the first journal I made just for me.

materials used:
paint, rub'nbuff, handmade fiber paper, napkin, postage stamps, tags, bubble wrap print on a hard bound blank book.

imagination,scissors & glue! oh my!

This makes me laugh everytime I look at it. And I had such fun making it!

Here's the scoop: My husband's mother and aunt hold "Camp Grandma" a couple of times a year for all 11 grandchildren. They rent a jumbo van, collect all the kids and head out on some wild weekend adventure. A good time is had by all.

The kids have taken to calling them the "Queen Grandmas" (though this sounds suspiciously like a title my mother-in-law would have come up with for herself *smiles*).

The concept for this was created by my mother-in-law (she's the one wearing the body ofMary Queen of Scots) for Aunt Dawn's birthday. The finished product was created by moi, and went far beyond what she had envisioned.

Aunt Dawn loved it. I

:o)

my space

so this is my "studio"
(hahahaha)

It's where I play
and dream
and hide from the world

(mostly my kids and that one annoying neighbor)

It's the only place on the planet that's
ALL MINE.

(doesn't keep the kids from spending more time back there than I do, or the husband from from using it as a tool dumping grounds, though.)

It's nothing special, just a space that I don't have to clear in order to serve dinner.

thick as a brick

journal page-

It started out as a written rant, but when I thought about it a little, I decided that her intrusiveness would have her reading all about herself, so I went visual instead. Maybe it will fool her. She's thick as a brick.

Any way... "She" is a neighbor of mine. She spends way too much time here.... I'm not much on fluffing the esteem of insecure people. This seems to be the duty she most wants me to perform. I also don't have patience for people with a shortage of common sense. She's seriously lacking in that department, too.

Also, it offends me when people I don't particularly like walk into my house without waiting for me to invite them in. It also offends me when said person decides to stays for hours on end, despite being told that there are many jobs to be done that day and no time for visitors. The fact that I continue doing whatever I was doing and don't drop everything to entertain should offer a hint of some type, but like I said: She's thick. As a brick.

She doesn't leave her house in winter, so I have a reason to look forward to it this year.
"Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!"

not so great at sharing, huh?

I haven't posted anything here for a very long time. I've spent hours and hours scanning stuff, but when I start browsing through my folders, I don't see anything worthy of public display. Not that this is any more worthy than anything else, it's just time to get back in the swing of things.

I'm not sure who this woman is. I started with the cat eye glasses and was thinking of Aunt Dee. She and Aunt Karen have been having some issues recently and I (jokingly) offered to make Karen a voodoo doll to take her aggressions out on, which promted me to start thinking about what details I would use to convey that this was representing Dee.

The cat eye glasses. For sure. She's sporting them in her 8th grade graduation picture. The only other thing that stands out to me about her (as a physical characteristic) is a picture of her with her skinny little legs poking out of her communion gown at the hospital while recovering from rheumatic fever. Beyond that, I'm at a loss.... and I'm not making the doll anyway. It was just something to ponder.

But this looks more like my mom. Who also sported some cat eyes back in the day.

my very best work

Christmas was great, despite the unexpected car repairs that ate up the budget.

I had an enlightened moment as we were rolling down the road with the wheel ready to flip off at any second... Christmas will no longer be about gifts and how much we spend on each other.

Every year at this time, for the last 3 years, something major happens that breaks the bank. This year it was the car. Last year it was bank charges from hubby and I doing too much shopping at the same time. The year before I was trying to keep our home out of foreclosure (almost unsuccessfully). Somehow, I still always managed to spend too much of what we don't have. I spent the day feeling guilty knowing that I was neglecting some important responsibilty to buy my kids toys. And not enjoying the guilt at all. It stood in the way of enjoyment.

I want to go back to basics. Make it a time to spend with friends and family; enjoy good food and great conversation and maybe even some good drink. I've been moving this way over the last several years, but this year sealed it for me.

Despite that bank busting repair, and a lot less than usual under the tree, the kids ran around all Christmas Day saying that it was the best Christmas ever. And I didn't have to play referee once!

That's all I need.

big stinkin' giraffe

:o)

hurry spring!

We got our first snow today.

Mother Nature is not being kind.

Usually the first few times we see the fluffy white stuff, it disappears as fast as it falls. Not this year.

There's at least 6 inches on top of my grill. The weather man called for up to 3.

I hope he found a good hiding place.

I can't make any art lately. I try, but it's not there.

I hate this time of year.

what's my sign?

I've been staring at this sign for years. It's what I see when I look out the window from my seat on the couch. I decided since it was such a regular part of my life, it deserved a photograph of it's own. I think it will end up as the cover for a photo album I keep, honoring the effort of pulling our home into the current century. I think we'll be well into the next century before we get there...

It's an actual photograph, colored with my latest new toy... caran d'ache neocolors II.

They're kind of like a regular crayon, but much smoother, water soluable and very blendable. They provide better coverage with a much smoother finish than regular crayons. I like Crayola's portfolio water soluable oil pastels, too; but these are different. Firmer... less messy.

This paper (regular ink jet paper) wasn't the best surface for working on. Blending was nearly impossible and the addition of water just makes a big mess.

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)