A birthday present ...

..for my best friend Sarah, aka Cyd.
I started this little ornament of the Goddess Nathor while still living in Seattle, in the fall of last year. Then it was packed up for the move to Tennessee, and not here in time for Cyd's birthday. Lost for many many weeks amongst many many boxes, it finally resurfaced, and I finished it in time for this years' birthday. Good thing she's my best friend and very forgiving.
I'm slowly recovering from my muses' absence, and creating again.
I find there is other ways of creating, not just in the type of art that I do. Yesterday we spent a blissful day at Sweeties Mom's house, making Christmas goodies. She shared her recipes for Zucchini bread, Pumpkin bread, and my favorite, Peanutbuttercup Cookies. She whipped out eight loaves of bread and 4 dozen cookies in a half a day! That Lady is a true artist in the kitchen, Southern Style, of course.

Sometimes the flow of creativity slows down. I haven't created much lately, but I think that is passing. It's becoming winter, in spite of the 70 degree weather. Yesterday we spend time at Sweeties' Mom's yard, helping her get her Winter Wonder Land up. Even the reindeer were sweating.
My job has come to an end, I still think that I need to get up tomorrow morning, and go to work, but I don't!
Of course I need to find some other job, but I am taking a few days off. We have been working on getting the house cleaned up, and that feels really good.
Thank you all for visiting, bear with me. I'll have something fun to look at soon.

I have been doodeling with the paint program on the computer just for fun, oh joy! A new way of doing art! If you see just a grey rectangle, try clicking on it, it may open to the real picture.

Create your own snow flake!

http://snowflakes.lookandfeel.com/

A little bit of splendor

What I see out of my living room window....

Altered Art Boots

This wonderful sculptural piece was created by my canine friend, Fiona. Note the artful use of open spaces, and uneven surface texture. Randomly placed bite marks create interest and excitement, and the separated pieces convey a longing to belong to the main structure.
Fiona excels in her chosen art of chewed objects, and the art world eagerly awaits her next piece.

Nature Deco pages

Two water color doodles for a Nature Deco. The small journal originated in Milan, Italy, and goes on to New Zealand from here.

Belated Boo!

I know it's after Halloween, but here is Fiona in her witch outfit. It took three treaters to get her to sit even remotely still for a picture. Little does she know she is in training for a set of reindeer antlers for Christmas. And I swore not to put my dog in clothes, ever.

fall collage

Fall is my favorite season. I love the brilliant colors of the turning leaves, I can never get enough of the flaming trees. It is especially beautiful here in the South, I fill my pockets with fallen leaves, and use them in my art work. This collage goes to Justtra in North Carolina.
We have two pine trees in our yard, and they shed and shed! I rake and rake, and they just keep shedding! I would just let them be, because I like the copper red blanket they create, but it's a tidy neighbourhood, and that's alright too. I pile them around the tree trunks, and lately a little doggy has made his bed in there every night. Burrows down in them, and stays warm. We are trying to get close to him, but he doesn't trust us yet. So I keep piling the pine needles up for a nice burrow for him.

summer art doll

This is Gypsie Rose, by SacredArtist, one of the dolls I received from the summer art doll swap.
I totally adore her!

autumn

I love the fall season. Nature wears her splendor -- flaming reds, bright yellows and oranges, copper and brown brilliancy. My eyes drink it all in, every year it seems more spectacular. It is my first fall here in Tennessee. I love the warm sun, with the crisp cool breeze, the cold night air, and the rolling sea of fog banks over the fields in the morning.
And yet, I miss soggy grey Seattle....

This leaf goes to VK soaplash in Oregon for her collaberative art zine "Optical Nerve".

Collage

I made this for a swap over at nervousness.org. It's going to ithica in Arizona.

Journal pages drawn to music

This one is "Soar".
..and this one is "Hush"

The music was Secret Cardens' "Dreamcatcher".

lunch time doodle

Inside the actors' studio

I've always liked this questionnaire -- so here are my musings on the questions:
01. What is your favorite word?
Forest
02. What is your least favorite word?
gun
03. What turns you on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally?
Nature's neverending beauty, and getting to be out in it.
04. What turns you off?
unkindness
05. What is your favorite curse word?
shit
06. What sound or noise do you love?
rain drumming on tree leaves
07. What sound or noise do you hate?
cars crashing
08. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
being a professional artist
09. What profession would you not like to do?
butcher
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"You did good -- now you can go play over there!" :::points to fully equipped art studio with never ending art supplies:::

Another handmade post card

" Floating Goddess" -- collaged hand made papers, gel pen drawing. Also for a post card swap over at nervousness.org. This one goes to moo in Australia!

handmade post card

"intuitive magic" for a post card swap over at nervousness.org -- this one goes to emenelgy in MA!

Merry met, merry part, merry meet again

I visited my best friend Sarah aka "Cyd", in Detroit this past weekend.
We had breakfast at my favorite greasy spoon:

BIG BOY!


We had Eggs Benedict, potatoe pancakes, bacon and coffee. I can hear my arteries groaning... salt and grease... Yum! (Once in a while.)

On Sunday, we went to the Renaissance Festival:


Here is the knightly Cyd....


...and wenchly me, sporting a feather circlet, which was all the rage.


Cyd tries on some leather armor.

More Sunday creations

Here's a quick carving I did for an ATC (artist trading card) swap, and the finished ATC.
The challenge was to incorporate only the following elements:

shades of brown/and or blue
a face
rhine stones
rubber stamp
a triangle
fabric

I like the way the carving came out -- simple, but expressive. It's a neat medium -- I can make anything custom that I need, or think of. And I find that the stamps look better than bought ones.

I feel the best of me when I sit at my art table and create. Glue and pencils and scissors and water color, crayons and stamps and sponges and brushes; so many colors and images and patterns. Before I know it, 2 or 3 hours have gone by. The dog sleeps in my arm chair, the cat is curled up on her pillow, I listen to the radio and I truly feel peaceful.
Todays' creation is a page for a deco ( a small handmade book that gets sent around to different artists to decorate a page) in the style of "zettiology".
More on that here, if you are interested: www.teeshamoore.com

And yet another bug!

Todays' mystery bug:
This was also caught at work. Some kind of giant fly. It's about one and a quarter inch long.
I'm glad next week is ocean week in my class room.
::smile:::

Addition: This seems to be a type of annual cicada, also known as DogDay Harvest Fly.