Looking forward to the NEW year!

 

Wow!  Here we are again.....celebrating the end of one year and anticipating bigger and better things in the new year!  So, as this year ends, I will tell you how grateful I am to be alive, to be extremely healthy, to have a great family, a loving husband and the time, and good fortune, to make as much art as I want and/or can!

Let me assure you that I think getting older truly is a state of mind!

There are some  great things that come with the passage of time and ageing....one is confidence, another is acceptance! 

Where that applies to art is: you eventually learn that rejection is a fleeting feeling that soon will be replaced with acceptance.  Sometimes, it doesn't seem soon enough, but if you keep trying and practicing your art.....you get better!  It takes time and determination and you may never think it is "good enough" but someone will!  You will still have doubts and wonder "what the heck am I doing".  You just have to keep doing!

I so appreciate those who make their living making art.....it is hard work but it can be done and being self employed is never as easy as it sounds.  I was fortunate enough to work for newspapers when we still designed and built all the ads for our accounts.  I learned a lot about graphic design and I loved it, still do!

About six years ago, I started keeping a garden journal that has evolved into my "everything" journal.  I still use it to keep track of garden activities but I, also, use it for an art journal and a daily diary.  I have been sharing that experience with others on Kate's The Kathryn Wheel blog.  Maybe, the best part of doing these journal/calendars is you have made a "hard copy" of your life's comings and goings,  something to look back on and being reminded of "life happenings" big and small.

Here's a look at my almost finished pages for December.......

When I say this is my everything journal, I mean everything.....I keep tickets for special events, special cards or notes from friends and family, along with receipts of major purchases and the Christmas cards we receive each year.....all inside this journal.  Those white pieces of paper are the ticket stubs for The Singing Christmas Tree performance we attended a couple weeks ago.

You notice, I still don't use boxes for my days like most of Kate's other "calendar girls".  I did, however, use circles on this page to contain my thoughts!  I seriously toyed with the idea of conforming more in 2013 but, no, it is not to be.  I love journaling everyday, even if it is only a word or two, I would rather be more random (I guess that's what it is) and so I made a conscious decision to continue with my "random" method.

I spent some time debating which journal to use and how to lay it out, then decided I like what I've been doing the past two years.....why change now.

So, I have only begun my pages for January......

so I think I'll wrap it up this afternoon.

So, back to enjoying life and continuing to learn.....NO MATTER your age!  I appreciate the feedback from my blogger buddies and the inspiration that so many are willing to share.  Doing art is a solitary endeavor and we are so lucky to have this world-wide platform where we can learn and share.

This past year has been full of learning and rewards.....I can hardly wait to see what the new year will bring.  I hope it brings you and yours the happiest, healthiest New Year ever!

Ready for the New Year!

 

I hope your Christmas was wonderful and that Santa brought you lots of art supplies!

Ours was crazy and fun, as usual, with 25 adults and 10 children at our house to share Christmas Eve.  Only the children under 14 receive gifts, after that, you become part of the White Elephant exchange.  My kids, and their families, never cease to amaze me with their creative and amusing gift ideas! 

I have not been doing much in the way of journaling this past month, but I did do these two...........this one before Christmas.

On the left side are drawings I shared earlier and have since added watercolor and a border before I taped them into my journal.  The right side is play with a capital "P", doodling dogs and trees!

More sketching and watercolor and a watercolor heart framing a quote from A. A. Milne were done yesterday.

Probably, one of the best gifts I received this season was from Cloth Paper Scissors, where my collage was published in the Silhouette Reader's Challenge!

I cut this stencil of a tree trunk from an old file folder and sprayed it with old-fashioned spray paint over a collage of paint, tissue paper and stamps.  Check out the latest CPS Jan/Feb issue to see the other entries and get inspired by all the great ideas in this magazine.

Here's wishing you a healthy, happy and art-full New Year!  Join me, if you have time, at Julie Balzer's Art Journal Everyday blog......you'll see some inspiring art, if you do!

Greetings!

 

Like most of you, I've been getting ready for the holidays and I have been sorely neglecting my blog.....so today I thought I would briefly share a little of what I've been up to.

 

 

Our tree is small but it represents the love and laughter that we will soon be sharing with our family, all thirty of them, from six months old to 80 years young!

 

 

Here are a few of the things I've made this year to put under that tree..............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the shopping is done, most of the presents are wrapped, most of the baking is done....time to relax and enjoy the festivities with friends and family.

Bless you all this Holiday Season!  May the New Year bring you health, happiness and peace.

 

 

It's beginning to look......

 

a bit like Christmas around here!  Today, I finished making the Christmas cards.

With this message inside......

 

 

and chairs on the cover.  You'll have to wait a while to see the finished product, sorry.  Don't want to spoil the surprise.

 

 

 

Saturday, Joanne Sharpe the handwriting guru, shared with all, an inspiring series of FREE class.  We are up to class four today, I don't know about anyone else, but the classes have  inspired me to get busy and to make some things I don't think I would have made without the classes.  Joanne encourages her students to take advantage of their own handwriting, with the addition of some loops and flourishes, and use it for a design element.

 

 

I picked this bags up at the Dollar Store, two for a dollar, added some gold paint stripes and words and words written with a black pen!  Voila, great gift bags for fifty cents and a few minutes of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, Joanne's idea was to just write Christmas inspired words with a gold pen on gift wrap paper....adds some class for little money and time.

 

 

 

 

 

So, here I am.....Christmas cards made, not address of course, but made and a good start on wrapping paper. 

Soon, I guess, I'll have to give up playing and get serious about some shopping!

Drawing practice..........

 

An art friend, recently, gifted me with this really cool book........

It was one of those things I didn't know I wanted, until I had it......it is a great book and, now I know, I wanted and needed it!!!  The author, Carla Sonheim, gives you some super exercises to stretch those drawing muscles. 

So, this morning I sketched our Al Cat while he was taking his morning nap in the sun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I tried Carla's exercise, trying to draw a more whimsical, less realistic cat!  I know for those who "say" they can't draw that would sound like it is easier.....it isn't!

She suggest drawing about 30 of them.....I'm a tenth of the way there!  She, also, suggest putting the drawing pad on a pillow for a less stable surface.  I have to try that, too.  But, it got me drawing and any practice is good practice and I would love to be able to draw whimsical animals!

This is a fun book.....Thanks, Shelia, I love it.