My Elephant

I'm still loving Lani Gerity's series about the trainer and the elephant. This is how she explained what it means: The trainer or rider is that part of ourself that has goals and can think about consequences. The elephant is the part of us that wants what it wants right now. It's very hard work training the elephant because it is so big. Here's another digital compilation I did about the subject.

I found the man on Trendland and he was photographed by Aduu Juma Masudi.

Corben's Snowman

The weather here has been so strange. Monday it snowed. Corben, with some help, built a snowman. I didn't make it outside since I was still fighting the flu. Tuesday the temperature rose to 55, and it rained. I managed to run outside with my new iPhone 4 and take a picture of the snowman before it melted all away. Today, the high this morning was 62. It rained off and on. Now the temperature is dropping quickly as a cold front moves in. The predicted high for tomorrow is 26. It's no wonder I can't get rid of this flu and sinus stuff! But that's Michigan for you. By the way, the snowdrops are up and the flowers are almost ready to bloom. I hope this cold doesn't wipe them out now.

New Motto

This came to me while I was lying in bed not being able to sleep.

Elements from Rucola Designs' kit "Mind Behavior."

Words of Wisdom

From Dr. Who 2013 Facebook page.

Art Journal Caravan 2013 Week 4 Poetic License

All I can say is, these were the words we were given!

All elements by Tangie Baxter except white hedgehog clip art which was Googled.

Normal?

If you're feeling a little down or maybe like you're just not like everyone else, you should read Suzi Blu's post http://suziblu.typepad.com/a_lovely_dream/2013/01/what-would-it-feel-like-if-you-painted-your-dining-room-walls-pink-and-put-all-your-art-supplies-into-the-china-cabinet.html

The artwork above is hers, and as usual, everything she does makes me feel happy!

Mixed-Media Collage

I've been spending a lot more time creating with mixed-media. It's so much fun when you let go and don't worry about the results. I had some real Paris ephemera, and decided to do a Paris collage. The dried rose petals and leaves are from a bouquet from my mother's funeral. I hope they will last a while.

Inner Child Says

Elements from Tangie Baxter's new kit "I Am Brilliant." Font is Tangie's "Elephant."

Visit Seth Apter's Blog On Sunday, Please

Seth Apter's continuing series of questions and answers from artists is continuing this Sunday. Seth emailed me to say one of my responses is going to be included in his post on the 27 th. That's a little scarey, because I don't remember at all what I said. Being the crazy person that I am, there's no telling what I wrote. Oh my. I guess I'll be as surprised as you will.

Here's the link to Seth's blog: http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Life Book 2013 Week 3 - Flowers

The lesson for week 3 in Life Book 2013 was about how to create 3 D flowers using aluminum foil and tissue paper. The lesson was taught by Christy Tomlinson. Unfortunately, the 3 D flowers did not allow the scanner to scan properly, so this picture is blurry. It's one of the most favorite things I've done in any of the Life Book classes, and I wish I could have posted a better image of it.  Oh well. At least this is real mixed-media! : )

Art Journal Caravan 2013 Week 3 Metaphor

Most elements from Finecrafted Designs' "Paris Art Studio."

Art Journal Caravan Week 3 Poetic License

This year Tangie Baxter created a digital package full of words and short phrases. She lists numbers only for each week, and if we choose to do so, we select the words that match numbers and try to make some kind of poem out of them. Obviously, they won't make a whole lot of sense. Trying to do a art journal page to match is even crazier! I, of course, rose to the occasion. You may wish I hadn't. :O)

Art Journal Caravan 2013 - Week 3 - Quoteable

Elements from Tangie Baxter's new kit "You Are Brilliant!" at scrapbookgraphics.com

Training Your Elephant

This digital compilation will not make any sense unless you have been following Lani Gerity's several last blog posts. http://lanipuppetmaker.blogspot.com/ To be honest, I have to go back and re-read them, because I've already forgotten what the elephant represents. But she has been creating all kinds of fun elephant related collages, and I had to try doing one. The original photo was found by Googling "man and elephant." I don't have any rights to it.

Life Book Class 2013 - Week 2

The second week class of Life Book 2013 was taught by Monica Zuniga. The idea was to create a painting with a mixed media art doll, and would state words that would represent true intentions for the coming year. Nothing like pushing someone's comfort level! But I finished the assignment. :o)

Gray Shrouds Above

Take A Word Challenge - Fantasy

Life Book 2013 - Week 1 - Part 2

For part two of the first week in the year long Life Book course, we were suppose to create a painting (mixed-media) that was celebrating the start of our new journey for 2013. It was suppose to look a little silly and happy while traveling down a road. Well, I always seem to accomplish silly! :O) We were suppose to include a couple of goals and things we were thankful for. Even though this wasn't a serious mixed-media assignment, it was very satisfying to do.

Art Journal Caravan 2013 Week 2 Metaphor

Art Journal Caravan 2013 - Week 1 - United Kingdom

This had to be crazy with Dr. Who being featured! But Lady June is a real friend, and if you would like to visit her blog, the link is: http://junibearsjottings.blogspot.com/ She has been one of my favorite blog buddies for several years now.

The elements used are from Tangie Baxter's "AJC 2013 January Collection" and "The Doctor."

Take A Word Challenge - Art

When I was asked if I wanted to host this week's challenge for Take A Word, I had a quote in mind instead of just one word. Unfortunately, I don't know where the quote came from. You know what they say, the first thing to go is your brain! That's why I did a self-portrait - just in case I forget what I look like! :O)

Art Journal Caravan 2013 - Select A Word For Year

The theme for this year's art journal caravan is traveling around the world. We were asked to choose a word for the year, and create a passport stamp using it. Since I'm always battling depression and anxiety, I chose the word "hope." We won't give up if we hang unto hope!

Life Book 2013 - Week 1

I'm busy preparing all of my work I did for Life Book 2012 so I can bind them into a wonderful art book. It should be pretty awesome once it's done! I'm not saying that in a bragging way. I'm just so happy that I have 18 mixed-media pages done that I can actually point to and say "I'm painting and creating mixed-media!" It makes me feel like a real artist. I believe digital artists are real artists, too, but it feels so different to get your hands all covered in paint and gesso.

Well, Life Book 2013 started this week, and I have part one of the first lesson done. We were suppose to come up with a fairy godmother or fairy godfather that we could look to for encouragement during the upcoming months whenever our inner critic starts saying nasty things to us. My inner critic is eternally mean, so I was eager to do this assignment. The character is actually a stamp I enlarged that was originally created by Tracy Moore. I love both Teesha and Tracy Moore's work! Although, I guess you already know that since I love any form of zetti artwork.

Like Yourself

Happiness

Lani Gerity has a bunch of "happy" faces pinned on her Pinterest board. They inspired me to make this.

Last Week of Art Journal Caravan 2012

The word for us to journal about for our year-end page was: HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA

Where do words like that even come from?!

Some elements from Parcel #52.