remember who you really are

This was inspired by teesha moore's work.

It's a journal cover that I made this past weekend after spending some time enjoying Teesha's website.

I've got a long way to go before I'm in the same league as her, but I had a good time with it.

The colors look funky in this scan... the pinks aren't quite so bright and the background is actually purple, not blue.

another recent journal page.

"found poetry" is amazing... no matter the subject of the written text, i can usually find a couple words on that page to describe what i'm feeling at that moment.

this one is a gentle reminder to myself that i need to listen more, occasionally look the other way and always show my love.

... it also reminds me of the path i travelled when those things weren't shown to me.

secrets

This is another journal page...

I made it while I was visiting my bestest bud in Florida for a long weekend. I took more art supplies than clothing that weekend and it caused me excessive worry about whether I'd have to pay additional mega-bucks for my bags being overweight. It weight exactly 38 lbs... phew! (and my clothing bag had a few pounds to spare...)

I was slightly hungover after having several drinks for the first time in several years during the creation process.

The night before, after consuming those drinks, we wandered through some galleries in Delray. I felt very inspired by... ahhhh, can't remember his name right now... Salvatore something. His work is almost all hearts. Very textural, intriguing, colorful hearts. He tolerated my drunken ramblings in the middle of his gallery like a true gentleman. (And he's a real cutie, too!)

I've come to the conclusion that this represents something I still carry as my own "little secret". I'm still not telling!

things that make you go "hmmmm...."

Yesterday evening, I was driving down Michigan Avenue, heading east towards Ypsilanti, driving my father-in-law home, talking about Hawaii. We've recently started seriously considering a move there; he's got inside information.

I glanced to my left and spotted this car. Right smack dab in the middle of MY town! In MICHIGAN!

I tried taking a picture on the road, but it didn't prove feasible while still keeping the car on the road. I caught up with her at a gas station.

I think I scared the hell out of her, but when I explained my excitement, she laughed and told me to take as many pictures as I wanted.

Later, I stopped at Michael's to return a rubber stamp, and right there on the counter were little bags of chocolate & coconut covered macadamia nuts. They were delicious! :o)

snooper!

a page from my journal.

these things seem to invite prying eyes!

this one is a marble composition book... the kind you used in grade school, with the black and white covers.... except it has blank pages instead of lined.

i like to leave them laying around.... someone always picks it up and starts thumbing through it. they don't even think to ask if it's okay until they've finished. ... cracks me up when they realize what they've done! and even funnier is when they realize i stood there watching them the whole time!

little do they know... i love that they peek! and enjoy seeing them enjoy it....

uniform

A doodle from a promt... I think it suggested drawing my favorite outfit.

Since I dont have a "favorite outfit"...
I drew what I'm most comfortable in and wear almost every day.

I finished it off with watercolors and twinkling H2O paints, which I discovered a couple of months ago and absolutely LOVE! The finished texture is smooth and great for writing over, plus it twinkles!

trees

Something fun I did the other night.

Weird, too....

I went to visit a website that had creative prompts. I liked the ideas, so I printed out the list and took it to my play room. I completed one item on the list, decided I needed to go back and read more of that site, and then moved into doing "my own thing".

I returned the next day, poked around, and found a collage that this artist had done. It was very similar to "my own thing".

Guess I'm not as original as I thought!

But I swear.... I didn't see hers before I made mine :o)

marjorie's secret

Another of my photo collages....

This is the grandmother that I met a couple of times, but never knew. My mother was not raised by her and the only contact I really had with her was in the form of a $25 check at Christmas, thanking her by telephone and following up by note. I met her once when I was 4 and again when I was 16. Her dog bit me during that first meeting, so I have a permanent reminder of it in the form of a scar just below my right knee.

Scarred pretty much describes everything Marjorie left behind.

I found this picture, the lace, and some of the buttons when we cleaned out her home after she died.

Her partially exposed face represents the secrets she carried to her grave. The lace was made by her and represents the webs of confusion she left in her wake.

Intro

That's me, over there. <<< I'm the vivid image. The background photo is mom. Both were taken many, many moons ago, but only recently compiled as a reminder of all that I owe her.

I won't go into details... let's just say it's a love/hate kind of thing. I'm working on getting closer to the love and eliminating the other stuff. It's not really hate... just mass confusion. She's a difficult woman to know and sometimes very difficult to love.

I've created this space, more or less, to share my artwork. I call my art "Mercurial" because I never know what's going to come out of me. Each thing I create is vastly different from the creation before. It keeps life interesting... Mercurial :o)