Art Journal Every Day ~ May 23, 2014

i have some art journaling pages today.
and words~! ;-)
during the last few months i have managed to art journal on most days.
i definitely prefer working on the fabric art pages lately.  they take much more time but i'm enjoying the work as well as the finished pages.
 
with this in mind i made the decision to leave the Journal52 "highway" and enjoy my "scenic side road" of fabric art pages instead.   i like being able to take my time and allow the 'work' to progress intuitively and organically as i experiment with ideas and techniques on the fabric pages. this makes them generally too slow to make keeping up with the Journal52 project enjoyable.

 

remember this one 'in progress'?
btw: that's a bit of a tea bag there behind that moon.
many possibilities for sure~!


i continue to surprise myself as i enjoy the art quilting more than i ever thought i would.

traditional bed quilts are wonderful and i still enjoy making them and sleeping under them and even decorating with them but these small art quilt pages have captured my imagination in a whole new and unexpected way.

this fabric page was the result of a Journal52 prompt (found poetry). i extracted words from an old book on how to pay less taxes . . . i enjoyed the finished poem and the irony of it.
i also used this page for experimenting with using cheesecloth as a base for some improvisational weaving. i LOVE the results and am now thinking of creating some soft yet bright curtains for the long side windows by my front door as well as one for the window in the front door itself using this technique. i have another example of this experimentation on one of the postcards in a previous post.

this simple page is a further experiment in weaving. this time using leftover skinny strips of fabrics combined with stitching.
lots of possibilities here as well.

this page is the result of a few very small scraps of my own hand dyed fabrics with an inclusion of a batik that i liked (the spiral printed pieces).
i enjoyed using different weights of thread as well as varying the stitch lengths. i see that quilting can be so much more than just a small running stitch in fine thread . . . not quite embroidery but definitely some complexity to add interest within certain spaces . . .

on this page i have stitched a combination of fabric and paper and will likely do more of that over time. i also used that hand made turtle stamp that i made a while back. it's a fun stamp and i enjoy using it.

 

 



i have enough fabric pages now that i am beginning to  look at ways to combine them and bind them into a book . . . i will have more to show on that stage of my fabric art journal soon.

 

 

i also have this more traditional art journaling page from march (right before i made the decision to leave the Journal52 project). i was feeling overwhelmed by many things when i created it.

funny how our feelings can come out in the creative process. i was really struggling but thankfully there's humor here too.

i reused the front side of a windowed envelope as my 'page' placing the gecko behind the window.

 

i will continue to work with paper, glue and scissors but for the now i'm enjoying the slow (thoughtfully) stitched fabric page.

 

 

 

i hope to join up with Art Journal Every Day today.
  
     


recent gifts include:

• several truly memorable days spent with my gracious daughter in her home
• time at the edge of the pond consulting the goldfish and freshening it up for the summer season (current spring counts: big fish =14/small fish=3/no sign of tiniest ones from the fall . . . yet . . .)
• many blossoms despite some frosts
• the gift of an incomplete needlework/needlepoint project and a lesson on how to complete it

a very belated happy new year

hello all.
i've finally returned from my long holiday break which was filled with all of my favorite things: family close by, good food, relaxed chatter, laughter, love and lots of quiet time. 

i've achieved a lot with the cleaning and organizing during the past few weeks even though i have had to take it at a continually slowing pace . . .
there will have to be a break from that for a while as i have another hip surgery scheduled for early in february. this time i get a new left hip and then, hopefully, i'll be as good as new. 
during my recovery time i'll be doing several small stitch projects and although blogging and internet contact will probably be sporadic i do hope to be around.

due to my slow start into the new year and the current issues to be gotten through i have decided not to challenge myself this year with anything more than enjoying the moment and healing.
that being said, i do hope to maintain my priority of stitching at least a little bit every day and will share the results of that as i have something to show. mostly i'm going to attempt to work steadily forward on small things that need finishing up and occasionally i may jump in now and then with a mini challenge.  i've begun a personal digital art journal using photoshop and i'll share pages from that on my blog from time to time. i do still have an interest in following along with the Photo Art Friday group but for now i'll be contributing only sometimes.
this week at Pixel Dust Photo Art the optional theme is to create a piece of photo art that is minimalist. i've cheated a bit and used a photo (and haiku) that i posted on my blog in january of 2010. the shot fit the theme very well so i will be linking up to share it.
this photo was used straight out of my digitalelph camera (the only one i had at the time) with only a slight crop.

 a white world revealed

bright cleanliness; a clean start

cold revelations
 

at the beginning of the year Photo Art Friday's optional theme was to share a piece that featured a word that i chose to guide or inspire me for the year 2013. i was so excited because i had already chosen a word (receive) and i had even just finished creating a digital art journal page using it~!~ but when i attempted to post it Blogger was having issues with photo uploads. dang it~! i tried some of their work-around suggestions but without any luck so i'll share that with you now.
btw: i'm really glad Blogger is working properly again. 

 

this digital art journal page was put together using only my own photographs and artwork.

i've chosen the word "receive" as my word of the year. i hope to learn to receive both the good, as well as the challenging, as gifts. it's all about learning to see that  what i've been given isn't always about the good. sometimes it's about learning something valuable from the challenging . . . or remembering that what may seem like a burden in the present moment may not seem that way in hindsight . . .
i will be open to what this word has to teach me in the year 2013.

since i couldn't do posts of my own (and apparently other bloggers could), i enjoyed lurking catching up on some of what was going on elsewhere. when i checked up on Lori at Humble Quilts i discovered that she was doing a mini doll quilt-along and decided to join in. i'm going to need a few small pieces for fundraiser donations this year so thought this would be a great way to get a start on those.

this is my first step of the "abundance" quilt-along all finished.
i didn't stick to the colors of the original antique doll quilt or those that Lori used. i just chose from scrap pieces that i had enough of for each part of the quilt.  



 

this is the postcard that i made for the wonderful daughter for the month of december. i have also finished with the january card and will be posting it soon.

 

 

i'm currently seven stitches behind with the TAST project/challenge from Sharon B's Pintangle blog, but have every intention of jumping back into  it soon.  okay, maybe not actually jumping but definitely sitting (nicely on a cold pack) with hands ready to stitch.

 

 

 

 

recent gifts include:

• watching my granddog Suki run spinnies (you know, when the dog runs around like her butts suddenly caught on fire) round and round the yard at full speed with a big lolling tongue sort of smile on her face.
• watching a flock of geese come (almost daily) and nibble on the golf course grass that is exposed under the trees . . . they seem to be making a habit of this.
• creating a pot of ham and mixed bean soup to enjoy on a cold winter night

 

 

today was a great mail day~!!~ full of fun and fabulous surprises.

i recently participated in a give-away from Cathy of Big Lake Quilter and low and behold ~!!!~
i actually won~!
a beautiful collection of moda fabrics as well as an Omnigrid Mini-FoldAway. i work small a lot of the time and expect that the miniature cutting and pressing station will come in quite handy. as for the fabrics . . . they are so yummy that i'm bound to find myself starting a (forbidden) new project . . . i could sure see these fabrics making a sweet little doll quilt or two . . .  hhhmmmmm . . .  maybe a great way to pay the give-away goodness forward . . .  it is about time for me to have another one i think . . .  how's that for a tease?
thank you so very much Cathy.

i also received a totally unexpected card from Jay of  Creative Crone from studio Q. she is a zentangle artist extraordinaire as well as a fellow quilter. she has challenged herself with creating regular zentangles as well as an accompanying haiku with each one.  i LOVE visiting her and seeing her newest creative tangles.
and today, totally out of the blue, i got a card from her that was full of loving kindness as well as one of her beautiful zentangles.
on the back of the zentangle is it's very own haiku written by Jay:

 "Giving is Pleasure.

No matter how large or small,

The thought is the gift."

how true and how blessed i felt to be the one thought of in this special way. thank you Jay.
btw: can you guess what proud state Jay is from? there's a clue within today's photo.

in addition to all of that goodness i received the newest issue of the Cloth, Paper, Scissors Magazine.
i've been so busy admiring my other goodies that i haven't even cracked the cover yet but am looking forward to taking it to bed with me and possibly staying up late soaking up much of what is within it's pages.
a fabulous way to end this abundant day.

today's gifts include:

• the generosity (of both spirit and gifts) from friends i've made while blogging
• a walk with River and my wonderful husband. the new hip is feeling really GOOD just lately
• the lovely feeling of excited anticipation

"If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees."

Khalil Gibran

"Alone with myself

The trees bend

to caress me

The shade hugs

my heart."

Candy Polgar

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

fall seems to be making it's presence (presents?!?) known more every day. a chill in the morning air and afternoons beckoning with wonderfully mellow sunshine in a sky that is somehow bluer than at any other time of the year.

the hollyhocks thrive during this time of the year. while photographing them i was intent on noticing the glorious light and the deep red color of these particular stalks. it was only after i uploaded the shots onto the computer that i also seen the hollyhocks had another visitor at the time . . . a surprise that made me smile.

you may have noticed that i haven't been posting much and have been pretty slow to answer most comments. this is due to most of my extra time going towards preparing myself and my household for my upcoming hip surgery. the date has been set and during the second week in october i will go in and have it done.  i'll be blogging quite a bit less for approximately the next six weeks. it may be a shorter amount of time but there is no way for me to really know and amazingly at the six week mark the holidays will be upon us all and so that may slow me down as well. 

in an effort to be more prepared i've been trying to get some of my holiday creating done early . . . i do hope to be able to share that here in my blog in bits and pieces as i can as well as do some blog-hopping to see what everyone else is up to. i may be a bit of a lurker, checking it all out when i can . . . hang in there with me. i'll do my best.

today's gifts included:

• time with the trees
• the autumn afternoon warmth
• freshly picked corn from the garden for dinner
• that blue BLUE sky

Texture Tuesdays

this Texture Tuesdays challenge was to use text within our image as well as at least one of kim klassens textures. i used two textures: not to shabby and stained linen.
i was pretty light handed with them and did some erasing on the textures from the parts where i wanted the flowers to really remain light and bright. so they are subtle this week. i was also careful with the text as i wanted it to just be a "whisper".

 Beginnings

this is the original photo taken from my garden a few days ago.

*****     *****     *****     *****     *****

and then being the overachiever that i sometimes can be (or maybe i'm just having a really good time) i had to do another one. this one much more dramatic. this time i used only one of kim's textures: warm sun.

 Widening Towards Enlightenment

i even was inspired to write a cinquain (a five line poem) to go with it:

moon snail

radiant symmetry

an inner mystery

widening towards enlightenment

growth glows

 the black and white snail shell is one of my own photos taken from my archives. i don't think it's a very good photo as a stand alone shot but i didn't want to dump it either . . . i think it worked well here.

this is a photo that i took of a fallen rose petal several summers ago. i loved it's color and luminosity as well as the subtle details.  i hoped i might be able to use it as a texture layer someday. it was fun to work with and i'll use it again i'm sure.

today's gifts include:

• time to work/play in photoshop
• some joyful giving
• a friend's shared happiness

lifting up the work

the thread waiting patiently

rhythm mends spirit

i'm a "Did" today Pom Pom~!!~

:-)

a white world revealed

bright cleanliness; a clean start

cold revelations

i woke up this morning to a fresh fall of snow. it's beautiful but i'm tired of winter . . .

i went outside (briefly) and got a quick shot of my freshly glittered garden and then felt like i could write a haiku to go with my minimalistic photo. i've been recently inspired to explore the world of haiku by a chance encounter in flickr and a couple of internet acquaintances so you may be seeing more of it within my blog as time goes on.

one good thing about winter is that i'm happy to be doing a little more quilting and have finished another doll (carrot) quilt. this one was made using some vintage star blocks that were given to me. i did a bit of reconstruction and added some of my own fabrics. it has a finished measurement of 16 and 1/2" x 21 and 1/2". i backed it with the lavender printed white fabric that you see used around the outer edges and bound it with a dark green print that i thought suited it. i can't say that it is one of my favorites but it will be a nice one to have within my doll quilt collection.

there is something about traditional antique quilts that i find particularly appealing lately . . . maybe it is that warmth of character that they seem to exude through their (often) hand stitched fibers. i see them and imagine the makers and their various circumstances and am amazed at how these quilts were frequently made using a minimum of resources, time and even good light to see by! i have such respect for both the beautiful finished quilts and their hardworking creators. i have recently discovered a few blogs that are fueling my current need for traditional and scrap quilts and the inner warmth that they spark up in me. if you are interested in doll quilts in particular go see Persnickety Quilts at http://www.persnicketyquilts.blogspot.com/ and click on her "doll quilts" label. she has a fantastically varied collection that i frequently drool over. for a bit of history with your doll quilt there is nothing like a visit to quilt author Kathleen Tracy's blog: A Sentimental Quilter at http://www.sentimentalquilter.blogspot.com/ . she's written three books on doll quilts with a fourth one in the works and has done a lot of research into the ladies (many of them young ladies) who made these gems. i recommend her books as well as her blog.

i recently discovered a delightful series for making a doll quilt called "Cheddar Cheese and Crackers" at Humble Quilts: http://www.humblequilts.blogspot.com/ . this blogger has many beautiful quilts, both large and small, within her blog. after reading this well done three part tutorial i've been inspired to add this pattern to my (long) "must make that(~!~) list". i do love that "cheddar" color used in many older quilts~!~

for further gorgeous fabrics and color choices you must see Inspired By Antique Quilts at http://www.inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com/. this blogger is a magician at the art of "getting it done" and i also love the many links she provides within her space.

and last but not least i must share this final blogspot not only for her fabulous use of scraps (which i so admire) but also for her humorous choice in blog names: What a Load a Scrap at http://www.whataloadascrap.blogspot.com/ . as you can imagine, this spot is full of ideas for using up one's final bits of fabric as well as a healthy dose of humor~!~

in addition to visiting tempting blogs i've been going through my own collection of vintage and antique quilt blocks in an effort to decide what to do as my next carrot quilt (# five~!~) and have turned up this cute embroidered "Hickory Dickory Dock" nursery rhyme block.

as well as these antique broken dishes blocks . . .

sometimes i think i just have too many choices~!~

maybe i'll think of some way to "marry" the two together . . .

i've decided to sit down with a cup of cocoa, some homemade shortbread cookies, and a few good quilting books and see how cozy i can make myself feel on this cold winter day.

won't you join me?

sealed with a kiss

in the icy moonlight.

a refusal to speak

of implied promises.

hope lingers in long shadows.

my heart belongs

where the wildest roses tangle

with the ripest grasses

in fragrant ecstasy

increasingly for the last few weeks i have been thinking about how my life seems to be a treadmill affair. i have to keep things simple and there are daily needs to attend to that steal from what i consider to be "my creative time". i resent that i cannot do every thing that i wish on any given day. i just can't fit it all in. i never considered the days long enough even when i was "healthy" and my productive/creative time becomes reduced constantly and sometimes erratically. this often makes me angry. not for the first time, this morning i thought about how this anger is robbing from me something that i can't afford to lose. the more energy and time i use to be angry, the less i have to be happy and creative with. seems so simple then . . . just "be happy" and continue on . . . and i can choose to see this as a laboriously fruitless life (a treadmill affair) or i can be grateful for each moment just as it is given to me. some moments seeming to be just "a grind" to get through in order to get to the next moment when i can (hopefully) finally enjoy the moment . . . see what i mean; a treadmill affair.

so this pretty well sums up the thought process for me lately and my effort is certainly there in trying to "carry on" with some grace and dignity, in fact to anyone observing i appear to be pulling it off fairly well. which is good because the last thing i want is pity~! what i really want is . . . well, i really want to just feel peace and self acceptance for what it is that i do have. i really do have so much to be grateful for(!) and i'm aware of that . . . i just lose sight of that thought while forging forward. does every moment have to be approached as a simple meditation in order to keep this in the front of my mind? and so i wrote my own simple meditation in the form of a poem. i felt better after i wrote it . . . for a while . . . then i had to re-read it . . .

life is cyclical. that is how it is supposed to be. i see this cycle repeated in many ways and in fact enjoy these natural rhythyms of nature. even relish them. so here, in this poem, is my attempt to frame my own life up as the natural creative cycle that it is. i need to make this acceptance as natural as breathing . . . and so again, i begin.

i begin.

accepting.

i begin again.

and yet again.

each new moment, a gift

every beat of my heart, a gift.

every renewed breath, a gift.

each thoughtful conception, a gift.

to be contemplated with love

and received with gratitude.

i begin with gratitude.

and yet again, i begin.

accepting.

and again

i begin.