An Early, Busy Sunday!

I'm sitting here eating my lunch and talking to whomever happens to come along. It is more often than not that I believe I am talking only to myself, but nonetheless, I endeavor! I'm having ring bologna, corn chips and cottage cheese. Oh, Yummy! (Not really... the corn chips are the best part.)
I have completed 2 Chunky pages, 4 ATCs (with #5 still to be sealed) and cut, I really don't know how many, (30 maybe?) blanks for The Little Book Challenge over at atcsforall.com. I got up at 1:30 this morning after having slept since 9 a.m. on Saturday. I guess I needed a good sleep? It rained from about 2 a.m till just before 6. The electricity was off from 4:30 till almost 6:30 a.m. I was not a happy camper about the electricity being off that long. When it storms, we usually do lose the electric for a bit. Guess it's just cause of the ruralness of my locality? Not sure, but I usually tolerate it quite well. It was raining, thundering and there was a bit of spectacular lightning in the wee hours, but it was NOT a big storm. It usually takes a Big Storm to shut down the power. There is an orange bird of somesort outside my window as I type. He's catching grasshoppers~ YES, YES, EAT THEM ALL LITTLE BIRD! There are way too damn many of them!
While the power was dead, I simply went back to bed after I made myself a sandwich and ate in the laundry room while watching the light show out the back door. I discovered I'd do OK with basic daily living if my sight were ever taken from me. I found the kitchen, the mayo, bread, lunchmeat and the knife to spread the mayo --- all in the dark. And it was PITCH DARK! After I made my sandwich, I remembered the little flashlight was hanging from the shelf in the laundry room. The sandwich would have been a bit less messy, had I remembered that light BEFORE I made it in the dark, but oh, well! It still worked out alright.
My creativity, which was in full bloom when the lights went out, was hampered severely when I found myself in the dark. One cannot do art in the dark. One just can't!~ Believe me, I tried! I had fairies to draw and I wanted to do them NOW, not later when the lights came back on. It didn't work near as well as the sandwich. I got tired of laying in bed and got up thinking I could do something or another in the art dept in the dark. Remember I slept like 15 hours straight already and bed was the last place I really wanted to be. I thought about taking a shower in the dark, but remembered that wouldn't work either. The pump runs on electricity and we didn't have any power at the time. So Billy and Doob joined me for a snooze. Apparently cats can't do anything but sleep when the power is out. No clue where that silly Miss Blue was. Fred (dog) was asleep on the loveseat in the livingroom. I could hear him snoring as I made my way from the deskroom to the kitchen.
The power came back on and I got busy on my fairies.
I can't show you all the art I worked on while most of you were sleeping. I must get that scanner and my own pc hooked up before the weekend! BEFORE the weekend! There's another Collage-A-Thon this coming weekend over at AFA and I'd really like to participate in it then. And I'd also like to show you all my art instead having to describe it.
No poetry today. I haven't the time to type out a poem for you. Sorry. Perhaps next time...
No art today either... explaination already given!

I signed up for a cool mail art project earlier today. Go check it out here:
Thanks Lisa. I've added GoMakeSomething to the sidebar on this blog.

Art And Poetry

I thought I'd share some poetry with you all today. I haven't written any new stuff for ages. The muse is busy with artwork instead these days.
First, a painting...

Sleeping on the Boardwalk
Acrylics on watercolor paper. ATC. This one now lives in New Jersey.

I've had three yellow tabby cats. They are my favorite kinds of cats. Samson, Jack and Henry are the yellow kitties I've had.
Samson got traded around within my family years ago. I was the third person to give him a home. He was a lover to the end!
Jack was a rescue kitty. His real name was Dracula but my husband had said I couldn't take him home. But I did anyway. I changed his name to Jack cause the boys were really little at the time and they couldn't say Dracula. Gary never knew the difference! And Val never let on that Jack had come to our house. Jack got sick and died on us shortly after I brought him home.
And then there was Henry. Henry wasn't even six months old yet when he disappeared. I think the coyotes had him for supper to be quite honest with you... I will have another yellow kitty some day.
The kitty in the painting came from a photograph of a cat sleeping on the sidewalk. I found him in a google search, and changed things up a bit for the painting.


Poetry:

I wrote this poem back in December of 2006.

Dreams For Amusement

you flashed that smile,
the one mingled with passion,
a smile that lives on
even when the lips have ceased the action

I see something
not of the realm
where only
mortals dwell

nothing
compares
to the splendor
of affection

forget that we think,
we reason,
we command
forget we are
only
woman and man

fools never take the chance to find
the realm
where lips can prolong
the effects of a smile

reasoning does not enter the hallways of the mind

you simply know which doors
are not locked,
where the mind
floats on every thought
we've pondered,
every thought yet to be

you fuel the dimensions
of a universe not explored

unfound treasures
lie bare on the floor,
all that's required
is to see their uses,
to make them whole

refresh the staleness found
when the doors are not
opened for a long, long time

arrive early, stay late--never go away

merry is the soul with intellect
to inspire words
of gratitude and glee
where two minds
mingle in rhapsody

unusual friendships
amusement coaxes out of
ordinary souls
on the treadmill
laboring uphill

such loneliness I hope not ever to find

energy is strengthened
in the aftermath
of knowledge shared,
of knowledge gained

I use your mind for amusement,
feel free to use mine as well

established dominance
means nothing if the will is there
encouraging exchanges of emotions

no one flourishes on their own

caring barters
in the grasp of life
make for very good bedfellows
who dream peacefully at night

in the small hours
you have flashed that smile,
turning darkness into
adventures wide
where
slumber eases us
into perfect dreams

I hope you've enjoyed the creativity offered. Have a beautiful a day!
Peace

I'm still alive and Kicking!

Surfing Rat ATC This is the third surfing rat ATC I have done. Each of them uses the same image but with hand drawn backgrounds so each is different, though similar. This one has acrylic glaze and clear glitter all over the background to make it look like there is water spraying all over the rat. I like the way this one turned out. It has been traded.

This one wasn't quite dry when I took its picture. Collage of craft sand, paper cutouts and toothpicks all attached to chipboard painted in acrylics. This one is still up for grabs as of today.


I made five of these sailboats. All of them look pretty much alike. I was going to send them for the Water Theme Original Art Swap over at ATCsforall.com but I decided to do acrylic paintings on sandpaper for that swap instead. I traded one of these and sent another to a friend in California as a surprise. There are still three up for grabs as of today.


I wish I could say these guys were my own idea, but I can't do that. I looked at a drawing to do these guys in sharpies on posterboard. There are two of these out in the world. Neither of them look like the original so much. And the two I did do not look at all alike as the cats are different colors and so are their attire.


This is a collage of flowers that my sister sent to me in the mail. The flowers were made with a punch, three different sizes of flowers. The orange cardboard came from the packaging of a toy truck.

Not sure how this orange font is going to look but we're going with it anyway.

I haven't posted for awhile because my computer is still sitting on the floor of the livingroom after its trip to the pc doctor to get fixed. Yes, that was months ago! I am using my son's pc at the moment, but that is subject to change real soon as he and his girlfriend have moved into their own house.

My contest is now defunct. I traded the cards I had offered because not a single person told me a summer story! Perhaps I'll do another contest at another time.

I've been quite busy with artwork here of late.

The chunky fish book is AWESOME!!!!! Twenty pages of delight!

I've been involved in two other chunky books since the last time I posted here. Neither of those swaps have taken place yet and all the pages for them are NOT finished yet. First is the Zodiac Chunky Book. I am doing 12 pages for the sign of Taurus. I am a Bull! I'm waiting on some images to arrive in the mail from my sister. She's sending me some earth pictures. I'll show you some of those pages as soon as they are finished. Second is the Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet Chunky Pages Swap. These won't be bound into a book like the Zodiac Swap. I have eight pages to do. I decided to do eight pages so I can have enough to bind the book myself when I get the returns in the middle of October. I've yet to even start on those pages. I do have a lot materials I need to accomplish that all gathered and ready when I finish up the Taurus pages.

My scanner has died in the months since I last posted also. How the three in one can still work without the scanner is beyond me. The scanner software went whacko but the printer and copy machine work great! Go figure! I have a scanner coming in the mail. It was offered and I was in need. All I have to do is pay the cost of shipping it to me. That's a grand total of 15 bucks! Can't beat a deal like that! It will come at the perfect time too as I'll be trading out my son's pc for my own and the scanner can be hooked up when that trade takes place.

I have quite a few projects on the books that need to be completed. I kind of over extended myself there for a bit. I'm slowly getting caught up though and those waiting on art from me should be getting it soon.

My friend, Bob asked me to design a logo for his new band. They call themselves Ledsled. I did the logo in Gothic style lettering in my own design. I gave it to him over a week ago. He said he hasn't had a chance to show it to either Rayford or Cory so we don't know yet what they think of the logo. I'll show it to you all when the scanner is up and running. I was very pleased he asked me to take on that task. Cory is an amazing artist himself and I'm hoping he won't be upset that I was asked to do it instead of him. I hope all three of them are in agreement and like the logo. Bob liked it right fine, but he's a bit more prejudiced than Rayford will be. Cory will like it, I've no doubt about that even though he may be put out that he wasn't asked to do the lettering for the logo... but he'll be alright with it, I think.

I've chewed on yours ears enough for one day!
Go collect all the hugs you can find today! Smile at a stranger today! Tell your loved ones you love them today!
Have a beautiful day!
Peace





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collage cards

These are all collage cards done this year.



5 For You
silk flowers, scrapbooking paper background, sparkly sticker, number and words from a BMI Music bulletin, all mounted on chipboard. This one was made for the March Collage-A-Thon. It is still in my gallery waiting for a new home.

Chopsticks
Metal and resin turtle charm, all red papers are from a package of disposable chopsticks, scrapbooking paper and a photo of an asian man. All mounted on chipboard backing. This one is still waiting on a new home also.

Golden Hydra
Seems to me I might have already shown you all this one. Chipboard painted with burgundy acrylic paint, modge podge and then sprinkled with green glitter and pink body glitter. The hydra is made from a gold aluminum serving tray of the disposable variety that I picked up the thrift store for a quarter. It is mounted on the card with heart and star shaped brads. It still needs a new home too.

Jewels of Pink 2
Metallic purple foil paper, pink grossgrain ribbon, gold cloth ribbon, pink rickrack, pink plastic gemstone, star sequins, regular sequins and clear glass seed beads. The mesh is from a woven placemat. All is mounted on chipboard backing. This one was made for the March Collage-A-Thon. It too is still waiting on a new home.

Little Pink Rose
Gold braid, pink lace, pink rickrack, pink seam binding, pink grossgrain ribbon and a little pink silk rose all mounted on a chipboard backing. This one was made for the March Collage-A-Thon. It still needs a new home also.

Two more Fishes for the Book

"Gold Fish" frontside. The margarita coaster was painted black in acrylics, then painted with modge podge once it had dried and the green fiberous paper laid down on the modge podge. While that was all drying, I folded an origami fish, cut it in half to give me two fishes and I cut out the coral from the aluminium tray I used on the previous fish sculpture for the Book.

"Gold Fish" backside. Not very pretty. Coaster was painted black with acrylics. That was left to dry and then sponged with hunter green. The orange and purple fish are simply large foam stickers that worked well for my information and are kinda funky! Once the danglies go on this one, it will dress it up a bit.

"Money Fish" frontside. This one is made entirely of things I acquired from others. Terah gave me the coasters for all these fishes, Google gave me the fish, Brenton gave me the shredded money the background is made from, the green ribbon came from an ATC trade as did the green fiber/string. Modge Podge played a heavy role in the creation of this card and I hope it is not too thick for Maggie's machine to punch the holes to bind it in a book. I may keep this card and send another version of it that isn't quite so heavy on the shredded money.

Money Fish backside. Coaster was painted hunter green and sponged with a toned down version of the same color. The fish are foam stickers perfect for my information. Sharpie marker records the details that wouldn't fit on the fish. Danglies will dress this one up as well.

ongoing fish 4x4s

A couple more book pages done for the Chunky Fish Swap.




Big Blue frontside. It is paper collage. Each color of paper cut out, arranged on the page and glued on. The background is packing foam for mailing heavy things in boxes. I painted it blue with acrylics and then put the dots, and slashes on the coral after the glue had dried.

Big Blue backside. The whole page is attached to a margarita coaster. The backside was painted the same blue as the front side, sans the packing foam, then painted with modge podge and a sheet of lacy black paper laid on while the modge podge was still quite wet. The lable is actually an ATC colored with sharpie markers and my details written on with smaller sharpie marker and glued to the backside of Big Blue.

The Koi Pond frontside. Sharpie markers on watercolor paper, glued to a margarita coaster. I put a thin layer of gold acrylic ink on top of the sharpie markers. I really like this page!

The Koi Pond backside. The maragrita coaster was painted black with acrylics, then a thin layer of gold acrylic paint was applied. I added my details with a fine point sharpie marker. The little painting is done in sharpie markers on watercolor paper, glued to the coaster and a bead of glass paint put around the edges just to keep it firmly attached.

ATCs requested

Each of the following ATCs was requested or taken on as a challenge presented to me.



Kathryn lives on a boat and collects ATCs of boats. I hope she likes this one! It went out in today's mail, headed for Cyprus.

Katrina is getting this wax crayon flamingo. She already has one of my flamingos. I hope she likes this one. It went out in this morning's mail also. Headed somewhere in Kansas. Shouldn't take it long to get to where it's going!

Dari, I hope will be happy with her 'colorful abstract' rendered in sharpie markers on watercolor paper. It is headed to Washington State.

Chuck dared someone to make him a MacGuyver card. I took him up on that challenge with this collage card. It contains bits and pieces found in the nail box, broken neckchains, tiny light from a Christmas tree ornament, duct tape and various brads holding some of those little doodads to the orange corregated thin cardboard obtained from the packaging for a toy truck. I hope he likes this one. It is headed to Missouri this evening.

This is "Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz". It is headed to Valerie's front door in New Jersey. I hope she likes it.