Sunday, June 27, 2010

{What is this Life...}

Leisure
What is this Life if, full of care
we have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
and stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
and watch her see, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
we have no time to stand and stare.
                 ~W.H. Davies

Saturday, June 26, 2010

{New Portrait Painting...}

New portrait painting.
Cropped and mostly ready to become an art journal cover.
I could have used this painting for my own art journal
but I have been saving several paintings from other artists
for a few years now that I
bought just for making an art journal.
I cropped the original even closer in PSE
to see how it would look.  PSE makes it really easy to play
with additional cropping  and still preserve the
original if I prefer.  Can't undo a cropped on the original.

The original before cropping

Thursday, June 24, 2010

{Playing Hookie, SP and Sneak Peek...}

Is it really playing hookie if you officially took the day off?
Well it's a Thursday so I'm calling it playing hookie.
It just seems more fun.  And fun is important, especially for the soul
Working with self portraits.
Continuing with shades of yellows, grays and whites 
with the  possibility of adding a SP to my
art journal.
A seek peek at a few of the pages for my art journal.
I have already attached the spine and am thinking about
taking it out and making it wider.  Or maybe it would
be more fun to make another???  But maybe having a really fat one
would be even more fun!!!!   OK, where is that seam ripper?

Sunday, June 20, 2010

{PSE7 Summertime Fun...}

After 5 hours!!!!!!!!
How fast the time flys.  Did I really spend that much time?
I saved the dried petals from the tulips my son sent me for Mothers Day
and sprinkled them on my front path.  I got down low in the early evening hours
when the sun was low and snapped a few shots.  I then add some layers that Nancy Donalson
over at all pulped out blogspot sent me.  Nancy also sent me a lovely package of
fabric, laces, papers, and lots of other ephermera that I will share with you later.
If you have never been to Morgue File check it out.  They have lots of
great photos you can use and they really are free.  Thats were I got the original
photo for this picture.  Then I added layers and played around with the setting and viola!
Another version of the same photo just with different blending modes.  I couldn't resist keeping this
one too, although, at the moment I am trying to create with yellows, whites and grays
for my art journal
A really great thing about PSE is
that you can use a really blurry, out of focus photo and get something beautiful and usable.
.Case in point is this photo from a magazine.  This vase of flowers was just a small part of the picture.  Enlarged by itself it is out of focus and blurry but after altering with layers, again using some of the layers Nancy sent me I have a photo I can use in my art journal.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

{Sister's Art Journal...}

Finally posting some art.  My sister's style is different then mine.
This is her art journal she created while visiting. 
The cover has an old photo we found while shopping in an antique mall
here in AZ and lots of old lace mostly found at the Goodwill.
The back has photos of eggs and a nest.
Inside includes a postcard and vintage lace collar she's had for a long time
never knowing just what she would do with it.  She finally found the perfect  purpose for it.
Altered photo and pocket.
Vintage baby or doll's cloths and photo of the antique dog she repaired.
She was not sure she could fix it.  But she did.  Hence the affirmation "Believe in yourself"
Photo of the sheer fabric we got at the Goodwill drying on the clothsline. (I used this same photo in my art journal).  And lace pocket.  The only page in the book that is not tea dyed by the way.  We had a big pot of
tea sitting on the stove for 2 days.
Glove page and more photos
We spend two whole days working to get the journal bound before she left
and we did.  Still lots of blank pages to fill in.
Still to come my art journal.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

{Refreshing the old...}

Several years ago I made this steel sculpture, it was one of my first
attempts cutting and welding heavy steel.  It was also one of my first paintd pieces.
This photo shows the new paint job.  Below is an old
pic of the original paint. 
It was ugly even then but I kept it outdoors and wanted it to be somewhat rust proof
so I sprayed painted it.  It was all plain paint and I never really
like it.  But I liked the design so I kept it and moved it indoor hoping someday
I would be able to paint it more artistic.
Over the last several years I have been tring my hand at painting and
it looks like I am learning. :-)
Now with the new paint job it is as I first envisioned it.
(Yes, I have my own torch and mig welder)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

{Antiquing, Shopping, & Shopping, & more Shopping...}

Just a few of the treasures we found
1. and 2. a couple of pear pictures I got in a local antique shop.  I'm really into
pale yellow color and these were the perfect shade of yellows, grays and blues.
3. My sister and I both got these cute little wire bird cages.  We had thought about making some ourselves but then we spotted these two in the trees outside of a little shop in Old Town Glendale (OTG).
4. and 5. is a faux book I also found in OTG.  It opens like a box for storing more treasures.
6. Are some silk flowers we got to help freshen up my kitchen.
7. My new purse. Handmade and signed by the artist.  8. Flowerpot from OTG, again more yellows.
9. and 10.  We both bought this magnetic weekly calendars.  And it gave me away
to revive using the magnetic poem pieces from a few years back.
11. Linens and wooden bobbins. I'll use in my art journals.
12.  Even the bags were pretty from OTG.  13.  Lavender silk plant. 14. Pear picture and lavender plant in there new place in my kitchen.  15. and 16. A very old, did I say old dog my sister found in an
antique shop and repaired it's worn nose with the fur from the old bear she found in another antique shop.

Still to come:  art journals

Friday, June 11, 2010

{Life is Good...}

Hiking the Pevine Trail along Watson Lake    
We have a few "lakes" here in Prescott, AZ.  I say "lakes" with
a smile.  Coming from Michigan, the Great Lakes state sometimes the lakes here
are more like puddles and you can't swim in any of them.  What the @%*&! you can't swim
in them.  Go figure.  Anyway, after 26 years here I've learned to spend most of my time kayaking on them anyway.
And we can always dip our toes in them.
We diverged from the main trail.  Which I will always do.
 And find the secret treasures
on the path less taken.
The sun was bright so picture taking was not at it best

What with cows and my sister?
Her first rock climbing
We had a great view at the top.
One fine day
Next up:  Antiquing and Shopping finds

{It's Good to be Back after my Sister's Visit...}

My sister has been visiting and we have been
hiking, shopping, making art journals, antiquing, shopping, relaxing, shopping, eating,
painting, visiting, enjoying morning lattes outdoors, cleaning and
rearranging my house, but alas no blogging :-(
First up:  In the Best finds category
my $2 table.  After a little removal of the
wood grain contact paper and painting
this became the lovely beauty above. It is still very shabby chic which the
photos don't show all that well. (can you see that faux
wood grain contact paper?)
And my sister found a pair of $10 cowgirl boots.
They were a perfect fit and all broken in.  As comfortable
as can be right from the start.
All they needed was a little clean up and polishing
My sister and I have such a great time when she comes to
visit.  She was here for nearly two weeks this time and
having her as a part of my day became the norm.  I hardly new what
to do with myself after she left.
But I'm slowly getting back to my old routine,
including blogging

Next up Hiking and Rock Climbing