My magic wand from Ollivanders'

Wood type: holly Length: 11½ inches Core: Unicorn Hair get your own wand!

Swish and flick!

Weird.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6e3xow3iqk

15 heart pages

15 heart pages created for a chunky book collaboration, based on a poem by e.e. cummings.
Hosted by Nicci Mechler. I enjoyed this challenge and look forward to the returns.
Watercolor and stamped backgrounds, lace doily paper, ribbon and one of a kind polymer clay heart. On the back there is contact information and a secret pocket with a tiny painted wooden heart.

Rainbow Bridge Poem - Another Version
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, they go to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who have been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; his eager body begins to quiver. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together. Author unknown

For Sadie and Sarah (aka Cyd) Sadie is ill, and it looks like she may have to leave Sarah. She will be waiting at the bridge for you, dear friend.

Klimt 9 pieces

This is my interpretation of a Klimt painting, it was cut into nine artist trading cards for swapping. A project over at nervousness.org. I juxtaposed a Scherenschnitt watercolored tree over Klimt's tree. Puzzy work, but I like the outcome. It didn't help that I was sick and tried to work on it, I almost cut it to ribbons! It was nice of the swap hostess to give me a little extra time. Thanks Sirius.
Scherenschnitt pattern by Jenn Minnis

Forget Everything
By John Squadra

If someone says, “To be enlightened you must
fast and pray all night,”
Have dinner and go to bed.
If you see a sign, “This way to salvation,”
run the other way.
If someone says, “This book is the truth,
you can buy it from me,”
Take your money and buy grapes and roses.
If someone says, “He’s talking tonight,
thousands will be saved.”

Go for a walk…listen to the birds
and watch the clouds, and leave
your backpack, your Bible and your Buddha
under a tree and hope
they will be gone when you return.
Where we are going you can’t carry anything,
not even your name.
If there is logic in the above,
be afraid, it’s a lie.

But if you feel something in your chest
as beautiful as the grass beneath your feet,
be grateful…open your arms
and forget everything
you ever thought you knew.

Source: This Ecstasy

I found this over at Kirbanita's blog... so true.
Unfortunatly, blogger won't let me upload pictures today. Maybe later.

The color purple!

What color is your soul painted? Purple Your soul is painted the color purple, which embodies the characteristics of sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, royalty, nobility, mystery, enlightenment, arrogance, gaudiness, mourning, confusion, pride, delicacy, power, meditation, religion, and ambition. Purple falls under the element of Earth, and was once a European symbol of royalty; today it symbolizes the divine. Click Here to Take This Quiz

Quizzes and Personality Tests

someones' little nest

I found this under the pine tree in the yard today.

The girls

These are my other two canine friends (besides my beloved Fiona!)
The brown one is named Ashley, and has sort of a home -- she is outside all the time, and runs loose, but she gets fed regularly, has her shots and is spayed. She visits with lots of people in the neighborhood.
She is a sweet heart and Fiona's best friend.
The little chihuahua is named "Diamond" and belongs next door. But she is not so well taken care of. She is skinny and has a bad leg that's not been seen to, she often seems hungry and just wants to be a lap dog and be loved. When I put Fiona out in the morning to do her business and play a little before I go to work, Diamond takes the opportunity to scamper inside, give me a lick, swat the cat, and hide under the couch. She sooo wants to be a part of our family. We have asked to buy her from the neighbor, but she was not very receptable, and thinks that she takes good care of the dog. Breaks my heart. Now I just wait -- I guess if we are meant to have her, the neighbor will come to her senses.
Meanwhile, I get lots of doggie hugs and kisses. When I turn into the drive way after work, I usually see two little sets of ears peaking out of the grass, and when they realize it's me, they come running for ear rubs and belly scratching, and the occasional treat.
Give your pets some extra lovies today!

thought memory

"you will dive back down into the dark deep of the water. You might be at the surface playing for a while with the light, but you belong in the deep were people like us dwell."
Someone said to me once, about depression and relationship.
Oh, I so want the light...

If I was a tarot card...

You Are The Lovers

You represent ideal love: innocence, trust, exhilaration and joy. You demonstrate the harmony of opposites, two sides coming together. At times, you also represent the struggle between what is right and what is tempting. Control is an issue for you, especially when you don't know your reasons for choosing something. Your fortune: You have an important choice you need to make about love, and it will be a difficult choice to make. You are likely struggling between the love you crave and the love that is right. In the end, you will choose what you crave, even if it's bad for you. Because without what you crave, you will feel empty and incomplete.

What Tarot Card Are You?

K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

Some things -- sounds, words, sights, I guess whatever strikes you -- reach deep down inside your soul and touch you. I feel quite touched by this song -- I know it's chord, so to speak...
I can't tell you which one I like better... what a voice. Enjoy.

Harry Potter and the deathly hallows

I just finished reading the final Harry Potter book in a marathon reading frenzy this weekend. I love reading so totally immersed that this world fades for a while, and another is created in my minds eye by the authors' words. I don't get to immerse myself into a book like that very often anymore. I greatly enjoyed myself just reading, reading, hanging on to every word, turning the pages faster and faster. But I don't want to be a spoiler for anyone that hasn't read it yet.
Let me just say: YAAAAYYYYYYYY, HOGWARTS!

Some of my art work from this weekend

A little greeting in deco form for a sick friend




Handmade art papers for a swap


"Night tree at Hungry Mother" - a journal page contribution for beehive22

Thank you all that came to visit here and were wondering where I am. I tend to hide and get quiet when things change in my life.
More on that later, perhaps. Some things are just too private to put out onto the web.
At least that's what I feel right now.
But, on the bright side of life: I got to spend a wonderful three days at Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia with some very nice folks. It's so blissful there! You can rent cabins , and there is a lake to fish in, or swim if the weather allows. Good company, good meals and conversation together, a fire in the fire place, and I did as much art as I wanted too. These are a few of my artistic musings that I made while enjoying the peaceful, sweet energy at this place.

And for a bit of very good news: I found work! Starting tomorrow at a local daycare as teacher.

If I would take my paints out and color my world, it would be blue. Deepest darkest blue.

Or maybe it would be green -- deepest darkest green, like some old forest that no one ever sets foot in. Or maybe it would be black as space, with no colors at all, or so you'd think, until you find the first star, or a colorful nebula. I feel shadowy and strange. I didn't create anything today.

Except for altering this picture of me. Time to rest, I think.

G'night.

Volunteering is a good thing!

Sweetie got volunteered to be the Easter Bunny at the local Moose Lodge's kids Easter party. Here is the costume try out. I laughed so much, I had tears streaming down my face. I am so glad I'm the artsy one, not the funny one. All I need to do is put an Easter basket together and make corsages for the Ladies.
Sweetie, you ARE a good sport! You ought to make Moose of the month for that!

Hands

This is my contribution to a deco on the theme of "hands". Some days I can actually kind of draw!

deco-mania

A deco for one inch art squares -- affectionately called "inchies". This one will circle at Original Art Decos group.

This is a little book called "Wintertime fairies" for a round robin over at the Destiny Art Deco group.

I can't help myself! MUST make books!

The Lady Marion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-scwW3EM1E

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to put a You Tube Video on my blog. All I get is error messages. ::grumble::

If I was a song, that is what I would sound like. I listened to Clannad when I was younger, back home, and found them again here in America, making music for "Robin of Sherwood". It was like a song from home, even though I'm not from Ireland.
I've always liked the Robin Hood legend, any fairy tale at all, really. This one I liked especially because the Lady Marian was a spunky sort and could shoot a bow and wield a staff if she had to. A fair but independent maiden!

Once, a hair weapon was made for me, because it was thought that I was such a woman. I still have it. I can't wear it in my hair anymore because it is no longer long enough. I ought to find a way to keep it with me. The top is Herne, the Hunter, who was Robin's guiding spirit. One of the old Gods, of the old ways.
The song is sweet and haunting, with an underlaying sadness and great destiny in it's heart. Now maybe to someone else, it may sound like just so much harp string plucking, but to me... it sounds like a song in my heart. I listen to it, and all this memory comes to my thoughts, you know, the kind that is more image than word.

Do you ever feel you have been born into the wrong time?

tiny book

From big to little -- another little deco I made today. My latest interest is book making! Always something new to try. It's very satisfying to make something out of next to nothing, and to make it beautiful to my eyes. It's really the process, more than the product, because once it's done, I send it out into the world. And on to the next project.

I spent happy times down in the art corner today, I was listening to a book on tape while I was working on art, the sun was shining and a gentle breeze came in through the window. Very blissful. It felt really really good.

Goddesses Of The World Journal

This is the cover of a journal I created from scratch -- it's bigger than any book I've made so far. It's about 5x7, and it will be traveling in a round robin of fabulous artists.

I had fun making it, and I can't wait to see what beautiful Goddesses it is going to be filled with.

Zetti Deco

I like the idea of Zettiology -- the seemingly random images collaged and doodled together to make another meaning. Or maybe it's just randomness sometimes. Hard to explain, more fun to make. Think Monty Python's Flying Circus, and of course for more contemporary artists, there are Tracy and Teesha Moore.

I made this little deco for a "Pay It Forward" challenge for beachstudio in PA.

On this first day of spring

(Well, ok, that was yesterday! I took the picture yesterday, just didn't get to posting it.)

For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
Algernon Charles Swinburne

Say NO to free Art!

Say NO to free Art!
- Author Unknown
“Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service. But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.
To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?
More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them. And this is not really a surprise.
In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.
So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street? Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)
Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you? If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane.
If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.
But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks? Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.
A few things you need to know;
1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.
2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.
3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.
4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.
5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen? If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.
6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely.
So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them. Say NO to free art. And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free…please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.
If you agree with the above important information, please pass it along. The more people know, the faster we can correct this.”
So, what do YOU think about that author’s post?

Winged heart

Here's a little creation for a fund raiser. I used a mold purchased on e-bay from " crowsnest".

I like the way it turned out.

Victoria Don't Look!!!

This is a little art squared deco that I've made for my friend VK Soaplash over in Oregon. Poor girl is going through the joys and tribulations of moving. I can soooo relate! I still have boxes that need unpacking. Can you believe that? (:::giggle::: I can...)

It's Naptime!

...say the fur children. I think dogs and cats have it figured out. Eat, nap, play, groom, nap, get your belly scratched, nap, go potty, repeat.

Here are my two "favoritest" four leggers:

Journal pages

This is Saturdays' Journal page: "You are here" Started out as a doddle, and turned into a collage.

This is Sunday's Journal page. Mama's death day was 3/2, and I didn't think about the significance of the date on that day, although I think about her every single day. May the Goddess keep you in her arms, Mama.

And this is today's Journal page.. I think it needs something, still. The day is not over, yet.

Other doodle-ies

These little squares are 1x1 inch art squares -- the latest rage in mixed media. I just wanted to try out making some of them. Small is putzy to work with. But you can get them together fairly fast.
And this is a page I did for a housewarming deco ( a hand made booklet) for someone who is moving. More fun stuff.

color play

The challenge here was to pick two colors and work with them only. My choices were burgundy and copper, although in the picture it looks more red and orange. I used acrylics for the background, applied with a credit card ( a very fine use for visa/monstercard!) and made the female body with burgundy colored Fimo and copper perl-ex, and a push mold. Add an asian style stamp, and Voila! a finished art squared page. Fun stuff.

Two more journals ready to travel

This journal is going to be sort of a fairy tale collage book, and have works from artists over at nervouseness.org. in it. "Verzaubert" means "Enchanted".

This journal is part of the 1001 Journal project, it's #1601. Anything goes!

I have been very fascinated with traveling journals lately. I like the open, no rules style of them, and the fact that it's a shared enjoyment with others. I like the richness of the pages that people create, wether they are accomplished artists or not. There is just something freeing about letting creativity flow.

You can see some of the pages I've created for "imagine" here. I can't wait to see what else is going to be in this book!

Now showing at the Louvre

An Original Etayne!

The Sacred Stones

I don't know why I like swirls and round things so much... spirals and circles, and such show up often when I doodle. This little collage doodle is in the "just 'cause" journal, which is now traveling to Oklahoma for its' first guest artists' contribution.

Cover for a traveling journal

This is a little 5x7 journal I picked up at the dollar store. I embellished with art papers, stamped image and polymer clay face.

I call it "just 'cause" -- a free themed journal for everyone who wants to participate in it to be as creative as they like, in what ever medium they like. Just 'cause.

For now, it will travel amongst the nervousness community, and when I get it back, I may send it out on yet another adventure.

:::happy sigh::: Aaaahhhh, Art!