last minute things

i participate in several monthly challenges. today's the last day, and here i am skating in last minute on a couple of them. the ATC (artist trading card, 2.5"x3.5") is for a stamping challenge wherein you must use at least 3 rubberstamps to create your art. i used the minimum of 3. someone gave me this paper; i thought it was a perfect kinda woodsy backdrop for the stamping (birdhouse, grass, vines)
the 4x6 postcard is for a postcard challenge. the theme is zetti. i did life in the fast lane, because that's how my life feels. a lot of people wonder what i do with my time as a "stay-at-home-mom/artist." but really i find there are never enough hours in the day to do all i need/want to do!

yard 2009

here are a few photos of our yard this year.

danny's backside

here is the back of the journal page i made for danny (fiDOart). (see previous post.)

your own universe

here's an 8x10 journal page i made for fiDOart. danny + i are in a group of 10 who are making journal pages for each other. i still have to figure out what to put on the back....

Wednesday Morning

Here's a 5x7 joural cover for a nature-themed journal swap I'm participating in. I applied gesso over an old book cover, and then laid down some leaf green paint. Next, I used a foam stamp to apply the ivy leaves. Then I used a stencil to add on the hot pink flower. Then I used foam stamps to apply the word "nature." Lastly, I used a baby wipe to apply some raw umber to give it a distressed look. The back cover is the same, except I omitted the word "nature."

Here is my letter J postcard. J is for joy, of course! I used some teesha moore elements: the face, the legs, and the rubberstamped arms and phrase "enchanted soul."
I drew circles on the homemade dress to try to repeat some of the elements in the "hat," which is also a teesha moore item. Gosh, as are the borders! What can I say, I love her art! I layered paper for the background and used a variety of paint pens, markers, gel pens, water soluable crayons, etc. to complete the piece.

nesting

here's a postcard i made for a weekly challenge. the theme is nest. the face is from teesha moore's collection.

friday

well only one day of rain + 1 cloudy day and the sun's back--yahoo! in response to some of the comments on my last post, we actually have not had a lot of rain this summer, which is awesome for us, considering we live in a rain forest!
i don't mind an occasional day of rain, but due to past experiences, i do become a bit fearful when a rainy day appears. it makes me wonder if the sun will return. so far, so good, this year. to date, it's the best summer i've ever experienced in juneau, and i'm loving it. when the sun shines, this place is like paradise.

here are a couple of small art projects i just completed. the ATC (artist trading card: 2.5"x3.5") is for a sea-themed challenge. the Italy postcard is for a letter I postcard swap.

oh--i saw the endriconologist again today. it's been 2 months since my 1st visit. he was very proud of my progress. i needed to hear that. all the monitoring, measuring, and recording i have to do can become a bit much at times, so it was good to hear that my efforts have been worthwhile. i'll see him again in sept.

thurs morn

on a sad note, the rain came back yesterday, and it still appears to be here :(

here's a few pieces of art i've made in the past few days. i'm trying to get caught up on swaps, challenges, etc.

the blue inchies are for a blue inchie swap. the pink postcard is for a "tickle me pink" challenge. and the beach postcard is for a beach postcard swap. i put a ton of work into it! it started out as a black + white vintage image.

art doll

here's an art doll i made for a challenge. her name is "bloom." the flowers were given to me by my friend, roc. and the face came from my friend, paula.

chunky zettis

here are 4 chunky (4x4) pages i made for a zetti swap. i used images from teesha moore, as well as some found images. i use coasters for my chunkies; they're a perfect thickness. you can see some of the fun fibers i picked up on my trip to new mexico.

another sunny day!

we are just loving all this sunshine! it's been a long time since we've had a "real" summer!
here's the card i made for the letter H in the ongoing alphabet postcard swap.
H is for Hawaii, of course! the sun image on the far left is from my good friend, roc.

Monday Morning

We're home after three warm + sunny (thank goodness!) days of camping on Portland island: spectacular views, lots of whales + a few sea lions and seals. Hey Anji, I even scored a few pieces of beach glass.

It's been almost 3 weeks since I've had any serious art time. I swear I was having withdrawals. While camping it crossed my mind that people were probably tired of my art.
Well, then yesterday afternoon Nancy, the owner of the venue that sells my art, called to let me know that one of my new canvases, Hope (you can see it in a previous post), was sold to a woman going thru a divorce. It will be featured on a wall in her new apt. And then she shared that someone came in and purchased a lot of prints and just raved at how much my art spoke to her. And lastly, she shared a story of a mom + daughter came in. The daughter has battled anorexia (sp?) for a few years, tho' she's looking healthy at the moment. The mother + Nancy were visiting, when the daughter came up and took her mother to my art wall. She pointed to "Teach Me to Fly," and said that she never loved a piece of art as much as she loved this piece. (Tho' they didn't buy it, LOL!)
But it was just the encouragement I needed at the moment, and I'm blessed to hear that my art is still touching people. It's something I always aim for, tho' I never really know if I accomplish that goal or not.
Meanwhile, the sun is still shining in Juneau--hurrah! I hope to have an art-filled day out on my back deck surrounded by the views of our beautiful back yard and neighboring mountains.
Hope you all have a great week!

Here's a postcard I made for a Frida-themed challenge.

Going Away Again

This morning I'm off for the dreaded 3-day camping trip. At least the sun is shining. Here's a very few postcards I've been able to make over the past few weeks. Some were made before I left for New Mexico. I'm having art withdrawals....