Tuesday, February 27, 2007

For JoAnnA

Here is a link to a couple of art pieces I did earlier this year to encourage my e-friend JoAnnA in her battle with cancer:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19674523@N00/381742904/in/set-72157594521084917/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19674523@N00/381755072/in/set-72157594521084917/

A great many of us made art and charms and sent them to Lelainia Lloyd who bound them into a beautiful book and sent everything to JoAnnA at just the right time. To view the whole thing:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19674523@N00/sets/72157594521084917/

I've actually finished a number of items lately--I just have to find the time to edit the photos and post everything. A week ago I sent three pieces of art to a contest in Tennessee. One was a drawing by a student of mine and the other two were mixed media pieces of mine. I'm curious to see how we do. The shipping was quite an adventure in itself!

But off to finish projects due tomorrow. Good night. :-)

Sunday, February 18, 2007

I'm waiting...


...for the first swellling of new buds on the apple tree outside my window. I look and see the scraggly, wet branches and know that fresh life is coming. Rebirth. A beautiful and gentle picture of God's plan gifted to us with love.
"See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come..."
—Song of Songs 2:11–12

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Latest art adventures

Well, this week was a great week in some respects, but not in others. In the not category, my son and I have been sick. What at first appeared to be something icky has just turned into colds, albeit miserable ones. But out of the not, came the great. Because we were icky sick on art class day, we cancelled class, then on Wednesday our school had speech meet, so we didn't have art that day either. Combined, illness and a change in schedule made for free art time this week! What's that old expression... Oh, I've got it--hip, hip hooray!








Our school has been invited to participate in an art contest, and I've been encouraging some of my students to participate. I worked on two entries this week. Neither of these are finished, but are close now. I've just got some final details to add. The gold one will have cheesecloth behind it and a verse in the lower left corner. (Thanks to my LMT friends for their advice!) The other piece is shown before and after paint. Nothing like a nice, satisfying, coat of paint to pull it all together. I love bright colors--could you guess?
























My mother is headed for a show in California, so she called to remind me to get busy on some waxed stars to go with her. She paints bright silk paintings of cowgirls (among other subjects--see her link in my list), so I'm making some stars from antique, cowboy sheet music painted in bright colors to complement her work. Yes, "The Yellow Rose of Texas" is painted yellow and "Red River Valley" has lots of red--lol! Some of the other songs are definitely not painted according to their mood, though--they'd be too gloomy!










Sunday, February 04, 2007

A is for...

In my life A stands for:



Awesome--"Our God is an awesome God, He reigns in heaven above. In wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God." My relationship with the Creator affects everything I do. He plays many roles in my life: guide, strength, friend, moral compass, creativity, pricker of my conscience, and so many other things. Always He is my redeemer, my joy and my peace.



Art--my background, my childhood, my life now, my current vocation, around my home.



Able--I'm a capable person, usually very efficient.



Always--an important length of time in my life.



Angry--dare I confess it? A huge weak spot in my life, in my character, in my spiritual struggles.



Altitude--heights scare me.



Altered--my art style here in this point of my life.



Aslan--love the Narnia Chronicles.



Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas--a trio of gents that showed up in a great number of my college classes many years ago! I should probably re-read them now...



A--most of my grades, and now all of my daughter's grades so far (YAY!).



Argumentative--a character flaw I'm still learning to overcome, but overcoming. :-)



Antiquity/Ancient--a concept of time that I think about quite a bit and am learning to understand differently as I age.



Aging--I do this everyday and so do you. Ha!



Aragorn--one of my favorite Lord of the Rings characters.



Alphabet--I love letters and their shapes. Typesetting was my favorite part of my life as an in-house graphic designer. I still love letters and use words in most of my art.



Architecture--something I love to photograph.



Without further taxing of my already spent brain, that's it. There must be other things, but that's where I'll stop. Stay tuned for B. Here's the link to the WordPlay web site, where this challenge originated (at least for me): http://beachtreasure.blogspot.com/2006/04/wordplay.html. Join in!