today's post is a little of this and a little of that...

in my experimental art group  

i worked on the other side of my house started last month.

on the first side of the house i included photos 

from my japanese ancestors from the 'olden days.'

this side i have included elements from 

the house i built and where i raised my family

embellished with magazine images.

i have yet to collage in a few more

family photos

working on this project brought back so many wonderful 

memories.  i found myself musing and taking my time.

each new element glued down touched another fond memory.

i enjoyed the unexpected gifts in the creative process. 

i am linking with woyww where people share their desktops and works in progress.

and just for fun... a watermelon 'cake'  made

 to have on a warm summer night sitting outside

 in the dark talking with friends.  afterwards i looked 

up recipes.  there are lots of them online that look so much

better than mine.  but, as i said, we were in the dark and 

everyone love it

:)

a peek at the traditional fireworks at the 

stub hub center after a los angeles 

galaxy soccer game

in my experimental group each person has an turn to present 

a project to the group.  this month  i led the group  through a round of ten prompts.  

the idea came after a six of my  journaling friends from various parts of the country 

met at my house to journal.   we decided that each of us would give a prompt, one at a time 

and we would all follow along in our journals.  it was so much fun that the 

group decided to continue over the internet after everyone returned home.

my piece using the ten prompts

in the end, in my experimental group, we all had the same prompts but 

each one of us created in our unique style.   you will see from scrolling down.  we all have our own

creative 'voice' no matter the sources of influences.  i found it  the  same true when i was writing.

here are a few of the works in process.

we will continue to work on these pieces next month.

i will show you the results in june.  

i also want to spotlight the plain air art by my husband, bob.

he loves the outdoors and  nature.  you can sense it in his paintings. 

each of his pieces speak to you from a familiar yet distant yearning within.  

today i am sharing this post (late) with friends at paint party friday.   click and you 

will discover many dedicated artists who post their artwork weekly.

in my experimental group we were told to bring a half

sheet of watercolor paper and all sorts of papers , some 

to be share with the group.  we knew we were going to collage 

but that's all.  when we got to the meeting the project was 

to start just gluing anything that suited us on the paper

  without a plan or intention. since there are almost twenty of us, 

we had a large pile of papers in the center of the room from which 

we picked to add to the collage.   we worked for over two hours 

and for the first time that i can remember we didn't stop early for lunch.  

after we ate, we were given the second half of the directions.  

we were to turn the paper over and cut it up in pieces!

without looking at where were cutting. 

i cut the pieces even smaller when i got home

to create act's for my international group.

they are all mailed.  i like thinking of them

once being a part of a whole.

 this turned out to be so much fun. try it sometime.  in fact, 

i am going to my studio now  to start another one.  

have a lovely weekend

XO

the project in my experimental group was 

a watercolor self portrait with wire sewn on.

i don't follow directions very well...  i didn't realized that it was to be a self portrait.  

 didn't take photos along the way so here is a mock up to show the steps.

first we folded a piece of watercolor paper in half and placed it on our table along with a pencil.

the presenter rang a tibetan gong.  we closed our eyes and when the ringing stopped, 

with our eyes still closed, we drew a self portrait in pencil with our non-dominant hand.  

then we opened our eyes and saw some crazy scribblings.  

at this point we could correct some of the drawing if we wished.  to tell you

the truth, the paintings that we left alone had a lot of charm.

next we added watercolors in blocks and wiped it off right away 

so there was barely a stain left on  the paper.  

we continued to add paint until we were satisfied.

then we took about 4 feet or so of wire and bent it every which way.  

i chose to wrap it around my finger forming circles.  

after that we sewed the wire on the paper with a needle and 

ordinary sewing thread.  

then i collaged tissue paper and pattern paper together 

with gloss medium.

and glued a copy of the face it to the back of the paper.

i like the muted look, like seeing a memory.

a bit of acrylic brought out her features.

today i am posting with 

paint party friday

30 Faces in 30 days

gritty jane's 40 portrait challenge

for many years my routine has been to take my journal to a coffee shop

at the crack of dawn and write or draw.  for christmas a friend gave me two pounds of coffee

sustainably grown and songbird friendly called birds and beans, the good coffee.  the 

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center seal  certifies that it is shade coffee.  i knew

nothing about this before i received the gift but i discovered that the coffee is 

delicious.  now my whole mornings have changed and i make a cup of coffee and

write at home.   it's actually very cozy and i don't have to change from my pjs.

the eiffel tower is a memento from a themed dinner in paris themed party.

i thought it went well with my coffee cup and french press. 

an earlier journal page

and more citrasolve experiments

in this portrait i took out some of the ink from the page

and added inks and oil pastels, sanded it and added more ink.

this page started off lighter than many of the pages.  i used a acrylic and matt medium 

mixture to paint.  also a little ink for the eyes.  i will continue to explore

with this medium and decide whether it would be a good presentation 

for my group.

view from the manhattan beach pier.  can you believe it's winter?

the hill in the distance is where i live.

welcoming in the new year with 

my first paint party friday post.  

XO