Pink and Blue Blessings

This is my final page for March. I've been wanting to use that crumpled up blotter paper for a while and I stuck to the original pinks and blues in the paper and went from there.

Sally

I don't like this painting as well as the ones I did in DJ's class. I struggle with shading and what-not. It is going to take me a lot more practice. She turned out more cartoony than I would have liked. I decided her name should be Sally -- but it later occurred to me that maybe her name should be Paris, because she is painted on those plaster of Paris gauze strips. The cheesecloth texture was hard to paint on, but it was a very neat effect.

Suess Inspired Page

This page is what happens when you use Dr Seuss as your reading material before bed LOL

I'm pretty happy with my page -- except the doodle trumpet --- bleckkkk! I need some serious practice there LOL

Haiku Triptych

One of my yahoo groups is doing themed prompts with haiku's so I thought I would try my hand at it. The theme was dreams. This is also a page I started a few weeks back for the fantabulous Karen O! prompt of transitons a while back on Gothic Arches. My idea got too large for me to pull off, so I made it into a triptych ... but I was too late to post ... sigh ...

More Frida

Another altered Frida pic from the calendar ...

Gloomy Fridas

Here is an altered artwork by Frida Kahlo I did in the calendar journal RR. I am not very familiar with her work and no really good ideas popped, so I more or less added a border.

Lookie What I Got!!

I have been carless for the past 6 months -- and it really bit LOL

I was waiting for my income tax so I get a better used car ... and guess what? I found one!

I found a little mom-and-pop kind of car lot where this guy fixes up cars that have been in minor collisions and resells them. I picked out a car last week. The advantage is the car had not been started yet and I got to see what it looked like before he fixed it up -- and it truly was minor damage on this car. I saw the engine and everything firsthand. My brother and I felt very good about this car.

They are done fixing it up for me and it is so perty!! He replaced a few dinged up panels on the car and the tires are almost brand new. The body is pristine -- except for one minor scratch.

Oh yeah -- this is a 2001 Saturn SC-2 with 77,000 miles. My last car had 83,000 when I got it.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all my local gals who carted me and all my junk to local art meetings!

This is only my 2nd car -- and I am excited at how spiffy and sporty it looks!

This car has a feature called a suicide door. That sounds creepy, but it's really cool, because I can get art stuff in the back seat real easy LOL I got some weird lighting effects when I took the photo of the inside, so the seats look all speckly and funky ... but the interior is just as pristine as the outside. And this car has all the fun extras :)

The only defect I found is the seat won't move forward. He told me to bring it on Saturday. He will fix that for me and also detail the inside for me.

I am so thrilled --- this makes the 6-month hardship worth it!

Hand-Carved Stamps

Here is a stamped page of all my missing hand-carved stamps from last year :( Sigh ...

So the timing couldn't be more perfect for Michelle Ward's stamp carvng crusade.

I did an art journal page with some of my new carved stamps, but the paper was a little too textured and some did not stamp well. I also added the pages were i was stamping off as I worked on them. They are pretty faded ... I was using an 8-year old stamp pad LOL

Heart in Hand ...

I am a bit late ---- eeeekkkk! But here are some hand pages I did for a hand-book swap in honor of sweet Michelle -- who does some of the most amazing journal pages I've ever seen :)

I hope she likes them. I haven't been doing incredibly deep work lately. I'm just doing what I like these days --- if that makes any sense.

Leap

My last page for February ...

The Red Shoes

This was inspired by a fairy tale ... if not a somewhat macabre one :)

Trust Your Heart

I can't get with it lately. I seem to have lost the logging bug :( I am posting some remaining pages from the February calendar I was too lazy to post last month. Perhaps I will get the March pages posted in April LOL

Things have been a whirlwind lately.

Lisa's Countdown

I almost missed it LOL But here is a link to Lisa's Countdown. Cool images!

Betray

Well, I'll spare you all this sad story -- but this was kind of an art therapy page for me. I had to let go of an 8-year friendship and regain control of my life. It is still shocking to me that I was so blind to what was happening -- but life lessons were learned from this experience.

Hearts Galore

I'm more than a little late posting LOL But what could I do for a Valentine's page, but hearts?

Shoes

Shoes ... shoes ... shoes LOL

Alpha

I had a tough time getting journal pages started last month. It felt like I was simply running out of ideas LOL So I cut out alphabet letters and glued to the page. That turned out to not be so quick and easy as I thought LOL

Long Time No See

It seems I have lost interest in blogging lately -- and perhaps art too. There have been a lot of life changes in the past month -- out with the old and in with the new as they say. My focus has been on my job lately -- and there is potential for it to turn into a more professional career, but to really make this hapen I need to pursue a degree.

I only have a few credit hours, as I took one semester of college immediately following high school, but due to a number of life circumstances I was unable to return. It has been laziness that I have not considered returning before now -- but it is time. I was never one to take classes just for the sake of taking classes. My goal at 18 was to major in English, so I could become a fiction writer one day.

My focus is quite different now. I have several mentors at work and they say I am a natural for IT work -- particularly when it comes to being a Business Analyst -- and I also love working with the data. Data sounds so boring, but I love tackling challenges. If I don't have to use my wits to solve problems, I'm not really interested LOL

I have the potential to move into several slightly different fields of work at my job, so hopefully I can hang on long enough to get at least an Associate's degree -- but a Bachelor's degree would definitely be better.

I'm going to fous on getting as much art stuff wrapped up as I can -- but ultimately, I will have to drop a lot of groups and probably will not sign up for any more long-term commitments. My focus will be moved back onto my local art group, as I have spread myself so thin I feel I am not getting everything I can out of my local art group.

This is a lot of change for me and I am trying to embrace it -- but we'll see LOL I am also hoping that cutting back on the art stuff over time will motivate me to get my art stuff all organized. I get to a certain point and it just stops while I mess things back up with more art LOL I'd like to truly get it organized -- in a way that I can actually manage it. I never got to the point where everything has its own place. I don't know how successful I will be in that area -- but a little peer pressure will help LOL

Late Valentines

Well -- a Valentine just wouldn't be a Valentine from me if it were in time LOL
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do more fun mixed media hearts -- so here are some Valentine postcards I made and they seemed perfect for Wednesday Stamper and Mixed Media Monday this week.

WorkShop Art

I think it has taken me about a week to recover LOL -- but I took the most fabulous workshop with DJ Pettitt and Traci Bautista. I worked on my projects all day and put in another 3-4 hours a night doing art in the evening. I was absolutely determined not to add another UFO project to my growing pile LOL

I struggled with the mono-printing in Traci's class a bit. I was a bit heavy-handed with the paint and my prints on paper did nto turn out so well. I cheated on some and brayered paint on, stamped, etc LOL The paper towels and fabric prints were my favorite though! And I actually got a book assembled this time --- yippeeee! This was a really fun binding -- I can't wait to do more like this!

And DJ -- she was such a joy -- and so sweet! I've always been terrified of drawing people. DJ was very encouraging -- so I hope to do more drawings and face painting :)

There's about a gazillion thumbnails below -- so have a look :) Thanks for the fab weekend, DJ and Traci!!

Okay -- I'm cheating LOL I uploaded these a few days prior to the "By the Sea" prompt on Theme Thursday -- but it seemed perfect for this prompt. I've really had it with snow and winter, so I just had to do a sea theme -- longing for summer LOL