Mr. Roosterstein

Pulp, water, magic

Transformed.  I present to you

Mr. Roosterstein

It started out innocently enough 

with making paper from pulp, dried flowers, 

glitter, hemp ribbon, cheese cloth added. 

To use the paper in a paper in a project I decided to venture into a 3-demensional rooster

because I have a 'thing' for roosters.  But where to start?  I could paint a a rooster.  I could collage a rooster but 3-D??  I decided to cut a basic rooster shape from masonite, glue recycled

styrofoam to it then carve a rooster with a rasp.  Just a warning~~ styrofoam crumbles into tiny

balls and makes a big mess.  A fun mess but a mess all the same.  

But he was white and the edges looked like masonite between styrofoam and I wasn't sure if the paper I made would cover.  I covered the perimeter of Mr. Rooster with fuchia tissue paper.  He started to look like something. 

Here he is in my car seat, going for a field trip.  

Over the next month slowly Mr. Roosterstein came 'alive.  On walks dried branches would pop into my eyesight.  I'd think, that would be perfect for the tail or top know or wings.  I bolted him to a recycled book titled "Cradle of Civilization."  My friend Dave  got involved and said he needed a beak so he carved one out of wood. My husband said roosters are not white and I should paint him.  At that

point I was done with Mr. Rooster but he did have a point so I sprayed

him with Color Wash and Radiant Rain sprays.

Ta Da.  

He stands to greet you as you enter the show given by my group, 

The Experimental Art Of the South Bay.  

The studio owner said that he brings a smile to everyone's faces so he put him so

that he is the first thing you see when you walk in.

More Sketches

and a murmuration of starlings for you today

Murmuration from Islands & Rivers on Vimeo.

Wonderland

My computer was doing a funny thing this week~~ it deleted some of my photos.

The good news is that I was able to find most of them, 

that is, Sohail the magical technician did.  

Because of this I looked through my photo library

trying to see if I could tell what was missing,

many of which I hadn't looked at for some time.

I came across this one taken last year from

our cave hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey.

I never saw the rabbit with a coned hat

in the center of the picture.  

Can you see him?

A visitor from Alice in Wonderland? 

I thought it a good pick to share today,

my Postcard from Paradise 

where I join Rebecca and others in their paradise. 

Won't you join us?

Enjoy your Sunday.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Misty Mawn suggests

practicing sketches.

100 sketches!

I am at around 15

Here are a few of them.

A long way to go!

bluffs at palos verdes

and here is my haiku of the day

written in conjunction with 

rebecca's haiku my heart

where every friday a community of 

haiku enthusiasts share their poems.

i am glad to have my computer 

fixed in time to participate.

come join us!

moody sunset suits

a heart longing to connect

return my call soon?

Layered Pages

"think of your art journals as a companion,

a muse, your soul mate."

Lynne Perrella, Artfest 2012

I am having fun layering journal pages

with fold out flaps

where secret words can be tucked away.

Layered pages,

layered life.

Nothing is quite as it appears at

first glance.

I need to dress up my blog a little with a 

header~ I think that's what it's called

but my brain gets so twisted when I read

directions.  Might be a while.

Until then, I'll pretend that there 

is a portion of one of my 

colorful paintings.

XO

Journal Musings

Fingers dipped in paint, mushed around on pages.  

Can think of nothing better to bring you to 

the present moment.

It would have been so subtle-

like the sensation you might feel

as you passed through the moment

at the exact center of your life

or as you crossed the equator at night in a boat.

Tipping Point, Billy Collins

A Few This and Thats

I might  have turned into a hermit

I've been in my room playing in journals

sketching faces, some really scary ones

happy as a clam

windows so clean I feel like I'm in a bubble up here

blue skies, trees, tiled roof tops and glimpse of the pacific.

Hours, sometimes days pass.

Oh, dear, I may never leave

Will I be rescued soon?

While I have been in the mode I'm doing a little rearranging,

organizing and clearing clutter so I can walk into the room

without tripping on a stack of stuff.

In an earlier post I (proudly) showed you my new shelf where 

I can see many of my art supplies and easily get them when I need them.  

This is a little thing but. . . 

it makes me smile.  

I discovered if instead of standing the many bottles of craft paints up,

I laid them down and can even take out a bottle 

and the space stays for it  to be returned.    

I told you it was a little thing.

I posted this you tube on my facebook but thought you might enjoy seeing

Phillip Scott Johnson's 500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art.

A generous visitor to my blog told me that he had difficulty leaving a comment because of Blogger word verification, that annoying weird word scramble you are subjected to before your comment will be published.  I checked my blog for this but Blogger does not make the author of the blog go through this.  So I did not know that you had to endure this.
If you have blogger and want to turn the verification off, 
here is a simple tutorial by JA Bennett.   It took two minutes. 


XO