Love Canvas #6: Love At First Sight

10x10 mixed media canvas.

I was going to make 8 love-themed canvases, but I'm out of time. So this is the last one. It, along with the rest of the love canvases, will be available soon for purchase at Skeins, downtown Juneau.
Prints will be available at Skeins, and are also available in my online etsy store.

I do have 2 more love canvases in the works, but I'll just add them to whatever else I make for my upcoming art show, March 6th, at Skeins.
One of them features an image of Venus, so save your pennies, Anji!

Published!

My dear friend Roc called today to share that we've both been published in the upcoming issue of Somerset Studios' Artful Blogging Magazine!
This all came about as a result in our participation in our friends'--Mandy and Donna--both from the UK, sundaypostcardart challenges.

Roc received her advance copy today. As soon as mine arrives I'll post an image of the cover and my page.

OWOH Giveaway!

I'm participating in the One World One Heart bloggers giveaway. Leave a comment in this post by February 11th, 2009, and on Feb. 12th one commenter will be selected via a random generator to win a 8x10 print of my art "Awaken," shown.
Important: You must leave a way for me to contact you in your comment, in case you win. A blog link or an email address is fine.

UPDATE 2/11/09 -- Today is the last day to enter. Any comments posted after midnight my time (Alaska time) will be removed, and tomorrow I'll use the random generator to select the winner.

Another Postcard

I belong to several online art trading sites wherein I participate in weekly challenges. This is a postcard I made for one. This week's theme is "women." I've been wanting to do something in red and turquoise for a while, so this was fun. I tried to use text to bring some humor into the card. In this instance, the text was taken from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook. I don't really care to cook on a normal level; this cookbook is way beyond anything I'd take on. So I added it to my art supplies :)

Love Canvas #5: Build A Nest Together

8x8 mixed-media. I scanned it so not as good of an image as I'll get at the printers.

Love Canvas #4: Love Lifts Us Up

8x8 mixed media. I scanned it, so it's not as good as the scan I'll get at the printers.

I've Been Tagged...

...by Dina and now my mission is to list six random facts about myself and then tag others.

The facts:
1. I lived in Bermuda for a short spell in my early 20s
2. My dream house is a cottage on the beach
3. My favorite food is tacos
4. I re-read my favorite books, and there are many
5. I worked on the North Slope oilfields in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska in my late 20s
6. I love peace and quiet

Okay, now I need to tag 6 others. I'm tagging
Roc, Anji, Jennifer, Stuart, Bevie, and Mandy.

THE RULES

1. LINK TO THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU

2. POST THE RULES ON YOUR BLOG

3. WRITE SIX RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF

4. TAG SIX PEOPLE AT THE END OF YOUR POST AND LINK TO THEM

5. LET EACH PERSON KNOW THEY ARE TAGGED AND LEAVE A COMMENT ON THEIR BLOG

6.LET THE TAGGER KNOW WHEN YOUR ENTRY IS UP

7. DON’T BREAK THE CHAIN

Work in Progress

I am taking an online Visual Journalism 100 workshop with Pam Carriker via Creative Workshops (see brown button/badge on the bottom right side of my blog) with my friend, Roc.
Last week, lesson 1, we created backgrounds with acrylics, gesso, and stamps.
This week we laid collage images down--kind of background/side ground pieces--and did a bit of additional stamping. It was hard for me to lay down images when I didn't have a direction in my mind as to where the pieces are heading, but I just made myself do it!
Here they are.

Monday

Not much to say, just checking in.
I spent most of the day working on some pages the my Visual Journalism 101 workshop that I'm taking, the next 3 love canvases, and some art items for swaps.
Then I napped.
Now I need to get some stuff ready to mail and start dinner.
I want a cook. I so do not like to cook!

Sunday Morning

Well I just need to leave a quick note. It is 46 degrees on our back deck. The sun is shining; it feels like spring. Such a change in weather in such a short time! There's only snow on the top of the mountains that we can see from our house. It reminds me of May, except for the snow on the ground which is rapidly melting.

A few days ago I posted that another avalanche damaged major equipment belonging to our local electric company. As a result, they're upping our rates x3. Some people say that's not too bad, because when the same thing happened last April, they upped our rates x5. Well I still think 3x is bad. Or at least wrong.
After all, they're a for-profit company that traditionally pays its members and/or upper management yearly dividends based on its profits. Well I, the customer, never get a dividend check. So why should the customers have to pay when they suffer a loss.
Unfortunately, they're the only source of power in town, so they have us over a barrel.

On a happier note, we celebrated my husband's birthday yesterday. (Hey, all you art fans--his birthday is the same day as Teesha Moore's!) Anyway he had a good day: lots of birthday wishes from his friends and family; his favorite pizza for dinner; a German chocolate cake made by yours truly; and great gifts from me, our kids, my parents, and my sister and her family.

Well, the weather's so nice that Nathan's about to wash his beloved Mustang. And I'm off to make art.
Tonight my youngest son and his girlfriend will come over for a bit to play Apples-to-Apples. I love that game, and so does David's girlfriend. We'll probably eat more cake :)

Sunday Postcard Challenge

The theme for this week's challenge at sundaypostcardart is turquoise, my fav color. I also have a postcard challenge elsewhere for Words of Wisdom, so I tried to kill two birds with one stone.

Find My Soul (love canvas #3)

9x12 mixed-media canvas featuring an image by Teesha Moore that I slightly altered.
8x10 prints available in my etsy store.

A Friend Loves at All Times (love canvas #2)

9x12 mixed-media canvas. 8x10 prints available in my etsy. original will be available downtown Juneau @ Skeins around the 1st of Feb.

Love Gives (love canvas #1)

For a myriad of reasons that I won't bore you with, I had to scan the print of this in order to upload the image. The original canvas is 9x12. Prints are 8x10. I have prints for sale in my etsy shop. The original will be available to buy approximately around the first of Feb. downtown Juneau at Skeins.
This is a mixed-media collage, primarily (but not exclusively) featuring images by Teesha Moore.

Prints now in my etsy

I just added prints of these to my etsy store. As of now, that's the only place they're available.

later... wow, they sold immediately. but i put some more in. :)

Tuesday morning

I'll start with the lows and end on a high note.

Many of you might remember that last April an avalanche caused major damage to our electric company's system, which caused our rates to soar, because the electric company was forced to rely on diesel powered generators. If I recall correctly, that occurance was the first in the electric company's history.
Well it happened again yesterday.

If you've followed my blog you know that in the past couple of weeks our temps dropped below zero, and then started to warm up again a few days ago. Yesterday, it was 38 degrees on our back deck.
You'd think that'd be good news, but the warmer weather followed an onslaught of snow. We got almost 52 inches of snow in January alone, on top of the snowfall we had in December.
So now it's an utter mess.
David probably drove too fast through one of the "puddles" (lake?) yesterday, which caused his alternator belt to slip off and break. His car is still in the shop; they didn't get it finished yesterday due to the power outtage. We had it towed to the same place that put on his snow tires in November, and during that we experienced a power outtage also. I may have to prohibit David from ever taking his vehicle there again!

Okay, on the bright side: I've finished 3 of my Love canvases, and I love them! Nathan will drop them off at the printer's today so they can be scanned. Once that's done I can share them online, plus I will have prints made.

Hope you all are staying warm and dry!

The Eagles Have Landed

Gosh, the other day I really couldn't think of anything to say, and now today I'm on my 4th post already, and it's barely after 10 am here!
That's the way it goes, I guess.
Anyway, my husband and I were just out on our back deck taking a break when all of a sudden a bunch of eagles flew overhead--about rooftop high. My husband kept trying to take their photo as they were soaring around, but couldn't really capture them in flight. However, about 8 of them landed in our neighbor's tree, so he was able to capture that.

Speaking of our back deck, it wasn't too long ago that I posted the temp on our back deck was -2 degrees. And then it warmed up slightly and we went through several days of just being dumped on with snow, snow, snow.
Well, after another big dump of snow last night, today it's +30 degrees on our back deck. My poor husband has been in our driveway for close to 2 hours now, and he still has a lot of work ahead of him. The high today is supposed to reach 37 degrees, and in a few days it's supposed to go up to 40 degrees. So now the big issue is dealing with the upcoming snow melt. So my husband is trying to move snow around. Gosh, how fun must that be.
Me, I'll just make art. But maybe I'll make him some hot chocolate when he's done. :)

Good News for David

My youngest son, David, 18 (the one who broke his leg in Sept) loves writing, acting, etc. He was able to perform in all 3 productions during his senior year of high school last year: MASH (Captain Frank Burns--see photo: that's him in the middle, crying over the trunk); Les Miserables (multiple roles; and Alexander's Horrible...No Good Day (the dad). As well, he and some of his friends formed an improv group and performed for the public 2x last summer at the Silverbow Back Room.
This year he has worked the soundboard for Perserverance Theatre for 2 productions this season (Doubt and a short Christmas play). Last evening he received a call that he has been cast for an upcoming production of the theatre's "second stage" -- a small freebie sidekick of the theatre. The play is written by one of his friends, and David's girlfriend, who works for the theatre full-time will be the stage manager. As well, he received word that the theatre's stage manager has hired him to work the soundboard again in one of the plays for this spring, 8 Stars of Gold.
He's in heaven; this is his world.

Paper Art Doll

Here's a simple paper art doll I made for a challenge. The body is a Teesha Moore image.

Sunday Postcard Challenge

This week's theme for the sunday postcard challenge is mystical winter. Okay, I really don't know what that means. But I also needed to make a zetti postcard this week for another challenge, so I combined the two into one, the best I could.

The Way the Snow Curls

Check out the way the snow is curling around the top of the fence.

Gifts Galore

This week I received a few surprise gift packages in the mail--and it's not even Christmas or my birthday.
First, my friend Roc sent me a handmade purse that she created just for me. The amount of love and work she put into this is incredible. I feel bad because I didn't make anything for her. In fact, I didn't make anything for anyone....
The next day I received 2 boxes of books, one from my friend Gayle in Fairbanks, and another from my friend Dusty in Oklahoma. They both share my love for reading, and for the most part our tastes in books are similiar. I love, love, love to read, so I'm thrilled to have so many books stockpiled. Can't wait to venture in.

Here on the homefront, I can tell it snowed more during the night. Geesh, just can't have enough of the stuff, I guess!

Today I'm working on art. I almost have another Love canvas finished. Nathan's going to work, even tho' he's not scheduled. He's been very busy the past few weeks, which is a huge blessing.

Stay warm!

Snow Pix

Here are a few snow pictures. I refuse to venture farther than my front door, so two were taken from there. The other was taken from our back deck. I'm also including a couple of summer pix for comparison. The summer and winter ones from the back deck are just about the same viewing point.

Another Snowy Day in "Paradise"

Ok, on of those rare sunny and warm days in Juneau, it does seem like paradise. But for me, those days are too infrequent for me to like living here. (Tho' the people are great here. it's just the weather I have issues with.)
So yesterday morning we heard we were going to get 1-2" of snow for the day. At some point it changed to 6-12" for the day and another 6-12" for last night. I don't know how much we have actually received (???--what word would best describe?), but it's a heck of a lot. There's no school today, and it's still snowing, and there's a storm watch still in effect, and ugh ugh ugh!!!
I'll try to post pictures later.
If you like raven/crow art, be sure to check out anji's blog. She just posted a lot of cool things.
Here's a dictionary "skinny" page (3"x5") I made yesterday for a weekly challenge.

Art Journal Pages

First, we might be having a heat wave. It's actually about 8 degrees out on our back deck at the moment. But of course this wave of "warmness" (???) has brought more snow. ugh ugh ugh!!!

I finally finished up a couple of art journal pages for a friend. In case you can't tell, her name is Amy!

Awaken is the front page. A is the back.

If it works out, I'd like to have prints made of Awaken.

After 3 weeks in the hospital, Nathan's mother is being moved into a nursing home today. I guess 3 weeks is the hospital's time limit....

stay warm!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Okay, the sky is brilliant blue; the snow is sparkling white--and it's -2 degrees on my back deck. Brrrr!
Actually, I don't really mind the cold. It's the gray skies, rain, wind, and snow that get to me, so I'm happy to trade all that stuff for some cold temps, if that's what it takes.
I had planned to write at least 1 blog post a day, but sometimes there's really not much to say. I'm busy working on art--way overcommitted in that arena at the moment, and preparing stuff for the tax lady. In addition to my fun daily duties: housework, laundry, cooking, etc. *bluck*
Finally, I'm really determined to focus on my health issues this year and try to take some positive steps in the hopes of reducing their impact. So I'm trying to spend time each day on my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being.
I have just one of the Love canvases done. I'd love to show it here, but it's a bit big for my scanner, so posting an image of it will have to wait 'til after I take it to the printers and they scan it for me. They always put the image on a disk for me, as well as keeping a copy in their customer files, so once I have the disk I'll be able to upload it.
Hope everyone's year is going well so far.

Eagle vs. Shark

So a few blogs ago, Jenyfer recommended a movie titled Eagle vs. Shark. Saturday night Nathan + I watched it and loved it. That type of movie is our favorite, so we're glad you suggested it, Jenyfer.
(Jenyfer and her husband are presently in Puerto Rico. Check out her photos; I'm so jealous!) Still snowing here, Jenyfer!

So today is back-to-school day here. As much as I love Christmas--and I love every element of it--it's always good to get back into a routine. I've already exercised this morning. hmmm, wonder how long I'll keep that up. I hope for once I will stay consistent with that!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

A Nice Shout-out

A woman named Kate found my latest zetti inchies on flickr, and liked them so much that she featured them on her blog. How nice is that? Thanks, Kate!

Here's my card for this week's theme challenge at sundaypostcardart. The theme is celebration. I made the background using a technique I learned from Jennifer. The images are from a 60s McCall's pattern that I got from cindyiscrafty on flickr, and then resized. This week's theme is celebrate.

Zodiac

Here's a postcard I made for a challenge; the theme was zodiac.

Gov. Sarah Palin comes through

As I shared in an earlier post, my daughter was disappointed after a series of mishaps to not score the autograph and a photo of Gov. Sarah Palin, after my daughter sang at the annual Governor's Open House.
So I sent an email to Gov. Palin, explained all that went wrong, and requested a signed photo.
And on Wed. my daughter, 11, received that photo that was signed with a note addressed to my daughter. She's thrilled.
Sometimes it just pays to ask.

2009

For a long time I've said that 2008 was the hardest year of my life. For multiple reasons--health, finances, and more--it was definitely a stressful time from January through mid-November, and it all took its toll on me. In mid-November I realized just how much I was dreading each new day, and I also remembered that for much of my life, I eagerly anticipated new days. The scripture/song "This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice + be glad in it" started rolling around in my head. And with that, I tried to become more open and grateful for each new day. Eventually, I made the art journal page, previously posted here, as a way to mark the transformation.
And while it was an extremely stressful year, I also realized a lot of good things happened in 2008 also. I was given the opportunity to sell my art locally; I made a lot of new art friends; I strengthened bonds with old friends. My favorite aunt beat breast cancer. My daughter and I were able to go visit my family in New Mexico and hang out in/by my parent's pool. My husband's brother was able to visit us for the first time in the 13 years my husband has lived here. My eldest son scored a great job with the State of Alaska, and he was able to take a trip to Oregon, which he loves, and also was invited to (and able to attend) a small, select networking conference in Colorado. My youngest son was able to fully enjoy his senior year of high school, participating in every play--MASH, Les Miserables, and Alexander's Horrible, Rotten...No Good Day. And even tho' he had a series of accidents this fall that could have proved fatal, the fact is he survived them and is doing well. In reflection, there is indeed a lot to be thankful for in 2008.
So moving on.
At this moment it is zero degrees on my back deck! Brrrrr!
So in 2009 I'm looking forward to:
seeking a closer relationship with God, strengthening bonds with family and friends, the healing of Nathan's aunt Donna who is battling cancer and of his mother who suffered a stroke in December, growing in my art skills, starting to take steps to improve my health issues--which includes, I hope, the opportunity to visit a specialist who will start visiting Juneau in February if all goes according to plan, the completion of the CD started by Earthen Vessels, the group in which my husband is the lead singer, and of course, warmer temperatures!
Finally, my hope for all of you is that those things that are near and dear to your heart are realized in this new year.
~ Cathy