Altered Love - The Garbage Kind

Yes, I have been away from my blog for a couple of years or so. Someone the other day asked if I was ever going to add to by blog. I told her that it would be a grand idea to do so. So here I am, adding to my blog. 

I do miss adding my artwork on here. There are a lot of things that I have let go over the years, a couple different computers, moved a few times, gotten my teaching license, a couple different husbands and a bunch more. Have you ever stopped and thought; why am I not doing this or that any longer? Especially if I really enjoyed the activity. Some of the activities have gone away because I just can't do them any longer. I can't sleep in a tent, or hike or even walk very far because I need a new knee. Other activities have gone to the backburner of stuff I liked to do and might want to do sometime. Much of the time I do have is spent recuperating from my teaching job. It takes so much out of a person to be a good teacher. Most nights after work I just have enough energy to eat dinner with my husband and read. Bedtime during the week is early and so it does not leave much time for anything that takes too much time. I do sometimes work on a bit of a collage in a junk journal, but nothing too much. But hey! Summer is almost here and that means I have a great deal of time off. 

Some of the art I have been doing for the last few years is junk journaling. If you might not know what this type of art is let me explain. 

Collect a lot of what most people would through out or call ephemera. The stuff to be thrown out is usually clean bits of paper, or broken earrings, etc. Ephemera is old or new postcards, photos, paper, stickers and so on. After collecting some of this material either use a regular writing journal, create a journal out of old books, journals, or different types of materials. A word of warning! Once you get started collecting your material can get out of control. However, if you organize your stash, it should be somewhat controllable. Once you have some material and a journal then it is time to create. Oh, you will need glue, scissors and all that type of stuff. Pick a page and start tearing, cutting, gluing, and so on until you have a finished page. Yes, it takes a bit more than this to get a page spread that is appealing. Check out YouTube for different creators on Junk Journaling. I also use these methods in my travel and life journals. It is a fun way to add a bit of pizazz to a journal. One more bit, as your are traveling take a travel kit of scissors, glue, pens, markers, etc., and collect the ephemera of your travels. Add in photos when you get back home. Collect postcards, restaurant, museum and other attraction receipts for gluing into your journal. Write about your day. Put in the good the bad and even the ugly. In the future when you revisit this journal your entries will bring back more memories than if you had only just photos to look at. Once again check out YouTube for videos on travel journals. Most importantly, Have Fun with it!

Here are some details about the photos in this post:

I used the mailing envelope for these books. With the larger junk journal the envelope was used to cover an old composition book that I had created for another art project. That project never went further than a few pages. This journal was then used during Junk Journal January of this year. It was a fun project to work on at the beginning of the year. It took a lot of my scraps and such to do the daily prompts for the challenge. For more information check out Junk Journal January and/or July on YouTube for ideas and prompts.

The smaller journal was also made with one of the mailing envelopes. Instead of covering a book/journal I folded and cut the envelope to create this journal using the method to the left. The hardest part is folding the cardboard. With the edge of a ruler or a bone folder it can be done. Be careful not to tear the cardboard when pressing the edges, at least not too much. Any 'flaws' will just add to the junkiness of the journal. 

I made this journal yesterday which is why only the cover and one 2-page spread is finished. For the first spread I created and typed up a one liner poem on my new manual typewriter. Anyway, I am looking forward to creating in this little booklet. Not sure how long it will take, but it will take quite of bit of scraps and ephemera. Yes, I have a lot, but one can never, almost never have too much. Give it a try and as always, Have Fun Creating!

New Art Piece - Legotopia

 

Yes, it has been a while since I last posted. Yes, I say that a lot. I do have good intentions to post more often but life comes at me like a freight train. It seems like I am constantly trying to run besides that train. Same ole excuse. Sorry.

I have changed some parts of my life that were kind of dragging me down. That is a story for another day. 

A couple of weeks ago I decided to pursue my desire to create a monochromatic art piece using Legos. First, I had to sort through my hundreds of misc. Lego pieces into color groups. That took a bit of time to do. Once I did that I could see what it was I wished to create. However, before creating it I have to order a couple of 10 x 10 white base plates (I have two black as well). Once those arrive I began the project. There were not any instructions on where to put each bit, it just flowed out of my artist's mind and out through my hands. The piece evolved each time I sat down to work on it. More like play with it. After working on it for a week or so and using up every white (there are not any painted parts) Lego piece it was done. 

I found a frame on Amazon.com that was nearly the same size as my piece. When the frame arrived I had to paint the backing board black to match the frame. Of course, I did not use the frame's piece of Plexiglass because of the 3D aspect of the artwork.  I mounted it with super-duty double-sided tape and hung it on the wall.  

Looking straight at the piece is fascinating, however, if you look up from the bottom, it looks like a futuristic city all in white. There are several parts that move and reveal some surprises. Yes, there is a Lego figure located in the upper left corner. What is a Lego set without a figure? Got to have at least one. 

It was quite fun to create and it felt good to be listening to my muse. She has been silent for some time now. Hopefully not any longer. 

I hope you like the piece. Be well, my friends. Ciao!

I am Such a Procrastinator

     I have read this book, okay I listened to it. It was a really good book and quite enjoyable, but it didn't help. Maybe a little, but I am still a procrastinator. I checked out Eat That Frog:21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy from my local library. It looked promising. However, I procrastinated on getting started and then it was time to return it. Just now I looked up books on procrastination and there are a lot. Perhaps it shows me that I am not alone at the procrastination party. With that many books, there must be a lot of people who have that same problem. You are probably wondering what it is I am not doing. What is causing the procrastination issue of the day? Well, here it is, I started at about 10 this morning with the intention of writing my part of our team's lesson plans for the week. After a few minutes, I found myself doing so many other things on the web. I have successfully revised and created new pages of my website. Of course, that lead me here to my blogs and the realization that I have not posted in some time, so of course I had to fix that. It is now 3:30 in the afternoon and I still have not managed to get back to the lesson plan. Good thing I still have tomorrow to work on it. Seriously, the thing isn't due until Monday morning. I have all day Sunday to work on it, and I will get it done.
     Here is what I have learned today. I truly enjoyed working on my website and blogs, so I guess the day full of procrastination was productive in the end, and really that is all that matters. I will probably always be a procrastinator. All I can say now is this; Procrastinators Unite! (someone who isn't a procrastinator will have to organize our get together. ;-) Ciao and be well my friends.

New Art Tool

The second drawing I did on my new computer. 

Hi all,
Just thought that I would let you know that I am still here. Yes, it has once again been some time since my last post. My bad! Anyway, sorry about that. Not going to make any promises, because they don't always get kept. I will check in as often as possible. Life is busy and this is as much of a promise as I can make at the moment. Hang in there with me and all will be worth it.

I just got a new art tool and it is kicking my butt! The tool? Well, it is a new super awesome HP Spectre 360 13" computer. I have been wanting to draw on a tablet but did not want to buy an iPad. So this computer is the next best thing and it is capable of doing so much more than the iPad. I have to do some more research on what is the best electronic pen to use for drawing and apps. That is part of the fun of having new equipment, you get to play and learn. It is a super fantastic computer. So much faster than my last computer which was bought in 2011. I still have that little red guy, because he still works. Oh, I did have a newer touch screen HP, but my son sat on it and broke the screen. So very sad. It was a nice computer but once the screen was broke it became a dead computer.

My first and very crude drawing on new HP. 

Another bit of art news. I put a couple of abstract paintings in an art show at my school. I will have to take a couple of photos and post them here as soon as I can. They look fabulous in the frames that I bought. This summer I hope to do more paintings and of course art on the computer. I need to get more art back in my life. It always helps me when I do. Oh, I have been keeping up with my Index 365 and have a little over a month to go till the challenge ends. I will try to take a photo of all the 3x5 cards at once. If I can manage that it would be an awesome photo.
Well, I better go and eat lunch. Please stay tuned for updates and artwork. Be well, my friends, Ciao!  

Playing in My Studio

Wow! My summer vacation is almost over. We fabulous teachers report back to school on August 6th. It will be two weeks before the kiddos come back. There is much to be done and learned before that happens. I am excited and looking forward to another group of wonderful second graders. Yay!

I have had an interesting and most productive vacation. First, I managed to take and pass the Praxis II test which allowed me to apply and receive my Level 2 teaching license. Thank goodness that is over.

Second, I started exercising again. I see a tiny bit of improvement. What I figure is if I do the exercises every day then sooner or later something will happen. That is it on that.

Another bit I did was go on some mini vacations. One to a resort town and the other camping. Both were fun.

Finally, maybe not finally because there were other activities that I did, but I just want to get to the art. I started a fun project using 3x5 index cards. The plan is to draw, paint, collage, etc., on one card daily. At first, it was difficult for me to figure out what to create on them. Those beginning cards are not so great, but hey they do show my progress. I have used a lot of my pens and paints so far on these little cards. Yes, the paper is horrible for some techniques, but still exciting to see what happens. I also write what material was used in the creating of the art piece on the back of the card. That way when I come back to them and wonder what was used to create it the information will be on the back of the card. The project was started on June 18th and as of today, there are 44 cards. Some of the cards I have used in my art journal that was also started this summer. That journal is fun and unique, but that is for another post. Probably when I get more done in it.

Another art project I did was to create in an art journal that I have had for a couple years now. It is a journal that I play in, so it does not matter if there are mistakes. There is no such thing as a mistake if you learn from it and yes, I learned from the mess-ups.

To help jump-start my art heart I watched some artists on YouTube. One such artist is James Burke. He creates wonderful non-realistic drawings of women (mostly). One of his videos shows what he does when he gets new art materials such as paint and markers. He makes swatch dolls or buildings. I loved the idea and because my studio contains so many markers, paints and various types of pens, I decided to create swatch dolls and buildings. Wow! What fun it has been and very freeing. I have discovered fun pens that have been hiding in my stash. Creating these swatches has helped me so much. I can feel the artist child in me screaming with a joyful noise.

The ladies in the picture above were created one day just for fun similar to Mr. Burke. I added my own twist. They are done with artist markers and other pens in the above-mentioned art journal. The journal is filling up with some fun and very colorful drawings. Yay!

Okay, these are just some of the activities I have done during my vacation. It is so nice having a studio again. I have missed it and my artist child is extremely happy.

Be well, Be happy, my friends.

Where Have I been?

I have been working on getting my Level II teaching license. Still not quite done yet. The first thing that I wanted to get done was my portfolio. I had several ideas going and was stalled by my choices.

When it came to why I was having a problem is the perfectionist in me. The one who thought that my portfolio had to be so good that it would get an "A". This is totally silly because I was not going to be graded on it. The portfolio was simply a way to show others that I am progressing as a teacher. This helped me to choose the method of how I wished to present my portfolio. What I ended up doing is revamping my website.

At first, I thought that it would be a simple thing to do. It was simple but very time-consuming. Okay, I could have just added some bits and pieces and called it good, but there again, the perfectionist in me had to have the website nearly perfect. Argh! Why do I do that to myself!? Not sure, perhaps it is how I grew up or how I was taught. I do not know, but trying to be perfect is annoying. It sometimes causes me to not do anything. My thinking is that if I can't be perfect at such and such then why do it. There are times when it is so bad that I am paralyzed by that thinking I have to be perfect. It has caused panic attacks and other illnesses. I have lost days from all this nonsense. I can't get those days back. However, I can start each day with the knowledge that no matter what I am perfect just the way I am. That mistakes are learning moments.

I have to move forward in my thinking. Move towards the best that I can be and not judge myself by what others think. Be grateful for the knowledge that if my feet touch the floor every morning when I am blessed with another day. Another day to do what I am meant to do and what I wish to do. I will be perfect when I leave this world and go to the next. For now, I must not let that perfectionist demon ruin another day.

Be well, be happy, my friends!

Dunbar - A Book Review

St. Aubyn's reimagining of Shakespeare's infamous play, King Lear is just a gritty as the original. Lear is a man who is greedy with power and pride. Dunbar is a modern version of the original. A man driven by power and pride that eventually ends in the destruction of his empire and the one daughter that truly loved her father. Her love was for the man, not money or prestige. She only wanted the love and acceptance of her hard-hearted father. His other daughters are the female version of their father. Hard-hearted and cruel doing whatever it takes to get the power of the corporation.

I enjoyed reading St. Aubyn's version of King Lear. It was gritty and tragic. There was a couple of problems that I personally had. One is that I really do not know completely how the business world works. Not sure how stocks bought and sold can affect the bottom line of a corporation. Even so, I was able to follow the story and enjoy the up and down emotions of the characters. The other problem that might bother some is the profanity and sexual scenes. That being said, to me they added to those characters whom said and did the actions. Without those scenes and profanity, the character's evilness would have fallen flat. So if you don't like it then do not read this book. However, if it does not bother you and you are a fan of Shakespeare then I highly recommend St. Aubyn's Dunbar.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”