, my attempts were successful at getting

me back on track.  i also realize the we cannot have

a consistent stream of creative energy but it is snot often

where i get thrown off my center.   like a garden, the soil is

fertile but needs to lay fallow to replenish its rich nutrients.

i would love to hear about  how you handle fallow art periods.

linking with kristen and eva's paint party friday and 

other creative friends

faces and other summer ramblings

i cut up some of those funny faces from last week 

and put them together in different combinations

to create intriguing faces that you'd never want to encounter

on a dark street when you are alone.  but they were fun to do here 

in rafael studio!

i don't know about you, but, 

sometimes i hear a critical inner voice.  well, if i were

totally honest, i would admit that i hear it more than i like.

one of the things i heard this week is  'you are so narrow

minded.  can't you paint anything other than faces?  you should

be more versatile.'  hmm, that gave me pause.  i began to think

that i should give up creating.  that i've worn out my subject, 

that no one wants to see another face.  you get the picture.

i talked to my friend, evie about this.  she and i met when we

both trained to be therapists decades ago.  she is my pal that i talk to 

daily.  we share everything and anything.  during our conversation,

i  realized that i love creating  faces, love learning and using 

different techniques for the process. the the human face is one of the most 

intricate and fascinating subjects  there is, that there are countless 

emotions and subtitles in a face.   whew!  i can proceed.

elsewhere in my world,  i have returned to gardening.  one

grandfather was a gardener, the other grew his own vegetables

and made green juice ever day before it was a fad.  

i started with 7 tomato plants in pots.  then,  i built a raised  bed

and started to plant herbs and vegetables.    my husband and i look at it 

two to three times a day to look for any changes.  i go to nurseries to find

more plants.  now i have plans to fill pots around my yard with herbs 

and vegetables.  it is a rewarding pastime that i can eat eventually!

on the family front, little owen, my nephew's son 

graduated from pre school.  when i grew up, that was not a day marked 

on the calendar.  but now, aunts, uncles flew in to town, 

grandparents attended.  the whole class gave  an adorable  

singing dancing  performance . of course, i thought 

owen was the star of the show but all of the others were close 

seconds.  it brought back so many fond memories.

and now to the most most exciting part of the family news.

remember the napa trip i talked about last post?  well, it was a 

hush hush trip that my son planned to ask his girlfriend to marry him.

he invited her parents and us to join them to celebrate.  

what a  celebration it was!  

so all in all, as you can see, life is good.

i would love to hear what is happing in your world.  

sharing with other artists at the weekly 

paint party friday community

i have een on a week long 

road trip.  hopefully i will have some photos

to show you.

i took a few art supplies  and journals but 

there was so much to see and do,

i did not bring them out.  while i was gone, 

i saw an online  workshop given by carla sonheim and 

lynn whipple on making faces.  it seemed

like it would be right up my alley.  

i couldn't wait to start.

here are the first drawings

with color added.  

oh boy!  i', having fun!

tonight i will be going to the opening of

ca 101, a showing of california artists

 where i have 4 pieces accepted.  if you

are in southern california, stop by.  i'd love 

to see you. 

it's friday so i am 

posting with paint party friday 

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